Hello Friends,
Hope you all have enjoyed such an exciting month filled with actions from varied segments of sporting world. Month started with thrilling climax to two of the biggest football tournaments, the Euro & the Copa America respectively followed by some scintillating tennis action through Wimbledon championship. Cricket as usual has been the icing on the cake with some exciting action from international as well as franchise cricket entertaining us. Stories related to the selection of new Indian men's cricket head coach & T20I captain have been the flavor of the month. But the biggest event definitely has been the commencement of Paris Olympics towards the end of the month. Before we get into the details of this edition of Sports Talk Of The Month let's quickly have a look on the top sporting results of the month.
- Spain's 4th Euro triumph & Argentina's record 16th Copa America win started the month on a real high.
- Carlos Alcaraz won his second Wimbledon men's singles title by defeating Novak Djokovic.
- Cricketing world was buzzing with some entertaining action across the globe with England men's team continuing their juggernaut in test cricket by thrashing West Indies 3-0 in a home series.
- It was a heartbreak for Harmanpreet Kaur led Indian women's team who lost the final battle to the host Sri Lanka in the Asia cup T20 competition. The island nation won their maiden Asia cup title on their backyard.
- It was Indian men's cricket team that was grabbing headlines post their World T20 triumph, but this time it was due to the much anticipated selection of their new head coach as well as T20I captain. New era for recently crowned World champions started on a great note under the leadership of Gambhir-Surya duo when they emerged victorious against host Sri Lanka in a T20I series. Prior to that a new look young Indian side also won the T20I series in Zimbabwe under the captaincy of Shubman Gill.
- Franchise T20 leagues kept on marching as per their usual schedule where we witnessed another season of Lanka Premier League(LPL) with Jaffna based franchise winning their fourth title. The unique 100 ball competition named The Hundred kick started yet another season back in the UK. A much talked about second season of the Major League Cricket(MLC) saw some packed stadiums being entertained by cricketing action.
- Manu Bhaker became the first Indian woman shooter to win an Olympic medal (Bronze). This also opened India's medal tally in the global event.
But the two stories that will feature in this post are the ones from completely different phases of two of the extremely talented sports careers.
Jimmy Bids Goodbye
We witnessed one of the all time greats of test cricket bidding goodbye to the game of cricket this month.2024 has been a year of goodbyes in international cricket so far. James Anderson being the latest addition to this list. A glittering career of 22 years came to an end at the Home of Cricket Lord's cricket ground when Jimmy played the last match of his international career against West Indies. What a legend & what a moment it was. Even in his last test match he was equally hungry & passionate to perform. The game will definitely miss this stalwart for years to come.
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| Jimmy Anderson Image credit: Kroome111, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons |
Anderson's story is no less than a fairy tale as he will be remembered as someone who emerged from the dark shadows of consistent injuries to become the first fast bowler to take 700 test wickets. Even before his final series he was equally confident in saying that he is bowling as good as ever. But it was the much anticipated transition that is taking place in the English side had the final saying when it came to the conclusion of a story that epitomizes hard work, grit & passion for the game of cricket.
He would have loved to continue but on a practical note there has to be an end. Keeping an eye on the future the leadership group decided that perhaps it's the time for the next generation to carry the mantle forward. Maybe it's also time for Jimmy to be that guiding force to the younger generation who will take the England team forward. If there is one characteristic trait that defines this legend is his never say die attitude. Never give up attitude is common in sporting world but how far you can go with that attitude is completely dependent on the individual. Jimmy really took it to another level. Ending up as the second most test playing cricketer with 188 appearances just behind legendary Sachin Tendulkar tells the story.
No doubt he had to make enough sacrifices to be where he is today. Giving up on his white ball career & franchise cricket aspirations to prolong his career in the longest format of the game would surely have been the decision that very few would be able to take. Reinventing himself with changing times was the biggest challenge. In the T20 era when his own team adapted the T20 mode in red ball cricket in the recent times it would have been really tough for a fast bowler to fulfill the demands of the everchanging game. But it's his strong basics & a firm belief in his abilities that made him a class apart (Click here for my previous story on Anderson). No doubt it would be nearly impossible for anyone to replicate his stature & success in the coming days. But that's life. One's journey has to come to an end to kickstart another great or even greater story. Hopefully we get to see this great man contributing to his much loved profession of years in a different role soon. Before concluding let's applaud the staggering figures that he achieved in the cricket field over the years.
Overall stats
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| Stats credit: espncricinfo.com |
Opponent wise test wickets
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| Stats credit: espncricinfo.com |
Story Of Fall , Rise & Fall
The second story being one of a quick rise to the top & even quicker fall. Hardik Pandya would consider last 3 years in his life as a roller-coaster ride. It all started back in 2021 when he was dropped from the national side before T20 world cup due to lack of form & fitness issues. Then his luck turned for better when he got the opportunity of leading the newly formed IPL franchise Gujarat Titans and winning them their maiden title in the debut season.
The success continued in the next season too when he led his team to a runner up finish. IPL success brought him in spotlight to lead the national T20 side in the absence of Rohit Sharma. He did reasonably well during that period both as a player & leader. Then came the series of setbacks starting with missing the second half of the ODI world cup last year due to injury followed by a surprise move to his old IPL franchise Mumbai Indians as the captain and having a disastrous season both as a player and leader which led to several question marks over his position in the national side. Despite playing a crucial role in the recently concluded victorious T20 world cup campaign for his country he found himself not being considered for the leadership role in the white ball format anymore.
I am sure even he would have needed a breather while going through such contrasting emotions in a span of three years. Ups & downs are part of life and witnessing them in a cricketer's life in a country like India where cricketers are worshipped most of the times just shows that they are humans too. Such stories are not new in Indian cricket. Few years back another white ball regular Shikhar Dhawan too faced the same fate when he found himself out of the team just after being selected as the stand in captain in the previous series.
But if we look at Pandya's case it has lot many lessons for a professional. Firstly you are responsible for what happens in your life be it good or bad. Our choices make or break us. On a hindsight it can be said that his decision to move back to Mumbai Indians didn't pay back the way he would have anticipated. His rumoured rift with senior members of the team didn't help his cause to continue his successful run as an IPL captain.
Another important aspect here to look at is his fitness concerns. He has been a regular name in the injury list since the time he has started playing for India. That's the reason we don't see him playing test cricket anymore. It is very important that we keep our fundamentals as strong as possible in whatever profession we are involved in. In the current era when non stop cricket is being played fitness is of utmost importance. Fitness has been earmarked as the prime reason for his removal from the leadership position. It is understood that he would have definitely worked hard towards resolving his fitness issues but probably some more encouraging steps could have been taken to ensure the selectors that he is good enough to lead.
At the same time we must applaud Hardik's efforts for not giving up and trying everything in his capacity to get himself ready to represent his country. But the question remains the same. Why such inconsistent decision making takes place in a cricket frenzy country like ours? Why a smoother transition can't be planned? Leadership in Indian cricket is such an important role as those are going to be the flagbearers of a billion people. Time will tell whether we will see Hardik on the top seat in future or not. But the current phase of his life is definitely going to turn him into a lot better & mature individual both on and off the field.
Stay tuned for more at this space.
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