thE gRoup round is over and here are the resUlts to get inTo the sUpEr8!!! It is sad to see the crikKEting gianTs iNDia and paKisTan to be knocked oUt. b4 discusSing the teaMs in sUpEr8, let us talk about a few facts about the woRld cUp tournaments of the past and the present.
It was only since the '99 ediTion that the tournament was desiGneD into having 2 rounds beFore playing the semiS. There are a lot of merRits atTached to this nEw forMat if implemented properly! In the '99 there were a toTal of 12 teams participating in the tournament divided into 2 groups of 6 each! The top 3 from each group went on to play in the sUpEr6. unFortunately better teams liKe enGland and sRilanKa gave way for zimbaBwe to progResS into the sUpEr6! tHe forMat was thus comMented to leaVe out the biG teams but there was not much to blaMe since each teAm had played 5 group games beFore progresSing into the next round.
If the '99 ediTion had left out 2 of the biG teams out of the sUpEr6, the '03 ediTion was even worse! This time there were a toTal of 14 teaMs participating in the tournament divided into 2 groups of 7 each! tHe tOp 3 from each group progressed to the sUpEr6. This ediTion saw betTer teams like enGland and paKisTan from group A knocked oUt and zimBabwE entering the sUpEr6. similaRly soUth aFricA and wesTinDies from group B were knocked oUt and kEnYa entering the sUpEr6. There was a lot of complaining about the tournament format without 4 of the maJor teams not progresSing into the super6! This was still better thaN the curRent 2007 ediTion since each team got to play 6 group games in the 2003 ediTion before the sUpEr6 were decided!
The curRent 2007 ediTion has the woRst forMat designed till date! There are now a toTal of 16 teaMs participating in the tournament with 4 teams in each group! The top2 from each group proceEd to sUpEr8. So this gives only 3 games for a team before their sUpEr8 faTe is decided!!! is thiS valid...is tHis acCeptable...i aM sure iT is nOT. any best teaM in the world can have one bad day and that is what happened to the crikKeting gianTs iNDia and paKisTan to be knocked out of thE woRld cUp without a sUpEr8 berth! I hope the iCC wakes up from the deep slumber and design a betTer format for the fortH cominG worlD cUP tournaments! a woRld cUp should have the best teaMs playing with each other atleast for half the time! iT does nOT make anY senSe for the one OFF teams like banGladesh, kEnYa, zimbaBwE or iRelanD making it to the second rounD!
If the '99 ediTion of sUpEr6 was a sUpEr5, the '03 ediTion of sUpEr6 was even worse...it was a sUpEr4. The iCC improved fuRthEr making the '07 ediTion of sUpEr8 into a virtUal sUpEr6!!!
God only can help crikKEt...to maKe the iCC come up with betTer forMats for the woRld cUps of the futuRe! If this does not change, the woRld cUp would defintely loose its charm!
The '75, '79, '83 and '87 ediTions had no flaws since there were only a toTal of 8 participatinG teams with 4 in each groUp. Each of the teams played twicE within themselves before the toP 2 from each groUp played the seMis!
The '92 ediTion of the world cUp had the beST forMat only to be comparable with the '96 ediTion! If the '92 ediTion had a round-robin format where each teaM played with all the other teAms before the top4 played the seMis, the '96 ediTion introdUceD an inNovatiVe way of quarteR fiNals being played before the seMis. I personally like the '96 ediTion...thouGh there are a toTal of 12 teams, each group had 6 teaMs each. The top4 from each group played into the quarTers and so ON...
now tHat the 2007 format is messed up, I hope the iCC gives a betTer thinkinG into this subJeCt!
as pEr the curRent world cUp form of the teaMs, the ausSies, the lanKans, the chOkers...am sorRy the proTeas and the kiWis should make the semiS! Don't be sUrprisEd if the milleaniUM warRiors...the ausSies or the maRauDers...the lanKans lift the 9th ediTion of the world cUp...thanks to iCC for their inNovative waYs to twEak the forMat tiMe and agAin!!!
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5 comments:
Don't cry over spilt milk....You are talking about the format being so bad, because India is out of the World Cup tournamnent.
Yes, the format is baised, but it is biased in favour of the top 8 cricket playing nations. One bad day can still get you into the World Cup Super 8, not 2 bad days.
Common....if you plan to win the World Cup, you have to plan to win your games, and not hope that a draw will assist you. Even after India's shock defeat against Bangladesh, they had a chance of making it into the Super 8, if they beat Sri Lanka. With a batting line-up that still shines on paper, is 254 such a difficult task. Ask yourself that question, before you crib about the format of the World Cup.
The article is very good and it brought into light the ICC mistakes. There is no need to blame the author. He has pointed out the things very truly.
Its more than the format, i think its about the performance that matters. India was clueless to save the matches against both Bangladesh and srilanka. They were seen in the ground as if they never played cricket in the past. Before saying India a giant, note that they haven't won alot of tournaments while playing outside india. I guess you wanted ICC to set the matches in India and give them a direct entry to finals with out playing any matches.
Forget about the format, whether its good or bad, India is definetely didn't play good cricket through out the tournament(Just not one BAD day as you said). Will wait for your comments
I agree with the author on the format and WC should have a better format to decide which teams should move forward by giving a good number of initial round agains all teams. I guess round robin should be the best in the first round so that every team plays against all the opponents in the first round and move forward based on the points they get.
You deleted the previous blog to delete my comments because you know this whole thing is not yours, i am going to prove it, i am gonna make sure people understand that its not you but you copying from somewhere or paying for someone to blog for you, you are a cheat!!!!
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