Final – India v New Zealand – Sunday, March 9 – Dubai

[Srinath P]

Should we drop Kuldeep for Sundar in the final?
We made this mistake in WC final when we didn’t drop Siraj for Ashwin.

No

Kuldeep even at his worst is a better bowler than Sundar. And, where do you even bowl Sundar? Shami, Hardik Axar and Varun are better than him in PP. They have way too many right handed quality players of spin to bowl him in the middle overs. And he's far from a death bowler.

His highest batting position in this team would be No. 9. Nothing much you can offer there.

If Kuldeep is going out, Arshdeep or Rana must replace him. Not Sundar who didn't deserve to be in the 15 in the first place.

 

[SteveNZ]

Prize money for Winners of,

- ICC ODI World Cup : $4M
- World T20 : $2.45M
- CT : $2.24M
- WTC : $1.6M

The prize money for World T20 will only get bigger because it's tied to viewership and the number of teams participating in it.

It's pretty obvious it will be the biggest event in cricket in 10 years time.

OK, we'll see where we are in 10 years' time. Depends on your definition of 'biggest', incidentally. It's in the box seat for high viewers, because of its size and ability to play in prime time TV slots. Which leads to $.

If biggest is most interest, most column inches, most hype, longest legacy, best memories etc then T20 World Cup ain't it, or even close to it. Just because the bean counters say it's good, doesn't necessarily make it so

 

[SteveNZ]

T20 will be global. Cricket is fast becoming a 3 country sport.

Yes.

Sport needs depth and authenticity to be meaningful. If cricket doesn't provide it, I'll go somewhere else.

Though options are shrinking

This man gets its. Ken Oath it does. Depth, authenticity and meaning. Three things T20 has **** all of.

And I agree - if cricket doesn't have that, I'm out.

But it will, because the dimwits at the ICC will soon learn that short-term revenue doesn't equal long-term sustainability if they go all in on the golden goose. In fact, the golden goose story is a perfect analogy for cricket right now. Cut the goose open, there's no more eggs in there, and the bird will soon be dead.

 

[Moss]

If the T20 WC final is to become the biggest thing in cricket, they'll need to play to world cup less frequently, maybe once every 4 years like the 50-year version. Right now it seems tacked in at every opportunity without room for narratives to build. Will agree it feels more like a proper world cup with teams beyond the top 8 or 10 included.

 

[Sunil1z]

If the T20 WC final is to become the biggest thing in cricket, they'll need to play to world cup less frequently, maybe once every 4 years like the 50-year version. Right now it seems tacked in at every opportunity without room for narratives to build. Will agree it feels more like a proper world cup with teams beyond the top 8 or 10 included.

Once again the reason is money . See how much have Star Sports Paid to ICC for next 4 years or 8 years Cycle. There is a clause in that Contract there would be guaranteed 1 ICC event every year with India matches at favourable time slot for viewers preferably Sunday . ICC have no option but to hold T20 WC every 2 years .

Already Star Sports are unhappy after last year T20 WC

 

[Chin Music]

I have just received an email from the Indian airline, Indigo, touting for travel to Dubai for the final. A bit late in the day, and judging by previous crowds, the tournament doesn't seem to have been that well attended, even by the large expat Indian community in the UAE. Anyway, their headline was, "It's Coming Home!".... Bound to end in tears then!

 

[honestbharani]

and judging by previous crowds, the tournament doesn't seem to have been that well attended,

In Dubai? based on what, exactly?

 

[Chin Music]

In Dubai? based on what, exactly?

Having watched some of the games and seen rather a lot of empty seats. Empty stands even for India's matches beg the question: Are ODIs dying? | Cricket News - The Times of India Even picked up by TOI. Looked plenty of space for the other games too. That said, the games in Pakistan weren't that well attended either, with the reason given the lack of popularity for ODIs these days.

 

[SkyBlue]

OK, we'll see where we are in 10 years' time. Depends on your definition of 'biggest', incidentally. It's in the box seat for high viewers, because of its size and ability to play in prime time TV slots. Which leads to $.

If biggest is most interest, most column inches, most hype, longest legacy, best memories etc then T20 World Cup ain't it, or even close to it. Just because the bean counters say it's good, doesn't necessarily make it so

Franchise cricket is getting massive. Plenty of players are prioritising franchise T20 cricket over longer formats with their country. Imagine if The Hundred explodes with all the investment they got recently and imagine if it gets an exclusive window like the IPL. Many players would prioritize that over some meaningless bilateral series where the pay would be lesser.

Think of how ODI cricket became popular and eventually leading to ODI World Cup becoming the biggest event in cricket. We're seeing that with T20 cricket.

Playing 5 T20's and 3 ODI's has become a common pattern in bilateral series these days. Even the olympics I believe will be played in T20 format.

We can talk about prestige and legacy all we want but ultimately numbers matter. Test cricket has viewership only when the big 3 play each other and even those numbers baulks in comparison to IPL viewership for example.

 

[Silly Point 2.0]

I have just received an email from the Indian airline, Indigo, touting for travel to Dubai for the final. A bit late in the day, and judging by previous crowds, the tournament doesn't seem to have been that well attended, even by the large expat Indian community in the UAE. Anyway, their headline was, "It's Coming Home!".... Bound to end in tears then!

