Notes From The World Cup: Opening Ceremony

At least I have one

The Men's Cricket World Cup starts tomorrow.

There was a time when, within cricket fandom, World Cups were looked at like the Olympics. The rhythms of the cricket calendar built up over four years culminating in a carnival where everyone and their grandmums got involved. And these festivals left their imprints on our lives. We remember small things and incidents from two decades back like it was yesterday. Where were you when a young Bangladesh beat an imperious Pakistan team? Or when Ireland beat England? Did you too get a new television because Sansui were running deals during the World Cup?

The rare occurrence of this mega event added to its charm. In football too, despite all the Champions Leagues and Copa Americas, the World Cup is when the party truly comes to town. It, to borrow a popular phrase on the internet, hits different. I remember seeing massive posters and hoardings go up in 1996 and 2011. Newspapers carried reports and analyses, broadcasters carried programmes. In the weeks leading up, the World Cup is all you heard of.

Cricket hasn't quite bothered with protecting that allure. Since 2019, this will be the fourth men's World Cup across two formats. Add to that some overprocessed Asia Cups and we have ourselves a ramen pot when memories from one tournament blend into another. I need to look up Cricinfo to remind myself that New Zealand thrashed Australia in the World Cup of 2022 and not 2021. The mind does much of the work to form the allure, and fans haven't had the time to breathe to fully build up the anticipation. One day before the grand tournament, it is still without an accompanying groove. The news of there being no opening ceremony for this tournament -- thank god for not subjecting us to another Ranveer atrocity -- has passed by without anyone caring.

I do think some of the noise will find good range as the tournament kicks into full pelt. It is a long, long tournament, spanning six weeks. Hopefully a fun one too.

Which brings me to this piece and this Substack. Over the next month and a bit, I will try to cover the World Cup here. Maybe some weekly roundups, some daily reports, a mish-mash of whatever works. But hopefully, there will be ample things to write about. I will title them "Notes From The World Cup: " so you are warned. In case cricket is not your thing, you can zone out from the title itself.