Just a few days back, I got a friend request on Facebook from an Afghan national. He had the picture of the Afghanistan national cricket team as his cover photo and the team jersey as his profile picture. My first reaction was that of thrilled joy but it soon turned to despair as I thought about the fate of the Associate nations.
This might turn out to be the only ODI World Cup that Afghanistan ever get to feature in. Surely a team that has braved unimaginable odds to play in the World Cup deserve a little more encouragement.
Afghanistan’s phenomenal rise in cricket is truly inspirational. From playing on makeshift bumpy, uneven pitches on barren land, land destroyed by war and violence, to being promoted five divisions in six years, it has been a spectacular journey for these Afghan players. However, the ICC’s decision to reduce the number of teams in the 2019 World Cup to 10, casts a doubt on their future representation. Their national cricket team was formed 14 years ago and at that stage, no one in their right mind could have predicted this upsurge. From being an affiliate member of the ICC to qualifying for the 2015 ODI World Cup, cricket in the war-torn nation has grown leaps and bounds.
After fleeing the Taliban administration, many of the current batch of Afghan players were raised in refugee camps in Pakistan. Cricket provided them a way out of their lifeless routine, it gave their life more meaning. These players learned the crafts and trades of the game in these refugee camps and when they finally returned home, they took the game with them. Cricket has given the Afghans a reason to smile, a reason to thrive for more in life. For these cricketers, fighting with the bat in hand is inarguably better than holding a gun. It fills them with hope, gives them a fair chance of surviving without fearing for their lives.
Taj Malik, former coach and the man behind the rise of Afghanistan as a cricketing force perfectly sums up the importance of cricket for Afghanistan in the documentary, Out of the Ashes. “As you know, there is a lot of problem in the world today. Everywhere, there is complex fighting. The solution of all the problems is Cricket,” he says in the film that documents Afghanistan’s quest to qualify for the 2011 World Cup.
Afghanistan or the Blue Tigers as they call themselves, came very close to causing an upset against Sri Lanka in Dunedin recently. Sri Lanka just about managed to scrape through for a 4-wicket win. Mahela Jayawardene, the man who took his team through with a fighting century, had this to say: “I think we probably dodged a bullet today. All credit to Afghanistan, I thought they batted really well in tough conditions and bowled beautifully upfront. They put us under a lot of pressure. It’s not a big gap between the top countries and the others.”
Sri Lanka themselves were an Associate nation until 1982, but look at them now. They became the World Champions in 1996 and have been the finalists of the 2007 and 2011 editions. Consider how it would have impacted their growth had the cricket’s governing body made a decision of similar magnitude in the 1980s.
In their game against Scotland, Afghanistan were 97/7 at one stage, but they held their nerves to register their first World Cup win. This 1-wicket victory was the epitome of their ‘never back down’ spirit. It was like a recap of their game against UAE in the ACC T20 tournament in 2009, where Afghanistan needed 10 runs off the last 2 balls. With the final pair of Shapoor Zadran and Hamid Hassan at the crease, Hassan hit the first ball for a four and the next for a six, to register a historic win for his team then. The same pair was at the crease against Scotland, with Shapoor hitting the winning runs this time.
THE ICC’s ARGUMENT
The ICC’s argument behind having a 10-team World Cup in 2019 is that it will make the tournament more competitive. ICC’s Chief Executive Officer Dave Richardson believes that with just 10 nations in the fray, the World Cup will have better quality of games.
“The way we are going, I believe we need to consolidate things to ensure that there is more competition amongst teams at the highest level. If we get a 10-team World Cup, all 10 teams must be capable of winning the tournament,” Richardson told PTI.
He added, “Like in 1992, we had a nine-team format, where everyone played each other. It was by far the most exciting World Cup where it was difficult to predict the four semi-finalists. So we are hopeful that 10-team format might work.”
The ICC also doesn’t want a repeat of the 2007 World Cup which turned out to be a financial disaster, with both India and Pakistan crashing out in the group stage. That’s another big reason why they feel (though they might not concede it openly) that the 10-team tournament is the best way to go forward.
IS THE ICC RIGHT?
No.
