4 reasons why the 2003 ICC World Cup is the best ever cricket tournament

#1 Underdogs punching above their weight

Kenya became the only non-Test playing nation to reach the World Cup semi-finals

Cricket has always been dominated by only a few countries. The 2003 edition was a 14-team event and teams like Kenya and Zimbabwe defied all the odds and reached the Super Sixes stage.

England forfeited their encounter against Zimbabwe due to political reasons which helped them reach the Super Sixes stage. Kenya beat teams like Sri Lanka and Bangladesh in the group stages.

Some teams refrained from visiting Kenya for the scheduled matches; hence them forfeiting games helped Kenya reach the next stage of the tournament. They then went on to reach the semi-finals as they managed to beat higher-ranked Zimbabwe while also benefiting from points carried forward from the group stage.

Kenya are the only non-Test playing nation to reach the World Cup semi-finals. However, they lost to India by 91 runs in the semi-final as Indian captain Sourav Ganguly struck a crafty century in that encounter. It was the end of a dream run for the aspiring country but they walked away from the tournament with their heads held high.