Elizabeth Murray ’26
Staff Writer
One of the world’s most popular sports is having a big moment.
Since Oct. 5, the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup has been in full swing. Held every four years, this year, the Cricket World Cup is being hosted by India. Spread throughout 10 cities, the World Cup is set to give a boost to the Indian economy, according to CNBC.
CNBC reported that this year’s World Cup is the first time India has hosted all 48 matches, as the country previously co-hosted the 2011 Cricket World Cup alongside Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. In the months leading up to the tournament, flight searches to India went up 110-130%.
Viewership has been at an all-time high as well, with a record-breaking 35 million people recorded watching the Oct. 14 match between India and Pakistan. Cricket is the second most watched sport worldwide, just behind soccer, and the most popular in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, CNBC reported.
According to BBC News, the last World Cup was held in 2019 in England and Wales, with the host country winning the title. The 2019 World Cup saw a total viewership of 1.6 billion people, and in response, sponsorship has been up this year as well, CNBC reported.
This year, Booking.com and Coca-Cola are the 2023 event sponsors. Disney+ Hotstar, the World Cup’s official broadcaster, is set to make $300 million from sponsorship and ad revenue.
The one hiccup seems to have been the ticket sales. CNBC reported delayed ticket sales and website glitches led to empty stands during the first matches.
This year’s teams are India, Afghanistan, New Zealand, England, South Africa, Pakistan, the Netherlands, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Australia. As the host country, India automatically had a spot in the tournament, leaving other countries to face off for the other nine, according to Al-Jazeera. The process for teams to qualify for the World Cup, through tournaments and matches, lasted three years.
In total, seven teams — England, New Zealand, South Africa, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Afghanistan and Australia — qualified through their standing within the ICC Super League. Sri Lanka and the Netherlands qualified during the knockout stages. Notably, the West Indies cricket team didn’t qualify despite being two-time titleholders, Al-Jazeera reported.
The first five weeks are group-stage matches. Semi-finals will begin on Nov. 15, and the final match will be held on Nov. 19, The New York Times reported. There are three types of cricket matches, the longest lasting five days and the shortest lasting three hours. The style of match played in the World Cup is a day long, lasting around eight hours. Ten teams are playing in the tournament, with only four moving on to the final rounds.
The first stage of the World Cup is 45 round-robin style matches, with the last match taking place on Nov. 12 between India and the Netherlands. The first semi-final is set to be played in Mumbai on Nov. 15 by the first and fourth-ranking teams. The second and third-ranking teams will play in Kolkata.
The only asterisk is that if Pakistan qualifies, they will play in Kolkata regardless of ranking. Similarly, if India qualifies, they will play in Mumbai regardless of ranking. This is unless both teams qualify and are in a competing rank — then, the semi-final will be played in Kolkata.
A place in the semi-finals is determined by points earned after winning matches in the first stage. The top-ranking teams are India, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand as of Friday, Nov. 3.
It is still too early to determine which teams will play in the semi-finals, but certain teams have a better chance than others. According to The Times of India, six match wins, or 12 points, during the group stage is considered to keep a team safe in the competition, and seven match wins, or 14 points, is almost guaranteed to allow a team to continue to the semi-finals.
Following those four teams are Pakistan, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka and the Netherlands. At the bottom of the rankings are Bangladesh and England. Of course, that is not to say the current rankings are set in stone — there is still the possibility for a few upsets.