About time ICC reviewed the entire DRS operation

India's tour of Australia is set to become memorable in more ways than one. Apart from the ups and downs of the players' performance from both sides in the first two Tests, what has been firmly put under the scanner in the Decision Review System of the International Cricket Council applicable to all top level games.

The DRS coming under fire is nothing new. But what is disturbing is the question that it has forced some of the legends of the game to ask.

The contentious business of "umpire's call"!

Indian great Sachin Tendulkar feels the review has been taken in the first place because player(s) were not happy / satisfied with the decision of the on-field umpire. Sticking to the same decision without conclusive proof either way makes a mockery of the entire exercise.

Sounding a similar note is Australian leg-spin legend Shane Warne, who wants to know how the same video can have to two contrasting results depending upon what the on-field umpire felt about it earlier. Warne opines that leg before decisions should be given "out" even if the ball-tracking shows the stumps being only brushed.

That firmly puts the entire ball-tracking business under the scanner. 

From laying the "pitch mat" to running the video through the computer to simulate further movement of the ball (including path as well as height of flight) everything is done by humans who are prone to errors. 

After all, playing out the video replay before the time has elapsed denying India a legitimate review can be brushed aside as human error then it may be worth noting that technology dependent upon human intervention can be anything but fool-proof and beyond reproach.

The powers that be in the ICC need to start brain-storming all over again with the available technology and how best to put it to use. Blindly borrowing technology from other sports hardly helps, even though it may have been tweaked to suit cricket. 

What cricket needs is technology especially developed to cater to the subtle nuances of the game before being pushed into operation.

Before that ICC needs to get sensitised to the pit-falls of the DRS operation Only then can the game move ahead unhindered.

If not, it may be better to stick with neutral umpires, whose services have been dispensed with for this series at least due the Covid-19 pandemic restrictions on international travel.

Restoring confidence of players and fans is the responsibility of the people at the top. ICC needs to move and move fast before the public turns away!

Business as usual for BCCI as SC defers hearing to late January 2021

There seems to be absolutely no hurry in the Supreme Court with regards to the Board of Control for Cricket in India which goes about its business as usual with the annual general meeting scheduled to be held on December 24.

BCCI has a filed a slew of seven applications in the SC to amend certain statutes in the new constitution crafted by the court-appointed Justice RM Lodha committee to go into the reforms of the India's national cricket body.

Obviously the member states were forced to fall in line as well even though some sought the SC's indulgence to deal with matters as per their own convenience. But with disbursement of funds being the major bargaining tool, the SC appointed amicus curae managed to get most to fall in line.

The two most important changes sought by the BCCI are Rule 45, which stipulates that any changes to the constitution must be ratified by the court, and the other relates to the length of terms in office along with the mandatory cooling off period.

There's all likelihood of the SC bench keeping the ratification intact, but the tenure and how the terms of office at the state and national levels be not counted consecutively and instead be kept separate from each other would be the BIG one.

The amendment to the terms of office allows the current set of office-bearers, led by BCCI president Sourav Ganguly, two more years at the helm.

Given their performance in the current uncertain and tough times, especially holding an incident-free Indian Premier League off-shore, would definitely strengthen their case. And the way Team India was selected and made to travel together for tour of Australia shows pretty mature planning as players across the formats were able to get over the quarantine and other logistical restrictions as a single unit says a lot about BCCI's approach.

Compared to the reverses suffered by England,who had no option but to abandon their tour of South Africa mid-way, and Pakistan players being served an ultimatum by New Zealand for repeated breach of quarantine restrictions, Team India's off-field journey has been a fairly smooth ride so far.

And even the results in the limited overs games were not too bad. But the sublime capitulation at Adelaide against the pink ball seems to have overshadowed all else. 

The reverse, coupled with the fact that the side has to face Australia in the remaining three Tests without skipper Virat Kohli, can serve as a wake-up call where the youngsters would be expected to stand up to be counted.

In fact, BCCI boss Ganguly would be hoping for nothing less as he himself as captain had gone about revamping the image of Team India being easy pushovers when playing away from home.

But before the action begins in the Boxing Day Test at Melbourne, BCCI is, more likely than not, expected to have handed Ganguly and secretary Jay Shah a second term, as the SC bench has directed that the petition be listed for the next hearing not before the third week of January 2021.

The first thing to be decided has nothing to do with cricket per se, but a point of law - can the present two-judge bench hearing the case make changes to the order (constitution) passed by a three-judge bench. 

Only then can BCCI's seven applications be taken up for arguments and final disposal. But since the SC bench has agreed to hear the application, there is no bar on BCCI at the moment about going about its affairs unfettered!s

Life inside a bio-bubble can be a real test for sports-persons

Indian cricket players went into the bio-secure bubble around mid-August to get ready  for the 13th edition of the Indian Premier League played in United Arab Emirates.

Made necessary by the global Covid19 pandemic, the move has indeed helped the world of cricket slowly but surely limp back to some kind of action which looked well nigh impossible not very long ago. 

Team India is in Australia till well into January 2021, while England is visiting South Africa and Pakistan and the West Indies are touring New Zealand.

No sooner are Indian players back home from Down Under that they need to welcome England for a near-full series - 4 Tests, 3 one-day internationals and 5 Twenty20 internationals. As per the announcement by the Board of Control for Cricket in India president Sourav Ganguly, the itinerary was tweaked by mutual consent to replace a Test match with two extra T20s to prepare for the ICC T20 World Cup scheduled later in 2021.

It is more than obvious that no cricket playing nation wants to miss out on the action. So much so that Pakistan players have stayed put in New Zealand despite more than one breach on quarantine norms and nearly 10 players testing positive for the virus. A stern warning from the hosts and reading the riot act by the visiting team management is hoped to bring things under control by the time its their turn to face the Kiwis.

But one things cannot be emphasized enough!

Life inside a bio-secure bubble is tough, to put it mildly. Lack of one-on-one interaction makes people start getting edgy and no amount of phone calls, both audio and video, can replace the feeling of the simple human touch. It's something humans crave for and, though players are together as a team, nerves do begin to fray and sparks can fly at the flimsiest of reasons.

It needs an extremely mature handling on the part of all concerned ... players, support staff,  administrators. 

Cricket is one of the few sports that has seen near full-scale international resumption. 

To some extent football showed the way in Europe but the rest of the globe has been unable to match the precautions needed for successful conduct of games. Formula One did manage to nearly complete their annual calendar without any major disruption but the same can hardly be said for Olympic sports.

With the Tokyo Games looming in July, there is hardly any sporting activity worth a mention. Several sports including boxing, wrestling and track and field have yet to even finalise their qualification processes.

The bio-bubble can, at the very best, be a short-term solution. The isolation begins to take a toll beyond a point and obviously performance takes a severe beating.

ICC's ODI Super League leaves India as most unwelcome opponents

India makes its debut in the much-touted Super League for one-day internationals against Australia at Sydney. The International Cricket Council has made it the qualifying event for the 50-over 2023 World Cup to be played in India.

The dual purpose of the Super League is to make every ODI count as each game carries 10 points, leaving no room for dead rubbers even if a series is already decided. Abandoned games gain five points for each team with nothing for a loss but if the home teams will denied points of the pitch or outfield is found deficient. Similarly teams will be docked points for slow-over-rates, while tied games will be decided by Super Overs.

The league includes 13 teams of which the top seven along with hosts India qualify directly for the 2023 ICC CWC leaving the remaining five to fight it against second tier teams to make the list of final 10 in the mega event.

The league features nine Test-playing nations - Australia, Bangladesh, England, India, New Zealand, Pakistan, South Africa, Sri Lanka and the West Indies - along with Zimbabwe, Afghanistan, Ireland and the Netherlands, who made the grade courtesy of their having won the 2017 ICC World Cricket League Championships .

