sports

World Cup Win That’s Worth Revisiting!

April 2, 2019 General Happenings

8 years since today, one glorious evening on April 2, 2011, India won their second world cup in front of a rapturous crowd at the Wankhede beating Sri Lanka in the finals of the 2011 ICC Cricket World Cup. Prior to that eventful day, India had lifted the WC only once in 1983 (officially called the Prudential Cup ’83) as minnows who beat the mighty West Indies in a thrilling encounter; so magnificent and awe-inspiring was that victory for a generation of cricket fans that they started referring to the conquering side as ‘Kapil’s Devils’. I believe, triumphs in ODI tournaments such as the 1983 World Cup and the 1985 Benson and Hedges World Championship of Cricket that was broadcast live to a worldwide audience enthralled the Indian masses in search for stimulus and stirred them to embrace the sport wholeheartedly, the likes of which we still experience today. In fact, if you ask me, the Benson & Hedges series was the first time that I saw all the games being played under the lights, with a white ball, and all teams wearing coloured clothing. We had to wake up quite early to catch the broadcast in India and it left an indelible impression growing up.

India’s World Cup Hunt

India was in the hunt for the world cup title since 1983 edition and there were some good and not-so-good cricket campaigns starting from 1987 and until 2011, in the process, we also won the inaugural 2007 ICC World Twenty 20 event. However, the one tournament that comes to my memory was the 2003 campaign in South Africa, in that, India had won all their matches but were woefully underprepared to take the Aussies who were a formidable side and the reigning world champs. We had come tantalisingly close to winning the coveted cricket trophy in the finals in which Australia scored a mammoth 359 at the expense of one of the finest bowling attacks in the cricketing world of Zaheer Khan and Javagal Srinath – they went for 154 runs in their combined 17 overs (102 balls); India used 8 bowlers (gulp!). Once the Aussies went past 300 I knew we would end up on the losing side considering they had McGrath, Lee and Bichel who bowl fast and accurate on any pitch in the world.

To my mind, India’s most forgettable world cup campaign has to be the 2007 ICC Cricket World Cup played in the West Indies. India, under the captaincy of Rahul “the Wall” Dravid and an uninspiring coach Greg Chappell, was abruptly booted out in the preliminary round itself for the first time in the history of this global event. It was so disastrous for the Indians that they even lost against lower ranked teams such as Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. Interestingly enough, the 2007 WC edition had 16 participating national teams divided into 4 groups — the most for any world cups, which have been reduced to just 10 teams for the 2019 competition in England and Wales.

Triumphant, At Last!

Soon after its unceremonious performance and hurried exit from the 2007 tournament, there was a glimmer of hope for redemption. India had won the inaugural World Twenty20 that year beating Pakistan in the finals, while the next World Cup was being jointly hosted by India-Bangladesh-Sri Lanka with most matches being played in India, although until that edition, no other host country had won the world cup.

India had a glorious start to their campaign scoring a winning total of 370 runs against Bangladesh which remained the highest total in the entire tournament, Sehwag contributed with a well made 175 (140) which was the highest individual score of the competition. Under the captaincy of MS Dhoni who had famously scripted the 2007 World Twenty20 win, they reached the Finals of the tournament for the third time. The Lankan score of 274 was the highest total in WC history finals to be chased ever, which India eventually did with 10 balls and 6 wickets to spare! Yuvraj Singh was adjudged Player of the Series.

ICC 2011 World Cup Campaign
India’s 2011 ICC World Cup Winning Campaign

Moving forward, India is all set to fight it out in England and Wales and capture the imagination of a billion fans once again, although looking back at some of the individual performances against Australia at the recently concluded home series I’m keeping my fingers crossed about their form going into the world cup. But hey, this is India, and as we all are aware, the team is quite (in)famous in springing up surprises when we least expect it, much like their triumphant campaigns in 1983 Prudential Cup or the 2007 World Twenty20 when nobody predicted their win. So let’s wait and watch!

Win Some, Lose Some For India

November 24, 2018 Happenings

Team sports are so important for fulfilment & I’m especially sentimental about one such sport called Cricket. Like any other game the outcome is unpredictable and therefore stressful, and secondly, Cricket brings such pride & glory to billions of fans regardless of a win or loss. In that, it was quite a turnaround eventually for the Indian women players who missed winning their maiden World T20 title. I was holding on to my nerves as captain Harmanpreet Kaur’s squad were cruising remaining undefeated until they succumbed to reigning champions England in the semis. The surprise exclusion of Mithali Raj from the semis has been under the scanner quite obviously and her contribution could have made a difference, but unmindful of their loss, their journey has been the most inspiring for this World T20 and beyond.

  • v New Zealand-W (India Women won by 34 runs)
  • v Pakistan-W (India Women won by 7 wickets)
  • v Ireland-W (India Women won by 52 runs)
  • v Australia-W (India Women won by 48 runs)
  • v England-W (England Women won by 8 wickets) (Semi-Finals)

Although India’s defeat was hard to digest & at such a crucial juncture, I just wish the Indian women’s team would win the title in the future, much like the juniors early this year.

