Hope, as we are often reminded, makes the world go round.
India, however, must feel short-changed by now, kicking off every year with renewed hope only to spiral to another ICC tournament failure. Adelaide in 2022, Ahmedabad in 2023… the ordeal seems endless. The ODI World Cup heartbreak will not fade away soon. And while bilateral white-ball cricket remains a predictable affair at home, Tests should bring an exciting edge to what is set to be another packed calendar for India.
Five Tests at home against a Bazball-inspired England, along with a historic five-Test tour of Australia later in the year, round off quite a testing 2024, which will begin with a New Year’s Test in Cape Town in South Africa — historically India’s most challenging overseas destination.
All this, of course, is aside from the T20 World Cup, which — and this must be getting boring by now — presents India with another chance of redemption in the ICC events space.
Realistically, the women’s team probably have a better chance of winning the T20 World Cup in September-October because a) Bangladesh is a more familiar host and b) the players are more in sync with the format, thanks to the Women’s Premier League (WPL) and the international franchise experience gained by some players. At the junior level, another U-19 World Cup, this time in South Africa in January-February, promises to throw up another clutch of players that will add to India’s already massive talent pool.
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A Test-T20 schedule at the senior level allows for a more seamless marshalling of resources this year because of the T20 World Cup next year. India currently have the added responsibility of working towards building a new T20 core.
Since it’s apparent that Hardik Pandya will take forward India’s T20 interests, the onus is on the selectors as well as on coach Rahul Dravid to harness the last few good years of Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and Ravichandran Ashwin. Since nobody retires at one go these days, and assuming that Kohli and Sharma will want to carry on playing ODIs, the 2025 ICC Champions Trophy could be the logical finish line for that part of their careers.
For that run to culminate in an ICC event win, however, it is imperative that Kohli and Sharma keep playing the format and not be picked for it only in the build-up. This shouldn’t be difficult to work out, given that all three should remain in the fray for Tests and, as such, be available for ODIs.
Be prepared for an overdose of T20 cricket, though. A 10-team Indian Premier League (IPL) is scheduled to take up at least nine weeks, followed by barely a week’s break before the seniors fly off to the US and Caribbean for a month-long T20 World Cup. The grounds in the Caribbean won’t take long to acclimatise to, but the sheer amount of travel — added to the endless gameplay — from March-end on has the potential to cause considerable fatigue, despite the squad looking set to be considerably younger this time.
This is where India’s biggest test lies. For any country’s premier league to be successful, the franchises need their icons. That means Mumbai Indians need Pandya to not only lead them but also to double as the all-round workhorse he was for Gujarat Titans, after he recovered from a career-threatening back injury.
For more than two months, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj, Arshdeep Singh and Prasidh Krishna will be key to their respective teams’ performances, while the franchises publicly acknowledge their responsibility to monitor their capped Indian players in collaboration with the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). It’s a ritual by now, the success of which will only be visible by the end of June.
If T20 isn’t your cup of tea, there is plenty of riveting live Test cricket action to watch out for this year. Five home Tests against New Zealand and Bangladesh in the September-October window could provide a timely opportunity to boost India’s chances of making a third consecutive appearance in a Test Championship final. Before that, though, comes a five-Test home series against England, who have won 13 of the 18 matches since Brendon McCullum and Ben Stokes took charge of the Test team in May 2022.
But playing fearless cricket at home is one thing; fighting subcontinental conditions is another. England may have been emboldened by their sweeping 3-0 win in Pakistan in December 2022, but they were not then being tested by the kind of spin, or the pitches, that India possess. And the last decade has taught us that if Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja are match-fit, India need not sweat to win at home.
Whether that narrative holds will be subject to how tactically flexible England can be in what surely is the toughest curveball to their “high risk-high rewards” approach.
Equally tantalising is the prospect of playing five Tests in Australia, a first for India since the 1992 tour. At 36, this could be the last time Kohli tours Australia, where he first led India, in 2014-15. Ashwin too might not return, after this round, to the scenes of his dogged resistance during that epic draw in Sydney three years ago, which was followed by India’s greatest-ever triumph, at the Gabba.
There will be no David Warner to face this time, but under the leadership of Pat Cummins, expect Australia to make the best of a long series as they seek to reclaim the ground lost to India in their last two tours at home.
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ALSO IN THE YEAR AHEAD
Nadal’s return (and swansong?)
