So India is officially out of the 2007 Cricket World Cup! It is a foregone conclusion that this World Cup will be financially affected by India and Pakistan's early exit. A lot of the excitement that the sub-continent giants provide will also be missing in the Super 8's. Instead of blaming the cricketers and their lackluster display in 2 out of the 3 games, I am going to go ahead and blame the format. The entire schedule of this edition of the Cup was "designed" to allow the 8 regular Test playing nations to make it to the 2nd round after they walloped the so-called "minnows" of the tournament. The real cricket was then supposed to start, with each team playing the remaining 6 teams that qualified from the other groups. The team would also carry forward only those 1st round points (and net run rate) of the team that qualified for the 2nd round, thereby eliminating the effect of any big wins over the minnows. In fact, many months before the tournament began, the official world cup website had the top 8 teams slated to meet each other, allowing people to book their tickets for the India-Pakistan clash on April 15. Those ardent cricket fans will now get to witness an Ireland vs. Bangladesh match, which will be the most insignificant match of the Super-8's.
As it stands before the start of the next round, Sri Lanka are sitting pretty with a huge NRR thanks to their big win over Bangladesh.
In retrospect, the tournament organizers will rue their decision to eliminate 8 teams out of the tournament after playing just 3 games each.
OR Perhaps this is just the rumblings of an Indian-cricket enthusiast, having wanted to watch his team play for one more fortnight, given that he has bought the World Cup streaming video online!
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2 comments:
I noticed you changed the blog title to Rene Descartes' famous quote. I remember the time when one of your favourite quotes was "Don't think. Thought kills a man!"
This is what Narayana Murthy (of Infosys fame) has to say. It's common sense, of course, but here goes:
The real problem lies with the system. Not just in cricket, but in virtually any walk of life, we are unwilling to put in hard work and live with discipline... We can succeed, not just in cricket, but in everything else if we only follow four basic principles: strictly adhere to meritocracy, work hard, train well and follow strict discipline.
Once you’ve given someone a mandate, let him implement it without interference. At Infosys, we have all our debates, arguments and discussions before it’s decided who’ll be responsible for something. Once it’s decided that X is the boss, all arguments stop and everyone rallies behind him.
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