Hyderabad captain Mohammed Siraj said to win the first match of the season and his first as a captain was an amazing feeling
| Photo Credit: NAGARA GOPAL

To be installed the overwhelming favourite ahead of any major sporting extravaganza is a double-edged sword. The moniker is suggestive of a formidable individual (or team) clearly more skilled, more temperamentally adjusted, and the most likely to go all the way, but it also comes with a rider. You are marked; the rest will be doubly determined to hunt you down and add a coveted scalp to their kitty.

Long before a single ball was bowled at the Asian Games, the Indian men’s cricket team was fancied to come up trumps. The women too, of course, considering that they had just blazed to the Asia Cup in Dubai, sweeping everyone in front of them. Harmanpreet Kaur’s intrepid bunch kept its tryst with gold in commanding fashion, brooking no opposition and flexing its not inconsiderable muscle with aplomb. Immediately thereafter, the spotlight turned to Shreyas Iyer and his lads, up against four other continental Test-playing nations who chose to put out experimental rather than full-strength outfits.

One of the talking points in the lead-up to the Asiad was why India’s selectors had chosen to go with the tried and the tested. People harked back to the previous event in Hangzhou three years back, when Ruturaj Gaikwad led a second-string team to the gold medal after the final against Afghanistan was washed out, and wondered why a similar squad wasn’t pieced together. For more than one reason, it is apparent.

The previous Asian Games overlapped with the 50-over World Cup hosted by India, thereby comprehensively ruling out the presence in China of the main squad. There is no gainsaying what personnel the selectors would have picked in the absence of the said overlap; that’s delving into the realms of the hypothetical, which serves little purpose.

This time around too, India were involved in a three-match One-Day International series against West Indies at home; the first of the ODIs was played on September 27, a day before Shreyas’ boys began their title defence in the quarterfinal against Afghanistan. While there are several players who are certainties in both white-ball formats internationally, India weren’t too weakened by the absence from the 50-over set-up of Shreyas, the ODI vice-captain, and Ishan Kishan. Sure, they missed bowling spearheads Jasprit Bumrah and Axar Patel – Shubman Gill’s unit conceded more than 1000 runs to the Caribbeans in the three fixtures – but what is the weight of an ODI series with little immediate import compared to an Asian Games gold medal?

Cricket authorities have worked tirelessly in ensuring the inclusion of the sport in multi-discipline events like the Asian Games and the Olympic Games. The International Cricket Council’s avowed goal is to take the discipline to as many countries as possible. Having identified the 20-over format as the vehicle to drive that ambition, it has handed over memberships to a host of nations – the official T20I team rankings includes a staggering 102 countries – and conferred international status on matches involving even, say, Lesotho and Costa Rica, ranked 89th and joint-94th respectively.

Perfect sense

It therefore makes perfect sense to honour their presence in these big bashes by sending out the strongest team possible under the circumstances. Perhaps Shreyas might not say so publicly, but one is pretty certain that he would cherish an Asian Games gold medal more than being on the right side of a 2-1 scoreline against West Indies in a largely meaningless ODI series which, even with the World Cup a year away, was largely bereft of context. Batathons on flat tracks that took away the joy of a contest might have appealed to the spectators but it did little to edify the sport. But then, we digress.

Weight of favouritism

Shreyas and stand-in head coach V.V.S. Laxman were aware of the weight of favouritism imposed on the side. They also had the belief and the confidence that, never mind the relative strengths of their opponents, they would be unstoppable if they played at even 90% of their potential. Even at full strength, which Afghanistan were last month when they quixotically hosted India at Delhi’s Arun Jaitley Stadium, the rest of the field would have been hard pressed to stretch India. Given that Shreyas had all the big guns at his disposal, from Abhishek Sharma and Vaibhav Sooryavanshi to Sanju Samson and Kishan, and Bumrah and Axar, India had to play extraordinarily poorly and their opponents, whoever they might have been, had to play out of their skins to orchestrate an upset.

