Refusing to part with his hard-earned money for an expensive passage to the West
Indies, the average Indian cricket fan has given a firm thumbs down to the
World Cup. 
While tour operators blame it on Men in Blue's late peaking, the average crowd
find the packages beyond their reach.
Prem Kumar Maurya, a tour counsellor with FCM Travel
Solutions, one of the five ICC-approved travel agencies in the country, believes
things would have been different had the team peaked earlier.
"The hype generally builds around the team's performance
and Rahul Dravid and his boys peaked too late. The team was not doing
well for the major part of the recent past and it dampened the cricket tourists'
spirit," he rued.
Reminded that the side did well in the twin home series against
the West Indies and Sri Lanka before leaving for the World Cup, Mr Maurya
lamented it was too late.
People tend to plan their tours well ahead and the damage was already done.
Initially we had expected to cover 500-600 people under three packages but the
response is very, very disappointing," he informed, refusing to disclose
the exact number.
Apart from the team's poor show, he blamed the lukewarm response to the high
expenses involved.
"You have to admit that it's quite expensive. Besides,
people also have apprehensions about the accommodation there. You don't have
enough big hotels there and I think all these factors combined to put off an
average Indian cricket fan," he elaborated.
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