The Cup that counts, is it?

The pinch
The world cup fever has died down a natural death over the last few years. While celebrated with much hype all over the world it falls only in line after the football league matches. In something like a soccer World cup which comprises of 32 competing nations, the matches go on for a span of one month. The number of the competing nations are decided after pre-qualifiers that last 3 years and with a bigger number than 32 nations- 190! On a completely different scale, the matches do not take over 2hours unlike a cricket match which goes on for the entire productive 8 hours of a day. Taking into consideration of a world cup scenario, there are, on an average, 42 matches inclusive of two groups and then these are followed by, essentially, 7 knockout matches. It is not entirely difficult for a person to calculate the number of matches and hours spent in the total 49 games but is it possible for that person to spend his entire time watching them, irrespective of the nation he belongs to? And more so, would he prefer watching a Kenya Vs Canada to SA vs. Sri Lanka, with respect to the standard of the game?

In a country like India, where cricket is and has always remained a religion, the pace and style of viewership has changed drastically over the past few years. In the present case scenario, the world cup fever favours more of the diehard cricket fans rather than the average man who watches the game for the sheer love of it. And with respect to WC 2011, there has hardly been any crowd in support of international cricket. They are either not interested in watching minnows play and want to head for the knockouts straight or are plainly uninterested in watching when the host nation plays only once a week.

Run down timeline and changes in format
To run back on the timeline of how-it-all-started, one has to go back to its inception in 1975, the first official World Cup when it was better known as the Prudential world Cup. The first 3 editions of the tournament since 1975 had only 8 teams participating in 2 groups each. The top 2 from each group ended up making it to the semis. This curtailed the tournament to a mere 2 weeks and an altogether of 15 matches each. The matches were over a spread of 60 overs and were played in England. This particular factor was seen until 1983, when India won the cup.

In the 1987 tournament, the Cup saw a change in venue for the first time when they moved to the sub continent with Pakistan as the co hosting Nation. The duration was brought to 50 over per innings, which is the current standard. Ironically, this happened only due to the factor that, unlike England, the Indian subcontinent had shorter daylight hours. the organizers felt that playing each other once in the group stage was not enough and there was a double round robin league to give teams a fair chance at playing each other. The matches almost doubled up to 27 and so did the time to a month.

1992 has the longest world cup cricketing history ever. Every team played against every other team and is said to be the longest tournament ever in the history of world cups. But despite that, the year saw a lot of other significant changes like coloured jerseys, day/night matches, white balls and amendments in the fielding instruction. This took place in Australia and New Zealand.

The subcontinent became hosts again for the second time in the 1996 world cup when India and Srilanka hosted the World cup. The year is still remembered for the riots that broke out in Eden, Kolkata when India played Sri Lanka and the fans raged over the dismal performance from the Indian side. Srilanka was awarded victory by default. They went to win the world cup that year playing against Pakistan in Lahore, becoming the first host nation to win the cup.

1999, game was hosted by England. That world cup introduced the Super Six stage which increased the tournament length without arousing any fan interest. Australia had won.

The next WC was held by South Africa, Kenya and Zimbabwe. There was an increase of 2 teams to the usual 12. Kenya had, owing to pushes and pulls reached the semi finals. But in the final, India Vs Australia, The latter won, yet again in 2003.

2007, held in West Indies, hit an all-time bottom due to the Super 8 stage where India and Pak were knocked out in the group stage and Ireland/Bangladesh made it to the super 8 which became a huge farce as they suffered heavy defeats effectively leaving the Super 8 stage more of a Super 6 stage. The tournament featured 16 teams allocated into 4 groups of 4. The top two teams from each group moved to the super 8. The year saw more of a revenue based tournament and India’s and Pakistan’s early removal from the game did not particularly help the TRP viewership and investors. However, Australia beat Sri Lanka in the finals thereby creating record of the first nation to win the cup in three consecutive years.

When 50 0vers became too much.
The 2011 WC in India, Srilanka and Bangladesh is happening post the emergence of IPL matches and in a phase where ODI viewership have been fairly and brutally won over by the shorter crisper version of the T20s’ and IPL matches. They have almost hit the nail in the coffin of ODI viewership and it is quite evident from the matches currently telecasted. The crucial nail biting crunch match of England Vs India which led to a tie could have done wonders for TRP ratings. But even in the 48th and 49th over, Star Cricket could not broadcast any advertisements except for the channel produced ones. The fact clearly shows the lack of investors in the game, this year. Whether the Indians are waiting for the long painful world cup matches to get over so that they can get started with the exciting IPL4 is yet to be known and leans more on the Host’s performance in the knock out stages.

These are the changes that the cup has evolved through over the different editions, some for the good, some even better; but in the end, it still remains as The Cup that Counts.