But Mary Kom’s sixth gold win at the Women’s World Boxing Championship was stupendous. It was a record-equalling feat and she became the most successful woman boxer in the game’s history when she beat Ukraine’s Hanna Okhota in a unanimous 5-0 verdict in the 48kg category summit bout. This wasn’t surprising when you consider “Magnificent Mary’s” reputation in world boxing today although, since I don’t follow boxing I wasn’t aware of a tournament of this vast scale being organized and in India. Admittedly, I was depressed with the fallout of women’s cricket but Mary Kom’s win lifted my spirits high!

Al Jazeera’s Murky Match Fixers

June 4, 2018 Happenings

I watched with shock and horror, an investigative documentary by Al Jazeera revealing just how much the bookies, the match fixers and their ilk, have permeated the field of cricket. The Hansie Cronje affair of 2000-01 acquainted me for the first time of players being bribed to underperform on the field in order to win bets, also called ‘match-fixing’. Then came the less complicated, less discernable and highly successful strategy of ‘spot-fixing’ wherein an individual player or a smaller number of them are made to score more or less during a predetermined session of 10-overs or field poorly, etc. By all accounts, this investigative movie has provided yet another absolutely shocking angle to the murky business of match/spot fixing in which bookies & match fixers now have unfettered access to cricket pitches which could be doctored with the help of curators for influencing favourable outcomes. I am certain, cricket fans across the globe would be left dumbfounded by these revelations.

Though Peter Lalor, an award-winning journalist and author, offers some optimism and writes this about the spot-fixing report from Al Jazeera’s documentary:

[perfectpullquote align=”right” bordertop=”false” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]An expert in the documentary talks about the batsman smothering a delivery apparently in an attempt not to score. It’s the same behaviour you would see in somebody battling to preserve their wicket in foreign conditions. And, if you have only two batsmen on your books how do you know they will be in for the 10-over period or for that specific over? It can’t be done.[/perfectpullquote]

 

The startling disclosures by Al Jazeera of bookies and players working hand-in-glove have once again shrouded the ‘gentleman’s game’ in dark clouds. Surely ICC needs to investigate these allegations seriously but history may suggest, whatever steps they take to end this corrupt practice the match-fixers have kept getting bigger, stronger, and murkier.

That Eventful Innings From AB de Villiers

May 28, 2018 Happenings

AB de Villiers surprised his fans and the world by announcing his retirement this week from all forms of the game, he was a masterclass on the field and a wonderful batsman to watch in any format of the game. The Proteas are going to miss a fine all-around performer from their side, but if I had to choose one from his several achievements, at this point, it would be his fastest ODI hundred against the West Indies in 2015. Eventually, in that ‘Pink ODI’ which saw records tumble, AB’s blitzkrieg performance of 149 came off just 44 balls, in the process, he had hit 16 sixes and 9 fours and had broken the record of the fastest 50 in an ODI in just 16 balls! Not to exaggerate, but it was a phenomenal knock and a definite high point of his career. Mind you, for de Villiers to break the record, it took him just 382 days since Corey Anderson had hit the fastest century in only 36 balls vs the West Indies in 2014.

Against the backdrop of AB’s untimely and surprising announcement on 23-May, I thought it would be appropriate to celebrate one of his stupendous achievements with a ball-by-ball account of the 100 runs he scored off just 31-balls. To say that his knock was mind-numbing is a gross distortion of reality, he scored 92 runs in just boundaries smashing 8 fours and 10 sixes!

AB DE VILLIERS - FASTEST CENTURY IN 31 BALLS

India’s Games At The 2019 ICC World Cup

April 25, 2018 Happenings

I was marking my calendar with the fixtures for India’s 2019 ICC World Cup campaign being hosted by England and Wales. The first thing that I noticed was the remarkable absence of a group/pool system which is commonly seen in events of such great sporting value (like the FIFA and the FIH world cups). Although, after their stupendous performance in recent World Cups and the team’s successive wins in recent series led from the front by Virat Kohli, the ‘men in blue’ will automatically start as my favourites to lift next year’s World Cup.

[perfectpullquote align=”right” bordertop=”false” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]vs South Africa – June 5, 2019
vs Australia – June 9, 2019
vs New Zealand – June 13, 2019
vs Pakistan – June 16, 2019
vs Afghanistan – June 22, 2019
vs West Indies – June 27, 2019
vs England – June 30, 2019
vs Bangladesh – July 2, 2019
vs Sri Lanka – July 6, 2019
1st Semi-Final – July 9, 2019
2nd Semi-Final – July 11, 2019
Final – July 14, 2019[/perfectpullquote]

Strangely, this World Cup has been woefully reduced to just 10 teams, down from 14 from the previous two editions, and the other notable factor is that the groupings have been completely eliminated. Instead, all teams have been clubbed together to compete in a round-robin format of 45 matches. Firstly, a global platform such as the ‘World Cup’ deserves to have more teams competing, and a larger representation for ICC’s associate members like Nepal or Scotland would have enabled them to showcase fresh talent to their fans & audiences worldwide. Gone are the days when one could enjoy watching players from the Netherlands, UAE or Canada competing against the world’s best! And if this petition is to be believed, the 2023 edition in India would continue to feature only 10 teams. This dubious arrangement by the ICC, not only diminishes the significance of this mega event but also turns it into an exclusive affair between a handful of established teams.

Financial compulsions notwithstanding, eventually, with only a small number of teams contesting and with a complete lack of sporting standards for the event, the followers of the game are bound to feel miserable & cheated. Though, I would still look forward to a successful World Cup campaign by India next year.