Author: Bharath Ramaraj

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…

Somewhere in 2016, Sri Lanka Under-19 were taking on England Under-19 in a quarterfinal game of the U19 World Cup. Sri Lanka’s innings was mostly about how Avishka Fernando dismantled an England attack comprising three bowlers who went on to play for the senior team. In the midst of Fernando’s array of shots was Charith Asalanka’s scratchy 34. He never really found his batting rhythm, but he hung around to compile a crucial hand. He also shared a vital stand of 69 with Fernando to guide Sri Lanka to a memorable win. Asalanka also was the captain of that Under-19…

Bharath Ramaraj “He is like an AI-generated player.” – Alexander Bublik said after suffering a crushing 6-1, 6-1, 6-1 loss to the defending US Open champion and the current No. 1 ranked player, Jannik Sinner. Bublik came into the 2025 US Open on a high, having won the EFG Swiss Open Gstaad and the recently concluded Generali Open. He had also got the better of Sinner in June, albeit it came on grass. However, that loss was an anomaly in a season where Sinner has won 94 sets and lost just 14 sets. So, why has it become so difficult…

When an athlete says, ‘I am in good form’, what does it actually mean? Perhaps it is about being in a zone where everything seems to be in sync. The kind of zone where your inner voice isn’t sowing the seeds of doubt. Maybe that athlete has found himself in a place where he or she is able to blend technique, temperament and intuition to reach a high level of excellence. There is also the other side of being in an auto-mode – Paddling through a phase where whatever you try isn’t good enough. A forgetful day where an athlete…