Author: Bharath Ramaraj

Bharath Ramaraj in Dubai Around 1,480 days ago, Varun Chakaravarthy might have wondered whether the entire world was against him. Although he wasn’t the only bowler who couldn’t make an incision in the 2021 T20 World Cup game against Pakistan, the mystery spinner came under heavy scrutiny. He also played in conditions where there was considerable dew. But in a game where emotions hit fever pitch, logic was thrown out of the window as Varun became one of the scapegoats. Four years later, if Varun looks back on that game, he might ponder the following lines: Am I living in…

On social media platforms, just do a simple search to gauge fans’ opinions on Shivam Dube’s bowling. You might end up getting the following results – Right-arm nothing, dibbly-dobbly bowler and certain abuses that aren’t worth mentioning here. To a certain extent, the criticism is valid. The all-rounder has just five wickets to his name in 79 IPL games. And in T20Is, he has taken 16 in 36 matches; three of which came against the UAE in India’s opening fixture of the 2025 Asia Cup. So, what could we tell of the three wickets that he took while facing…

Bharat Ramaraj “The art of leg-spin is not just bowling a leg-break; the art of leg-spin is to examine, deceive and outwit. That is the whole art. And within it is the magic,” said Shane Warne in his autobiography, No Spin. Many moons after Warne walked into the retirement life, Kuldeep Yadav has time and again looked to follow those golden nuggets from the legendary cricketer – inspect, deceive and outfox the opponent. We saw some glimpses of it during the India-United Arab Emirates game in the 2025 Asia Cup. The left-arm wrist spinner toyed with all the UAE…

Kuldeep Yadav and Shivam Dube combined to take seven wickets between them as India thrashed the United Arab Emirates by nine wickets, in their opening fixture of the 2025 Asia Cup, at the Dubai International Stadium. India chased down the modest target of 58 well within the powerplay. The UAE, who were inserted into bat, made a decent start. Alishan Sharafu esayed a cut stroke off Hardik Pandya and then played the inside-out loft while facing Axar Patel. However, once he was castled by a yorker from Jasprit Bumrah, they never really recovered. Varun Chakaravarthy picked up the second scalp…

Bharath in Dubai Dubai International Stadium (DIS) is also famously called the ‘Ring of Fire’. Obviously, we are not referring to the “horseshoe-shaped path around the Pacific Ocean”, which is hit by numerous earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. So, what is it then? Here, it is basically related to the 350 lights that are installed around the perimeter of the DIS. The resultant outcome is that there is no need for the light towers associated with a lot of other cricket grounds. That lighting arrangement though doesn’t exactly help the fielders in the deep while taking high catches. The lights fall…

Bharath Ramaraj in Dubai Whenever Abhishek Sharma and Shubman Gill are batting together in the middle, the memory bank travels back in time by a decade or even more. ‘The Tribune’s’ reports on the Dhruv Pandove age-group tournaments keep echoing in the mind. In one such Under-19 game, Gill’s timely innings had taken Punjab past Vidarbha’s score of 239 for the loss of just two wickets. Somewhere in September 2025, in the hot and humid climes of Dubai, they were at it again – pulverising their opponents. This time around, it was during a net session, at the ICC Academy.…

On or off the field, Suryakumar Yadav comes across as a jovial person. He is always up for a lighthearted joke. We could see a snippet of it during the 2025 Asia Cup’s captains meet. One of the questions was related to whether India would feel the pressure of being called the best T20I side going around, and billed as the favourites to lift the Asia Cup. Suryakumar’s reply went as follows: “Who told you? (all the captains had a chuckle).” He added, “I didn’t say anything of that sort (again with a smile). It comes down to preparations. If…

Bharath Ramaraj in Dubai No one knows what might happen the next day. Not even what lies ahead the next minute. Those ifs and buts are a microcosm of life that never seem to go away. Sanju Samson, India’s wicketkeeper-batter, might be having such thoughts in the caverns of his brain. Here’s a cricketer who has notched up three T20I hundreds in the shortest format in the last 12 months. Yet, with Shubman Gill being picked in India’s T20I squad, there are discussions surrounding his place, ahead of India’s Asia Cup clash against the UAE, on September 10. At around…

The distance between Ludhiana in Punjab and Oman is more than 3,000 km. When Jatinder Singh travelled alongside his family to Oman, little did he know that one fine day he would end up as the cricket captain of the national team. The experienced top-order batter, who has scored four ODI hundreds, did not even take up the game seriously in India. But destiny had something else in store for him. “From Ludhiana to Oman, I never thought I would become a cricketer because I am not from a sports background. I have not played any cricket in India,” he…

Bharath Ramaraj From an Indian perspective, the shirt numbered 18 has a special place in the memory bank of fans. Virat Kohli wore that shirt for more than a decade, and successfully engineered many of India’s chases in the shortest format of the game. But with Kohli retiring from T20Is, the iconic jersey is being missed by his legions of supporters. So, one can imagine when Kohli hung up his boots from that format, he left some big shoes to fill at the No. 3 position. On his part, the young Tilak Varma has made a good fist of slotting…