“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair.”

That’s what Charles Dickens wrote while commenting on a world enchained by the coronavirus. No? You say that’s from the opening paragraph of A Tale of Two Cities, which he wrote ages ago? But are we not presently oscillating between wisdom and foolishness, particularly on the matter of the Covid-19?

But seriously, as we bring the curtains down on another year, cursing Covid-19 from behind our masked selves, we tend to overlook the fact that the villainous virus, despite all its negatives, has also been a blessing in disguise for some. Take sport, for example.

Recently we rejoiced at Kidambi Srikanth’s silver-winning effort in the World Championships in badminton. No doubt Srikanth put in a gallant performance to do what he did, no one would ever question that. But one can’t run away from the fact that some of the top shuttlers withdrew from the tournament citing Covid-19 concerns. Top Indonesian stars Anthony Ginting and Jonatan Christie were among them. Ginting won a bronze at the Tokyo Olympics.

Sriknath perhaps would have still gone on to stand on the podium even if these players were competing in the World Championships, but there absence certainly lessened his problems. Doesn’t the coronavirus deserve a “thank you”? One is not suggesting so to Srikanth, any such attempt may result in him using his racquet as a sword on the proposer. But the Indian badminton fan would perhaps smile wickedly, only that masks would hide it.

Then, go back to the Indian cricket team’s tour of England earlier this year. The fifth and final Test got cancelled under Covid-19 scare even as the respective cricket Boards of the two countries came up with contradictory statements. But whatever maybe the inside story, it’s a fact that for the Indian players, such a long tour of England, which started with the World Test Championship final, was getting increasingly tiresome, both mentally and physically. As multiple players have often said, inside a bio-bubble, life is tough.

Also, within a week’s time, the second leg of the IPL was set to resume in the UAE. Had the fifth Test been played, the players would have got little time to rest. But the cancellation of the match allowed them to breathe easy for a few days before they again get busy swinging bats and balls. The best thing in that whole episode was that the coronavirus, silently, took all the blame.

While on the IPL, you must have been thrilled with how Venkatesh Iyer turned out to be the find of the UAE-leg of the tournament. But did you know about him when the first phase of the IPL was played in India? Or, if one may say so, did the Kolkata Knight Riders know enough of him? Thanks to the coronavirus then that the first half of the IPL got postponed. The Knights, who took a beating in the first half, got time to go back to their pool of players and discover Venkatesh. And that is how the Knights staged a turnaround in the second leg of the tournament.

Lionel Messi won the Copa America with Argentina beating Brazil in Brazil. Imagine if the game was played in front of a packed stadium instead of empty stands, how difficult it would have been for Argentina to overcome the Neymars. Messi, in his heart, must have thanked the virus for keeping the raucous Brazilian fans away.

Closer to home, Sourav Ganguly, the BCCI president, had to be hospitalised after he tested positive for the coronavirus. Wasn’t it a happy distraction for the former India captain who attracted a barrage of criticism after Virat Kohli, in a roundabout way, alleged that he was lying? Thanks to Covid-19, Sourav received “get well soon” messages on the social media instead of those prickly memes.