Suresh Menon: World Cup's lasting legacy

The cricket World Cup is over, the last six has been hit, the last mobile phone sold, and the last hair on Indian captain Dhoni’s head has been shaved. The players have it easy. All they need to do is turn up in 40-degree heat after some hours of travel, and play through 100 overs.

The media have to sit in air-conditioned rooms and make sense of everything. They have to deconstruct, to find the narrative, to contextualise. What is the message from the World Cup? Here are a few:

Three fallouts of India’s victory: 1) We will no longer have to watch footage of the 1983 World Cup until we have Madan Lal’s celebration coming out of our ears. 2) We won’t have Team 1983 dusted and brought out of the mothballs every four years to tell us how teamwork was the secret. 3) Our cars and soaps and credit cards and phones and toothpastes will come with the guarantee  of millions – the millions that are paid to our cricketers, that is.

Most promising response: An Indian chief minister promises a plot of land to the Bangalore players.

Then realising there are no Bangalore players he promises land to every player and coach. Then realising he has no land to offer he promises every player  Rs 2.5 million. Watch this space – soon the offer  might be whittled down to two T-shirts with his face  on them and a gift voucher worth Rs 50.

Most tosses won in a World Cup final: Two, and this record will stand to the name of Sri Lanka’s Kumar Sangakkara who won the toss the first time, had the result annulled and then won the re-toss. One way of beating the record is to nominate the same match referee for the 2015 final. This time he didn’t hear the call, next time he won’t see the coin and might declare someone in the audience as the winner of the toss.

Biggest non-event: Sachin Tendulkar’s 100th international century. Like obituaries written in advance, hosannas were sung and special editions were planned in anticipation, but now we will simply have to wait.

Least relevant bit of information from the commentary box: The  pattern-seeking, comfort-giving commentator told us that when India last won the World Cup, their captain’s name began with the letter ‘D’. And that the Board President then and now, are both from Nagpur. He missed the most significant detail, however: that Amitabh Bachchan’s initials were the same in 1983 and in 2011. What a coincidence!

Smartest entrepreneur: The man selling Indian flags outside the stadium
in Bangalore. “Flag, flag, black, black, flag...” he chanted, drawing attention
to his real job.

Tell us what you think, email us at friday@gulfnews.com