There is too much anger in the air. Anger. Hostility. Abuse. In public, on blogs, in social gatherings. And it is either derived from or aimed at the game that we profess to love. We claim to be admirers but we are fickle and those that are fickle are not really friends. We rave and we rant and we beat our breasts and we throw stones and pull walls down and believe that is acceptable. And then a day later, we go overboard; we queue up to sign meaningless messages, we tell our young cricketers that they are superheroes and we create comic strips. But it’s only a cricket match and the other team wants to win it as well. And has a right to.

But we fail to use the one weapon that we possess that is deadlier than any other. It is the off button on the remote control. But we can’t do that, we cannot treat triumph and disaster as impostors. We need our daily fix. Cricket is our punching bag and our calming pillow. And our cricketers are the bewildered recipients of both. We accept conspiracy theories without evidence and we bestow supernatural powers on young men.

I think it is time to see what the younger generation thinks; a generation that we have let down with our irrationality. They are saying “just cool it, man” and I cannot think of four better words. So, maybe, we should all ‘just cool it’, sit down and watch India vs Sri Lanka if we want to, and should India lose, be large-hearted to say well played to our soft spoken, less hyped and polite neighbours. And accept the fact that if opponents win they do so because they played better, not because we played badly. The idea that we are the centre of the universe was found to be flawed many hundreds of years ago!!

And let’s face it, Sri Lanka are looking the better side at the moment and one major reason is that they bowl better. And because we are a suspect bowling side, their batting is likely to look better too. But more than anything else, I think Sri Lanka will start favourites because they look more relaxed, less anxious. The team that is too tense and too pumped up will make it difficult for itself.

I must confess I am a little worried about India’s bowling. Zaheer Khan and Munaf Patel are bowling quite well but Ajit Agarkar has looked fragile. He is at his best when he swings the ball back into the left-handers early on and at the moment, he is merely hitting the deck behind a good length. And Anil Kumble, big hearted and clever, just seems to have lost the “rocket” ball, the one that fizzes out of the pitch at an uncomfortable pace. It is a bowling side that needs support, and that is why I am not sure if playing four bowlers is the way to go. Yes, Sehwag and Tendulkar exist and they are fine as back-up bowlers but should one of the lead bowlers have a bad day and they have to bowl more than three or fours overs, the team is in trouble.

However, if India persist with playing seven batsmen, they are better off chasing a target rather than setting one. Ideally, if a team is worried and anxious it is better to get the runs on the board first but given the bowling weaknesses it might be better for the stronger arm to take the pressure of winning a match.

It was interesting that when Sri Lanka played Bangladesh the pitch did not do as much as it did during the India-Bangladesh game. These 9.30 a.m. starts are giving the bowling side a half hour head start, especially if is a bit cloudy in the morning. But on Wednesday the track looked a lot more settled and if that is the case on Friday morning as well, it might take away some of the advantage of winning the toss.

I will also be interested to see if India bat freely even if they lose a couple of wickets early on. One of the reasons teams play seven batsmen is to guard against this but the moment India lose wickets they tend to stiffen up. And since twos are becoming ones and threes are becoming twos with alarming regularity, the scoreboard tends to stiffen up as well.

It is a game that India must win, but then, if you want to win the World Cup, you have to win crunch games. This one has just come a little early, that’s all.