Neeraj Chopra's gold, historic win in Australia: India's top sporting moments of 2021

The year 2021 was full of historic moments in terms of sports in India, as Neeraj Chopra won a historic gold medal for India in the Tokyo Olympics 2020, while both the Indian Olympics and Paralympics contingent with exceptional results to their credit. The India cricket team also scripted history by defeating Australia in a Test series in Australia. At the same time, Badminton stars like PV Sindhu, Kidambi Srikanth, and Lakshya Sen also displayed stellar efforts while representing India in the Olympics and the BWF World Championships.

India’s 2-1 Test series win in Australia

The year started for India with a historic 2-1 Test series victory over Australia in a four-match series. India played a second-string squad in the series against the Aussie giants, as many prominent players like Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Mohammad Shami, and Jasprit Bumrah were ruled out due to injuries. However, the young Indian side, captained by Ajinkya Rahane showed immense grit and defeated the Australians in their backyard.

Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics 2020

Weightlifter Mirabai Chanu opened India’s medal tally in the Tokyo Olympics 2020 by winning the silver medal in the women’s 49kg category. Lovlina Borghohain won the bronze medal in the women’s boxing 69 kg category before PV Sindhu won the bronze medal in women’s singles badminton to become India’s first woman to win two individual Olympic medals. Wrestlers Ravi Dahiya and Bajrang Punia earned silver and bronze medals respectively for India, while the India men’s hockey team earned their first Olympic medal in 41 years, by defeating Great Britain in the third-place match. Meanwhile, Neeraj Chopra made a throw of 87.58m in the men’s javelin throw event and earned India’s first-ever individual gold medal in a track and field event. 

India sent its biggest ever contingent of 51 athletes to the Tokyo Paralympics 2020 and the contingent returned with a total of 19 medals, including five gold, eight silvers, and six bronze medals. Out of the medal winners, 19-year-old shooter Avani Lekhara became India's first woman athlete to win a gold medal in shooting. 

Virat Kohli stepping down from captaincy

Indian cricketer Virat Kohli announced in September that he will be hanging his boots as the T20I skipper of India following the conclusion of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2021. He also announced that he will lead Royal Challengers Bangalore for the last time during the second leg of IPL 2021. Virat was later removed from India’s ODI captaincy as well and Rohit Sharma was appointed the full-time white-ball skipper of India.

CSK lift 4th IPL title under MS Dhoni

Chennai Super Kings (CSK) picked up their fourth Indian Premier League(IPL) title by defeating Kolkata Knight Riders(KKR) in the final of the 2021 edition. CSK made a comeback following their disappointing 2020 season and regained their top place in IPL under the captaincy of MS Dhoni.

Smriti Mandhana's maiden Test century

India women’s cricketer Smriti Mandhana became the first Indian woman to score a test century in Australia by hitting a century during the one-off Test during India women’s tour of Australia. This was also the maiden Test century for Mandhana.

Rahul Dravid appointed as the head coach of India

Rahul Dravid- Former legendary Indian cricketer Rahul Dravid was appointed as the head coach of Team India, as Ravi Shastri completed his tenure with the team, following the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2021.

Image: AP