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Us Indians are famous for our passion for cricket all over the world. While most people generalise us to be cricket fanatics chanting at the top of our lungs at every match whether we be watching it at the stadium or from our living room. However, that visual image does not really include each and every citizen of the country. The audience in India is now moving on to different kinds sports for entertainment and inspiration.
One such sport is basketball, from the creatives coming together to design beautiful courts to organisations giving scholarships to children based on their talent in the sport, more and more Indians are beginning to engage with it everyday. This growing fan base is soon to get the representation it longed for with the first ever National Basketball Association game being held in country.
The Indiana Pacers and Sacramento Kings will be playing two pre season games in the NSCI Dome in Mumbai on the 4th and 5th of October, 2019. This decision by the NBA was announced on this December 20, 2018. The city was chosen to host the pre season games due to its reputation as the centre for finance, media and entertainment in India and history of successfully hosting several big sports events in the past. The existence of the association’s offices in Mumbai also makes it easy for them to access the necessary resources.
These games hold a special meaning for the owner of Kings, Mr Vivek Ranadive, a native of the city and the first person of Indian descent to own a NBA franchise. “As an Indian-American, it is an honour to help bring this historic moment to the country where I was raised,” he said during the announcement. This an attempt by the organisers to promoted basketball in this cricket-crazy region by engaging people, both young and old, in the game through this opportunity.
“These are the first games of this kind from any global sports league to be played in India. We’re proud of that.” said the NBA Deputy Commissioner, Mr. Mark Tatum during the announcement. The association believes that this move on their path to make the games more accessible to the population of the subcontinent is well timed considering the growing interest for the sport amongst its audience with over 350 NBA games broadcasted live in the country, out of which over 78 have Hindi commentary accompanying them.
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