Is this the best T20 World Cup yet?

The 'fake Pak Bean' is Pakistani comedian Asif Muhammad. (Photo: ICC/Twitter)

We are into the last week of the league games at the 2022 Twenty20 World Cup, and as a cricket fan, I am just sad that this wonderful tournament is nearing its end. For, this World Cup has had everything you could have possibly asked for.

At the time of writing on November 3, New Zealand, England and Australia are tied on 5 points in Group A, with Sri Lanka on 4. All four teams have one more game to go, and are jostling for two semi-final spots. Group B was supposed to be more straightforward, yet India have barely managed to stay in contention along with South Africa, while Bangladesh and Pakistan still have a mathematical chance of making the semis. When was the last time a World Cup was this tightly contested!

World Cups have always been fun when Pakistan have been at their unpredictable best. It happened in 1992, in 2019, and it’s happening again in 2022.

One’s heart goes out to the fans of Pakistan cricket, who would have collectively aged several years by the end of this tournament. First, there was that game against India. Entire epics have been written about Virat Kohli’s two breath-stopping sixes off Haris Rauf in the 19th over of that chase. In an earlier article, I had referred to Sachin Tendulkar’s upper-cut six off Shoaib Akhtar in 2003 as cricket’s version of "the shot that was heard around the world". Well, if that Centurion cut was heard around the world, this Melbourne mow — the first six that Kohli hit off Haris Rauf in the 19th over — was heard around the universe, and its echo continues to reverberate in faraway galaxies.

For years to come, fans and experts will replay that shot, and try and fail to explain the chemistry in Kohli’s cricketing brain, the geometry in Kohli’s cricketing body and the ice in Kohli’s cricketing veins, that made that shot materialise. The image of the bowler Rauf, breathing fire in a fine, fine spell until then, yanking his head back, mouth agape, body arched back, eyebrows raised, arms stiff by his side as he watched the ball disappear into the cavernous stands at the MCG — that image said the story.

As if that weren’t enough, Pakistan then had to endure vengeance for #PakBean at Zimbabwe’s hands. That game was a stunner on the field, but also became a social-media phenomenon off it. What started off as one tweet from a regular person, about a comical non-event from eight years ago, became a trend that resonated across the cricketing world, with the premieres of Zimbabwe and Pakistan eventually joining the conversation. In a month when Elon Musk has threatened to burn the edifice to the ground, #PakBean is also a timely reminder of the unique power of Twitter in shaping pop-culture and discourse.

Zimbabwe’s defeat of Pakistan was only one of the great "minnow" moments, in a World Cup that served several. Cricket administrators are perennially stuck in a catch-22 situation when it comes to the weaker teams. T20 World Cups are a great way to expand the sport, and popularise it in new lands, but including too many weak sides is a double-edged sword. They either lead to boring, one-sided games, or worse — they lead to upsets that put bigger teams out of the tournament early.

This year, the weaker sides have punched significantly above their weight, and in the process lit up the tournament. Sri Lanka nearly failed to make the main draw after losing to Namibia. West Indies weren’t so lucky — defeats against Scotland and Ireland eliminated the two-time champion in the first round itself. In the main draw, Ireland have managed what none of the major sides have managed, by blind-siding tournament-favourites England. Ireland’s win threw the tournament wide open, and we have them to thank for the frenzied jostling for semi-final spots in Group A.

T20 is such a nascent format that trends and strategies are still emerging. A world event down under, in the still wet and cold pre-summer, has thrown several new variables into the mix. The over-rate penalty introduced just before the World Cup has had a massive impact on proceedings. In spite of conditions that demand pace and seam, teams are playing at least one spinner in order to stay within over-rate limits. Barring England, every team is operating on the brink, with resources stretched to their absolute limit — most sides have only five first-choice bowling options. In the hunt for game-breaking wickets and tight middle overs, teams are being forced to push one or two spin overs to the death. Kohli and India exploited this to the hilt against Pakistan, when they targeted Mohammad Nawaz in the final over. This dynamic of spinners being forced to operate in the death is new to T20 cricket.

It’s been a strange couple of weeks for India — a non-performing lower middle order, and a very inconsistent pair of openers, getting cushion from that perfect blend of the old and the new — Kohli and Suryakumar Yadav. As I predicted earlier, despite the defeat to South Africa, and the tight games against Pakistan and Bangladesh, India should make the semi-finals. Without Kohli, they would have been close to the bottom of Group B — such has been his impact. They have found bowling control from unexpected quarters — young Arshdeep Singh has been their most important bowler, displaying skills and composure beyond his age, at each stage of the innings. Every Arshdeep over in this tournament has been a slap across the faces of the social media clowns who slandered him during the Asia Cup. Long may his rise continue.

India are a side full of imperfections, but they will soon be two good games away from winning the World Cup. And this would be equally true for all the sides that make it to the semi-finals. As the league phase winds up, here’s hoping for a rain-free blockbuster finish to the World Cup.

Now, can the ICC kindly invite the real Rowan Atkinson to the closing ceremony?