Will India add to the 1983 and 2011 World Cup wins? Will the Asian Games and World Athletics prepare our athletes for the 2024 Paris Olympics? The year’s sports calendar will throw up the answers.
The 2023 sports calendar is brimming with prestigious events. Tennis continues its traditions by hosting four Grand Slam tournaments, and alongside them, a series of ATP and WTA competitions. Similarly, cricket, Formula 1, badminton, athletics and football, among others, will keep sports lovers entertained. (More Sports News)
Fans in India, especially, are in for a treat, as the year kicks off with its first major event in the form of FIH Men's Hockey World Cup. Also on the schedule are the Indian Premier League (IPL), ICC Women’s T20 Cricket World Cup, ICC Men’s ODI Cricket World Cup and the Asian Games, not to mention a number of bilateral cricket series.
India will kick off the New Year by taking on Asian neighbours Sri Lanka from January 3 to January 15 in a home series comprising three T20Is and three ODIs. Attention will then shift to hockey for the sport’s biggest spectacle, as the 15th edition of the Men’s Hockey World Cup will start in Bhubaneswar and Rourkela in Odisha from January 13. The final will be played on January 29. With 16 teams from five confederations looking to win the top prize in hockey, fans can expect thrilling matches.
The maiden ICC U-19 Women’s T20 Cricket World Cup will finally be held from January 14 to January 29 after being postponed from 2021 due to COVID-19. South Africa will host all 41 matches with 16 participating teams, including the Shafali Verma-led Indian side. The men’s New Zealand team will then head to India from Pakistan for three ODIs and three T20Is starting January 18.
India will play their first Test of 2023 against Australia starting February 9. It is one of the most-awaited bilateral series for Indian and Australian fans alike. Both teams will compete in four Tests and three ODIs. Subsequently, the eighth edition of the ICC Women’s T20 Cricket World Cup will commence on February 10 in South Africa. India, playing under Harmanpreet Kaur, fell short in the final in 2020 against Australia. Harmanpreet and Co will look to take that one final step to win the elusive title.
No Indian has managed to win the prestigious All England Open Badminton Championship since Pullela Gopichand in 2001. The likes of PV Sindhu, Kidambi Srikanth and the doubles duo of Satwiksairaj Reddy-Chirag Shetty will look to make history in the tournament starting March 14.
Starting in the same month, India’s annual summer jamboree, Indian Premier League, will keep fans entertained for nearly two months and throw up interesting storylines. Many will be curious if Gujarat Titans, who won their maiden title in their debut season under Hardik Pandya last year, can continue their form.
Two out of the five Indian Grand Prix athletics events will be hosted on March 24 and March 27 in Thiruvananthapuram. They will serve as indicators of form for the Asian Games. April 2 and April 10 will see the third and fourth legs being held in Bengaluru, whereas the fifth and final leg of the Indian Grand Prix will take place in Punjab from September 10.
Durban will host the World Table Tennis Championships from May 22. With Indian table tennis players excelling in the last few years, the Worlds are crucial for Indian sports this year.
Cricket featuring Indian players will return after the IPL when India tour West Indies in July. The series will comprise two Tests, three ODIs and three T20Is.
The Athletics Federation of India will continue commemorating Neeraj Chopra’s historic gold medal win at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics by organising a javelin throw competition across all states on August 7.
A few days later, Budapest will whet the appetite of Olympics fans with the 19th edition of the World Athletics Championships starting August 19.
The 2022 Asian Games were postponed to 2023 due to COVID-19 and the new dates, September 23 to October 8, were announced by the Olympics Council of Asia. The 19th edition of the event will be held in Hangzhou, China. Fans will keenly follow India’s performances, with one eye on the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Australia will return to India in September, this time for ODIs, as a way to prepare for October’s ODI World Cup. The teams will play three matches against each other.
Pakistan are set to host a major tournament, the Asia Cup, for the first time since 2008. The tensions between BCCI and PCB have already set the tone for the tournament that decides the best Asian cricket team. And there remains a huge question mark over India’s participation unless the BCCI’s wish is granted and the tournament is shifted to a neutral venue.
As a format, ODIs may be struggling. But when it’s the World Cup, everyone tunes in. India will host the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup in October, which they won first in 1983 and then in 2011.
Australia’s tour of India in November will be the visitors’ third bilateral contest against the hosts in 2023. This time around, the two cricketing giants will play five T20 games.
In December, India will head to South Africa to play their final fixtures of the year 2023. The multi-format series will see the teams play two Tests, three ODIs and three T20Is.