Tomorrow is the biggest day of the year for cricket fans all over the world. The ICC World Cup Final between India and Sri Lanka promise to be a terrific occasion, with a carnival atmosphere and two outstanding teams. India start as favourites, but Sri Lanka are very organized and it should be a close game.
Only 33,000 fans can fit inside Mumbai’s Wankhede Stadium but hundreds of millions will be watching the match on television. And that’s just in India. According to the country’s 2011 census, India’s population has grown by 181 million people over the past decade to 1.21 billion. The BBC reports that more people now live in India than in the United States, Indonesia, Brazil, Pakistan and Bangladesh combined.
Speaking of Bangladesh, the Cricket World Cup, which began on 19 February and ends tomorrow, was played at venues across India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. This was Bangladesh’s first time co-hosting a World Cup and, in fact, the first game of the tournament was between India and Bangladesh at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Dhaka.
Once the Cricket World Cup ends, attention will begin to focus on one of the world’s next big events: the election of the New7Wonders of Nature and the announcement of the winners on 11 November. Bangladesh is represented with the Sundarbans and we can only hope that the spirit of co-operation that has marked the Cricket World Cup will turn into lots of votes from India and Sri Lanka for the regional candidate.
For tomorrow’s game, New7Wonders says: May the best team win!