The Super League was launched on July 30 when England faced Ireland but lost one game out of three and then could win only one out three against the visiting Australians. Even though are at the top of the league table with 30 points out of a possible 60.

The final rankings will be decided on basis of the points earned in 24 ODIs, only three ODIs counted per series of which four each home and away will be designated. It will obviously present struggling teams to pick and choose opponents off whom they feel points can be gained.

Great news indeed for the likes of Ireland and the Netherlands ... no offence meant to either but they are anything but a cricket powerhouse!

Where does that leave India?

As hosts, Team India makes the grade automatically. So no need to look at the points table or qualification race but what, in reality, makes India attractive opponents is the price the TV rights garner for a series in the subcontinent or hosting them. But money matters may have to be put on the back-burner since playing the ICC World Cup is of highest importance for any of the Test-playing boards.

Since the Super League qualifying process, so far, ends March 2022, it remains to be seen how teams organise themselves for the task ahead. Obviously India, being the tough opponents that they are and with no qualifying place to worry about, may hardly be the chosen team to face in the coming 18 months or so in the 50-over format.

The global pandemic has caused the ICC Future Tours Programme into the shredder, leaving all decisions regarding tours and match schedules bilateral. It will not be easy for teams to pick India as their ODI rivals, given the current uncertain scenario. 

And ICC has hardly helped its cause by changing the rules for the Test Championships midway, making boards even more wary of such bombshells!

Challenge to selectors could cost Rohit the entire Australia tour

The Board of Control for Cricket in India has announced that neither batsman Rohit Sharma nor paceman Ishant Sharma will be available for the first two Test matches in Australia. About time Rohit reflected upon how things came to such a pass, especially since the five wise men of the BCCI selection kept making changes to the Indian squad till they boarded the chartered flight to Sydney.

Rohit seems to have been irked by several issues and least of them happen to be anything to his personal fitness or form. A shoo-in in both the 50- and 20-over formats, the opener was not picked in either squad due to his hamstring injury that forced him to miss several games in the Indian Premier League 2020 for his title-winning Mumbai franchise.

But no sooner were the Team India squads announced, Rohit was back on the field as if to cock-a-snook at the selection committee and its explanation for not considering the Mumbai batsman for the tour Down Under.

The move does not seem to have gone down well with the powers-that-be since last minute chopping and changing was done to all three squads, Rohit's name only figured in the Test outfit where his place in the final playing eleven can be at best be said to be tenuous.

On the flip side was the case of Bengal wicket-keeper Wriddhiman Saha, who sat out several key game for his Hyderabad franchise due to a severe groin strain but still found himself boarding the plane for Australia. 

There was always the back-up glove-man in Rishabh Pant, who incidentally must sit out the limited overs games but Sanju Samson was added as reserve keeper for the 20-over internationals as cover for vice-captain K L Rahul.

There is definitely more than meets the eye and rumblings of dissent are clear as Team India kick-off the action with the one-day internationals.

Further fuel was added to the fire by skipper Virat Kohli's decision to return home after the Adelaide for the birth of his first child. With Ajinkya Rahane has already been named vice-captain for the Test series but there need to be a deputy to him as well once he steps to take full charge, of which now there remains little doubt.

Rohit was reportedly offered the sop but he is said to have turned it down, not wiling to play second fiddle to Rahane.

The team management's suggestion to retain Shreyas Iyer could prove to be a further blow to Rohit chances of playing the last two Tests since his fortnight-long mandatory quarantine plus acclimatisation needs to be factored in before he can be available for national duty.

After all there is a doubt over the scheduled start of the 2021's first Grand Slam tennis event as well since players' demand for similar relaxation as the Indian cricketers was flatly turned down by the Victorian health authorities. The reason was that Team India had already been in a bio-bubble in the United Arab Emirates before taking the chartered, not commercial, flight to Australia.

Weekend deadline looms for Rohit, Ishant before Adelaide Test

Covid19 pandemic makes tough demands on people around the globe. So how can cricket be any different!

Rohit Sharma and Ishant Sharma are both engaged in a race against time to regain fitness and join Team India in Australia before the Adelaide Test which is scheduled for a December 17 start.

It's a tough timeline for all concerned.

Team India coach Ravi Shastri in a media interaction has categorically stated that November 26 is the last day that players must reach Australia in order to be considered for selection. That accounts for the mandatory 14-day quarantine that all visitors face Down Under and figure in India's second and last three-day practice game starting December 11.

With no commercial flights in operation between India and Australia yet, the players have no choice but to travel via the United Arab Emirates, adding a good eight hours to the journey.

Counting back further, to reach Australia by November 26, players must leave the National Cricket Academy in Bengaluru by Tuesday since airlines are operating a severely curtailed schedule on the domestic circuit as well. 

That gives the duo barely two days to prove their fitness and gain the nod to join Team India soonest.

More likely a miss rather than a hit, since the squad already in Australia is hardly lacking in resources. 

The pace battery appears fit and raring to go with a full complement blending youth and experience with plenty of zip!

So is the Test batting line-up with Cheteshwar Pujara slotted at three, followed by skipper Virat Kohli, vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane at four and five. That leaves only the number six spot up for grabs since Mayank Agarwal and KL Rahul virtually walk away with the opening positions with Shubhman Gill and Prithvi Shaw looking on.

Plenty of work for Rohit, who is expected to bolster the Test middle order, may not be too keen on hitting the ground running since it could cost him dear if his performance fails to live up to expectations. 

Moreover, he is also in a possible leadership tussle as far as white-ball cricket is concerned and also a certainty for Team India in the limited overs formats. Unfortunate that he has had to miss all the six outings against the Australians. 

Wriddhiman Saha, the chosen number one Test wicket-keeper, has all but cemented his place for Adelaide by figuring in the intra-squad games over the past weekend. That's how keen Team India was for the stumper to be be part of plans that he accompanied the squad on the chartered fight from Dubai itself two days after the conclusion of the Indian Premier League 2020 even though the Bengal glove-man had failed to take to the field for his Hyderabad franchise in the knock-out games.

No such luxury for Rohit, or for that matter Ishant, and both were sent back home to NCA. Rohit did miss a few Mumbai games but was very much on the field to lead his side to back-to-back IPL titles but seemingly did not do enough to convince the five wise men of the selection committee.

As things stand, it appears that only once Kohli returns home after the Adelaide Test will Rohit become available for selection.

Sharp Messi reaction signals more trouble at Camp Nou

The Catalans are suffering and how! Barcelona are currently lying eighth the La Liga table, a full nine points behind the leaders with two games in hand.

Enough time to cover the gap in the Spanish football league, given the long season ahead. But the same cannot be said about their super-star striker Lionel Messi, whose sharp reactions during the media interaction following his return from international duty for Argentina signals that the player has anything but got over the transfer saga fiasco of the summer

Messi wanted out from the only club he has turned out for professionally but then Barcelona  president Josep Maria Bartomeu enforced clauses in the contract, later upheld by La Liga as well, to keep the Argentine at Camp Nou. 

One of the primary reasons that the striker was not willing to stay on at the Catalan club was his not so warm relationship with Bartomeu himself. Since neither man kept the hostility a secret, Bartomeu finally had to resign from the post he had held since 2014. 

Messi, meanwhile, has shown a fair bit annoyance with the team and present set-up, prompting a public rejoinder from the coach Ronald Koeman that all was well in the Barcelona dressing room.

The Argentine's reaction to his not so easy partnership with French forward Antoine Griezmann, who replaced Brazilian Neymar at Barcelona, has been the talk of town not just in Spain but the world over. 

