Is The Craze To Watch ICC Cricket World Cup Still The Same?

With the corona pandemic situation, most of the sports events have been cancelled or postponed including the 13th season of IPL and ICC Men’s T20 World Cup. There are fair chances for the T20 World Cup to get shifted to 2021. 

However, our four-yearly ICC Cricket World Cup is going to take place in 2023. In such a situation, there is one question we should ask ourselves—are we still that crazy about watching the Cricket World Cup? 

Cricket was different when Sachin, Sehwag, Dravid and Ganguly were playing for India. Every kid used to know with points the exact ICC Cricket Ranking of India, at least. There might not be precise metrics at the time to measure what number of people watched the tournament. But there was physical proof in the neighborhood. Every home had Doordarshan Channel tuned on their TV. You’ll find the streets empty during India’s match. They are not kidding when they say cricket is a religion in India. But, is that still so? 

I have not much data to support my statement. But going by the stats in my neighborhood, I can say cricket is not seen with that respect and admiration nowadays. There is IPL happening and we support it, watch it, place bets on our apps, but still, the nation-wide craze is absent. Do we still know what is India’s ICC team ranking? 

Let us talk about the world cup. Played every four years, the ICC Cricket World Cup is the most premier tournament in cricket. The bat-and-ball sport originated in England and the world cup is its prestigious finale. Many qualification tournaments are played before World Cup finals. Teams from 16 big and small nations play to enter the next stage in the hopes of becoming the world champion. The host country for each tournament is fixed by the International Cricket Council (ICC). 

Although cricket is a centuries-old game, the ICC World Cup itself has existed only since 1975. At the time of the World Cup's inception, the cricket community was under pressure to expand its membership. It consisted of a handful of countries of the British Commonwealth in the past. The ICC created a new kind of membership status for the new competitors. The ICC designated six slots in the World Cup Finals for new teams by 2007. The other 10 spots were for the Test-playing nations. 

Over the course of the tournaments played between 1975 and 2007, the Australia team dominated winning a World Cup trophy each in 1987, 1999, 2003, and 2007. India won the tournament in 1983 and 2011. Prestigious won by England in ICC Cricket World Cup in the latest, 2019 tournament.