Author: Atreyo Mukhopadhyay

He was a medium-pacer in the third division of the Chennai league. All that he wanted when his son started playing cricket was to see him play in the first division. Middle-class families have humble aspirations. There is usually no dreaming big. But the son set high standards for himself. In the end, he ended up surpassing his father’s expectations by a few notches. It was fitting that on the day Ravichandran Ashwin reached the milestone of 500 Test wickets, he paid tribute to his father. “I’d like to dedicate this feat to my father,” he said after the second…

On a day India doffed its cap to Ravichandran Ashwin for reaching the milestone of 500 Test wickets, an Englishman looked bent on spoiling the party. Ben Duckett not only hammered the fastest century by a visiting opener in India, but also opened a path for England to reach a position from where they can put pressure on the home team. Duckett wasted no time in silencing the Indians in the stands after England started their innings shortly before tea in Rajkot and kept them in a state of shock until the end. ‘Let him do this, he will miscue…

India’s overnight score was 326-5. Ravindra Jadeja was unbeaten on 110. Maker of five Test centuries, Ravichandran Ashwin was yet to come. There were big expectations of Dhruv Jurel, the debutant wicketkeeper who is an able batter. That’s why he is playing ahead of KS Bharat. Looked promising, right? Not entirely. Within five overs of play resuming on the second day of third India-England Test in Rajkot, the home team had slumped to 331-7, with Jadeja lofting a return catch to Joe Root after adding just two to his overnight score. India had a job to do to put up…

A timely and personal recollection: This was a Mumbai-Uttar Pradesh Ranji Trophy group league match at Wankhede Stadium in 2019-20. The visiting side piled up 625. Mumbai didn’t seem to have a chance at 128/4. But there was a partnership, followed by another and then another. One batter was common in all three, remaining not out on 301, as Mumbai finished at 688/7. Colleagues at the daily I then worked for were reluctant to carry this news, saying that such bravado on flat pitches doesn’t count. I had to reason, plead and fight to get this published, saying that not…

Winter is departing, but Rajkot is not very warm yet. It’s a bit chilly in the mornings and evenings, while the afternoons are not quite sweltering under a blazing sun. Among those still feelings, the heat in these climes could be for Rohit Sharma. He not only finds himself in the unenviable position of leading a batting unit suddenly short on experience. Rohit himself is short on runs. If these are not enough, he has the responsibility of leading the team against a dangerous opposition. Since Rohit is a batter first and everything else he does on the field has…

This about something that the Indian team is unlikely to deviate from. From around the 2016-17 season, they started playing with five bowlers in the XI. Easy to understand on what used to be the average Indian pitch — mostly flat — this strategy was followed overseas. It fetched rewards in different conditions and countries. As the series against England heads towards the halfway stage, with the teams tied 1-1 and the third Test starting in Rajkot on February 15, the situation is right to take a look at this five-bowler formula, which demands that the wicketkeeper be an able…

There will be different emotions at the Saurashtra Cricket Association (SCA) Stadium on Wednesday (February 14). There will be celebrations in some quarters, for the venue in the outskirts of Rajkot being named after Niranjan Shah, the veteran cricket administrator. There will anticipation of a gripping India-England third Test starting a day later (Thursday). Nidhi Barot will feel very different. She and her daughter Radhya, who is still to turn two, have been invited to the occasion for a special reason. Nidhi is the widow of Avi Barot — wicketkeeper of Saurashtra’s first-ever Ranji Trophy winning team in 2020. About…

Niranjan Shah has been an integral part of cricket administration for decades. A former secretary of the BCCI, its vice-president and part of various committees, he knows Indian cricket administration inside out. Days before the stadium in Rajkot is named after him, Shah spoke to RevSportz on his long journey. Excerpts: Q: Congratulations Mr Shah for having a stadium named after you. How do you describe this feeling? A:I thank the members of Saurashtra Cricket Association (SCA) for supporting me in my endeavours for close to four decades. We were a small unit, and to have become a prominent one…

Winners of the Under-19 World Cup a record five times, India have never hosted the event. The men’s competition has been held four times and the women’s version thrice. The men’s and women’s T20 World Cups took place in 2016. The country not staging even one of the 15 editions of the junior event — from which many became stars in the senior team — looks like an anomaly. India is not the only aberration. Held first in Australia in 1988 and a biennial occurrence since 1998, the U-19 World Cup has not travelled to England or Pakistan either. But…

Are you earning your keep? This question will become louder each time KS Bharat fails with the bat in this India-England series, irrespective of how he fares with the big gloves. It may be unkind on the player, who is basically the victim of a template set years ago. A wicketkeeper in a Test team has to be an able batter. This was hammered into the heads of those who run teams by Adam Gilchrist. He averaged 47-odd in the longest format at a strike rate of 81-plus. This redefining the role of a keeper was taken forward in the…