If you are an avid cricket fan following India's world cup fortunes or misfortune(s) to be more precise, nothing could have been more heartbreaking than India's exit from the Cricket World Cup.

If you're not a follower of cricket and went through Sunday morning's newspaper you feel as if there has been a calamity which has struck India. The only difference is, it's a calamity of a different kind. I was watching with interest the discussion titled "India Bowled out" on NDTV @ 8 p.m. It had as it's moderator Vishnu Som, the other panelists were Navjot Singh Sidhu and Ajay Jadeja.

While Sidhu was doing what he was good @ it, Ajay had a few valid points. However it seemed that everyone had their own axe to grind. The one speaker I am most impressed with, was Imran Khan who was speaking from Lahore. I still remember the 1992 world cup when Imran despite being on pain-killers led his team from the front and eventually won the world cup for his team & the country.

His assessments were completely objective and unbiased. Take this quote "When you're talking about sweeping changes, make sure that the change takes you forward but doesn't take you to the bottom." It's this objectivity and willingness to think rationally that's missing among the fans, players, cricket administrators and the media.

It's understandable that fans are upset, however it doesn't give one the licence to threaten the family members of players, vandalise their homes and show ugly behavior on the street. Personally I have no compunctions to say that it's a good thing India lost. Instead of pouring money into cricket and getting low or zilch returns, why not encourage budding players in other sports like tennis, archery, gymnastics etc. All these games are played @ the Olympics whereas cricket is not.

The Advertisers must be in a state of shock, as per the estimates they have lost upto INR 30 crores after India's exit from the world cup and so did the tourism industry. It's better they put their money where their mouth is.

A piece of advice for the Indian players, learn from Australia how the game is to be played. Aussies may not be the best of role-models for their behaviour but the way they have played so far and yesterday's match against South Africa speaks volumes about their consistent approach to the game. Australia's 377 runs came against quality opposition.

You don't become champions by making a record word cup total of 400+ against minnows Bermuda who were like lambs put to the slaughter. I was most touched by the Bermuda captain's gesture. He loves India so much that he has named his daughter "India".

He said, if beating Bangladesh can help India reach Super 8 then he'll try his best to make that happen, this is inspite of the pasting they received from India.