For those who had missed the action from the previous editions of the cricket World Cup, the ongoing one has been a good opportunity to catch up. With the rain gods being quite unkind, the broadcasters have turned to highlights packages of the previous editions of the tournament. The game in India is an immortal golden goose and the lack of live action would mean more air-time for the innumerable programmes packaged around cricket―some relevant and engaging, and some, not so. The flip side of 24x7 television, one might say.
Before the start of the ICC World Cup 2019, the comparison it drew with the 1992 edition was based on the format, but now there seems to be more to it. With a cameo with the bat followed by two left arm round the wicket gems that castled Alan Lamb and Chris Lewis off successive deliveries, Wasim Akram was undoubtedly the man of the final; a performance that broke England’s back and put Pakistan clearly in the driver’s seat. However, the man of the tournament, in the eyes of many, was the rain! But for the rain, Pakistan wouldn’t have got that all important one point from a match in which they were bundled out for just 74 runs. But for a rain interruption, South Africa wouldn’t have had the misfortune of seeing their target being reduced from a probable 22 runs off 13 deliveries to an outlandish 21 off one ball, in their semifinal match against England! Not surprisingly, the ‘rain rule’ applicable in that tournament soon became a thing of the past.
The rain taking centre stage during the second week of the current tournament also meant that there was enough time and space in the media to celebrate the career of one of India’s all time greats in white ball cricket―Yuvraj Singh. As a teenager who loved the cool Chandigarh evenings and the ‘mutter paneer’ prepared by his ‘nani’, Yuvraj joined the league of the big boys with the confidence of the ‘player of the tournament’ of the under-19 World Cup backing him. He looked fearless, his body language exuded confidence, which bordered the line of arrogance, and the world realised his potential as a clean striker of the cricket ball.
[File] Yuvraj Singh announced his retirement last week | Reuters
Yuvi was a true match winner and leaves us with memories galore―despatching the likes of Glenn McGrath and Brett Lee to the fence with absolute disdain in his debut series in Nairobi in 2000, his NatWest exploits two years later, Stuart Broad finding his bat too broad for an entire over at Kingsmead, Durban in 2007 and my personal favourite: his all-round effort to win India the World Cup in 2011; he changed the complexion of many a match not just with the bat but as a very handy ‘pie-chucker’ as well―all with a cancerous tumour inside him.
READ: 'Every time I ran, it felt like running on fire': Yuvraj after recovering from cancer
I remember one of his former teammates suggesting last year that Yuvraj should consider his retirement and Yuvi has done well not to stick around beyond this point. Retirement is often a tricky thing in sports and it has to be said that Yuvraj almost got his timing right there, too.
At a time when many cricket aficionados have started distancing themselves from the game feeling that cricket is quickly degenerating into a six-hitting contest where the delicate balance between the bat and the ball doesn’t exist anymore, the first week’s action at the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 had promised redemption. Now, there is water over it, quite literally. Five matches have been affected by rain so far, of which three were abandoned without a single ball being bowled. Could ICC have done better with the scheduling of the tournament given the weather in the UK this time of the year? One can’t seal the sky, but what the England and Wales Cricket Board could have done is cover the grounds. One just wonders how the world media, especially the British, would have reacted if this was happening in India! May be the ECB can learn a thing or two about covering the grounds from the land of poverty and snake charmers!
Ground staff cover the field as it rains ahead of the World Cup match between India and Pakistan at Old Trafford in Manchester | AP
With Australia, England, West Indies and Pakistan all tasting defeat already in the tourney, the India-New Zealand encounter had created added interest and expectations. May be in an ironic sense, the only positive coming out of the rain episode is that the suspense will remain for a while longer as both India and New Zealand have looked apart so far. We will have to wait till the knock-out stage for a face-off between the best two teams but at the moment, the ICC and the ECB are running for cover!
Sreeduth is a sports broadcaster, management consultant, quiz show host, columnist and a noted percussionist as well.
