Sanjay Manjrekar shared his own opinion that India has a great advantage in the semifinals. It is because they know their semifinal venue in advance. India has sparked a debate about whether they may know where their T20 World Cup 2024 semi-final will take place. India captain Rohit Sharma has rubbished it, but former India batter Sanjay Manjrekar believes otherwise.
Sanjay Manjrekar’s Perspective
Sanjay Manjrekar shared his views that India has a great advantage in the semifinals as they know their venue in advance. He said that the Indian team has a clear advantage. But on the other hand, Rohit Sharma has a different perspective regarding this.
He said that no, there’s no advantage to knowing the semifinals in advance. The venue was known when India chose the field. He alluded to the fact that India picked four spinners because they knew where their matches were played in Guyana.
Former England batter Nick Knight said: “It just didn’t sit right or seem fair that India knew exactly where they were going.” Meanwhile, his former team-mate Michael Vaughan slammed the arrangement on the Club Prairie Fire podcast.
Michael Vaughan called the World T20 as India’s event. According to him they play when they want and know their semi-final venue. India has benefited from this setup as they are the moneymakers.
Vaughan criticized the unfair World Cup format of being played over vigorless matches. He said: “It should not be a favor to India because of the funds. What is acceptable in bilateral series but not the World Cup.”
ICC: Different Rules for Semi-Finals
However, Knight also quibbled with the fact that there was a change in rules for bowling wides, specifically for semi-finals. One semi-final, Afghanistan vs. South Africa, was held over one day, and the other semi-final was India vs. England for a 250-minute allocation of extension time with no reserve day.
So far with India vs. England, the ICC has not reserved any day for this match. But they reserve a day for Afghanistan vs. South Africa. So that is unfair. Why does the ICC make different rules for semi-fiancé? ICC should be fair for all teams in the semi-finals, said Knight. He further stated: “This does not make sense to me. You could have squeezed a few matches from the group stages. How is it not able to be the final on a Sunday? We needed extra travel time for teams.”
Furthermore, he added that the ICC should promote commercial gains instead of quality, which demands a level playing field. That was sacrilege, he said. You can’t put commercial interests over the quality of your sport. We have flipped the model on its head. Amid the excitement about new venues, such as those in the USA, fair playing conditions should not be forgotten.
Sanjay Manjrekar mentioned Specializing in High-Quality Sport
Manjrekar also mentioned the need to provide good products in cricket. This isn’t a single commercial stunt. It is about offering real-world-class sports. Do not let the needs of the market determine the conditions. We should begin with fair play and think about the commercials.
The Indian semi-final venue raises questions of equity and commercial pressure in cricket. Similarly, Sanjay Manjrekar, Knight, and Vaughan have stressed fairly playing cricket, leaving room for financial considerations.
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