Mahendra Singh Dhoni is perhaps the bravest man Indian sport will have had the privilege of knowing. He might be the reason why cricket is still called the gentleman’s game.
Even after the most heartbreaking of defeats, Kane Williamson’s New Zealand and Roger Federer came across as winners. In a rare sporting moment, the second runners-up were celebrated more than the men who lifted the trophy. It made us realise that sport can exist without a loser.
My brother was in the mosque when Australian terrorist Brenton Tarrant opened fire at Christchurch’s Masjid Al Noor, leaving 50 people dead. Long before the call came, it was as if my family had been preparing for it our entire lives. Tarrant was only turning another cog in a giant wheel of violence, greased by generalised Islamophobia.
The most natural reaction to losing the World Cup on a technicality would have been of excessive outrage. And no one could have held it against New Zealand captain Kane Williamson were he to be taken over by anguish. It stung deep, but not even an imminent heartbreak was enough for Williamson to get carried away.
Between Jofra Archer's deadly bouncers at Ashes and the shock draw in the Premier League, it’s been a hell of a weekend for sports fans. But amid all this frenzy, there is a soothing balm — and her name is Hima Das. The 19-year-old Assamese track star has quietly picked up six gold medals in as many weeks.
Is it even possible to describe a close match without calling it “down to the wire”, or concluding, in the end, that the real winner is cricket? In sports pubs and living rooms across the country, among scotch-swilling 50-somethings and cricket-mad teenagers alike, the language of Ravi Shastri reigns supreme. Let’s hope he puts it to use in some fiery dressing room speeches this World Cup.