ICC World Championship Events

The BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India) was awarded the two events during the ICC (International Cricket Council) Annual Conference held in London on Saturday. The ICC finalized its global events from 2015 to 2023 during the conference and it has been confirmed that BCCI would host the World Twenty20 in 2016 and 50-over World Cup in 2023. Also India is hosting second edition of ICC World Test Championship in 2021. The inaugural ICC World Test Championship will be hosted by England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) in 2017.

  

ICC World Championship Events:

World Twenty20 (2014)  -  Bangladesh

World Twenty20 (2016)  -  BCCI (India)

ICC World Test Championship (2017)  -   ECB (England)

50-over World Cup (2019)  -   ECB (England)

World Twenty20 (2020)  -  CA  (Australia)

ICC World Test Championship (2021)  -   BCCI (India)

50-over World Cup (2023)  -   BCCI (India)

Also the ICC decided that full members have to play a minimum of 16 Tests over a four-year period to retain their Test status. To make sure that all ODIs played over the four-year cycle between ICC Cricket World Cups count towards a team's ranking, the ICC Board agreed to change the ODI rankings period from three years to four years. Afghanistan was confirmed as the 37th Associate Member of the ICC and Romania was accepted as an Affiliate Member.

WEST INDIES BAGS ICC WORLD T20 CUP

West Indies sealed the ICC World Twenty20 crown with a comfortable 36-run victory in the final match against Sri Lanka. It the West Indies' first world title after a gap of 33 years having won the ODI World Cup back in 1979. Batting first in front a 35,000 enthusiastic crowd, Caribbeans scored only 32 runs off the first 10 overs. With the powerful hitter Gayle in opening position, the powerplay yielded only 14 runs for West Indies due to brilliant effort by Sri Lanka’s unorthodox spinner Ajantha Mendis who grabbed four wickets for 12 runs. Samuels played one of the most memorable innings under pressure with a heroic 78 off 56 balls to steer West Indies to 137 for six. He hits 6 sixes off T20 specialist Lasith Malinga's bowling where almost every other batsman struggled. With the strong batting lineup, it was not a difficult score to chase but still they lost the match by 36 runs as they were bundled out for 101 runs. For Sri Lanka and Mahela Jayawardene, it was another case of 'so-near-yet-so-far' having now lost four World Cup finals (two 50 overs and two T20s) across two categories. A sense of sadness surely spread from Colombo throughout Sri Lanka on Sunday night. Mahela Jayawardene stepped down as T20 captain after the final.

Gayle and his teammates bring such uncontrolled happiness to the sport with the way the celebrated after winning the world cup. An ecstatic West Indies team did the 'Gangnam Style' dance after defeating Sri Lanka. Accidently it was birthday boy Dwayne Bravo who prompted the celebrations after catching Lasith Malinga on the boundary to end the Sri Lankan innings. He was joined by his teammates and coaching staff, sprinting onto the pitch from the sidelines, for celebrations that would go into the next day and no doubt beyond.This is a team that loves to have fun almost as much as it loves to play cricket. There’s always a smile on the faces of the West Indies players with the team full of wonderful people like Chris Gayle, the man who adopted the global hit  “Gangnam-style” dance from South Korean rapper Psy – throughout this tournament.

Man of the Match – Marlon Samuels

Man of the Tournament - Shane Watson

Spectators Pick XI - Shane Watson, Chris Gayle, Mahela Jayawardene (capt), Virat Kohli, Eoin Morgan, Michael Hussey, Brendon Mcullum (wk), Mitchell Starc, Raza Hasan, Saeed Ajmal, Lasith Malinga. 

Flop XI - Richard Levi, Gautam Gambhir, Hashim Amla, Jonny Bairstow, Kamran Akmal, Kieron Pollard, Shahid Afridi, Andre Russel, Umar Gul, Tim Southee, Brad Hogg, Albie Morkel.

PAKISTAN BAGS T20 WORLDCUP-2009

The big entertainment has come to an end and finally the Pakistan men crowned as the champions of 2009 T20 world cup. The same team lost the thrilling final match to India in the inaugural world cup in 2007. This is no Cinderella story. This is about the ugly sister who woke up to find that she had a glass slipper on her feet. Remember that this is the team that has no home series to look forward to in the foreseeable future, the country that had the ICC Champions Trophy taken away from it and given to South Africa. These are the players who were prevented from playing in the IPL, and the same side that was annihilated by South Africa and India in warm-up matches. But less than three weeks on, they are champions of the world. Their fans, who have had to put up with so much over the past few years and whose support has been so steadfast and magnificent, deserve this perhaps more than the players do. This was their moment, one that they won't ever forget. Razzak, Afridi, Akmal, Younis, Gul were their key players in this victory. They were well supported by the other men in the team. They feel that this victory is a bit bigger than 1992 WC. I confess that i am not usually one to cheer for Pakistan in a cricket match. But it was great to see them pick up the tournament win. Not only did Pakistan win - but I think there a great boost for a country that is in some trying times and for the game of cricket as a whole. As an Indian I am so happy to see our brothers pick up the title.Kudos to Afridi and Pak team.At the end of the day some releif and joy for my brothers and sisters in Pak. Hope this triumph will change the overall attitude towards Pak and it's cricket.

