3 ways to improve the ODI cricket World Cup

While a month-long celebration of ODIs is good news for the format, here are three ways to make future World Cups better

- Sumit Chakraberty

Three mornings after the forehead-slapping anguish of Indian fans seeing their team lose the 2023 ODI World Cup final in Ahmedabad to Australia, it's time to look back at cricket's premier show. What was great and what could be better?

MINIMISE THE IMPACT OF THE TOSS

When the final is to be played at a venue where four out of five results have favoured the team batting second under lights, then it's a problem. Australia were the only side to win a game batting first at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad in this tournament. That was a narrow win on 4 November against England, who were far from their best. No wonder the Aussie skipper, Pat Cummins, leapt at the chance to bowl first in the final against India.

The underprepared, patchy pitch on 19 November was even more skewed against the team batting first. The sorry spectacle of Suryakumar Yadav trying in vain to swat off-cutter off-pace bouncers like pesky flies illustrated this difficulty.

India's new ball bowlers did get swing and three early wickets under the lights later. But soon the deviation vanished, the ball came on to the bat nicely, and a heady Aussie run chase ensued with a 192-run 4th wicket partnership. Australia won with 7 overs to spare, and that's hardly a contest in cricket's showcase event.

Nobody made a fuss when India similarly thrashed Pakistan on this ground on 14 October, with 19.3 overs to spare, batting second. It seems churlish to complain now just because India found itself on the receiving end. But this needs remedying for future tournaments.