The Decision Review System (DRS) made its first appearance to World Cup and unlike the previous edition, the tournament hosted in the subcontinent after a period of 15 years was nothing short of excitement.
Cricket in the Caribbean is always an enjoyable experience and when game’s biggest event, the ICC Cricket World Cup 2007, was hosted in West Indies, it promised of an electrifying atmosphere and lot of fun.
The match seems overly balanced looking at the statistics of the players in both the teams. The opening batsmen in either sides are explosive when at their best.
After an intense battle of over a month between 14 teams, we have the final four. The four, who have certainly been better than the eliminated 10, and are also the top four ranked in the ICC One-Day Internationals (ODI) ranking.
Sunday’s end India finished on the top of Pool B, followed by South Africa at two, Pakistan at three and West Indies at four. Ireland, who too won three games in the tournament were out on basis of net run-rate.
The tournament was dramatic to say the least. There were walk-outs, washouts and then black armband protests by Henry Olonga and Andy Flower protesting against Robert Mugabe regime.
The tournament now returned to England after 16 years. The tournament yet again saw two groups of six teams each.
The tournament once again returned to the sub-continent. But unlike in 1987, where only India and Pakistan co-hosted, we saw Sri Lanka joining in as a joint host.
This was South Africa’s first World Cup, following the end of apartheid. And the Proteas put up an inspiring show.
This edition saw some exciting cricket being played on subcontinent tracks that favoured batting. In comparison to the previous versions, the run rate was consistently high.