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CLOSE-IN: T20 World Cup format needs a radical change

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3 years ago

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The announcement of the T20 World Cup schedules and format to be held in Australia in October/November 2022 requires a radical change.

Maybe it is late to do so, but the ICC have to seriously look into it as well as into their other upcoming World cricket tournaments, to make them more competitive amongst the teams that count.

The format announced has been finalised with 16 teams in the fray to finally settle on 12. The T20 WC 2021 tournament has clearly indicated that the minnow sides are still way below the qualifying mark at present to compete against the top cricket teams. Although, one understands the importance of spreading cricket far and wide, the matches turn out to be a complete farce. This may extend the tenure of the tournament, but it significantly reduces the quality of it.

The formation of two groups and then for the two top teams of the groups to qualify is a concept that is ancient. This was a format when cricket World Cup ties came into existence — one that was followed in 1975 and in 1979. It was in the World Cup of 1983 when ICC realised their folly and teams although grouped, played each other twice.

This gave teams a chance to recover even if they had lost a match. India may not have qualified to win the World Cup, if the earlier format had been followed.

The ICC seems confused about their approach. On one hand they are trying to increase participation, while on the other hand they seem to be in a hurry to complete their tournaments in what one can term as “to tick the box”.

The World Test Championship was a good example of it. How can one recognise a true winner if all the top Test-playing sides have not played against each other? The paucity of time and scheduling is always the excuse. It is better not to conduct a tournament rather than to do so in an unstructured manner.

The T20 World Cup should have the 10 top teams playing against each other and similar to the Indian Premier League (IPL) the top-four would qualify wherein the top-two play initially to get into the final and the winner of the bottom-two play the loser of the first match. In the recently concluded T20 WC tournament both England and Pakistan may have benefitted from it.

Unfortunately, the two top sides in the league stage of their group lost their semifinal match and did not compete for the trophy. Australia did win the trophy having earlier lost to England. One wonders if that was a fair conclusion.

The T20 format is short and quite unpredictable, especially amongst the top-eight sides in the world. On a given day, any of them could beat the other.

The grouping of teams never justifies this and so the top-eight or 10 teams need to play against each other to truly reflect a true winner.

India beat both England and Australia in their warm-up games. They did not play them in the final draw of the T20 World Cup 2021 because of being put into another group. This is a prime example of the incorrectness of the way in which the tournament was conducted.

A World Cup should be played where all the top teams need to get an equal opportunity to display their capabilities against each other. So the ICC should not worry about completing a tournament but should focus on a system that is fair in identifying the winner.

The T20 needs teams to be flexible and agile. Teams adjusted to this in the best manner they could in the UAE. The ICC refused to alter their playing conditions, even though everyone was shouting their heads off about the advantage to the team that won the toss because of the dew factor. Aaron Flinch, the Australian captain, summed it up beautifully, when he said that one of the major factors that went into their winning the cup was that he won the toss six out of the seven times . “The toss was the boss,” he said.

The matches could easily have been made to start an hour earlier so that the toss advantage would have been tossed out of the equation.

These are the subtle changes that need to be made by not only the ICC but also the host country administering the tournament.

The ODI World Cup in Australia in 1992 was a wonderful example of the format of the top sides playing against each other. Unfortunately, the ridiculous mathematical calculations that came into force for a rain-interrupted match became the black mark of it. However, the structure was perfect in which the top-eight sides played one another.

Sourav Ganguly, the President of the BCCI, has now also taken on the responsibility of heading the Cricket Committee of the ICC, a position that he takes over from Anil Kumble. One hopes that as a former cricketer and his immense cricket administrative knowledge that he structures the ICC World Cup tournaments in a way that has more meaningful quality and not quantity to it.

One needs to herald and respect a true champion side as worthy winners. That can only happen when one has battled against each of the opponents and come out with flying colours.

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International

CT 2025: India to take on Pakistan on Feb 23, likely to play in Colombo or Dubai: Sources

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4 days ago

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December 19, 2024

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New Delhi, Dec 19: The much-awaited clash between arch-rivals India and Pakistan in the Champions Trophy 2025 will be played on February 23 with Colombo and Dubai front-runners to play host for India’s matches in the tournament being played in hybrid format. The development comes after the ICC Board said that “India and Pakistan matches hosted by either country at ICC Events during the 2024-2027 rights cycle will be played at a neutral venue.”

