Before a virus came along to cause unprecedented kind of disruption, sport was hopeful escape and a metaphor for life. Covid-19 changed all that in 2020.
Heck, even the Olympics, that lofty symbol of human spirit and resilience, had to be postponed, and the last time this happened was when the world was at war.
It was also a year when Diego Maradona, the maverick who split defences in his prime and later dodged death despite his reckless lifestyle, bid a sudden final goodbye leaving his devotees crying on the streets.
How could India not feel its share of jolts?
There were deaths that left fans distraught, there was a retirement that was expected but still seemed unacceptable, training across sports shut down for most of the year and athletes coped with one cancelled tournament after another as fear of the virus took precedence over the desire to compete.
They couldn’t be faulted and neither can the misery of not having enough sporting action compare to the economic and…