After all, as things stand, Messi can leave Barcelona for free at the end of the current season. Obviously, plenty of top clubs across Europe would be ready to break their banks to get the star to sign on the dotted line.

It's hardly a secret that Messi wants to renew his partnership with former Barcelona player and coach Pep Guardiola, who has only last week extended his stay at Manchester City for another three years. The former English Premier League champions do have deep pockets and are an obvious destination for the unsettled Argentine forward.

Interim Barcelona president Carles Tusquets, who took over following Bartomeu's resignation, has his task cut out. And his options are pretty limited since Messi staying on at Camp Nou may not be one of them. Hence to make the best of a bad deal, Barcelona may yet make some money if they can agree to a deal with City and Guardiola during the mid-season transfer window.

Easier said than done since City owners are expected to not pay for someone they are going to get for free at season-end.

Messi and Barcelona both appear to have begun the countdown.

ICC hell-bent on making a mockery of Test Championships

The International Cricket Council seems to have been re-energised by the astounding success of the Indian Premier League 2020 that recently concluded in the United Arab Emirates, which by co-incidence also serves at the headquarter of the international body.

And immediately, the ICC got down to work on its own events, primarily the ICC Test Championships for men which is due to wrap up in June 2021. 

The Future Tour Programme was thrown in the shredder by the global Covid19 pandemic, hence the need to rethink big time!

Since the number of Test matches played by each of the nine countries, and with little chance of getting anywhere close to a level playing field in the intervening months before the Lord's finale, the already bizarre points system has been given yet another tweak to make it well nigh impossible to understand for the common fan.

The old system awarded a total of 120 points per series, irrespective of the number of games. So a two-Test series would carry a whopping 60 points per win but a five-Test contest would earn only 24 points for each victory. Similarly, the points awarded for draws and tied games too declined with the increase in the number of Tests in a series. 

Most surprisingly, home and away triumphs were treated at par!

It was almost a way of discouraging teams from organising long bilateral series. 

Now with the abrupt halt in international engagements, and not all countries in a position to resume sporting activities what with the continued restrictions on international travel, the ICC in its wisdom has decided to work out a percentage system of awarding points.

England played the maximum number of Test wins in the qualifying period, but neither their points tally, thanks to the five-Test Ashes, nor the win percentage for the eight wins in the 15 Tests could push them into the top two. Australia overtook India as the new number one, both teams having posted seven wins each even though the former has figured in 10 Tests spread over three series. India have, of course, played four series for a tally 360 points to Australia's 296.

ICC deciding to change the rules of the competition midstream gives the national boards a new headache to plan itineraries keeping the new system in mind when all they should be worried about is getting the players back on the field.

Lest we forget, the ICC Test championships have already had two false starts and it well nigh be the third, given the current circumstances. The game could have been better served by a more cautious approach and merely pushing the calendar back by a year could have solved plenty of problems.

But if the ICC must stick to its schedule, it could very well be a bumpy ride ahead because not all countries are even in a position to compete, let alone host Test match cricket.

Tokyo almost sure to miss the Olympic Games

It appears to be a wait in vain for the Japan Olympic Committee and the Tokyo city officials for the Olympic Games. The global pandemic due to the Covid19 virus looks all but certain to wipe off any chances of the Japanese capital city hosting the postponed 2020 games in July-August 2021.

International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach's solidarity visit to Tokyo seems to have only brought the doomsday scenario so much nearer!

Bach had first insisted that a Covid19 vaccine shot would be mandatory for participation in the Tokyo Olympics. But there followed the quick retraction saying "mandatory" was going a bit too far but instead appealed to athletes to get vaccinated as a "sign of respect" to fellow competitors as well as the hosts.

Easier said than done, since despite the loud pronouncements by various countries and their pharmaceutical companies, there is hardly a vaccine in sight. And even if there was one brought into the market, World Health Organisation director general Tedros Adhanom has gone on record saying a vaccine may not be enough to end the global pandemic. That should be enough warning to make users extra cautious before getting pricked.

A best-case scenario emerging from the more reliable world of science is that no vaccine can possibly be launched before the second quarter of 2022, given the rigorous testing the chemical needs to be put through before being put out into the market.

That, in all likelihood, should be the death-knell for 2020 Tokyo Olympics, since it was made amply clear by both the local organising committee and the IOC that there would be no further deferments possible if the games missed the rescheduled July 23, 2021, start date.

The reason is not difficult to see. The 2024 Games in Paris will be round the corner and holding two quadrennial events close together may adversely affect the entire Olympic movement. 

Add to that the headache of a clash with the FIFA World Cup in Qatar, though penciled in for a November 21 kick-off, will eat heavily into the marketing budgets of the sponsors. FIFA has already delayed it Club World Cup in Qatar to February 1 - 11, 2021, instead of the original December schedule. The event is a traditional curtain-raiser for the FIFA World Cup and has been used the football world to test the facilities and readiness of the hosts.

Already the sports world is reeling without spectators in the stands, burning a huge hole in the collective pockets. Cricket Australia may be the first in the world to allow 25 percent of capacity for the Test series against India but the recent wave of fresh cases in some areas has put a huge question mark on the initiative.

All said and done, with no vaccine in sight just yet, the likelihood of Tokyo holding its second Olympic Games appears to be a non-starter. 

Circa 1964 was the last time Olympic Games were held in Tokyo and India won its last legitimate men's hockey gold medal under the leadership of Charanjit Singh. The 1980 Moscow games were marred by a boycott by USA and its allies leaving the field in all sports largely depleted!

IPL 2020 success gives BCCI many headaches for tour Down Under

There was hardly a surprise that the best team in the Indian Premier League 2020 waltzed away with the title in the desert sands of the United Arab Emirates. It was indeed a glorious performance by the Mumbai franchise to claim its fifth crown, making them only the second team after Chennai to mount a successful title defence.

Organising the event without a glitch in these troubled times is indeed a feather in the cap for the Board of Control for Cricket in India. Myriads of doubts were raised when the BCCI took the call to hold the 13th IPL in the UAE, right from the prohitive costs to poor ground conditions to feasibility of such an extended bio-bubble.

That the BCCI and the IPL governing council pulled it off is nothing short of commendable. Sky-high television viewing ratings are testimony to the fact how the sports-starved people lapped up the event.

IPL, though, has left a very different head-ache for BCCI and its selection committee, most importantly the leadership issue which simply refuses to die down.

Rohit Sharma successfully leading the Mumbai outfit in their final three games, notching a 50+ score to boot in the final, yet again raises questions about his non-inclusion in both the limited over squads. The Mumbai skipper has been added only to the Test squad, where his place in the playing eleven is far from certain, yet again defies common sense. Or is it that Rohit will be slotted in at number four in the final three Test matches after Virat Kohli returns to India for the birth of his first child? And don the captaincy mantle as well ahead of Ajinkya Rahane?

Most intriguing since Rohit is expected to be present in Australia right from the start of the tour so that he can complete the mandatory isolation requirements before joining the action.

Then there is the fact that the two highest Indian run-scorers - Ishan Kishan (516) and Surya Kumar Yadav (480) - of the winning franchise have failed to find a place on the chartered flight to Australia. Since there was a need to add a second wicket-keeper to the 50-over squad, may be young Kishan could have been preferred to Sanju Samson, who was there anyway for the 20-over internationals.

At 27, Yadav continues to await his turn, though the batting star won many a heart during the final by his timely sacrifice in favour of his captain who was batting with a half-century to his name.

Add to that the question of a replacement for the injured Varun Chakravarthy. Hyderabad's left-arm medium pacer T Natarajan was handed the ticket making him the fifth seam bowler in the squad with negligible chance of getting a look-in for either of the three T20s.

