2017 - The Year of the Forgotten

2016 ended for most of us with perhaps how every conventional year would. Ah yes, Trump did win the POTUS elections and Leonardo DiCaprio won an Oscar. But it never really bothered us sports enthusiasts, did it?

It was probably as much a year as has been any other. You saw Virat Kohli take over the reins of being the next Indian superhero of cricket. Yuvraj Singh was done and dusted with, a legend you would rather associate with the words, ‘once upon a time’. MS Dhoni is still the best finisher in the cricket world, but of late, a bit too often for our liking, we have seen him falter towards the end.

So what's it with 2017?

2016 – An eventful year sets

AB de Villiers, after so long at the top, seemed to be fading, as has many a times been the case with sporting superheroes into their 30s. People wrote, “It's perhaps time SA get on with the fact that AB de Villiers won’t be around forever.”

On the tennis front, Rafael Nadal was out for over six months and slipped down the rankings, and the legendary Roger Federer with multiple injuries and setbacks seemed past his reign of supremacy. You saw Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic, along with a bunch of other chaps on the block, take centre stage. At 35 and 36 respectively, Serena and Venus, the Williams sisters didn’t wield the aura of their heydays.

This was nature’s call to a generation. Not something that had gained traction over time, a slowly grown sprout, but something that was right in your face and announced. Wake up, you are grown, you are old, a generation has passed.

But 2017 seems like a magical rediscovery, a revolutionary finding, something that’s spreading its magic potion on the world. It swings around its wand… and swish… the world is young again.

That’s the closest to an explanation of what 2017 has offered to us so far.

Wake up to 2017

The year started on a fairly quiet note.

Dhoni gave up his 10-year-old reign as the Indian cricket team captain, passing on the baton to Kohli, who has by now been anointed a legend himself. The Indian cricket team was basking in the glory of a successful year in cricket, of the kind unprecedented in its rich history. India’s new captain was in the form of his life, the Indian spin twins wreaking havoc at will.

The domestic Ranji season didn’t disappoint either. Mumbai reached the finals yet again, but it was Gujarat that had the final laugh.

Federer and Nadal indicated that they would be back on the court, a place where they were once dominant. South Africa, after their stupendous run over the Aussies, seemed to have moved past ABD and even found an inspiring captain to replace him.

2017 or 2007? Dream or reality?

But as the English players returned to the Indian shores again, rejuvenated, to put behind them the recent Test debacle, they were in for something different; the world was about to witness something different. As the Indian team for the ODIs and the T20s was announced, millions rejoiced at the thought of seeing Yuvraj Singh returning to the Indian ODI set-up.

They were also thrilled at the possibility of seeing the big-hitting MSD of old. As the first ODI unfolded, the world briefly went back to King Kohli and the new-found finisher, Kedar Jadhav. A couple of days later, the world would awake to a chain of events that would perhaps leave millions gaping in awe and rejoicing in joy.

Come the 2^nd ODI, “Cometh the hour, cometh the man...”, the commentators echoed. Yuvraj and Dhoni, in an exemplary display of batting, turned the clocks back a decade.

As Yuvraj played those trademark shots with that high back-lift and the lazy elegance, Dhoni unleashed the power of his wrists and reminded us of his ability to despatch ball after ball over the ropes with a stamp of authority and a calmness we so recurrently associate with him.

At least briefly, we shed that newfound recognition of having grown old and having passed a generation. Volumes were spoken and written of the feat, and the two limited overs cricket legends carried on unnerved – perhaps not recognising the impact that they had on us, on a generation.

But if it was anything, it was a sign of things to come. De Villiers walked back into the RSA national team sans the cloud of excitement of seeing him around, but instead shrouded by a cloud of doubts. He came, and he delivered, a half-century on his return, albeit in a losing cause. But he put those words into sports lover’s hearts with a smile – ABD is here to stay!

To complete the wonder, Suresh Raina came in, and clicked in his first international outing since the last T20 World Cup, bidding adieu to all the speculations and debates. And then on Sunday came Ashish Nehra, aged 37, having played in the era of Mohammed Azharuddin, Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid, Dhoni and now Kohli.

But here he was to prove you wrong yet again. If it was the young Jasprit Bumrah who delivered the killing blow to the English, it was Nehra who fought the long battle.

Life has come full circle

And who can forget the Australian Open. It was hard, it was unexpected, but the legends fought through. As they overcame the initial hurdles, the world refused to believe the possibility. Yes, we all wished they come through, but was it possible? Would they make it? And boy, did they not!

Sports lovers across the globe had no doubt what they were doing this weekend. They witnessed another epic battle between the Williams sisters as Serena took down her biggest inspirer and her biggest obstacle on her path to glory.

And on Sunday at Melbourne park, we saw two of the very best of friends off the court renew their epic rivalry on it. And as Roger Federer took the crown, for the 18^th time, we would all have perhaps sat up and wondered, did we really grow old? Doesn’t really look like it!

Resurrections are not new to sports. The world has seen Ganguly make a terrific comeback every time he was dropped, and Usain Bolt runs even faster every time he is doubted.

What distinguishes 2017 from the past years is perhaps the magnitude and the scale of events across sports. Back in 2009, Michael Schumacher did mark his second coming as well. But it was not really the kind that the sports world dreamed of.

2017 sure has ignited quite a few sparks. Experts, their opinions, stats, figures, and the thoughts and beliefs of billions have been put to rest. It has hardly been a month into this seemingly incredible year, and we the mortals cannot but wonder…

What is it with you 2017? What is with you?