Cricket fans and politicians vent fury over loss to Sri Lanka {lead: Cricket

The Indian cricket team drew flak on Saturday from die-hard fans and politicians alike a day after their defeat to Sri Lanka in the World Cup match in the Caribbean.

Winners in 1983 and runners-up in the last tournament, India suffered a 69-run defeat in their crunch Group B match against Sri Lanka and their slim hopes of progressing now hinge on an unlikely defeat for Bangladesh by debutants Bermuda on Sunday.

Cricket is taken very seriously in India, where players are treated as huge celebrities, paid big money to endorse major commercial brands and put on pedestals by cricket-crazy fans.

"The supporters of the Indian players have catapulted the team to a cult status, and when that happens the team collapses. Can the team win by just performing rituals? The members of the team are busy minting money by endorsing products. These players should be removed and replaced by new players," said Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav, whi is also the President of the Bihar Cricket Association.

Bharatiya Janata Party leader M. Venkaiah Naidu said the team needed to pull up its socks at least in the future games.

"There is a need for our cricketers to improve their talent. They have to work hard and be prepared for the next round. What is to be done with regards to the cricket control board, let the board apply its mind and take the needed decision," he said.

Meanwhile, hundreds of cricket fans across India burnt effigies, defaced posters and held mock funeral processions of the national team.

In capital New Delhi, Shiv Sena protesters burnt effigies, stamped on glossy posters of players andaubed their faces with black paint. Others lashed out at the pictures with their shoes.

"Neither the players nor the board is concerned about the game. They all are out to make quick bucks out of cricket. But they are forgetting the billion countrymen all connected to them, they are all hurt at theefeat," said Jai Bhagwan Goel, an activist of the party.

In Indore, dozens of cricket fans staged a mock funeral procession where people dressed as the 11 cricket players were carried on stretchers through the streets.

"They have shown us that they can only beat teams like Kenya, Canada, Bermuda. They are being defeated by Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, it's a very shameful situation. So, we have burnt an effigy of Indian team to register our dissent," said Anup Shukla, a local.

Security has been stepped up outside the residences of some of the cricketers, overr fears of an attack or stone pelting by fans.

The World Cup-frenzy in the country has been fuelled by a multitude of television channels and media houses who have touted the team as favourites and are tracking the action minute-by-minute since the team's arrival in the Caribbean. (ANI)

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