On June 27, the ICC released a video of the men’s ODI World Cup trophy travelling to space. They annotated it with some predictable spiel about how this is the first trophy to travel to space etc., only stopping short of making an exclusive Instagram page for it and calling it a travel vlogger. Nobody seemed entertained. On the contrary, there was a palpable exasperation in the comment sections on social media. With just about three months left before the tournament, everyone had the same agitation: Where is the schedule?
To put things in context, the fixtures for the two previous ODI World Cups were published nearly a year in advance. While neither Cricket Australia nor ECB had to deal with political factors specific to this edition — jostling with Pakistan Cricket Board over venues, for one — they were swift with the schedule and ticketing. This approach has a simple yet essential benefit: Everyone, from fans to local authorities, can plan better.
The official schedule came a few hours later and drew microscopic scrutiny. What stood out immediately was that the list of venues had some major names missing. Mohali, Indore, and Nagpur carry a glittering coat of history and warrant a spot at cricket’s biggest party.
Mohali’s I S Bindra Stadium hosted a semi-final each in the last two men’s ODI World Cups held in the Subcontinent. Both turned out to be classics. Nagpur’s VCA Stadium can hold nearly 45,000 people and hosted a Test match against Australia in February. Indore’s Holkar Stadium is famous for drawing packed crowds and also hosted Australia this year, but couldn’t get into the World Cup shortlist.
In its defence, the BCCI cannot win in this discussion. India has 25 international venues. For every city and state association they pick, there will be two left sour.
Eagle-eyed fans would have spotted Dharamsala, a venue with just a 16,000-capacity stadium getting five matches. One of them is the big-ticket clash between India and New Zealand.
The BCCI’s Vice President, Rajeev Shukla, has been speaking to the press, explaining the glaring omission of Mohali and other selection criteria. “The current stadium in Mohali did not meet ICC standards and was hence denied matches. That does not mean we won’t give them bilaterals. Virat Kohli’s 100th Test was held here. The ICC has to sign off on all venues. It is not a question of our preference.”
It is too late to affect anything, but one hopes that counter-questions are fired at Shukla and the BCCI. For starters, why wasn’t the Mohali stadium brought up to standards when it is regularly hosting international matches? The nearby stadium in Multanpur isn’t ready yet, so why did the BCCI not have enough foresight to give a historic, and frankly wonderful, venue a fitting final lap?
How did you ever think three months is enough notice for finalising the schedule?
The board have admittedly been working on the schedule, and the incessant bickering with PCB over venues must’ve set their plans back, but there has to be a way to leave room for one team’s indecision and release a draft. Why must fans from, say, Australia or South Africa, be left in the dark?
Foresight and empathy go a long way. With the opening match fast approaching, there is still no sign of tickets. Even if the administrators have taken local fans for granted, the whole process reeks of gross negligence towards those travelling to India. Fans add colour and texture to an event and make it a spectacle. At this point, many overseas fans have less than three months to plan their travel and stay, a substantial part of that without knowing if they will land tickets.
Ideally, fans should be at the centre of a World Cup experience. There are many reasons to view the FIFA World Cup in Qatar from last year through a lens of cynicism, but every fan who attended returned with a pleasant experience. Ditto, England 2019, Russia 2018, or Australia 2015.
One trip to an Indian cricket stadium will tell you everything about what the BCCI thinks of its fans. Beyond the optics of fibreglass exteriors on gigantic colosseums, on the day of a match, general ticket-holders are packed into cramped sections with hard plastic seats, limited access to food and water, and sanitation services that make one wish their body didn’t need to perform its basic functions. Enough isn’t spoken about how fans in India throng stadiums only for the pure love of the sport and its protagonists, despite the conditions they are subject to.
Ahmedabad’s Narendra Modi Stadium – surprise, surprise – has been chosen as the venue for the opening match, a marquee clash between India and Pakistan, and the final. It is an enormous unit that can seat north of a hundred thousand fans. Built for the big games. This year, it hosted the IPL finals. When, on the scheduled day of the final, the Ahmedabad skies opened like a tap that hadn’t worked for a while, the stands were left with dripping ceilings and the exit routes were flooded.
A World Cup in India is a big deal. Not just because it is a rare occurrence, but because the scale of fandom here can turn an event like this into a month-long carnival. If only the organisation came with foresight and empathy, India, even with all its complexities, would be a global favourite for such tournaments. Between the Commonwealth Games of 2010, the ODI World Cup of 2011, and this one, Indian administrators have consistently come up short. There is still lingering anger from BCCI’s shambolic handling of the Dharamsala Test in this year’s Border Gavaskar Trophy.
For fans and players, World Cups tend to be milestone moments, something to mark their lives with. The least they deserve is a memorable tournament. It has been a clumsy lead-up; one can only hope that the final run is executed without more slips and falls.
What if someone at a bar told you that there is a higher chance of a World Cup trophy travelling to space?
The writer is a Chennai-based composer and writer
ICC Men's Cricket World Cup will be held in India. (REUTERS)
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