When FIFA, football’s world governing body, decreed some nine-and-a-half years back that the sport’s flagship event, the World Cup, would be expanded to 48 teams from the existing 32 from the 2026 edition, it was received with mixed feelings. Nations that had narrowly missed out on qualification were energised by the prospect of 16 additional berths boosting their prospects to a reasonable degree. Others weren’t merely sceptical or apprehensive, they vehemently dismissed it as a populous, self-serving, self-defeating decision.
The backers believed the expansion of the World Cup to 48 countries was in keeping with football’s standing as easily the most popular sporting endeavour in the universe. That it would encourage the piecing together of infrastructure and systems in the ‘lesser’ nations because now, there was plenty of light at the end of the foreboding tunnel. Sides that would once have reconciled to merely watching the action on television started to believe they had a chance, however distant or optimistic.
The naysayers insisted that going from 32 to 48 would dilute the standards of the tournament. They argued that the World Cup was the ultimate platform to showcase skills and character, that only the cream deserved that privilege. They forecast a plethora of lop-sided encounters, convinced that the established order would run roughshod over the newbies.
And so, when Cape Verde and Curacao fought their way into the World Cup, coming through the qualification process, they predicted routs of epic proportions. And yet, here we are today, with Curacao having hardly embarrassed themselves despite being routed 7-1 on their World Cup debut by Germany after earning an honourable 0-0 stalemate with Ecuador. And with Cape Verde giving Argentina, mighty Argentina, Messi-fuelled Argentina, the defending champions, a gargantuan scare in the round of 32.
As for the established order, four-time former champions Germany failed to advance beyond the last-32, dumped on penalties by Paraguay. The same day, a similar fate befell Netherlands, who also lost in a shoot-out to Morocco, the 2022 semifinalists.
The aftermath has been swift with Julian Nagelsmann stepping down as coach and Jurgen Klopp in talks with the German federation to take control and arrest an alarming slide. Likewise, Ronald Koeman called time on his tenure as the Dutch coach.
What the tangible impacts of their commendable World Cup debuts will have on Cape Verde and Curacao remains to be seen. Having come into the tournament as novelties rather than serious contenders, they showed that they weren’t content to merely make up the numbers. They haven’t been the only success stories of the tournament so far. Evidently, Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappe, Erling Haaland and Harry Kane are jostling for prominence and pre-eminence as the race for top honours hots up a fortnight ahead of the July 19 final. But it is in the spunk and spirit shown by the two projected no-shows that the status of football as a mass sport has been enhanced.
Irresistible
There is something irresistible about rooting for the underdog, like Wimbledon did on Saturday when fast rising Filipino Alexandra Eala put out defending women’s singles champion Iga Swiatek on Centre Court in the third round. The straight-set victory made Eala the first tennis player from her country, male or female, to advance to the fourth round of a Grand Slam.
To watch the overwhelming favourite systematically dismantle someone ranked far lower isn’t necessarily enjoyable. No disrespect to the champions, because they need to be ruthlessly professional, not kind and empathetic, if they are to remain at the top. But to see a less fancied individual push, stretch and eventually conquer Goliath stirs something in the most dispassionate of us.
Ireland’s 2-0 decimation of India in the recent T20I series falls in that category. Indian fans might not have been thrilled with the outcome, the Indian team even less so, but even the average Indian supporter hasn’t exactly grudged the Irish their moment under the sun.
Hardik Pandya.
| Photo Credit:
B. JOTHI RAMALINGAM
Harshit Rana.
| Photo Credit:
R. RAGU
It was hardly the result Shreyas Iyer would have envisaged or welcomed in his first outing as the T20I captain, but India can have few complaints even though they had just one meaningful practice session in Belfast before the first game. They are the World Cup holders and the No. 1-ranked team across the globe, but showed little alacrity in adapting to the unfamiliar (to them) conditions exploited superbly by the home team.
India’s poor start to their tour of the United Kingdom has spilled over to England, who bossed the second T20I on Saturday (the first on Wednesday was abandoned due to rain after one innings) on the back of a Jacob Bethell special and a horror 17th over from leggie Ravi Bishnoi that was decisive in charting the destination of the contest. Vaibhav Sooryavanshi’s much expected debut wasn’t spectacular – 14 from 10 – but the sixes he struck off Rajasthan Royals teammate Jofra Archer and Josh Tongue hold the promise to more, and sustained, fireworks in the remaining three games.
