Bangalore: ‘Men in Blue’ are facing lots of other setbacks along with their defeat after the Oz tour. India’s seven successive defeats brought down India’s winning percentage to 24.95 according to Rediff report. Under Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s captaincy, the Perth test defeat is the tenth defeat what India faced.

The seven consecutive defeats by the Indian Team was too much for cricket fans to take and they portrayed their "not interested" attitude by making the TRPs (television rating points) of sports channel fall. The Perth test has yielded very bad set of TRPs. India’s consecutive innings defeats in the India-Australia is the main reason for it. According to a branch of TAM (television audience measurement) - TAM Sports, the ratings for the first two plays between India and Australia were 0.89 and 0.7 respectively, which was quite bad for a team that lifted the World Cup. In the previous game with England, the TRP noted was 1.79.

Sponsors, media planners, broadcasters and experts say if this remains the scenario, then the demand for cricket and Indian cricketers will soon lose their audience. Brand endorsement fees for cricketers like Dhoni who earns about 6-7 crore per annum for a brand, will no longer see demand from advertisers.

“If eyeballs move away from cricket over a period of time, the value for the game will depreciate. Every stakeholder will lose and it will pull the game down the value chain. Right now, cricket is still the biggest sporting property in India. But as we develop as a nation, our performances and watching habits are bound to change,” said Sanjay Kailash, the EVP and Head of Sales, ESPN-Star Sports (ESS).