Timing manipulation for India: US matches are held in the morning in India so that Indians do not face any problem

Shweta Patil, who lives in New York, has bought tickets for the India-Pakistan match. Shweta will be watching the India-Pakistan match for the first time on June 9 at the ground. However, her problem is that the match will start at 10:30 am as per New York time. She believes that it would have been better if such a big match had started in the evening.

Usually T-20 matches start in the evening. Then why is the India-Pakistan match happening so early according to the local time? This is happening so that millions of fans like you sitting in India can watch this match on their TV or smartphone at their prime time i.e. at 8 pm.

Why is the ICC taking so much care of your convenience? What will it gain from this? Will playing the match so early in the morning harm the Indian team? Know the answers to all the questions in Part-9 of the World Cup Index Report…

India also played the first match at 10:30 in the morning
Team India is in Group A. India played its first match against Ireland on 5 June in New York. The match started at 8 pm according to Indian time, but in New York, the spectators had to reach the ground early in the morning to watch the T20 match, because according to America’s timing, the match started there at 10:30 am.

Team India will face Pakistan on June 9, USA on June 12 and Canada on June 15. All matches will start at 10:30 am as per the US, but in India, viewers will be able to watch them from 8 pm only.

India’s Super-8 matches will also start at 8 pm
Even if Team India crosses the group stage and makes it to the Super-8 round, all the matches of the team will start at 8 pm as per Indian time. To avoid any disruption in the schedule, ICC has given seed i.e. preference to the top-8 teams of the T-20 ranking. That is, ICC has already decided which team will be in which group in the Super-8 stage.

If all the seeded teams reach the Super-8 round, then Team India will play against New Zealand, Sri Lanka and Australia. All the four teams will be in Group-1. All the three matches of India in the Super-8 round will be played in three cities of West Indies, but these will also be played from 10:30 am as per the local timing. Which can be seen in India from 8 pm.

Sri Lanka’s timing is almost similar to that of India, but this schedule will cause problems for viewers in Australia and New Zealand because India’s matches will start at 12:30 am as per Australian time and at 2:30 am as per New Zealand time.

India’s semi-final will also start at 10:30 am
Usually in ICC tournaments, the semi-final schedule is according to local timing, but this time the timing of both the semi-final and the final has been done according to Indian viewers. Both the semi-final matches will be played on 27th June according to Indian timing. In India, the first match can be watched at 6 am and the second at 8 pm.

ICC has also decided here that if Team India reaches the top-4 stage, then it will have to play the second semi-final. Which will be played in Guyana from 8 pm as per India. As per West Indies, this match will also start at 10:30 am. Whereas in Trinidad, the first semi-final will start at 8:30 pm as per local timing.

Not only this, the final match will also start at 8 pm according to Indian timing. This means that the title match of the T20 tournament will have to start at 10:30 am. Overall, if Team India plays the final, then everything from warm-up to the final match will start in the morning.

The trend of changing time started in this century
The first cricket World Cup was played in England in 1975, when the matches started according to English timings. The 1992 World Cup was played in Australia and New Zealand, but even then the Indian audience was not taken into consideration. During this time, one had to wake up at 3 am to watch some matches.

Local timing was also given priority in ICC ODI tournaments from 1999 to 2009. During this period, most of the tournaments were held in England, South Africa and West Indies, where the start time of ODI matches is same as in India.

In the 2007 T20 World Cup, most of the matches of Team India including the final started at 6 pm or 9 pm as per the Indian timings. The 2013 Champions Trophy was held in England, here also most of the matches of Team India were held as per the Indian timings. From here onwards, Indian viewers also started being taken care of in most ICC tournaments.

Australia-New Zealand match causes problems for Indian spectators
The 2015 World Cup was played in Australia and New Zealand, when Team India’s matches started at 5:30 am and 8 am according to India. So that the match ends before 5:30 pm, because in Australia it is 10 pm at that time. In New Zealand it is 12 midnight at that time.

ICC matches are not played after 12 o’clock at night, so when matches are played in these countries, Indian spectators are forced to wake up early in the morning. However, ICC still tries to start the matches of India as per the convenience of Indian spectators.

