A tournament to remember – ICC World Cup 2011
If someone questions the popularity of 50 over cricket compared to the Twenty20’s, the ICC World Cup 2011 is a perfect answer for them. The Mega Event had everything from upset defeats to epic rivalries and there was not a single person, talking about the
shortest version of the game.
Prior to the World Cup, former cricketers and experts rated India and Sri Lanka to be the favourites, and the two Asian giants lived up to the expectations. They were in different groups and did not meet each other until the final of the event. However,
only one champion had to be crowned and that was India.
14 teams took part in the World Cup and they were separated in two different groups, A and B. The first group had Australia, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/West-Indies-c760,
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Ireland-c751 and Bangladesh.
2011 was the third occasion when the Mega Event came to the Subcontinent. The first time when the Asia got the hosting rights of the World Cup was back in 1987. This was the first time when any country other than England hosted the prestigious tournament.
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Australia-c746 emerged as victorious in that event and they made it to the final once again in 1996, when the event came to Subcontinent for the second time.
However, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Sri-Lanka-c758 proved to be a far better team in the final back then, winning it by seven wickets. The Lankan Lions did not manage to double their tally though, as the Men in Blue stood in their way this time.
Other than the final, there were also some interesting pool matches and knock-out games. There was more drama in Group B compared to A. The cricket lovers across the globe saw one epic episode of cricket amongst India and England. The hosts managed to score
338 runs, which seemed to be out of the reach of the Poms. However, the visitors batted exceptionally well to tie the match.
Former Australian player Shane Warne’s prediction added spice to this unforgettable battle. The legendary leg-spinner predicted the match to be a tie on a social networking website, before the game started.
This was not the only time when England were in the spotlight, as the Ashes winning team suffered defeat at the hands of minnows like Ireland and http://www.senore.com/Cricket/England-c749’s mixed performances in the tournament, all the other top teams
played consistent cricket and made it to the knockout stages comfortably.
However, there was one match, which was considered to be the one of the biggest clashes of the century. This match was between arch rivals Pakistan and India. The neighbouring countries met in the semi-final stage of the event and after a nervous eight hours
of cricket, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/India-c750 emerged as victorious.
Senior officials from both countries were together to witness this match and it was a victory for the game of cricket at the end of the day.
The final had its own importance and two of the greatest cricketers of all time http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Muttiah-Muralitharan-c78157 and Sachin Tendulkar were head-to-head for one last time. However, they did not get the opportunity to battle against each other, as the Mater Blaster got
out before the wily off-spinner was introduced into the spell.
Overall, the World Cup was an exciting event and no one thought about Twenty20 cricket during the past one and a half month. This shows that the fans appreciate competitive cricket no matter what the format.
Tags: