July 14th 2019 - remember the date
What a day for sports it was yesterday!!! With London playing host to two spectacular finals – one played out on the hallowed turf of Wimbledon and other on the supposedly cradle of cricket – Lord’s. Each of them were humdingers on their own and possibly caused the biggest collective loss of nails across the match watching globe. Felt like kid on a candy store, swapping between each channel to see which one will end first and towards the fifth set close and onto the super over on the other side, the remote must have surely cursed the day. The results made the super exciting Sunday, into a sadder one. But the thrill, more than compensated for the grief of the favorites losing out.
Probably the only final about which I ever made a passing reference was 2003, when Ponting, with his famed “spring bat”, sprang into action and threw the Indian challenge out. Yesterday’s finals, was supposedly the least watched one ever to start with, having seen the tournament’s joint favorites India and the ever dominant Aussies, out in the semis itself. It was supposedly a one sided contest and when the first half got over, even the English fans would’ve been tempted to think of preponing their Sunday plans. What was supposed to be a cake walk for the famed English lineup, literally became that - a walk on slippery cake cream. Cricket has often been associated with individual glory and despite being a team sport, other than the invincible Aussies for a good part 2 decades and the Windies prior to that, it has always been the individuals who outshone the game. Even in the case of Aussies and windies, with majority of them world beaters, there were stand out performers, on whom the lion’s share of accolades where reserved for certain key players, whose eulogizing and idolizing over shadowed the game itself. It required some world record chases and freak innings to bring it back into limelight. But many had forgotten that Cricket was and is still a team sport. This is where, teams like New Zealand shine brighter. They are testimony to the fact that the sum of whole is larger than individuals. You have your Martin Crowe’s, Dennis lillie’s once in a while. But other than Kane Williamson of the present era, no one can stake claim to the glory that is kiwi cricket. They are the eternal scrappers, who pull in their punches as a team. May be they lack that X factor which makes them a fearsome unit. But inarguably they always are the most lovable and decent guys. Nothing to take the credit away from Eoin Morgan, who for all his worth, is one of the steadfast guys you can ever see on a cricket ground. He remains rooted to his Irish credentials despite leading English team. From the rock bottom pits of 2015 humiliation, he has helmed a team of ruthless fighters, each of whom have become super stars – Butler, Root, Stokes, Roy, Hales, Bairstow, Wood, Woakes, Ali and the list goes on. In a team of 11, he has 8 batsmen and 7 bowlers to call upon and each of them are not the typical “bits and pieces” Hollioake era players. But solid on their own. Nothing to take credit off England, but wish the cup was at least shared and not decided based on some stupid number of boundaries hit rule. Kiwis deserved the cup as much as everyone else on that Lord’s ground yesterday. Ironically, for a nation that is averse to immigrants and want to “exit”everything, their cricket team was nothing short of rest of world eleven, with so many foreign nationals donning the English colors.
If Lord’s was all about individuals vs a team, Wimbledon finals was gift vs grit. Federer is a player, I guess, no one can dislike. He is silken and all grace and elegance, with atrocious amount of aces, despite being on wrong side of the 30’s. A crowd favorite, wherever he plays and possibly the only person hating him would be on the other of the side, with everyone rooting for Federer. Popularly called as Fedex, he rarely misses his delivery and is inarguably the GOAT of tennis. But the man standing on the other side, had already denied him two Wimbledon crowns and was on the way for repeat of a third. Novak is no stranger to the realms of talent either. But unlike Fedex, whose nationality is probably what everyone wants to retired into, Novak is from a place, more known for its violence and issues than peace. From such a background, to beating the best in business speaks volumes of his grit. The game was nothing but a see-saw yesterday, with each set won by Novak, being pulsating tie breaker. The final set would’ve drained every cell in each of them and after 12-12, I thought the Duke would step in and call for truce with trophy shared between both. And as a repeat for third time in a space of 5 hours, Novak won again on tie breaker. An exemplary individual accomplishment, if there was any.
Probably the only final about which I ever made a passing reference was 2003, when Ponting, with his famed “spring bat”, sprang into action and threw the Indian challenge out. Yesterday’s finals, was supposedly the least watched one ever to start with, having seen the tournament’s joint favorites India and the ever dominant Aussies, out in the semis itself. It was supposedly a one sided contest and when the first half got over, even the English fans would’ve been tempted to think of preponing their Sunday plans. What was supposed to be a cake walk for the famed English lineup, literally became that - a walk on slippery cake cream. Cricket has often been associated with individual glory and despite being a team sport, other than the invincible Aussies for a good part 2 decades and the Windies prior to that, it has always been the individuals who outshone the game. Even in the case of Aussies and windies, with majority of them world beaters, there were stand out performers, on whom the lion’s share of accolades where reserved for certain key players, whose eulogizing and idolizing over shadowed the game itself. It required some world record chases and freak innings to bring it back into limelight. But many had forgotten that Cricket was and is still a team sport. This is where, teams like New Zealand shine brighter. They are testimony to the fact that the sum of whole is larger than individuals. You have your Martin Crowe’s, Dennis lillie’s once in a while. But other than Kane Williamson of the present era, no one can stake claim to the glory that is kiwi cricket. They are the eternal scrappers, who pull in their punches as a team. May be they lack that X factor which makes them a fearsome unit. But inarguably they always are the most lovable and decent guys. Nothing to take the credit away from Eoin Morgan, who for all his worth, is one of the steadfast guys you can ever see on a cricket ground. He remains rooted to his Irish credentials despite leading English team. From the rock bottom pits of 2015 humiliation, he has helmed a team of ruthless fighters, each of whom have become super stars – Butler, Root, Stokes, Roy, Hales, Bairstow, Wood, Woakes, Ali and the list goes on. In a team of 11, he has 8 batsmen and 7 bowlers to call upon and each of them are not the typical “bits and pieces” Hollioake era players. But solid on their own. Nothing to take credit off England, but wish the cup was at least shared and not decided based on some stupid number of boundaries hit rule. Kiwis deserved the cup as much as everyone else on that Lord’s ground yesterday. Ironically, for a nation that is averse to immigrants and want to “exit”everything, their cricket team was nothing short of rest of world eleven, with so many foreign nationals donning the English colors.
If Lord’s was all about individuals vs a team, Wimbledon finals was gift vs grit. Federer is a player, I guess, no one can dislike. He is silken and all grace and elegance, with atrocious amount of aces, despite being on wrong side of the 30’s. A crowd favorite, wherever he plays and possibly the only person hating him would be on the other of the side, with everyone rooting for Federer. Popularly called as Fedex, he rarely misses his delivery and is inarguably the GOAT of tennis. But the man standing on the other side, had already denied him two Wimbledon crowns and was on the way for repeat of a third. Novak is no stranger to the realms of talent either. But unlike Fedex, whose nationality is probably what everyone wants to retired into, Novak is from a place, more known for its violence and issues than peace. From such a background, to beating the best in business speaks volumes of his grit. The game was nothing but a see-saw yesterday, with each set won by Novak, being pulsating tie breaker. The final set would’ve drained every cell in each of them and after 12-12, I thought the Duke would step in and call for truce with trophy shared between both. And as a repeat for third time in a space of 5 hours, Novak won again on tie breaker. An exemplary individual accomplishment, if there was any.
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In future years, sports fans will remember July 14 with awe.