Prakash Wakankar

was short, sharp and even though the group phase was meant to let the top teams go through, I think there was a lot more riding on every game because you knew if you sort of slipped up, you could, especially if you were in a group like the one that had Pakistan, New Zealand and Bangladesh.

That was a group of death.

in that tournament.

But yes, like Vinny said, I remember in Sri Lanka, the whole mood, particularly around Colombo, was about the West Indies Team Hotel, all the stuff that was going on there because there were breaks in the tournament, the restaurants they were visiting, the music that was playing.

And of course, Sri Lanka has given their absolute...

Absolutely passionate love for music.

They had adopted a lot of the Calypso music.

And it was just a fantastic atmosphere throughout that tournament, particularly as the Super 8s came around.

It certainly was.

And it brought out some really good games as well.

I mean, there were some tight games.

There was just a hint of, you know, I think India particularly not making it through created a huge flutter.

And I think the only thing that we could fall back on as Indians, as we typically would, is to say, but we won the one game that mattered.

We beat Pakistan.

And I think it was a very different world back then.

We're talking almost a decade and a half back.

And I think it was one of those things.

I mean, India, like Finney said, did have a few new faces.

Irfan Pathan really was coming on.

Zaheer didn't play that game against England in spite of being who he was.