Associate teams need more exposure
Contrary to expectations, the ICC T20 World Cup’s opening matches involving teams such as Nepal, Netherlands, Scotland and USA witnessed close results, a clear indication that these low-seeded teams need more attention from the International Cricket Council (ICC) in terms of receiving more exposure for scripting history in the cricketing world.
While their matches were expected to be one-sided, the results differed and surprised one-and-all. Though this shorter format of the sport is famous for witnessing big setbacks, these teams have now come way ahead of being the ‘underdogs’ of cricket.
The latest example appeared when legendary South African pacer Dale Steyn offered his services to Nepal, after the side gave jitters to England. “Nepal, I offer my services to you if you ever need me! Up, up and UP!” Steyn posted.
“That’s a big thing for us. A legend who ruled cricket for 10 years is tweeting about us,” expressed Nepal pacer Nandan Yadav in Mumbai after the match.
The Asian side is ranked 16th and made their maiden appearance in an ICC global event at the 2014 ICC World T20 in Bangladesh. They have been participating in international matches since 1996 (run by ACC), including every ACC Trophy tournament. The side participated in the ICC World Cup Qualifier in 2001 and 2014, ICC World T20 Qualifier in 2012, 2013 and 2015, ICC Intercontinental Cup in 2004 and 2005, ACC Fast Track Countries Tournament in 2004, 2005 and 2006, ACC T20 Cup in 2007, 2009, 2011 and 2013, Asian Games in 2010 and 2014 and ACC Premier League in 2014.
The case with Netherlands was no different during their opener with Pakistan. The Dutch side missed registering their opening win by a whisker. “Someone needs to lose, and we lost against ourselves. We deserved to win that game, and we should have sent Pakistan home after today, so yeah, it’s a shame, but it is what it is,” Dutch pacer Paul van Meekeren said in Colombo after the match. The side, ranked 14th, has the credit of defeating teams like England and South Africa in the past.
“India should travel to Holland. We got a feeling in general that not only India but all the bigger Test nations are visiting England every year. They are looking for preparation games, warm-up games. You have a feeling at the moment that wasn’t there in the past, where they can do preparation games or warm-up games. They still want to do it on English pitches which I completely understand but we should make that work,” said John Van Vilet, the manager of the Netherlands team.
USA also proved to be a tough challenge for defending champs India. In an X post, Sachin Tendulkar praised Team India’s calm finish after a tense start, applauding USA’s spirited performance.
