Thaindian News

Dhaka, April 4 (IANS) Newspapers in Bangladesh, which was a co-host for the cricket World Cup, have feted winners India, runners-up Sri Lanka and all those who contributed to the success of the tournament that went off “without a hitch”.

“Congratulations to India for winning the cup…after 28 years. At the end of the day it was a victory for the game of cricket. Sri Lanka deserve kudos too as a fighting side offering stiff competition to the winner,” The Daily Star said in an editorial titled “Congratulations to India: A befitting end to a captivating event”.

India defeated Sri Lanka by six wickets in Mumbai to lift the World Cup Saturday.

The newspaper had last week feted India and Pakistan for the meeting between their prime ministers at the semi-final match played at Mohali in India’s Punjab state.

The media here took note of the fact that the last three contenders were all from South Asia.

The recurring theme was that Bangladesh, where the tournament had an impressive opening, should strive to do better in the game and look forward to the next round of T20 matches.

“Our performance was patchy but we can take comfort in the fact that we had defeated England in the preliminary round. There is also the need to consider increasing the capacity of our cricket stadiums, given the great following of the game and the 20/20 Cup to be hosted by Bangladesh in 2014, or move major cricket tournaments to larger stadiums,” The Daily Star said.

New Age newspaper, which called India’s 1983 World Cup victory “a fluke”, said they deserved it this time as the better of the two final contenders.

The newspaper was critical of the “characteristic apathy, if not antipathy, of the elite to the poor and marginalised sections of the society in the host countries. India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh made, in varying degrees of course, key roads and areas off-limits to beggars and street vendors”.