Karnataka   

World Cup extravaganza unfolds

In the isles of the Carribean calypso, 16 teams will aim to create their own band of music on the field. World Cup'07 is here and as the masses get set to dish their own set of excuses ranging from sudden fever to relatives falling sick, a deluge of leave letters is set to overwhelm schools, colleges and offices. Ever since Kapil Dev flashed his toothy grin and lifted the Prudential World Cup in 1983 and made the stiff Lords' upper lip quiver, cricket has acquired a reverential air for us. We as a Nation link our self-esteem to cricket and Rahul Dravid's men are saddled with our huge load of expectations. "We want to play consistently well," has been Dravid's constant refrain in the build-up to cricket's premier event and it does help that with New Zealand spanking Australia in the Chappell-Hadlee one-day series, Ricky Ponting's men have lost a bit of their invincible aura. It is termed as the most open World Cup in recent times with no clear favourites though defending champions Australia might have a marginal edge precisely because of their ability to raise their game when the chips are down. The Aussies love a good fight and when pushed to a corner, they come out snarling. But their worry-bag is full as Brett Lee is missing and Mathew Hayden and Andrew Symonds are racing against time to recover from injuries. For the Indians, it is an opportunity to gift us new heroes who will make us as proud as we were of `Kapils Devils' in 1983. The senior quartet of Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, Anil Kumble and Sourav Ganguly are not expected to play in the next World Cup and a Cup triumph in the West Indies will be a perfect parting gift as they enter the last lap of their careers. Besides Indiranagar's famous resident Dravid, Karnataka is ably represented by Kumble and emerging star Robin Uthappa. Uthappa, the Coorgi lad, could well be the wildcard who lends surprise and shock to rival teams. And if Uthappa could repeat what Inzamam-Ul-Haq did in the 1992 World Cup, Dravid might well be sporting a big grin on April 28 - the day of the final at Barbados. The Indians have a nice blend of senior pros backed by young tyros with fire in their bellies like Dinesh Karthik or Sreesanth. And it is also time to emulate the 1983 triumph. Among the remaining teams, New Zealand does have a bit of momentum after defeating Australia back home; South Africa is now leading the one-day ratings but has often failed on the big stage in crunch games; Sri Lanka could well be the dark horse, it has a team that can upset other teams on the sluggish wickets in the Carribean; England is a team on a belated upswing but its one-day form has often been fickle; Pakistan is a volatile team that can surge and slump; And the West Indies has the home-advantage and skipper Brian Lara is itching to revive the Windies' glory days. Teams like Bangladesh and Bermuda do make up the numbers but they also have an opportunity to do a reality-check on their own abilities when pitted against stronger teams. It is time to switch on the television, flip the remote and sit back and enjoy as the biggest spectacle in cricket, unfolds. And it is also nice to say `may the best team win' but deep in our minds, the favourite fantasy would be visualising Dravid holding aloft the cup on April 28.

K.C. Vijaya Kumar

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