Recapping the Indian sporting highlights of 2012
Indian Sports witnessed a golden year with remarkable achievements. Let’s take a tour of the sporting highlights of 2012.
As far as Indian Cricket is concerned, it was a year of losses. In International cricket itself, the evergreen Sachin Tendulkar retired. Rahul Dravid, a player who for a long time served as a wall for the Indian team, also left. Let’s not forget V.V.S Laxman, the man who risked his life and saved India in a lot of crucial moments.
While Dravid and Laxman have completely bid goodbye to the cricket world, Sachin has only retired from ODIs and Twenty 20. He assured us that he would continue to serve the Test team. Sachin has 18,426 runs to his credit from 463 matches. Majority of cricket’s unbreakable records are in Sachin’s name. After a long period of excitement and suspense, Sachin finally surpassed the milestone of his 100th century, this year. He achieved this stunning feat in an Asian Cup match against Bangladesh in March.
At the same time, it was on March 9 that Dravid confirmed his retirement after the Australian series. After Sachin, Rahul Dravid claims the second position for most number of runs scored in Test cricket. Also, the record for most number of catches in Test cricket matches is also in Dravid’s name.
It was on August 18 that Laxman retired from the world of cricket. The master scored a massive 8781 runs from 134 Test matches. The trio will be missed by the passionate Indian cricket fans for the years to come.
2012 was a year which gave pure consciousness to Indian football. For the second year running, Indian football team was able to be the Nehru Cup champions. India qualified for the finals after being second in a group which included African powerhouse Cameroon B. Cameroon B, who were the tournament favourites, surrendered to India in a 5-4 nail-biting penalty shootout. The teams went to penalties after the score was 2-2 in regular and extra time. Star striker and Indian captain Sunil Chhetri paved the way for India’s classic victory over Cameroon B. He was the top-scorer with 4 goals. It was Koeverman’s first international title with the Indian team after he took over on July 1st, 2012.
After his supreme battle with cancer, Yuvi’s return to the cricket pitch in 2012 made the cricket lovers overjoyed. After 10 months of treatment, the all rounder played his first match against New Zealand in a T20 match. Against Pakistan, he scored a massive 72 runs from 36 balls. His return has made a big difference to the poor performances of the Indian team.
London witnessed India’s best performance ever in the history of Indian Olympics. Even though the dream of earning a gold medal was unfulfilled, 2 silvers and 4 bronze medals were added to India’s hall of victory that we all must applaud. In shooting, it was Vijay Kumar and in Wrestling, it was 2008 Olympics bronze medallist, Sushil Kumar; both earning a silverware this time. In shooting, Gagan Narang in Badminton, Saina Nehwal in Women’s Boxing, M.C Mary Kom, Men’s Boxing Yogeshwar Dutt claimed Bronze medals. It was truly a memorable display by Indian athletes that we must never ever forget.
The award for best Indian footballer was for Indian playmaker Raheem Nabi, who completely deserved it. He has this mesmerizing skill of providing assists to his team mates rather than trying to score. This is what differentiates him from other football players. It was the first time in his football career that he became the recipient of this award. While Manandeep Singh grabbed the award for Best Youth player, Trevor Morgan received the best coach award. Dempo Sportsclub has been selected as Team of the Year.
This year’s Indian Premier League showcased the rise of new Champions – Kolkata Knight Riders. Shahrukh Khan’s KKR, who were unable to win the IPL for the last 4 seasons, put in a strong, dedicated and appreciable performance over 2011 IPL champions, Chennai Super Kings, as they thrashed them by 5 wickets at the Chidambaram Stadium.