Students of a city school get ready for the Cup experience. Picture by Nagendra Kumar Singh

Patna, Feb. 18: Cricket’s biggest event is here.

As the entire nation pads up for the cricket World Cup starting tomorrow, the state capital is yet to get out of the four-year long slumber.

The mood is low-key, if one takes a stroll in the city market.

The World Cup used to be a major event for corporates, who tried to cash in on the cup fever.

However, this World Cup, one would rarely find big banners, hoardings or posters depicting the World Cup mania. There is not even a sense of feeling for the game, which will see 14 nations battling it out for the coveted cup.

Showrooms, hotels or restaurants are yet to declare special offers, which are usually common bait during major sporting events for consumers. Though many reputed garment and footwear companies are offering discounts, they have not come out with special offers on their products.

When asked about special schemes, which the company intends to offer during World Cup, a salesman at Reebok showroom near Planetarium said: “The company has not decided to come out with any scheme regarding World Cup. It may come up after a week.”

However, companies dealing with television are making the most of the event.

“We have witnessed a 100 per cent rise in our sales of LCD TV sets of more than 40 inch. We are selling five to six LCD TVs everyday for the past couple of days. On normal days the sale figures for such products stands at one or two,” Anuj Kumar Singh, general manager of Aditya Vision dealing with electronic goods, told The Telegraph.

Singh said the sale has gained momentum because of two reasons: “First, the World Cup and second, companies providing free DTH with every purchase of at least 22inch LCD TVs. The sales might pick up in days to come as the World Cup fever sets in.”

The hotels, on the other hand, have not come out with any special offer for the World Cup as they used to do in previous grand sporting events. People related to the business said that the ongoing wedding season could be one reason why hotels are reluctant on coming out with offers for the World Cup as of now.

“Our hotel has advance bookings for weddings. The World Cup fever is not palpable as of now. May be it will gain momentum in days to come. We are planning to start special arrangements for the World Cup a week later,” Sanjay Mishra, general manager of Patliputra Ashok said.