The World Cup returns to Australia-New Zealand, venues that hosted arguably the most popular edition in 1992.

Those meek cricket widows are relieved; it’s the mighty suits in corner offices that are edgy this time. For this happens to be a ‘9-to-5’ World Cup.

Beyond the equator, deep on the other half of the globe, where they have lunch when we soak our morning cereals, MS Dhoni will have a fight on hand as he wards off worthy challengers eyeing the Cup he won four years back. While back home, it will be a daily battle for the army of office-goers as they follow the cricketing contest that coincides with their working hours.

Watching cricket will come at a cost, that’s much higher than what Star Sports charges to beam the signals from Australia and New Zealand to your homes. It can get you demerits, a ‘Needs Improvement’ for punctuality at appraisal.

Match day mornings will present a biggest challenge. To walk away from the television and wear work clothes just when the openers swagger in at the start one of those many ‘do or take-flight-home’ games will need the will of a celibate.

This February-March, the frequency of children missing school buses is expected to go up, morning meetings will have more vacant chairs, monthly targets and weekly deadlines are very likely to be missed. Also, unforeseen medical emergencies or unexpected household mishaps will be mysteriously dictated by pattern of World Cup games. If India bat first, chances are bright that an ailment will inflict the elderly in the family. Bosses will hear more morning sickness complaints than gynaecologists.

Batsmen in 90s, or bowlers on song, will ignite kitchen fire or trigger plumbing problems. ‘Half-day’ requests citing lame excuses and fake emergencies at home will have shady timing. Productivity will be under threat since even those logging full attendance will have an ear/eye on cricket and the thumb and index finger glued to ‘alt’ and ‘tab’ keys.

Cog in the wheel?

So does this mean that cricket will act as the cog in the wheel that can derail the system? Can a billion toggles between spread sheets and score cards by a distracted nation slow down the economy? Nah, this isn’t about that.

This is about acknowledging the pain of the cricket fans among the number crunchers and corporate kind who will be forced to focus on the general budget on February 28 when India play their first game on the bouncy WACA track. It is also a show of solidarity with those in the banking and financial sectors, buried in the ‘March-ending’ paperwork when the MCG will host the World Cup final.

That imposing venue will once again provide a stunning backdrop to historic frames that will define the 2015 World Cup, like it so famously did in 1992 when Imran Khan lifted the Cup in 1992. Before that, 1985 to be specific, it was Melbourne again when a young man with pencil-thin moustache and bamboo-stick legs drove his shinning new Audi around the central square with the team mates piled on, as if they were the packed Purvanchal Express before Holi. Those remain iconic snapshots imprinted in the mind of a nation and representative portraits of the respective country’s identity around the world.

It’s the memories of that era, mid 80s and early 90s, that makes ODI cricket in Australia ever so enchanting. It wasn’t just the Indian highs, but the entire Australian experience, so vividly captured by Channel 9 cameras, that made getting up early so worth it.

Remember, how Doordarshan got showed up like never before. Grainy picture, shaky cameras, boring audio, hazy graphics got replaced by sparklingly clean visuals shot with firm hands accompanied by witty and wise comments. And how you waited for batsmen to get out on zero so that the angry animated duck, with copious tears flowing, would emerge from thin air. Everything you saw on the television was so proper without being prim. There was the crowded grass bank where the crowd lazed and got drunk. It had the least priced ticket, a Janta Tent of sort but without the lathi charge that one sees in Kanpur, Faridabad or Kotla. It was a dream, it was how you wanted to watch cricket but could never do, in India.

Every 30-plus Indian cricket fan, maybe now an office-goer but a fan boy back then, will agree that Australia made a big impression on young minds.

Bird’s eye view

Back in the day, during the ‘85 World Series, a fellow teen turned up at the playground wearing a cap with freshly painted nine big dots that had a passing resemblance to the Channel 9 logo. Like the rest of us, all tennis ball cricketers, he too had a favourite Aussie. But he didn’t know his name for he was the Channel 9 cameraman, perched on a high crane, filming bird’s eye view shots. We ribbed him for days when he finally gave up on his rather obscure dream and joined his father’s mining firm. Even today he gets to climb on cranes and go ‘down under’ regularly, is the running joke among friends.

Many such stories are woven around the time India sighted what they felt then was a cricketing utopia. Several opinion polls have shown that the ‘92 edition happens to be the favourite World Cup among fans. The jersey from that event still outsells present colours. ODIs in Australia take you to a dreamy past of wondrous amazement.

That’s why it will be so tempting to miss work when the stump mike catches the vigorous buzz of the swinging new ball or the strong thud of the bat.

But wouldn’t the equally loud rattle of stumps during an Indian collapse, a mishap that is repeating itself so consistently during the last few months, come as a spoiler? How long can nostalgia sustain the interest of fans in tournaments where their team loses more often that it wins? The ICC format makers have come up with answer. Despite early setbacks in the tournament, top teams can make it to the quarter-final and thus keep title hope alive.

Moreover, this 2015 edition feature teams that are at the peak of their performances. Since the time you land in Australia, you keep hearing that this could be New Zealand’s World Cup. But they also remind that their team too has a fair chance.

But never ever write out South Africa and Sri Lanka, teams with experienced players that brighten their balanced sides. Pakistan remains the ‘on their day’ team while England too has improved. India are the defending champions and it’s a tag that comes with an aura and an dying hope.

Once again on the hills at Cup venues in Australia and New Zealand, they will be lazing with a beer in hand watching quality cricket. In India, fans will be on the edge of their sofa with a tea cup in hand. And, just before 9 am every morning they would fancy thoughts of turning back the clock.