The Cricket World Cup is the most prestigious tournament of one day international (ODI) cricket. It’s an international championship where numbers of countries vie for the coveted prize of world cup championship. International Cricket Council (ICC), the sport’s governing body organizes the tournament every four years. The importance and popularity of world cup can be understood from the fact that its world’s third largest and most viewed sporting extravaganza. The tournament has preliminary qualification rounds and consequently semifinal and final.
The cricket world cup has an eventful and glorious history. It was first held in 1975. England was the first country to host this prestigious tournament. There is also a women’s world cup which is being held every four years since 1973. The men’s world cup has been organized nine times and Australia has emerged as the most successful team by claiming the championship four times. The first two editions held in 1975 and 1979 respectively, were won by West Indies. Whereas sub continental teams India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka have emerged victorious once each. The participants are all the ten Test playing nations and a clutch of nations which join these ten through qualifiers.
The 2007 Cricket World Cup finals were held in the West Indies. This tournament had total sixteen teams (most number of countries in a single world cup). The format was round-robin in the pool stage which was subsequently followed by super 8 stage and then semi-finals and final. The mighty Australia managed to retain the crown by defeating Sri Lanka in a wonderful final.
India was the proud winner of 1983 world cup. India achieved this totally unexpected feat under the inspiring guidance of Kapil Dev. India managed to defeat the invincible West Indies by a good enough margin in a pulsating final at the Lord’s. This one cricketing piece of history helped to make cricket immensely popular in India. Since then India has always been a force to reckon with in one day format of cricket.