Author: Atreyo Mukhopadhyay

One day during his last Test appearance, against the West Indies in 2013, Sachin Tendulkar was watching from behind the nets. The batters were having practice sessions — Virat Kohli, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane and Rohit Sharma in adjacent nets at Wankhede. The retiring master was looking at the crop he was leaving behind. They were to travel to South Africa soon. That was the end of the transition phase and a new beginning. Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman had called it a day in 2011, and up against Dale Steyn, Vernon Philander and Morne Morkel were batters who, at…

Atreyo Mukhopadhyay A prodigy at 10, international chess sensation by 17-18 and then classmates — so to say — zoom past him. He is still quite good, but a notch below his contemporary players who have broken into the elite of the elite in terms of achievements. That’s how it was for R Praggnanandhaa in 2024. While D Gukesh became the youngest world champion and Arjun Erigaisi went past the 2800 mark in Elo ratings, which only 13 players had done before him, Pragg’s best was not good enough to get close to the players he had known since childhood.…

Classical chess is back after a slew of freestyle and rapid events. This brings the Indians back in familiar territory. After R Praggnanandhaa won the Tata Steel event in Wijk Aan Zee and Aravind Chithambaram prevailed at the Prague Masters, players from the country were low-key in rapid and freestyle. The ongoing Superbet Chess Classic Romania is a chance for them to reassert supremacy. After two rounds in the 10-player, round-robin event in Bucharest to be played until May 16, D Gukesh and Praggnanandhaa are on one point each. There are five more on that score. Alireza Firouzja of France…

It was not as imperious or important as the famous six he had hit in a World Cup final in Mumbai 14 years ago. But the yellow faithful who outnumbered the purple-and-gold at Eden Gardens will take this six from MS Dhoni in the last over. It was struck slightly wider of long-on than that Wankhede one and practically ended Kolkata Knight Riders campaign in IPL 2025. Chasing 180 to win and five down inside the first six overs despite an 11-ball 31 from Urvil Patel, Chennai Super Kings owed this come-from-behind win to Dewald Brevis and Shivam Dube. They…

A KKR versus CSK match in 2019 was an eye-opener of sorts, even for seasoned Eden Gardens frequenters, when it came to understanding the gravitational pull of Mahendra Singh Dhoni. It was a scorching April late afternoon when the fans started making it towards the ground in waves. There was a sea of yellow, with only one name on all the jerseys — the one who wore No. 7. It was a bad season for the home team and interest in their chances was low when this match took place. The name visible on the back of the handful of…

Heavyweights fall with a thud. When that happens, there is noise. It’s no different with Chennai Super Kings in IPL 2025. One of the all-time great franchises in the 18 years of the competition, they have set examples that will be difficult to replicate. Considering their legacy, this year’s experience (10th and last on the table at the moment) has been traumatic for their fans — one of the most passionate and dedicated among all IPL teams. This was bound to unfold, following natural laws. There is a sell-by date for everything and CSK overlooked this. They stuck to the…

A commanding batting performance from the top three propelled Gujarat Titans to a 38-run win against Sunrisers Hyderabad in an IPL 2025 match in Ahmedabad on Friday. The hosts made 224/6 and restricted the visitors to 186/6. GT moved to the second position with 14 points from 10 matches. SRH were left at second from bottom, with six points from 10. The GT openers — Shubman Gill and Sai Sudharsan — wasted no time in putting the SRH bowlers under pressure. The pitch was perfect for shot-making and they just kept flowing from the blades of the left-right duo. There…

As the Indian Premier League (IPL) crosses the halfway stage and gets closer to the business end, talk of what lies ahead after that has started getting louder. Other than enjoying the advent of a fresh crop of teenagers, cricket fans have started preparing for the Test series in England commencing in June. India last won there in 2007. After that, they lost three series and drew the last one. Amid worries over the availability of the frontline fast bowlers, a batting line-up which has been brittle of late and a dip in the team’s graph in Test matches overseas,…

Other than stunning the world for the sheer audacity it was crafted with, the century by Vaibhav Suryavanshi was a screaming statement from Bihar. After the political and geographical division of the erstwhile state into two — Bihar and Jharkhand — in 2000, and the BCCI’s move to recognise the state unit of the latter instead of the former in 2004, cricket in Bihar came close to a grinding halt. For years, scuffles between bodies claiming to be the legally verified custodians of cricket in the state made headlines. At BCCI meetings, self-proclaimed officials of several entities turned up, saying…

Josh Hazlewood kept getting his team back in it as Royal Challengers Bengaluru posted their first win on their home turf after three defeats in IPL 2025. A sixth victory in the ninth match boosted their playoff chances and made them joint-leaders in terms of points. Rajasthan Royals lost a third successive game they looked like winning to remain on four points after nine games. The total of 205 posted by RCB was under threat for a large part of the RR innings, but Hazlewood and Krunal Pandya took wickets at crucial junctures while Suyash Sharma bowled economically to derail…