01 February,2026 08:31 AM IST | Mumbai | Sunil Gavaskar
Serbia’s Novak Djokovic during his semi-final win over Italy’s Jannik Sinner at the Australian Open in Melbourne on Saturday. Pic/AFP
The clock at the Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne was inching towards two in the morning when Jannik Sinner's backhand sailed outside the tramline to give Novak Djokovic one of his finest victories and a place in the final of the Men's singles of the Australian Open for yet another time. He has won the title a record 10 times and is now in a position to win the 25th major title if he can overcome the fleetness, speed, power and some cheeky, innovative shots that Carlos Alcaraz produces just for fun. Alcaraz has beaten Djokovic in straight sets in Wimbledon and after this marathon clash with Sinner, will Novak have enough left in the tank for another famous win? There will be many rooting for the Serb for it's clear that both Alcaraz and Sinner are at a different level than the rest and it takes a humongous effort to beat them at a major, where it is a best of five sets encounter.
Yes, there's also the element of good fortune which came Djokovic's way when his fourth-round opponent gave him a walkover and his quarter-final opponent Lorenzo Musetti, who was leading by two sets, had to retire with an injury. That meant Djokovic was relatively fresh when he took on Sinner in the semi-finals. The way he hung in there for every point tells of the determination that makes the greats never give up and believe that extra effort and self-belief is the one sure way to overcome adversity.
That some of the legends of the sport also stayed till 2 AM to watch these two warriors tells you how riveting the match must have been. That the match was not restricted to any specific hours of play is also something that maybe cricket, especially Test cricket, can look at. How often do we have a situation where play does not restart because there is the odd drop of rain. The irony is that if a slight drizzle comes on while the game is being played, the umpires don't rush to take the players off the field and wait a bit till the drizzle becomes harder before asking the players to go off. So, if that is the case then surely if there's the odd drop of rain and not a drizzle then the game can be resumed. The outfield being wet is another reason play doesn't get restarted even while in day night cricket, the game goes on with the outfield sometimes sopping wet due to dew. Frankly if a ground does not have covers for the entire outfield then that venue should not be hosting an international game. The crowd and more importantly the broadcasters who have paid a fortune and a half for the telecast rights, deserve the game to carry on or restart at the earliest and not till conditions are perfect.
Cricket is also a game of stamina and so the umpires must be stricter as to when drinks are brought onto the field. There was a time when drinks came on only at the scheduled drinks break after an hour. Today in the so-called supremely fit era, the twelfth man with a change of gloves, helmet, bat or whatever is always accompanied by another reserve player with bottles of water which takes away valuable time from the game. Then there is your fast bowler, who bowls an over flat out and goes to the boundary area to field and is met by the reserve player or physio with a stamina drink and a bit of a rub down between deliveries. Really? Where is the stamina factor in this? The batters don't get to have a drink after every over, do they? So why should the bowlers? And as with everything that creeps into the game it takes just one look the other way by the officials for it to become a regular practice.
Look at the number of fielders today wearing a tape around their palms in any game. How is it even allowed? It is because the umpires refused to object to it. Yes, if a fielder has had a split webbing between the fingers, the tape can be put for protection around the area but not the whole palm. There may be nothing spongy or foamy about the tape around the palm, but the catching area should be clear else one may as well allow the fielders to wear inner gloves and field. This is a hard game played with a hard ball, so don't make it soft by allowing the fielders to field with a tape around their palms.
Just like the third umpire checks the size of the bat with a measuring instrument before the players walk out to bat, so also he should ensure there is no tape around the inside of the palms for the fielders. And stop the twelfth man giving drinks to the fielders on the boundary until it is the official drinks time. Like said earlier, this is a hard game played with a hard bat and ball by hard guys. Please keep it that way else you will see more softies than ever before.
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