Model's strip vow causes stir ahead of Cricket World Cup final

CRICKET has a long history of streakers, but India's traditionalists are incensed that a model's barefaced cheek might mar today's World Cup final.

Poonam Pandey has pledged to strip as a reward for India's players if they beat Sri Lanka. Her offer hasn't met with widespread approval.

Right wing parties have decried "such vulgarity and obscenity". Pandey says she will "do it for the Indian team and I really don't care about the rest of the world".

"We are totally against such vulgarity and obscenity," a member of an Indian right-wing party told the Hindustan Times.

A spokes-man for Shiv Sena, an extreme far right party, wants the government to step in to "make sure such acts should stop. If they do not handle it, we will".

Pandey can't understand what the fuss is about. She first made the offer before India's momentous semi-final win over Pakistan and stood by her promise yesterday, saying she will either strip for the team in the dressing room or on the pitch - providing they beat Sri Lanka.

"Of course I am going to do it," Pandey told yesterday's edition of the Times of India.

Not everyone is so outraged, and her offer has brought her nationwide fame - quite a publicity stunt for the 20-year-old who is a calendar girl for an Indian airline. Yesterday morning, Poonam Pandey was the top trending topic on Twitter in India, and, for the last few days, she has been among the most searched-for celebrities on the internet in the country.