By Amarinder Sangha and Raju William

Necastle/Ludhiana: The World Cup is in the final stages. And of the last two, the penultimate is slated for November 15 when India, the only unbeaten team in this tournament so far, takes on New Zealand at Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai. Of course, the top-four finishers competing for the final honour of lifting the World Cup are the deserving ones to be in this top bracket, according to their performances.

At this point a question comes to mind. Do we really need a semi-final and a final ? Shouldn’t the winning team be decided on the basis of its showing in the league?  It’s an apt question, since every team has already played against every other participating team before this top-four stage. Hasn’t the superiority team India in all departments of the game over all other participating teams been convincingly decided? What more does it have to take to show that it’s the best side?

As an Indian it’s a very pertinent question too, since India have topped in this World Cup, winning all their league games. They’ve beaten every other team by a convincing margin and have emerged as the top team by a fair distance. By that yardstick, the trophy should be awarded to India! Isn’t it?

India topped the league phase in the previous World Cup too. Only 45 minutes of bad cricket cost India dearly and they lost to New Zealand in Manchester then. Is it fair, that your performance in the entire tournament gets set aside and you are knocked out on the basis of 45 minutes of bad cricket?

There’s another point of serious consideration. And that is all other teams reaching this last four stage have lost against India. Is this system of giving them another chance of ‘avenging’ their defeat at the hands of the Indian side justified by any standard of sports’ ethics? Also, this is a highly ironical and tremendously discriminating treatment of making the Indian team prove its worth not once but twice more on the ground as the best of the participating lot. It should be the case of not India this time but of any other country’s team which may give as sterling a performance as India in future editions of the World Cup. UNFAIR INDEED!

India might well go on to win the tournament this time around, brushing aside their opponents in the same dominant manner that its cricketers have displayed so far, and it would only be fair. By the same token, and given the glorious uncertainties of cricket, they might lose in the semi-finals or the final. That would be a travesty, as they have been far better than any other team so far. The margins of victory justify that.

This is ALREADY India’s World Cup…! Isn’t it?