Is this the most interesting World cup?

With 42 matches over and a month into the biggest cricket extravaganza, we are all set for the knock out stages of the tournament. The total number of teams have been trimmed down to 8 from the original 14 and despite the fact that the tournament has seen a few upsets and a many more near upsets, the teams qualified for the knock outs seems predictable.

With two days left before knock outs get kicked off in Dhaka, I thought of sharing my views on the performance and chances of each of the 8 teams moving forward and also analyze the first leg of the tournament from a viewer’s perspective.

In the first post, I will be mostly talking about my views on analyzing how teams have done so far and their performances in the league phase. Before that, I would like to share my thoughts on how the tournament lives up to the expectations.

As a viewer, the first leg of the tournament is pretty interesting with many close matches and a few upsets in Group B prompting people to start doing all sorts of permutations and combinations for the final eight. Group A was always the easier of the two groups with Kenya, Zimbabwe and Canada being the minnows in the group. So, the top 4 were virtually decided even before the matches were started. Still, there were some key matches in the Group A and an odd minnow or two did manage to challenge the top teams at times. Group B was more interesting with England in mood to give a single penny’s worth to all the spectators in each of their match. At one time, even Ireland were having a realistic chance of moving into Quarter finals on back of their performance against English.

So, has this world cup lives up to its expectations? The answer from a viewer’s point of view is a strong ‘Yes’. This is the first world cup to be played after a giant T20 storm that has threatened to take over the 50 over game. In last four years, T20 has become a very popular version of cricket among masses because: 1. It is short…only 4 hours per match. 2. It is exciting, with no dull phase of play I(mostly), interest is there throughout the game. 3. The powerful hitting, that’s what spectators want to see all the time. This resulted in 50 over cricket losing its value somewhere among the players, the administration as well as the spectators. Some countries tried to make it more interesting and vibrant by introducing new formats like split innings and what not. But, with introduction of private leagues (read IPL) where everything is about money and entertainment 50 over spectacle seems to be losing its way. IPL has given a very different dimension to cricket as a sport. In fact, Cricket is only one of the facets of the whole picture with Bollywood, post match parties, celebrities on the ground and a lot more things getting equal or sometimes more attention than cricket. The storm threatens to kill the ODI format and the talks were getting stronger and stronger about people losing interest in ODI’s. In comes the World cup. ICC saw a ray of hope through this World Cup. They mark the title with punch line: “The Cup that Counts”!!!

The first leg of the tournament seems to delivered what it has promised. The games were exciting, balance kept swinging from one way to another during many matches, some of the performances were sensational, and a few can be marked as jaw dropping to say the least.

Every World cup has its moments. These moments make such an impact that they become an everlasting image. We always associate a world cup with that image, that moment of brilliance, or glory. Like Kapil Dev taking a brilliant backward running catch to dismiss mighty Viv Richards, Wasim Akram’s sensational spell against England and Jonty’s leap towards stumps in 1992, Donald’s handshake with Klusener mid pitch in that epic 1999 semifinal, Sachin carving Shoaib out of the ground in 2003, Tamim Iqbal’s charge against Zaheer khan in 2007. Till now, the moment of this world cup has to be Kevin O’Brian’s sensational innings. He, for me, is the one who has made this world cup alive. England were by far the most lively team of the tournament with having to play cliff hangers in all their matches.

So, what makes this world cup better than its previous versions? In my opinion, it is the openness of the world cup. Even after a staggering 42 matches league phase of grinding, no team has emerged as a favorite till now. There are strong contenders but no clear front runner at the moment. Australia are no longer the team of the past, of the force, the penetration is lacking and the way they lost to Pakistan strengthens that view. South Africa looks very strong but we all know they start crumbling in knock outs. They have to take care of their old habits moving forward. Now, moving into knock outs, will they be able to get over ‘C’ feeling is to be seen? Sri Lanka is a formidable unit but their middle order is slightly weak. That is evident in their loss to Pakistan. New Zealand and West Indies are not favorites for me, so if these two teams do manage to proceed to the next round, for me it is an upset of a sort. England on the other hand have their own problems: Injuries, players coming and going, moments of brilliance and of insanity clubbed together in their performance so far. We are left with Pakistan and India. From day one of the tournament, I kept on saying that Pakistan is the most dangerous side in this world cup. They proved it with their performances so far. Beating Australia as well as Sri Lanka was never easy, but Pakistan is always known of doing well when no one gave them a chance. In Afridi, they have a fearless leader and with Umar Gul and Shoaib Akhtar leading the bowling department, they are a force to reckon with. But the problem with Pakistan is their nature of self destruction. Against New Zealand, they gave 90 odd runs in final four overs and then played some pathetic shots to lose the match. Even against the likes of Canada, the batsmen let them down. Coming to India, the problems are aplenty. The favorite tag is no more with them after their lacklustre performance in the league phase. Somehow, they have picked up an unusual habit of getting into self destruction mode during last 10 overs of their batting. By far, they have the most powerful batting line up in the tournament. But, barring the first match against Bangladesh in which they amassed 370, their batting collapsed more than once. The bowling unit was never their strong point but Zak and Bhajji are doing good at the moment. India needs support for them to perform on big stage if they want go further into the tournament. Add the pressure of media and public, and the chances of crumbling into a pressure situation are pretty good.

So, we are all set up for the exciting finish to what is a wonderful world cup so far…Hope to see more cliff hangers towards the business end…

Will try to do an analysis of performance of various teams soon and also key performers to look out for in the Knock outs.

Will keep posting my views….Happy Reading!!!