World Cup unveils treat

Nazeer Waris

The Cricket World Cup, officially known as ICC Men's Cricket World Cup is currently on. India is hosting the matches. The competition for the World Cup began on Thursday, October 5, 2023.

ICC stands for International Cricket Council. It is held every four years. The first World Cup was organised in England in 1975. So far 12 World Cup tournaments have been held.

A total of 20 teams have competed in these matches. But 10 teams have qualified ICC Cricket World Cup tournament this time. Of the 12 World Cup tournaments, Australia (1987, 1999, 2003, 2007, 2015) has won the World Cup five times. India (1983, 2011) the West Indies (1975, 1979) have won it twice each. Pakistan (1992), England (2019) and Sri Lanka (1996) have won it once each.

Currently, England is holding the cup as they emerged the champion in 2019 championship tournament. The first or inaugural world cup was hosted by England in 1975.

The two consecutive tournaments i.e., in 1975, 1979 and 1983 were held in England. At that time it was known as Prudential Cup as Prudential plc was sponsoring the event. It was a 60-over game then and was played only during the day time.

India and Pakistan hosted the 1987 tournament, the first time the competition was held outside England. The overs were brought down from 60 to 50 from then on. 

Now let us have a glance on the ICC World Cup 2023 being held in India: 

Participating Teams

Afghanistan, Australia, Bangladesh, England, India, Netherlands, New Zealand, Pakistan, South Africa, Sri Lanka.

Venues

Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Dharamshala (Himachal Pradesh), Hyderabad, Kolkata, Lucknow, Mumbai, New Delhi and Pune.

Semifinals

at Kolkata (Nov. 16) and Mumbai (Nov. 15)

Final

at Ahmedabad (Nov. 19)

Total No. Matches: 48

Indian Team for 2023 World Cup

Rohit Sharma (captain) Hardik Pandya, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyar Iyear, KL Rahul, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohd. Shami, Mohd. Siraj, Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel, Ishan Kishan, Suryakumar Yadav.

Top Run-getter from India in World Cups

Virat Kohli, 13,083 runs; Highest 183; Average 57.3; Centuries 47; 50s 66.

Top Wicket-taker from India in World Cups

Ravindra Jadeja, 204 wickets

Indian Captains in World Cups

Venkataraghavan 1975, 1979.

Kapil Dev 1983, 1987.

Mohd. Azharuddin, 1992, 1996, 1999.

Sourav Ganguly 2003.

Rahul Dravid 2007.

M.S.Dhoni 2011, 2015.

Virat Kohli 2019

Top run-scorer and wicket-getter

Sachin Tendulkar has the record of most rungetter with 2,278 runs. Most wickets have been claimed by Glenn McGrath of Australia