Ravichandran Ashwin, who is in the Test squad anyway, may have been the better option though young Punjab tweakers Ravi Bishnoi and Murugan Ashwin could not have been too far behind.

Kuldeep Yadav keeps his place in the 50-over squad despite being benched following a poor run in the five games for Kolkata. His lone wicket in the IPL 2020 would have hardly endeared him with the fans but the five wise men of BCCI thought quite differently.

That the selection committee is itself up for an overhaul is a different matter altogether. Terms of three of the Sunil Joshi-led panel has ended and BCCI has already called for fresh applications.

Nonetheless, BCCI has plenty to be pleased about, especially the unparalleled success of IPL 2020, which seems to have encouraged Cricket Australia to make the brave move of allowing a limited number of spectators for the India games.

In the final reckoning, all's well that ends well!

Rohit appears more peeved about vice-captaincy than place in squad

In almost a throwback to the 1980s when there was a game of virtual musical chairs between two legends over the leadership of the Indian cricket team, Rohit Sharma seems determined to cock-a-snook at the Board of Control for Cricket in India.

The opener sprang a surprise by taking the field for his Mumbai franchise in the ongoing Indian Premier League in the United Arab Emirates in what was actually an inconsequential game for the side which was already assured of a top table finish.

His sojourn at the crease against Hyderabad did not last too long but he was fielding right through the opponents' batting onslaught as if to prove that his omission from the tour of Australia on medical grounds was a farce indeed.

And with Team India physio also doing duty for the Mumbai franchise in the IPL, it appears to be a calculated move by Rohit to score a point over the BCCI and the selection committee, who went ahead and named the vice-captains for all three formats behind skipper Virat Kohli.

Throwback to the 1980s when Sunil Gavaskar and Kapil Dev were locked in an exactly similar battle for leadership. If Kapil was captain for one series, it had to be Sunny for the next. How else does one explain Kapil leading in the 1983 and 1987 World Cups and Gavaskar in the 1985 World Championship of Cricket in Australia. 

And, mind you, the captain's hat seemed to have little relation with success in 1983 and 1985 but more to keep the players divided along zonal lines so that BCCI could keep them on a tight leash.

North (Virat) versus West (Rohit) appears to be unfolding yet again.

The only difference this time round seems to be that BCCI has thrown its weight solidly behind the man at the helm. Not being named in the squad, Rohit has to first prove his fitness before he can even join the leadership battle. That is assuming that Team India may not fare too well during the forthcoming visit Down Under.

With no Rohit, the skipper need not be looking over his shoulder all the time to check if he has someone breathing down his neck in the leadership stakes. 

Rohit's decision to prove his fitness, or lack of it, in the final league encounter of the IPL seems to bolster the idea of a leadership conflict brewing in Team India. Perhaps, the Mumbai batsman would have been better advised to be patient and wait for his turn at helm rather than challenge the decision-makers and push for the slot.

BCCI president Sourav Ganguly has already gone on record saying Rohit is a key member of the squad and would be a natural selection if he is fully fit. That puts to rest all doubts about his place in the squad. 

Only the leadership battle remains ... and it doesn't look like going away any time soon.

KL Rahul's promotion is a warning for both Rohit and Pant

Strange though it may sound, but there seems to be a kind of method in the madness that is Indian cricket.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India while announcing the squads for the November to January tour of Australia in all three formats has definitely awarded form and fitness. Along the way it has also sent very strong signals to players and their lobbies about the future of the game in the country.

Topmost on the list would have to be the selection of K L Rahul as wicket-keeper and vice-captain in both the 50- and 20-overs formats. In fact, so strong is the backing of Rahul's form and fitness that he is the lone glove-man for the three-match ODI series which are scheduled to follow the three T20 internationals and four Tests.

There is no doubting Rahul's competence with the bat as well as his leadership abilities that has seen a dramatic turn-around by his franchise in the Indian Premier League. But keeping wickets in the 20-over game and the longer version is quite a different kettle of fish. Statistics show that in T20s, on an average, less than 15 percent of the deliveries go through to the wicket-keeper even though the person behind the stumps must be supremely fit and agile to counter the "wides" as well as the edges flying off the bat.

Rishabh Pant's performance behind the sticks and in front has been rather sedate if not a tad disappointing. And his injury that forced him to yield the gloves to Australian Alex Carey could not have come at a worse time.

The saving grace for the Delhi youngster is his selection as the Test stumper alongside veteran Wriddhiman Saha. A special performance there ahead of the Bengal gloveman could still find Pant pushing for a place in the ODI squad which sees action only in January 2021.

Mumbai stalwart Rohit Sharma finds himself in the wilderness due a left hamstring injury which will be "monitored" by the Team India's medical team as well as the selection panel led by former Test spinner Sunil Joshi. But leaving no doubts about the leadership race, Sharma has to remain content, if he makes the cut at all, with playing purely as a batsman and possibly pushing him out of the succession race.

Barring some miracle, new ball exponents Ishant Sharma and Bhuvaneshwar Kumar would be lucky if they ever come into consideration for the Australian sojourn. 

The pace battery is well stocked with new additions like Mohammad Siraj to the Test and Navdeep Saini across formats. Then there are the four "net bowlers" biding their time in the wings, much like Saini did in the 2019 ICC World Cup in England and improved by leaps and bounds thanks to the exposure.

Yuzvendra Chahal may be justifiably peeved at his exclusion from the Test squad but seems to be in the lead spinner for the limited overs affairs where he could very well be partnering newbie Varun Chakravarthy even as Washington Sundar and Ravindra Jadeja jostle for the all-rounder's spot.

Subtle message going out from the BCCI and its selection team with an eye on the future. And if the signals are received right, an improved performance from those in the firing line would only do Indian cricket a world of good.

Slowing pitches make power-plays the decider in IPL 2020

The death overs are where batsmen go for broke and bowlers try their level best to limit the carnage. The Indian Premier League 2020 has seen a very different scenario unfold when the first half of the cricket tournament was more batsmen oriented but as the competition moves into the second phase, its the bowlers that are calling the shots.

Of the grounds in use in the United Arab Emirates, Sharjah is the smallest and witnessed as many as 62 sixes being smashed in the first two games it hosted. But thereafter things seemed to have quietened down so much that teams are looking at hitting more fours than sixes given the danger involved in the latter effort.

Abu Dhabi has its own story since the square boundaries are humungous making it tough for all - fielders need to cover more ground while batsmen must look to run two's and three's rather than go for broke and try smashing boundaries. 

Fitness is being tested all round!

Dubai is a similar tale though the ground offers its own set of challenges. The most pronounced is the position of the flood-lights, making the television commentators to refer to the venue as a ring of fire. The large ground is as challenging as neighbouring Abu Dhabi but perhaps a little less intimidating for both fielding and batting sides.

One thing, however, is pretty noticeable in the 13th edition of IPL - chasing is not easy at any of the three venues making the coin toss vital. The pitches, which showed a greenish tinge at the start, have now turned a dull brown and the ball seems to grip the surface making stroke-play rather difficult.

To break the shackles in such a scenario, both bowlers and batsmen need to be aware of the "handicaps" and play well within their limitations. Chasing down targets has been tough, to say the least, unless there is a superlative performance by one or more of the players.

Hence the new ball and first six overs of power-play, with its inherent fielding restrictions, become absolutely vital for all teams as they jostle for positions in the points table in the second phase of the league. With matches coming thick and fast, teams have little time to recover and reload as the competition for the top four slots hots up in the desert sands.

