India’s Asian Games high gave cricket a complex in an eventful 2023

Year 2024 will be a confirmation if India’s top sportspersons have in them the skills and mental fortitude to deliver at the highest echelon of various sports.

When one of the biggest and youngest nations in the world shows an upwardly mobile trajectory in sports, it’s a very refreshing sign. If international results are anything to go by in 2023, it is clear that India is steadily emerging from a predominantly cricket-playing country to a nation that is seriously embracing Olympic disciplines. Year 2024 will be a confirmation of this growing stature as the Paris Olympics will test if India’s top sportspersons have in them the skills and mental fortitude to deliver at the highest echelon of various sports.

Sporting success is generally measured vis-a-vis team and individual achievements. On both counts, 2023 has been a wonderful year with the record 107-medal haul at the Hangzhou Asian Games underlying the progressive initiatives supported by government and private enterprises.

If world javelin champion Neeraj Chopra has been India’s No. 1 global ambassador for his sheer consistency, archery has been the standout sport this year with 107 medals won in 16 world tournaments this year. Never in the past 48 years of Archery Association of India’s history, the nation has won so many medals and produced world champions like Ojas Pravin Deotale and Aditi Gopichand Swami in compound archery. Unfortunately, there is no compound archery at the Olympics.

Any sports year ender in India is incomplete without talking about cricket. But in stark contrast to the achievements at the Asian Games, cricket failed to yield the desired results. After Australia thrashed India by 209 runs in the World Test Championship final at The Oval in June, India had a great chance to salvage some honour at the ODI World Cup but Australia denied India once again.

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Losing the ICC ODI World Cup final against Australia in ‘home’ conditions at Ahmedabad was a telling blow after the Rohit Sharma-led Indian team seemed to be in rampaging form throughout. This World Cup proved that the 50-over game, a format that requires greater planning and application, continues to be as exciting as the slam-bang 20-over game. At a time when Test cricket is facing a threat, ignoring the 50-over over will be equally suicidal. Longer forms of cricket have their own charm.

Although television continues to have its own attraction and audience, cricket is increasingly becoming a digital (OTT) property. BCCI continues to ride the game by intelligently splitting its media rights into digital and linear (TV).  By its sheer financial muscle, India continues to strengthen its position at the top of the commercial ecosystem and there is no doubt that BCCI has ‘unofficial’ control over International Cricket Council’s affairs, especially when it comes to programming the international cricket calendar.

Big money in cricket has also raised questions on sustainability. Big-spending corporates like Byju’s, MPL, Vivo and Paytm’s exit from cricket sponsorship has been a worrying sign. At the same time, the arrival of banks like IDBI and fin-tech companies in cricket sponsorship looks more of a stop-gap arrangement. Unlike a rock-solid Tata Group that has diverse revenue streams and wants to tap the spending capacity of the millennials, any financial institution that depends on market realities will always be an unreliable entity. But regardless of commercial dynamics, the BCCI has always been a winner.

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Reliance-backed Viacom has clearly emerged the most enthusiastic broadcaster. After securing the Indian Premier League digital rights for a whopping Rs 23,758 crore in June 2022, Viacom won the BCCI TV and digital rights for all domestic and international cricket in 2023-2028 cycle for Rs 5,963 crore. That Viacom agreed to pay approximately Rs 8 crore more than STAR India per international match shows the ardour for cricket rights.

Desperation and business sense are two different things. STAR India have over the years broken their bank to secure BCCI and ICC rights. STAR is singularly responsible for spicing up this mind-boggling rights war. STAR, which now has the IPL TV rights, has probably felt the pinch for overspending. Its current owners, Disney, have been far more intelligent in terms of money matters, giving business sense prudence over desperation. Disney clearly refused to cross the line when it came to bidding for BCCI rights.

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For the common cricket fan, results on the field matter more than anything else. Since international success has not been forthcoming, there is a lot of talk on building a new-look, impactful and more aspirational national white-ball team. The focus is on two of India’s greatest batsmen – Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli. Mumbai Indians’ decision to replace Rohit with Hardik Pandya as IPL captain this coming season has not done the veteran star any good. But to ignore both Rohit and Kohli for the upcoming ICC T20 World Cup in the US and West Indies in June could hurt India’s chances.

Retirement does not come naturally to Indian cricketers. The history of the game has shown that superstar cricketers love to cling on to their positions until they are asked to quit or just axed. The time has come for head coach Rahul Dravid and chief selector Ajit Agarkar to make some hard decisions on the basis of a person’s merit and contribution. Both Kohli and Rohit must be judged on that scale, not emotions. It is pertinent to mention here that in the inaugural edition of the T20 World Cup in 2007, the only time India won the competition under MS Dhoni, three of India’s greatest batsmen – Dravid, Sourav Ganguly and Sachin Tendulkar – sat out.

Olympic Dreams, Again!

The new year sports calendar will be rich with the Paris Olympics in July-August right on top of the list. How much India’s athletes – able-bodied and para – have progressed since Tokyo 2020 will be judged in the French capital. The performances in Hangzhou have indeed been outstanding but in a global landscape, India’s aspirational level will have to be modest and conservative.

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Although they returned empty-handed from Tokyo 2020, given their current international form, shooters will remain India’s biggest hope in Paris. If India have to better their record seven medals in Tokyo, the shooters must come to the party. Chopra will be under pressure to defend his Tokyo title but this superman of an athlete, who won the world championship this year in Budapest, has the potential and the mental strength to peak at the right time if he is 100 percent fit.

India’s para athletes continue to hold out enormous promise. They continue to raise the bar at every international meet. With 29 gold medals, India won a total of 111 medals at the Hangzhou Asian Para Games 2023. If they can hold their form, para athletes, who are getting tremendous support from the government to chase their big dreams, can better their record 19 medals, including five golds, won at Tokyo Paralympics.

Soumitra Bose is a senior journalist. Views are personal, and do not represent the stance of this publication.