7 things that ICC must do for the next World Cup

So, the biggest cricketing extravaganza has finally concluded and Australia have been crowned World Champions for a record 5th time. Rightly so, as they were by far the best team in the tournament and completely deserve to hold aloft the coveted trophy.   

The tournament was surely a success but could have been far more entertaining had there not been so many one-sided games. Most of the games became predictable once a side won the toss, elected to bat and posted over 300. In fact this seemed to be the strategy of every team and thus ‘calling the toss right’ became a crucial element of every game. ICC should look at some changes for the next World cup to ensure close games and an even contest between bat and ball no matter which part of the innings a side is playing in.

Here are some suggestions which will surely bring in more excitement and quality games for the fans:

Format change – The current format of having two groups is restricting the number of big games during the league phase. For instance, this world cup did not see a contest between Australia-South Africa, India-Sri Lanka, Pakistan-Sri Lanka, India-New Zealand etc. Imagine if in the next World cup the same format is followed and India and Pakistan happen to be in different groups, do not play each other at all and fail to meet even in the knockouts, what a shame it will be!

ICC should re-introduce the 1992 type format for the league phase – the round-robin where every team plays every other team atleast once.  Restricting the number of teams to 10 for the next World cup is perhaps the best thing ICC could have done and this will help in implementing the round-robin league suggested here. I know the associate nations are not happy about ICC’s decision of 10 nation Wold cup. However I think playing in the World cup should be a privilege and not a right. Associate nations should fight for the privilege in the qualifier which ICC is planning to introduce before the 2019 World cup which will decide the 9th and the 10th team (the first 8 teams will be based on the ICC rankings). I strongly believe that the World cup should be about quality and not quantity. Only the best teams should be allowed to participate so that we get good and intense encounters.

Playoffs to decide the finalists – One of the fairest methods of determining the finalists, according to me, is by having the playoffs involving the top 4 of the group/league stage. This is how it is being done in the IPL and has been extremely successful. The top 2 teams play for a place in the final. The winner gets through and the loser plays the winner of the game between the other 2 teams for a place in the final. Thus the top 2 teams get 2 shots for the final as a reward for finishing at the top. This also results in more aggressive approach by the teams in the league phase as the target is not just to finish in the top 4 but top 2. 

If ICC adopts the round-robin league then the top 4 teams at the end of the league phase play the playoffs. If ICC sticks to the two-group format for the next world cup, then the top two teams in each group play the playoffs, with the top teams in both the groups being Team 1 and Team 2. 

Shorten the length of the tournament – Currently the Cricket World cup runs for over 6 weeks and this I feel is fairly long to sustain interest throughout. ICC should cut it down to 4 weeks or at least 5. The FIFA World cup runs for just over 4 weeks which is like perfect to hold fan interest. 

Scheduling of the games – ICC should ensure that knockouts are played on the weekends as much as possible to get maximum viewership and keep the interest going into the finals. In this World cup tournament just one knockout game was on the weekend. The organizers could have easily squeezed in another. However, having said this, for the next World cup if ICC adopts the round-robin league or even the playoffs, there will be no quarter-finals and logistically it may not be possible to schedule the semi-finals or the playoffs on the weekends.

Standard ground size – Not sure how ICC will manage this but hopefully England-Wales will not see the kind of variance in ground size as we saw in Australia-New Zealand. I thought the Kiwis had a huge advantage playing on smaller grounds where even a mistimed shot went for a six. No wonder their batting was completely exposed when playing the final in Melbourne.

Rule change to nullify toss advantage – This change I believe will need a lot of courage from ICC and a lot of buying in from all the teams to implement. As we saw in this World cup, winning the toss meant half the battle won. That’s just not good for the game. No contest should be based on luck. But how do we nullify the toss advantage? One option would be to allow the side losing the toss better bowling options – something like ‘2 bowlers can bowl up-to 12 overs’, which means the 5th bowler only needs to bowl 6 overs. Or reduce the number of Power-play overs for the side winning the toss. But I feel any rule change that is brought in to nullify toss advantage should be flexible and both captains before every game should agree to go with it. If the captains feel and agree that the toss does not hold any advantage, they should be allowed to strike down the rule. 

UDRS system – Currently under the ‘Umpire Decision Review system’ only one unsuccessful review per innings is allowed. This should be increased to two per innings and should cover everything and not just dismissals. With all due respect to the on-field umpires, I feel technology should be used as much as possible to correct the decisions wherever they are wrong. It will only make cricket a better game and avoid unnecessary controversies like the one during the India-Bangladesh semi-final.