Hardik, Nitish and Harshit: India’s worrisome threesome

When FIFA, football’s world governing body, decreed some nine-and-a-half years back that the sport’s flagship event, the World Cup, would be expanded to 48 teams from the existing 32 from the 2026 edition, it was received with mixed feelings. Nations that had narrowly missed out on qualification were energised by the prospect of 16 additional berths boosting their prospects to a reasonable degree. Others weren’t merely sceptical or apprehensive, they vehemently dismissed it as a populous, self-serving, self-defeating decision.