After the year 2024 ended on a glorious note thanks to the glisten provided by the Chess stars Gukesh Dommaraju and Koneru Humpy with their respective World title winning performances, it was a bit of an anticlimax that the New Year should have begun on a downswing, so to say. Cricket most unexpectedly had to be the reason. A sport that more often than not had been a source of joy and jubilation to the multitudes of fans has in recent times let them down badly it must be said. It started late last year when the Test team went down 0-3 to New Zealand in what was a stunning reversal. New Zealand had come to India after a series loss to Sri Lanka and then bounced back to do the stellar act. The clean sweep that India suffered was perhaps its worst in the over 90 years that the country had been playing this traditional format of cricket!

As if that was not enough was the engagement that followed and spilt on to the New year. The five-Test away series in Australia for The Border Gavaskar Trophy, considered the second biggest silverware in terms of stature after the Ashes in cricket and the biggest in terms of viewership, saw India ending up a 1- 3 loser. This reverse was the first in ten years. Australia had won this trophy last in 2014-15 and since then India had clinched the honours on four occasions. So that was another fall and what is more, the defeat also ended India’s quest for a place in the summit round of........

© Mathrubhumi English