What a great day for a sports connoisseur – 3 great matches in a single day And overall for Indian Sports

What a great day for a sports connoisseur – 3 great matches in a single day

July 11, 2021 would rival July 14, 2019 – yes, July 14, 2019 we had the greatest finals in the history of World Cup cricket – England winning the Cup for the first time (when it should have been New Zealand). One of the greatest Wimbledon finals that had happened till date – Djokovic prevailing over Federer – here again many of us felt sorry for the loser rather than appreciating the winner. And Lewis Hamilton again winning one more close F1 race.

Cut back to July 11, 2021. The day started pretty early – yes, the greatest South American rivals were clashing for Copa America 2021 title – yes Argentina vs Brazil. Will Lionel Messi at last win an international title for his country or will it be his erstwhile Barcelona club mate run away with the title. After all the game was being played in the Brazil and in their favorite ground (only thing they were missing was the crowd support because of Covid restrictions. And what an attacking game of Football we got to witness – each team had their chances but some brilliant defense and excellent saves with some fumbles from the forwards. And in the 22nd minute of first half, the reliable Angel Di Maria looped one on top of advancing Brazil goalkeeper Ederson just escaping the offside trip. And the half time score read – 1-0 in favor of Argentina. Neymar and co tried their best to come back strongly in the second half ?– it was a very fast game and lot of yellow cards for both teams – Brazil were desperate to score and Argentina was in no mood to let their rival score. Many fake falls from both teams with the drama king Neymar at his best. But the referee was ably supported by 2 very good support linesman as well as the 3rd eye. ?It looked like the match would end 1- 0 in favor of Argentina. And in 87th minute, Messi had just the goalkeeper to beat – something he would have scored 9 out of 10 times – but he made a mess of it. He could have crowned himself with glory with a goal (in the tournament where he was already the leading Goal scorer). But it was not to be. Still, he got what he always has dreamed off – the first international cup in his international career. So, at the end of 90 minutes, Argentina were crowned Copa America Champions – and the entire team hugged Lionel Messi – he after all was the uncrowned king of Argentina after Diego Maradona but had always failed to deliver for his country. For me, the next 10 minutes were similar to the great Cricket World cup win by India in 2011 – only difference – that match had a classic innings from Gautam Gambhir and probably one of the greatest innings by Captain cool – the one and only Thala Dhoni. The victory however was dedicated to Sachin Tendulkar the God of cricket for our generation. Another difference was there was no victory lap as it was in an empty stadium and also in your rival’s den. But overall a very fulfilling start to the day.

I had already planned my day – had to take a minimum 60 -90 minutes nap in the afternoon. And I did that exactly – around 75 minutes I slept so that I can be ready for the evening events. And yes, I was in front of the TV at 6.30pm ready to see Wimbledon from the toss -which was won by Djokovic (Joker) – His opponent M. Berrettini (MB) was the 7th seed and in his first Wimbledon finals. He had to do something extraordinary ??to defeat the rampaging Joker who wanted to win his 20th Grand Slam title (equaling Federer) and more important try and win the Olympics and US Open – something no other tennis player had ever won. It was not a great start at all for Joker – he had 3 double faults in his first 3 service games but still managed to hold serve. But he was always keeping the pressure on MB. Despite facing many break points, MB staved off many of them in his first couple of service games – but Joker got the eventual break and was serving for the game 5-3. And now MB did something extraordinary – he pulled off great cross court winners, drops and one bad service game (again double fault) was what it took MB to break Joker and get the set back even. And next 4 games were closely fought. Surprisingly the tie breaker was quite one sided with MB winning it comfortably.

But MB did not realize that he had woken the lion in Joker – he ran off the first 4 games of the second set (with his second service game just taking 68 seconds). But MB was in no mood to give up – he came back brilliantly and broke Joker in the next game. Still Joker went on to win the 2nd set 6-4 in 47 minutes. Third set was equally close – Joker being more consistent was winning the points. While winner from MB was slightly higher, the unforced errors were higher – and Joker made very good use of it and pocketed the set – this was much closer than the second set though the final score line read the same – 6-4. And in between Joker made his great signature action – he pointed his fingers to his head and said – now it is all mind games.

But MB was not a person who would give it up easily – he fought valiantly in the 4th set – each game of both players was very close. And then in MB’s 4th service game, Joker came up with two stunning cross court. And then the unthinkable happened – double fault and Joker had taken the lead in the 4th set. And Joker wanted more – he wanted to break MB one more time – And he did that in style to pocket the game, set and match 6-7, 6-4, 6-4, 6-3. What a great match. And again Joker proved why many people love him – he took a selfie with a young fan and in the presentation he praised MB for his thunderous hammer shots and that he had a great future. Just that the trio of Rafa, FedEx and Joker is not yet finished. After all, in the great Wimbledon grass court known for the vagaries – one ball skidding and another zooming past, MIB (yes – with the thunderous hammer shots played by Matteo Berrettini) on his first appearance it was a great performance against probably the greatest tennis player of all times.

What a dream start to the Euro 2021 finals – Italy getting a corner in the first minute of the game was good. But the counterattack and speed by the lightning English attack full of youth and the finish – full blooded left footer by Luke Shaw set up the tempo for the match. Italy coming in 33 games undefeated and trailing 1-0 within 2 minutes of the final was a big surprise. And being at Wembley with probably 90% home support (only God can save the Italian fans) did not make things easy for Italy. Rest of the first half was more or less equally tied between the teams – with England going back to what they do best – strong defense. With Italy not being very agile team, they had to be wary against the super speed runs by Sterling, Kane and others it was a difficult situation for them. First half ended England 1, Italy zero.

Italy were relentless in their attack in second half – they knew they had to draw level. So, most of first 20 minutes the ball was always in the English half – they had moved to 5 defenders. And in the 67th minute, the old warhorse Bonnuci who had a silent Euro till then, scored his first goal – great timing to score a goal – just a small nudge but that was enough! Italy continued in same vein – they knew the best way to win is continuous attack. Literally all 10 players were in the England half! England defended stubbornly and match went into extra time. England tried changing tactics and brought in more attacking players – But the result stayed 1-1 at end of extra time as well. With Italy missing the second penalty (great save by England goalie – Jordan Pickford) and Rashford making a mess of his shot it was 2-2 after three hits. ?Italy went ahead as Jersey 20 successfully hit the target – Advantage Italy 3 -2. Sancho’s shot was saved by Gianluigi, Jorginho shot was saved by Jordan. And Saka -the 19 year old was under lot of pressure and . missed the final penalty for England. So, the old guard retained their winning streak and claimed the Euro cup

What a great way to end the day – All three matches won by the old warhorses.

In addition, what a great day for Indian sports:

·????????Our Women’s cricket team levelled the T20 series against England through an incredible performance

·????????The first Indian born American Samir Banerjee won the Junior Wimbledon title – till now, Indian have primarily excelled in education, politics. One of the first time that an Indian born American achieved this peak in sports

·????????The one time great West Indian team humbled the mighty Aussies in T20

Only negative was the Indian embassy in Afghanistan had to be temporarily shut because of the rampaging Taliban – really tough times for India and globe in general – except terrorism to raise its ugly head. All Indian and other countries investment in Afghanistan would be completely destroyed. Hoping against hope that sanity will prevail.

After all life is all about Hope.?Have a great day / year ahead