Did the best team win the Cricket World Cup 2019!

Sport can be a unifier and agonizer too! Been a few days since the month+ extravaganza ended, but the sweet and sour taste remains. It was at display at the Lord’s cricket ground in England on 14^th July 2019. A cliff-hanger of a final was a good statement for cricket in general. English cricket team played a good cricket match, did reasonably well in the tournament and won the tournament. New Zealand had an equally good tournament but seems have been undone by cricketing rules which belied commonsense. As an Indian and with many other fellow Indians, I do feel for the New Zealand team and echo the sentiments spoken by the honorable New Zealand premier Jacinda Ardern.

Unlike other popular world sport events like Football, where knockout matches begin from a pre-quarterfinal stage, cricket requires and extended league stage. Reason for that being the conditions and duration of the game. A football global competition could feature about 32 teams, with groups of 4 to start with, duration is 90 mins with +30-45 mins based on extra time and penalties etc. Cricket on the other hand needs about 6+ hours with pitch and environmental conditions driving team selection as well as skills on display. These decide the outcome of the game.

The Final on 14^th had moments where the cricketing rule book felt a bit too old. The last over gimmicks where the ball ricocheted of the Ben Stokes and went for a boundary was a testament to it. The batsman himself apologized, but it seems the umpires had a brain fade and they awarded 6 runs to the batting team! The chasing equation came down to 3 runs of 2 balls from an earlier 9 runs of 3 balls! Was there any logical explanation of 4 additional runs to be awarded to the batting team? Should the ICC match officials have taken a call there and then? Retired umpires like Simon Taufel (one of the best of our times), have spoken about 5 runs being awarded instead of 6! But that does not still resolve the inconsistencies of the rule due to deflection of the bat.

Post tie, the match goes into super over and here too we see a tie again at 15 runs! New Zealand get undone here too. The match gets decided with number of boundaries which again belied logic! The entire cricketing rules related to shortened matches or interruptions for Duckworth and Lewis method are based on Runs and wickets. In some past international tournaments, at league stages Net Run Rate and in case of ties, lesser number of wickets lost have won teams the game. A team which played conditions, set a score, had in mind rainy/cloudy conditions plays conservatively to set a score, looking to work out more singles, two’s, three’s instead of sheer boundary force; is penalized for their strategy!

We will not see such matches again and again that too in a final. Despite superhuman effort but players like Ben Stokes, Lockie Ferguson, Jimmy Neesham, Jos Butler and others; the losing team will feel undone by rules and some stroke of luck forever. In terms of tournament itself, most teams like this format as it allowed one to bounce back after a bad day. India the most consistent team as table toppers should also feel slighted with their 10-15 mins bad display in semi-finals. That cost them the title potentially and the #1 ODI Ranking too. An Indian Premier League style knockout which incentivizes top finishers in the league stage to get a 2^nd chance in knockouts should be looked at by International Cricket Council.

Rainy days, 4 abandoned matches (4, the highest ever), lack of covers for entire grounds despite lot of preparation time would also be a red mark for England and Wales Cricket Board. Except for one successful 300+ run chase, very high scores, teams in knockouts struggled even to reach 250! The clamor of high scores and tardy pitches would also be in question. For the 2023 world cup in India, ICC needs to look at the flaws in cricketing rule books as well as better management of resources especially knockout incentive for table-toppers. Jury will be out for some time whether the “best team” won the 2019 cricket world cup. Should New Zealand have been slighted or atleast the trophy shared, and should India have another chance for a knock-out game as well! Let’s wait and watch how this conversation unfolds.