Author: Ashok Namboodiri

Ashok Namboodiri As I exited the virtual press conference announcing that India has been awarded the 2030 Commonwealth Games, I sensed a measured optimism in the room in Glasgow. A robust evaluation process of the five expressions of interest had led to a shortlist of two – Nigeria and India – and the committee took their pick to the Board, who endorsed it. But for a nation that has already lived one Commonwealth Games dream and woken up to its administrative nightmare, celebration is only half the story. The other half is memory. And memory has teeth. The press conference…

By Ashok Namboodiri From a broadcast standpoint, the WPL mega auction scheduled for today delivers what modern sports television increasingly seeks, high-intent viewing, spike-driven engagement and narrative density without the cost architecture of live gameplay. This is decision-making television. Tension without wickets. Drama without deliveries. This is not just a TRP exercise; it is strategic brand investment aimed at the highly engaged sports fan and is viewed by brands as a property that offers positive rub-off in more ways than one. In the RevSportz view, this auction is not merely a squad-building exercise. It is less about who goes where…

(PC- Debasis Sen) For broadcasters, Test cricket is not merely a sporting product. It is a sentiment-driven economic engine where narrative, national pride and momentum directly influence revenue. Which is why India’s recent Test struggles, capped by a damaging 0-3 whitewash against New Zealand and the looming prospect of a similar…

I know that a lot has been written and more will be written by the time the Guwahati Test is over. Even if India is able to scrape through with a draw, it does not take a Feluda to decipher that there is a systemic problem here. From my three decades as a corporate practitioner, the analogy that I can bring to the table is the “Icarus Paradox” — organisations or teams that fail precisely because of the strengths that once propelled them! Consider one of the most-cited business failures: Enron Corporation. Once lauded as innovator and high-flying, it spectacularly…

Its Saturday evening and a special treat for sports fans. Two high-intensity Test cricket encounters, Manchester City and Liverpool are going to be in action in the English Premier League and Barcelona take on Athletic Club in a thrilling La Liga encounter. As the Ashes did an Eden, I watched Travis Head do to England a repeat of the 2023 ICC ODI World Cup final, as Ravi Shastri said, “Plunged my country into silence”. I sat on my oversized white sofa and compared Head to a certain Tasmanian stalwart who opened the innings for Australia and fancied a similar…

Sanju Samson’s move to Chennai Super Kings is not merely a marquee transfer; it is a strategic moment of recalibration that could reshape the trajectory of both the player and IPL’s most storied franchise. If he, as widely anticipated, is being groomed for long-term captaincy, then this is not just about filling a batting or wicketkeeping slot, it is about leadership succession, cultural continuity and the architecture of CSK 2.0. For Samson, this represents the most decisive crossroads of his career. For years, he was the face of Rajasthan Royals – immensely talented, aesthetically pleasing, yet often caught between brilliance…

More than eight African nations heading to the 2026 FIFA World Cup is not merely a statistical quirk of an expanded format. It signals something far more profound: a continent that has moved from the periphery to the centre of football’s grandest theatre. With nine teams already qualified and a possible tenth still in contention, the narrative arc tilts unmistakably towards Africa. This, in every emotional and cultural sense, feels like Africa’s World Cup. Football in Africa has never been just a sport. It is language, rhythm, resistance, and release. The popularity is not new. What is new is how this devotion…

Picture credit- X There are sporting contests, and then there is the Ashes – a rivalry older than the automobile and the radio broadcast. Every two years, whether under a Melbourne sun or beneath grey English skies, the Ashes returns like a grand old play — rehearsed for 140 years but performed with fresh fire each time. In a world increasingly shaped by white-ball cricket’s dazzle and speed, the real marvel is this: the Ashes still feels timeless. It still evokes that lump-in-the-throat nostalgia, the kind that binds great-grandfathers to grandsons in a single breath. But as the Ashes…

A glimpse of a cricket coaching camp (Image: Madan Lal Cricket Academy) As my Uber turned off Darga Road and onto the Eastern Metropolitan Bypass (I don’t know what they call it nowadays!), I got a glimpse of the imposing yellow building that was my school in Kolkata. That was where I played under-15 cricket and where my love affair with the game began. There was a time not very long ago – though T20 makes everything feel like ancient history – when cricket coaching began with a single sermon: “Head still. Play straight. Front-foot defence.” If you…

Ashok Namboodiri, Kolkata There was a moment at Eden Gardens last week that captured not just the soul of Indian cricket, but the future of the global sports economy. A Test match that ended in under three days, on a pitch that drew criticism, in conditions that offered little balance still attracted more than 100,000 spectators across the truncated contest. They came despite the early finishes, despite the controversy, despite the foregone conclusion. Why? Because in sport, loyalty is immune to logic. And in 2025, that irrational loyalty has quietly become the most rational investment in the entire media industry.…