ICC Cricket World Cup 2023: All the best highlights

Jake Ewart | 12:24am GMT 10 December 2023

This year’s men’s ICC Cricket World Cup event lasted from October 5 to November 19. Australia became the champion this year after defeating India in the final match at Ahmedabad Stadium by a margin of six wickets. 

Similar to football’s FIFA World Cup, this international tournament is carried out every four years. The 2023 ICC Cricket World Cup is held in multiple cities in India. The matches are equally split across ten venues, each with five games. Some selected cities include Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, and others. 

There were ten teams participated in the event, and the event attracted millions of fans worldwide throughout the whole game. This year’s World Cup also featured well-known exceptional players from competing teams worldwide, such as Ben Stokes, Rashid Khan, Babar Azam, Virat Kohli, Shakib Al Hasan, and more. 

Australian Glenn Maxwell went home with the highest score award, Indian Virat Kohli with the most runs, and Indian Mohammad Shami with the most wickets.

Competing teams

India, Afghanistan, Australia, Bangladesh, England, Netherlands, New Zealand, Pakistan, South Africa, and Sri Lanka were the ten teams competing in this year’s tournament. The West Indies did not participate this year due to failing to acquire one of the nine qualifying spots. 

While the other nine countries had to undergo a qualification process spread out over three years involving multiple stages and smaller tournaments, India automatically secured a spot due to the country’s role as the host nation.

Seven teams, including England, qualified for their positions after their performances during the ICC Super League held from July 2020 to May 2023. The Netherlands and Sri Lanka claimed the final two spots after winning the knockout qualification stage earlier this year.

The first phase of the ODI tournament began with a round-robin format in which each country played every other nation once, for a total of 45 matches. Each match win was awarded two points and one point for a tie or no result. The match between India and the Netherlands in Bengaluru on November 12 marked the end of the first phase. 

The teams that secured the top four spots in the round-robin phase, including India, New Zealand, South Africa, and Australia, advanced to the semifinals. 

The first semifinal between India and New Zealand took place in Mumbai on November 15. The second semifinal between South Africa and New Zealand was held in Kolkata on November 16. Finally, the final match between India and Australia was held in Ahmedabad on November 19.

High spirits of fans

Australia emerged as the 2023 World Cup champion after defeating India by six wickets in Ahmedabad on November 19. The win also marked a new record for the country to win for the sixth time. 

Being the team’s captain, Pat Cummins would go down as one of Australia’s greatest captains in cricket. Meanwhile, Travis Head was named player of the match in both the World Test Championship final versus India and the World Cup final against the same opponent.

However, there was controversy over a late pitch change by local officials for India’s semi-final matchup with New Zealand. The fans’ travel arrangements were impacted by changes in the match schedule, with some games being moved from their original times. 

Concerns about ticket sales had also been raised. Cricket fans criticized the non-transparency of ticket distributions for both local and traveling supporters, causing fans unable to secure tickets for prominent matches despite low attendance on the day of the event. This is a note to improve in future events.

With the growing number of fans and drawing millions of spectators, the sport is also frequently associated with the financial industry, attracting businesses, celebrities and punters. These punters usually opt for online cricket betting using Bitcoin since it amplifies the game’s excitement with some stakes involved.