New Delhi, March. 6 (PTI): Refusing to part with his hard-earned money for an expensive passage to the West Indies, the average Indian cricket fan has given a firm thumbs down to the World Cup.
While tour operators blame it on Men in Blue's late peaking, the average crowd find the packages beyond their reach.
Prem Kumar Maurya, a tour counsellor with FCM Travel Solutions, one of the five ICC-approved travel agencies in the country, believes things would have been different had the team peaked earlier.
"The hype generally builds around the team's performance and Rahul Dravid and his boys peaked too late. The team was not doing well for the major part of the recent past and it dampened the cricket tourists' spirit," he rued.
Reminded that the side did well in the twin home series against the West Indies and Sri Lanka before leaving for the World Cup, Mr Maurya lamented it was too late.
People tend to plan their tours well ahead and the damage was already done. Initially we had expected to cover 500-600 people under three packages but the response is very, very disappointing," he said, refusing to disclose the exact number.
Apart from the team's poor show, he blamed the lukewarm response to the high expenses involved.
"You have to admit that it's quite expensive. Besides, people also have apprehensions about the accommodation there. You don't have enough big hotels there and I think all these factors combined to put off an average Indian cricket fan," he elaborated.
FCM Travel Solutions offered three packages starting from Rs 3.6 lakhs per head and the trend is unlikely to change, he said.
The Trinidad and Tobago High Commission here, however, put up an optimistic face and said they were not unhappy with the response.
"The applications are still coming in," said a spokesman, refusing to disclose the number.
Shyam S Sharma, Founder-president of the Dada Army, which often sends its members to root for the Indian team abroad, however, begged to differ and said the response was quite timid.
"The packages leaves a deep hole in your pockets and few can really afford the trip. We at Dada Army are quite upset. We had plans to take 100 people from India and 900 NRIs as well to be a 1000-strong support base for our team. Thanks to the cost involved, we are struggling to make it even 100," he told PTI.
"Some had even bought the tickets planning to go but the huge cost has put them on the backfoot. Still, we'll have 49 members coming from the US and UK. Four of us would leave before India's first match there and six others are likely to join us," he said.
Promising to match the opponents decibel-by-decibel in the Caribbean, Mr Sharma, a lawyer by profession, said the motley crew would offer their unconditional support to the side, chanting "Apne Bachche Sabse Achchhe" and assuring the players "Whatever You Do, We Are With You".
Source : http://www.hindu.com
While tour operators blame it on Men in Blue's late peaking, the average crowd find the packages beyond their reach.
Prem Kumar Maurya, a tour counsellor with FCM Travel Solutions, one of the five ICC-approved travel agencies in the country, believes things would have been different had the team peaked earlier.
"The hype generally builds around the team's performance and Rahul Dravid and his boys peaked too late. The team was not doing well for the major part of the recent past and it dampened the cricket tourists' spirit," he rued.
Reminded that the side did well in the twin home series against the West Indies and Sri Lanka before leaving for the World Cup, Mr Maurya lamented it was too late.
People tend to plan their tours well ahead and the damage was already done. Initially we had expected to cover 500-600 people under three packages but the response is very, very disappointing," he said, refusing to disclose the exact number.
Apart from the team's poor show, he blamed the lukewarm response to the high expenses involved.
"You have to admit that it's quite expensive. Besides, people also have apprehensions about the accommodation there. You don't have enough big hotels there and I think all these factors combined to put off an average Indian cricket fan," he elaborated.
FCM Travel Solutions offered three packages starting from Rs 3.6 lakhs per head and the trend is unlikely to change, he said.
The Trinidad and Tobago High Commission here, however, put up an optimistic face and said they were not unhappy with the response.
"The applications are still coming in," said a spokesman, refusing to disclose the number.
Shyam S Sharma, Founder-president of the Dada Army, which often sends its members to root for the Indian team abroad, however, begged to differ and said the response was quite timid.
"The packages leaves a deep hole in your pockets and few can really afford the trip. We at Dada Army are quite upset. We had plans to take 100 people from India and 900 NRIs as well to be a 1000-strong support base for our team. Thanks to the cost involved, we are struggling to make it even 100," he told PTI.
"Some had even bought the tickets planning to go but the huge cost has put them on the backfoot. Still, we'll have 49 members coming from the US and UK. Four of us would leave before India's first match there and six others are likely to join us," he said.
Promising to match the opponents decibel-by-decibel in the Caribbean, Mr Sharma, a lawyer by profession, said the motley crew would offer their unconditional support to the side, chanting "Apne Bachche Sabse Achchhe" and assuring the players "Whatever You Do, We Are With You".
Source : http://www.hindu.com
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