The mandatory World Cup post....

And so, the World Cup has come and gone. The saddest part about the whole thing is that with India & Pakistan's exit, any chances of having Indians and Pakistanis cheering for their teams here have also evaporated.

If there is one thing that I sorely miss in this country, it is the indescribable atmosphere that builds up before a major cricket match. Schools, Colleges, Offices, all fall victim to that nervous anticipation. It sweeps all those who come before it. Like it or hate it, but you cannot ignore it (even those so-called, self confessed "cricket haters"). If you have been one of those people who have "stuck their head in the sand" when these matches approach, I pity you. You have missed out on a spectacular experience.

The post-mortem of the dismal showing will have surely begun. A few hard decisions will have to be taken. One of these might be the dropping of Sachin Tendulkar. His form over the last few years has been patchy, with sparkling brilliance punctuated by large periods of mediocrity. If this seems too drastic a step, then we can begin by dropping him for crunch games. It is clear that he does not perform upto scratch in most of these games. This may provide the necessary tonic for him to aim to perform better in these games. Who do we replace him with? That's a great question, one which has no easy answers. As coach, Greg Chappell must leave. His experimentation may have had some method, but in the end, we can only see the madness. In essence, instead of building after 2003, we have gone slowly downhill, fooling no one but ourselves in the process. I would favor Steve Waugh for the position, but it is unclear whether he is open to coaching.