A win in Sunday’s Cricket World Cup Final would have put India’s 2023 team alongside – and possibly ahead of – Australia’s great 2003 and 2007 teams. Defeat means they’re the competition’s best-performing team to have not lifted the trophy, having gone into the match with a perfect record and an average margin of victory almost unmatched in the tournament’s history.

The tournament will likely go down as a short-term commercial success despite a flabby sporting product. An emphasis on volume rather than jeopardy of matches had the effect of helping the commercial crown jewel India reach the latter stages (the final is likely to be one of the most-viewed cricket matches in history), but lowered the stakes and therefore intrigue of the vast majority of games. The final week’s exciting knockout matches show how the World Cup’s long-term issue is not its 50-over format, but its competition structure.