ICC World T20 - A fixture-list that is open to criticism (Part 1) - Opinion
This year’s http://www.senore.com/Cricket/ICC-World-Cup-2011-c100625 World T20 of 2012 in Sri Lanka has a fixture-list, which is questionable in terms of ensuring that the vibes and excitement of T20 cricket is kept intact and is well and truly alive. The four groups have each featured a minnow taking on one
of the big guns in the tournament, in the quest for making an upset. What this has done however, is open up the tournament to the prospect of minnows being bashed into submission and securing the odds for the Test playing nations to progress to the Super Eights
with little or no fuss, whatsoever. The tournament has also married itself with the Monsoon climate, which has ruined two potentially enthralling contests between South Africa and http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Australia-c746 game at the Premadasa.
It is fair to say that, the matches so far have provided plenty of gloom and doom so far, for the teams, spectators and commentators as well.
Doom has hit the likes of teams like Afghanistan, who were pitted up against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/England-c749 and India at the Premadasa Stadium in their opening two encounters. These games helped them learn significantly, but also gave their strong opponents, a free license to
progress to the next round, without playing one another. The same is the case in Group C, where the hapless Zimbabweans became pushovers by South Africa and Sri Lanka, only for Sri Lanka to play a game against the Protea’s for formalities sake only. The lead
up to the all important clash between two formidable teams is considered to be anything but a ‘do or die’ affair this time around. The case of Group C is a prime example where http://www.senore.com/Cricket/South-Africa-c757 and Sri Lanka could have easily lost to one another, and still qualify
into the Super Eights, without any hassle.
In order for the ICC to inject some life into a tournament that has all the media hype it truly deserves, and provides ample space for miniature outfits to make an upset, a more exciting fixture list could have been devised for clashes of significant proportions.
For example, having two of the stronger teams contest in the opening games for their respective groups could be a possibility, which could inevitably put more pressure on the team that loses, to play against a lesser formidable opponent to qualify for the
Super Eights. That pressure and the weight of expectations could possibly lead to an upset when the minnows play against the big gun, which also paves way for much needed glory for those teams who are struggling to stay afloat in the international cricket
circuit. What is happening instead is that the two stronger teams have the leverage of cruising into the Super Eights by bashing the minnows into submission. That fact in itself is a damning indictment for T20 cricket as a whole.
Another problem with this convoluted scheduling is that the teams which have encountered an upset have very little chances of bouncing back from adversity. So far, the tournament has not witnessed any upset, with the http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Afghanistan-c745 game being
the closest that one could get but the truth is that if a top quality team fumbles at the very start, then the chances of coming back into the tournament rests with winning the next game at all costs.
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