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Nithya Subramanian

New Delhi , April 16

LAXMIPATHY Balaji could emerge as Indian cricket's new poster boy. The lad from Chennai is not only a craze among Pakistanis, but is likely to turn out to be one of the most sought after player by sports management companies.

"There will be quite a rush to sign Balaji on as he has been the hottest player in the test series," said Ms Vinita Bangard, Vice-President, Celebrity Management Services, Percept D'Mark.

The Indian fast bowler who had a good day both with the bat and the ball does not have any endorsement contracts in his kitty as yet.

According to Ms Latika Khaneja, who heads Collage Sports Management, "Though it may take a while for big companies to sign up celebrities, once a player does well, corporates at least start getting interested in them. The number of deals that they finally sign on depends on how well they have consistently performed." The value of a cricketer is always a function of his performance, added Ms Bangard.

And along with Balaji, the other stars of the series are Rahul `The Wall' Dravid, the Najafgarh boy, Virendra Sehwag, and Irfan Pathan. The sports marketing official managing Dravid and Pathan said that in the last six months, celebrity endorsement rates for these two stars have only gone up.

The Indian team, too, is likely to get more endorsements at higher value in the coming months. This will be in addition to the Rs 50-lakh bonus announced by the Board of Control for Cricket in India to the Indian team for winning the Indo-Pak series.

Meanwhile, corporates such as Samsung, which has invested Rs 60 crore in the tournament, are ecstatic. "Two members of Team Samsung, Virendra Sehwag and Rahul Dravid, have performed very well and we are really delighted," said Mr R. Zutshi, Director (Marketing), Samsung India.

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