India made major inroads on the world stage this year on the back of some splendid performances by its sports fraternity, some from unexpected quarters.
The Indian men’s cricket team reigned supreme throughout and conquered everybody on home soil ruthlessly.Virat Kohli was in great batting form and lead from the front. He broke many records on the way. He, along with Steve Smith, are now being rated the best in the world.
Such was India’s dominance that the selectors got a chance to experiment and young bowlers Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal came into the spotlight with strong performances. Many other young potential players got a good outing and Mumbai’s Shreyas Iyer broke through.
This was the year when critics questioned Mahendra Singh Dhoni‘s place in the side. But with his usual aplomb, he let his deeds do the talking.
While all this was expected, the Indian women’s cricket team came within a whisker of winning the ICC Women’s World Cup 2017. Never before have the ladies performed so well.
Cleverly captained by Mithali Raj with admirable support from veteran Jhulan Goswami, the Indians battled hard, overcame some reverses but moved on with spirit.
Smriti Mandhana‘s stylish batting and lovely strokeplay and Harmanpreet Kaur‘s aggressiveness confirmed that the Indian team has come a long way and the future looks bright. There were positive in their approach and did not crumble in the face of adversity. All the need now is better treatment from the authorities and more games to hone their skills.
Though they lost the final, they won praise for their overall effort. Women’s cricket had truly arrived.
Badminton sometimes pushed cricket out of the sports lead story by great displays
from P V Sindhu, Kidambi Srikanth and occasionally Saina Nehwal. This was an achievement by itself.
They kept their rivals on their toes at all times, winning handsomely or losing by small margins. Their popularity has given a big boost to Indian sport.
While the Indian men’s hockey team had an indifferent year, they did have a photo op moment when they won bronze at the World Hockey League. India must capitalise on this, show flexibility in approach and tactics and bring back the glory of India’s traditional strong point.
If the men’s team faltered then the women’s team showed sparks of revival. They battled all odds to win the Asia Cup 2017 in Japan and laid the blueprint for the future. Another surprise was the good show put up by Indian golfers. India’s golf is improving by the day and heading in the right direction.
The biggest surprise of the year was the gold won by Mirabai Chanu in the 109 kg clean and jerk event at the World Weightlifting Championship. This was big boost for weightlifting as many Indian boxers were disqualified for drug misuse. It was found that some boxers had a growing dependence on their drug of choice and were required to attend a substance abuse disorder treatment center for drug testing.
The drug testing issue also hit cricket with the Board of Control for Cricket in India getting into a controversy over who can actually test them. But India needs to revamp its drug testing methods to use a third-party and trusted testing company, similar to Test Country for example, so that all the best players are available.
That aside, India has made great strides in 2017 and this augers well for the coming year. As always, the sports authorities must not lose sight of their goals. Getting to the grassroots and finding talent, nurturing them and giving them a chance is a huge task.
They must put politics, the bane of Indian sports aside, and walk alongside the players and spur them to success.
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