Fasten Your Seatbelts – The ICC World Cup 2011 Is Here!

We are so inclined that if we watch a cricket match, we’re likely to have taken part in it. In India, where cricket and Bollywood are the forces of life, economy, entertainment and religion, the imminent ICC World Cup has sent the country into a tizzy. The tension is almost palpable as India take on Bangladesh in the WC opener today.

Already the WC is creating problems for players. Ricky Ponting, the man who staged a comeback in the Ashes only to be told to go back after Australia’s humiliating loss to England, has hit out at mounting criticism by saying that he doesn’t believe in favourites, this from the man who used to go into battle saying that his team was buoyed by the knowledge that they were the favourites. Then there is the ban on ambush marketing; our Indian players have particularly been hit hard and woke up to the ban only last week.

Historically, the WC has been a source of major controversies and tussles which have hogged the spotlight more than the game and served to degrade it. But in India, a country where women are notorious for watching soaps where the ‘saas’ and ‘bahu’ are locked in battle like God and Satan, the next couple of months will see men emancipated enough to go to their TVs and change the channel.