The hard, shiny ball seems to come off the pitch better and enables batsmen to go ahead with their strokes. But as the game wears on, so does the pitch and it has been more than evident that quality spinners can clamp the brakes on run-scoring.

Since the scenario appears pretty much similar in either innings, and very little visible effect of the dew that settles in the latter half of the games, teams batting first are able to defend scores around 165 with some smart bowling.

Franchises may now need to redraw plans and go on attack from the very start since run-making gets tougher with an older ball. Scores close to 200 may now be the exception with ground conditions settling down and players becoming aware of the idiosyncrasies of each venue.

If the bowlers found the going tough at the start, batmen will have to hitherto carry the burden since conditions have changed within a month!

Betting shadow taints all IPL 2020 performances

The desert sands of the United Arab Emirates are pretty known for courting cricket controversies. Not for nothing was international cricket banned in Sharjah, along with, of course, Toronto and Singapore, till Pakistan and Afghanistan decided to shift home base.

Now the Indian Premier League 2020 has added more colour and glamour to the otherwise rather desolate venues in Dubai and Abu Dhabi apart from Sharjah, which has been peppered with lofty hits all over without respite.

But the report by a player of "corrupt approach" is bound to put the anti-corruption unit of the Board of Control for Cricket in India in a tizzy. 

All those involved with the IPL 2020 - players, officials, broadcast crew - are "imprisoned" in a bio-secure bubble. How secure is that bubble may be put to test now since outsiders have been able to breach the barriers and establish communications with playing members of the grand league.

It was bound to happen, given the number of "betting" sites that are among the promoters / sponsors of the event. Hardly any surprise that television broadcast is plastered end-to-end with offers of big prizes for correct selection of players for the day.

Really sad that while players are sweating it out in the oppressive desert heat, young and old included struggling to give their best, betting should cast its ominous shadow over the event. Inevitably, all performances will be put back under the microscope and re-evaluated, which in itself takes the sheen off the IPL.

Not that the BCCI was unaware of the dangers lurking in the desert sands of UAE, given the past experiences, but there seemed to be little option but to go ahead with the event hoping the bio-secure bubbles will keep everything at bay.

Unfortunately for BCCI and world cricket, that does not seem to have worked. And now it will be huge question mark over everything related to IPL 2020.

Young talent thrives on the opportunity that the league provides but if there is loss of credibility, as is bound to happen if secure bubbles are breached, what hope for the future? BCCI needs to seal the fortress before the leaks bring it all crumbling down!

Leg spin and UAE conditions are early victors in IPL 2020

With just half a dozen games gone in the 13th edition of the Indian Premier League, a strange trend is beginning to emerge - leg spinners have been particularly successful as has been the ground and weather conditions prevailing in the United Arab Emirates.

Yuzvendra Chahal is a known exponent and his penetrative bowling for Bengaluru comes despite the presence of pace stalwarts Dale Steyn of South Africa and home-grown Umesh Yadav.

Chahal's Team India partner in the spin department, Chinaman bowler Kuldeep Yadav, turning out for Kolkata, hasn't really set the gulf waters on fire just yet but Punjab seem to be riding high on the young shoulders of Ravi Bishnoi and Murugan Ashwin.

Both Bishnoi and M Ashwin seem to revel under the tutelage of spin legend Anil Kumble, now donning the head coach's hat for the Punjab franchise. 

No surprise then that Bishnoi shares the top spot along with Chahal and five pacemen at four wickets apiece and Ashwin is in joint second place with three victims to his name. 

Says something about the guile and accuracy of the exponents of the tough art of wrist spin!

Conditions in the UAE venues of Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Sharjah has been pretty much akin to what weather in the northern part of India feels like towards the final days of September. A hint of dew has already begun to make its appearance towards the death overs of the first innings but it has hardly helped the cause of the teams chasing the target. 

Of the six games in IPL 2020 so far, barring the Chennai win in the inaugural game, its the teams setting the target that have emerged victorious. Even though Punjab came mighty close in their lung-opener against neighbours Delhi, it appears to be a tough choice for captains winning the toss.

Bowlers hate the wet ball, especially the white variety which anyway seems to stop swinging after a meagre two overs. Batsmen are supposed to relish playing strokes to the ball skidding off the deck but that has hardly helped the sides overhaul targets so far.

Is it the desert air that makes the dew not sticky enough or is it just that the pitches are yet to settle down? Curators have left plenty of grass cover on the pitches to make sure they do not crumble before the nearly two-month tournament schedule is completed.

Sighting too seems to be some kind of an issue given the number of skied catches that have been floored by some the best fielders in the game. The white projectile coming out of the desert dusk may not be the easiest to judge but then conditions are the same for all.

For once the coin toss has not proved as decisive as it appeared before the tournament and team think-tanks have been left scratching their wise heads trying to figure out the best options in the prevalent situation. 

So much to ponder makes for interesting battles ahead for all concerned!

        

Smart move by Olympic hopeful shuttlers to seek ranking points in Denmark

Since 2020 is no longer an Olympic year, it makes sense for those in contention for a berth at Tokyo's badminton competition to head to the Denmark Open scheduled to be played in Odense from October 13 to 18.

Besides being the first event since international badminton was suspended due to the global Covid19 pandemic, it is also a test of how the game would emerge in the empty arenas which are mandatory at the moment. 

Badminton World Federation may have bowed to popular sentiment to defer the Thomas and Uber Cup team competition to next year but gave the go-ahead to the Denmark Open possibly to test the waters.

After all Europe has seen several sports, including football, Formula One and cricket, resume activity in a strictly controlled environment and so far there has not been any major mishap bar the Adria Tour exhibition tennis.

Given the fear as well restrictions on international travel, the Denmark Open may hardly see any big names from Asia since most countries had already pulled out of the TUC. So it could offer easy picking for someone like London bronze medalist Saina Nehwal who needs to move up four places to grab a second qualifying spot for India behind reigning world champion PV Sindhu.

Saina is ranked 20 while Sindhu is placed seventh in BWF ranking frozen since end-March, 2020, right after the All-England Championship. 

Sindhu, quite on expected lines, has decided to give Denmark a miss and instead focus on the home front which had even put her playing in the Uber Cup in doubt. Since there is no national duty involved, its the world champion's prerogative to pick and choose her return to the international circuit.

The complex Olympic qualifying norm for singles allows two players from a country only if both are ranked in the top 16. The singles draw of 38-plus accounts for quotas for continents which were unable to make the grade through the rankings. Obviously, Asia has no such luxuries since more than half of the 38 would be from the largest continent anyway.

That leaves those not in the top 16 to fight for survival indeed.

Much like Saina, her husband Parupalli Kashyap too seeks an Olympic berth though his current 24 rank virtually rules him out as Sai Praneeth (13) and Kidambi Srikanth (14) are way ahead. Of course, both men's singles exponents must protect their ranking points till April 29, 2021, when the Tokyo-bound participants will be finalised.

With that in mind, perhaps, both Kashyap and Srikanth are headed to Odense as is Lakshya Sen, rank 27. 

Doubles is a far tougher field with BWF allowing only a draw of 16 for Olympics.

While the Indian men's doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty are ranked 10 and all but sure to make the cut, the other pair of Manu Attri and Sumeeth Reddy stands little chance since for two entries from any single country both pairs must be ranked in the top eight.

Similarly, there is little doubt that the women's and mixed doubles hardly stand any chance of presenting an Indian challenge in Tokyo, given that the best ranking for the country presently stands at 28 and 27 respectively. 

Pulling up into the top 16 would be a Herculean task in itself and hence no Indian doubles pair has opted to play in Denmark.

Without doubt Denmark Open will be a test case in more ways than one. Apart from low Asian turnout, the event will also be closely monitored to evaluate whether the game flourishes or wilts in cavernous indoor arenas.

