Sunday, May 2, 2010

Two sub-continent clashes on same day

Yesterday, may be for the first time in the history of the game the world saw four countries from the subcontinent battling it out there on the cricket field. There was a match between India and Afghanistan on one side with Pakistan taking on Bangladesh on the other side. This has so far not been the case either in the world T20 that happens once in two years or the world cup that happens once in 4 years. Much to anyone 's excitement, this has not happened even in the ICC Champions Trophy that takes place once in two years.

The only instance where there can be sub continent teams battling it out would be the Asia cup that consists no other teams but the ones from the sub continent. Until the entry of Afghanistan to the international arena, there were four teams namely Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka but so far none of the four teams have played or qualified to the second round of any of the major ICC tournaments together. There is atleast two of the four teams missing out from the list. Most of the time, it would be Bangladesh who would crash out in the initial phase of the tournament.

And, despite deserving to qualify, atleast one from either Sri Lanka, Pakistan or India are found missing from the super sixes or the super eights - whichever is relevant. It was only in the world cup 1996 that all the three teams namely India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka qualified to the quarter finals of the tournament. But, sadly there was no encounter between Sri Lanka and Pakistan. Similarly in 1999 world cup, Sri Lanka failed to make it to the super sixes and in 2003 world cup Pakistan failed to go past the round robin stage. And in 2007, both India & Pakistan failed to make it to the super eights but surprisingly Bangladesh made it there.

With the format of the world T20 being so and also with grouping of teams, there can never be a possibility of all three or four subcontinent teams clashing with each other bound to happen. But, one thing that is to be noticed is that there will be atleast two games between two subcontinent teams like in world cups 1999 and 2003 India played both Sri Lanka and Pakistan. In 2007, India played both Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. In 1996, India played both Sri Lanka and Pakistan with Bangladesh not playing then. In both the T20 world cups, India, Sri Lanka and Pakistan have been qualifying to the super eights but with the group theory being followed, all three nations from the subcontinent can never think of playing each other.

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