Daily Hindu Editorials

👉The top teams appear to be peaking perfectly in time for the World Cup👈 The 2018 FIFA World Cup begins in Russia in a flurry of excitement. That there is no single, overwhelming favourite to win the trophy has only added to the appeal of what is cracked up as the world’s biggest sporting event. Brazil, the most successful World Cup team of all time, appears revived after a humiliating semifinal loss on home soil four years ago. Tite, the manager, has made the world fall in love with the Selecao again, shunning the dull style of his predecessor Dunga and helping produce some captivating football. Germany, the reigning champion and the side that inflicted a 7-1 defeat on Brazil in Belo Horizonte, has looked far from its best in its last few friendly matches. But this is a world-class side with gifted, young players and is supremely organised. Spain, revitalised after two poor tournaments, sacked its manager Julen Lopetegui for signing on as manager of club powerhouse Real Madrid. ...

👉It would not be wrong to consider Serena Williams a superhero👈 Being Serena Williams means wearing layers. No, not the catsuit. Throughout her career, she has made us privy to several of those: her race, gender, background. At the French Open this year, we saw another layer: her resilience. She was a set down against Ashleigh Barty in round two. Opening the second, she had her service broken thanks to three consecutive errors. But before you knew it, the switch flipped. Williams picked up the pace and darted forward. She piled on the aces and the forehand winners. Her intensity grew, as did her volume. She closed the match 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 with a roar that shook Court Phillipe Chatrier. A billboard in Paris read: “The Queen is back.” Williams came into the tournament playing only four WTA matches all year and only a short while after the complicated birth of her daughter. Following her first round win, she tweeted: “For all the moms out there who had a tough recovery from p...

👉Barring a few exceptions, the judiciary has not been encouraging on quotas👈 The Supreme Court’s one line order that the government can go ahead with promotions in government offices — which will have bearing on Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribe (SC/ST) reservations in promotions — has come with the caveat “in accordance with law”. This is no victory at all as all such promotions, if made, will again be challenged due to a non-fulfilment of conditions laid down in earlier judgments (which under Article 141 of the Constitution are “law declared by the Supreme Court which is binding on all courts”). The solution could be an ordinance if the Dalit cause is dear to the government. 👉Significant verdicts Barring a few exceptions, the judiciary has not been encouraging on reservation policies. In the State of Madras v. Srimathi Champakam Dorairajan (1951), which related to medical and engineering seats, the Madras High Court struck down the reservation policy. The judgment led to...

👉CSK may have been IPL’s oldest squad, but it was also its most formidable👈 At the end of the Indian Premier League, the victory of Chennai Super Kings has an air of familiar inevitability about it. The most consistent franchise since the IPL’s inception in 2008, CSK has played seven finals, including Sunday’s at Mumbai’s Wankhede Stadium. In those pivotal clashes, M.S. Dhoni’s men triumphed in three. Despite being suspended for two seasons — 2016, 2017 — following a betting scandal involving a team official, the new team wore a familiar look. All credit to skipper Dhoni who sported his signature unflappable cool as his team coasted to an easy victory, after some nail-biting finishes in earlier rounds. Right through the season the cameras trained on the CSK dugout showed a Dhoni who was undemonstrative even as he let his players display a gamut of emotions. The captain’s icy demeanour was an antidote to the frenzied twists of Twenty20 cricket. CSK was disadvantaged inasmuch as it...

👉A look at the achievements of the Open Era, 50 years after it began👈 Fifty years ago, the British Lawn Tennis Association declared, “The English are tired of the hypocrisy in the sport, the shamateurism that plagues high-class tennis.” Thus was born the Open Era in tennis and on April 22, 1968, John Clifton hit the first serve of the Open Era at the Hard Court Championships in Bournemouth, England. Before the Open Era, tennis was a sport split into two. The vast majority of its players were amateurs who competed in a host of tournaments, including the major championships. They didn’t play for money but they did, however, deal with under-the-table profits which earned them the title “shamateurs”. The professionals, who wanted to earn money, were not allowed to play at prestigious events and had to pick up the racquet to eke out a living wherever they could find an audience that was willing to pay and watch. But the Open Era established prize money and allowed both professiona...