The greatest tales in sports are not always about a tournament favourite going on to win the competition, but they are about the David vs Goliath battles, where the Davids trump their counterparts. Zimbabwe did it to Australia in 1983, Kenya braved all odds and reached the final four in 2003, becoming the first and only non-Test playing nation to ever do so. Ireland have time and again beaten top quality sides at the biggest stage in cricket. In the 2007 World Cup, Ireland were ranked 14th in the world and still they knocked out 4th ranked Pakistan and qualified for the Super 8 stage. In 2011, they chased down a mammoth target of 328 against arch-rivals England, after being 111/5 at one point. 2015 has been no different as we saw them chase down another 300+ total against the West Indies. In fact, there have only been 6 instances in World Cups, where a team has chased down a target above 300. Out of those 6, Ireland have done it thrice.
With the kind of performances the Associates have pulled off so far in this World Cup, they have sent out a clear message to the big teams that they are no pushovers. Scotland gave New Zealand a good run for their money, Ireland defeated Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka somehow managed to get home against a gritty Afghanistan team. In fact, the most competitive games so far, have been the ones involving the Associates. On the other hand, the matches played between the top nations, have largely been one-sided affairs.
The ICC also has an issue with the length of the tournament, citing that the current format is very strenuous. The 2014 FIFA World Cup saw two group games being played everyday. Why can’t the ICC follow a similar approach? In this World Cup, apart from the weekends or 1-2 weekdays, we only have one game everyday. If the ICC decides to go the FIFA way and designs the tournament with 2 games everyday during the group stages, it will solve their problem to a certain extent.
WHY IT IS NOT FAIR?
These cricketers are not playing for TV endorsements or IPL contracts. They are not going to be greeted by models and actors when they go back home, they are only here to represent their nation, to bring smiles back on the faces of people back home. Think about the Afghan fans, people who have only seen violence and felt sadness throughout their lives. Cricket gives them a way out of their misery even though momentary. They have already lost so much and taking that one thing that gives them some solace, won’t be fair at all.
Sometimes the journey is way more important than the destination. Yes, the Associates have no realistic chance of winning the World Cup, but a possibility of showcasing their skills at the mega event, is what keeps them going. How will the game grow on a global scale if you limit the World Cup to the top 8 nations plus just 2 qualifiers? What incentives will the Associates and Affiliates get out of this? In many countries, being a cricketer is not a full-time job and doesn’t pay much. Such a step will only dampen the spirit of young cricketers, who dream of playing for their country.
The ICC doesn’t realise how the World Cup can be effectively used to develop the game in other countries. See how popular cricket has become in Afghanistan, with their team doing so well over the past few years. Their qualification for the World Cup too, has made a huge difference in changing the perception about cricket in the country. Not just in Afghanistan, more youngsters in Ireland, Scotland, UAE and the other associate nations, are opting for cricket as their career. Why discard the growing interest? Why demolish their dreams of representing their countries at the biggest stage? Why?
Luckily, the associates found support in the form of the Little Master, Sachin Tendulkar. Tendulkar, the brand ambassador of ICC Cricket World Cup 2015, believes that the smaller teams will only get better if they play the top teams regularly.
“When you want the game to globalise, we need to encourage more and more teams to participate, obviously not at the cost of dropping the standard of play but we need to look at how we can get these guys to raise their standard of playing and I think the standard of playing is only going to rise when they start playing against the top sides,” Tendulkar said in an ICC Google Hangout.
The 2014 FIFA World Cup had 32 teams, the 2015 Rugby World Cup will feature 20 teams, and the 2015 Cricket World Cup has just 14. The ICC’s decision to trim the number further down, reeks of nepotism and elitism. Yes, it will be television friendly, but what good would it do for the game? Instead of bringing together more nations, this decision will only shrink the game’s influence in the global world.
Well, the ICC can still change its stance and let’s hope it does after understanding why a 10-team tournament can spell doom for the sport. They did reverse their decision on excluding Associates from the 2015 World Cup, I hope they do it once again. However, if they go through with the decision, cricket will suffer and so will the fans, cricket’s reach will only get limited to a few power centres. Why call it a World Cup then and why play the Champions Trophy at all? After all, a 10-team or a top 8 tournament hardly makes a difference.
