But 2007 had India getting eliminated, Pakistan getting eliminated with that Irish win, there was so much drama. Bangladesh beating South Africa in super 8, it had its moment.
The only drama this time around is all the ticketing fiasco the absolutely shit show for other teams (except Pakistan) by giving Pakistan such different treatment with the pre-match ceremony and all!
The NRR being a factor compounds things. It's bad enough when teams give up on winning in a T20, but that might be 30 minutes. Feels like some of these matches are drawn out for hours. Even the commentators can't hide their contempt at having to sit around for two hours trying to pretend it's entertaining.
Most tournaments need upsets or good close matches to be entertaining - a little jeopardy. Unfortunately the format doesn't provide that as much as T20, so having a league stage that goes on forever is painful. Then when that's done we get three matches which need 'something' or the whole tournament falls flat.
The NRR being a factor compounds things. It's bad enough when teams give up on winning in a T20, but that might be 30 minutes. Feels like some of these matches are drawn out for hours. Even the commentators can't hide their contempt at having to sit around for two hours trying to pretend it's entertaining.
Most tournaments need upsets or good close matches to be entertaining - a little jeopardy. Unfortunately the format doesn't provide that as much as T20, so having a league stage that goes on forever is painful. Then when that's done we get three matches which need 'something' or the whole tournament falls flat.
Has any other world cup been as much boring as this one? I think apart from the 15 minutes of Indian batting against Australia and Babar's wicket against Sri Lanka, all other moments are heavily one sided and boring. Fitting for a world cup that has been marred with such pathetic organization.
1. The league structure takes away all the fun from group based eliminations. Imagine if it were a group based one, Australia would have been struggling at this very moment.
2. BCCI fiasco -lesser said, better it is
3. There's absolutely no zing about the tournament from the ICC
I actually have fond memories of the 1992 World Cup but I probably didn't watch a single match. Too young, no SKY, on the in the middle of the night. Guessing there might have been highlights or bits on the news where I saw most of it. I do remember listening at school to the last few overs of the final during a break at school. I'm pretty sure I had a VHS review/highlights compilation so that, and the endless re-runs or mini documentaries about it (because it's the only one that England were good in until 2019), has burned it into my memory.
However, that tournament did have:
The kits
Australia and West Indies, probably the favourites, both having poor tournaments which meant you had a new winner and a feeling of greater competitiveness
Pakistan's somewhat lucky comeback from the brink to go on and win it
Zimbabwe beating England, albeit in a dead rubber
New Zealand being one of the best teams, perhaps unexpectedly
South Africa returning from the ban and showing themselves to be a very strong team
Controversial semi final
Fairly decent final
2019
The fact that England got themselves into a position where they had to win every match to qualify made it interesting (from a biased English perspective anyway) and the mother of all finals makes it seem like a far better tournament than it actually was.
This one
There's only India who I consider nailed on for the top four, then it'll be three from another five. I'd be amazed if it was any different. So, it immediately feels predictable.
Could end up with a situation in 7/8 days where four teams are basically out and still a month to go before the end of the league stage. While the tussle for the top spots could get interesting, we could still see teams fall off from that top six contenders (India, England, Australia, NZ, Pakistan, South Africa) with a couple of defeats. I actually saw someone, on your favourite subreddit, say something along the lines of "it could get interesting when the smaller teams can no longer qualify but are trying to stop the others from improving their NRR".
Frankly, I wasn't even bothered when England lost to New Zealand because I figure England should beat the four weakest sides and then at least pick up two wins against the other five which would probably be enough to finish top four. That being said, those six 'contenders' could feel the same, so that will make the final couple of rounds interesting. The tournament really needs Bangladesh and Sri Lanka to pick up wins against the stronger sides to mix things up. I can't see Afghanistan or Netherlands beating anyone other than Bangladesh or Sri Lanka - happy to be proven wrong though.
I actually have fond memories of the 1992 World Cup but I probably didn't watch a single match. Too young, no SKY, on the in the middle of the night. Guessing there might have been highlights or bits on the news where I saw most of it. I do remember listening at school to the last few overs of the final during a break at school. I'm pretty sure I had a VHS review/highlights compilation so that, and the endless re-runs or mini documentaries about it (because it's the only one that England were good in until 2019), has burned it into my memory.