Banana skin

As their one-off T20I against Japan showcased last month, an abridged T20 game can be a banana skin. On a pitch that served as a horrible advertisement for a 5-overs-a-side affair, India huffed and puffed to a two-run victory. More than any other format, the 20-over slugfest narrows the gap between teams, and when that is reduced by 75%, the chances of a more level playing field increase exponentially.

Most pitches at the Asian Games weren’t up to scratch, favouring the bowling sides to a massive degree – how the Indian and West Indian 50-over exponents would have loved that – even though the final was played on a pretty good surface that produced more 400 runs. India’s overwhelming superiority was never more evident than in the semifinal against Sri Lanka when Kishan’s unbeaten 80 was nearly twice as much as what the entire opposition managed. India played with flair and imagination, and without the burden of expectations and fear. A lot of credit for that should go to Laxman, as good a man-manager as any the country has been blessed with but temporarily – one hopes – lost to the coaching spectrum because of personal reasons.

Laxman has now shepherded India to successive Asian Games gold medals, even though he might not individually have anything to show for it. Were he the sort, he would clamber on to the tallest rooftop and tom-tom about his contributions. But he didn’t do that when he was winning matches and shaping miracles for the country, so he is not going to embark on that journey now. In India, some people are more equal than others and that will never change, which is why Laxman’s contributions will inevitably fly under the radar though as a batter, few have influenced the outcomes of Test matches more than the stylist from Hyderabad.

One of the prime tenets of Laxman’s coaching philosophy is constancy and stability. Among the others is communication. During his playing career, Laxman suffered on both counts, so he is in a far better position to appreciate the significance of role clarity, of being made to feel wanted, and of being kept in the loop about developments so that no one is operating in a vacuum. Many of the players who travelled with him to Zimbabwe in July, immediately after the misadventures in Ireland and England, and to the Asian Games, have spoken in private of the positive influence of the 51-year-old and how his openness, approachability and his sense of balance and fairness have impacted them. Laxman is a firm believer in processes, but also in not rigidly sticking to them or making decisions on the fly, on a whim and a fancy. While no coach can ever be accused of winning or losing matches, it is undeniable that the environment they fashion within the changing room plays a massive part in how the wards approach the game. On that count, Laxman has few equals.

For Shreyas, this was a much-needed victory. Brought back to the T20I fold after two and a half years and installed as the captain with India deciding to move on from Suryakumar Yadav – World Cup-winning skipper but short on runs – he must have felt the heat after surrendering 0-2 to Ireland and 0-4 to England in his first two assignments. The clean sweep against Afghanistan last month must have lifted his morale, but this campaign, away from probing eyes, would have facilitated his reintegration to progress further. The fact that he had most of his first-choice personnel around would have aided the process of refamiliarisation and put him in a good headspace, imperative because he is the designated ODI vice-captain and will be expected to play a big part with the bat at No. 4 in the lead-up to and during the World Cup.

Shreyas knows he has a great bunch to work with. He will have taken particular joy in the sustained good form of Kishan, for whom 2026 has heralded a breathtaking second coming, and the continued development as a batter, an individual and leader of Tilak Varma, his T20I deputy. Like he had in the Asia Cup final in Dubai in September last year when he steered India past Pakistan in a tense run-chase, the left-hander from Hyderabad upped his game against the old foe in the title clash on Saturday, his unbeaten 51, off just 22 deliveries, pushing the total past 200 and out of reach of a spirited Pakistan well served by the exciting Hasan Nawaz.

Tilak was batting at No. 6, somewhat below his normal and preferred position because India stacked up their batting even if it meant they were a bowler light. He walked in with just 41 deliveries left in the innings and made a spectacular impact, showing how far he has come in international cricket. Just 23 months back, in South Africa towards the end of 2024, he sought to occupy the No. 3 position that Suryakumar had made his own. When the skipper acquiesced, Tilak expressed his thanks with two hundreds in three nights, in Centurion and adjacent Johannesburg respectively. Now, he doesn’t need the No. 3 position, which puts him in a position to play more balls than anyone else but the two openers, to unfurl his repertoire and shape the destination of 20-over games, which is exactly the kind of graph one would expect of a 23-year-old who is desperate to be a permanent for the country across formats.

