11 Reasons why I'll remember this World Cup

• The Opening Ceremony - Traditional dances, colour and fireworks were seen at the opening ceremony of the World Cup, and it took place at the Bangabandhu National Stadium in Dhaka. The passion that Bangladeshi cricket fans have for their team is well known, and at the opening ceremony, there were songs sung by the local artists about how the world would see Bangladesh arriving at the world stage in cricket. Sadly it wasn't to be, for their team.
• Simon Hughes - When I was ten years old, my father brought back a book from one of his trips to Delhi called, "Jargonbusting - Mastering the art of Cricket", written by a gentleman called Simon Hughes. I found the book thoroughly interesting and informative. I was really happy, then, to find that the Englishman was on the panel of experts on the pre and post match show during the World Cup. However, I don't think he had the faintest idea, that something called Navjot Singh Sidhu was about to hit him. Every sound insight made by Sidhu's "good friend" Simon, that had a very good cricketing logic behind it was chopped by Sidhu's loud and boisterous manner, to which Mr. Hughes really had no answer. Sidhu kept reminding him and the rest of the world about the English batsmens' apparent lack of skill when it came to playing spin, repeating the same point in (what I can imagine it would've been for Simon Hughes) an increasingly irritating manner, and was particularly irksome to him. Sidhu was rank rude at times, but funnily, Hughes's "Please kill this man" face is one of the lasting images of the World Cup.
• Harvir Singh Baidwan in the top wicket takers list - Chances are that you'll find this name familiar, but won't really know who he is. Playing for Canada in this World Cup, Baidwan picked up 13 wickets in 6 matches. Every time I saw his name among bowlers like Murali, Zaheer Khan and Umar Gul, I got a quiet sense of happiness and optimism. Now it just reminds me of the ICC's grave injustice in deciding not to have the associates in the next world cup.
• Hiral Patel giving the Aussies a headache - 19 Year old Hiral Patel, opening for Canada in a dead rubber against Australia in the group stages, surprised one and all with his blazing half century, hitting the likes of Lee, Tait and Johnson all over the park. This is an attack that makes even the most experienced batsmen go weak in their knees, but Hiral Patel gave them no respect at all, the most arresting moment being his six over cover, off a 148kmph Tait thunderbolt.
• Afridi's Trademark Celebration - Every time Shahid Afridi took a wicket, he would stand at the middle of the pitch, chest out and both hands outstretched, looking up at the sky waiting for his teammates to come and embrace him. More often than not, this show of what looked like to others (read Ian Chappell) Afridi's arrogance brought out forced and exaggerated celebrations from his teammates. Better that than get on the wrong side of the captain eh?
• Ireland - To me, the tournament wouldn't have been half as exciting if Ireland weren't a part of it. They came here, proved everyone they belonged here, and left a mark. I dare say it, they were even better than a couple of test sides. Their fielding lit up the tournament. They looked like surprising every time they took the field. Though it may not look like it, they almost qualified for the knockouts. They beat England. They'll be even more competitive in 2015! Oh no, not the last part.
• Yuvraj Singh's reaction after hitting the winning runs against Australia - Going down on both his knees and roaring at the sky triumphantly, one knew at that moment that we were finally doing it, it was finally going to happen.
• Binga's World Cup Diary - Don't you get an amazing feeling when you find out an brilliant use for something that has been lying idle, ignored for months? That happened to me with my YouTube account, when i discovered how brilliant the 'subscribe' button was. I felt like god (hey it was a new toy for me) when all the videos providing the inside scoop and behind the scenes action of the world cup would appear at my home page at the click of a button. Brett 'Binga' Lee did a video series for the Cricket Australia TV channel, called 'Binga's World Cup Diary' and though it wasn't nearly as funny as Graeme Swann's diary during the Ashes, it was still really cool. Sadly, there were only three videos recorded in the series by Brett. I wonder why?
• Matches in HD - God bless Tata Sky.
• The Sri Lankan Stadiums - I loved watching the matches held in Sri Lanka, because I loved the beautiful venues and the Sri Lankan crowd. Great work was done on the Premadasa, and Hambantota and Pallakele were aesthetically beautiful.
• Mohali and Mumbai - Before the semi - final against Pakistan in Mohali, one almost forgot that there was a Cricket match going to be played, with all the political hype surrounding it. After winning that match, even though the build up to the final wasn't nearly as much as for the match against Pakistan, the victory was much sweeter. I was watching the final at my home with three of my friends, and when Dhoni hit that six off Kulasekara, the instant feeling that I got was really joyously overwhelming. I had thought of how it would be if India won the world cup, but had never really pictured the moment, so it was special when it actually happened. Tears and adrenaline followed, and like most of the country, I too was out running and screaming on the roads till late :)