Is the difference between sides more minimal in this world cup than ever?

[Harsh Thakor]

In my view no world cup has teams so close to each other in terms of comparable strength ,performance or ability.I dont think there has been a world cup where the top teams were ahead of the lower teams by such a slender margin.Pakistan conquered the likely winners England and New Zealand which is ironic.West Indies all but beat New Zealand and came within touching distance of beating Australia,as well as defeated Pakistan.Bangladesh came within a whisker of beating New Zealand and defeated South Africa.South Africa went down to the Kiwis by just a mayer of a few inches.The world cup closest in terms of evenness of comparable strength of competing teams was in 1975 and 2011.

To me there has never been a world cup with such a continuos ebb and flow or swing of fortunes.At one juncture India looked invincible til their defeat aginst England and unconvincing win aginst Afghanistan.Australia seemed to regain their aura of dominance when beating England in the laegue game.When winning Englamnd looked as invincible as any champion team.South Africa beating England in the end wa sthe fila icing on the cake.

New Zealand is very much like the Australian team of the 1987 world cup in terms of ability and performance and the 2019 final is in many ways similar to 1987.I feel on merit India or Australia should have joined England in the final as the Kiwis had their elemt of luck.pakistan to me was most unlucky after stgaing such a great ressurection towards sthe end.

The semi-finals were a perfect ilustration that the better side does not win necesarily but the side that is better on the day.

To me it has been a most eventful world cup but it was sad that we did not see one or tow consistent champions.England rose like aphoenix from the Ashes in the lats 2 games ressurecting themselves spectacularly from the depths of despair.Exit of India and Australia in this maner proives how ertaic the general game was of all teams.

Edited July 13, 2019 by Harsh Thakor

[Khota]

This is the most competitive WC ever.