Rohit Sharma had a pulsating year in ODI’s and Ajinkya Rahane enjoyed an equally great year but in the longer version of the game. The thumb rule applied when comparing Aussie Steve Smith and South Africa’s AB de Villiers. On the tennis courts, Djokovic and Serena’s 2015 was almost a mirror reflection — both finished top of the world and bagged three Slams. PIONEER SPORT decides who had the better year
Rohit Sharma vs Ajinkya Rahane
Both Rohit Sharma and Ajinkya Rahane hail from Mumbai and in 2015, the two Mumbaikars fought each other to top the summit of Indian cricket. Interestingly and co-incidentally both of them are constantly backed up by two of Mumbai’s most prolific batsmen ever — Sachin Tendulkar and Sunil Gavaskar. While the God of cricket — Tendulkar — has always predicted Rohit as the one who can break his marvellous records, the little master Gavaskar has backed Rahane as the most valuable batsman in the current team.
Rohit Sharma’s career, so far, has been a roller coaster ride. It took Sharma no time to show the world his batting abilities, but then he had a dip in form. But, no matter how much people criticised him, they never doubted the calibre of this man and Rohit eventually came good.
In 2015, as far as limited overs cricket is concerned, Rohit did nothing wrong. He was still accused of playing good only in home conditions and was also accused of not being consistent. But he proved his critics wrong and let his bat do the talking in 2015.
The start to the year for Sharma was not so great when India faced Australia in tests. But in the following ODI series, Rohit justified his talent. It is said, by many including Ravi Shastri, that Rohit has at least three shots for one ball and he was playing all three of them in similar deliveries this year. In 17 ODIs this year, Rohit scored 815 runs, including a match winning century against Bangladesh in the quarter final of 2015 World Cup, at a staggering average of 50.93 and a whopping strike rate of 95. In T20s Rohit also has a century to his name from the two matches he played. However, in the longest format, Rohit failed miserably and averages just 25.
Rahane, on the other hand, has been a team player for India this year. He has not only been rescuing India from critical situations on the field, but he has also helped the team management select the better playing 11 by simply being a versatile player. Any batsman would like to bat at a fixed position, but Rahane has batted at different positions only for the team’s good. When Rohit failed at number three in Tests, Rahane, who was performing well at number five, had to bat at three and he still delivered. When Suresh Raina was not performing in ODIs, Rahane — an opener — had to bat in the middle order and he performed there too. He has been a consistent performer irrespective of the position he has played on. In 2015 he has averaged above 45 in tests and above 40 in ODIs.
Rahane was consistant in both the main formats — ODIs and Tests, while Rohit was mind boggling in the limited overs cricket — ODIs and T20s. Choosing a winner between the two is as difficult as walking on fire. But Rahane’s impressive consistency throughout the year, in all the formats, wins him this battle.
Verdict: Had it been for just the limited over formats, Rohit would probably be competing for the best in the world. But, as people say Test cricket is the best cricket and Rohit’s consistent failures in the longest format and Rahane’s consistency in all three formats makes Rahane the winner.
Steve Smith vs AB de Villiers
In 2015 Steven Smith has emerged as the batsman the whole world is looking up to.
The Australian Captain, in tests and ODIs, started his career as a leg spinner and batted only at the number eight position. Who would have predicted that the young spinner, not even an all-rounder, would be a world beating batsman.
Now just an occasional part-time spinner, Steve Smith, currently is ICC’s cricketer of the year and Test cricketer of the year in 2015. Smith, who took over the role of the Australian Captain after Michael Clarke’s retirement, in the calendar year has scored six centuries in Tests on his way to 1474 runs in 14 matches at a blistering average of 73.70. In ODIs Smith, who was the leading run scorer for Australia in their World Cup winning campaign this year, averaged just short of 54 in the 19 matches he played.
Abrahim Benjamin de Villiers is a name every bowler, even when he is in the form of his life, dreads. Dale Steyn, one of the best fast bowler ever, in his own words, dreads only two games in a year — the two IPl matches against ABD. Earlier in 2015, de Villers walked in against West Indies when 39 overs have already been bowled and when the inning finishes, he returns with a score of 149 in just 55 balls. later in the same year, against the same opposition he bettered even that. In the World Cup this time he scored 162 runs in just 66 balls.
En route these two innings, ABD broke the records for the fastest 50 (17), fastest century (31) and the fastest 150 (64).
Verdict: This year Smith would have won any battle against any player. But this time he was made to face off against that cricketer who is oftenly ‘accused’ of coming from a different planet. De Villers exploits in the limited overs cricket and his calm and composed head in the longest format by becoming the second highest scorer against India, shows both the faces of the batsman. Thus ABD wins this battle against Smith.
Chen long vs lee Chong Wei
Chen long and lee Chong Wei were yet again at the prowing best and gave the badminton fans an incredible year to remember with some intriguing clashes.
Chen, the China superstar, maintained the top ranking which he had at the start of the 2015 throughout the calendar year and defeated his fierce Malaysian rival at the opportune moments to come out on top.
Their first major meeting came at the World Championships final. Chen long had a comfortable first game outing against his Malaysian counterpart to win it 14-21. The second game was an intriguing affair as Chong Wei offered more resilience, but long came out on top yet again to win the game 21-17.
Chong Wei did emerge on top in the next two occasions by first beating Chen long in the final of China Open and then stunned long yet again a week later in the quarterfinals of the Hong Kong Open.