Sooryavanshi doesn’t figure in the 50-over squad which will lock horns with Harry Brook’s men in a three-match showdown next week; his time will come, eventually, though for now, the 15-year-old has to be content with being a one-format international (when was the last time we said this?).
In focus
The focus when the first of three ODIs plays out in Birmingham next Tuesday will be trained unerringly on two of India’s most recent all-format captains, who will continue to attract unalloyed attention for the remainder of their international careers.
Cristiano Ronaldo, 41, is still producing (admittedly sporadic) moments of magic at the World Cup while Messi, three years younger, is scoring goals for fun and seeking to pull off what that other little genius from Argentina, Diego Maradona, could not accomplish — leading his team to a successful title defence. A staggering eight players aged 40 and more have figured in this World Cup — more than all previous 22 editions combined — while at 44, 23-time Grand Slam champion Serena Williams has embarked on a tentative comeback to the WTA Tour.
Indian cricket, however, frowns upon the 35-plus bracket — an improvement from 30-plus in the not-too-distant past, for whatever it is worth — which is why Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli have been under the arc lights for more than just that exceptional skills in the last 14 months, since they chose to become one-format internationals only.
To a certain degree, it is worth pondering over the physical conditioning of Rohit, 39, and the 37-year-old Kohli by the time the next 50-over World Cup comes around, in 15-and-a-half months’ time. But maybe we should obsess a little less over these two stalwarts and reflect instead on a trio which brings a special skillset so far as India are concerned, who are a lot younger and who spend a lot of time on the sidelines, recovering from injuries, without attracting the same scrutiny as the two celebrated former skippers.
India have embarked on a fruitless, futile, impossible quest for a like-for-like replacement since the great Kapil Dev bid adieu in 1994 . The last three decades and more have thrown up quite a few pace-bowling quasi-all-rounders, but how can anyone replace Kapil? How can anyone ever? Naturally athletic, gifted with a silken smooth run-up and an out-swinger to die for, and the most destructive of batters when the mood seized him, the legend from Haryana was three cricketers rolled in one.
India tried to make a Kapil out of numerous persevering but just not-in-the-same-league all-rounders, including current chairman of selectors Ajit Agarkar, though the emergence of Hardik Pandya seemed finally to answer several, if not all, of their prayers.
Hardik decided very early in his international journey that his body couldn’t handle the rigours of the five-day game, even though in 11 Tests, he both scored a blazing century and snared a commendable five-for. He hasn’t, however, played a Test for close to eight years, dedicating himself to the two white-ball formats where his expertise with bat and ball lend great balance and flexibility.
Influential
He was an influential member of T20 World Cup triumphs in 2024 and 2026, and the 50-over Champions Trophy title charge, but the 32-year-old’s is a fragile body which is increasingly relegating him more to the infirmary than allowing him to stride the world stage like a colossus.
Then, there is Nitish Kumar, only 23 and 10 Tests young, but with already a Boxing Day ton to his name. He is being touted as the insurance, at the very least, against Hardik’s trysts with fitness, though he himself hasn’t inspired confidence with a plethora of injuries that have restricted his white-ball appearances to six ODIs and four T20Is since his limited-overs international debut in October 2024. Under Gautam Gambhir’s tutelage, India’s backroom staff has also embarked on a mission to convert paceman Harshit Rana, 24, into an all-rounder of sorts, relying on his power to eke out bruising late-order runs from the right-hander.
Harshit has a long way to go before being considered an all-rounder in even in the Nitish mould, but these two gents and Hardik are the front-runners to earn slots in the 15-man squad for the next 50-over World Cup, to be played on pace-friendly surfaces (it is believed) in South Africa, Zimbabwe and Namibia.
Harshit is just coming off an extended lay-off following a severe right knee injury while Nitish is nursing an aggravated left quadriceps injury, the latest in a long and unfortunate list.
Hardik himself sustained a quadriceps injury that kept him out of the Afghanistan ODIs last June and ruled him out of the tour of Ireland and England. Nitish has picked up too many non-cricketing injuries to inspire genuine confidence, while Hardik’s shift to Bengaluru to make the most of the expert guidance on various fronts at the Centre of Excellence is both a tribute to his commitment to the cause and an acknowledgement that his body needs constant monitoring and conditioning.
More than worrying about Rohit and Kohli, therefore, the decision-makers must think long and hard about what needs to be done to ensure that the team isn’t left hanging at the proverbial last minute should one or more of this threesome contract some injury or the other before/during the World Cup. That is of at least as much importance as repeatedly and frivolously invoking Rohit and Kohli’s age, right?
