Page 52 - The Indian EYE 010121

SPORTS JANUARY 01, 2021 |
is just getting started and here T Natarajan as Yadav’s re-
is a quick glimpse of what lies placement. Ahead of the Box-
ahead #TeamIndia #AUS- ing Day Test, Shardul Thakur
vIND,” BCCI tweeted. was added to the Test squad as
Cricket Australia on Tues- Mohd. Shami’s replacement
day confirmed that the third after the senior fast bowler suf-
Test between Australia and In- fered a hairline fracture in his
dia will remain at the Sydney right forearm. Both Shami and
Cricket Ground as scheduled. Umesh Yadav will head to the
India levelled the four-match National Cricket Academy in
series on Tuesday at the Mel- Bengaluru for further rehabil-
bourne Cricket Ground and itation of their injuries,” the
the win also ensured the visi- BCCI said in an official state-
tors moved a step closer to the ment on Friday.
final of the World Test Cham-
pionship. team india test squad
Meanwhile, India fast bowl- Ajinkya Rahane (Captain),
er T Natarajan has been add- Rohit Sharma (vice-captain),
ed to the Test squad for the Mayank Agarwal, Prithvi Shaw,
remaining two Test matches KL Rahul, Cheteshwar Puja-
against Australia. The left-arm ra, Hanuma Vihari, Shubman
pacer has replaced Umesh Ya- Gill, Wriddhiman Saha (wick-
dav, who sustained a strain in et-keeper), Rishabh Pant (wick-
his left calf muscle on Day 3 et-keeper), Jasprit Bumrah,
of the Boxing Day Test in Mel- Navdeep Saini, Kuldeep Yadav,
bourne. Ravindra Jadeja, R. Ashwin,
“The All-India Senior Se- Md. Siraj, Shardul Thakur, T
lection Committee has named Natarajan
games Came to a haLt In 2020;
new year CouLd be dIfferent
020 took a huge toll on sports activities across the world,
be it domestic competition or international events. The
2Grand Slam got cancelled while the quadrennial event
was shifted to 2021. Apart from the Olympics and Wimble-
don, many other competitions were also postponed including
the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup in Australia, which will now be
played in 2021 in India. The 2020 edition will now be held in
Australia in 2022.
Sports returned with a new normal which included face-
masks, hand-sanitizers and no crowd in the stadiums and
above all -- a bio-secure bubble. Players and support staff were
restricted to their hotels with no one allowed to leave or enter
the hotel. Regular Covid-19 tests also became part of athletes’
schedule.
The Indian cricket team returned to action after an eight-
month hiatus in an ODI against Australia at the Sydney Crick-
et Ground. India lost the series by 2-1 but came back strongly
to claim the T20I series 2-1 before heading to the longest for-
mat encounter.
Cricketing action will return to India in February when
Virat Kohli and boys host England for five Tests and a limit-
ed-overs series.
2020, a year of uncertainty and unprecedented times, taught
us about how it is all about adaptation and with talks of the
vaccine against the dreaded COVID-19 finally ready, 2021 will
surely deliver the expected results to the fans. But the ‘new
normal’ is here to stay as the virus is still in action.
www.TheIndianEYE .us
The Indian Eye 52
the greats who Left us
In 2020
The sporting world also lost some of its favourite
pupil this year.
• diego maradona (October 1960 -- november 2020)
One of the greatest footballers of all time, the World Cup-win-
ning footballer represented Boca Juniors, Barcelona, Napoli,
Sevilla, and Newell’s Old Boys as a player. Diego was consid-
ered solely responsible for taking Argentina to their second
World Cup title in 1986. With the Argentine team, he won the
World Cup at Mexico 86, a tournament in which he stood out,
above all, in a match against England.
• PK Banerjee (June 1936 - march 2020)
The former India football captain PK Banerjee passed away at
the age of 83 after a prolonged illness in March. The legend-
ary Indian footballer was an integral part of India’s gold med-
al-winning team in the 1962 Asian Games and even scored in
the final against South Korea as India fought against all odds
to script a historic 2-1 triumph in Jakarta.
Banerjee, who was the first footballer to receive the Arju-
na Award (in 1961), represented India in the 1956 Melbourne
Olympics and played a pivotal role in the 4-2 victory against
Australia in the quarter-finals where India eventually finished
fourth. Banerjee was also bestowed with the FIFA Fairplay
Award (in 1990), and the FIFA Centennial Order of Merit in
2004.
• Balbir singh sr (december 1923 - may 2020)
Three times Olympic medal-winning hockey legend, Balbir
Singh Sr. passed away on May 25 due to multiple health issues
at the age of 96. The iconic center-forward was one of India’s
most accomplished athletes and was the only Indian among
the 16 legends chosen by the International Olympic Commit-
tee across the modern Olympic history. He won three gold
medals -- in 1948 in London, in 1952 in Helsinki, and in 1956
in Melbourne. Balbir Singh is still remembered for scoring five
goals in India’s 6-1 victory over the Netherlands in the Helsin-
ki Games in 1952. In 1957, he was conferred with Padma Shri
Award for his contributions and achievements in the field of
hockey.
• dean Jones (march 1961 -- september 2020)
Former Australia cricketer Dean Jones passed away due to a
cardiac arrest at the age of 59 on September 24 during the 13th
edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL). A gritty, attacking
player, the Victorian made 3631 runs at an average of 46.55 in
Tests, while in ODIs he made 6068 runs, at 44.61, with seven
hundreds and 46 fifties. He also remains No.5 on the all-time
ICC Batting Rankings in the format.
His most memorable Test innings came in 1986 when in the
heat and humidity of Chennai, he battled exhaustion and ill-
ness to make a heroic 210 in what would be only the second
tied Test ever.
Jones went on to make 10 more hundreds, with a career-best
216 against West Indies in Adelaide in 1989. He retired from
international cricket in 1994 - much too early, according to his
supporters, but went on to play first-class cricket till the 1997/98
season.