Cricket World Cup 2011 fever finally grips City maidans !

MUMBAI: With the biggest cricketing action just 9 days away, the city's aspiring cricketers who dream of donning the national colours someday are flocking the cricket grounds - Azad, Cross, Oval and Shivaji Park - to practice and hone their skills to perfection.

These local players from various socio- economic backgrounds want India to win. They want India to win because this would be the last World Cup where master blaster Sachin Tendulkar would be playing.

" Sachin and Sehwag are the key players on whom we can rely, however Yusuf Pathan and Kohli can be the surprise factors for everyone" said Deepak Parekh, a budding cricketer who spoke to FPJ during drinks in the blazing sun at Cross Maidan.

When it comes to cricket every player on these grounds has an ' expert opinion' to give. Though majority of these young club level and gully cricketers feel the Indian team composition is perfect, some would be missing the likes of Irfan Pathan and Robin Utthapa. " I think Rohit Sharma would have been a better choice rather than Piyush Chawla as he provides a better option as an all rounder," said Piysh Shah, a spinner who daily practices at Shivaji Park, the cradle of Mumbai cricket where Tendulkar was groomed by his first coach Ramakant Achrekar.

Not only seasoned players, but even the gully cricketers have their own way of preparing for the cup. Many kids throughout the city have prepared teams and named them according to the different countries participating in the World Cup.

Though many people believe the increasing craze, glamour and popularity of the IPL has affected the fan following of the World Cup.

" The IPL is providing a lot of entertainment in lesser time and with so much of cricket around, the World Cup has lost its prominence that it used to have till 2003" said Farhan Mirza, another local cricket player.

One of the factors that can go against the popularity of the event is only three matches are scheduled to take place in the city one of them being the final. As none of the remaining two matches includes India, the citizens would be wanting the Indians to qualify for the finals.

" This is unfair, this city is one of the biggest fans of cricket in the country and only three matches are kept here and India is not involved in any of them" said Akshay Kamboj, local cricket player.