The fact that the ICC Champions Trophy ended in a damp squib of a final was symptomatic of the tournament.
The International Cricket Council continues to hype the event as a mini-World Cup but the drawn-out scheduling sapped the excitement which knockout events usually develop.
This was supposed to have been the year when the ICC's second biggest event came of age, after its first four editions were marked by experimentation and format changes.
Yet in an age where cricket is embracing the short, sharp shock value of Twenty20 cricket, it took a month for Australia to negotiate the five matches necessary for their first title.
The time-frame was the same as the 2006 football World Cup [2014] and this event did not have even a third of the 32 nations which featured in Germany.
Teams were often waiting an eternity for their next match [2014] India were dormant for 11 days [2014] and then like good old London buses two came along at once. Such waiting does little for a team's momentum, a vital factor in any tournament.
England's two losses meant their final week on the sub-continent turned into a preAshes training camp, although they pulled off highest chase of the tournament for a consolation victory.
Poor crowds, poor pitches, dew-soaked outfields and a failure by hosts India to get beyond the group stage combined to turn off fans' interest.
This year, the minnows were gone, with only the top eight teams to compete [2014] featuring the top-six ranked one-day sides and two qualifiers from the next four.
This meant the bizarre scenario of the West Indies having to qualify despite having won the title two years ago.
Rules are rules, however, and Brian Lara cheekily thanked the ICC for allowing them a head start over the field. They managed to catch Australia cold in one of few exciting matches here.
The Brabourne Stadium pitch, not used for international cricket since the 1970s, played its part in setting up a nail-biting finale but the mass market demand runs in oneday contests.
The Mumbai venue and the other stadia were chosen due to the ICC's desire to have 'clean' venues [2014] those without a ground sponsor in competition with the ICC's sponsors.
Pitches in general have been so slow that when teams arrived in Mohali the bounce and seam movement on offer provided a rude shock.
The strip at Brabourne began cracking up so alarm-ingly that the ICC ordered it to be bound with glue in the fortnight between its last group match and the final itself. Balls became wet and hard to handle as a product of the dew, benefiting the side batting second and adding greater importance than ever to the toss, which led organisers to spray chemicals on the outfield at Mohali to try to reduce it.
Because of a packed international programme, the tournament had to be held in October, spilling into November, which meant a clash with Diwali, India's biggest religious festival.
Full houses greeted India such is the passion for the national side here but empty stands were the staple of other matches as ticket prices dissuaded ventures to watch neutral encounters.
The format needs addressing before Australia defend their crown in Pakistan in 2008.