“India will take on Pakistan at a neutral venue on February 23, 2025. ICC looking at Colombo and Dubai to host their matches.”

The Champions Trophy is scheduled to be played in February and March 2025. Meanwhile, ICC said the schedule for the marquee tournament will be confirmed in the coming days.

Pakistan are the defending champions of the tournament, having defeated India by 180 runs in the final at The Oval in 2017. Both teams last played against each other in the T20 World Cup in New York earlier this year which India won by six runs and went on to claim their second silverware in the format.

Due to the strained political relations between the two neighbouring countries, India and Pakistan only play each other in international events including World Cups and Asia Cup. The last bilateral series between India and Pakistan was held in 2012-13 when the latter toured India for the five-match white-ball series.

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International

It’s OFFICIAL! All India vs Pakistan Matches At ICC Events To Be Played At Neutral Venue Till 2027

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4 days ago

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December 19, 2024

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India and Pakistan matches hosted by either country at ICC Events during the 2024-2027 rights cycle will be played at a neutral venue, the ICC Board confirmed on Thursday, 19 December. The schedule for the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 is set to be confirmed soon, with Pakistan aiming to defend the title they won in 2017.

The eight-team event will feature Afghanistan, Australia, Bangladesh, England, India, New Zealand, and South Africa, alongside hosts Pakistan.

This will apply to the upcoming ICC Men’s Champions Trophy 2025 (hosted by Pakistan), set to be played in February and March 2025, as well as the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup 2025 (hosted by India) and the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026 (hosted by India and Sri Lanka).

It was also announced that the PCB has been awarded hosting rights of the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup in 2028, where neutral venue arrangements will also apply. Cricket Australia is set to host one of the senior ICC women’s events during the period 2029 to 2031.

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‘Our dream is getting fulfilled’: Coach Sumit Bhatia elated to see Kho Kho going global

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7 days ago

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December 16, 2024

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New Delhi, Dec 16: Coach Sumit Bhatia is all pumped up for the first edition of the Kho Kho World Cup scheduled to take place from January 13-19, 2025. Bhatia, who holds a distinct record of being the only head coach to have won the Asian Championship twice, believes that this historical step is an indication of the realisation of the dream to take the sport to the international level and help it gain global recognition.

Having been honoured with the best coach award by the Delhi government, Bhatia has been a part of various Indian teams’ success, including the 2016 and 2023 Asian Kho Kho Championship victories, and has trained players like Nasreen Shaikh and Sarika Sudhakar Kale. Both of them have been Arjuna Awardees.

Nasreen, who is also a part of the World Cup camp, is the only player who has played in two Asian Championships and won the gold. The coach-student duo is now gearing up for the global event.

Sharing how the journey of Kho Kho World Cup’s inception, the coach said, “We organised an international camp here before COVID happened, in 2020. Coaches and players from 16 countries came here and we gave them training. Now they will be coming here for the World Cup but this campaign started in that camp”.

He further said, “Around 30-35 countries were willing to play the tournament but we picked the best 20 teams for both men and women. Some countries have single teams while some have double teams but a total of 24 countries will be participating in the tournament. It was our dream to take Kho Kho to the international level and now we can see that our dream is getting fulfilled.”

He also lauded the launch of the Ultimate Kho Kho League and shared how the franchise-based model has helped the players and coaches gain recognition, while also bringing forward grassroot talent.

“When the Ultimate Kho Kho league started, I also joined Telegu Yodhas as their head coach and we also played the final. Players have gotten exposure through the league and it’s not just financial. Earlier we used to hesitate while admitting being a Kho Kho coach but today our players introduce us as their coach,” said Bhatia.

He added, “The league got so much coverage that wherever we go, the players are approached for autographs. So the platform of the league started a new world for both coaches and players and now not just India but the entire world knows us. Earlier we used to tell people about our game but now they know what is Kho Kho and Ultimate Kho Kho league and are also waiting for the third season.”

Bhatia also discussed the impact of sports science on Kho Kho and lauded the newly introduced technology and said, “We have benefitted a lot from it. Sometimes we don’t understand why a player is not performing well. But with the introduction of sports science, we now know about the details of the problem.

“For example, a player might be facing issues with his left leg while sitting and so, it gives us an opportunity to work on that weakness… Sports science has helped us in identifying the accuracy and weakness of a player. So it’s very beneficial for us.”

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