Broadcaster Disney-Star has raised questions on the schedule and timing of the T20 World Cup held in the US and West Indies this year. Disney-Star is the broadcasting partner of ICC events in India, which showed T20 World Cup matches in the Indian subcontinent. The broadcaster said that broadcasting suffered heavy losses due to the matches held at 6 am. There were also problems with the pitches in New York. Disney-Star also raised the problem of matches not being held in Florida due to rain. Most matches started in the morning in the West Indies
The T20 World Cup was played in the US and West Indies from 4 to 30 June. Most of the matches in the West Indies started at 6 am Indian time. Star said that due to the timing of these matches being in the morning, viewers did not come on TV and OTT platforms. The first semi-final between South Africa and Afghanistan also started at 6 am. While the semi-final and final match between India and England started at 8 pm. Drop-in pitch was also called a problem
Star said that broadcasting also suffered losses due to the drop-in pitch installed in New York. 8 matches were played in New York, most of them were low-scoring. The highest score here was 137 runs and most teams were restricted to scores less than 100. ICC had also declared the pitch of the first 2 matches played in New York as bad. One of them got a very bad rating. The pitch of the match between India and Pakistan got a good rating, but the Pakistani team could not even chase the target of 120 runs there. The pitch of the match between Afghanistan and South Africa in Trinidad was also given a bad rating. Where Afghanistan could score only 56 runs. Star is the broadcaster of ICC since 2011 Star had bought the broadcasting rights of ICC events before the ODI World Cup in 2011. Since then, Star has the rights of all the events in India. After the tie-up with Disney, Disney-Star together did the digital broadcast of the T20 World Cup on Hotstar. Last year, Star had bought the rights to show ICC events in India till 2027. This deal was worth 3 billion dollars i.e. about 25 thousand crores rupees. West Indies and America were going to lose the hosting rights According to ESPN Cricinfo, America and West Indies were going to lose the hosting rights of the 2024 T20 World Cup. In their place, 2026 host India or 2028 host England were going to get the hosting rights. So that America could get time to prepare the pitches, but this did not happen. The result of which was that matches had to be held in America without the pitches being fully ready. Along with America’s New York venue, Florida was also criticized. Where 3 out of 4 matches were washed out due to rain, one of which was the India-Canada match. Star raised questions that the ground management of Florida was so bad that the match could not be held there even after the rain stopped. ICC also suffered losses due to World Cup in America
According to Cricinfo, ICC suffered a loss of 20 million dollars i.e. about 167 crore rupees due to organizing T20 World Cup in America. To compensate for which ICC had also sought a reply from America Cricket Association. Demand to conduct Champions Trophy in T20 format
Due to the loss of T20 World Cup in America, broadcasters have demanded to conduct the Champions Trophy to be held in 2025 in T20 format. Broadcasters believe that more viewers join TV and OTT platforms in T20 than ODI. However, this demand of broadcasters was not discussed in the ICC meeting. ICC has decided to conduct the Champions Trophy in 50-50 over format and it is not in the mood to change it. India won the World Cup
India won the T20 World Cup held in America and West Indies. The team won the trophy by winning the final against South Africa in Barbados by 7 runs. This was India’s second T20 World Cup title, before this the team had won its first title in South Africa in 2007. Then India had defeated Pakistan in the final.
