It's come to a close: 2017 and some timeless presumptions in cricket. This might seem like a time when we resolve to shed the holiday weight but not West Indies cricket. They tighten their belt another notch, revealing through their bones the story of a fast-falling empire. 2018 can be as dismal as ever, where you'll find Windies scavenging for a berth in the upcoming World Cup, a tournament once built on their promise alone. Or not.
The crisis lies in the conditional optimism that surrounds Windies' qualification, which daresay won't be easy. Hosts of the qualifying tournament, Zimbabwe, and then Ireland and Afghanistan's candidatures are no longer the welcome mats they used to be, and so Windies are tasked with making this year about anything other than their own extinction.
Ireland and Afghanistan are on the other side of the existential spectrum and have much to look forward to. Both countries will get off the mark in Test cricket, with Ireland playing their first ever Test match against Pakistan in May and Afghanistan looking set to play India later in the year, brightening up latter's rather scant home season.
India under Virat Kohli are its best side ever is a lie, but 2018 can rattle that, allowing India to come within a striking distance of it. And then some. After about two years of cosy cricket at home, with occasional tours to West Indies and Sri Lanka being all but famous bluffs, India will travel in its truest sense, trying to achieve what no other Indian team has.
A tour of South Africa is first up, where India will seek their first series win under a captain who's never lost one (When India lost to Australia Down Under in 2014-15, Dhoni and Kohli shared the captaincy duties). And they will only hope that the same can be said about the tour of Australia later in the year. Both challenges sandwich a protracted tour of England - a venue that should test India as much as its captain, who is so vocally, aware of the stakes involved.
India can prevail if they manage to make an impossible year difficult, but is that enough for the team they have built? The ball will be in India's court. Well, not quite.
Their indulgence in overseas cricket also means an underwhelming home season, a biennial famine that BCCI has been trying to address. When the new Future Tours Programme (FTP) comes alive with its league structure in 2019, the world should be able to put behind this organized chaos of a schedule, all the more inflated by BCCI's last-minute arrangements.
The home-and-away kinetics is set to improve for Pakistan, too. After the World XI successfully toured Pakistan, Windies are now set to, for three Twenty20 Internationals at the Gaddafi Stadium. It's baffling how Lahore, the venue for the terrorist exercise in 2009, has fittingly managed to absolve itself while the rest of Pakistan continues to cut no ice with the world. Pakistan Super League might just change that, with its grand plans of hosting the final in Karachi on March 25. It's about time.
Much like PSL, the Indian Premier League also gets a new home. Star India now has IPL's television and digital rights for the next five years, and how that will influence Indian cricket media rights, which is up for grabs early in 2018, will be something to keep an eye on. Furthermore, the eleventh edition will also test allegiances; Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals return to juice up a season already combustible from the upcoming auctions, set to be the grandest shuffle in IPL, ever.
2018 is laced with major ICC tournaments, quite contrary to what the public knowledge seems to suggest. The year starts with the Under-19 World Cup in New Zealand, continues into March with the World Cup qualifiers in Zimbabwe, and ends with ICC Women's World T20 in West Indies, the first time the tournament will be held independently, without the men's edition around to cradle it. Thank goodness for that.
There's a lot to look forward to in 2018, even if it sells itself as a bridesmaid year leading up to the World Cup. More cricket for India might not mean a greater shot at success, the disgrace of struggle might not actually be a death wish for Windies, and a honeymoon Test debut might just turn out to be agony in disguise. 2018 promises to blur the lines between good and bad. Between feast and famine. There's no place for or. We'll see.
