This World Cup has seen some great ‘upsets’, like Netherlands beating South Africa and Afghanistan beating England. Though, perhaps, the biggest upset had to be the upset cricket fans, who were upset with their ticket booking experience.
Historically, upsets are usually the hallmark of big tournaments. Ask any man whose girlfriend or wife was recently upset with him, and he would tell you that he would rather face Bumrah on a green top.
Perhaps the most high-profile upset in World Cup History remains the 1983 victory of the Indian cricket team over West Indies. That one victory allowed the underperforming Indian cricket team of the 1990s to keep basking in past glory. But enough about the 2024 Indian elections.
A British editor had questioned substandard teams like India being in the 1983 tournament and said, “If India wins the World Cup, I’ll eat my words.” He famously did step up to the task and ate the humble pie, which in this case was an actual copy of the article. If our politicians did the same, entire rainforests worth of paper would be churning in their stomachs.
India’s 1983 win over West Indies, was perhaps the most high-profile upset, with the underdogs defeating the big player TT Archives
The 1996 World cup, on the other hand, saw the big upset of Kenya beating the once mighty West Indies, which by then was a pale shadow of the conquering ’80s side. The match also saw Brian Lara gone for mere eight runs, after which many east Indians also turned off their TV, accidentally mistaking him for Sachin Tendulkar as was wont in their rivalry of the ’90s. Ironically, 40 years after losing to the Indian side, West Indies has not even qualified for the 2023 World Cup. Perhaps, the British magazine editor needs to make a similar culinary offer for West Indies in the 2027 World Cup to spur them into action.
The 2007 World Cup had two major upsets — India losing to Bangladesh and Pakistan losing to Ireland. It also had an upset curator at the morgue, who had to suddenly account for an additional space for Bob Woolmer. For a change, Indian and Pakistani fans were united against their teams. Indian fans resorted to the mature reaction of burning effigies of their “favourite” players while Pakistani players prayed the burning would be restricted to effigies only.
The 2011 World Cup saw Ireland’s Kevin O’Brien scoring a 50-ball century to beat England. Beating England in any form, on or off the field, is a soothing balm for the Irish soul. One hopes that New Zealand’s 2019 World Cup team captain, Kane Williamson, finds a similar soothing balm. That’s the one man who deserves to be upset — a ridiculous “more boundaries” rule granted England the World Cup over New Zealand after a tied final and a super over. I mean, the ICC might as well have said, ‘in the case of a double tie, whichever side’s captain has more followers on his Instagram will be declared winner’. To which social media responded “Lol! We already think anyone with more followers is a winner, now watch as we plonk our life savings on a ponzi scheme floated by a girl dancing on Insta reels.”
As we start getting towards the business end of the tournament, the jury is out on which results will go as expected and which ones will be big upsets. However, I am willing to stake my reputation in this article that it will certainly be a very exciting World Cup. And if it doesn’t, I’ll eat my words.
The author, Vikram Poddar, is a Marwari investment banker turned corporate comedian. The views expressed in this article are his own and do not necessarily reflect the views of the website.
