Now that India is officially the world’s most populated country, it is also home to an enormous sporting market. While sports like football are beginning to gain popularity and sports like hockey have always had a reasonably solid following, the premier sport in India is cricket. While it can be challenging to pinpoint a precise figure, it is believed that over 90% of India’s population watches cricket – over 1.2 billion people. India is at the precipice of becoming a global superpower, and it has the workforce and the infrastructure to become one of the world’s biggest emerging economies.
Moreover, it comprises part of the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) collective of nations set to continue to prosper due to favorable economic conditions. While countries like China are further ahead in this particular curve than India, the colossal Asian country is in a fascinating global position as we move into the 2020s. Ultimately, this is helping more Indians prosper, and although there is still raw, abject poverty in many parts of India, the economic growth is allowing more Indians access to televisions and phones and creating an even larger audience for cricket fans.
The Brand Of Tendulkar
Sportspeople don’t get much bigger or better than Tendulkar. He is an icon of Indian culture and Indian people. Not only is Sachin regarded as India’s greatest-ever cricketer, but he is also widely considered one of the most incredible batters ever. As arguably the most recognizable face in Indian culture, Sachin is highly sought after by several companies as a reputable marquee name to attach to their brand.
Last year, Sachin became involved in legal action when a casino company used his name and image rights without his knowledge to promote their casino services. As one of the most prominent figures in Indian culture, Tendulkar’s endorsement of any product will generate business; such is his stature. Gambling is legal and regulated in India, and the market spans right across casinos in Goa to the most interesting online casino table games. Particularly, the Indian cricket gambling market is arguably the most prominent individual sporting market on the planet.
Indians don’t just gamble on sports. Several big casinos bring in millions of customers throughout the country. With the standard of living growing and the Indian economy expanding exponentially, the gambling market will surely gather more momentum as this decade rolls on.
Tendulkar’s net worth is somewhere in the region of $165 million, so maybe he doesn’t even need to advertise anything. He is looking to enjoy his retirement, and considering how phenomenal his exploits were on the cricket pitch, we would say he deserves this right.
The Crossover Hero Of Indian Sport
Sachin Tendulkar is the leading run-scorer in test and one-day cricket and has the highest number of centuries in both versions of the game. News of his retirement in 2013 rocked the world of cricket, and some of the world’s top sports stars lined up to pay tribute to his phenomenal career.
Ever since his first test century against England in 1990, Indian sports fans and cricket fans all over the globe quickly realized they had a superstar on their hands. He was featured in the Forbes Rich list that year after his retirement.
Tendulkar has involved himself in several philanthropic ventures since he took to the wicket for the final time, he has used his incredible wealth and stature to fund charities to help the poorest in Indian society, and he was also subject to a film about his life.
He has a waxwork at Madame Tussauds in London and has received honorary awards in Australia for his exploits in cricket. He played in the Bushfire Cricket Bash in February 2020 to raise awareness for the bushfires that caused horrendous damage in Australia. Tendulkar became one of the first players to play domestic county cricket in England when he joined Hampshire, and the legendary Indian is revered throughout English cricket, too.
To Sum Up
Sachin is a global sporting success, and although some of his records might be beaten by the next Indian cricket batting superstar Shubman Gill, Tendulkar’s legacy transcends time, language barriers, and across borders. One of the most impressive facets of Tendulkar’s legacy is his aura and presence, which has allowed him to rub shoulders with some of the world’s biggest names and cement himself forever in the history of Indian cricket.
While records are made to be beaten, some of Sachin Tendulkar’s won’t be beaten for quite some time, he represents the best of his generation, and alongside Brian Lara, he is often cited as the greatest batsman of all time. This is an incredible legacy, and his philanthropic endeavors outside of the cricket pitch continue to heighten his standing as a legendary sporting figure of such substantial proportions it’s hard to calculate.
