Is Dhoni the new Cricketing God of India?-14/07/2010

By Raj Narayan, 14/07/2010

Is Dhoni the new Cricketing God of India?

(GOOD WISHES TO HIM FOR HIS MARRIAGE, HIS 29 TH B'DAY ON 7TH JULY AND A BIG DEAL...WORTH 210 CRORES....I WISH ALL THE HAPPINESS TO HIM AND HIS FAMILY FOR THE FUTURE AND HOPE THAT HE LIVE UPTO THE EXPECTATIONS OF PEOPLE/FANS, AS THIS HEADLINES SAYS... NOT ONLY IN EARNING MONEY, BUT AS A GOOD CRICKETER, AND AS A GOOD AND RESPONSIBLE HUMAN BEING, AS HE IS A YOUTH ICON AS WELL...CONGRATULATIONS FOR HIS LOVESTORY'S HAPPY ENDING, SAW THEIR PHOTOS TOGETHER, THEY LOOK VERY GOOD AND HAPPY ... GOOD WISHES FOR THE BRIGHT AND GREAT FUTURE...!!! )

When Sachin Tendulkar was officially annointed God of Cricket by the media and advertisers some years ago, he had a sack full of records collected over a decade-and-half of consistent cricketing performance.

Is Dhoni the new Cricketing God of India?

Three years after Tendulkar signed his biggest endorsement deal of Rs.180 crore to confirm his Godliness amongst the pantheon of all time great ad earners, comes the news that Mahendra Singh Dhoni has beaten the man he idolized - at least in terms of having a fatter wallet.

India's most successful captain in the making signed a three-year Rs.210 crore endorsement deal with a joint venture formed between Rhiti Sports Management and Mindscapes that probably makes him the world's richest cricketer.

Is Dhoni the new Cricketing God of India?

In terms of global sports endorsement, Dhoni will have to double his annual earnings each year if he wants to crack the top-20 list of the world's richest sportspersons - a list which boasts of names like Tiger Woods, Kobe Bryant, Kimi Raikkonen, Lebron James, Valentino Rossi and Roger Federer.

On the home front, it is intriguing that the Indian captain took only six years to play Pied Piper to Indian advertisers when Tendulkar had to struggle for more than a decade before the late Mark Mascarenhas came on the scene in the mid-1990s to airlift Sachin to iconic status.

Is Dhoni the new Cricketing God of India?

While one concedes that Dhoni has come as a breath of fresh air to cricket and his enormous talent as a player and captain has made quite a difference to Indian cricket, can we really put him on a cricketing pedestal beside Tendulkar?

Here is one man who has scored more runs and more centuries than anyone else in the history of the game and advertisers seem to think that all that is not even worth what they are paying the new age icon.

Is Dhoni the new Cricketing God of India?

In the United States, a former great like Michael Jordan stands one step below the current favorite Kobe Bryant. So, is it fair on the part of the advertising moneybags to shower such riches on someone who is yet to make it to the pantheon of all time greats? More so, when the greatest of them all is still conquering new frontiers?

Ad gurus are suggesting that Indian advertisers have grown more cricket savvy now than they were a decade ago? If so, how much do the current cricketers owe to Sachin for taking cricket and cricketers to a pedestal that is close enough to Bollywood icons? Afterall, he was the one who ploughed a lonely burrow even in the endorsement arena!

To believe that Dhoni is being paid more than Sachin because of the latter's declining market value would be cruel. For, every opinion poll conducted over the past three years has placed Sachin over Dhoni in terms of value for India's cricketing fortunes.

Is Dhoni the new Cricketing God of India?

In the final analysis, it seems the only place Dhoni scores over Sachin is in histrionics. The Indian captain has proved time and again that he is as good before the camera as he is behind the stumps. Maybe, that's where the Big Monies have sidestepped the Little Master!

Not that Sachin or Dhoni would care too much about who gets paid a few dollars more. All that the God of Cricket would yearn for now is to get his hands on that elusive World Cup in 2011 and we're sure Dhoni will do all it takes to ensure that he leads India to victory.

Source: India Syndicate