👉The proposal to bring the BCCI under the RTI reflects rising public expectation There is little surprise in the Law Commission of India recommendation that the Board of Control for Cricket in India be brought under the purview of the Right to Information Act. Over the years, the popular expectation that India’s cash-rich and commercially successful apex cricket body will have to make itself more transparent and accountable has been rising. While the BCCI is a private body that needs no financial help from the government, it is being increasingly recognised that it performs significant public functions. Even though a five-judge Bench of the Supreme Court in 2005 held by a 3-2 majority that the BCCI could not be termed an instrumentality of the ‘State’ under Article 12 of the Constitution, subsequent developments have ensured that the public character of its functioning is widely recognised. In recent years, especially against the backdrop of the betting scandal that hit the Indian...

👉Indian athletes make a mark in diverse sports at the Commonwealth Games. The Olympics has a global allure and the Asian Games basks in its continental spread. Compared to these two, the Commonwealth Games may look like an unflattering vestige of Britain’s colonial past. Yet there is no denying the CWG’s relevance as a stepping stone to greater sporting glory. For India, the relatively limited competition means it remains a frontrunner. This was underlined over the last fortnight at the Gold Coast in Australia, where India won 66 medals and improved on the haul of 64 from the 2014 edition at Glasgow. Importantly, the number of golds rose from 15 to 26. In wrestling, weightlifting, shooting, boxing, badminton and particularly table tennis, India dominated. There were world-class efforts from the Indians. Five-time world boxing champion Mary Kom, two-time Olympic medallist wrestler Sushil Kumar, world champion weightlifter Mirabai Chanu, 2016 world junior javelin champion Neeraj Cho...

👉Dinesh Karthik has earned his right to play alongside Dhoni as a specialist batsman. When Dinesh Karthik pulled off an incredible heist with his 29 off 8 balls in the Nidahas Trophy final against Bangladesh, his restrained jubilation after bludgeoning the final ball for a six was in the quintessential style of M.S. Dhoni, a man for whom he has been a stopgap replacement through his career. Karthik wasn’t underplaying his feat. His subdued celebration was an expression of supreme confidence in his ability as a batsman. Karthik has repeatedly stressed that he is a batsman-wicketkeeper, and not the other way around, as he has probably been perceived by several selection committees in his 14-year career. Such were the standards set by Dhoni that having an additional wicketkeeper in the XI would only be a surplus to the team’s needs. Hence, Karthik has essentially been below Dhoni in the pecking order. He would have to make himself indispensable as a batsman alone to sea...

👉Gold (17) M.C. Mary Kom won 45-48 kg category boxing event, claiming gold in her debut Commonwealth Games. Bajrang Punia won the gold medal in freestyle 65kg wrestling. Tejaswini Sawant won the 50m rifle position event 15-year-old Anish Bhanwala bagged gold in men's 25m rapid fire pistol. In men's freestyle 74kg wrestling, double Olympic-medallist Sushil Kumar won gold. Rahul Aware added another gold medal to India's tally, winning in the Men's Freestyle 57kg wrestling event. In the double trap women shooting, India's Shreyasi Singh won gold. Shooter Heena Sidhu won gold in 25m pistol event to give India its 11th gold medal in the Games. The Indian mixed team badminton claimed gold for the first time in the Games' history. In the 10m men's air pistol event, India's Jitu Rai won gold. This is his second Commonwealth gold.  In the women's table tennis event, the Indian team won its first ever Commonwealth gold ...

💥Without shifting IPL out, the rights of fans and protesters could have been protected The shifting of Indian Premier League cricket matches out of Chennai reflects poorly on the Tamil Nadu administration. It is misleading to see the development as a victory for protesters espousing the Cauvery cause or as the inevitable result of the current political mood in Tamil Nadu. By conveying its inability to give adequate police security to the remaining matches to be held in the city, the State government, which had adopted a wishy-washy attitude towards holding the IPL in Chennai, simply capitulated. It is undeniable that there were aggressive protests around the Chepauk stadium just before the season’s first match in the city. Road blockades, frayed tempers and scuffles between the police and protesters suggested it would be a challenge to hold more matches. But governments exist to maintain public order and are expected to stand up to threats made by a fringe, whether it is calling f...

