India's captain, Rahul Dravid. - Junior Dowie

MUMBAI, India, (Reuters)

If India fail to reach the Super Eights stage of the World Cup, analysts and businesses have already star-ted to weigh up what the impact would be in the cricket-crazy nation.

The 1983 winners need to beat formidable Sri Lanka in the final Group B match today to stay in contention for one of the two berths.

Indian media were already predicting losses advertising in the World Cup telecast would suffer if the team were knocked out this week.

Times of India newspaper quoted sources in the advertising agencies this week as saying a 10-second slot, which was sold between INR 250,000 (approx US$5,727) to INR 350,000 (approx US$8,018) for matches involving India in the Super Eights may be forced down to less than half if the Indian team fails to qualify.

shock defeat

A shock defeat to Bangladesh in the opening Group B match last Saturday led to a possible early exit for India along with sub-continent rivals Pakistan.

But victory by a record margin over debutants Bermuda saw them improve their chances of qualification on net run-rate — the deciding factor in the event of a three-way tie.

But for that, they need to beat Sri Lanka first.

If India reach the Super Eights, 300 million viewers are expected to tune in for the matches.