Besides the players, the game of badminton itself has plenty at stake in Odense!

Pandemic taking a heavy toll on sports across disciplines

Sports is all about contests and rivalries but the current global pandemic due to the Covid19 virus infection seems to have put the entire eco-system to severe test.

Withdrawals by Asian and African teams forced the Badminton World Federation to call off the Thomas and Uber cup tournaments scheduled to be played in Denmark from October 3 to 11. Though the Denmark Open will go ahead from October 13 to 18 at Odense, the Masters to follow has been shelved as well.

That the team competitions, so enthusiastically announced to herald the return of competitive badminton, have been cancelled for 2020 altogether is both sad and comforting. There is definitely not going to be any cavalier attitude in getting things going back on court. Especially since badminton is an indoor sport, not able to survive without air-conditioning.

Out in the New York sunshine, the US Open tennis tournament went ahead without several top stars and the rescheduled French Open may not see a full complement of top players either since the organisers, so far, plan to allow spectators into Roland Garros. 

The first tennis event with populated stands may prove to be a test case for all sports.

England may have kept cricket from falling apart even though it has been anything but easy. Players falling foul of the bio-secure procedures were not uncommon, and teams sometimes had to do without leading performers for the sake of safety all round.

In such a scenario, the Indian Premier League could provide the balm for stressed nerves if all goes well with the tournament in the United Arab Emirates. Even though there have been significant player withdrawals for various reasons, IPL continues to march ahead to keep its date with the September 19 start.

No such good fortune for the Lanka Premier League which has revised its schedule to a  November 14 start, less than a week after the IPL is done and dusted, provided all goes to plan. LPL has found few takers right from its failed 2011 launch. The repackaged version of the Sri Lanka Premier League has reduced participation to five teams instead of the original seven. Yet there is a struggle to find willing owners, only one team of the five having seen success so far.

Football in Europe continues with its share of hiccups. London giants Chelsea had a double- figure players' list in quarantine as did several other clubs as the new season kicked-off with empty stands but no lack to drama.

Ditto for France where Ligue 1 action got underway with a flurry of cards. 

Other European domestic football leagues are yet to get into action and perhaps French Open tennis could prove an acid test if seats can indeed be filled even if it is only a fraction of the capacity.

Contact sports like wrestling, boxing, etc. have next to no chance of seeing any real action this calendar year.

Motorsports remains on track with a carefully calibrated schedule that keeps a majority of events in Europe itself, thus avoiding inter-continental travel until the final weeks.

It will take a massive effort to get things back on track in the sporting world. Perhaps the Tokyo Olympics in July 2021 could be the torch-bearer for recovery!    .

 

Synthetic feathers appear the way forward for badminton

The cat is finally out of the bag!

Indian shuttlers had their national camp cancelled prior to the resumption of important international events like the Thomas and Uber cups because neither the Badminton Association of India nor the Sports Authority of India had enough stock of shuttle cocks.

Interestingly, nearly 90 percent of the shuttle cocks approved by Badminton World Federation for international tournaments are manufactured in China. With government of India's blanket ban on import of feathered goods from China, it is hardly any surprise that stocks were all but gone.

The ban on scheduled international flights since late March had already made the supply situation rather precarious. And on top that came the June clashes along the line of actual control between the Indian armed forces and the Chinese People's Liberation Army. Since the matters along the LAC are anything but resolved, tough decisions by the government are likely to impact sports like badminton in a massive way.

Both BAI and SAI have admitted that they received their last supplies of approved shuttle cocks in early June. Thereafter they have been looking askance as border tensions made it impossible for suppliers to meet the order commitments.

Also following withdrawal by several Asian countries, some players, including London Olympics bronze medalist Saina Nehwal, have questioned the BAI decision to participate in the upcoming events in Denmark, especially since there seems to be hardly any let up in the Covid19 pandemic.

Ideally, staying away may not be the answer, but BWF's approval of the use of synthetic feathers for shuttle cocks at all levels could not have come at a better time. The January decision comes into force only in 2021 but it certainly will prove a breather for the beleaguered Indian shuttlers.

Best quality badminton shuttle cocks are manufactured from the feathers of the left wing of a goose, treated chemically and then trimmed to identical shape and size before being planted on the cork base. But with supplies of natural feathers as well as high quality cork diminishing every day, synthetic feathers may indeed be the answer.

Obviously, quality control will remain with BWF and only approved manufacturers will be allowed to supply the synthetic feathers. 

The move makes a lot of sense, especially in these troubled times, when supply has been put on hold. Plus BWF studies show that the number of shuttle cocks used in an international tournament would be reduced by more than 25 percent with synthetic feathers compared to the natural ones in use currently.

Not only does the move make the sport of badminton more viable with one of the major cost components being heavily slashed, BWF has eased the general technical approval criteria for other equipment as well.

BWF does not see a sudden switch to synthetic feathers as manufacturers need to augment production capacity to meet the expected demand. After all players need to practice with these shuttles first before jumping into tournament play!
All said and done, badminton is certainly looking at long-term sustainability rather than short-term hurdles!

South Africa crisis exposes ICC double standards

Cricket in South Africa is going through trying times!

Not very different from the rest of world which is gasping to recover from the global meltdown forced by the Covid19 pandemic. The world of sports is one of the worst hit since it depends solely on financial backing from industry.

The International Cricket Council, however, has chosen to look the other way as Cricket South Africa has been disbanded and put under administration by the South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee. 

Lest we forget, Zimbabwe was suspended and stripped of its Test status more than half a decade ago for much less.

And Board of Control for Cricket in India stumbles from one hump to another as every action must pass muster of the Supreme Court.

But ICC never raised the issue of autonomy even though it is public knowledge that BCCI top functionaries like president Sourav Ganguly and secretary Jay Shah are awaiting ratification of the annual general meeting decision to continue in office. 

Neither was there even a murmur of protest by the ICC when BCCI was put under administration by the SC even as a retired SC judge was appointed to look at reforms in its constitution.

If that was not outside interference, there can hardly be another!

Similarly CSA has faced accusation of financial irregularities for nearly a decade and things came to a boil soon after the sacking of Haroon Lorgat following the failed launch of his ambitious T20 Global League. 

Its a directive from the South African ministry of sports and recreation to SASCOC to take over CSA affairs, not that the quasi-government body itself is free from scandal.

But ICC silence on the Indian and South African affairs is intriguing indeed. Perhaps the financial clout each board wields and its share in the ICC income decides how the world body reacts.

BCCI obviously contributes the lion's share to the ICC kitty and hence must be treated with kid gloves. The appointment of a Committee of Administrators by the learned SC till such time elections were held under the new constitution proposed by the court-appointed retired judge, it seems, in the eyes of the ICC, was no infringement on the Indian board's autonomous status!

A similar stand appears in the case of South Africa where things have simply gone downhill in the post-Lorgat era. Incidentally Lorgat, a chartered accountant by profession, was ICC chief executive from April 2008 to June 2012

CSA has seen one controversy after another leading to the summary dismissal of president Chris Nenzany and CEO officer Jacques Faul. CSA 's relations with the South African Cricketers' Association has been anything but cordial even though its business as usual for the players who continue to ply their trade in various financially lucrative leagues around the world. Nearly a dozen South Africans are poised to participate in the Indian Premier League starting September 19 in the United Arab Emirates.

ICC's task has hardly been made any easier by pressure from associate members for greater say in its affairs and also a larger slice of the financial pie!

Interesting times ahead indeed as cricket must follow the global trend of being played before empty stands and "tailor-made for television" events till such time the current pandemic blows over.

