“The Indian girls who tried out so far were so beautiful and so good, they were practically better than us,” said Sharica Brown, 27, a Redskins cheerleader from Baltimore, as she snacked on a plate of nachos before the game at Bangalore’s Hard Rock Cafe. Nearby, Indians in heavy-metal T-shirts downed cheeseburgers and jostled to get a glimpse of the visitors. The women said they were enjoying India and had already been filmed in a Bollywood music video. Some had also indulged in a shopping spree for sparkly Indian-designed shirts and chandelier earrings.

Jazzed-up cricket has already become a huge business. Some players are reportedly earning nearly $200,000 a week during the tournament. Sony signed a $1 billion deal for exclusive rights to film and photograph Indian Premier League games over the next 10 years. Several international news agencies, including Reuters, the Associated Press and Agence France-Presse, stayed away from the match Friday to protest what they consider unreasonable restrictions by Sony.

Cricket purists complain that the abbreviated version of the game is cheapening its traditional stately tone.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/18/AR2008041803577.html?referrer=digg