Sporting waits of a lifetime | Number Theory

.

The two finalists in this year’s Indian Premier League (IPL) had both waited 18 years for their maiden title. But compared to Punjab Kings, it always felt like a first title would mean more for the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB). For its entire title-less run, the team had crafted some of the most sparkling batting performances in the IPL. It had a fanbase that was expressive and loyal. All that gave RCB’s wait its own story and spirit. Across sports and time, there have been similar waits.

Royal Challengers Bengaluru's Virat Kohli kisses the winners' trophy after his team won the IPL for the first time in 18 years. (AP)

Sporting waits of a lifetime

• 
  RCB in IPL: 18 years

  Before this year, RCB’s record in the previous 17 seasons of the IPL read seven semi-final/playoff appearances and three finals. Their home ground, Chinnaswamy Stadium, was made for batting, with flat pitches and small boundaries. For most part, RCB spent a disproportionate share of its budget on high-profile batters, notably Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers and Chris Gayle. Ironically, when they won the title, they did so with perhaps the lowest in superstar quotient they have ever been. Among the eight teams that have won the IPL, RCB has taken the longest so far—18 years. The previous highest was Mumbai Indians, the IPL showtime team, which took six years to win its first trophy.
• 
  England in football: 59 years

  In football, the veritable cycle of hope and disappointment is England at the football World Cup. The last time England won the title was in 1966, which was also the last time it hosted the World Cup. Since then, England, which has historically had a strong club structure, has created many ‘this is the year’ narratives, but never quite crossed the line.
• 
  Ferrari in F1: 20 years

  For nearly as long as Formula 1 has been around, the red car has been a fixture. Ferrari and F1 are synonymous with each other. It’s the most winning team, with 15 driver championships—roughly, one every five years. But there was a 20-year stretch when it did not win the driver’s championship. It was also into such a breach that Michael Schumacher joined the team for the 1996 season, with the team not having won the driver’s title since 1979. With Schumacher at the centre, Ferrari started restoring itself, climbing up the grid, fusing a slickness into its historical panache. Four years, it fell short, at times tantalizingly so. But in 2000, it came together, and Schumacher and Ferrari won that elusive title, and went on a run of five straight.
• 
  South Africa in ODIs: 34 years

  From cricketing possibility to mathematical impossibility, courtesy the Duckworth-Lewis system for recalculating targets in rain-affected matches, in 1992. One of two sides out of 10 to come to the quarter-finals with a clean record, and then a quarter-final knockout in 1996. A last-over tie in 1999. Duckworth-Lewis again in 2003, at home. Unable to defend 11 in the last over in 2015. This is South Africa litany of woes in the one-day international (ODI) cricket World Cup.