'Shock and awe'

Stunned India fans clash with police after loss to Australia

NEW DELHI, India (AP) -- Disappointed cricket fans clashed with police, leaving six injured, after millions of brokenhearted fans in this cricket-crazy nation watched their team's crushing defeat to Australia in the World Cup final.

Newspapers used war imagery to describe the stunning loss.

"Shock and Awe," ran the front page banner headline in The Pioneer. "Dazed India bombed out as daunting, haunting, Ponting takes Cup."

Australia retained the championship with a 125-run win in Johannesburg, South Africa. Skipper Ricky Ponting scored an unbeaten 140 as Australia compiled 359 for two -- a record total for a World Cup final -- after being sent in to bat. In reply, India was bowled out for 234 in 39.2 overs, with Glenn McGrath taking three wickets.

It had been India's first appearance in the final since it won the tournament in 1983.

Soon after the match ended, police in the eastern city of Calcutta arrested two men trying to burn posters and effigies of Indian cricket stars. A mob tried to rescue them and hurled bricks at the police, seriously injuring three officers. Minutes later, police opened fire, injuring three people, said the local Superintendent of Police Ajay Kumar.

Across the rest of India, most fans and sports writers were disappointed but forgiving, showing none of the anger directed at the team after poor performances in their first two matches at the tournament. Irate fans had then burned players' effigies and attacked their homes, and armed police were deployed in several cities.

"At least we reached the final," read the headline in The Hindustan Times.

"Cup not ours but raise a toast," said The Indian Express. "I feel so let down," said Deepak Randhawa, a college student in Noida, a suburb of India's capital New Delhi. "It's like national shame after days and days of national glory. But the team did very well to reach the finals, and I am sure they will the cup the next time."

"We lost only because of the bowlers. If our players had not bowled so badly, then we would have successfully chased the score, however big," said Deep Upadhyay, a producer at a private television channel.

Cricket sways passions in South Asia like no other sport. Indians play cricket anywhere they can -- on rooftops, in streets and courtyards, from Kashmir's green pastures in the north to the beaches in the south.

After a stuttering start against Netherlands and a nine-wicket loss to Australia, India's eight-match winning charge to the final captured the imagination of this country of one billion people.

On Sunday, roads and markets were largely deserted across New Delhi. Millions watched the game that came after a streak of stunning Indian victories -- most notably against Pakistan, India's neighbor and arch rival.

The cricket vied with the war in Iraq on news channels, which blared patriotic music as they flashed clips from previous Indian cricket victories.

Indian companies set off a furious marketing blitz, weaving contests and business gimmicks around the World Cup and flying many people free to the matches in South Africa.