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Update: If you are looking for the Twenty20 World Cup Final then check out online live telecast streaming options or check out live audio commentary. For the World Cup 2007, read on:
In the Cricket World, one game overshadows all the others. It is the India - Pakistan clash that fans from the sub-continent look forward to. The match is considered far more important than even the final unless of course, the final features these two countries. But that perfection has never occurred. Considering that most of the cricket fans and World Cup viewers are from these two countries and any clash between the two arch rivals is considered war, the television viewership ratings go through the roof.
We may not remember other memorable matches of the previous World Cups but I bet we remember all the India-Pakistan matches, right from the ‘jumping jack’ Miandad in 92 to ‘we don’t want the Cup, we want this match’ in 96 to feverish chants of fan prayers during the 99 and 03 editions. Thankfully, India has managed to maintain a perfect record in the World Cups against Pakistan regardless of their performances elsewhere.
The World Cup organizers predictably put both countries in different groups and considering the unpredictable nature of each country’s performance in high octane tournaments, every subsequent clash predicts make-or-break fortunes for either country. So the World Cup organizers i.e. the ICC and the contracted television broadcasters are keen to make the most of this opportunity and wish they know of the venue and date ahead of time so as to pump up the hype even more.
An unnamed Rediff writer chanced upon a supposedly ’secret’ schedule for the second round aka Super Eight of the 2007 Cricket World Cup that pits India against Pakistan on Sunday, April 15. The writer points us to the ICC website that has the schedule but it doesn’t show any such thing there. As you know, the Super Eight begins after the preliminary rounds featuring four groups that play within each group. Only two teams from each group will proceed to the Super Eight. And conveniently, each group features two prominent teams with the rest made up by minnows like Bermuda, Scotland, Ireland, etc. So did the ICC goof up or did Rediff see something wrong? We’ll never know because there is no screenshot to back it up. A blogger worth his salt would never fail to do that :) We’ll never know the truth unless some insider spills the beans. If true, why isn’t an upset taken into consideration? We have had enough upsets in previous editions of the tournament. In fact, even the regular test-playing nations in each group are ranked. Or probably, it was just a trial run of a hypothetical schedule not meant for public consumption.
That brings us to the issue of inclusion of teams that are clearly outclassed by their heavyweight counterparts. Should we even include them and ‘waste’ 13 days and 24 games? Well, I am not as cynical as Rediff is. Although these countries are hopeless inadequate, the exposure at this world stage might probably give them the impetus to work on their game. It might encourage kids back home to play cricket and best of all, keep the possibility of upsets alive. After all, who can forget Kenya and Bangladesh? Heck, Kenya even reached the semi-finals last time around (how did that happen?)
However, on the flip side The Netherlands has been playing in World Cups forever and has shown no indication of support back in their country. There is not even a marginal improvement in their performance. But I guess, these teams reach the World Cup through a ICC tournament that serves as qualifiers for little-known teams (which have a host of immigrants from the subcontinent anyway). The problem is that we continue seeing the same teams reach the World Cup apart from an occasional Bermuda. The gap between Test-playing cricketing nations and their fledging counterparts is vast. Any result against expectations is clearly a fluke and probably rightly so because we don’t see a long-term lasting effect or pattern. At the same time, the gap between the countries that regularly make the World Cup and the ones that don’t also seems to be equally large.
Cricket is insanely popular in the Indian subcontinent and other Commonwealth countries but even after so many years, it has failed to break into new territory. Let alone United States but other European or Asian countries that are madly in love with football are least interested in cricket. Probably we need even a shorter version of the game without letting it denigrate into a slog fest.
by Patrix | on Monday, March 5th, 2007 at 5:11 pm | 
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March 6th, 2007 at 1:38 am reply
It was no real secret, and the Rediff guy stumbled upon it pretty late. At least 2 weeks later than me, and I had written about it too on my cricket blog, Cricket Et cetera. Just that my trps/impressions ain’t too great, for you to make your way to it that early!! Nice place this though, Ipatrix. Like the layout specially…
March 6th, 2007 at 6:43 am reply
Pat, I had seen the schedule too with Ind-Pak marked in, at the DirectTV site. Had not given it much thought since I figured it might be a glitch or something.
But I have to say that the tournament is really too long (2months !!) and way too many ’smaller’ teams. Perhaps the winner and runners up from the ICC challenge can be included - but to bring in the 3rd/4th place etc is a bit too much.
March 6th, 2007 at 1:18 pm reply
Amit, strange that didn’t make the news earlier. Too bad you don’t have a screenshot either. But at least you got it out before Rediff did. It would have been priceless! And glad you liked this place :) You’ve a nice cricket blog too.
Bongo, I’ve been far removed from cricket this time around so probably missed the memo on the schedule but didn’t see in the blogosphere either. This was a story made for blogging.
And I agree that the tournament is really long. Compare it with the Football WC which has double the teams and wrapped up in half the time.
March 6th, 2007 at 3:11 pm reply
Rediff did not goof up, they were just dumb (or smart depends on how you loook at it), but this schedule was available on the ICC website even before the tickets went on sale :).
It was a well thought out tactic by ICC - ICC decided that the top 8 teams would be ranked in their respective groups based on 2005 standings. It doesnt matter how many matches each team wins in their groups, their eventual standing in that group will still be dependent on 2005 rankings. That was the only way they could ensure a India-Pak match I guess :D
S
March 6th, 2007 at 3:14 pm reply
And yes, my friends made full use of this information beforehand, to exactly buy India-Pak match for April 15 and India-Wi match on April 18, both in Barbados.
S
March 6th, 2007 at 7:47 pm reply
Suyog, as the Rediff article said, let’s anoint the Champion and get on with it :) So you going with your friends to the Caribbean?
March 20th, 2007 at 10:39 am reply
Whoever wrote this article is the dumbest person on earth. Please go back and figure out what the A1,B1,…and so on team standings represent. Before the world cup starts theses are their rankings. But for the super eight these happen to be the positions the teams secure after round 1. So, if India happens to top group B they will be B1 and not B2 anymore. Such stupid articles should not be published!!!
March 20th, 2007 at 10:45 am reply
Rahul, err…nope. It is actually the other way around. For e.g. even if Pakistan had not topped their group, they would still be ranked at the top of their group due to the initial seeding before the WC began. But now that Pakistan is out, the joke is on ICC.