MUMBAI: The mood in the media and advertising fraternity is one of caution ahead of the Micromax Cup which kicks off on Ten Sports on 28 May. That is because India is sending what could be considered a second string team full of youngsters.
 
A media buyer expressed some concern that in the absence of stars like Tendulkar, Dhoni ratings might suffer. Caution can be seen from the fact that Ten Sports has still quite a bit of inventory to sell. Negotiations are still going on.

Zee chief revenue officer Joy Chakraborthy concedes that as of now only two sponsors have come in - Micromax and Hero Honda.
 
However, he put up a brave face while saying that in cricket deals are often done at the last minute. "We refuse to budge on our rate of Rs 140,000 per 10 seconds. We have gotten a lot of spot buyers like Pidilite, ICI Paints, HP. For each match we have sold around 3,500 seconds. We are hopeful of getting three more sponsors in the coming days," he says.

In total there are 5000 seconds available in each match. Joy claims that around 60 per cent of inventory has been sold.
 
It has been learnt that some advertisers do not want to shell out more than Rs 100,000 per 10 seconds. Some clients would rather wait and invest on the India versus Sri Lanka Test and ODI series which is also on Ten Sports. It is widely expected that a full strength Indian team will be present there.