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Net Gains (Feb 21, 96)
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Watching the World Cup matches live may be cool, but what is really hot is making statements like , " Oh, I was at work, and had no other option but to follow the match on the Internet. Modern technology, I tell you, no....."
OK, OK, OK, so the cricket fever is raging through Mumbai city, and the world at large. What makes this World Cup stand in a class of its own is the fact that this is the first time that the Internet is being used to provide a ball - by - ball update of the matches in progress, irrespective of the location. Earlier, cricket fans abroad were at the mercy of their cable companies to be kept posted about the status of the matches. Not any more. With the Internet being used as a vehicle, anyone with access to the Net (which is a major portion of the population in a place like the US), can know what's happening continents away. At the time of writing this, two sites were busy raising a hoolah about how they were the best place to turn to, to stay in touch with the latest going - ons in the World Cup.
The first one on the Net was IndiaWorld. Put up by Ravi Database Management in collabration with Gavaskar's Professional Management Group, they had their site up about a month before the actual starting of the World Cup. This site boasts of very frequent updates on the matches, and of posting articles from different publications, and commentaries by known experts like Sunil Gavaskar and Geoff Boycott . At a flat rate of Rs. 10,000, IndiaWorld is offering advertisers space on the worldcup pages for the entire duration of the World Cup. The ads are picked up cyclically to give all advertisers equal exposure. Visit this World Cup site either here , or here. If its trivia and past history about the previous World Cups that you're looking out for, this is it. Keep an eye out for quizzes and contests online here.
MidDay Online is a relatively late starter, which became operational on the day of the first match. This site has the World Cup Schedule, a list of the teams & team members, the latest match scores, and articles & analysis of the World Cup, by names like Ayaz Memon. This site was put up by the computer guru himself - Vijay Mukhi & K Pandyan with a team of 5 backing them . Besides articles exclusively on cricket, there are interviews and even quizzes. There's even a write up about Pakistani cricket ace - Javed Miandad's invitation to Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray for the finals in Lahore. Betting is big business especially in the World Cup '96. And gamblers worldwide could do with a little help via forecasting. While on the net, they could very well visit Jagjit Uppal's Zodiac Club . India's most well known astrologer dishes out what the stars hold for you for the day. Plans are already underway to have the guru handle personal questions via the Net.
Coming back to cricket, The Indian Subcontinent Students' Association at the Australian National University have put up the EKTA Home Page - with a special cricket site called the Indian Cricket Page covering Indian cricket in terms of the domestic scene and the international scene. The pages related to the World Cup were however, still under construction last week, and not really up to date.
One feature that was noticably missing from both the major World Cup sites was a counter. Usually sites that are a major attraction have counters on the page to keep track of how many times the page was accessed. Having a counter would have been one indication of how popular the sites were. The IndiaWorld guys, when contacted, said that their site was accessed 50,000 times on day one. But without a counter for all to see, there's no way of knowing by just visiting their site. For those who are on the Net (you lucky, lucky, lucky guys) try visiting some of these sites. You need to be warned though - at times, there's so much traffic on the Net accessing these sites, you may be refused access and asked to try connecting later - just make sure you don't get cleaned bowled trying to access these sites !
Howzzat ? Surf the Net, and be bowled over !