What if India lost the final ???

1. Dhoni would be called the worst captain of all time for not picking Ashwin in the final.
2. Sachin Tendulkar would have retired without winning the world cup. People will speculate him playing in the 2015 WC
3. Dilshan would have been the Man of the tournament
4. Jayawardene's knock would be compared with Ricky Ponting's knock in the 2003 finals. He would have been the man of the match
5. Harbhajan would have been termed an 'ineffective spinner' unable to take wickets in spinning wickets
6. Kohli would have lost his position in the team
7. Sreesanth would be dropped indefinitely from the team for his poor performances in the world cup
8. Zaheer Khan would be reprimanded for bowling a poor final spell
9. Sidhu would have screamed all over TV saying omission of Ashwin was the reason
10. Sangakara would have not stepped down from captaincy, Dhoni would have been removed from captaincy
11. Critics will point fingers at Sachin and say he has never performed in crucial matches
12. Gary Kirsten's exit from the team would have been quiet. He would have never been approached to stay back.
13. Pepsi would remove all its ads featuring Men bleeding in blue
14. Ashwin would become a regular member of the team
15. Muralitharan would have achieved the highest glory for the second time in his last game
16. The BCCI would have never announced 1 crore prize money for all players. 
17. Kapil Dev and his team would still be approached during the 2015 world cup and asked how it felt to win the world cup. You will then see Kapil saying 'I am confident that this team will surely win the world cup'
18. India's poor record in the finals will continue. Cricinfo.com would put up statistics displaying how India have poorly performed in the finals over the last few years.
19. One section of India will console themselves with the fact that India won Australia and Pakistan in the QF and SF respectively.
20. Dhoni would consider going back to his 'old and lucky' hair style with long hair.. ;)

And finally,

Kohli would have never said these golden words 'Tendulkar has carried the burden of the nation for 21 years. It is time we carried him on our shoulders'

Good Bye, Ricky Ponting

In what could be his last world cup match, Ricky Ponting was magnificent. And finally, after years of dominating ODI cricket, Australia have been knocked out of the World cup. There will be a new champion this year.

After months of suffering from a bad patch, he produced a knock which can be compared with his 2003 WC final's innings. Only legends will be able to muster enough strength to silence out their critics. It would be unfair if he will be remembered as the captain who lost Ashes 3 times and crashed out of the WC in the quarter finals.

In the movie 'Dark Knight', the lead character Batman says 'You die as a hero, or you live long enough to be called a villain'. This is Ricky Ponting's sad state. People tend to forget what he has done and start questioning what he has not done. Jayasurya, Vaas, Shoaib Akthar, Steve Waugh, Kumble, Dravid, Ganguly suffered the same fate as well.

On a crumbling pitch, with a pumped up Indian bowling side, Ponting played what was required for his country. He scored singles, the occasional boundary and kept the score board ticking. The slog overs were utilized properly as well. The batsmen who followed scored at a healthy rate in the final overs. 260 was a good score on that pitch, but his bowlers let him down. As Ian chappel correctly pointed out, there were simply too many boundary balls bowled by the Aussie bowlers.

Yet another 100 by a legend in vain, the Australian media or public don't blame him for the defeat. Rather they admire him for his efforts. And that's how it should be. A national hero worth admiring!!! Salute, Ricky Ponting. You have entertained us well for so many years.

This result sets up an exciting match between India and Pakistan. The mother of all clashes. Pakistan are in awesome form and India is peeking at the right moment. There will be no lack in entertainment.