However, that tournament did have:
The kits
Australia and West Indies, probably the favourites, both having poor tournaments which meant you had a new winner and a feeling of greater competitiveness
Pakistan's somewhat lucky comeback from the brink to go on and win it
Zimbabwe beating England, albeit in a dead rubber
New Zealand being one of the best teams, perhaps unexpectedly
South Africa returning from the ban and showing themselves to be a very strong team
Controversial semi final
Fairly decent final
2019
The fact that England got themselves into a position where they had to win every match to qualify made it interesting (from a biased English perspective anyway) and the mother of all finals makes it seem like a far better tournament than it actually was.
This one
There's only India who I consider nailed on for the top four, then it'll be three from another five. I'd be amazed if it was any different. So, it immediately feels predictable.
Could end up with a situation in 7/8 days where four teams are basically out and still a month to go before the end of the league stage. While the tussle for the top spots could get interesting, we could still see teams fall off from that top six contenders (India, England, Australia, NZ, Pakistan, South Africa) with a couple of defeats. I actually saw someone, on your favourite subreddit, say something along the lines of "it could get interesting when the smaller teams can no longer qualify but are trying to stop the others from improving their NRR".
Frankly, I wasn't even bothered when England lost to New Zealand because I figure England should beat the four weakest sides and then at least pick up two wins against the other five which would probably be enough to finish top four. That being said, those six 'contenders' could feel the same, so that will make the final couple of rounds interesting. The tournament really needs Bangladesh and Sri Lanka to pick up wins against the stronger sides to mix things up. I can't see Afghanistan or Netherlands beating anyone other than Bangladesh or Sri Lanka - happy to be proven wrong though.
Whoever said that the smaller sides trying to ruin the NRR of their opponents after being eliminated from progressing would be interesting to watch must be on some serious copium.
I don’t have an issue with this iteration of the tournament per se, my issue is with this format which I was critical of during the last WC too. The last one got saved by two great knockout games.
It works a bit better in the IPL because teams are more evenly matched (hence a chance of the eighth or ninth placed team taking wins off even the top dog) and because it’s a T20 tournament. And even there the complaint of “oh there’s too many dead rubber or meaningless games” was quite high if you remember. As @wasteyouryouth said without upsets or one team suddenly losing the plot temporarily it’ll be a dull procession, especially if the games themselves are stomps.
I don’t have an issue with this iteration of the tournament per se, my issue is with this format which I was critical of during the last WC too. The last one got saved by two great knockout games.
It works a bit better in the IPL because teams are more evenly matched (hence a chance of the eighth or ninth placed team taking wins off even the top dog) and because it’s a T20 tournament. And even there the complaint of “oh there’s too many dead rubber or meaningless games” was quite high if you remember. As @wasteyouryouth said without upsets or one team suddenly losing the plot temporarily it’ll be a dull procession, especially if the games themselves are stomps.
If India coast to the semis (which I expect them to) and then lose in the semi final again it'll be the biggest anti-climax ever. The tournament needs India to lose a few matches to bring about a sense of greater jeopardy. Based on the fans on here I know Indian fans react to defeats far more than I would. Like if they lose today it'll be the World Cup is gone, the end of the world (obviously for reasons more than if they lost to South Africa) but it actually won't have much impact unless it snowballs into a run of defeats.
That being said, I think a lot of Indian fans would be perfectly happy if India won 11 one-sided, boring matches. It'd still rank as one of the best three World Cups for them.
That being said, I think a lot of Indian fans would be perfectly happy if India won 11 one-sided, boring matches. It'd still rank as one of the best three World Cups for them.
Some very good pointers on the format. Agree with @wasteyouryouth partially. The 2019 one too, was as boring as this one and the 2007 edition. Bar the KO games which culminated in the Eng V NZ final, wherein a new country would be crowded for the 1st time, there wasn't anything exciting about the format.
2007 again seemed like a long drawn out league, marred by the absence of India, Pakistan and Bob Woolmer.
Hence, I feel the World Cups needs to have the KO games right after the leagues. Agreed some countries will get KO-ed, but the excitement that these games bring about is unparalleled. I'd definitely watch a game belonging to any country if the KO element was re-introduced.
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