Quite unbelievable.

Take this "Team India" away from friendly subcontinent conditions, and they become ..... this.

Pakistan is a strange team, very volatile, you never really know what to expect. But India will rue the day they sleep walked through thier Bangladesh encounter. Sri Lanka was always going to be too good, lets face it.

Doesn't really matter if Burmuda wins, and India magically advance, if they continue in this vein of form they'll nosedive out of the Super 8's. Time for them to go home and have a long, hard think.

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- VVVRulz..

It may give them a wake up call, to stop continuing with "dads army" and find some new blood i cannot for the life of me belive that sressanth was left out, and renina wasnt even in the squad

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Finally England have risen from the ashes.

On March the 23rd Sri Lanka achieved a fighting win over the Indians. The hightlight for me was that they didn't let their heads to fall at any given point of time. The pitch conditions and early wickets went against them at the start. They, however, always were aware of the 'next best thing' to do. They revised their target scores and made sure that they don't fall apart below 200. When they eventually reached 200, they were on their way to 230. Again with a couple of good overs at the end Lankans crossed 250 at ease.

It was the ideal wicket to bat for the Indians. It took a bit more time to get the first wicket than I expected. I thought that was due to the flat nature of the wicket. Sri Lankans did nothing mirraculous to tackle them. They just kept bowling to the weak points of the Indians. They were rewarded regularly.

India is the most difficult opposition to handle as far as the SL believe. With proper planning and execution they may easily (they should actually) win 11 out of 11. That is very practical to me. And that is what is going to happen in my personal view!

I spoke to my broter-in-law in India this morning and he was telling me about the fans' outrage in India. Not so much at losing to Sri Lanka - after all they are a world class team - but at the overall inept performance. He told me that there is so much sponsorship and advert money in Indian cricket these days that TV match coverage feels more like a "cricket break" during an advertising show. The problem is that the Board and players have become too rich and lazy to bother about the finely honed physical & mental preparation necessary for a big event like the World Cup. Don't talk about 'Dad's Army' and such; within limits, age is just a number. Look at the way Sri Lankans have prepared; they all look lithe and very fit on the field. Vaas and Murali are no spring chickens and yet they were as active on the field as their younger colleagues yesterday. Did you see that catch Murali took to see off Ganguly? That is commitment for you. Take a look at Sri Lanka Cricket webite and you'll get an idea just how determined they are. I now believe that Sri Lanka have a good chance of winning the whole tournament.

I work in that advt industry nostromo and I can tell you that its a great blow to the advertisers here. Media rates have gone down by more than half and will continue to drop and TRP ratings of the relecast keeps dropping. The cricket websites are also taking a blow.Some ads have already been withdrawn and agencies are burning midnight oil trying to figure out different strategies for the brands. Big loss.

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My computer can beat me at chess.....but its no match for me at kick boxing.

agreed, cant believe how sreesanth or pathan didnt get a game, forgot about reina, no idea why he wasnt there! surely this fresh blood will now be introduced with the likes of kumble, ganguly and maybe sehwag going out, along with the great sachin

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Hoggy Hoggy Hoggy...OI OI OI!!!

I agree. I think people in the subcontinent are too much worried about this age issue. Only the the performances of the cricketers should be taken into the account. Young players will always come through.

I however still believe Murali is not a good fielder in the ring. His catching is alright but his sliding and sideways-diving to stop runs are not upto the standard. He is a qucik mover and with that he could actually field better in the outfield even if doesn't choose to dive or slide.

Nostromo > The whole commercialising of cricket is the biggest problem of all in India. These guys are treated like bollywood movie stars instead of what they really are, cricketers !! All the focus is gone, all the workman like players in the team such as Mohammad Kaif and VVS Laxman are nowhere in sight, and the results simply speak for themselves.

England would not have toppled Australia without Paul Collingwood, the perfect example of a true battler, a no nonsense cricketer who is out there to get the job done, no more no less. If India only had a handful of these sorts of characters they wouldn't be on the next flight home. If this doesn't give indian cricket the kick it needs, nothing will.

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- VVVRulz..

Both India and Pakistan are out because although full of stars they fail to deliver outside the subcontinent. Its got nothing to do with commercialism that is prevelant all over the world today. Its the fact that these players have lost focus on their game!

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I wonder if India and Pakistan schedule a mini series in the mean time, like 5 ODIs in each country? I think its gonna get more coverage than the on going world cup.

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Had cricket been a religion, Imran Khan would've been the god.