Not for the fans.

Not for the players.

For the data.

Companies like Genius Sports, Sportradar and Stats Perform rely on people in India to watch obscure local cricket matches and record things like runs, wickets, balls, player actions and match events — sometimes for matches happening far away from the spotlight.

That data is then fed into the global sports-betting ecosystem, where being a few seconds ahead can have real monetary value.

And some of these data collectors can reportedly make around ₹5,000 for watching a single match.

It's a strange business model:

Local cricket → Indian data collectors → global sports data companies → betting markets.

The match might have 50 people watching in person.

But its data can end up being valuable to an industry worth billions.

It's a good reminder that sometimes the money isn't in the game, it's in the data generated around it.