It's not often that three international cricket captains choose the platform of a global tournament to vent their frustration. But that is exactly what has happened at the ongoing World Twenty20.
“The International Cricket Council has the tournament in two phases because they will lose a lot of revenue if one of the ‘top nations’ goes out to any of us in the early rounds,” said Ireland captain William Porterfield, referring to the tournament’s rather strange and much-criticised format of having a qualifying round before the main draw.
Porterfield received backing from his fellow Associate nations captains. “I think if you’re having a qualifying tournament for a World Cup, then it needs to be a qualifying tournament, not a qualifying tournament for another qualifier. I think that’s unfair,” said Scotland captain Preston Mommsen. And a devastated Netherlands captain Peter Borren summed it up succinctly with: “It’s obviously not enough cricket, that’s fair to say.”
Scotland were knocked out of the tournament after losing two close games, but Netherlands and Ireland faced more cruel fates. After losing their opening games, they were both unfortunate to have their second outings ruined by bad weather. As there is no provision for reserve days in the tournament (except for the final on April 3), two of global cricket’s most promising Associate nations were knocked out.
All in all, the first week of the tournament has lurched from one farce to another. Unseasonal rain in Dharamsala affected four out of the six games in the hilly Himalayan town, with many grumbling about the absence of reserve days. While having reserve days for each game in an international tournament would make it a logistical nightmare, it is a bit unfair for nations like Netherlands, Ireland and Scotland who spend years planning for these events but were eventually eliminated after just one bad day at the office.
A shambolic build-up
And of course, the less said about the scheduling and the ticketing processes, the better. The schedule for the tournament was announced only in December and tickets went on sale just a few weeks before the tournament started. In comparison, ticket sales for the World Cup in Australia last year started almost a year before the entire event. For the World T20, the uncertainty lingered right till the end – Delhi was only recently cleared as a venue, while last Thursday, the venue for the high-profile India-Pakistan clash was shifted away from Dharamsala to Kolkata.
But going by the attitude of the organisers, everything seems to be running smoothly. In February, a Board of Control for Cricket in India official justified the delays, saying India as a cricketing destination is more dependent on local fans coming to watch the game. The underlying message was not too difficult to spot: if you are from outside India and want to come and watch the World Twenty20, don’t bother.
India favourites in close contest
The Board of Control for Cricket in India and the International Cricket Council will be praying that all this unpleasantness becomes a distant memory once India and New Zealand meet on Tuesday in Nagpur to kick off the tournament proper. It is set up nicely for the hosts – they are in scintillating form, have won ten out of their last eleven Twenty20s and look firm favourites in front of their adoring home fans. Their opponents New Zealand are always a dangerous lot but have been hamstrung by the recent retirement of Brendon McCullum. Under his successor Kane Williamson, they are still formidable but will lack McCullum’s inspirational leadership and daredevil batting.
Australia, Pakistan and Bangladesh make up the rest of what appears a tricky group. Australia have blown hot and cold – they were comprehensively swept apart by India earlier this year but went on to defeat South Africa in an away series that ended a couple of days ago. Their batting line-up is explosive but their lack of penetration on turning surfaces could hurt them.
Pakistan and Bangladesh are on different trajectories – while Pakistan have finally arrived in India after much deliberation, they are not in the best of shape. The bowling remains a strong point mainly because to the one-man army that is Mohammad Amir, but otherwise there is not much to be excited about Shahid Afridi’s men. In contrast, Bangladesh’s resurgence continues and after giving a good fight to India in the Asia Cup final, they comprehensively swept past the qualifying round to book their spot in the main draw.
England shed their conservatism
Defending champions Sri Lanka are in the other group but few would bet on them to repeat their feats from 2014. They are a side in complete disarray, with captain Lasith Malinga being replaced just days before the start of their campaign. West Indies, South Africa and England are the other teams in the hunt for a spot in the semi-finals and it makes for an interesting contest. West Indies can never be written off in the Twenty20 format because of the presence of impact players such as Chris Gayle and Andre Russell.
On paper, South Africa as always look very strong. But, of course, when it comes to the Proteas and global tournaments, they are never far away from their customary collapse under pressure. South Africa have yet to ever make it to the final, but they look strong contenders to qualify for at least the semi-finals.
England are the team to watch out for. After their World Cup debacle, England threw caution to the wind and threw their conservatism out of the window. As a result, they now have a team which enjoys playing free-flowing cricket and could shake things up considerably.
Afghanistan have also made it to the main draw after pulling off some fine performances in the qualifying round. Things will get progressively more difficult for them now but they are a team which has had an astonishing rise and it would be unwise to write them off.
Despite India’s favourites tag, this is a tournament where every major nation can beat each other on any given day. Now let us hope that, come the final on April 3, the headlines revolve around the cricketing action and not on what happened beyond it.