The year 2022 would always be remembered as the one when the lingering fear of Covid-19 took a back seat. The world moved into a post-Covid phase, where movies were released to full houses, stadiums had full attendance, and people were able to roam around without wearing masks.

It was also the year when Pakistan’s Cricket team reached the final of two major tournaments, Pakistan won as many as two gold medals at the Commonwealth Games, and bagged the third position at a prestigious hockey event.

Let’s take a trip down memory lane and explore how the year that will become part of history today went for Pakistan.

The year Pakistan dominated white-ball cricket!

The year began with the seventh edition of the Pakistan Super League, where Lahore Qalandars emerged victorious for the first time. Under the leadership of Shaheen Shah Afridi, the eventual winners managed to beat Multan Sultans in the final to claim their maiden title.

Lahore Qalandar’s Fakhar Zaman scored the most runs in the tournament, while skipper Shaheen Shah Afridi ended up with the most wickets to his name. The captain of Multan Sultans, Muhammad Rizwan, got the player of the series award for leading his side to the grand finale.

As for the Pakistan cricket team, it ended the year hosting as many as three international teams – Australia, England, and New Zealand – after a gap of more than 15 years at least. Australia visited Pakistan for the first time since 1998, England’s tour was their first since 2005, while New Zealand played its first Test match in Pakistan in 20 years. Despite losing the Test series to Australia and England, Pakistani spectators ended the year as winners, since they got to watch the best players in the world, in action at home.

It was the same year when Pakistan’s all-format Captain Babar Azam managed to score ‘most runs in a calendar year’ when he scored a century against New Zealand in Karachi. Babar scored seven centuries in Tests throughout the year, surpassing batting coach and former Test batter Mohammad Yousuf in the process.

Babar Azam also led the team in ODIs and T20Is and although Pakistan failed to win a major trophy, they qualified for two of the grand finales and won a triangular series in New Zealand, which also featured Bangladesh.

In the process, Babar Azam became the first and only batter in ODI Cricket to score three consecutive centuries twice in his career. He scored two back-to-back centuries against Australia, and one against the West Indies at home, bettering his own record of three successive ODI centuries in 2016, against the West Indies. His teammate Imam-ul-Haq, was also in sublime form and registered six scores of over 50 in successive innings, which helped the Pakistan cricket team as well.

The delayed ICC Men’s T20 World Cup was finally played in October-November 2022, where Pakistan managed to reach the finals for the second successive time, but lost to England. They had also reached the final of the Asia Cup, but were beaten by Sri Lanka who emerged victorious in the grand finale.

The 13th edition of the same tournament would be played in India in October/November in 2023 and, if all goes well, Pakistan might try to emulate the West Indian side of the 1970s to qualify for the third final in as many tries.

Pakistan is also set to host the Asia Cup in September 2023 which might see the best players in the region visit Pakistan, which hasn’t hosted a multiple-team event since the Asia Cup in 2008. As for the Pakistan Super League, there is a strong chance that the tournament will be expanded to cities, like Peshawar, when the eighth edition is held later in February/March 2023.

Pakistani athletes continue to impress

The Pakistan contingent came up with its best performance at the Commonwealth Games held in Birmingham, England. They won eight medals, out of which two were gold, three silver, and three bronze.

Pakistan’s javelin thrower Arshad Nadeem, who qualified for the final event at Tokyo Olympics last year, broke the Commonwealth Games record with a remarkable throw of 90.18 metres and won the gold for Pakistan.

The second gold medal was won by Nooh Butt in the weightlifting event, where he created a national record for Pakistan. First, he lifted 173 kg in the snatch category, and later 232 kg in clean and jerk, and ended up with a combined total of 405 kg.

Wrestlers Muhammad Inam, Zaman Anwar and Sharif Tahir won the silver medal at the mega event, while Shah Hussain Shah won the bronze in judo and Inayat Ullah ended with a bronze in wrestling.

Pakistan’s hockey team also managed to win laurels for the country and ended up winning the bronze medal at the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup, played in the Malaysian city of Ipoh. The green shirts managed to beat Japan 5-3 in the third-position match, finishing in the top three after a wait of 11 years. The last time they won a medal at the tournament was in 2011, when they finished runners-up to Australia.

Pakistan will once again play in the Azlan Shah Hockey tournament later in the year, but will not be part of the Men’s Hockey World Cup, which will be played in India in January. Held every four years, this is the second time it is being staged in Orisha’s capital city of Bhubaneswar, which hosted the tournament in 2018. However, some matches would be played in Rourkela as well.

Belgium is the defending champion of the 15th edition of the World Cup, where a total of 16 teams are participating. The sad news for hockey lovers is that the four-time Pakistan hockey team failed to qualify for the tournament, and will be missing it for the second time.

However, the good news for other athletes is that they will get a chance to win more medals at the Asian Games to be held in the Chinese city of Hangzhou in September and October 2023. The 19th Asian Games, which were supposed to be held this year, will now be held in the same city, if Covid permits.

