Sports
The Defeat of Table Toppers : India Vs New Zeland
The craze of cricket is not new in India. Indian public of every age group has always been a huge cricket maniac. The cricket world cup of 2019 was more than special for us. Everyone was hopeful for the Indian team to bring the trophy home, but sadly all the hopes and expectations got shattered into million pieces after yesterday’s match. India lost unexpectedly, and with the loss, our journey came to an end in this world cup. All the highlights and reasons are discussed further in this article.
Match Analysis
The first semi-final of the world cup was decided to take place on the 9th of July but that could not happen. Half of the game was played on 9th and the other half on 10th July. New Zealand won the toss and decided to bat first. The first inning started where New Zealand’s batting was not that impressive and everyone very early in the match decided that this match belongs to India. In 46.1 overs Newzeland only manages to score 211 runs with the loss of 5 wickets and then rain stopped the play. Rain emerged as a villain in this crucial game. After waiting for really long it was decided that the rest of the game will be continued on a reserved day.
The second day of the match started from where it was interrupted. New Zealand managed to score a total of 239 runs. Indian batting line up shattered like a stack of cards under the Newzeland bowling spell. All the expectations of yet another century from Rohit Sharma got vanished and the whole country just wanted the big win. The chase that was looking like a piece of cake earlier now looked like a walk of thorns. Although M.S Dhoni and Ravindra Jadeja tried their level best India could not save this match and ultimately lost it.
The Rain Factor
The rain played a very deciding role in this semi-finals. Debates are going on that if the match would have been completed in a normal way without rain India would have won it. But nothing is set in stone. But the rain did put Newzeland on the gaining side. It provided them the chance to redeem themselves overnight and enhance their planning to win the game. India, on the other hand, became super chill and overconfident and thus, ended up on the losing side.
MS Dhoni: the best finisher
MS Dhoni Indian team’s ex-captain and an amazing player did everything he could have done to win the game but sadly everything went in vain. The ex-captain cool played a superb inning of 50 runs, despite being out of form. MS Dhoni has done wonders for Indian cricket in the past 12 years. He is considered to be one of the most successful captains ever by winning the trophy in all the three formats and making team India number 1 in ODI as well as Test matches. But unfortunately, this might be the last world cup of Dhoni and retirement news can come any day.
Controversial Captaincy
Many questions were raised regarding the lost match. Whose fault it was? Why did top batting order fail? Why no one was sticking on the ground and scoring runs? But the most important question was raised on the captaincy of Virat Kohli. What mistakes could have been avoided by Virat Kohli as a captain? What could have been to prevent the loss after losing so many wickets? Why didn’t he as a captain took the burden on his shoulder and scored something. Moreover, his comparison with MS Dhoni also began.
Nonetheless, we shouldn’t get so disheartened over a game. It’s a sport after all someone has to lose, and someone has to win.
The Popularity of the Spanish sportsman, Rafael Nadal in the tennis world is well-known. His dominance over the French Open over all these years is also not new, since any seasons he has shown why he should be considered for the tag of greatness. In the 2020s French, Open Nadal delivered a clear dominant with scores 6-0, 6-2, 7-5, over Novak Djokovic. Djokovic praised Nadal by saying, “He keeps going. No holding him back, it seems like. It’s amazing. I mean, I admire all his achievements”
Reactions after the win
With these outstanding scores, he is now tied with Roger Federer at 20 major singles championships, which is more than any player achieved in the tennis history. Due to two back-to-back Knee surgeries Federer who is 39 years at the moment, sat out both the U.S. Open and French Open. But after Nadal’s win he posted a congratulatory note on Instagram:
“I have always had the utmost respect for my friend Rafa as a person and as a champion. As my greatest rival over many years, I believe we have pushed each other to become better players,” Federer began, ending with: “I hope 20 is just another step on the continuing journey for both of us. Well done, Rafa. You deserve it.”
After the victory, Nadal himself commented that “(To) win here means everything to me, no? It’s not the moment, honestly … (to) think today about the 20th,” and went on to say, “Roland Garros means everything to me. I spent, here, the most important moments — or most of the most important moments — in my tennis career, no doubt about that.”
