This is an archive article published on June 19, 2024

Opinion At the T20 Super Eight Stage, this is a tournament of underdog thunder

The end product is a fascinatingly unpredictable tournament where anyone could beat anyone else on their day, an air of suspense and intrigue hanging over every game.

The T20 version is a more favourable stage for lower-ranked teams to pinch the established ones.

June 19, 2024 08:14 AM IST First published on: Jun 19, 2024 at 08:14 AM IST

Two former champions from the subcontinent, Sri Lanka and Pakistan, bombed in the group stage of the T20 World Cup; perennial bridesmaid New Zealand caught an unusually premature flight back home. Some of the other powerhouses suffered scares — Nepal were two runs away from upsetting South Africa, rain saved England from the blushes against Scotland. Afghanistan and Bangladesh emphasised that calling them minnows is condescending. In that great Hollywood tradition of movies like “Any Given Sunday”, “Rocky” and “Remember The Titans”, co-hosts United States topped Pakistan, gave India a scare and advanced to the Super Eights for the first time. The David slaying Goliath thread has only enlivened the tournament, compensating to an extent for the substandard pitches (in New York), unexpected rain (Florida), empty stadiums and bizarre match timings.

The wave of surprises flows with a fine tradition, beginning with upstarts India stunning the all-conquering West Indies to lift the 1983 50-over World Cup. The T20 version is a more favourable stage for lower-ranked teams to pinch the established ones. An incisive spell or a burst of boundaries, a mind-stopping catch or run-out is all it sometimes takes to put the most perfect team under pressure. The tacky nature of pitches further reduced the gap between the elite and non-elite teams. Besides, the mere idea of playing a World Cup match is an extra motivation, a spur for lower-ranked teams to exceed their capabilities.

The end product is a fascinatingly unpredictable tournament where anyone could beat anyone else on their day, an air of suspense and intrigue hanging over every game. The event is buzzing on a knife edge, as the Super Eight Stage kicks in. Bigger teams are wary of the threat the US possesses, or the giant-slaying knack of Afghanistan and Bangladesh, two exceptionally gifted teams often undone by freezing in big games. It would not be a surprise if one of them, or even both, progresses to the last four. For this has been a tournament of underdog thunder so far, akin to the most scintillating Hollywood sports narratives.