New Delhi: For much of the year, T20 is about the leagues. They grow the sport, help the players level up and give fans a regular cricket calendar.
International cricket tries to match up with bilateral series. However, lacking context, they don’t quite rustle up the fervour leagues generate. But all of that changes when a World Cup comes along – suddenly even the casual viewer is interested.
But the cricket that we have seen in the 2026 ICC T20 World Cup has been very different to what we usually see in a league or even the bilaterals. So what is happening here and why?
For starters, World Cups are generally played purely as “last man standing” elimination games. This combined with the fact that they aren’t an annual event mean that the chance to win them only comes along once in a while.
After India won the inaugural World T20 in 2007, they had to wait till 2024 for another title. The achievement reduced many in the team to tears. There are emotions in the leagues as well but fans of a particular team might cheer you on. In a World Cup, the whole nation does.
The quality of cricket is better in the leagues where the strength of a nation doesn’t matter as much. Team owners go about building the best possible squads and with the exception of a few stronger nations, these club teams will beat almost all other national sides.
The leagues also are a learning ground for players. Watching South African pacer Lungi Ngidi bamboozle Indian and West Indian batters with slower balls is a reminder of the impact exposure can have on players.
After a breakthrough debut Test summer in 2017-18, Ngidi was signed by Chennai Super Kings in the IPL and played seven games. That’s when he also ran into Dwayne Bravo, who was famous for having a different kind of slower ball for each delivery in the over.
“I was at the IPL with (Dwayne) Bravo, and that entire IPL, that [the slower ball] is all I worked on. I wasn’t playing [much], so I got time to practice it,” said Ngidi, who is among the leading wicket-takers in the tournament with 11 wickets at an economy rate of 6.80.
What is true of Ngidi is also true of Sikandar Raza. Those who remember watching the Zimbabwe skipper in his early days will note that he didn’t strike one as special. The average was in the early 30s in ODIs and even worse in the T20Is but he has now played in nine different leagues around the globe. The experience has done him a world of good.
There are many stories like that. Players who have been lifted by the leagues, countries too.
But a league gives you a chance to make a comeback – the teams are together for a while, the tactics can be honed over years (cue CSK or MI), home ground advantage counts for something and a bad start doesn’t always mean curtains.
By comparison, many international teams only properly come together at World Cups. So, finding the right balance isn’t always easy. If anything, the varied pitches in ICC tournaments demand a different level of adaptability and you have to do it while keeping the end goal in mind.
After watching Ajax lose 3-2 to Spurs on aggregate in Champions League semi-final second leg at home in 2019, famous coach Jose Mourinho had said: “For special matches, you need sometimes not to be tied to your philosophy. They played like it was a group-phase game, or one more game in their own league.”
A different challenge
A World Cup, despite all the attempts to make it forgiving, can still challenge you in ways unseen.
On Wednesday, Sri Lanka became the first team at the Super Eight stage to be eliminated when they were humbled by 61 runs in front of packed Khettarama stands. The atmosphere was amazing but the public criticism that follows will be just as intense.
After the loss, Sri Lanka skipper Dasun Shanaka said the “negativity” the team faced had become so severe that perhaps the country’s government should intervene to protect future generations of players.
“Why spread this negativity? Yes, we lost a World Cup, and we know the reasons. Everyone has concerns,” said Shanaka. “More than talking about that and correcting it, the negativity has come to the fore.”
This kind of pressure is never experienced in T20 leagues. You play, you lose, you come back next year. A cricket World Cup, however, feels far more personal and it takes a special kind of magic to win it.
