Blitz Bureau
NEW DELHI: India’s white-ball cricketers lost their five-match T20I series in England 4-0 on Saturday, after the finale in Southampton — a chastening result for a young side, and there is no dressing it up: the batting misfired badly at Nottingham and England’s depth showed throughout. But the tour is far from over — a three-match ODI series begins Tuesday in Birmingham, an immediate chance to respond.
Yet the wider story of Indian sport this season has been one of ascent, led by the chessboard. Grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa became the first Indian to win the elite Norway Chess tournament and, in the process, only the second player after Viswanathan Anand to beat Magnus Carlsen twice in classical games in a single event, while Vaishali Rameshbabu has carried India’s flag deep into the women’s world-championship cycle.
Two disciplines, one lesson: Depth and patient development are turning India into a chess powerhouse — the same recipe cricket’s rebuild now needs.
Sport rewards depth built over years, not weeks — the chess boom is what happens when talent meets a system, and it is a template a young cricket side can borrow.
At a Glance
- Cricket: India lose the England T20I series 4-0
- Next: 3 ODIs from July 14 — Birmingham, Cardiff (16), Lord’s (19)
- Chess: Praggnanandhaa — first Indian to win Norway Chess
- Depth: Vaishali advances in the women’s world cycle
The constructive way to read a 4-0 is as data, not verdict: a blooding for emerging players, with selectors and coaches now armed with clear evidence of where the batting depth and death-overs bowling must improve — and a fifty-over series from Tuesday in which to act on it.
India’s chess surge points to the answer — sustained investment in grassroots pathways, coaching and exposure produces champions in time. Applied patiently across disciplines, that same model turns a difficult fortnight into the foundation of the next winning side.
