Australia wins the ICC Cricket World Cup 2003, defeating India by a huge margin. You could tell from the first ball of the day. Something was wrong with the planets, I tell you. Wide balls, no balls, dead balls doled out like blankets before election time. Fielders running after catches as if it was a slow motion love song in Mithunda's next movie. To top it all, Tendulkar and ilk playing shots even Anna Kournikova would dread to in her sport. Add to that, the formidable Aussies. I fell asleep during Ricky Ponting's batting - seeing him hit six after six got monotonous.

Not that we have poor players or anything - every cricketer is entitled to a bad day. But to have Zaheer, Srinath, Tendulkar, Ganguly and Kaif commit synchronized harakiri is a phenomenon that one could attribute only to the grihas. Only our Viru Bhaiyaa gave the gazillion Indian flags at the Wanderers some reason to flutter about.

I guess the tournament has correctly selected its winners. Australia is the best team in the world at the moment, and India is the second best. And there's a large difference between the two positions - a difference of determination, atheleticism, discipline, experience, and above all, sheer luck.