💥Gold The Indian mixed team badminton claimed gold for the first time in the Games' history. In the 10m men's air pistol event, India's Jitu Rai won gold. This is his second Commonwealth gold.  In the wo men's table tennis event, the Indian team won its first ever Commonwealth gold medal.  In 10m women's air pistol , Manu Bhaker won gold and added sixth gold for India at the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games. Weightlifter Punam Yadav became the third woman to win gold for India, coming out on top in the women's 69 kg category at the CWG 2018. Weightlifter Venkat Rahul Ragala became the fourth Indian to claim a gold medal in the men's 85 kg category. Weightlifter Satish Kumar Sivalingam won India's third gold in the men’s 77kg category. Weightlifter Sanjita Chanu landed India its second gold medal, winning the top spot in the women’s 53kg category. Weightlifter Mirabai Chanu was the first gold medal winner...

💥Can the IPL afford to take the moral high ground in the ball tampering issue? Everything was going fine for Australian cricket until the third day of the third Test at Newlands in Cape Town, just before lunch. South Africa was going strong with over a hundred runs on the board for the loss of just one wicket. At that point, Australian captain Steve Smith and his men decided to cheat. The task of tampering with the ball for reverse swing was assigned to eight-Test-old Cameron Bancroft. The baggy green was tarnished as Smith, Bancroft, and vice-captain David Warner admitted their guilt publicly. While the International Cricket Council (ICC) slapped Smith with a one-Test match ban and fined him 100% of his match fee, Bancroft was let off relatively lightly with a fine of 75% of his match fee. Both players got the maximum punishment possible under the rules of the ICC, yet the cricket community at large was disappointed that a tougher line was not taken. Cricket Australia (CA),...

💥Australia needs to do a lot more to punish the ‘ball-tampering’ guilty Cricket is a sport, but it is also a code of honour. The phrase ‘it’s not cricket’ refers to any act that is not fair. That it has been called ‘a gentleman’s game’ suggests that it is held to high standards. Yet, like a few other things wrong with the game, ball-tampering remains one of its murkiest secrets. The seemingly innocuous application of saliva and sweat, and more interventionist acts such as pressing chewed lozenges, throwing the ball hard on the surface, the use of nails or abrasive dust from the turf, and in some cases the use of bottle openers have plunged a knife into the game’s heart even as they enhanced many a fast bowler’s ability to extract reverse-swing. This past weekend, Steve Smith’s Australian team went one step further on that road to infamy, prompting its opening batsman Cameron Bancroft to scuff the ball with a yellow tape laden with dirt-granules from the pitch during the course o...

💥South Africa provides a viable template on how to make the game more inclusive “What do they know of cricket who only cricket know?” C.L.R. James famously said. The spectacular rise of Lungisani Ngidi in South African cricket (in the recently concluded South Africa-India series) from the racially oppressed black African majority community is a lesson for other sporting nations characterised by racial and caste oppression. More importantly, the quota policy for the disadvantaged communities of South Africa shows a mirror to India whose marquee sport, cricket, reflects severe social inequities. The virtual absence of Dalits and Adivasis from the Indian playing XIs is there for all to see, even though they constitute around 25% of India’s population. 👉An invisibility In a nation where the word “reservation” can unleash violent emotions, it is nevertheless important to deliberate upon the advantages of reservation in sport. After years of Independence, the sporting culture...

How the Ganguly and Kohli eras compare There isn’t a universally accepted definition of the word “aggression” in the cricketing context. In Australia vocal, in-your-face intimidation that might pass as banter is considered sporting aggression. As it turns out, Australian cricketer Matthew Hayden offered an interesting take on the aggression in the Indian context: he said you needed to look at Rahul Dravid’s eyes to see that he had the fire in his belly, and that his inward aggression drove him. Yet for other Indian cricketers, such as Virat Kohli, the outward variety may work better, and help infuse self-belief in his team. His fist-pumping, animated celebrations and less-than-diplomatic send-offs to batsmen make him a television favourite. Recently, Dravid struck a cautionary note when he said that youngsters would risk being inauthentic to themselves if they start aping Kohli’s every move. A gamechanger Kohli is not the first Indian captain of this il...