Something is seriously amiss in Indian badminton

Power struggle between a federation and its players is nothing new. But the way the Badminton Association of India is stumbling from one controversy to another, giving in to players' demands at just about every turn, does not augur too well for the future of the sport.

Badminton has been in the news for all the wrong reasons recently.

First was the controversy about Saina Nehwal's refusal to join the national camp for Olympic probables on the plea that her husband Parupalli Kashyap be included as well. Then followed the news that Indian players would be travelling to Denmark in late September to participate in the Thomas Cup for men and Uber Cup for women followed by the Denmark Open and Masters, all scheduled for October!

The Olympic training camp was hurriedly converted into the one for the October team events only to come a cropper as the players flatly refused to abide by the standard operating procedures laid down by the Sports Authority of India in conjunction with the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, which finally foots the bill for such programmes.

SAI has issued clear guidelines which include a mandatory seven-day quarantine for all players and coaches as well as other staff prior to the commencement of any training camp. Despite pleadings by BAI, the camp scheduled to start on September 7 had to be cancelled as players were not willing to follow the SOP.

That effectively means that Indian teams would be going into the Thomas and Uber Cup events without much of an opportunity to shake off the rust from the enforced lay-off since March. However, the team competition from October 3 to 11 may help the players to get better at the individual events to follow and pick up some much needed ranking points in the race to seal places at the next year's Tokyo Olympics.

The qualifying standards of the Badminton World Federation is pretty straightforward. Countries with two or more players in the top 16 of the BWF singles rankings get two Olympic places. For doubles the same criteria applies but for top 8 in world rankings. If not only one entry per country for each of the five singles and doubles medal events are permitted for Olympics to allow to widest possible participation.

When the BWF froze the rankings on March 19, 2020, due to the Covid19 pandemic, India held only three confirmed entries for Tokyo - Sai Praneeth (rank 13) and Kidambi Srikanth (14) for men's singles and reigning world champions PV Sindhu (7) for women's singles.The men's doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, ranked 10 by BWF, too are all but certain to make the grade for the Olympic draw of 16 for doubles competitions in badminton. 

For the women's doubles pair of Ashwini Ponappa and Sikki N Reddy, currently number 28, and mixed doubles hopefuls Pranaav Jerry Chopra and Sikki, ranked 27, this is the time to play their hearts out and pick up ranking points to improve their chances of making the Olympic draw.

The present cut-off date for Tokyo has been set as April 29, 2021, by the BWF.

Interestingly, Saina Nehwal is ranked 20 and needs to improve at least four places to have a shot at another Olympic medal to add to her London bronze. As part of the Target Olympic Podium Scheme of the MYAS, Saina's training is funded by the government but her insistence that her husband Kashyap, ranked 24, to be added to the Olympic camp is rather strange.

The former world number one would do well to focus on her own Olympic qualification rather than push for her husband.

Not only did BAI accept Saina's demand to add Kashyap to the list of national campers but also bowed to players' demand to not follow the SOP, leading to the eventual cancellation. Kashyap has been chosen as the second singles player for Thomas Cup alongside Srikanth while Sai Praneeth recovers from an injury but the player has not been entered in the Denmark Open and Masters events that follow. 

Interestingly, while Thomas and Uber Cup do not carry any ranking points for the players, the Denmark events certainly do. Lakshya Sen is ranked 27, three places below Kashyap,but gets the BAI nod instead to play both the Denmark events, apart from Thomas Cup.

There's definitely something not so healthy cooking within the BAI even as the world badminton calendar resumes and the race hots up for Tokyo Olympic places.

How Djokovic must wish 2020 never happened

It was a routine start to what was looking like any normal Olympic year! Ranked number one in the world Novak Djokovic of Serbia opened 2020 with a record eighth Australian Open title just weeks after helping his country win the ATP Cup.

Regular service continued for Djokovic and the tennis world as he bagged his fifth Dubai Open in February before everything seemed to simply come undone.

Come mid-March and the globe screeched to a halt due to the worldwide Covid19 pandemic. Europe, especially the Mediterranean countries, seemed to be badly hit even as the entire world grappled with the virus that threatened to all but halt life as we knew it.

Even the Tokyo Olympics were pushed back to 2021.

But Djokovic is nothing if not a fighter. He began with a pledge of a million Euros to help his home country purchase ventilators. 

It seemed the world number one tennis player had done his bit for society and was looking to return to some kind of normalcy in life by resuming sporting activities. But soon things started falling apart.

His much-publicised Adria Tour exhibition came under heavy fire due to the rash of players and coaches testing positive for the Covid19 infection after figuring in the tournament. Djokovic himself tested positive for the virus in late June and was forced to issue an apology for his actions. 

Then came his decision to play in the final grand slam event of the year even as leading stars like Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal chose to stay home. And the way the US Open ended for Djokovic, the Serbian must be wishing he too had followed the former number ones and kept away from Flushing Meadows.

The initiative to challenge the status quo came with Djokovic as one of the prime movers of the Professional Tennis Players Association, launched in New York just prior to the US Open to help the lower ranked players on the circuit. Obviously the powers that be were looking at every move by the Serbian with a microscope until his careless crack at the ball.

The frustration at having dropped serve to Spaniard Pablo Carreno-Busta ended up in his totally unintentional slamming of the ball right into the throat of the lady line judge nearby. The fourth round ejection from the tournament will cost Djokovic all of the $ 250,000 that he would have earned as prize money for having got thus far. Plus he loses all ranking points for the event.

Neither penalty is likely to affect his number one status any time soon. But the accident in New York, like a fair amount of what has transpired with the Serb in this year so far, would certainly make him wonder if he indeed got out of the wrong side of the bed in 2020.

Had he been in one of the outside courts instead of the Arthur Ashe arena, the accident would be never have happened since line-calling there is technology based. But how can the numero uno run away from the spotlight?

There's still nearly a third of the year remaining, and none can blame Djokovic if he chooses to stay home! 

He is human after all. And there's only so much a person can handle.

Messi staying for a year is only more bad news for Barcelona

The best football player of the present day has also proved to be an equally smart businessman. Lionel Messi agreeing to stay at Camp Nou for the remaining period of his contract only means bigger trouble for Barcelona.

With the Catalan club, in consonance with Spain's La Liga, enforcing the buy-out clause, whose deadline for 2020 ended on June 30, Messi has no option but to pay the stipulated 700 million Euros or stay put. However, an unsettled player, even of the calibre of Messi, is probably the last thing that new manager Ronald Koeman needed.

Remember the David Beckham saga at Manchester United before the midfielder moved over to Real Madrid. And, mind you, the man in charge then was none other than Sir Alex Ferguson, who was indeed emperor of all he surveyed at Old Trafford as long as he occupied the manager's chair. 

When a player has made up his mind, for whatever reason, to no longer stay at the club, it is best to let go. The moment Sir Alex realised that Beckham, his own pupil, was no longer committed to Old Trafford, he quickly cut the cords and made some money from the situation by allowing the United board to negotiate the sale.

Something similar could have been worked out by Barcelona with a bit of tact. Merely digging in the heels hardly helps since the annual salary commitment for Messi still has to be met even if the player takes the field or not!

And come June 2021, Messi walks away from Camp Nou without a farthing for Barcelona, the only club the Argentine captain has ever played for in his entire professional career.

La Liga, already reeling from the move by Cristiano Ronaldo to Italian Serie A club Juventus, ended up backing Barcelona to try and help them retain the biggest star currently on display on this firmament. But the support appears to be rather misplaced since Messi may not even turn out for Barcelona games, let alone play his heart out for the fans that have rooted for him since his teenage years.

Now the options for Barcelona are few.

