On Sunday, in an exciting match at Lord’s, the host England won the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 title by a ‘boundary count’ rule. Former Indian opener Gautam Gambhir was not impressed at all by this rule and slammed ICC in his tweet.
The match was extended to the Super Over as the scores remained at level after 50 overs game. But as the Super Over also resulted in a tie, the winner was decided by the number of boundaries each team scored during the match. England with 24 boundaries as compared to NZ’s 16 boundaries, was awarded the match.
“Don’t understand how the game of such proportions, the #CWC19Final, is finally decided on who scored the most boundaries. A ridiculous rule @ICC. Should have been a tie. I want to congratulate both @BLACKCAPS & @englandcricket on playing out a nail-biting Final. Both winners imo.“, Gautam Gambhir expressed in his tweet.
Don't understand how the game of such proportions, the #CWC19Final, is finally decided on who scored the most boundaries. A ridiculous rule @ICC. Should have been a tie. I want to congratulate both @BLACKCAPS & @englandcricket on playing out a nail biting Final. Both winners imo.
— Gautam Gambhir (@GautamGambhir) July 14, 2019
South African women cricketer, Marizanne Kapp also came out on twitter to support Gambhir’s view.
Couldn't agree more… game should have been a tie. Brilliant game of cricket 👏 #CWC19Final https://t.co/DR3tVpw3zw
— Marizanne Kapp (@kappie777) July 14, 2019
Soon after, a number of other former cricketers took to Twitter to show their disappointment with this ICC’s rule.
Will remember the 2019 WC which had an England v New Zealand finals & had England & New Zealand as winners.#CricketWins
— Sanjay Manjrekar (@sanjaymanjrekar) July 14, 2019
Nice work @ICC … you are a joke!!!
— Scott Styris (@scottbstyris) July 14, 2019
Neither Team deserved to lose that .. What a day for Cricket .. that is how it inspire a new generation of cricketers .. #CWC19
— Michael Vaughan (@MichaelVaughan) July 14, 2019
Well done to England but I’m genuinely confused how we have won the World Cup.
The scores were tied with NZ losing less wickets but we go into a super over?
The scores are tied again but England win because?
Unsatisfactory 🤔#EngvNZL— Stephen Holt (@StephenEHolt) July 14, 2019
NZ lost the super over & World Cup Final due to hitting less boundaries. Another rule that needs changing @icc we should have had another over to decide until we get a outright winner although it probably won’t happen ever again. #onceinalifetime #CWC19Final #ENGvsNZ
— Majid Haq (@MajidHaq) July 14, 2019
