The world came down, the flags went up and we all witnessed how the world cup slipped out of our hands- not once… but twice!
First as we lost the co-hosting rights, and then… a second time, as our ‘world class’ batsmen made a mockery of their skills in front of the whole world!
Even Afridi’s daughter couldn’t help but say: Misbah ko tab hosh aya jab balls hi thorri see reh gayee theen! 
I am of course playing wild shots like Afridi, but maybe, they are not as wild as they sound after after all!
The world is rife with speculation. I am perhaps just contributing my share.
This world cup and the gossip thereafter takes me back many years.
Remember when Priyanka Chopra was crowned Miss World? Yes, the same girl who scared us in “saat khoon maaf” recently!
It was widely speculated back then that, she was not the most “genuinely” deserving candidate. There was a lot of controversy surrounding her . That it was all staged (read bought!) Zee Tv had exclusive broadcast rights of the Pageant. She was not as eloquent as some of the other contestants, especially during the final rounds and yet was crowned Miss World! Can we forget the IPL’s (Indian Premier League Cricket extravaganza, of which 4th season is in full swing in India these days) second edition that was held in South Africa due to security fears? It was widely reported during the time that, most of the team owners were made to ‘donate’ heavily- not to the South African Cricket Board but- to the government of South Africa, to let them stage the IPL tournament there and prevent it from getting cancelled!
Fast forward to last year when the Commonwealth games were held in India.
I am not even touching on the various inquiries going on regarding corruption cases, on the games organizing officials.
We all know that Commonwealth funds are distributed among member nations. Same happens with the games branch. However, as the date for the games drew near and many athletes refused to participate- either due to security fears or inadequate facilities- the rumours became rife that $100,000 were ‘distributed’ to each member country, to ensure participation!
May be all of the above was just a media sensationalism, but then coming back to the 2011 world cup, remember the India vs England (played 27th Feb 2011) match that was a tie?
Looked like a most thrilling contest! A very high scoring game that ended with no result due to tied scores! Yes, great effort… but by whom??
If Shane Warne is to be believed: he tweeted a night before the match, that it will be a tie!!! WOW!! Seems Shane Warne was the Oracle Octopus for this cricket world cup!
Now that the world cup is over, Pakistani team is back home. Surprisingly, not hiding away in friends’ homes, but attending high profile receptions including one by the Prime Minister of the country! The Chief Ministers of Punjab and Sindh also boasting off with their own receptions! Why is all the appeasement going on? To keep their mouths shut?? Well…aren’t the cricketers going to get their share of the booty for playing according to the “instructions”? Oh… before you forget! No… we are not the Indian team! We are Pakistani team, who lost to India in the Semi finals. We didn’t win the world cup. India did. We just nudged them on! Also, people in the know tell me I should look at the footage of the Indian victory lap. The guy accompanying Tendulkar is the most notorious bookmaker of India, and he was in the Indian dressing room all through the final!
Now that’s the icing on the cake… isn’t it?
De ghuma ke!
Farhana Syed's Blog 