A game just for the sake of it

Well I just cannot understand the reason behind conducting one off games, be it the test match or the one dayer or a T20 international. This is referring to the one off T20 game played between India and West Indies at Port of Spain yesterday. There should have been a minimum of at least three games for a tournament to have a moment. Or else, who would be interested in watching the game no matter what it offers? This has happened many times with there being a similar one off game between Pakistan and West Indies last month which Pakistan won.

Moving ahead, there would be a one off T20 match between Sri Lanka and England to be played later in this month. With T20 cricket being the shortest version of the game, there can be a schedule of at least 3 such games where deciding a winner would be more appropriate. Moreover, a T20 game can be held back to back without any breaks in between. Fans today do not bother who wins or loses the match as long as it can provide the necessary entertainment that is promises. Every match is cheered in the same excitement irrespective of whether their favorite team wins or loses the same.

In their current tour to the Caribbean, India are scheduled to play 1 T20 game followed by 5 one day internationals and 3 test matches. With so many days reserved for the remaining versions of the game, one has to wonder why is there so little consideration given to the shortest format of the game. This is not anything new in cricket. This has been the case since its start somewhere in 2005. Recently, even Pakistan, like India played 1 T20 + 5 ODIs and 2 test matches. Instead of conducting one off games like this, it would be better not to include the T20 game at all.

The ICC has not left even that stone unturned. There have been tournaments that included only a test and an ODI with the T20 missing. Of course, there are few other tournaments as well having only T20 games with the remaining two formats missing. However, the idea behind conducting such games is still a mystery. There are few players who are found playing just the T20 game with their style or skills still not acceptable to the remaining two formats. This would ean that player touring just to play that one off game. In case that player is dropped, he loses a chance to show his skills at an international level.

Was this a T20 or an ODI?

Well I just cannot say anything about the first quarter-finals between West Indies and Pakistan. I was totally confused whether the game was a T20 or an ODI. Scorecard suggests that West Indies played a 50 over cricket with Pakistan playing a T20 game if the overs played are considered. To be exact, West Indies played 43.3 overs and Pakistan played 20.5 overs meaning, the West Indies' innings lasted just short of 50 overs while Pakistan's batting innings lasted just above 20 overs. This would no doubt go down as the worst contest of the tournament no matter who says what.

Needless to be said, Pakistan effortlessly surpassed the total with no bowlers able to stop them from winning. The West Indies' bowlers could not even get a single Pakistani batsman out. Had Shahid Afridi been to the crease, the West Indian bowlers might have just walked out with a consolation of having gone with a wicket in hand. One can go and check out the scorecards of all the games played in his tournament so far to see where the West Indies stand after this encounter with Pakistan. As a matter of fact, Canada were able to bowl out the Pakistanis out for 184.

Bangladesh, defending 58 runs were able to scalp the wicket of Devon Smith and Holland were bowled out for a score that was 8 runs more than what West Indies could score against Pakistan yesterday. The list goes on and on. The only performances worse than this was Kenya's loss to the Kiwis and Bangladesh losing to South Africa to mention a few. Was this the game that most of the cricket fans over the world were looking forward to? A hint regarding the performance of the West Indies team was observed in the earlier games the West Indies played.

They did well to get both England and India all out but failed miserable in the chase which was not so tough given the likes of Chris Gayle, Devon Smith and Ramnaresh Sarwan. A total of 245 against England and 269 against was not an unachievable one for any decent outfit. Had West Indies beaten India the other day, they would not have been playing Australia today which happens to be a different issue. But, quarter-finals of a world cup should be a different game compared to what happened in the league stages isn't it? One has to just wait and watch what happens after this.