A cricket fan blackens a poster displaying the faces of Indian players in Mumbai yesterday. Hundreds of cricket fans across India burnt effigies, defaced posters and held mock funeral processions of the national team, a day after their defeat to Sri Lanka. - Reuters

NEW DELHI (AP):

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 yesterday 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.

Burning effigies

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.

Some fans hurled rocks at a restaurant owned by Indian pace bower Zaheer Khan in the western Indian city of Pune, the channel said.

Police officers took up positions outside the homes of Indian captain Rahul Dravid in the southern city of Bangalore, wicketkeeper Mahendra Dhoni in the eastern city of Ranchi, and star batsman Sachin Tendulkar and pace bowler Ajit Agarkar in Mumbai, India's financial and entertainment capital.

A group of protesters assembled near Tendulkar's home in Mumbai waving placards reading "Down with Sachin Tendulkar", "Indian cricket team, shame on you!"

However, the police presence in the area kept the protest peaceful.

India are relying on Bermuda to beat Bangladesh in the last of the group matches today if they are to advance to the next round of the World Cup.

The chances of that appear to be minimal. Tiny Bermuda's World Cup debut to date has consisted of a 243-run loss to Sri Lanka, when it was bundled out for 78, and a 257-run loss to India earlier this week.

"India embrace disgrace," read a headline in The Pioneer newspaper.

"Our team has disappointed me and the nation. We provided maximum facilities to the players and expectations from the team were quite high," said Sharad Pawar, chief of the Board of Control for Cricket in India.

On Friday, India's batsmen, notably Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Yuvraj Singh and Dhoni, flopped miserably against Sri Lanka's bowling.

"All these big players should be sacked so that we don't see a repeat of this performance," said Ashwini Kumar, a businessman.

India's former captain Kapil Dev, who led India to their only World Cup victory in 1983, agreed with Kumar.

"Let's go for younger players who will show a better commitment to the game. Most of our key batsmen have failed in the last 15 important games," Dev said.

India captain Rahul Dravid had predicted major disappointment among Indian fans.

"There will be a lot of people disappointed and angry back home, and fair enough," Dravid said. "They had invested a lot of hope in this team and we haven't delivered."

After India's defeat at Queen's Park Oval, Trinidad, India's coach Greg Chappell, a former Australia captain, said the recent incidents made him concerned about the players' safety.

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