Ad rates hit a 'sixer'
God of Cricket, Master Blaster, Sports Icon are just a few amongst the many idioms used to describe Sachin Tendulkar, who will be retiring from Test matches this month. His last match, his 200th match will be held at Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai, starting 14th Nov.
In the past few weeks, be it ads or sports channels or newspapers, the news has only been about Sachin. Advertisers are cashing in on him. Star has invested heavily on cricket and the ad rates are doubled to nearly a Rs.1 lakh per 10 seconds for Tendulkar’s last two test matches. Yet, knowing the TRP’s are going to be high, companies like Airtel, ITC, Bharti AXA and Perfetti van Melle have already picked spots for the series.
While it is true that Sachin will become the first cricketer to play 200 test matches and that is a commendable feat to achieve; its time to give it a rest. We seem to immortalize Sachin but are forgetting that he is just another cricketer who wants to retire. Yes, he is one of the best things which India has had but we should let him go, with joy, respect and dignity and not use his name to make money.