At what point did I say cheer? This isn't about who is more loved or who the more likeable player is, I'm talking about who gets talked about more (doesn't have to be in a positive way!), of course no one is going to cheer for Afridi in India because he's the opposition , but he is talked about, so was Shoaib Akthar, pretty sure no Indian fan would like to cheer for Shoaib Akthar either, but they knew him, he was talked about, he was recognized. You could just as easily flip the argument and ask Sri Lankan and Pakistani fans as to whether they knew more about Indian players or overseas players, I bet you Pakistani fans in the 90's knew more about Ajay Jadeja than they did any other great players from overseas, or Sri Lankan fans with regards to a guy like Ganguly.
'Average' fan of no country watches neutral games. I would wager that an average Indian fan knows more about last decade ashes results than an average Australian or English fan knows about India-Pakistan bilateral series. Stephen Fleming once visiting India remarked how it is special visiting India as the common folks not only recognise you but also know your averages.
Knowing the result of a series isn't that big a deal tbh, the series was obviously written about a lot and so I can understand Indian fans having a bit of knowledge about it, but its not much different from other teams nowadays using Ind-Aus 2001 series as an example for certain game scenarios (such as why you shouldn't enforce follow up). Those series were great series, and as a result go more coverage and news, which invariably results in viewers knowing more about it. Secondly that particular ashes happened in 2005, I was mostly referring to the 90's and early 2000's. I'm not talking about knowledge of the average fan today, information is much easier to access today than it was 20-25 years ago, and so it is not surprising that Indian fans know more about world cricket than they did previously.
Hah.
Haha yeah was in India last year during the summer time (while the England v India series was going on) and none of my relatives (from various ages) kept track of cricket, I was a little surprised. My cousins knew more about Maxwell then the test series going on in England, it was only until I use to basically hog the TV and watch the test match they would casually ask for the score. My uncle kept on going on about how Indian team is biased and they don't select Sehwag because they don't like him or something, I just laughed and enjoyed there comments. Even after all these years, the typical Indian mentality remains the same xD
Yeah. I would agree with this. Most common pakistanis wouldn't know much about cricket teams of other countries but they will know a fair bit about the indian team.
Yeah but these people are generally absolute ****s so who cares.
This is so true. This idea that all other fans watch and appreciate neutral test cricket but only Indians watch their own team is so fanciful. Most casual Aussie fans don't even watch Australia play overseas other than the Ashes.
Well yeah, I have had my frustrating experiences too with debates like Tendulkar vs Bradman or Akram vs Marshall. It depends on what you consider average. There's going to be a whole range of levels of interests. I have not had a hard time finding a fair few people in any setting who understand LBW or DRS, and who know enough about contemporary cricketers. Heck, my mom knows Warne and Ambrose. I have however never met anyone in real world who knows Hobbs and Hammond which is something I observed above. People have lives. You can't hold that against them.
You have probably just summed up most cricket fans everywhere tbh, but substitute their own local hero for the Tendulkar reference.
"You wouldn't fully appreciate and understand their psyche unless you have spent lot of time with them or you are one. Indian fans know cricket. Period."
Fair enough. I did not explain what I meant by average fans so you can trash that argument. As I said this argument will make any sense only on a relative basis. And based on some anecdotal evidence, I would argue Indian fans know no less than those from other countries, if anything they know more simply because it's number one sport here by a long shot. Passion for Tendulkar tends to cloud perception of them a bit.
*And when we're smashing your lot (which doesn't happen a lot sadly).