Lionel Messi became the GOAT!

This was not just the year of the FIFA World Cup, but it was the year when Argentina’s Lionel Messi established himself as the Greatest of all Time. The FIFA World Cup held in Qatar was the biggest attraction of 2022, but Messi’s march to the final, as well as two goals in the grand finale, made it all the more memorable.

Argentina defeated France in an epic final on penalties, winning the title after 36 years. France’s Kylian Mbappe scored the most goals (8) in the tournament, including a hat-trick in the final, but that wasn’t enough to make France defend their title.

The underrated Morocco also made the event memorable by becoming the first African team to reach the semi-finals of the World Cup, beating second-ranked Belgium and former champions Spain on their way to the ‘last four’.

The end of the road for Roger Federer!

One of the greatest players in tennis, Roger Federer decided to call it quits in 2022. After entertaining two generations with his game, the Swiss bade farewell to the game in September.

He joined his long-time rival, Rafael Nadal, for a friendly doubles match in London, which the pair lost. However, the five-minute standing ovation he got from the crowd at London’s 02 Arena, brought him, as well as Nadal, to tears. Federer was the first-ever male tennis player to win 20 Grand Slam titles in the game’s history. No player in the history of tennis has won more than his 369 Grand Slam matches.

However, Nadal and Djokovic have surpassed Federer with more Grand Slam titles this year and would be looking forward to extending their lead, Nadal to 23 titles and Novak Djokovic to 22 titles. They will have four chances, like each year, with the Australian Open taking place at the start of the year, the French Open in May/June, Wimbledon in June/July, and the US Open in August/September.

Last year, hoping to capture his tenth Australian Open, defending champion Djokovic was deported from Melbourne, after refusing to be vaccinated. The good news is that he has been cleared to play in the 2023 Australian Open where he will be chasing a 22nd Grand Slam title. Djokovic was also banned from travelling to the United States, which kept him from winning the US Open; however, he managed to win the Wimbledon title.

Nadal did manage to win the French Open and the Australian Open in 2022 and would be eyeing to defend the Australian Open title which Djokovic has never lost when he has participated.

The magic of movies return to the big screen!

While the most awaited movie of 2022 turned out to be Avatar: The Way of Water, the year also released many blockbusters including Black Adam, The Batman, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, Thor: Love and Thunder, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, and DC League of Super Pets. However, the sequel to Avatar was on its way to claiming its rightful position at the top of the box office, a feat which it wouldn’t have been able to accomplish had Tom Cruise’s Top Gun not stabilised the box office with its thunderous performance. The movie was well received and, despite being ‘not’ from the superhero league, collected more money than the Marvel and DC flick.

This year, the love of dinosaurs was evident when Chris Pratt, who reprised his role as Owen Grady in Jurassic Park Dominion, was well-received by viewers. The movie saw the actors from previous Jurassic movies join Pratt in the last of the Jurassic sequels.

Similarly, sequels of Sonic the Hedgehog and Minions were released, while famous characters like Chip n Dale: Rescue Rangers got to make their big screen debut. “To infinity and beyond” uttering Lightyear also had his solo film and people got to know the ‘real’ hero behind the ordinary toy from the Toy Story series.

It wouldn’t be appropriate to not mention Disney Plus’ miniseries Ms Marvel, which took many Pakistani actors including Mehwish Hayat, Fawad Khan, Samina Ahmed, Nimra Bucha, and Vardah Aziz to Hollywood where they acted with the best in the world from Hollywood and Bollywood. Girls are anxiously waiting for the upcoming superhero film The Marvels, where Kamala/Ms. Marvel is set to join female superheroes, including her idol Captain Marvel who made an appearance at the end of the miniseries.

The return of Miles Morales in Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (Part One) was delayed and could not be released on time in 2022. Now the movie will be released in June 2023, which will have Miles reunite with Gwen Stacy and friends. DC’s The Flash is another movie that was in production for a couple of years, but would be released in 2023. Ezra Miller would be seen as Barry Allen and The Flash, who would travel through time to prevent the murder of his mother.

The other much-awaited DC flicks would be the sequels to 2019’s Shazam and 2018’s Aquaman, which will hit the screens in March and December respectively, while Ant-Man’s third outing titled Antman and the Wasp: Quantumania is all set for a release in February, while Guardian of Galaxy Vol. 3 would be released in May.

Everyone’s favourite turtles, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, would also be back in an animated adventure for the first time since 2007, while girls are awaiting the release of the live-action version of The Little Mermaid.

For video game lovers, Super Mario Bros is coming to the big screen, where Chris Pratt (Guardians of the Galaxy, Jurassic World) would voice the titular character. That’s not all, the last instalment of Indiana Jones is coming out where the aged explorer will be seen battling the bad guys, for the first time since 2007.

Published in Dawn, Young World, December 31st, 2022