The Politics of Cricket World Cup | Explained by Dhruv Rathee

Hello, friends! After 2011, it's time for India to host the Cricket World Cup again. And I hope that we win again, just like we did last year. Because till now, the Indian cricket team has been in great form. India has been dominating the World Cup with a series of impressive victories, leaving no other team in serious contention. In this World Cup, the Indian cricket team broke several records. In the match against Sri Lanka, the team achieved the historic victory in World Cup history, bow

ling out the opposition with just 55 runs. And winning with a massive 302-run lead. Mohammad Shammi set the record for the most 5-wicket hauls in World Cups and becoming India's most successful bowler in World Cup history with 45 wickets in just 14 matches. The previous record was held by Zahir Khan with 44 wickets in 23 matches. In the recent semi-final match, he went on to break more records. His standout performance included 7 wickets and 57 runs, marking the best individual performance b

y an Indian in ODI cricket history. Additionally, he became the fastest bowler to reach a 50-wicket haul in just 17 innings. On the batting front, our top star batsmen, Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli accumulated nearly 1,300 runs together. Rohit Sharma scored a century, while Kohli scored 3. Virat Kohli broke many records too. He has now surpassed 50 ODI centuries, The only batsman in history to beat this record. The previous record was held by Sachin Tendulkar at 49 ODI centuries. Additionally,

he broke another record held by Sachin. Most runs made by any batsman in a World Cup. In the 2003 World Cup, Sachin Tendulkar set the record at 673 runs. And Kohli has already scored 711 runs in this World Cup edition. Beyond India, the World Cup has seen other interesting records, including two highest run-scoring matches in this World Cup. The first in the Sri Lanka v. South Africa game. With a total of 754 runs. And the Australia v. New Zealand game with 771 runs. And the historic match betwe

en Australia and Afghanistan. In which, Glenn Maxwell broke multiple records. Scoring 201 runs on 128 balls, not out, becoming the first non-opening batsman to achieve a double century, His partnership with the captain of the Australian team, became the highest 8th wicket partnership in the history of ODI cricket. Australia had nearly lost the game at one point they were playing at 91-7. Glenn Maxwell singlehandedly delivered Australia from their precarious score, and had the team qualify for th

e World Cup semi-finals. Even though Afghanistan lost the match they had almost won, Afghanistan's story stands out as one of the most intriguing in this World Cup, defeating three former World Cup-winning teams England, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. Despite this being only the third time that Afghanistan was participating in the World Cup. And the previous two times that Afghanistan had played, They had won only a single match in both World Cups combined. That was against Scotland in 2015. How coul

d Afghanistan's team accomplish this out of nowhere? What is the reason behind the increasing popularity of cricket in Afghanistan? What is the link between geopolitics and cricket? Come, let's discuss some unheard stories in this video. Today, cricket is the second most popular sport after football, with an estimated 2.5 billion followers. While around 3.5 billion people are football fans. This number is significant, not merely due to India's large population, as the cricket fan base is nearly

double that of the Indian population, and not every Indian is a cricket enthusiast. The roots of cricket's popularity can be traced back to the British Empire. International cricket has been governed by the International Cricket Council (ICC) since its establishment in 1909. Presently, 12 countries are full members of the ICC. The 12 full ICC members are England, Australia, South Africa, West Indies, New Zealand, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe, Bangladesh, Ireland, and Afghanistan. These

countries share a history of colonization by the British, contributing to the widespread popularity of cricket in these nations. Afghanistan stands out as an exception to some extent, a topic we will delve into later in the video. The 12 full members of the ICC are the exclusive participants in Test cricket, and the 10 teams participating in the ongoing World Cup are from these 12, excluding Netherlands. Unfortunately, West Indies, Zimbabwe, and Ireland failed to qualify for this year's World C

up, with Netherlands securing a spot instead. The Netherlands is an associate member of the ICC, The category of associate members is a tier below full membership. There are a total of 94 associate member countries in the ICC. The question arises: how did cricket gain popularity in the Netherlands, a country untouched by British colonisation? The Netherlands is a European country. There are two major reasons for this. First, the proximity to England, with the British introducing cricket to the N

