As the ICC Cricket World Cup fever reaches a crescendo, Pune’s voice will be heard, loud and clear. For, 42-year-old Makrand Patankar, a city crooner, has lent his voice to the chants of support. Patankar was picked by music director Lalit Pandit to sing a new World Cup 2011 theme song—Come on India Dikhado. Though not an official Cup song, it has already started getting air time on television channels as a mood song in the run up to the Cup.

Speaking from Mumbai where a video for the song is being shot, Patankar said, “The song is going to vocalise all that the Indian cricket fans want to say. It’s all about cheering on our national team, about supporting Sachin Tendulkar. We didn’t want to attach ourselves to any sponsor, and the ICC has rules as to which song is chosen as the theme song. We kept it simple and wrote it as a common fan’s song.”

True to this theme, the video will show Indians across all ages and regions calling out to the team to win the cup. The song, written by lyricist Kunwar Juneja, starts with Manzil pe nazar; haathon mein hunar, Hai josh aur junoon; ab aathon peher, Chhakko ki barish hoti hai, Chaunko ka jaljala atta hai...