LONDON, June 03 (https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com): Is toss becoming the real boss of the 2019 World Cup? One would think so. While they haven't used that as an excuse, but both Pakistan captain Sarfaraz Ahmed and Sri Lankan skipper Dimuth Karunaratne stressed after their teams' heavy defeats that they lost a crucial toss.
With the games starting at 10:30 am (local time), and the weather still a bit cold, the wickets at both Nottingham and Cardiff offered a fair bit of zip to the bowlers, before settling down. "I think the start is very crucial here. That is why we wanted to bowl first," Sarfaraz had said after Pakistan embarrassingly lasted just 21.4 overs to be skittled out for 105 by the West Indies on a bouncy Trent Bridge track on Friday.
Sri Lanka skipper Dimuth Karunaratne also stressed about it after his team was blasted out in 29.2 overs in their 10-wicket loss to New Zealand at Cardiff. "If you get wickets like that, toss will play a crucial part," Karunaratne said. In their first warm-up game, India too lasted merely 39.2 overs on a grassy wicket at The Oval. It's now clear that teams from the subcontinent would struggle to cope with seam and swing. A few days back, when the Pakistan-England contests were routinely witnessing scores in excess of 300 and even 350 on batting featherbeds, this trend was hardly expected.
Before the tournament began, ICC's outgoing chief executive Dave Richardson had stressed about how the game's governing body wanted "consistent" conditions through the 100 overs of a game, in order to be fair to both the teams.
"We would be providing pitches which give both teams equal chance. The pitches will be such that they do not change much during the course of the match. No team will have an advantage by bowling first. We believe that such wickets will provide for keen competition, without giving a particular team additional advantage," Richardson said.
However, England's early summer conditions have made the contest heavily skewed in favour of the team fielding first in the morning. That is why captains did not hesitate to field first. Afghanistan were the only team to bat first after winning the toss.
Luck with the coin too is a massive factor and West Indies skipper Jason Holder put things in perspective when he said, "You know, toss is 50/50, as well, so I can't have full control of that, either. " he said.
While the batsmen may not be liking it too much, the bowlers, so used to being hammered in white-ball cricket, are sporting a quiet smile.
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