Sachin,Saurav stocks on the offering.Sachin is costlier.

CAN’Ttake on the real action on the pitch? Come on, it’s just a game of cricket. You could turn to the virtual world and try winning the cup there. For starters, those who love watching cricketers in action but are equally smitten by the Sensex, www.crickstocks.com is the place to visit. The website launched by three fresh graduates from IIM and IIT last month came just in time when the real cricket fever is at its peak. So companies transform into cricketers on the website. When the IPO was launched, Sachin Tendulkar was oversubscribed followed by Saurav Ganguly. “There are 150 cricketers from 10 Test playing nations whose shares can be traded,” says Karthik Laxman, founder, www.crickstocks.com. The website has over 15,000 registered members and claims to register five lakh hits a day. The BSE, NSE, Sensex and the likes have been replaced by batsman index, bowlers index, wicketkeepers index, Indian Index and so on. “And it’s not only Indians but net users from Pakistan, Australia and the US too who are trading stocks of cricketers on the website,” added Laxman. Did some one say cricket has no boundaries. The cricket action might subdue in the real world but not on virtual. Post world cup, the trio plan to introduce mutual funds and other stock options on the site as well. If you aren’t among the players who love trading, check out this: www.indiatimes.cricket.com has interactive elements such as poll, blogs and chats. It also has astro predictions on forthcoming games, live action from the Caribbean, downloadable score cards and caricature based wall papers of cricketers. Not only this, surfers can write commentary as well. “We redesigned our website, making it easier to navigate. This was done after speaking to visitors of our website,” said Dinesh Wadhawan, CEO, Times Internet. The website is also getting lot of traffic from the US. Avid gamers can do with Electronic Arts’ (a game developer) released `cricket 07’ game. The game has player specific animation and a camera mode which enables players to see batting and bowling from different angles. “The cricket 07 version is all about fun. Also it has new batting controls making the game more exciting,” says a spokesperson of Electronic Arts. The game is available for Rs 999. And for those who think cricket never becomes stale cricket 05, cricket 04 and cricket 02 that is, older versions are available for Rs 499, Rs 299 and Rs 199. Gamers also have an option of downloading cricket games from www.electronicarts.in. Another portal, contests2win.com believes that enthusiasts just love following cricketers. Net users who know what the players do when they are not playing are being lured by the website. Sample this: Who has a bigger car? Rahul Dravid or Sachin Tendulkar? Who is more likely to take off his shirt and sing "I'm too sexy for my Shirt"? Sourav Ganguly or Andrew Flintoff? Think you can answer then log on to www.contests2win.com. And if you have questions cheekier than this, you can also post queries on the website. The website claims it is gets over 100,000 responses each day. It has 1.2 million registered users. “Indians are armchair experts on cricket. The website is not statistically driven but has taken a different take on cricket,” says Raj Menon, COO, contests2win.com. The content of the website may not be statistically driven but the business model for sure is. The website has roped in official World cup sponsor Johnnie Walker and Tata Sky for advertisements on its site. And what about prizes for cricket crazy contestants? “Well there are many gadgets such as iPods and mobile phones to be won as Indians just love gadgets,” said Mr Menon. Another website games2win.com also has a separate section for cricket games. So if it’s not a ticket to Caribbean, the happening cricket action is just a click away!

Courtesy: EconomicTimes
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