The best place to find the city’s pulse is often among its youth. This is even more true of a sporting extravaganza like the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup, which has returned to India after a gap of 12 years. As India stake their claim to be champions once more, with heavyweights like Australia, England, Pakistan and South Africa also in contention, My Kolkata spoke to college students across Kolkata to get a sense of their picks for the tournament.
With responses from several city-based institutions — St. Xavier’s College, Jadavpur University, The Bhawanipur Education Society College, Department of Law at the University of Calcutta, Heritage Institute of Technology, Techno India, Amity University, iLead and AJC Bose College — involving both young men and women, this is what My Kolkata discovered as part of our World Cup College Campus Survey in the City of Joy.
India overwhelming favourites; Pakistan least-wanted finalist
Almost all Kolkatans across college campuses want India to win the World Cup, while many do not want to see Pakistan make it to the final Getty Images
Unlike the FIFA World Cup that divided Kolkata campuses based on their different allegiances, cricket’s version, naturally, called for a convergence of support for Team India. In what came as little surprise, almost 93 per cent of our respondents want the Men in Blue to lift their third 50-over World Cup on November 19 in Ahmedabad. Among the small minority, Australia found the highest support, with a vote each for New Zealand and Pakistan, too.
As for the underdogs, the Rashid Khan factor led close to 30 per cent to choose Afghanistan as their favourite giant-killers. Even though they may feel disappointed by the moniker, New Zealand came in as the next best underdogs, with 16 per cent votes. Pakistan and Sri Lanka got 10 votes each, while six, five and four people considered South Africa, Bangladesh and the Netherlands (surprise!) to be underdogs. England and Australia also got a mention each, but nobody in their right mind could call India underdogs on home soil.
When it came to the team young Kolkatans do not want to see in the final at all costs, Pakistan emerged top of the polls, with 31 per cent unwilling to have Babar Azam and Co. in with a chance of being world champions for the first time since 1992. Australia, who have reached a record seven finals, followed suit at 29 per cent, just ahead of defending champions, England, at 21 per cent.
The Dhoni six from 2011 remains unforgettable
In terms of the player to watch out for, the Prince gave the King a run for his money. Exactly 20 per cent of respondents have their eyes set first and foremost on Shubman Gill at this World Cup, which is only four per cent lower than those who have said the same about Virat Kohli. With a little over seven per cent of the votes, the hero of the 2019 final for England, Ben Stokes is the next most exciting player, followed by Mohammed Siraj and Rohit Sharma. In another unexpected result, breathtaking talents like Suryakumar Yadav, Jos Buttler, Kane Williamson and David Warner got less than one per cent of the votes.
Coming to favourite World Cup memories, it was inevitable that 77 per cent of the respondents went with Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s World Cup-winning six from 2011, given that most of them were probably not born the last time India were in the final before that in 2003. The other World Cup moments with a strong recall value were Rohit’s five hundreds in 2019, Yuvraj Singh’s quarter-final knock against Australia in 2011 and Virender Sehwag’s swashbuckling innings against Bangladesh in the same edition’s opening game.
Lastly, on the topic of where and how young Kolkatans are watching the World Cup, a resounding 61 per cent opted for streaming at home in the form of Disney+ Hotstar, while 33 per cent chose the good, old household TV (where the action will be live on the Star Sports Network). Around six per cent, a number that is likely to get higher in the coming weeks, preferred pubs.
