A Better Format For The World Cup

I have an idea for the World Cup format. This idea is better than all the formats applied so far. I think there should be only 8 teams in the World Cup. This will bring two advantages: First, the matches of minnows are meaningless. Those matches will be avoided. Second, the tournament will not be unnecessarily lengthy. What is more, these 8 teams should be the main 8 teams of the world – Ind, Aus, SA, Eng, NZ, Pak, SL & WI. Because these eight teams have been playing the game for the longest time, so it becomes their unchallenged right to participate in the WC. There should be no groups. All the eight teams should play each of the other seven teams once in the first round. This will ensure that each team has played each of the other teams. The top six teams from this round should go to the super six. There each of the teams should play the other five teams. This will ensure that each team has played a good number of matches. The more a team plays, the more it will be tested. So it is best to have each team playing all the other five teams in the super six. Then the top four teams from here should go to the semi finals. The point system should also be simple. 2 points for each match and the points of the round robin league are carried forward to the super six. The teams reaching the final will play 14 matches and there will be 46 matches in all. This format overcomes all the shortcomings of the previous formats and is the best possible format. I hope my format will be liked and used in the coming World Cups.

IPL Would Better Have Been A One Day Tournament

If IPL was a One day tournament then it would have been better. Because ODI cricket is more exciting than T20. It would have been a thrilling tournament on the lines of the World Cup. It would have been the National One day championship of India. There would have been 8 teams participating – the top 8 teams from the Ranji trophy. All teams would play each other once in the round-robin league and then the top 6 teams go to the Super-six. There again each of the 6 teams play the other 5 once and then the top 4 teams make to the semi-final: 1 vs 4 & 2 vs 3. The team reaching the final would get to play 14 matches. It would have been the National One day Cup of India with states competing for the trophy. We could retain the IPL property of playing the same team for three seasons. In the first three seasons we could play with only the domestic players and each player representing his own state rather than playing for any team. From the fourth season we could introduce foreign players. The selection of players would have been from a lucky draw – the team winning the draw could be asked to choose a player of their choice. But we could avoid auction of teams – that makes the scene ugly. Auction seems as if players are saleable items. So instead of Corporates owning teams we could have the BCCI paying a good amount to the players. It would have been a fantastic tournament.