Author: Atreyo Mukhopadhyay

Ian Chappell had said that the Australian way of selecting a team is finding 11 of the best players. The captain can be the most suitable one from them. Nobody gets that role unless his place in the side as a player is confirmed. One of the most dashing Australia skippers and the best in the world in his days, the senior Chappell’s words are relevant in the present Indian context. Days before announcing the squad for the five-Test series in England, the Indian selectors are in a dilemma. There is no obvious candidate for captain, following the retirement of…

Mumbai Indians (MI) sealed the fourth and final playoff berth in IPL 2025 with a 59-run drubbing of Delhi Capitals (DC) at Wankhede Stadium. The five-time champions have 16 points from 13 games. With 13 from 13 and one match to play, DC cannot catch up with them. Many of the seven league games still remaining will see the qualifiers jostle for the top-two slots. The victory looked easy in the end, but MI were in trouble for the most part of their innings. The pitch wasn’t a typical IPL belter, DC’s spinners got considerable purchase and despite the best…

This one is not, but it’s tempting to see Mumbai Indians versus Delhi Capitals as a shootout for the last playoff berth in IPL 2025. After 12 matches, the five-time champions are on 14 points. The team seeking a first title has 13. MI will qualify if they win today at Wankhede Stadium. Anything else and the two have to wait until their last match. Both end their league campaign against Punjab Kings. Contrasting paths to climax The teams could not have taken more contrasting routes to get here. MI lost four and won one of their first five matches.…

Atreyo Mukhopadhyay What are pace or medium-pace bowling all-rounders? A breed of cricketers the Indian team has been craving since the retirement of Kapil Dev nearly three decades ago. Many players were tried out. None clicked at the Test level. The noise gets louder each time they travel for a marquee series — mainly in England and Australia — as the people concerned keep pressing the ‘search’ button. After a lot of search and research, the selectors and the head coach have zeroed in on Nitish Kumar Reddy. The player from Andhra Pradesh, who caught attention in IPL 2024 playing…

By Atreyo Mukhopadhyay Chess is one sport where men and women can compete on an equal footing. Or, so goes the perception, because the most obvious factor of difference in physical abilities is not relevant in the game of 64 squares. It’s not that chess doesn’t require attributes like endurance or stamina, but by and large, the contrast in ability caused by gender in other sports is significantly less stark here. Yet, there is a huge gulf in terms of rankings based on performance. The women’s world No. 1, Hou Yifan of China, has an Elo rating of 2633, which…

After the unparalleled highs of 2024, this year was going to be an acid test for the Indian chess brigade. Expectations had risen following wins in the Olympiad and world championships (men’s classical, women’s rapid) and so had the pressure. Previously, their potential was known, but they were not always the favourites. After those waves of success, they are. Nearing the halfway stage of the year, the Indian players have given a good account of themselves collectively. This has happened in spite of the top guns not firing. World champion D Gukesh and world No. 3 Arjun Erigaisi are yet…

Atreyo Mukhopadhyay Maxim Vachier-Lagrave had a faint smile on his face, when he extended his hand to his rival immediately after the final blitz tie-breaker game, at the Superbet Chess Classic in Bucharest late on Friday night (IST). The players shook hands once more while getting off their chairs and the Frenchman grinned again. The player he had lost to, however, presented a face devoid of emotions. After winning his second big title of the year and exchanging pleasantries on the board, R Praggnanandhaa put his participant’s badge back around his neck and started sipping from his water bottle. Looking…

R Praggnanandhaa is one favourable round away from what would be a big win and a continuation of his strong showing in 2025. He is the sole leader with five points at the Superbet Chess Classic played in Bucharest in Romania. Three other players are on 4.5 each. If Praggnanandhaa wins, it’s done. If he loses, it becomes wide open. It he draws, anything can happen. That’s how close and full of possibilities it can become towards the closing stages of elite chess tournaments. Unless there is a Magnus Carlsen running away with it, these are usually closely-fought affairs. Consistency…

Players experience bad times. There are no exceptions. In that way, there may not be a lot to read into D Gukesh’s modest run at the ongoing Superbet Chess Classic in the Romanian capital of Bucharest. After six of the nine rounds in this event, featuring 10 players, the youngest-ever world champion is placed last with two points. He is winless, with four draws and two defeats. R Praggnanandhaa, the other Indian in action in Bucharest, is in the leading pack of four players. The timing of this dip in Gukesh’s performance is critical. Up next is Norway Chess beginning…

Atreyo Mukhopadhyay Being a sports reporter can at times give someone a chance to see something unfold — with nobody watching — and then see that bloom into a spectacle in front of a global audience. It’s not about any ‘ah, I knew it’ feeling. Nor has it got anything to do with some sort of ‘I told you so’. Truth be told, it’s largely about the satisfaction of getting to observe something special from start to end. In the 2006-07 domestic cricket season, a few Duleep Trophy matches took place at Eden Gardens. North Zone won the title. The…