Did India enjoy unfair advantages throughout the 2024 T20 World Cup? Here’s What Social Media Thinks

Ahead of the second semi-final of the T20 World Cup, where India will take on England, cricket circles have been ablaze with heated discussions around two controversial topics: pre-classification and pre-determined venues for matches direct elimination.

Much has been made of the seemingly unfair advantages given to India at the World Cup, particularly in terms of match scheduling, conditions and, of course, pre-selection.

In fact, former England captain Michael Vaughan was one of the most prominent figures to speak out on the same subject, speaking to X, to explain the unfair treatment meted out to the Afghan team, following their collapse against South Africa in the first semi-final in Trinidad and Tobago.

Vaughan went on the attack, lambasting the favoritism shown by the ICC to India with the team being given the green light to play their semi-final on the day, and with the choice of venue as well.

As expected, online circles are full of criticism from both sides. But what can we point out here? Well, let’s try to address the same.

Amidst all the hype, one Twitter user took the time to present some historical landmarks and examples for us all to contemplate and discuss.

Predetermined locations for knockout matches

The biggest point of criticism that has arisen in recent times concerns the choice of venue that India was given, namely Guyana, to take on England.

Advertisement

Despite shared frustrations about it, the fact is that pre-seeding has been a common practice for decades.

In fact, as highlighted in the tweet, multiple instances of predetermined venues have occurred over the years, from Australia being guaranteed the venue for the semi-finals in 1992, to India being allocated Bengaluru as venue for the quarter-finals of the World Championship from 1996. to 2011, where all hosts India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh gained home advantage in the knockout matches.

So while an argument can be made about how India, as a non-host country, was assigned Guyana as the venue this time around, well, that’s where the pre- Ranking and the business side of the game come into play.

Pre-seeding and traps

Another of the main talking points around the World Cup has been that of pre-selection, the seemingly predetermined way in which teams will progress beyond the group stages.

This implied that the top two ranked teams in each 2024 T20 World Cup group were allocated seeds based on their ICC T20I rankings.

So in Group A, India were A1 and Pakistan were A2. In Group B, England were B1 and Australia were B2. In Group C, New Zealand were in C1 and West Indies in C2 and in Group D, South Africa and Sri Lanka were in D1 and D2 respectively. And unless someone upsets the seeded teams to claim their place, most teams knew exactly who they would be facing in the knockout stages.

Now there is no denying that the competitive spirit of the game is ruined due to practice, this again is not a new addition to this World Cup.

As mentioned in the tweet, the pre-ranking was also followed in the 2014, 2016, 2021 and 2022 editions of the T20 World Cups.

Now the only real reason given by the ICC for deciding why pre-seeding was followed was to prioritize the needs of traveling supporters.

Rankings help traveling fans better plan their trip. Given that all Super 8 matches take place in different Caribbean islands – which are different countries – it would have been a logistical nightmare for fans to travel to these countries on such short notice.

However, the question that then arises is: what about other editions where the tournaments took place in a single country? I guess we just have to wait for answers on this.

Commercial interests of the ICC

Let’s cut to the chase, India is and will be favored one way or the other no matter what because India attracts big viewers.

For all that can be said about defending and putting the game first, the sad, sad truth is that cricket is seen as a business first and foremost.

While the ICC has already taken the monumental decision to co-host the tournament in the United States as well, a country where the game’s presence is almost non-existent, in the hope of promoting it, this was more than expected for the ‘ICC. play their best cards to ensure a maximum audience.

It is precisely for this reason that you have noticed that most, if not all, matches in India take place during prime time, especially in the context of IST, around 8 p.m. All because the gaming market in India is the biggest ever and it is the most lucrative way for the ICC to make money.