A heady mix of sporting action

This has been one long season of sporting spectacles that must certainly have been enthralling to the fans and even those uninitiated to the world of sports. Starting with the much-talked-about IPL, probably the brightest of the franchisee T20 events in the world and involving some of the best-known players in the world of cricket, the season saw the T20 World Championship start off in the USA, and even as this premier T20 tournament warmed up to the sharper battles ahead, Europe opened up to the quadrennial Euro 2024, considered the next biggest event after the World Cup. It does not end there, for once these events end one by one, the stage will be set for the biggest of them all, the Olympics, to unfold in Paris a little over a month from now! Indeed, this must be one of those rare occasions for sports lovers with a seemingly never-ending stream of sporting spectacles to keep them joyfully occupied.

To be sure, the IPL 2024 set the tone for the World Championship that followed. This time, this major T20 event provided not just the thrills of sixes and fours but, for the first time, set a new benchmark for hitting the maximum over the boundary line! With 1260 sixes and 2174 fours in 74 matches, it was a feast of a special kind. Imagine one player, Abhishek Sharma, who played for Sunrisers Hyderabad alone, accounting for 42 sixes, the highest by a player! All in all, the IPL seemed like just the dress rehearsal for the World Championship. As it also happened, with the event coming to the USA (West Indies are the co-host) for the first time, there was additional excitement for cricket, which was truly turning global, thanks to the popularity of the T20 version.

Still, for all this, the World Cup has not been a big-hitting event as yet. The new environment and fresh settings, it was assumed, would bring with them a new approach to the contests. As it happened for those who thought the initial phase of action notwithstanding, there would be little to stop the conventions from continuing, things have gone awry. In everybody’s calculation, the eight seasoned teams were expected to make it to the super-eight phase. But obviously, unpredictability is the essence of T20! Who would have thought Pakistan would go down to the debutante USA or Afghanistan, edging out New Zealand? Pitch conditions and the inability to cope with the uneven bounce and turn meant big scores were virtually non-existent.

Small targets, but the inability to reach or cross them, have made the championship a puzzling show thus far. Add to that the fickle weather, with matches getting washed away proving decisive. Suffice it to say that state-leading teams like Pakistan and New Zealand could not make it to the next phase, as well as Sri Lanka. Defending champion England made it, but for that, it had to thank Australia, which beat Scotland, a result that was needed for the qualification. Bangladesh just made it, but after a struggle against Nepal, a team that drove a scare into South Africa earlier, So much has happened, even though it is of a different kind, before action awaits the next phase in the West Indies. And things could be much different there with the traditional Caribbean pitches of bounce and pace. Indeed, there is so much more to come in this World Cup.

When cricket is on can football be far behind so it seemed! Euro 2024 provided that kind of alternative to excite football fans the world over, including India. On the last occasion, the world was in the grip of the coronavirus. The 2020 edition had a one-year delay, but breaking away from that difficult period, this current programme being hosted by Germany promises a humdinger. Already, the host set the tone with a fascinating five-goal win over Scotland. As always happens with a competition of this level, there is a temptation to ask if the Euro can be considered better than the World Cup. French star Kylian Mbappe started off the debate with his observation that “Euros are more complicated to win than the World Cup.” The reason he meted out was that the players were all familiar with each other and, to that extent, aware of the playing tactics. What made the competition complicated was his take.

Picking up the thread was the Argentine great Lionel Messi, who countered how a competition that was without three-time world champion Argentina, five-time world champion Brazil, and two-time world champion Uruguay would be complicated. Underlining the importance of the World Cup, he said all these champions will be there, and to that extent, the best teams play in this competition to make everyone want to be a champion.  Be that as it may, one thing is sure, and Mbappe is clear about it: winning the Euro had a special significance for him. He had helped France win the World Cup and the Nations League too, and as captain, now his goal is fixed. That incidentally should be the aim of each of the 24 teams in the fray, and sure enough, what lay ahead is a mix of spills and thrills, and like the World Cup football, this one too would be watched and enjoyed the world over with rapt attention.

It would be an arena where established stars like Mbappe, Cristian Ronaldo, Phil Foden, Florian Wirtz, Rodri, Modric, and the like would like to leave a stamp before newer players make a bid to get recognised. This is a big stage for them. In short, the T20 World Cup cricket and the Euro 2024 are sure to provide a heady mix of sporting action before the focus shifts to Paris for the Olympics!