Cricketmagiccastsaspell

Accordingto the International Cricket Council, 1,016,421 people attended the 49 matches over 44 days across Australia and New Zealandto witness tl1eir teams battle itout for the Cricket WorldCup ride for 2015. While tl1ere were only a handful of games whichcouldbeconsideredclose,the magic of cricket kept all,especially tl1ose from thelnclian sub-conrinent, spellbound.

My takeaways from the 44 daysof cricket:

You can tal<e the cricketout of India buc cannot keep the cricketfan away.

Of tl1e 1,000,000 pluswho attended, those wearingthe blue t-shirtswere seen ar almostallmatches. lnclians from all over theglobe descendedon Australia andNew Zealandtoenjoy thebattle between the bar and theball. While attendingtl1e variousmatches,I ranimo family groups fromIndia, cricket tragics from theUS, famer-son duos from me Middle East, all following the Indian cricketteam as meytravelledaround the twoconntries.There were local lnclian Australianswho took weeksoff work to either be at the groundsor be glued to tl1e television coverage. All this provided an an1a7jng atmosphere atmatches, especiallythe Inclia-South Africa match at theMCG whenmoretl1an 86,000 people - mostly Indian fans - cheered from the beginningof the match till tl1e end. Even the great SachinTendulkar admitted that hefeltlike donninghis pads andgloves,so strong wasthe excitementin tl1e air.

,Vhile Channel 9, as me local free-to· airTV, playedtrue toformby televising only Australia-centric matches,payTV didmanageto offerlive coverage of all the marches. More man just telecasts, it was greatto heargood cricket commentary from icons such as Brian Lara, RahulDravid, HarshaBhogle, Sourav Ganguly andso on. Compared to the commentary onChannel9,it was a refreshingchange tohearreal professionalsbehindthe microphone. Yes,some of the commentary on pay TVin Hindi did leave a lot to be desired, bmitdid lighten upsome of the more boringmatches.

On tl1e negacive side, also partof Channel 9, weretwo of their anchors who are eimer silly atbest or snipid at worst. Morning anchor KarlSrefanovic's comments to lncliansupportersprior tothe India-Australia semi-final, and ShaneWarne'spost-wininterview with the Aussie cricketers, are t\VO regrettable episodes from the tournament.

Onthe grand finalday, with India bundled ouc andtl1e contest being betweenneighbours Australia andNew Zeal.and, it was greatto see thelocal Indian Australiansdiscardtl1eirblue gearin favour of thegreen andgold. While they may have fumbledthrough tl1eirrendirionof AdvanceAustralia Fair,therewas nodenyingtheir passion for Australia as Mitchell Stare bowled Brendanl'v[cCallum in mefirst over. And yes, the sight whichwill remainwith me foraJongtime, is the dholplayer in Australian coloursleadingtile sound effectsin thegreatSouthern Standat tl1eMCG,with me locals joiningin tl1e hhangm.

The loud cheers for special guest SachinTendullG1rat tl1efinalceremony also warmed the heart. Admired for his contriburion tocricket,Sachin's acknowledgement was in sharp contrast to the boos which rangmrough tl1e MCGwhen ICC Chair N. Srinivasan was introduced. Australians wear their emotions on meir sleeves and their clisdain for aUegations of tainted behaviour was clear to note.

Now we wait for tl1e Ashes tobegin!