ICC Cricket World Cup 2019: Are hosts always the favourites?

The 12^th ICC Cricket World Cup is already underway, with couple of lopsided affairs to begin with. The hosts England played the inaugural match against South Africa on May 30 and showed clear signs that they are a side to watch out for this World Cup. Eoin Morgan and co. humbled the Proteas by a thumping win.

England in their own backyard is twice as lethal as they could be otherwise. Being the hosts this time around, talks have already started that England are the favourites. But are hosts always the favourites? Here are some of the startling facts that will compel to rethink about this question.

Year	Hosts	Winner	Runner-Up
1975	England	West Indies	Australia
1979	England	West Indies	England
1983	England	India	West Indies
1987	India and Pakistan	Australia	England
1992	Australia and New Zealand	Pakistan	England
1996	India, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka	Sri Lanka	Australia
1999	England	Australia	Pakistan
2003	South Africa	Australia	India
2007	West Indies	Australia	Sri Lanka
2011	India, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh	India	Sri Lanka
2015	Australia and New Zealand	Australia	New Zealand

It is evident that out of the 11 instances, only three times (1996, 2011, and 2015) the hosts have gone on to win the World Cup. Do you think England is still the favourite just because they are hosting the ICC event? Numbers don’t lie. Do they?

Moreover, England alongwith New Zealand and South Africa are the only three teams that have never won the World Cup.  Though England has made it to the finals three times but it was even before the start of this new century.

With a successful bilateral record since 2017, given the side’s strength under the able aegis of Eoin Morgan, mental toughness, batting firepower, and equally good bowling in the middle overs and at the death, England has a strong chance of making it to the finals this time around.

Hosting a mega event as World Cup comes with its own set of boon and bane. Boon is ofcourse the playing conditions are familiar to you, and the bane is the enormous expectations from the media and public to deliver. Will England take the boon in their stride and combat the bane? We will find it out only over the next one and a half month of extravaganza.

Source: Wikipedia

Can Smriti Mandhana be the face of Women’s IPL?

If you are an investor, Smriti Mandhana is a stock that you would like to bet on for a long term. There is seldom any doubt that her elegant style, her technical prowess, and her calmness on the field unequivocally make Smriti Mandhana a marketable face of Women’s IPL.

For those of you who have not got a chance to follow women’s cricket from close quarters, particularly Indian women cricketers, Smriti Mandhana is a 22-year old girl from Sangli, Maharashtra, and has played an instrumental role in putting Indian cricket on the global map. Her monk like dedication and her tremendous hunger for runs makes Mandhana one of the players to watch out for. The luxury to witness two of the cricketing greats at one time is indeed a treat. And this treat is offered to us by none other than the swashbuckling opener of India Smriti Mandhana. When she pulls or lofts one over the mid-wicket, she reminds us of the Aussie great Adam Gilchrist. When she upper cuts or punches on the backfoot she reminds us of the Prince of Kolkata Sourav Ganguly. On the off side first there is God then there is Ganguly. Adding to “The Wall’s” statement, I take the liberty of saying (I don’t think it is unfair), “On the off side, first there is God then there is Ganguly and Mandhana”.

The southpaw’s fan following touched all time high when she muscled 90 off just 72 balls against England in their own backyard in the first match of Women’s World Cup 2017. Bagging the Player of the Match, Mandhana brought Indian women’s cricket into limelight and gave World Cup winning hopes to 1.25 billion people. Reaching the finals spoke volumes of the women’s valiance and established the fact that these Women in Blue mean business. Her masterclass strokeplay and aggressive batting style was rewarded with contracts from Women’s Big Bash League (Australia) and Women’s Cricket Super League (England).

A question that has been doing the rounds for quite some time is "Can we have Women's IPL?". To answer this, for starters a pilot study was undertaken to check the economic and marketing feasibility of Women's IPL. Velocity, Trailblazers, and Supernovas were the three sides that played against each other last week. Smriti Mandhana, who captained Trailblazers again showed her class, as she muscled 90 off 69 as well as stictched a 100-run partnership with Harleen Deol, against Supernovas in the first match. At hindsight, the Women's T20 does not seem to be a bad option, however, whenever it happens, it should come out with a disclaimer "Please do not compare women's cricket to men's cricket".     

With age on her side and a bounty of class and temaparament, can Smriti Mandhana be the face of Women’s IPL? Fingers crossed.