Already, the Asian Games adventure is a thing of the past, what with the five-match T20I series against West Indies due to begin in Lucknow on Tuesday. A vast chunk of those who travelled to Japan will line up in the administrative and legislative capital of Uttar Pradesh, as a new challenge beckons. West Indies have shown in the ODIs that they are no pushovers and India will have their work cut out. And while they know that it doesn’t guarantee victory, Shreyas and his boys will still bask in the afterglow of an Asian Games gold medal. Whyever not?

By now, the two gold medals she has snapped up at the 2026 Asian Games have catapulted the extremely shy compound archer Chikitha Taniparthi into the national headlines. The 221-year-old – who comes from a modest farming family in Peddapalli, Telangana – is a stranger to stardom and the sprinkling of opulence that sporting achievements usually carry along in India.

There are no fancy routines or competition-day playlists yet. She doesn’t even carry a pair of earphones. All she has is a burning hunger to become India’s most decorated archer ever. And she’s off to quite a start.

For all the reticence, Chikitha – a huge Mahesh Babu fan – finds inspiration in films that are of a more audacious ilk.

“There was a movie Ram Charan did last year called Game Changer. After watching that – and it usually happens when I watch certain films – I thought, what should I do or learn from this? I myself should change the game where I am,” Chikitha told The Hindu a few weeks before setting out to Japan for the Asiad.

“Now, everyone says, whatever rank Chikitha is in, she will somehow change the game and come up. Similarly, I watched a film called Biker, where the message blared, ‘No fear.’ It all registers somewhere.”

Of betrayal and faith

That itch to push beyond the ordinary is a Taniparthi family trait. Her father, Srinivas Rao – a huge sports enthusiast – combed newspapers for summer camps his own childhood never offered.

“Naanna (father) didn’t have any such facilities when he was growing up, so he was keen to ensure that I had access to all that, within our means.”

In school, Chikitha tried her hand at a multitude of options including volleyball, badminton, basketball and kho kho. But Srinivas wanted his child to pursue an individual discipline. Towards that end, she earned a black belt in karate. But archery was destined to be the one to stick with.

“Team sports are riddled with politics. Since archery is an individual game, whatever we do is directly visible and we do what we do for ourselves.”

The year was 2018. Chikitha’s uncle, on her father’s request, had got her a recurve bow from Decathlon with which she trained behind her house, shooting at haystacks. Eventually, she and a few of her classmates went to the Police Training Center to try and find a coach to teach them. There, someone asked her to switch to a compound bow and took money from Srinivas for the same, only to disappear without a trace.

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Disappointed but not disillusioned, the father and daughter persisted with the sport. Chikitha moved away from recurve and towards compound.

“Recurve bow needs a lot of practice and power. You need to train every single day. If you return after resting for a few days, you’ll see so many changes and will have to rework it all. With compound, I could train for two hours each in the morning and evening. It needed the archer to set themselves mentally and keep getting better.”

The next pursuit became trying to purchase a compound bow, but the COVID-19 pandemic arrived soon after.

“Our classes all went online, so I could train every day. At that point I didn’t know what a national medal was, but I wanted to win one.”

“During Covid, my father had set up a target and a 50m path so I could shoot. He would go to the field every morning. My brother and I would go running every morning along the edges of our field. That is when I became really fit. In fact, my father also joined us and improved,” Chikitha recalled. “Eventually I left for Sonipat, and my father settled back into the duties of the house. The family’s fitness streak sort of snapped there.”

Srinivas pushed beyond his means to support his daughter’s dream. He even sold the family’s paddy harvester. Meanwhile, YouTube videos formed the bedrock of Chikitha’s technical base, and one of the archers she grew to idolise – Abhishek Verma – would become her mentor.

Eventually, the District Collector’s office sanctioned funds for a compound bow. As she looked for a coach and a good training centre, Chikitha chanced upon the contact details of My Choice Archery Store, an equipment outlet run by Abhishek and his wife Sonali in New Delhi.

Guiding light

“I got her number from the shop they run and I knew she was Abhishek anna’s wife. He and his coach (Lokesh Chand Pal) agreed to take me in for training at the Yamuna Sports Complex for five days.”

