I See See,World Cup!

Cricket World Cup evokes memories of an other age when buying a can of Pepsi fetched a big colourful card with lucid details of a particular edition,collecting random covers of Britannica biscuits to score 100 runs which in turn gave a booklet of trivia about each edition and collecting all issues of Sportstar for those boring previews of each team and a centre-spread schedule with Jonty "A plane?A bird?" Rhodes on air.Times have changed wherein I was reminded that the World cup was somewhere nearby waiting to grab my shirt only when the World cup was put for display in our campus.

My following of cricket has decreased gradually in the recent past due to other demanding spheres of activity but passion for cricket writing and watching still remains undiminished.Keen observation of recent cricketing trends has been absent in my case but I still adamantly persisted in writing a long article on World Cup considering it has been a bigger festival than all those ones with religious overtones.

The format of this year's edition has been clearly decided keeping in mind the early exit of the vital "India-Pak" combo in 2007.The responsibility of the debacle of the 2007 version fell on faulty administrators but a more precious reason was that India and Pakistan caught their flights back home early.ICC has cleverly ensured that these two countries remain in the tournament for a month atleast.Inspite of Kasab,Kargil and Kashmir,when it comes to a Pakistan vs Australia or Pakistan vs South Africa encounter,the Indian crowds will always cheer for Pakistan.For all their misgivings,Pakistan is still our brother and blood has always been thicker than water.

Talks are in the air of this being the most open of cups since 1992.India seems to be playing for Sachin Tendulkar.(Dhoni says in the toss of a warm-up game "We choose batting first so that the crowd can watch Sachin play").This can be a disastrous ploy for two reasons:Cricket is always a team game and more importantly,this won't be Sachin's last cup.Looking at his form and passion,he will be done with the game only after Virat Kohli retires.

England is on a rare and earnest hunt for the cup on the back of T20 gold and Ashes triumph.That those two formats have nothing to do with 50 over matches is one thing.That England lost to Australia 1-6 in 50 over matches is another thing.There is nothing as good as mental swagger and England possess it now.

Srilanka remains the only team to have won a Home Edition in 1996 (inspite of finals at Karachi) and they have the right mix to repeat the Ranatunga Magic once again.Australia,inspite of everything has the knack of peaking at the right time and South Africa,inspite of everything,has the knack of falling at the right time.Even if Steyn takes all ten wickets every match,they won't win the cup simply because South Africa is,well,South Africa.

West Indies and New Zealand,inspite of sincerity in efforts,will be making up the numbers while Pakistan will be the team to watch out for.Always.They were the original hosts but lost out for non-cricketing reasons.Three of their players get bans due to spot-fixing.Their board names a 15-man squad without a captain.Inspite of such a pathetic buildup,Pakistan is irresistible and even their collapses and surrenders are spectacular.

As Osman Samiuddin writes in Outlook,"All the while, as names and faces change, superstars come and go, captains are fired and hired, hurricanes and cyclones blow, Pakistan’s basic character, one that so endears it to the rest, remains: put in a corner, they come out with the greatest force. And as a spectacle, that’s difficult to better.".Let's sit back and enjoy those spectacles.Happy world cup friends!