ENGLISH WOMEN BAGS T20 WC-2009

After all the anticipation the first women's World Twenty20 final was somewhat of an anti-climax but in the end England prevailed to become Twenty20 champions at Lord's. England have become the first international side of either gender to be champions in all three formats. England have done that but more importantly proved through this tournament that Twenty20 suited to women and can be a format used to make the game more popular. England captain Charlotte Edwards admitted they had a far easier win than they expected. We're just delighted. We came back from the World Cup and we wanted this trophy and now we've got it to show the 50-over wasn't a fluke." Claire Taylor, the Player of the Tournament, hit the winning runs. She ended one run short of being the leading run-getter. This is the second time in three months that England have beaten New Zealand in a World Cup final and future encounters between the two sides will be just the more gripping to watch. They have beaten world No. 2 New Zealand seven times in their last meetings, while India, the third-best in the world, have been their whipping girls for several years.

Women's cricket has arrived on the world stage, and nobody tried to boo them off. Rather, they applauded a surprisingly entertaining new act which represented good value for money, and has the chance to shine again in the future.With the format to be repeated next year in the Caribbean, the ICC can both breathe a sigh of relief at the successful staging this time around, but also give itself a pat on the back.

MEN IN BLUE WALKS BACK

'You're not Singh-ing anymore,' chanted some English fans, and India certainly weren't as they were dumped out of the competition that they won two years ago, with one Super-Eight game still to be played. It is not that India lost to England that bugs me though I am not exactly over the moon about being kicked out of the tournament. What is going up my nose is the attitude that the Dhoni led tigers(??????) brought to the field. They were sulky, indifferent, casual and you could visibly notice their steadfast cockiness as they tumbled in an untidy heap from the pedestal on which we, the fans, the media and the officials place them so easily and with such total dedication. Arrogance in our cricketers is fed and nourished on a rich diet of money, money and more money not to lightly forget the drip of adulation that goes with the enormous wealth. It is such a heady mix they even forget to smile.

Did anyone see a more pathetic lot than this bunch on Sunday? Talk about putting a foot wrong, Master Yuvaraj symbolized the whole approach when he was stumped with his foot delicately poised five inches above the ground. Go man, go. The only man who fought till the end is Yusuf. What can he do as a single person? Dhoni, a hitter (can say just for namesake) was not even able to hit a six till the end. His experimentation with Ravindra is absolutely idiotic.

You and I both know it is not the three runs. They were never going to be covered. It could have been thirty runs, the score was academic. Two years ago, Indian fans taunted Misbah-ul-Haq with chants of "Miss-ba five runs". On Sunday, it was their team that fell three short. No Singh-ing, no glory. Just time to go home, after playing the next game - against South Africa - for formalities' sake.

AUSSIES OUT OF WC 20-20

Its a miracle to see the world cup champions who retained thier pride with spot no.1 over a decade in 50 overs ODI matches are not able to qualify even the first round of 20-20 world cup 2009. Aussies were considered to be the fittest team among all as some of them had rejected IPL offer to improve their fitness. I think its good for aussies to bring back their retired players who played a main role in victory of IPL teams. But still Ricky Ponting stays positive and they looking forward for the ashes against England. In a press meet, he said "I won't be focussing on any of the negative stuff that happened here in the last couple of days. It's about looking at the positives we created in our Test team over the last few months. I'd love to think that none of this would linger around. It's about creating an environment that everyone wants to be a part of when they get here. The excitement and atmosphere at the start of the Ashes is going to be tremendous, and if we can caught up a little bit in that then I'm sure there won't be any negatives hanging around from the last few games". Lets see their performance in test matches but anyway they are not the heroes of 20-20 format.

SEHWAG REPLACED BY KARTHIK IN WC 20-20

Virender Sehwag has been ruled out of the ICC World Twenty20 in England after failing to recover from a shoulder injury he sustained during the IPL in South Africa. He will return to India after consulting specialists in England and will be replaced by Dinesh Karthik, who gave a good contribution in IPL. A BCCI media release speculation over Sehwag's fitness that he didnt bat on the tour until Tuesday morning. The uncertainty over his injury led to reports of a rift between him and the captain MS Dhoni.Things weren't much clearer today, either, at the pre-match press conference - in fact the drama descended into farce. Dhoni refused to clarify the ambiguous situation, saying "anything related to fitness there will be a press release from the BCCI". Under normal circumstances, the loss of Sehwag, a proven match-winner in any form of the game, would be a massive blow to India's strategy. Sehwag sustained the grade one tear to his shoulder during the IPL and the coach Gary Kirsten said that he had been kept in the squad in the hope that he would not miss the entire tournament.

The injury to Sehwag was such a closely-guarded secret was perplexing. An injury is after all merely an injury and a more transparent dissemination of information from the team management would go a long way in diffusing the ambiguity and speculation that often surrounds the Indian team. Yet still it is believed that something is going on in the dressing room and is not revealed to the public. But cannot be hidden for a long time. Lets wait and watch..