For Indian fans, India's elimination from the cricket World Cup so early in the competition is a crushing disappointment.

For the television channels that bought rights to beam the tournament to these fans, Friday's defeat was a financial disaster.

But for the tournament itself, nothing could have been more tonic than the purging of Pakistan and India, the dysfunctional giants of South Asian cricket.

Instead of these glowering bruisers, the extravagantly gifted Sri Lankans and the plucky Bangladeshis will represent South Asia in the next round, the Super 8.

Since the Reliance World Cup hosted by India in 1987, South Asia's cricketing nations have become more and more influential in the conduct and administration of the one-day game.

of this influence has to do with cricketing success: since India won the Cup in 1983, Pakistan and Sri Lanka have won it in 1992 and 1996 respectively.

Mainly, though, the balance of power in world cricket has shifted from England and Australia towards the sub-continent for commercial reasons: the dawning realisation that India owns the only mass audience there is for the game.

One-day allure

Cricket was always popular in India, but the coincidence of World Cup success in 1983 and the creation of a national television audience in the early 1980s (Doordarshan, India's sole, government-owned television station at the time, created a pan-Indian network in 1982) expanded and deepened the fan base of the game.

million of cricket fans stunned by indian defeat in world cup race.

Disappointed fans held mock funerals for Indian cricket, beating and burning posters of players after a loss that will likely put the national team out of the World Cup.

The defeat to Sri Lanka sank the hopes of millions of cricket-mad Indians, who stayed awake until early Saturday hoping to see their batsmen deliver a victory in Trinidad and a place in the second round.

Police were drafted in to protect the homes of some players and prevent a recurrence of the vandalism that followed last week's five-wicket upset loss to Bangladesh.

After tearing apart posters of Indian players, dozens of fans marched in what they described as a funeral for Indian cricket in the central Indian town of Indore. TV broadcasts showed them burning effigies and posters of the players.

Similar protests were held in the northern Indian cities of Allahabad, New Delhi, Jammu and Varanasi, Aaj Tak television news channel reported

While conceding his squad did not meet expectations, Chappell said people should "realize it's just a game."