etherlands in the early days. The British citizens who had moved to the Netherlands. And then the elite Dutch people, those from the upper class, among them, cricket's popularity grew. The second reason is that the Netherlands had colonised some Caribbean countries, such as Suriname, when immigrants from those regions moved to the Netherlands post-World War II further fueled cricket's popularity there. However, it's essential to note that games like football and field hockey are more popular

than cricket in the Netherlands. Although their team did qualify for the World Cup, but cricket is not very popular in the Netherlands. Shifting our focus to India, 1721 was the year when the first recorded cricket match took place. This match was played by sailors of the East India Company in Khambath, Gujarat. Cricket reached Australia by the late 1700s, while New Zealand and South Africa saw its advent only during the early 1800s. Ironically, while England propagated cricket to so many count

ries, many colonized nations won the Cricket World Cup before England. With the West Indies securing the title in the first cricket World Cup held in 1975 and also in 1979. And it was in the third World Cup that India claimed its victory in 1983. Countries like Australia, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka have won the World Cup at least once. But it was only in 2019, that England won the World Cup trophy for the first time. Winning reminds me, if you want to win in your life, in your job, your career,

your studies, or in a sport, the number one thing that you need to win at anything, is discipline. Focusing on your goal while maintaining your self control, being consistent everyday. But most of us fail at these simple things. Instead of focusing on our work, we waste our time scrolling on our phones. I did this too. But then I developed my new system of time management. With this, I have become so disciplined that I can consistently produce these high-quality videos every single week. All whi

le travelling the world, and making travel vlogs. So that you can bring discipline to your life using this system, I have made this time management course for you. In total, more than 10,000 people have already taken this course, and you can see their reviews on the screen. Many of them found it to be life-changing. Enrol in it to experience this. I'm sure that you will see a substantial change in your life. After completing the assignments given in the course. The first 400 people among you to

sign up for this course after watching this video will get it at a 40% discount on using the coupon code INDIA40 The course details can be found in the video description. Or you can scan this QR code to get to the website. You can go check it out. And now, let's get back to our topic. The memorable 2019 Cricket World Cup final match most cricket fans would still remember this, it was so thrilling, And England's win in the Super Over was quite controversial. Because technically, even the Super O

ver culminated in a tie. In this match between England and New Zealand, both teams had scored 15 runs in the Super Over. According to the rules, since the Super Over was a tie, the team that scored more boundaries in the match was declared the winner of the match. And in this year's World Cup, England was the fourth-worst team. England could win only 3 out of the 9 matches it played. Afghanistan's cricket team ranked higher than England, boasting four wins. This is the intriguing story of the A

fghanistan cricket team. Some years ago, in 2007, when India won the T20 Cricket World Cup, the ICC classified Afghanistan in the lowest division. Division 5. This was the worst division of ICC's associate members. However, the tide turned for Afghanistan with the rising popularity of T20 cricket that year. In September 2007, after India won the first T20 World Cup, the next month, the Asian Cricket Council organized its T20 Cup, featuring 10 Asian associate teams, Hong Kong, Kuwait, Malaysia,

Nepal, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, the UAE, and Afghanistan. Afghanistan won three out of four group-stage games, defeated the UAE in the semi-finals, and played the finals against Oman. In the final match, both teams tied. Oman and Afghanistan shared the trophy. For the Afghan people, this trophy meant a lot. This marked the first victory of the Afghanistan cricket team in any tournament. This marked a turning point for Afghanistan. In 2008, they secured victory in the ICC World Cric

ket League this was the Division 5 league, followed by triumphs in the Division 4 league in 2008 and the Division 3 league in 2009. In just six years, they qualified for their first World Cup in 2015. The journey, however, was arduous for the Afghanis. As I mentioned before, Afghanistan is the only exception among British-colonized countries. Some parts of Afghanistan were colonized by the British, during a certain period in time, but the British could not occupy the entire country. Cricket was

n't historically popular in Afghanistan. In December 1979 when the Soviet Union invaded the country, thousands of Afghanis fled towards Pakistan. It was in the refugee camps at Peshawar, that these Afghani boys encountered cricket. The people in the refugee camps saw the Pakistanis playing cricket. And they started playing too. Initially, using sticks as bats and since they had no balls, they would roll the plastic bags as balls. Some years later, in 1992, Pakistan won the World Cup for the firs