There is as much politics around the Winter Olympics as enthusiasm about sport The Russian doping scandal continues to cast a long shadow over international sport as the 2018 Winter Olympics begin in PyeongChang, South Korea, on February 9. In December, the International Olympic Committee banned Russia from competing in the Games following investigation into an alleged state-sponsored doping programme at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia. The decision to ban Russia came after the IOC’s Disciplinary Commission, headed by former president of the Swiss Confederation Samuel Schmid, confirmed “systemic manipulation of the anti-doping rules and system in Russia”. The IOC had stated, however, that clean Russian athletes would be allowed to compete as neutrals and last month invited 169 of them — each to be known as Olympic Athlete from Russia (OAR) — to participate in the PyeongChang Games. The announcement did not go down well outside Russia, even though...

Indian cricket has its work cut out to mentor the Under-19 team for the bigger stage India’s title triumph in the Under-19 cricket World Cup at the Bay Oval in New Zealand seemed inevitable. Prithvi Shaw’s boys, astutely coached by Rahul Dravid, maintained an unbeaten record through their three-week sojourn. The rousing campaign commenced with a 100-run win against Australia on January 14; in subsequent games, Papua New Guinea, Zimbabwe, Bangladesh and Pakistan were all emphatically defeated. There were no big-game nerves and even in the much-hyped semifinal against Pakistan, India pocketed a facile 203-run victory. In the summit clash against Australia, Shaw’s boys followed their template of dominance. Australia was bowled out for 216 and India cruised home in 38.5 overs with eight wickets to spare, and enjoyed the added lustre of opener Manjot Kalra’s unbeaten 101. Through the tournament India found diverse heroes. Fittingly, its batting troika of Shaw, Kalra ...

How Roger Federer is fighting against time Twenty years after he turned pro and an equal number of Grand Slams later, Roger Federer has proven that his ability to surprise is undiminished. In 2017, when Federer returned after a long break, it was a chance for us to relive our best memories of him: that whipping cross-court one-handed backhand, the vintage Federer slice. Now in 2018, his sheer presence is a promise. What does Wimbledon hold in store for us, we wonder. There was something else about Federer’s Australian Open final win last weekend: an unusual blend of razor-sharp intensity and vulnerable uncertainty. He raced to a confident first set victory, completely squandered some opportunities in the fourth, staged a clinical destruction in the fifth, and finally let his emotions run free during the ceremony. Holding back tears, he said, “I can’t believe it... but the fairytale continues.” Neither can we. Tennis critics have been talking about the “...

At the Australian Open, Roger Federer gave us more reasons to believe he is the greatest ever Roger Federer’s iridescent late-career renaissance continued at the Australian Open on Sunday. The Swiss maestro has now won three of the last four Grand Slam events he has entered — a success rate great champions usually achieve during their athletic prime, not in the mid-30s. Indeed, Ken Rosewall, who claimed the 1972 Australian Open at 37, is the only man older than Federer (36 years and 173 days) to have won a Major singles title in the Open Era. Perhaps the most remarkable aspect of Federer’s record-extending 20th Grand Slam crown was the certainty that accompanied it. Where last year’s triumph in Melbourne was startling — it was his first Major victory in nearly five years — Federer entered the second week this time as the firm favourite. His striking, well-proportioned game looked in good order. Significantly, he seemed in no trouble taking the ball i...

With the player auction, the eight IPL squads have taken shape with a few surprises The Indian Premier League player auction is a parallel cricketing universe with a distinct dynamic. Over the weekend at a Bengaluru hotel, the IPL’s top brass congregated with a wish-list that had no space for nostalgia. Lasith Malinga found no takers while Chris Gayle, perhaps the most explosive batsman in the history of Twenty20, was rejected twice before he got third-time lucky when Kings XI Punjab snapped up the opener at his base price of ₹2 crore. There was no respect either for doughty batting performances in Tests. South Africa’s Hashim Amla, who played his part in the recent match at Johannesburg’s Wanderers, was ignored, and Cheteshwar Pujara found no suitors in the IPL. In Twenty20’s roller-coaster ride, the attributes of patience and grit, so mandatory in Tests, have comparatively little value. The accent is on explosive batting, miserly bowling, athletic fieldi...