At the moment he is ranked second, after his French Win. But if Djokovic won this season then the trio, Federer, Nadal, and Djokovic will be standing at 20-19-18. But with Nadal’s win, it brought him closer to break another historic record.
The record he has made is extraordinary and unbelievable but then there are certain factors that contribute to it. Nadal is known as the king of clays since his early childhood planning tennis. He plays best on the best on the red surface and Heavy topspin forehands, incredible defense and a position way behind the baseline make him undefeatable. Nadal is a left-handed player which benefits him immensely, maybe that is the reason behind several wins. His left-hand strikes give him certain unique angles that the opponent is often seen at a loss.
Final Words
Since he is playing from a very early age, he has sustained several injuries. One of the most severe ones was in his knees (Tendinitis). The specialists of the Tennis world have always pondered upon a singular thought: what would have Nadal achieved if he was free of pain and several injuries?
It is explicitly clear that the man was born to reign the Tennis Court while he plays. His fitness, strength, skills, and attitude that goes beyond the court boundary also contribute to his victory.
Indian Premier League is one of the most-awaited and thrilling events that the citizens of India wait for throughout the year. Like most of the previous IPL seasons, this year also brought jitters, cringe moments, moments of fun and cheer but most importantly a Plethora of memes. Memes are the new trend that is raging the internet, be it for positive notions or negative. The incident with Rahul Tewatia slings clearly to the positive and the brighter side.
In the match between Rajasthan Royals and Kings XI Punjab, the latter team reached a mind-numbing scored which exceeded beyond 200 runs. The credit for this goes to none other than Mayank Agarwal who scored a quick century. When it was time for Tewatia’s batting, people became thought Rajasthan Royals will lose the match because the batsman kept missing the balls and had just 8 runs in 19 balls. But to the utter surprise of everyone, when Sheldon Cottrell came to bowl, Tewatia’s luck got the best of the situation. Tewatia hit five sixes in 6 balls. If this is not turning the game around, then I don’t know what it is.
Right after that the world of social media flooded its platform with positive memes.
Here Are Some Memes That Will Definitely Crack You Up
A Bit of Fun- This picture is taken from the famous comedy show “Comedy Nights with Kapil”. The picture itself is quite self- explanatory
“Hera Pheri” Fans round up
Hulk all the way – Tewatia is clearly being compared to the “smash” version of Hulk.
Leonardo Dicaprio to the rescue
The memes that were created after the win of Rajasthan Royals surely kept the spirits of the game active. The fun banter between both the teams was a pleasure to watch as well. We hope to see more such incidents.
Seeing the current situation, it was evident from the very onset that there were going to be major changes in this year’s Indian Premier League (IPL), one of the most anticipated events in the sports work. But what the audience did not expect is the fake additional cheers. The current IPL is being held at empty stadiums in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Sharjah and the management is doing their best to keep it virus free.
They aim of the added IPL Fake Crowd cheers and shouts of joy were meant to make the matches livelier, much like how it is done for sitcoms where we see fake laughter in the background. Many people compared the match to the popular sitcom F.R.I.E.N.D.S which is known for its background laugh. But what seems to work for the show did not work for IPL. People took it to social media platforms like twitter, Instagram and Facebook to criticize the move and made memes out of it.
Some of the most famous memes
Which Peshwa are you?
The old meme which is eternal
Hang in there audience
Nothing beats stand-up comedy
Overreaction is a way of life
Bollywood is here to up the meme game
The contexts of the memes are extremely self-explanatory. All of the above memes compares the fake artificial cheers to some bizarre or exaggerated situations to extract humor. Many audiences took to Twitter to complain about the same. One person wrote, “Do you need further proof that this is more about entertainment and less about cricket when there is a need to add the fake sound of audience cheering when the game is being played in front of empty stands!”
But all these issues where overshadowed by CSK’s win.
World no.1 Serbian tennis player Novak Djokovic has been recently kicked out of the US open because he accidentally hit a line judge in the throat. With this, his stunning record of 29 winning strikes is lost along with his bid for the 18th grand slam.
In the first set of his fourth-round match against Spanish tennis player Carreno Busta. Trailing 6-5 in the first set, when Novak was going to the Arthur Ashe Stadium sideline for a changeover, he angrily threw the tennis ball behind him. As he smacked the ball, the ball went straight towards the line judges and hit a female line judge in the throat, who fell at her knees and reached for her neck in pain.
