Sports Yearender 2022: Virat Kohli back among runs, Lionel Messi gets his World Cup dream, Federer retires
By Sakshi Verma
2022 is almost in its final week, with the return of Covid, Bollywood’s failing to big sports events, the year was memorable in many ways. There were several big tournaments apart from the annual IPL, the Asia Cup, the Commonwealth Games, the T20 World Cup and the Football World Cup which kept fans on their toes. And chewing their nails.
Here are some of the best sports moments of 2022 which made millions of sports fans emotional, cheerful and what not.
Cricket is religion in India, so let’s deal with it first. There was everything for Team India to achieve and prove this year but the Indian team broke the hearts of fans in big tournaments. First, the Asia Cup loss to Sri Lanka gave a sad trailer and then the humiliating defeat in the T20 World Cup semi-finals was a film no one would want to buy tickets for. The cherry on the cake was the Indian women’s cricket team’s silly loss in women cricket’s debut finals at the Birmingham Commonwealth Games.
Kohli’s Virat form and Surya’s shining moments
Yes, it is true that this year has not been a memorable one for Indian cricket and their fans but Team India’s star batsman Virat Kohli and rising star Suryakumar Yadav impressed with their batting brilliance and consistency.
How can one forget that heart-stopping India-Pakistan match in T20 World Cup 2022 when Virat Kohli snatched the game from Pakistan’s clutches with his powerhouse innings. His two back-to-back sixes against Pakistan fast bowler Haris Rauf has become immortal in the hearts of Indian fans.
Virat Kohli has been ruling the world of cricket for the last decade, but in a true sense, Indian fans got maximum joy this year from middle order batsman Suryakumar Yadav. Surya impressed everyone with his fearless approach and ability to play shots all around the ground. SKY, who took the entire year by storm, proved that after Dhoni, Virat and Rohit, there is another batsman on whom Indian fans can put their trust on.
Now that cricket’s done, let’s have a look at other big sports.
Messi’s dream comes true, heartbreak for Ronaldo and Neymar
The FIFA World Cup 2022 held in Qatar saw many beautiful moments. What’s football if it isn’t emotional leaving fans all over the world in varying moods. The dream of every star player is to win the World Cup. Argentina legend Lionel Messi got his beautiful moment, but Portugal star Cristiano Ronaldo’s dream remained unfulfilled this time too as Morocco blanked out his team in the quarterfinals.
The condition of Brazilian star Neymar Jr was similar when his team was eliminated in the quarter-finals. Neymar burst into tears though he hasn’t ever held back the tear glands. Every tear from his eyes screamed out how much winning the World Cup meant to him.
World witnessed Federer, Nadal, crying their heart out
Sport teaches everything as it lets you experience victory, defeat, discipline, patience, hard work and several other facets of life. In 2020, there were some moments when players were unable to hide their emotions behind their steel facade and left their fans emotional too.
Remember the last match of Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal when both started crying inconsolably after the match. In September 2022, Federer announced that he will play his last professional match in the Laver Cup. Nadal was his partner in Federer’s last match. Destiny left its mark on the match when it didn’t let these top-ranked stars playing together win.
After the match, Federer cried like a child. Seeing tears in his partner’s eyes, Nadal could not help it and he too became emotional. Whoever saw this moment must have had moist eyes as well.
