WC Final: Over a billion prayers for India
Songs and dance, folk enactment of Lord Rama hitting for sixer the delivery of a Lankan Ravana and chants of India, India. It is a cricket uprising in India.
More than a billion prayers were posted to the God for an Indian win on Saturday as a country sold on cricket wait with bated breath for the India-Sri Lanka final in Mumbai on Saturday.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh only joined the 1.21 billion nation when he wished the team on Friday, urged all Indians to do so and hoped that the team keep up the good work.
With bands singing ?Hai Sachin Mahan? in Bhopal, to college goers crying India-India in Chennai, and the army personnel breaking into “Sare Jahan Se Accha”, it is cricket hysteria that rules India now.
Ever the Nightingale of India, Lata Mangeskar, reports say, kept a fast for the Men in Blue.
In Kolkata, the cricket fans ran with an elongated tricolour that streaked like an anaconda through its narrow, winding alleys in a splash of national pride to cheer for the Men in Blue.
Bleed blues, go countless SMS as Facebook and Twitter buzz with the big-ticket match on Saturday.
Of all the players and the team, there are special prayers for Sachin Tendulkar for whom even every Team India member wants to win the Cup.
In Mumbai, the tickets were all sold out and the black marketers made a killing.
While the genuine cricket fans who hoped to catch the action at the Wankhede Stadium were left high and dry with few tickets reaching the common people as black marketers made a killing selling tickets for even Rs 1.5 lakh.
Reports said tickets for the final are sold for as high as Rs 1.5 lakh.
A sting operation by the NDTV also exposed tickets being sold in black by a security guard at the stadium.
Wankhede stadium can accommodate 32, 000 spectators but only 4000 tickets reached the common people.
Rest went to the big shots of India, the clubs and corporates.
The corporate boxes of the tickets were earlier bought by Mukesh Ambani?s Reliance Industries Limited (RIL), Vijay Mallya?s Kingfisher, Tata Consultancy Service and Bajaj.
Media reports said RIL has bought three boxes for over Rs 11 crore.
Each box has 15 seats and rents to owners for 10 years.
The Bollywood royalty will be in full presence on Saturday. Shah Rukh Khan and Aamir Khan will cheer for India among the many other Bollywood stars.
“I am going to the game tomorrow,” tweeted Bollywood actor, activist and Rugby player Rahul Bose.
Meanwhile, team India captain M S Dhoni is raring to go. Captain Cool says his team is ready for the final.
“You are in the moment. Yesterday, we had a good night sleep. You get up in the morning, come for the practice, and it’s hardly now 14 or 20 hours before the start of the game. So, in a way, it’s good. You are not thinking too much of the future,” said Dhoni.
“You are just being in the present, and preparing yourself for the big game because you want to do well in a tournament like this, and especially it’s being held in India.
?You never know when you will get an opportunity to again play in the World Cup, and secondly, when the World Cup is being held in the subcontinent,” he added.
Dhoni said he was proud leading the team.
According to experts, Indians are going to the final with a lot of confidence after beating Pakistan in the semifinal.
India would play with incredible self-belief though Sri Lanka is a tough competition, said Imran Khan.
Sri Lanka captain Kumar Sangakkara has dismissed suggestions that his team was the underdogs.
“I don’t think so (being underdogs) because we have been playing well as a unit for the last couple of years. We have to accept the fact that the Indians, for the last two years, have been tagged as the favourites by almost everyone to win the World Cup,” he said.
Sangakkara said all his boys are excited to play the final.
Sri Lanka will be without key all-rounder Angelo Matthews while champion off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan is racing against time to get fit.
“Murali’s presence is always valuable. He is a big match player. It’s great to have him in the side. It will be great to have him tomorrow in the World Cup final,” Sangakkara said.
“Whatever happens tomorrow we want to play for him and play for each other and do the best that we can.”
“It’s hard to shut Murali up, whatever his mood is. He’s pretty upbeat. He’s always talking, laughing and annoying most of the other players in the dressing room. Today’s been no different,” said Sangakkara.
Meanwhile, a controversy has broken out over the coverage of the big event by the news channels in India.
After banning the channels, the International Cricket Council (ICC) on Friday decided to begin legal proceedings against offending Indian news channels who have repeatedly breached the News Access Guidelines for Broadcasters for the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011.
Despite a lengthy meeting at the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting in New Delhi, the National Broadcasters Association (NBA) and the Broadcast Editors Association (BEA) refused to give assurances that they would desist from breaching the broadcast guidelines in their news programming.
Accordingly, the ICC has decided to commence legal action against the companies involved and will also seek to recover damages through the courts in India rather than bar the stations from the ICC Cricket World Cup final.
Haroon Lorgat, the ICC Chief Executive, said: ?I am very disappointed that it has come to this, however, we need to do everything to protect our exclusive commercial rights and those of our partners. If that means we have to resort to legal action, that is regrettable but necessary.
