Looking back, I will not say the super series was a bad idea. I will speak regarding the test match because it is the cricket which concerns me much more than most one day cricket.
The match saw brilliance in parts. The bowling of Murali, the bowling of Warne, some tight contests. But where the match failed – lies in the fact that it was a match rather than a series.
It was really clubbed in the cricketing calendar which is really not the way to go about it. A proper cricket tour by the ROW would have been much better wit 3 tests, a few first class matches opening with a match VS the Prime Ministers XI maybe. People may argue that this is 2005 and not the 70s.
But all I am asking for is a space for the ROW like any other international team would have had. It would give players more team, focus their efforts properly at the right moments.
The World XI could have had more time to gel as a TEAM – the common arguement against the concept till now. And regarding the players not taking the whole thing seriously – this is cricket at the top level. Can they, despite being the best players, just create magic if they want to?
Even the best need preparation.