The
best part of the World Cup Tournament is not the big games but the ones which
involves team having less popular fan base or the underdogs, in this article we
try to analyze what joy it brings to sport when such lesser known nations triumph
over bigger teams
The beauty of Sports is that unlike in other areas
of life, an underdog triumph is celebrated and enjoyed much more, it gives hope
to the people that they can also triumph against all odds, it is a reason why
an Afghanistan’ win against England or a Dutch victory against South Africa become
more crucial, it attracts more people to the game, the factor of
unpredictability adds more charm to the sports.
These victories also boosts the game, they attract
new countries to cricket, it make them fall in love with the game which has so
many factors of unpredictability, thereby giving them hope of flooring the
goliath in the battle. The victory of these lesser known teams helps the game
grow in these countries. It also helps the game having more followers which
ultimately ensures more revenues essential in modern day sports.
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| Zimbabwe registered historic win against Australia in 1983 |
There have been number of such instances which have
been itched in the history books with golden letters. We still remember how a
rookie Zimbabwean team full of amateur players surprised the Australians in
1983 World Cup or how they knocked down Graham Gooch’s men in 1992 World Cup
leaving them dead and stunned.
The Cricket fans still remember 29th
February 1996 when Kenya left West Indies, the two times World Cup champions
huffed and puffed in the chase of 166. The people present at the Nehru Stadium,
Pune still remember the day when Kenya playing their first ever world cup
rocked star studded West Indies.
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| Kenya's win against West Indies at Pune in 1996 World Cup was remarkable |
Three years later it was Bangladesh’ turn to
surprise Pakistan in a major victory which turned their cricket. On 31st
May, 1999, Bangladesh not only defeated Pakistan but also put their case to be
a Test nation. Within 18 month of this historic win, they were playing their
first Test against India.
India and South Africa’ loss to Zimbabwe in 1999
could be termed as another major upset. While Zimbabwe were a very good team by
that time but India and South Africa were expected to win against them. Hence
the victories against these two team were major markers in Zimbabwe cricket and
the era (1996-2004) is termed as golden era of Zimbabwe Cricket.
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The 2003 World cup would be remembered how Kenya
went on to have a dream run to the semifinals. There was lot of promise shown
by them when they had a rollercoaster ride in the tournament as it looked it
would culminate into Kenya getting Test status. Sadly post tournament Kenya as
a cricket nation withered away. Things have never been on the right side for
Kenyan Cricket since then.
In 2007, it was Ireland’s turn to stun Pakistan in a
historic upset at Sabina Park, Kingston, Jamaica. After bundling Pakistan for a
meager 132, Ireland stunned the world by chasing the target successfully. It
was Ireland’s start to become a Test nation, 11 years later.
Four years later, Ireland did it again, this time it
was England’ turn to be the victim of their upset. Kevin O’Brian’ magnificent
century in Bangalore ensured that Ireland would go on to register one of the
most memorable victories of their short cricket history.
The 2015, World Cup didn’t saw any such major upsets
but Bangladesh beating England was highly significant as it changed the
dimensions of how ODI cricket was played. England reinvented them as ODI side
and since 2015 till 2023 had looked a different side.
By 2019, Bangladesh has become a good ODI outfit but
still their win over South Africa at the Oval grabbed headlines. It was the
only upset of 2019 edition where most of the results went to the expected way.
But it seems these upsets have returns in 2023
edition, first Afghanistan stunned the current world champions England, and
then it was Netherlands who left South Africans astounded in what turned out to
be historic occasion for Dutch cricket.
Netherlands win against South Africa was gigantic
The third such win came when Afghanistan registered
their first ever victory over Pakistan at Chennai. The win went down in history
books of Afghan Cricket. The series of these memorable wins didn’t stopped here
as Netherlands left Bangladesh dumbfounded with a memorable display at Eden
Gardens.
The younger or new cricket nations have grown so
much that now Afghanistan’s win over Sri Lanka is not deemed as upset. However
it is very important that these nations must be supported by the International
Cricket Council (ICC) so that cricket becomes competitive and more and more
teams participate and can challenge the experienced ones.
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