This was in August 2021. As the world found a way to open up again, so did Chikitha’s prospects as an archer. Her uncle chipped in with funds for the trip to the capital.

There, Abhishek told Srinivas to leave Chikitha’s well-being to him.

The first goal was a sub-junior medal.

“I didn’t know much about archery, but I used to watch Abhishek anna’s videos and check with my father if I was getting things right. Anna then told me that my strength was good, but he changed my anchor technique. In the mornings, he used to let me shoot 50-100 arrows. In the evenings, there would be no shooting. We just trained holding the bow and arrow in place. This was to develop patience. I learnt all my basics there at the Yamuna Sports Complex.”

Chikitha entered the senior nationals in preparation for the sub-junior event and got a very low score there. Her mentor had notes, and the pair eventually struck off the first box in what would become a long checklist of turfs to conquer.

She then participated in selection trials to make it to the Sports Authority of India’s National Centre of Excellence in Sonipat. There, coach Vivek Kumar took her under his wing. “After my father, he is the only person I open up to after tournaments and cry with,” Chikitha said.

“In 2021, I was in Hyderabad for the National Ranking Archery Tournament. Abhishek told me that there was a talented girl I should meet. Her father brought her to the hotel we were staying in. This girl was so small and frail. I asked her if she wanted to go to Sonipat. She nodded in agreement, but there were tears too,” Vivek told The Hindu.

Nonetheless, he persisted. “If a player like Abhishek recommends someone, you cannot ignore that. He told us she would become a good archer like Jyothi Surekha.”

Abhishek, it turned out, was right. The parallels between Chikitha and Jyothi are endless. Both are introverts by nature, content to shuttle between the training field and the gym. Both follow instructions to the letter, even when that means shooting 300-odd arrows, and both are always early, rain or shine.

ALSO READ | Indian archers hit the bullseye with three gold medals at 2026 Asian Games

Vivek remembers Chikitha clinging to her father until the moment they parted. Slowly, Sonipat won her over. By night, she had found the courage to make a request: biryani. The coaches understood how hard it is for someone from South India to move to a diet where rotis reign, and they indulged her.

Any doubts about her potential evaporated at the trials ahead of the 2022 Asian Games. She missed qualification but finished a commendable seventh, enough to convince her coaches that she could be shaped into an athlete who would make India proud on the global stage.

Chikitha’s reasons for liking archery are threefold. “First, because, as my dad wanted, it’s an individual sport. Second, archery is a sport where I can concentrate and focus with no distractions. Third, Anna told me, ‘You are a champion, and you will continue to be.’”

Others’ faith in her sowed the seeds of Chikitha’s ambitions; formal training is teaching her to nurture them herself. That process has not been without its hiccups. In 2024, Chikitha struggled to place among the top 16 and lost motivation mid-season.

“That period was a struggle and I couldn’t accept it. Before the national games, I wanted to get selected, but I was nowhere near the top. I was working with high poundage, and I said if I hit any more (shooting arrows), I might get injured. I didn’t feel like shooting. It took me some time to recover from that. I went to Tirupati, tonsured my head, prayed very hard,” she recalled.

Through every hardship, Chikitha never once thought of abandoning archery. When her first substantial prize money arrived, after the 2023 National Games in Goa, she spent it on arrows, stockpiled for practice. A fresh set every few months is her idea of a treat.

“It is not about the money; it does not matter as long as the results come my way.”

It’s taken a village to get Chikitha out of Peddapalli and onto the world stage. Even efforts to watch her favourite Mahesh Babu on OTT is a family activity. OTPs for streaming apps will come from siblings nearly 1500km away. When she comes home for a few days every now and then, there is no TV for the family to unwind with together. She returns to a big family welcome, the open paddy fields and a progressively controlled anxiety of missing training.

Ask Chikitha what she is proud of and, along with the golds, she may mention the gift of deep sleep. Thunder can rattle every window, but she will slumber on.

“I don’t get sleep only when thoughts come to me, which happens when everything is silent.”

Then she went to Japan and became the lightning. Whether or not she slept through the aftermath, India did not. Two golds flashed across the sky, and a sport that thought it knew its stars blinked in the glare.

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