World Cup 2019: Delaying India games raises eyebrows, makes ICC look weak

The 2019 World Cup has kicked off and is in full flow. The English summer is already looking beautiful and the country seems to be embracing in style with the World Cup at home. It going to get better as the World Cup grows and moves into the latter half.

Four games have been played and all of them have been lopsided affairs. Barring the opening encounter between England and South Africa, where the latter were in the game for quite some time, no other game has garnered a lot of interest. In fact, even the opening game turned into a one-sided encounter after a point.

All the talk and hype about flat batting tracks and tall scores have turned mute ears. England scored 311 in their opening game. Barring that, the highest score in the other three games batting first has been 207 by Afghanistan against Australia in Bristol. The defending champions though had little worries in chasing a modest total and romped home with over 15 overs to spare. Pakistan and Sri Lanka have succumbed to pace, bounce and swing and seam respectively.

In fact, Pakistan and Sri Lanka’s games didn’t even last 50 overs as West Indies and New Zealand thrashed them respectively. Hence, the Asian teams are yet to open their account in this World Cup with India not having played even a single game.

ICC was apparently requested to delay India’s first game

There’s been heavy criticism for the scheduling and how it has been put in place for this World Cup. All other teams will have played their first game in the first four days but India plays their opening encounter which is against South Africa only six days after the tournament opener.

While most other teams play at least two games before India’s first game, it will be South Africa’s third when they face India in Southampton on the June 5. It was reported that India was scheduled to play their first World Cup game on June 2 (Sunday) against South Africa. However, apparently, the ICC was requested do delay India’s first game to June 5.

The reason as cited by a BCCI source was adhering to the Lodha recommendations. It states that the players need to be given a 15-day recovery between the conclusion of the IPL and the first international fixture post the T20 league.

However, the IPL ended on May 12 and according to the reforms, India could’ve played their opening game on June 2. However, the ICC accepted the request and pushed the game to 5. The question arises if BCCI had to adhere to the Lodha reforms, why did ICC have to accept BCCI’s request?