No, the worst scenario would've been the team being rended in two, bitter and public infighting, a downward spiral in performances and an exodus of public support. It's important to remember that in 2012 the game was in very poor health, both in terms of the national teams performances and in terms of public interest in Cricket. That McCullum managed to forge a degree of team unity and turn things around was probably his crowning achievement as a captain.
I really don't buy this, players will almost always cope with personality differences if it means getting on & representing their countries. It's happen for years across every international cricket side, and far worse than our situation was with that split you refer to in 2012.
This was the beginning of India getting hammered by Pakistan in ODIs throughout 1990s, especially those Sharjah tournaments.
I'm assuming you're a Pakistan fan, what do you think of 1999 World Cup final? That 1999 side possibly had the best ever bowling attack according to Imran Khan. Pakistan surely had chance even if they asked Australia to chase 220-230.
In hindsight, I'm pretty sure you've loved watching Broad taking that 8fer and Root playing an amazing knock in the same test.
What gets me to this day is the fact that Kolkata is by far the most cultured and knowledgeable sporting city in India. They love their cricket and football, and they know (and appreciate) good sport when they see it. A far cry from the likes of Ahmedabad (the infamous Ponting booing) or Mumbai and its abusive, homophobic, and racist cesspool (I absolutely adore the city and think there isn't another in this country that's even half as good, but fmd if the crowds at Wankhede aren't vile).
So they were unlucky because playing all their prelim games in NZ gave fans too high expectations?
Well, home advantage did play a big role in NZ's WC campaign but I believe that they deserved some time to adapt to Australian conditions to display their full potential. For ICC tournaments in Asia, a batsman or a bowler doesn't need to make big changes in their game as conditions are same in India, Bangladesh or Sri Lanka, same cannot be said for Australia and New Zealand.
Or lucky perhaps, if you believe playing in NZ conditions got us there. Which I do.
Think Andruid is a Kenya fan.
But then if they'd played in Australia they might not have even made the final
A sneaky pool game over in Australia, even against a team that you'd expect to beat, might have been nice. When was your previous ODI in Australia before that?
