Angry fans hunt for scapegoats after loss

Besides the fast bowlers, master batsman Sachin Tendulkar and skipper Saurav Ganguly also came in for a lot of flak for playing “trash shots”.

“Had Zaheer Khan concentrated on bowling in a disciplined manner instead of trying to sledge the opening Australian batsmen, he would have captured some wickets,” said Valiatham Moodley, a Durban chemist.

“Then you had Tendulkar going and playing a rash shot in the first over of the match.”

India’s collapse started from the very first over when they bowled and when they started to bat. Zaheer gave them a bad start by conceding 15 runs in the first over and Tendulkar let the team down by getting out in the first over, was another common refrain.

“I was so disappointed that I switched off my TV set and just left the house,” said a fan.

Another Indian fan, Bernard Naidoo, said he had his brother and brother-in-law at his house in the township of Phoenix to watch the final.

“When India started giving away runs my brother and brother-in-law got into a heated argument with me saying that India was going to lose. I told them to give India a chance and that when they start batting, Tendulkar, Ganguly and the others would carry them through to a victory,” Naidoo said.