Cricket Corner: The World Cup is underway - why isn’t anyone there?

In a nod to the longest form of the game - Test cricket - the article is broken into three sections to mirror the three main intervals in a day’s play. Lunch - the main course, the biggest stories. Tea - something a little lighter, dessert if you will. And Stumps (the end of play) - something to ponder over a few drinks at the bar.

Lunch

There is only one place to start the first Cricket Corner as the 50-over World Cup is underway in India. After three whole rounds of matches, there are two sides that have pulled away from the pack early with three wins from three.

Hosts India look in peak form, having dispatched arch-rivals Pakistan and five-time champions Australia both with relative ease. New Zealand - the perennial nearly men of white ball world cups in recent times - have also gotten off to a flying start and have a chance to get the trophy their ageing yet still golden generation deserves.

South Africa were looking like a force to be reckoned with until they were stunned by the Netherlands yesterday. And while defending champs England, sensationally upset by Afghanistan, and heavyweight nations Australia and Pakistan have all had stuttering starts, you can’t write any of them off in such a lengthy tournament.

If you didn't know - it's one giant round-robin of 10 sides. Each team plays nine matches and the top four progress to the semi-finals. So, who’s going to win it?

With every game and every unconvincing performance by the sides expected to test the hosts, it’s looking more and more like India’s to lose. But we've seen two major outsiders notch incredible wins already so who's to say there won't be more of that? Here's hoping.

Tea

Speaking of outsiders, the next Twenty20 (T20) World Cup - which is already next year, bizarrely, in the West Indies and the US - is taking on a new expanded format. 20 nations will participate, which means plenty more of the non-Test playing 'smaller' cricketing nations will get some exposure. It's a refreshing contrast to the 50-over World Cup, which has actually shrunk since 2015.

Aside from co-hosts USA (who automatically qualify), Ireland, Scotland, Canada and Papua New Guinea have booked their spots through the continental qualifiers along with the usual suspects. The African and Asian qualifiers are set to take place later this year and each will contribute two further nations.

It’s great to see cricket expanding into new places and T20 seems to be the only appropriate format through which to do that. It’s telling that the T20 World Cup is growing just as the 50-over is shrinking... Is this town big enough for both of them?

Speaking of expansion, cricket has been accepted into the Olympic Games as of Los Angeles 2028. It’s another boost for the game globally but as revered Australian cricket writer Gideon Hague perceptively pointed out on The Grade Cricketer podcast this week, the invitation comes at a time when “the Olympics needs cricket more than cricket needs the Olympics.” Let's face it, the schedule is already pretty packed.

Stumps

The most anticipated and attended game of the World Cup to date - India versus Pakistan - was disappointingly flat for two reasons. Firstly, Pakistan didn’t really show up and second, neither did Pakistan's fans, quite literally. That wasn’t because they didn’t want to but because of visa delays for visitors from Pakistan. Only half a dozen Pakistani journalists attended, too.

Pakistan coach Mickey Arthur quite rightly noted that "it didn't seem like an ICC event." What’s a World Cup without fans from the participating nations? Of course, there are huge geopolitical tensions between the nations behind this but still, it looks and feels like an event staged by the BCCI (India's Board of Cricket) for India, rather than by the International Cricket Council for the world.

Seeing thousands and thousands of India fans dressed in blue in the Narendra Modi Stadium waving flags, it's also starting to look more and more like an extension of the campaign for presiding Prime Minister Modi with elections looming next year. And yes, he did name the 130,000-seat stadium after himself…

On that note, it seems like there are hardly any fans at the games not including India. But why? In a way, it feels like this World Cup is one ODI World Cup too many. Remember the last one? The 2019 final was perhaps the greatest 50-over game ever played but since then, the T20 revolution has fast sidelined one-day cricket to the fringes of the game, especially at the international level.

Most of the teams have hardly played 50-over cricket in the four-year cycle between cups - perhaps explaining why their form is a little up and down. At least that makes it interesting, I suppose.

The two major upsets we’ve seen have lifted the tournament from a rather underwhelming opening so here’s hoping there are a few more twists and turns to take it away from the seemingly inevitable conclusion of India lifting the trophy in Modi-land. It’s the unpredictability of sport that we love after all, isn't it?