July 14th comes back to haunt and the eerie similarity between 2021 & 2024

There were 3 highly anticipated sporting finales which got played out on the 14th of July 2024 viz

Wimbledon Final - Novak Djokovic vs Carlos Alcaraz

Euro Final - England vs Spain

Copa America Final - Argentina vs Columbia 

The day was all set and it was imminently clear that it was going to be a sporting extravaganza of epic proportion and a blockbuster of sorts for the sport loving aficionado.

Sporting clashes have happened across different formats and dates earlier on as well. But what really caught the eye and makes this one Sunday special is because it associates itself to a few incidents of the past which ironically played out in the same intervening period but across different years.

Let's traverse back to the exact day of 14th July, 5 years ago in 2019. That very same day witnessed a Wimbledon final and the ODI World Cup cricket final. On 14th July 2024 also we had the Wimbledon Final but instead of the cricket we had the Euro Football final. The common player/team running across both these days were Novak Djokovic and England. In 2019, Novak Djokovic claimed the Wimbledon title in a match for the ages against Roger Federer and the England cricket team claimed the cricket World Cup final in a super over through boundary count in the final against New Zealand which was heralded as one of the greatest ever ODI matches played. 

Both Novak Djokovic and England appeared again on court in the final in 2024 and a victory for both would have made it extra special and a day to savour for eternity for both Novak Djokovic and England as a sports team but alas it was not to be as Djokovic was swept aside by the marauding young Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz and later on in the evening the England football team were humbled by a mercurial Spanish side. The 14th of July 2019 which bought joy to Novak and the England cricket team bought despair to the same Novak Djokovic and England football team on the 14th of July 2024. It was perceived that Novak almost did the impossible by saving 2 match points on his opponents serve to register a famous victory much to the chagrin of the partisan British crowd who were cheering and egging on Federer to create history in 2019. In a similar vein, it was also felt that the Kiwis were robbed off a World cup title in dubious fashion since the win was awarded to England in controversial circumstances. Both Federer and New Zealand felt dismayed on the 14th of July 2019 but things came back to haunt Novak and England in albeit a different manner by taking defeat off them coincidentally and ironically on the very same date 5 years later. Hence, there were a lot of coincidences and patterns emerging across these 2 dates 5 years apart but the result ended up being completely opposite from one another.

Talking of coincidences, there was one more eerie similarity taking place in 2024 but this time the year in question is related with 2021. The very same 3 sporting events that happened in 2024 also took place in 2021 just 3 days apart on 11th July 2021 and once again there was the common theme of one player/team being weirdly the common link across the 3 major sporting finales. 

Let's take a look at the commonality.

2021 & 2024 Wimbledon Final - Novak Djokovic appeared in both finals

2021 & 2024 Euro Final - England played in both finals 

2021 & 2024 Copa America Final - Argentina took part in both finals

The results however were a mix & match across these 3 years. Novak Djokovic emerged victorious in 2019 but came a cropper in 2024. England football team ensued heartbreak both in 2021 at home and 2024 in Berlin. The Argentinian team emerged triumphant on both occasions beating the home side Brazil in 2021 and winning the finale again in 2024.

Documenting the tale of sporting finales loaded with numerous twists & turns arising across different years resulting in so many weird and varied patterns indeed makes sport so very special and thrilling.

Nostalgic World Cup memories recirculated after 23 and a half years

There are certain memories etched vividly in the mind and one such is the NZ vs Eng clash on Feb 14th 1996. I started following cricket seriously around the autumn of 1994 and the 1996 world cup happened to be my first big ticket tournament experience as a fan.

I was so excited about the Wills World Cup being staged in the sub continent and had done a thorough homework pertaining to the history of the past 5 world cups thanks mainly to a red covered book of Gulu Ezekiel 'The Story of World Cup Cricket' which gave a brief synopsis along with score lines of all the previous editions from 1975-1992.

The world cup in 1996 opened with the New Zealand vs England clash and as it was a school going weekday, I recall rushing back as soon as the last bell rang at 2:45 pm from P. S Senior Sec School, Mylapore to scamper home to watch a closely contested tussle which NZ held on to sneak through thanks largely to a platform laying hundred by Nathan Astle.

Over the years since 1996, England's performances have nose dived in world cups with them hardly ever putting even a meek foot forward whereas the Kiwis have consistently managed to get to a top 4 finish in most of the events gone by with even a final run finish in the last Trans Tasman edition in 2015.

And now almost 23 and a half years and 7 world cups later nostalgia is recirculated as these very same teams who I witnessed playing a world cup game for the first time in 1996 are locking horns with each other to earn their maiden World cup triumph. May the best team win!
#nostalgicmemories #beforegooglewasborn #preinternetdays #14feb1996to14jul2019 #longworldcupjourney #engvsnz #iccworldcup2019

Reminiscing memories of the historic First T20 WC final 2007

When the announcement for the inaugural T20 World cup was made by the ICC for the event to be held in South Africa in Sep 2007, most of the senior rung of players decided to give it a skip allowing the youngsters to take center stage.

India was fielded with a young team led by the ebullient MS Dhoni and not many really gave them a chance considering the lack of big guns and inexperience in handling the big stage. But India turned the corner and really started upping the ante after a loss to the Kiwis in the super eight stages. They got through the semis where they had to overcome a mighty Aussie side filled with abundant talent. After up staging the all conquering Australians, India set up a mouth watering clash with Pakistan in the final.

The grand finale had a lot of topsy-turvy moments and when India put up a score of 157 on the board, it looked just about par for the course. India grabbed the initiative during the Pakistani innings with regular breakthroughs and looked like taking the game home only to witness a late flurry of attacking batting by the lower order to get Pakistan back on track.

It came down to the last over and the skipper was faced with a quandary of whom to hand over the ball and he gave it to an uncanny choice in the form of Joginder Sharma. He mixed up his pace but was carted for a massive six by Misbah to allow Pakistan to within just a shot away of the target with 4 deliveries still left. But then the moment of reckoning arrived as off the next ball, he tried to be a bit too cheeky going for a needless reverse sweep that went too aerial than expected handing an easy catch to Sreesanth causing an eruption of celebrations in the Indian camp.

Dhoni's uncharacteristic decision paid off and India had won the first ever T20 cricket World cup. It also paved the way for many more laurels and accolades achieved under the baton of MSD. This day 10 years ago, Sep 24th 2007 was truly one of the golden days in India's rich cricketing folklore.