IPL's sojourn to the Reds rise: Silver linings in sport's year of disaster

Sport in the time of a raging virus seemed like an impossibility at first. Cricket tours were abandoned, the Tokyo Olympics put off by a year and Wimbledon cancelled for the first time since World War II. But as the pandemic eased, sport, as it often does, set out to offer a healing touch. While there was limited action, there were seminal moments, of record-breaking achievements and bold political statements. Here’s the pick of the lot.

> Rafael Nadal’s lucky 13

As denouements go, Rafael Nadal’s shellacking of Novak Djokovic in the French Open final will go down as among the most brutal in modern tennis. Played in the bitter cold of September and October instead of the warm sunshine of May, Roland Garros this year had a peculiar feel to it, one that was perhaps ideal for a new champion to announce himself.

Nadal, of course, was having none of that. He romped to an astonishing 13th title in Paris, which tied him with Roger Federer for the most major titles (20). While Nadal’s victory wasn’t entirely unexpected, the manner of it was: The Spaniard didn’t drop a single set throughout the tournament, and his win against an in-form Djokovic was tennis of the gods, a stirring exhibition of athleticism and strokeplay. If the body holds up, you’d need nothing less than a miracle to deny Nadal at the French Open in 2021, a year that is likely to see him pull away from Federer on the all-time list.

> IPL’s foreign sojourn 

For long, the Indian Premier League (IPL) has prided itself on being the best T20 tournament in the world, a reputation that was supposed to be put to test in the UAE — only the third time the competition was being played away from home. Despite the logistical hassles, the IPL delivered — emphatically.

It’s sometimes difficult to gauge the quality of the actual cricket on display. This year showed that the IPL remains the gold standard for the sport’s shortest format, throwing up intensely fought games and unlikely heroes like Rahul Tewatia and Ishan Kishan.

In this unpredictable year, it was perhaps only fitting that the Royal Challengers Bangalore made a dash for the title, and the Chennai Super Kings missed the playoffs. There was some semblance of normality, however: The Mumbai Indians coasted to their second straight title win. When the IPL returns home in April 2021, it will have a tough act to follow — a task that could potentially be made easier by fans coming back to stadiums.

> Athletes speak up 

Sport and politics have often shared a complicated relationship, but 2020 saw a number of athletes use their fame and influence for good.

Japanese tennis player Naomi Osaka paid tribute to black victims of violence in America before each of her matches at the US Open, which she deservedly won. If Osaka’s tennis was good, her act of wearing a series of masks bearing the names of these black Americans was even better.

Standing in solidarity with protesters, Milwaukee Bucks led a mini-shutdown of the NBA. The WNBA and Major League Soccer postponed matches. In England, former West Indian fast bowler Michael Holding delivered a powerful on-air monologue around the Black Lives Matter movement during the home side’s Test series against the West Indies. Premier League teams even decided to take a knee before kick-off. 

In a season of curtailed sport, this awakening was a thing to celebrate, one that was testament to how power, when used right, can promise change.

> The Reds rise 

Sport is played and watched by humans, but if there was something akin to the proverbial sporting machine in 2020, it was Jürgen Klopp’s Liverpool side. After coming within a point of winning the Premier League the season before, the Reds swept their way to their first domestic crown in 30 years. This wasn’t merely a title triumph — it was a demolition.

For a major part of the 2019-20 season, it seemed as if Klopp’s men were immersed in playing a different sport, suffocating teams with their maniacal press and punishing them with a breathless display of attacking potency. There were many highlights, but perhaps there was none better than the 4-0 crushing of Leicester City on Boxing Day.

This is a team built firmly in Klopp’s personality: Bold, relentless and near-invincible. Given their fast start to the new season, another title charge looks inevitable.

> Winning it for Kobe

On January 31, the Los Angeles Lakers organised a pre-game ceremony for franchise legend Kobe Bryant, who had died five days earlier in a helicopter crash. It was a moving tribute that left many Lakers players, including LeBron James, in tears. The Lakers were always one of the favourites for the NBA title, but if they ever needed any extra spurring on, this was it.

This sentiment was probably best encapsulated by Anthony Davis when he hit the game-winning shot against the Denver Nuggets in the Western Conference finals and yelled “Kobe”, pounding his chest in the process. Subsequently, the Lakers comfortably rolled over the Miami Heat in the title clash, with James being named finals MVP.

Their first in over a decade, this win meant so much more to the current Lakers team because Bryant was a like a mentor to most of them. His shadow is likely to guide them again, with the bookies having the Lakers down as prime contenders for the 2021 season as well.

> Seventh heaven for Hamilton 

Formula 1 racing has reached a point where you can’t help but wonder if success on the track is determined by the quality of the driver or the quality of the car. That is, of course, oversimplifying a complex sport, but there is some truth to that.

That argument, however, doesn’t quite stick in the case of Lewis Hamilton, who won his seventh world championship this year. With that, he tied Michael Schumacher for most titles. 

Comparisons across eras are often odious, but Hamilton is undoubtedly now the greatest driver of his generation. With Hamilton, his decision-making — for example, the call to stick with intermediate tyres at the Turkish Grand Prix — has made all the difference.