The sponge chappals and plastic fruit handed out by an enterprising city hotel to its guests to vent their feelings on strategically placed TV screens remained unused today. Thanks to the explosive performance by the Indian cricket team.

The screens brought forth cheers from the guests in the Orchid hotel's coffee shop outfitted to look like a dressing room complete with cricketing paraphenalia, bats and nets. ``Feelings ran high during the India-Zimbabwe match when it was a win-win situation,'' said Assistant Manager Carmen Baretto of Orchid.

The mood then was one of disappointment than anger. And though he refused to divulge who the target of the few tomatoes that were thrown was, it was anybody's guess. ``Later, people just melted away in a state of shock.''

But not today. Cricket mania swept through the city like wildfire, fuelled by the resurgent team's performance.The city's happening places emptied out quickly before you could say, well, Muthiah Muralitharan. And you couldn't blame them in a city where cricket was everywhere. Even the sleepy announcers at railway stations were reading out the scores.

The newly-opened pool and bowling centre, The Bowling Company at Lower Parel, hadn't reckoned with big brother cricket. ``We had put up 12 TV screens at various places and a video wall, but it hasn't helped,'' said an employee.

The centre with a capacity of 3,000 had just about a 100 people when the Ganguly-Dravid combination were mopping up the Sri Lankan bowling attack. Of course, those left behind in the 30,000 square feet interiors, made up for the lack of numbers by their enthusiasm, furious cheering and applause. ``It was Sachin-Sachin from the first ball.''

It was an exodus at the swanky Hakone Centre at Hiranandani Gardens, Powai, which boasts of pool tables, video game arcades and its crown jewel, its go-karting rink. Employees at the centre said thatcricket had lured away their sport crazy crowd. ``We normally have a waiting period of an hour for a go-kart ride, today it is just half that time,'' said an employee at the rink, adding, ``Cricket days are always bad days for us.''

Only the hardcore pool addicts were left holding cue sticks at pool parlours in the city, the rest were cosying up before TV screens at home.

More misery. The prestigious 1,178-seat Regal cinema in South Mumbai recorded a dismal 10 per cent collection. ``We usually collect around Rs 32,000 per show, today we've made only Rs 5,000 in all three shows,'' moaned manager Nandkumar Manglurkar.