ICC Champions Trophy 2013 – Has it lived upto being an ICC event or was it “just another tournament”?

We at the cusp of knowing the winners of this edition, which is going to the last edition, of the ICC Champions Trophy. India and England would be playing in the finals and now, with just one match to go, it would be a right time to evaluate whether the ultimate edition of ICC Champions Trophy went well or not. This year, we have had a lot less fans following it, based on the posts and shares on social networking sites. I am sure the television channels which were broadcasting this event would agree to the same when they pull out the viewership data. Empty stands, even for a semi-final clash including the home team, is another indicator of how the event has fared.

Now, as we have established that was able to attract the amounts of crowds which are generally attributed to any ICC event, let us see the possible reasons for the failure –

Betting/Fixing haunting

The IPL fixing/betting episode is fresh in the minds of the fans and a lot of fans have been lost as they have lost trust in the game. Most dads or seniors at office or uncles in the trains have been noticed talking this way – “Why are we watching these games, they are all fixed?”

Comparison with IPL

There were not many days between the recently concluded IPL and the start of the ICC Champions trophy. So the direct comparisons with the glamorous and lavishing IPL has killed this tournament’s chances of leveling to the expectations of the spectators.

Transition from T20 to 50 overs format

A score between 50-60 runs for no loss is a decent score in One Day Internationals, but the spectators still have the inertia of the hard hitting, boundaries showcasing T20 format where a score of 100 in the first 10-12 overs wasn’t quiet enough in many games.

Blame it on the rains

It has been a typical English summer with a lot of “start-stop” moments for most of the matches. No fan likes watching a rain curtailed match with complicated D/L calculations. The weather had been unpredictable throughout the tournament and that was a major reason for fan’s distractions.

No Tendulkar

Call me an “die-heart Sachin Fan for life”, but I do have a point. This has been the first ICC tournament since the Master Blaster’s retirement and oh boy, we all have seen the loyalties. A large section of the fans also gave a miss to the live action and updates because it wasn’t the same for them to watch cricket without Sachin playing.

No minnows, no upsets

This edition saw the top 8 participating in the event, terming it as “Clash of the Champions”. This was intended to enhance the quality of cricket being played, but not including other teams. But what it resulted in was that there were no “upset” stories of the tournament. New Zealand did defeat Sri Lanka and West Indies did chase down a low score against the mighty bowling of Pakistan, still there weren’t enough to cause any upsets.   

Jay Ashar

Truly a “Digital Native”, foodie, avid cook, enthusiastic marathon runner, bollywood buff, huge fan of SRT, writer – Published my first book “From Mumbaicha Vadapav to Hyderabadi Biryani”

AboutJay Ashar

Truly a "Digital Native", foodie, avid cook, enthusiastic marathon runner, bollywood buff, huge fan of SRT, writer - Published my first book "From Mumbaicha Vadapav to Hyderabadi Biryani"