Champions Trophy looks open

The 2017 Champions Trophy is more about the four captains in Steve Smith, Virat Kohli, Kane Williamson and Eoin Morgan, who want to fashion their own legacy and not let their predecessors’ successes or failures make any difference in their planning.

(L-R) Steve Elworthy, ECB Director Global Events, Eoin Morgan, England's ODI captain and David Richardson, ICC Chief Executive pose for photographs during the ICC Champions Trophy 2017 launch at The Kia Oval on June 1, 2016 in London, England.

The 2017 Champions Trophy can be expected to be a close one, as there are no favourites this time. There has been a change in leadership,too, for four teams — India (Mahendra Singh Dhoni to Virat Kohli), Australia (Michael Clarke to Steve Smith), New Zealand (Brendon McCullum to Kane Williamson) and England (Alastair Cook to Eoin Morgan).

West Indies, the T20 champion, won’t be a part due to the rule of allowing only the top eight teams to participate, which is illogical at best.

The event is being hosted by England, once again, due to weather and logistical reasons. The Sub-Continent would have been too hot, while Australia, New Zealand and South Africa don’t start their ‘seasons’ before October-November.

The International Cricket Council year after year has been smart in the scheduling of the matches. Realizing that India and Pakistan won’t ever play a bi-lateral series, they make sure that in world tournaments these two teams face each other, feeding on peoples’ emotions and cashing in on the revenue due to a full house, irrespective of the result. The International Hockey Federation has followed the same trend for a while.

It won’t be a surprise that all India matches will be in sync with hours where we can actually watch it — 3:00 p.m. IST. It sits perfectly with the student and the working population.

One will see advertisements which will be stories of people making excuses to get out of office or college, for these advertisements are aimed at the extreme fanatics. They are going to work on people’s emotions and patriotism and the print and the electronic media will increase this to mind-blowing proportions. It is after all another tournament of a sport, which we have allowed to engulf us for no reason whatsoever.

The event is more about the four captains in Smith, Kohli, Williamson and Morgan, who want to fashion their own legacy and not let their predecessors’ successes or failures make any difference in their planning.

Football brings out the fanatics in Europe and baseball in America. Cricket has the most number in the Asian countries.