Accept a much-reduced transfer fee and let Messi go where-ever he has set his heart upon. That way Barcelona do not have to keep paying Messi's well-earned monumental wages, and still make a rather fair ending of a bad deal.

Much of the blame for the current state of affairs would be laid squarely at the door of Barcelona president Josep Bartomeu, who anyway faces a tough re-election following his not so clever handling of Messi. The season-long public disagreements between club's captain and president wasn't what the fans were hoping during the rather disappointing run which saw Barcelona end without a title.

Now that Messi has reluctantly agreed to see out his present contract, Barcelona can only hope to cut its losses. 

And the club needs to make up its mind soon before the summer transfer window closes. That is the only way things could look better on the balance sheet as well

Guardiola bond holds key to Messi future

The Lionel Messi transfer saga has kept not just the football fraternity but the entire sports eco-system glued for the sheer audacity of it.

Without doubt the best football player today, Messi is reported to have agreed to a 700+ million Euro deal with the City Football Group that would see the Argentine move to Manchester City and re-unite with former manager Pep Guardiola.

Interestingly CFG owns New York City of USA's Major League Soccer and Melbourne City of the Australian A-League. As part of the compensation package, Messi is said to have been offered a share in CFG.

As part of the plan, the 33-year-old star would stay only three years in Manchester and move across the pond to boost New York in the MLS, something many feel Messi could win single-handedly even at 36 years of age.

So unsettled was Messi at Bercelona that his father Jorge Messi, who is also the player's agent, flew down in a private jet all the way from his home country Argentina to try and settle the matter one way or another. After all the Catalan Club has been the Argentine's only professional employer so far!

There were other mouth-watering prospects on the table as well. A chance to re-connect with former Barcelona team-mate Neymar at Paris Saint Germain in French Lique 1 or, even more dramatic could have been forging a partnership with long-time rival Cristiano Ronaldo in Italian Serie A's Juventus. Both clubs were ready to break the bank for Messi's signature but the attraction was not strong enough to net the star.

Money apart, the opportunity to re-unite with Pep Guardiola at Manchester City seems to have decisively tilted the scales in his move across the channel. Guardiola was manager at Barcelona for four years from 2008 before moving on to Bayern Munich in 2012 and then to his present position five years later.

This is not the first offer that Guardiola has made for Messi.

In 2017, Manchester City's offer of 755 million Euros was rejected by the Argentine as he signed on the dotted line for Barcelona keeping him at Camp Nou till June 2021. But all that looks to have come undone as Messi remains firm in his resolve to part ways with the Catalan club, who could have made the departure as little more comfortable for themselves by having handled the mercurial genius of the football field with a little more tact.

Now Guardiola would already be licking his chops at the prospect of unleashing Messi on the English Premier League rivals. And neither can the fans wait to see the best footballer play again for his favourite manager. 

After all the duo had forged a highly successful partnership not so long ago!

As for Barcelona, they can at best hope to delay the move and possibly extract some financial benefit but that is unlikely to assuage their fans already enraged about the departure of their favourite son!

Plenty to learn as Formula One breezes through half its season

British driver Lewis Hamilton has jumped to a 47-point lead in the Formula One drivers' world championship after the Belgian grand prix, the 10th of the revamped 17-race calendar for 2020. Hamilton's Mercedes co-driver Valtteri Bottas of Finland lies third in the standings, a mere three points behind Red Bull's Max Verstappen, who is at second place with 110 points so far for the season.

Formula One got their Covid19 hit season underway in the first week of July with a double header in Austria and moving on to Hungary and then Great Britain before returning to the European continent. Six of the remaining nine races traverse through Italy, Russia, Germany, Portugal and Turkey with the three-race finale in west Asia.

The way F1 has gone about its business, without spectators in attendance, is indeed an eye-opener for the rest of the sports world. Rescheduling races and restricting a vast majority of the action to Europe seems to have worked. The Americas and Australia were the obvious casualties of the revamped race calendar but it showed the F1 management's resolve to take tough decisions.

Each F1 team comprises a fairly large group of people required for running a successful race. That it has been able to go through half the season without any mishap, both on the track and off it, is a lesson in these pandemic times.

Football in Europe too successfully completed its interrupted season but there was not much international travel involved with even UEFA's Champions League and Europa Cup competitions being played in a single country.

International cricket continues in England at select venues but the Indian Premier League still appears to be struggling to get its show on the road despite elaborate precautions for the event in the United Arab Emirates. 

Even the US sports like basketball and baseball have been anything but comfortable with interruptions for various reasons including a spate of Covid19 infections among participating teams.

No such trouble for F1 as they have vroomed through and look like racing ahead with the remainder of season, which is scheduled to end in Abu Dhabi on December 16 after a Bahrain double-header.

Obviously the F1 management and teams are doing something right to avoid any Covid19-related pauses or otherwise. 

Of course, empty stands have been a novel experience for all sporting contests world-wide post the global pandemic since March. And none barring F1 has managed to go ahead with the action without incident. 

After the Belgian win, Hamilton remains only two short of F1 legend Michael Schumacher's world record 91 victories, even as his Mercedes team look set to wrap up the 2020 constructors' championship rather early leading second placed Red Bull by a whopping 106 points. McLaren Renault languish third a full 196 points behind the leaders.

About time the sporting world took a leaf or two out of the F1 management book in order to skirt the pitfalls that the global pandemic has caused.

With IPL 2020 BCCI seems to have bitten off more than it can chew

The Board of Control for Cricket in India seems to be stumbling from one storm to another, almost floundering like a richly-laden schooner adrift at sea with a broken rudder and main sail. Its decision to go ahead with the 2020 edition of the Indian Premier League appears to have only added to its woes.

The 13th edition of the IPL is scheduled for a September 19 start but BCCI has not yet published the match schedule for the 51-day jamboree in the United Arab Emirates. Not that it poses much of a problem since there are hardly extensive travel arrangements to be made by the franchises except booking luxury buses to the venue and back.

Neither is the telecast revenue dependent on the match schedule, except for the few dedicated spots each franchise reserves for its sponsors, which again is only a very small part of the extensive commercial scheduling involving an event of this magnitude.

There is no dearth of ad-hoc measures with regards to BCCI functioning. Former India captain Sourav Ganguly continues in his post of Board president pending the Supreme Court decision on the application to amend the BCCI constitution and allow the stylish left-hander to complete a full five-year term in office. Similar is the case of Board secretary Jay Shah.

With Board vice-president Jayesh George having quit in April itself to return to manage the affairs in his home state, there remains only BCCI treasurer Arun Dhumal in his position without any debate among the top four elected functionaries. Not the most desirable state of affairs by any stretch of imagination.

And now as the IPL caravan headed to the UAE a dozen plus members from a single franchise tested positive for the dreaded Covid19 infection, yet again putting a huge question mark on the wisdom of going ahead with the tournament at all amidst the prevailing global pandemic.

There's precious little BCCI can do in this regard since it has already put in place the bio-secure bubble for each franchise apart from an extensive standard operating procedure for all concerned.

BCCI has indeed stretched its neck out for IPL 2020, finding a quick replacement when the original title sponsor was found unsuitable to continue in the prevailing circumstances of strained relations with neighbour China. 

Its nothing short of a miracle that BCCI, despite the massive loss of revenue due to the lock-downs and subsequent ban on sports events, has not yet imposed any pay-cuts on players and staff like several other cricket boards around the world.

But how long can this state of affairs continue, especially given that Ganguly and Shah are quite pragmatically shying away from taking any tough decisions that they may end up regretting later. More so since their position as Board officials hangs in balance.

All said and done, IPL 2020 would a test of survival for BCCI and a real tough one at that. And not even a ball has been bowled yet!