There is no problem with matches in South Africa and England
Since 2007, whenever ICC events were held in South Africa and England, India’s matches were started in the morning or afternoon at the venue. So that the match could start by 3:30 or 5 pm as per the Indian audience. Therefore, the 2013 and 2017 Champions Trophy and the 2019 ODI World Cup matches were shown according to Indian timings.

In West Indies, the timing of bilateral series has also started to be according to India. During 2023, ODI and T20 matches were started at 10:30 am according to local timing, so that the match can start in India by 8 pm. West Indies and America have the same time zone, so India’s matches are being held at 10:30 am in both places.

What is the reason: 70% of the world’s cricket fans live in India
ICC conducted a survey of cricket fans around the world in 2018. According to this, 90% of cricket fans live in the Indian subcontinent. Countries like India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Afghanistan come in the Indian subcontinent. The ICC survey also found that 70% of the world’s cricket fans come from just one country. This country is India.

75% of the total revenue of ICC also comes from India. This means that India is the biggest and most important country in the world to spend money on cricket. Even ICC gives the maximum 40% of its earnings to BCCI.

Because of the earnings, ICC tries to target Indian fans in the best way possible in any of its tournaments. For this reason, India’s matches in the tournament are also scheduled at such a time when the maximum number of Indian viewers can watch it. For this, prime time i.e. from 8 pm to 11 pm is the most suitable time. At this time, most Indians are at home and are free.

What is the impact on the Indian team?
The conditions also change according to the timing of the matches. Therefore, many times if the toss does not come in India’s favor, it also affects the result. In the 2021 T20 World Cup, Team India wanted to play the match in the afternoon, but under pressure from broadcasters, the matches were held at night.

The 2021 tournament took place in the UAE, where the team batting second in night matches has an advantage. Due to this, India suffered the loss of losing the toss against Pakistan and New Zealand. Team India batted first both times and lost the matches. Due to this, the team could not even reach the semi-finals.

What problem will India face this time?
Team India will play all its matches in the T20 World Cup from 10:30 am according to local timing. In afternoon matches, teams batting first have an advantage because there is no dew during the day. In the second innings, the pitch becomes beneficial for spin and difficult for batting.

However, in most morning matches, the pitch is moist. This can sometimes cause problems in batting first, because the ball swings more on a moist pitch and there is a risk of wickets falling in the initial overs. In such an environment, as the sunshine increases, the pitch hardens and becomes easier for batting. Due to the dual behaviour of the pitch during the day, it becomes difficult to take a decision even after winning the toss.

Batting second in night matches becomes much easier than in day matches because the ball is wet due to dew. Due to which the bowlers are unable to grip the ball and lose control. This makes batting easier and there is no problem in run chases. Team India has lost 83% of its matches in T20 World Cup since 2012 while batting first.

6 America-West Indies matches are being held at different timings
In the World Cup, ICC did not try to focus only on India, but also organized matches according to other big countries. This time the matches are starting at 6 different timings. 5 matches of the group stage will start at 5 am, 13 matches at 6 am, 15 matches at 8 pm, 3 matches at 10:30 pm, while 2-2 matches will start at 9 pm and 12:30 pm.

The matches scheduled at 5 and 6 in the morning will start at 7:30 and 8:30 pm according to American timings. According to the viewers of Australia and New Zealand, this timing is also at night, during this time most of the matches of these two teams will be played. Similarly, the matches of England, South Africa, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and West Indies are also being held according to the timings of their countries.

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Graphics: Kunal Sharma
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Read tomorrow in World Cup Index Report-10

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Part-7: Who are the top 3 contenders to become champion: India wins 78% matches under Rohit’s captaincy, Marsh’s success rate is 87%
Part-6: American league will compete with IPL on the pretext of ICC tournament: Shahrukh-Nadella’s teams in MLC; Pakistan also failed in running PSL
Part-5: T20 World Cup in the ‘hub of betting’: Americans do sports betting worth 10 lakh crores annually, now cricket is entering there
Part-4: T20 World Cup after IPL, threat for India: Played 3 tournaments so far, out of group stage all three times
Part-3: Why is T-20 World Cup being held in America: Cricket will become popular in the world’s richest country, ICC will also benefit
Part-2: Cricket’s first modular stadium where India-Pakistan match will be held: Pitch made in Australia, Formula-1 stand installed
Part-1: For the first time in T20 World Cup: Tournament in America, 8 matches in temporary stadium, 6 new things related to the tournament