VERDICT: But if we ignore the head-to-head and look at the bigger picture, Chen long had a better season. The Chinese player won the two big ‘ones’ — World Championships and All England Open. Besides, long bagged the Malaysia, Australia, Chinese Taipei, Korea and Denmark Opens compared to lee Chong Wei’s US, Canada and French Opens. Moreover, long did not get himself involved in any off-field controversy like lee did. Chong Wei was handed a backdated eight-month ban for his doping violation in April, 2015.
lionel Messi vs Neymar
Marco Reus and Robert lewandowski worked beautifully together at Borussia Dortmund and now there are glimpses of perfect combination between Mesut Ozil and Olivier Giroud at Arsenal. These two combinations are only tip of what fluid combinations can be. But presently, there is little doubt that the trident of lionel Messi, Neymar and luis Suarez (called as MSN) are hard to track, mark and defend — for any defence. Real Madrid’s combination of Cristiano Ronaldo, Karim Benzema and Gareth Bale (called BBC) try to come close but fall short on many instances.
Suarez is a new member to the family but it is the midfield combination between Messi and Neymar that takes everyone’s breath away with their exceptional dribbling skills and their sheering pace to get past the defence or spread ball when required.
The duo have been named in the final three for the Ballon d’Or alongside Cristiano but if world football’s hegemony is anything to go by, Cristiano and Messi would be final two candidates and the Brazilian would be on the wayside — which would be an unfair decision towards the Brazilian.
Given how Barcelona have been employing their ‘wingers’ not near the touch line but more closer together, we are getting to see more and more of the Argentine-Brazilian combination exchanging passes, some give and go’s and at times even creating chances for the teammate.
While Neymar dons the left side of the box and makes inward runs from there, Messi stays more centrally and both provide assists and chances for the other to latch on to and score.
VERDICT: Difficult to pick between the two on who’s had a better 2015 but taking into account the number of goals scored and more importantly, when and against whom they came about, Messi narrowly edges his international rival.
Jitu Rai vs Apurvi Chandela
Indian shooting witnessed remarkable performances from both Apurvi Chandela and Jitu Rai in 2015. The duo performed admirably well in their respective categories to make the nation pride.
Apurvi Chandela had a tremendous year, from adding more medals to her kitty to securing quota for 2016 Rio Olympics, she did it all in 2015.
At the ISSF World Cup final, Chandela bagged silver losing out by just 0.2 points. The reigning Commonwealth Games gold medallist earned the country a quota for next year’s Rio Olympics by claiming the 10m air rifle bronze at the ISSF World Cup, Korea in April. In the recently concluded National shooting championship, she won the gold medal in 10m air rifle event. In 22-year-old Apurvi Chandela, India seems to have found a fine talent who in her short career has already impressed many. However, in the Asian Air gun championship, she could only manage eighth position.
On the other hand Jitu Rai started 2015 with a bang by winning bronze medal in 10m Air Pistol at the World Cup in South Korea. later, in September, the Pistol King was ranked number two in men’s 50m pistol event with 1929 points in Asian rankings. But Jitu hasn’t been able to convert his qualifying scores into medal-winning performances, which his Jitu’s only drawback. In November, Rai clinched silver medal in Asian shooting championship in Kuwait. At the Asian Air gun championship, Jitu bagged silver medal. He became the first Indian shooter to qualify for the 2016 Rio Olympics after bagging a quota place with an impressive silver medal-finish at the 51st Shooting World Championships.
Verdict: Seeing Jitu’s performance and consistency throughout the year, the number two ranked Asian shooter, has undoubtedly had a better year compared to Chandela.
Novak Djokovic vs Serena Williams
It’s somehow interesting that both the male and female No 1 tennis players — Serena Williams and Novak Djokovic — were dominant in 2015 and produced superhuman performances.
The pair had a combined 135-9 (win-loss) ratio in 2015. The Serb and American each won three Grand Slams and were agonisingly close in fulfilling a calendar Slam but faltered before crossing the finish line.
Djoker’s hopes were dashed in the French Open final, when he lost to Stan Wawrinka in the final. Whereas, Serena experienced heartbreak after losing against Roberta Vinci in the semifinals of the final Grand Slam (US Open).
However, if we take a closer look at their Slam run, one cannot deny that Djokovic had a better outing. Also when comparing the opponents against whom they lost, we have to take into account that Wawrinka has won a Grand Slam (2014 Australian Open) while the American lost to an unseeded Italian. Besides, Djokovic had a 27-1 record at the majors, while Serena’s was 26-1. However, there is nothing to separate in the total sets as both the Serb and American lost 12 sets each. It is nice and equal until you remember that Djokovic had to play best-of-five sets instead of best-of-three and thus had many more opportunities to drop sets but he didn’t.
Also the 10-time Grand Slam champion played nine players in the top 10 during his Slam run, while Serena had to face only three. In the finals, Djokovic beat Andy Murray and Roger Federer twice. Whereas, Serena beat Maria Sharapova, lucie Safarova and Garbine Muguruza to win her three slams. Among them, Muguruza is the only top-10 ranked player at No 3. Also not to forget that Djokovic beat Federer to win his fourth consecutive ATP World Tour Finals title in straight sets to cap one of tennis’ all-time great seasons in appropriately fine style. On the other hand, Serena bailed out the year-ending WTA Tour Finals in order to recover her fitness.
VERDICT: One cannot deny that the younger Williams had more pressure of achieving the calendar Slam than Djokovic and the pressure played a part in her inability to fulfill it. But what tips the scale ever so slightly in favour of the Serbian is the fact that he faced tougher opposition throughout the year.
The field on the WTA Tour arguably didn’t put much of a fight to Serena and that aided her progress where Djokovic had to limber through top-10’s in 2015.