West Indies was well on its way to victory, having captured nine Pakistani wickets. As Walsh approached his final stride, he saw non-striking batsman Abdul Qadir leave his crease before the ball was delivered. At that moment, all Walsh had to do was roll his arm over and remove the bails at the non-striker's end. Instead, this great sportsperson stopped in his final stride and merely cautioned Qadir to get back to his crease. Eventually, Pakistan beat West Indies by one wicket and shut out the Caribbeans' chancesof lifting the World Cup.

Perhaps Waugh could learn a thing or two about sportsmanship from Walsh. In the preliminary phase of this World Cup match, Waugh did the abominable act of stone-walling against the West Indies, once victory was certain, to raise the net run rate of West Indies vis-a-vis New Zealand. By doing so, Waugh thought that the West Indies would make it to the Super Six stage and that would give Australia two additional points in the Super Sixes tally.

Of course, New Zealand managed to edge out the West Indies, but Waugh's tactics marked an inglorious moment in world cricket. The Aussie skipper went for the tournament rules, overlooking the spirit of the game. It is highly unlikely that Walsh would have taken a similar step, even at the risk of being eliminated from the competition.

Waugh's tactics underlined the fallibility of the tournament rules in this World Cup championship. Cricket, though a statistician's delight, is yet to see a set of rules that would hold good for alltournaments to come. Every World Cup has been played under a new set of rules, but none were seen as fool-proof.

In the 1992 World Cup semi-finals, South Africa were done in by a ridiculous rule pertaining to rain-interrupted matches, when they were at the doorstep of victory against England. This time around, India feels let down by the rules that were laid down for the Super Six stage. Coach Anshuman Gaekwad has directed his ire at the carry-forward points system that governed the Super Six matches. Such a system has robbed India of a place in the semi-finals, despite making rapid improvements in its performance in the tournament.

The carry-forward system has allowed Pakistan to make it to the semi-finals despite losing to South Africa and India in the Super Sixes. Zimbabwe could also fancy its chances of making it to the semi-finals without winning any of its matches in the Super Sixes. Sure, the tournament organisers could have saved a few blushes by working out these possibilities before laying outthe match rules.

In any case, the organisers did not cover themselves in glory when it came to applying the tournament rules. India was at the receiving end of wrong decisions made by the organisers in its match against Zimbabwe at Leicester.

When India came on to bat after Zimbabwe completed its innings, field restrictions were mistakenly lifted at the end of 13 overs, as the overs limit for the Indian innings was reduced to 46 from 50 (a penalty for the slow over-rate by India). That was a costly error for India. The team lost out on some crucial opportunities for scoring runs and eventually lost the match itself against the unfancied Zimbabweans. In the final analysis, that very loss took the wind out India's sails this World Cup.

Strangely, Zimbabwe proved to a bogey team for India right through the tournament. By beating India in the preliminary phase, they very nearly blunted India's chances of making it to the Super Sixes. However, India rallied back with some superlative performances againstKenya, Sri Lanka and England.

Yet, there was an air of suspense over India's chances of making it to the Super Sixes after Zimbabwe beat South Africa. India came out of that too by beating England. But that was not the last time Zimbabwe influenced India's fortunes in the tournament. In the Super Sixes, they earned a lucky point from a rained-off match against New Zealand and nearly snuffed out India's chances of survival in the tournament. And when India staged a comeback with a win against Pakistan, Zimbabwe laid to rest all Indian hopes by presenting its match on a platter to Pakistan.

India paid a huge price for seeking a back-door entry to the semi-finals stage. Inconsistency was one of the main reasons why Azhar's ``boys'' had to constantly depend on strange permutations and combinations to make progress in the tournament. The team began its campaign with a splendid batting display against South Africa. But lost the match in the final overs when the bowlers failed to contain Jonty Rhodes and LanceKlusener.

The match that followed, against Zimbabwe, was a real shocker. India without Tendulkar looked utterly rudderless and put up a pitiable show, losing the match from an impregnable position. Soon after, the team discovered its true form with big wins against Kenya, Sri Lanka and England, only to lose its way in its opening match of the Super Sixes against Australia.

And just when Mohd Azharuddin was being criticised for his inept handling of his team, the skipper put up an extraordinary show of leadership and batsmanship against arch-rivals Pakistan. The ardent Indian fans, too, experienced tremendous mood-swings from the depths of despair when India went down to Zimbabwe, to pure ecstasy when India beat Pakistan.

Perhaps, India could have done better if its key bowlers had been more focussed. The very fact that none of the Indian bowlers figure in the top wicket-takers list explains where India went wrong.