Champions Trophy -2009 -- the begining of the end

After a lot of hype and build up, CT2009 finally got off the block on 22nd sept'09. The very first match, Srilanka vs South Africa made a mockery of the ICC rankings with the top seed getting beaten black and blue. It was clear that Srilanka was battle ready fresh from the tri-series and South Africa were rusty after a long lay off. And when you are playing Ajanta Mendis the first time it is not easy to read him. Dilshan is in such great touch these days that Jayasurya can now retire without a worry. So, the very first match is decided on D/L. For us in india, the D/N matches of CT starting at 6pm mean we can only watch one full innings without loosing too much of sleep.

Match 2 was pathetic. A lot of things have gone wrong with the windies cricket, of late, and, their biggest problem has been the ego of their cricket board. So they sent a club team that got beaten by Bangladesh in the recent series. These minnows faced Pakisthan in the match 2. The result was a foregone conclusion, but for the record, the windies were blasted away by the Paki pacers and, the paki batsman made a heavy weather of the target 139, loosing 5 wickets before winning the match.

The list of champions missing from CT is growing all the time, Zaheer khan, Veerendra Sehwag , Flintoff, Peterson due to injuries and Gayle, Chanderpaul due to other reasons. Now comes the real shocker-- YUVI IS OUT TOO WITH A FRACTURE. We may see a few more before the end of CT2009.

When you look at it dispassionately, you see that too much of cricket is taking it's toll on the players. The ICC and BCCI and their bosses think that playing cricket should be like going to office/ work everyday. Given the facts that the T20 format is giving everyone concerned more than double the revenue per ball ( or over) it is not surprising that more and more players (and fans )will give the ODIs a miss.

In spite of the best efforts of all concerned, CT2009 is likely to be the last Champions Trophy (ODI) and the World Cup 2011 may even be called off . If not called off, it will be a big flop. Sachin's suggestion that ODIs can be split into two innings of 25 overs each, though has some merits, may not work out. Fans (and players) would prefer two T20 matches in place of one ODI.

So, i think, this is the beginning of the end for the ODIs.