t time under the leadership of Imran Khan. This victory was an inspiration for these Afghan refugees. This is why, in 2015, when Afghanistan played its first World Cup, many of the team members, were from those refugee camps. Including the 2015 opening batsman Karim Sadiq, who spent his childhood in Pakistan's Kacha Kara camp. There he worked in a factory at night, and played cricket in the mornings. The Afghanistan cricket team in the 2023 World Cup, can be considered the second-generation play

ers. 11 of the 15 players are younger than 25 years. The assistant coach, Raees Ahmadzai, is a former player, recounting how he learned to play cricket as a refugee. He emphasizes that this new generation of the Afghanistan cricket team, is the product of their training in Afghanistan. After the Soviet's rule in Afghanistan ended Taliban rose to power. This had a major impact on their cricket. Basically, one can say that cricket could flourish in Afghanistan because Taliban didn't interfere in

this sport. When Taliban established their control in 1994, they banned all sports. Except cricket. Cricket was acceptable to the Taliban because it was a non-contact sport. There was no contact between the players, and the players didn't wear shorts like they do in football. However, the situation has drastically changed during the ensuing 30 years. The national flag that is represented by Afghanistan's team, and the national anthem they sing before each match, neither of them holds official s

tatus. After the 2021 Taliban take over in Afghanistan, they introduced a new national flag, this white flag. After their resurgence, the conditions have only worsened, with 90% of the Afghan population living in poverty the financial conditions are terrible, on top of it, in the past 20 months 10 major earthquakes have hit Afghanistan. Thousands of people have been displaced or have lost their lives. And the most extreme earthquake hit last month, on 7th October. "The death toll from an earthqu

ake in Western Afghanistan has risen to around 320 with 1,000 more injured." This is why the biggest cricket star in Afghanistan, Rashid Khan, donated his entire tournament fees from this World Cup to the earthquake victims. He says that people pray for them back home. They watch their matches hoping that they will win. Because cricket is now the only source of joy in Afghanistan. The restrictions Taliban has placed on women, and the atrocities committed by them, hardly any place on Earth is a

s restrictive as it is. Women are confined to their homes and prohibited from working or studying, Thankfully, Afghanistan's men's cricket team has the opportunity to participate in the World Cup. However, the women's cricket team is now refugees in Australia, they are still struggling in their pursuit of playing opportunities. Last year, Rashid Khan expressed solidarity with the daughters and sisters of Afghanistan, advocating for the reversal of the decision to ban girls from high schools an

d universities. "Every day of education wasted, is a day wasted from the future of the country." For Afghani cricketers, cricket is not merely a sport. This is a means to fight the circumstances. Sometimes against the Soviet invasion. sometimes against Taliban's oppressions. The Afghani players do not hesitate to express their opinions. Last month, after defeating Pakistan, the team celebrated the victory. Afghan Captain Hasmatullah Shahidi dedicated the victory to Afghan refugees, particularly

those escaping Taliban rule and seeking refuge in Pakistan. Whom Pakistan is forcefully sending back to Afghanistan. "Islamabad has ordered all undocumented immigrants, which includes around 1.7 million Afghan nationals, to leave the country." The game of cricket emerges as a potential avenue for diplomatic relations. When Afghanistan attained full membership in the ICC, their inaugural test match was against India in Bangalore. The Afghanistani President Ashraf Ghani was invited to India to w

atch this first test match. Similarly, during the 2011 World Cup, Dr Manmohan Singh extended an invitation to then Pakistani Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani to watch the India v. Pakistan match, aiming to ease tensions between the two countries. A similar initiative occurred in 2004 when the Indian cricket team visited Pakistan, leading both nations to relax visa regulations, allowing the public to attend matches in these countries. These instances underscore the profound impact of cricket's p

opularity in fostering positive relations globally. Consequently, there is a need to promote this sport in other countries, encouraging both small and large nations to take an interest in cricket. Unfortunately, the current state of the sport reveals a concentration of control in the hands of only three major countries, with India holding the strongest influence. While the ICC theoretically comprises 12 full members and 94 associate countries, this is just the theoritical model. The practical

reality is that ICC is controlled by the BCCI, England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), and Cricket Australia (CA). These three nations are often referred to as the Big Three. The consolidation of power escalated after February 2014 when the ICC implemented structural and financial reforms, granting India, England, and Australia nearly complete control over cricket's governance. This power shift extended to the Big Three controlling the flow of money. Out of ICC's total projected gross revenue of

