Cricket is the world’s second-largest sport by viewership, garnering an estimated 2.5 billion fans across the globe. This year is the 13th ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup, which takes place every four years. The World Cup this year is hosted by India, with the top 10 teams from around the world flying in to compete in one of the 10 stadiums in India. The tournament will consist of a round-robin stage, where the winning team gets 2 points, with ties garnering 1 point for each team. The group stage is followed by the knockout rounds, where the top 4 teams will face each other in the semifinals, and then a final for the trophy. The winner of the World Cup wins 2 million dollars, with 8 additional million dollars being distributed to the other teams based on their ranking.
A controversial change implemented last World Cup which is still a point of hot contention is the reduction from 14 to 10 teams in 2019. The World Cup debuted with 8 teams, but due to the large number of competitive teams increased to 14 and even 16 teams. This was until 2019 when the teams were brought down to 10. The reasoning behind this decision stemmed from complaints about the time length of the tournaments, with over 50 matches per tournament. Many critics have argued that instead of reducing the number of teams, the amount of irrelevant matches could have been reduced instead.
The format of the World Cup since its introduction has always been the ODI (One Day International) format. ODI is a form of cricket with 2 innings, meaning that each team gets one opportunity to bat and bowl. When cricket was first founded, it used a format called Test cricket, which lasted almost five entire days with multiple innings. However, to make the game more consumer-friendly, ODI was created. Each inning in ODI lasts for 50 overs, with each over having six legal bowls. There is also another cricket World Cup, for an ever shorter version called T20, which is 20 overs per inning, with two innings as well.
The ten teams participating in the World Cup this year are New Zealand, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Australia, Bangladesh, India, South Africa, Sri Lanka, the Netherlands, and England. Some teams that qualified for the World Cup, such as Sri Lanka and the Netherlands, had to first face other teams in the World Cup qualifiers tournament, where West Indies, normally a heavy hitter in the cricketing world, did not qualify for the World Cup. This would be the equivalent if a big team like England, did not qualify for the FIFA World Cup.
This year’s title-contending teams are India, Australia, New Zealand, Pakistan and England. England is coming hot off a World Cup victory and star player Ben Stokes is coming out of retirement. Australia has always had a strong team, and while their team is aging, they are still a competitive team. New Zealand and Pakistan are good teams as well, with both having strong bowling sides. However, on the Indian pitches, because of the material, humidity, and various other factors, spin bowlers have a big advantage. Pakistan and New Zealand have strong fast bowlers, but not the best spin bowlers. Hasan Ali, from Pakistan, for example, has been a really good fast bowler so far, getting seven wickets. Mitchell Santner from New Zealand has also been performing very well so far getting five wickets. However, it is important to note that the tournament has just begun, and the efficacy of these fast bowlers on the spin-friendly pitches is yet to be seen.
India is looking to make a big comeback after their disappointing performance in previous years. India has also always been a decent team, but key players like Virat Kohli are making a comeback in his performance, and the Indian team is looking threatening. The last time India lost a World Cup at home was in 1996, and India has a golden age of spin bowlers currently, which highly suits the spin-friendly Indian fields.
Ultimately, I think India and New Zealand will match up in the finals. It will be a great game and feature top-class batting from both sides; however, I think India will ultimately triumph over them. As for the player of the tournament, there are many possibilities. The players mentioned earlier are all contenders for sure, but I think ultimately, Jasprit Bumrah, from India, will win the award. In the India-Pakistan game, he displayed his dominance, winning player of the match, and being the leading wicket-taker of the tournament.
Despite all the controversy surrounding cricket and the ICC World Cup these days, fans will no doubt clamor by the millions to watch another exciting edition of the World Cup.
