England skipper Eoin Morgan deemed the 2019 World Cup final against New Zealand at Lord's as the "most dramatic game of cricket" that has ever been played. The contentious nature of how it all ended aside, Morgan believes that game helped the sport come out of its "normal bubble" and widen its range of popularity among the global masses.
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"The final was the most dramatic game of cricket and the best game of cricket that probably has ever been played which contributes to the hype of it," Morgan told Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), his IPL franchise, in a video.
With all to play for, both teams ended up with an identical score in their allotted 50 overs, and couldn't be separated even after a super-over tie. That's where, controversially, the boundary count law was used to arrive at a winner and England was awarded the prestigious trophy.
"I think one of the great things about it was on the day of that great game of cricket was, it’s always now associated with the longest ever Wimbledon final that was epic as well," Morgan said.
"It helped us in growing cricket outside of the normal bubble that we’re already into a different audience, and for us, at home, it has lifted the profile of the game like we’ve never seen."
The public uproar on how the Kiwis had perhaps been dealt unfairly, forced the ICC to reconsider and eventually remove the boundary count law, and instead use multiple super overs to separate teams on such occasions.
For Morgan's men, however, the trophy was a result of four years of hardwork after being crashed out in the first round of the 2015 World Cup.
“I think the journey we went on is probably the most exciting," he said. "In 2015, the embarrassing nature in which we were bundled out of that World Cup and the journey we embarked on to try and change the brand of cricket we played with a new group of extremely talented players over the course of 4 years – it’s brilliant."
“Just being able to impart some of my knowledge and experience along with some very senior players and a group of great support staff who always continue to question what we do in a good way in order to hold us accountable. It sort of culminated in last year’s World Cup," Morgan added.
(Inputs from PTI)
