Author: Atreyo Mukhopadhyay

The Indian badminton contingent at the Olympics will have medal contenders in more than one section. Everything won by the shuttlers before Paris 2024 came from women’s singles. This time, prospects are better in men’s doubles and singles. PV Sindhu will still be the cynosure and a contender after having secured qualification. That’s because she is Sindhu. The former world champion claimed bronze and silver at the last two Olympics in Rio and Tokyo. She lifts her game on the big stage, as five world championship medals testify. Well off her peak a few months ago, she has bounced back…

Along with drawn Tests, something else is becoming rare. Series wins away from home that matter. It is considered to be the ultimate proof of the superiority of a Test side. A look at Test cricket after the Covid-19 pandemic is not too large a sample size to come to any conclusion. But it helps understand trends and tendencies. It shows that overseas series wins against competition that counts and holds some relevance, have been few and far between. India and Pakistan have three away wins since June 2020. England have two, Australia and New Zealand one each. South Africa,…

This is well-organised and systematic cricket in all seriousness, and watched by the players, organisers, crows and pigeons. At some grounds, other birds like black kites and wagtails are in attendance. The cricket is no nonsense. From the starting bell and third umpire to light metre at the end of the day, the atmosphere and discipline resemble international cricket. A cricket-crazy populace may not follow it, but the 89-year-old Ranji Trophy has stood the test of time and remained relevant. Amidst other investments, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has pumped resources into this non-profit venture to…

On a day two omissions from the list of centrally-contracted players with the BCCI made headlines, another passed by rather quietly. Unlike in the cases of Shreyas Iyer and Ishan Kishan, few noticed that Umesh Yadav had also been left without an annual contract in any of the four categories. Umesh’s exclusion was on the cards and in accordance with the decision not to offer renewals to Cheteshwar Pujara, Shikhar Dhawan and Yuzvendra Chahal. He had not been in India reckoning for a while and made his last international appearance at the ICC World Test Championship final last June in…

Broadly, news of Mohammed Shami’s Achilles tendon surgery raises two questions. Will he recover for at least a bit of the Indian Premier League (IPL)? What about India’s pace line-up for the T20 World Cup? The IPL is scheduled from March 22 to May 26. The T20 World Cup in the West Indies and USA starts on June 2. The Indian campaign begins on June 5. Considering the time required for recovery, reconditioning and getting back in shape for high-intensity cricket, training and travel, Shami’s chances of regaining match fitness are negligible. There is a third question as well. How…

There were several heroes in India taking an unassailable 3-1 lead in the Test series against England. Yashasvi Jaiswal, Jasprit Bumrah, Ravindra Jadeja and Dhruv Jurel were at the forefront. Kuldeep Yadav and Ravichandran Ashwin were not far behind. Shubman Gill is perhaps among the unsung heroes. The runs he made were not celebrated as much as those made by Jaiswal, Jurel or Sarfaraz Khan. But make no mistake, Gill made those runs in the second innings. These efforts either helped India consolidate on leads, or finish the match off. Either way, they helped the team win. In the second,…

There was some huff and puff in the chase. After that, India had the last laugh and also secured the series winners’ trophy. It was not the most convincing of performances with the bat on a tricky pitch in Ranchi. But given that the hosts were playing without a number of regulars, this win against England should rank among one of India’s memorable performances at home of late. In the end, Shubman Gill (52 not out) and Dhruv Jurel (39 not out) were the stars of the Indian second innings, after a solid opening stand between Rohit Sharma and Yashasvi…

For the first time this series, India faced a new set of challenges. In all three Tests before the fourth one, they had taken a lead of at least 100 runs. In Ranchi, England were ahead on the first innings. Chasing the game is something all teams do at times, but for this side inexperienced in certain areas — four players in the XI made their Test debut in the series — this was an unfamiliar situation at this level. This happened due to two reasons. One, England went from 112-5 to 353 — a recovery which seemed unlikely on…

England’s Sue Redfern scripted history last month. She became the first ICC-appointed neutral umpire to do duty in a women’s bilateral series — between Australia and South Africa. In an interview with RevSportz, the former England international with six Test and 15 ODI caps spoke about the experience and the challenges. The following are the excerpts: Q: How unique is the feeling of becoming the first ICC-appointed neutral umpire in women’s bilateral international cricket? A: I feel honoured to become the first to be a neutral umpire. Initially, it was daunting being the only non-Australian in the officiating team and…

At some stage, it will become necessary to take a close look at the career statistics of Ravindra Jadeja. From starting out as a utility cricketer in the shorter formats to becoming one of the best all-rounders in Test cricket is a remarkable, if not unbelievable, journey. After the ODI debut in February 2009, it took him over three years to play his first game in the longest format, in December 2012. Initially, he carried into Test cricket the same qualities which made him a useful property in limited-over matches. He was an economical customer with the ball, bowling wicket…