Whether or not 2024 will be Rafael Nadal’s (above) last season as a professional tennis player is uncertain. What is certain is that the Spaniard is coming back. Which, given the nature of his injuries and tenure of absence — he hasn’t played competitively since the Australian Open in January 2023 — is already a bonus of sorts. The French Open and the Olympics, both on the red clay of Paris, will likely be big goals for a player who has lifted a trophy at Roland Garros 14 times. But, as Nadal said, one really doesn’t know what to expect. The last time he returned from a long injury layoff, he went on to win the Australian Open and French Open in the same year (2022), despite not having played competitively for almost the entire second half of the 2021 season. With age catching up, however, it would be a bit of a miracle if the 37-year-old raised his Grand Slam tally of 22, in 2024.
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The Euro comes calling
The European Football Championship brings together the best of European football, arguably making it a more demanding assignment than the FIFA World Cup. The countdown to being crowned European champions began when the draws for Euro 2024 were announced in December. To be played in Germany from June 14 to July 14, the battle for supremacy among Europe’s best will have intriguing storylines. England, who lost the Euro 2020 final to Italy on penalties, could be on course for a semi-final clash with France, who suffered a heart-breaking defeat on penalties, to Argentina, in the 2022 FIFA World Cup final. Hosts Germany, who have been going through a rough patch in international football, face the difficult prospect of playing Spain or Italy in the quarter-finals. There’s also Portugal, and another opportunity for their poster-boy Cristiano Ronaldo to deliver a second trophy to his nation after the one he delivered in 2016.
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Mercedes chase Red Bull, again
The gap only seems to be widening between Red Bull and the rest of the cars in Formula One. However, Mercedes, which tasted a victory-less season in 2023 that saw Red Bull win all but one race and Max Verstappen dominate like never before, seem optimistic about this year. CEO Toto Wolff said the Mercedes team have taken “some proactive steps” to close the gap with Red Bull. Will it work? “I don’t know. But we’re going to see [them] in testing and then in the first race in Bahrain,” Wolff said. Red Bull will hope to continue their blazing run, which few rivals have managed to come close to, while Max Verstappen (above) will be eager to extend his hat-trick and secure a fourth straight drivers’ title. China, meanwhile, are set to make their first appearance on the F1 calendar since 2019 and the Covid-19 pandemic. The 2024 season will feature a bumper 24 races, and begins in Bahrain on March 2.
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An indoor test for the world’s best
In a year without the World Athletics Championships, the action shifts indoors. The World Athletics Indoor Championships in Glasgow in March marks a return after a two-year gap (Nanjing was due to host in 2023, an event now postponed to 2025 due to pandemic-related restrictions in China). Up to 650 competitors from over 130 countries are set to compete across 26 events (13 each for men and women). Some of the biggest names in track and field will be out to defend their titles. These include Mondo Duplantis, the Swedish-American pole-vaulter who is also the current Olympic and two-time World outdoor champion; Marcell Jacobs, the Venezuelan who holds the world record in women’s triple-jump; Yulimar Rojas, the Italian Tokyo Olympic men’s 100m champion; and Bahamian Shaunae Miller-Uibo, the two-time and reigning Olympic champion in the 400m. Although this indoor meet does not serve as a qualifying event for the Paris Olympics, it will be a key testing ground, given that it will be held less than six months before the Games.
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Woods set to play on
That Tiger Woods turned up to play at the Hero World Challenge, a yearly tournament he hosts in Albany, in December, seemed like an encouraging sign. That his body, tested by another surgery after the damaging car accident of 2021, held up over four days of competitive golf, offered some more. And thus, at the end of the four days when he finished 18th in the 20-man event with a score of even-par, the American legend was content that he could withstand the rigours of the sport again. “I was just as curious what this was going to look like. I haven’t done it in a while,” he said. The 47-year-old heads into a host of unknowns in 2024. Can his incredible golf journey find more putts this year? In a best-case scenario, the 15-time major champion hopes to play at least one tournament every month. Could these include the Majors, even the Olympics? This will likely be the year the definitely answers these questions for him.
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Can anyone stop the Oz juggernaut?
Not long after the men’s ICC T20 World Cup scheduled to be held in the US and West Indies in June 2024, comes the women’s T20 World Cup in Bangladesh, in September-October. It would be unwise to bet against Australia in the latter. The women’s team have dominated over and over, since the launch of this biennial tournament in 2009; they have in fact won six of the eight editions held so far, including the last three. The team have steadily improved their game too, emerging victorious irrespective of the conditions and the opposition. Long-time captain Meg Lanning, who lifted the 2023 trophy after her team beat South Africa in Cape Town, has since retired. But ace wicketkeeper-batter Alyssa Healy, who has taken over from her, will likely lead the star-studded side in Bangladesh. Can the Harmanpreet Kaur-led India, or any team for that matter, stop the Aussie juggernaut? The battles will certainly make for exciting cricket.
– By Rutvick Mehta
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