India are more than welcome to take the rights to that bloody song, tweak it a bit and keep it

 

[mackembhoy]

I think T20 WC is going to be the biggest ICC event in 10-15 years time. We are heading down that road.

That or T10 or the Hundred ICC event.

There won't be any Test cricket or ODI Cricket by then.

I will no longer be a cricket fan then.

 

[honestbharani]

Having watched some of the games and seen rather a lot of empty seats. Empty stands even for India's matches beg the question: Are ODIs dying? | Cricket News - The Times of India Even picked up by TOI. Looked plenty of space for the other games too. That said, the games in Pakistan weren't that well attended either, with the reason given the lack of popularity for ODIs these days.

haha.. literally mentioned that the India-Pak game was all sold out. The seats had been empty earlier due to the heat and people coming in later in the evening. I think it has been extremely well attended for an ODI trophy in Dubai. Pakistan got great crowds earlier but interest tapered off once they lost to India, I think. Guess people stopped bothering to turn up for the other games too, which is understandable.

 

[Sunil1z]

That or T10 or the Hundred ICC event.

There won't be any Test cricket or ODI Cricket by then.

I will no longer be a cricket fan then.

Test Cricket will survive because of prestige associated with it . ODI maynot

 

[mackembhoy]

Test Cricket will survive because of prestige associated with it . ODI maynot

Be franchised by then Modi India Superstars Disney + XI vs MI London England Fly Emirates All Stars

 

[Sunil1z]

Be franchised by then Modi India Superstars Disney + XI vs MI London England Fly Emirates All Stars

You will be proved wrong by attendance in upcoming India tour to England.

 

[mackembhoy]

You will be proved wrong by attendance in upcoming India tour to England.

Not sure what that has to do with how test cricket will be in 10-15 years.

Attendances last year for the WI and SL were poor because ECB are bunch of greedy tossers and the appetite for test cricket outside of the big 3 is dwindling the world round.

Participation in younger generations in our country has been destroyed by sticking it behind a paywall for 20 years. More people watch Crufts a fecking dog show than they do the Ashes in the UK now.

In 10-15 years plenty of the audience who enjoy test cricket in this country will have shuffled off this mortal coil.

If you think Test Cricket being played by 3 nations in 10-15 years which is about the best I can see for the format.

Then I'd cry for the loss of the best sport in the world.

Football sold it soul in 1992 and it's all I've ever known getting worse year on year.

Cricket pretty much did with T20 and especially the IPL, it's only getting worse from here on in.

 

[andruid]

Franchise cricket is getting massive. Plenty of players are prioritising franchise T20 cricket over longer formats with their country. Imagine if The Hundred explodes with all the investment they got recently and imagine if it gets an exclusive window like the IPL. Many players would prioritize that over some meaningless bilateral series where the pay would be lesser.

Think of how ODI cricket became popular and eventually leading to ODI World Cup becoming the biggest event in cricket. We're seeing that with T20 cricket.

Playing 5 T20's and 3 ODI's has become a common pattern in bilateral series these days. Even the olympics I believe will be played in T20 format.

We can talk about prestige and legacy all we want but ultimately numbers matter. Test cricket has viewership only when the big 3 play each other and even those numbers baulks in comparison to IPL viewership for example.

An aside, why on earth hasn't franchise OD cricket taken off to the same extent as t20?

 

[Sunil1z]

An aside, why on earth hasn't franchise OD cricket taken off to the same extent as t20?

No one has patience to watch entire game for 7 hrs.

 

[SkyBlue]

An aside, why on earth hasn't franchise OD cricket taken off to the same extent as t20?

Why would it? Look at the alternatives. Football is a 90 minute game, Rugby is 80, Basketball and NFL around the same I reckon

Who tf would spend time watching a whole day's worth cricket especially if there's not much at stake compared to ICC events?

T20 is cricket's best bet to sustain strong viewership as it's only 3 hours.

The attention span of sports fans is diminishing by the day. Sports in general has gotten a bit boring tbh.

IMHO ODI cricket can be temporarily saved by reducing it to 40 over games.

As for test cricket, the marketing and hype around the Ashes has saved test cricket to an extent otherwise it would be dead a long time by now given that India and Pakistan don't play each other in tests anymore.

Also English and Australian (and Indian) cricketers are well compensated by their boards in terms of central contracts so there's more incentive to focus on test cricket.

Ultimately it's down to pay as well. If players are well compensated in tests, it will continue to survive. But we are already seeing cracks opening up when SA's board wanted their players to participate in SA20 over a test tour to NZ last year as an example.

 

[SkyBlue]

That or T10 or the Hundred ICC event.

There won't be any Test cricket or ODI Cricket by then.

I will no longer be a cricket fan then.

I think cricket will go down the same route as football. T20 WC would be the biggest prize and it'll probably be held once every 4 years.

We'll also see less and less of international cricket and more of franchise leagues. IPL will probably get extended to 20 teams and it will be played over a year rather than a 3 month window.

There's definitely going to be another version of Champions league in cricket but it would be weird because most of the franchises would be under IPL/Indian ownership.

Cricket is going to lose a lot of old fans like ourselves but newer/younger fans might be more interested in franchise cricket.

On a sidenote, that Dubai T10 is one of the worst things to ever happen to the sport.