A word on World Cup.

It is tempting to fatuously ask: Why bother to have it at all? It saves a lot of trouble if we just hand the cup to Australia every four years.

Seriously, Australia prove their allround skills again, and we get to see how far ahead they are of every other team. They are taking the game to new heights. We talk a lot in India about how things can improve, what steps need to be taken etc etc. We usually have a vague vision of where we want to go. The thing is that Australia exhibit all those qualities right now. I don't know if we will ever see India play "outstanding" cricket, but we are fortunate we can watch Australia do so. It doesn't matter if there are no close matches, it is a joy to watch them anyway. As Amit writes, it is better than watching two mediocre teams in a close game.

I have a particular fondness for Adam Gilchrist, and his innings was highly enjoyable. Surely one of the best one-day innings I have seen.

Sri Lanka joined their subcontinental neighbors by losing to Australia in a WC final. But they gave a better fight than Pakistan in 99 or India in 03.