I was marking my calendar with the fixtures for India’s 2019 ICC World Cup campaign being hosted by England and Wales. The first thing that I noticed was the remarkable absence of a group/pool system which is commonly seen in events of such great sporting value (like the FIFA and the FIH world cups). Although, after their stupendous performance in recent World Cups and the team’s successive wins in recent series led from the front by Virat Kohli, the ‘men in blue’ will automatically start as my favourites to lift next year’s World Cup.
[perfectpullquote align=”right” bordertop=”false” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]vs South Africa – June 5, 2019
vs Australia – June 9, 2019
vs New Zealand – June 13, 2019
vs Pakistan – June 16, 2019
vs Afghanistan – June 22, 2019
vs West Indies – June 27, 2019
vs England – June 30, 2019
vs Bangladesh – July 2, 2019
vs Sri Lanka – July 6, 2019
1st Semi-Final – July 9, 2019
2nd Semi-Final – July 11, 2019
Final – July 14, 2019[/perfectpullquote]
Strangely, this World Cup has been woefully reduced to just 10 teams, down from 14 from the previous two editions, and the other notable factor is that the groupings have been completely eliminated. Instead, all teams have been clubbed together to compete in a round-robin format of 45 matches. Firstly, a global platform such as the ‘World Cup’ deserves to have more teams competing, and a larger representation for ICC’s associate members like Nepal or Scotland would have enabled them to showcase fresh talent to their fans & audiences worldwide. Gone are the days when one could enjoy watching players from the Netherlands, UAE or Canada competing against the world’s best! And if this petition is to be believed, the 2023 edition in India would continue to feature only 10 teams. This dubious arrangement by the ICC, not only diminishes the significance of this mega event but also turns it into an exclusive affair between a handful of established teams.
Financial compulsions notwithstanding, eventually, with only a small number of teams contesting and with a complete lack of sporting standards for the event, the followers of the game are bound to feel miserable & cheated. Though, I would still look forward to a successful World Cup campaign by India next year.
