The 2007 World Cup in cricket is likely to go down in history as a tournament that all lovers of the game would like to forget, essentially for the dark shadow cast by the murder of Bob Woolmer, one of the most likable persons in the game. This tragic killing brings to the surface only a symptom of all that’s gone wrong with the game of cricket across the world and more particularly in India and Pakistan.

For cricket lovers in India, the ranks of whom have swollen to the country’s entire population, the failure of the Indian team provides a moment for reflection on the rot that has set in. Cricket is now the nation’s paramount passion, buoyed by sums of money at unprecedented levels and public support unmatched in fervour or numbers by any other activity across the globe. No doubt a sombre mood is prevailing in the West Indies as the game goes on, with a loss of exuberance, as the crime of Bob Woolmer’s death remains unsolved. Allan Donald has gone to the extent of suggesting the World Cup should be called off, which perhaps would not be a bad idea, because this would catch the underworld, involved in betting and other rackets, by surprise. But any such move is unlikely to be contemplated by the ICC.

The dismal failure of the Indian team with the ignominious defeat at the hands of Bangladesh and tame surrender to Sri Lanka in the tournament lays bare the pathetic state of the game and its management in India, which could perhaps have been predicted by a perceptive analyst even six months ago. The so-called superstars of the team have been failing for a year or more now, often compounded by frequent injuries. Till the team was announced there were valid reasons for wild guesses on the final composition of the squad. There was doubt whether our bowlers would be able to pose any threat to the kind of opposition that we could meet with teams like Australia and South Africa, and our batsmen, with the exception of Rahul Dravid and more recently Saurav Ganguly, remained unpredictable. The case of Sachin Tendulkar is particularly curious, because while his strokeplay even today shows flashes of his past genius, his power of concentration has evidently weakened. A case in point is the manner in which he was bowled by Fernando in the match against Sri Lanka, when his bat came down too late. But more on the Indian scene later.

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