Djokovic kicked out of game
After this incident, there was some discussion on the tennis court for 10 minutes, with tournament referee Soeren Friemel, Grand Slam supervisor Andreas Egli and chair umpire Aurelie Tourte. Novak said that his action was unintentional and the incident was pure coincident. However, since the judge was hurt and this fact lead the ruling resulting in Novak being dismissed from the game.
Pleading his case, Novak said as the accident was unintended, so he should not be defaulted. Friemel who made the final decision of ending the match said that “we all agree that the action was not done on purpose, but the fact that he hurt the line judge is clear and since she is seriously hurt. He must pay the penalty”. However, Friemel didn’t saw the accident himself and was also denied the video replay, but as informed by others he took the decision.
Later, Novak Djokovic went on to shake hands with his opponent Carreno Busta and it was announced that Djokovic has defaulted, which equivalent to an ejection in tennis and Djokovic left with this without any media interaction.
Djokovic posted an apology on Instagram
After a few hours, Novak Djokovic took it to Instagram to apologize. On the post, he shared with the picture of him leaving the court he wrote that the situation has left him empty and very sad. He checked with the person hurt and is thankful that she is okay. As for the disqualification he said,” I need to go back and work on the disappointment and sorrow this had brought to me and take a life lesson from it to grow and evaluate myself”. He apologized to U.S. open and anybody hurt due to his behavior and said he meant no harm. He also thanked his team, family, and fans for supporting him. Later in another post, he also thanked all his fans for all the support and messages and asked them to wish for the line judge’s good health.
USTA also said that the ranking position will be forfeited along with 250000$ won by him during the tournament. U.S. Open also released an official statement saying that however Novak’s action was unintentional but as per the rule book the incident was reckless and need to be penalized.
Final words
Disqualifying players from tournaments in situations like these where the accident is unintentional is not so common. However, with this disqualification Djokovic has lost his opportunity to win the US open. Djokovic apologized and decided to take a lesson from it to be more careful in future.
Sumit Nagal has become first Indian in 7 years to enter the second round of the US Open. On tuesday, Sumit beat Bradley Klahn to make his way to the second round of US Open.This is a big achievement for Sumit Nagal as well the nation. Before him, Somedev Devvarman was the last Indian to get past the first round in 2013. Netizens have begun to cheer Sumit Nagal for the next round and it seems as if everyone is confident about his victory.
Sumit Nagal
Sumit Nagal is a 23-year-old tennis player from New Delhi, India. He has won 2015 Wimbledon boy’s doubles title with his partner Ly Hoang Nam from Vietnam. He is the sixth Indian player to win junior Grand Slam title. In 2017, he won first ATP challenger title. In 2019, he has won the Buenos Aires Challenge. Sumit is presently participating in the US Open and he has reached the second round. Due to COVID- 19, the number of matches has been reduced but Sumit thinks that it can serve as an advantage to him.
The U.S. administration is also taking special safety measures to safeguard everyone from virus, due to which participants will not be able to explore the city the way they might have planned. In this regard, Sumit said, “I’m a guy who likes to stay in as much as possible but… you do feel it a bit. I wish I could go out and see the buildings, walk on the streets of New York. I’ll be on my normal routine… Probably play a game or two on my computer.”
Words of Sumit Nagal on winning the first round
Sumit Nagal has expressed his feelings after winning the first round and has also shown his excitement to play the next round. He said, “I’ve got nothing to lose. Last year I played Roger Federer and this year Thiem. It’s going to be a great match. For sure, I’m not the favourite.” Due to the ongoing situation of Covid-19, the number of matches is less this year. Nagpal, who is ranked 124th in the world said that it could be an advantage for him while playing against Australia’s player who is ranked number third in the world. In his own words, “I don’t think we’ve had enough match practice on hard courts. It’s going to be the same for both of us for the match on Thursday.”
Final Words
It is a proud moment for the country as Sumit Nagal has reached the second round of US Open. As he is the only Indian to reach this level after 2013, everyone in India is very happy. This is Nagal’s second successive US Open main draw appearance and he has successfully managed to perform better this year. Indians have high hopes from Sumit now and they have already started cheering him to win the title on social media platforms.
