“world cup is back...we definitely dont want to give it back...”

Finally, the much awaited cricket world cup is about to begin on perhaps the most romantic day of the yea, ie 14th Feb (so they say). Its kind of sad for the Indian crowd in a lot of ways. First the fact that that the matches are going to be held in australia and New Zealand is a cause of worry for us due to the opposite time zones. The matches are slated for as early as 3.30am in the morning and 6.30am as well. To add to the misery of the youngsters, the month of feb and march is the month of the Board Exams, college term exams and students are already worked up as to how will they manage both events-both being a life and death game for us.

I still remember when i was in school preparing for my class 12th exams in March 2003, Indian was playing Kenya one day before my Maths exam. Even though Maths was one terrorising subject and had me in tension as well, but curiosity got the better of me and i ended up watching each over of the match that day. Such is the passion we Indians have for this game, specially the 50 over world cup which makes us wait for over four years. No matter how many T20 worldcups, Asia Cups, Champions League, we may have, this world cup has a special charm of its own.

And this time, in 2015, it is going to be the mother of all battles as we are the defending champions. The nail biting finish of the 2011 world cup final is still etched in our memory. The six hit by our captain MS dhoni which went miles away is something which brings back a flood of memories even today. The lifting of Sachin on their shoulders by the teammates was a sight worth seeing live. And the recent advertisement being aired on television these days stating "we wont give it back" is charging us enough to be awake early to see India play.

It remains to be seen what will be the strategy of our skipper  Dhoni this time around. With the news of his retirement from test cricket, news of his being a father soon, the recent loss to Australia and England  and the fact that we are not playing in the Asian Sub continent but overseas , is going to be a much more difficult mental battle for him.

Its time once again, for him and his team to prove the critics wrong. And we all heartily and earnestly pray that they will..