Sigh!

Not only will there be no India v. Pakistan in the World Cup, there is a good chance of there being neither India nor Pakistan. God save the game of cricket. And please god, drive some sense into those business managers of cricket.

God save the game of cricket because it is the Indian fan that drives the game. Without the effigy burners and the Chappel-slappers and the "Sehwag should be murdered" types, there is little money in the game. And the business managers fully realizing this, milked and continued to milk, the Indian team for all it was worth. And in doing so, placed all their eggs (all 1.1 billion dollars of it) in the same basket of the Indian fans' delusion - which as Laloo Prasad Yadav will tell you, is an unsustainable business model. Because dreams and relity (when did we last win an ODI competition of note outside the subcontinent?) need to meet at some point. You cannot forever sell a product using hype only. I mean, all the consumer needs is some competition, right? To be able to choose between products? At least, that is the theory. In practice, choice is the luxury available to a few, and certainly not for the Indian cricket fan. Are we going to stop watching Yuvraj Singh and follow Anju George? How about Jeev Milkha Singh then? Baichung promotes Wai Wai, and I love Wai Wai, so I think I need to know what exactly he has been doing with East Bengal.

Roobish.