$2.5 billion, the BCCI received a significant share of $570 million or 22.8%. England and Australia obtained $143 million and $132 million, constituting 5.7% and 5.2% shares, respectively. This distribution left associate members with minimal financial support. The Big Three argued that the funds invested in cricket development in associate countries did not yield satisfactory returns, prompting a reduction in financial support. Fortunately, in 2017, this model was repealed, and a new model was

introduced. When the voting took place for the new model, 13 votes were in favour, and only one vote dissented, this dissenting vote was cast by the BCCI. Why? Because, under this new model, BCCI's share would be reduced from $570 million to $293 million. A share cut from 22% to 11%. Concurrently, associate countries were allocated $280 million to stimulate growth in cricket in regions where the sport isn't very popular yet. Regrettably, this model endured for only six years. This year, another

model was passed, granting BCCI complete financial control over international cricket. In July, the ICC approved a new revenue system, where full members will receive an 88.8% share of revenue between 2024 and 2027. Over the next three years, ICC's earnings are expected to be around $600 million annually, with BCCI receiving $230 million. Around 38.5%. The associate teams would receive 11% combined. And the other full members would get a share in the single digits. The rationale behind this new

revenue system is the same as the one in 2014 that BCCI significantly contributes commercially to cricket. Given that most advertisers and the IPL are India-centric, 85% of commercial weightage is attributed to BCCI. This signifies that BCCI's contribution to the cricket economy ranges from 70% to 80%. Notably, the biggest contributor to this cricket economy is the IPL, commonly referred to as the Cash Cow. I have separate videos on IPL and T20 cricket, you can watch them too. If you want to

understand the business model of T20 model. In that video, I explained how the World Cup works. In the midst of these, there is positive news about cricket's popularity it will soon be included in the Olympics. This development is expected to introduce the sport to new audiences. Curiously, cricket's absence from the Olympics until now can also be attributed to the BCCI's resistance. One might wonder why the BCCI opposed taking cricket to the Olympics, given that it would enhance India's chances

of winning another gold medal. The BCCI's objection has consistently centered around the fear of losing member autonomy in the face of the International Olympic Committee. Essentially, a concern that their control over the ICC would be diluted. With the inclusion of the International Olympic Committee in the equation. Deciding match schedules and redistribution of financial costs, would no longer be within BCCI's purview once cricket would be played in the Olympics. In the 2007 cricket World Cu

p 16 teams had participated. The was reduced to 14 in 2011, and further dwindled to 10 teams in 2019. Do you know why? Money. As fewer teams mean more matches for India, translating into increased revenue for the BCCI. Not only the BCCI, the England Cricket Board (ECB) supported this too. The ECB articulated concerns that if cricket matches are held for 2-2.5 weeks in the Olympics, fewer matches would be played in England, resulting in revenue loss. However, cricket has been played at the Olym

pics once. 123 years ago, in the 1900 Paris Olympics, where only two cricket teams participated, and only one match was played. Between Great Britain and France. After this, during the 1998 Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lumpur a full ODI tournament was included. It had 16 participating teams, culminated in South Africa winning the gold medal in this tournament. Australia was in the second spot, with the silver medal, when the Australian cricket team captain Steve Waugh had said that winning that s

ilver medal was the highlight of his career, even though Steve Waugh had been a part of the World Cup winning team in 1987. After this, in 2008, during the Beijing Olympics, he had said that if cricket is to be globalised, it would mean including countries like China and the USA. And to include them, the Olympics is the fast-track way. Australian legendary cricketer Adam Gilchrist echoed these sentiments in 2009, asserting that making cricket an Olympic sport would encourage many countries to ta

ke the sport seriously and play it for the first time in their history. However, no one considered these appeals seriously for so long. And cricket was kept away from the Olympics. But now, thankfully, it is changing. In the upcoming Los Angeles Olympics in 2028, T20 cricket will finally make its Olympic debut. This significant decision is influenced by the growing popularity of cricket in America. With the T20 World Cup scheduled to be hosted by the United States next year. By the time cricke

t makes its Olympic debut, Virat Kohli will likely be 40 years old. The prospect of witnessing whether the greatest Indian cricket right now, can secure an Olympic gold for us or not. If you liked this video, click here to watch the video on the business model of the Cricket World Cup. I have explained it here. Thank you for watching!