Author: Bharath Ramaraj

The photograph of a pleased Saurabh Netravalkar holding his hands aloft after bowling the all-important Super Over against Pakistan is quite evocative. Roughly around a month since that memorable performance, as yours truly engaged in a freewheeling conversation with the USA cricketer, you couldn’t help but imagine the left-arm pacer being in Zen-mode while having a ball in hand. There is a touch of calm countenance attached to his cricket. In the just-concluded ICC T20 World Cup, be it finding nifty movement with the new ball or keeping it tight at the back-end of an innings, Netravalkar had the right…

Peter Roebuck had once said the following lines on Sachin Tendulkar, India’s legendary batter: “On a train from Shimla to Delhi, there was a halt at one of the stations. The train stopped by for a few minutes as usual. Sachin was nearing a century, batting on 98. The passengers, railway officials, everyone on the train waited for Sachin to complete the century. This genius can stop time in India!” This famous quote is used quite frequently across media platforms and portals. Let’s tweak the aforesaid quote further by saying, not just any famous personality from the cricketing world, but…

Six years ago, Sumit Nagal collected a mere two games in a Wimbledon Qualifiers match against K Majchrzak. After a thorough Google search, you might end up getting just the scoreline of the aforementioned match. There is no highlights package or relevant stats related to it. After all, it was a contest between two relatively unknown players, slugging it out in a qualifier. When the same Nagal, now ranked 71, took on M Kecmanovic, in the first round of the 2024 Wimbledon Championships, there was a bit of buzz surrounding the match. Indian tennis fans had the chance to watch…

Somewhere in the storehouse of my memory now lives a weeping David Miller. The experienced cricketer couldn’t hold back the tears after South Africa slipped to a gut-wrenching seven-run defeat in the T20 World Cup final against India. It is an enduring image to add to all those heartbreaking moments that South Africa have suffered over a little more than three decades in cricket World Cups. The rain-rule fiasco in the 1992 World Cup semifinal, the mix-up between Lance Klusener and Allan Donald in the 1999 World Cup semifinal, the blunder surrounding the DL method in 2003, a depressed Dale…

“I was going through what I was going through, then I came back in the Asia Cup. I was playing well. And then I felt like, ‘Wow! I am ready to play in this World Cup.’ By the 10th over, we were 31 for 4 and I had just run Axar [Patel] out. I think I was 12 off 25 or something. And I remember Rahul bhai (Dravid) came during the break and I don’t remember what he said. “I swear, I told him this as well, ‘I had no idea what you said, I was zoned out.’ My mind…

June 23, 2013 was a great day in the history of Indian cricket. On that day, India won the Champions Trophy after beating England in a thriller. The celebrations that followed would be remembered for a long time to come — Virat Kohli, in particular, doing warm-ups and then his dance steps. At that juncture, no one could have envisaged that the Men in Blue would go empty handed for the next 11 years as far as ICC tournaments are concerned. Last year, in the 2023 World Cup, it felt like India would finally end the drought. After all, they…

“The art of leg-spin is not just bowling a leg-break; the art of leg-spin is to examine, deceive and outwit,” wrote the late Shane Warne in his autobiography, No Spin. “That is the whole art. And within it is the magic.” Warne passed away in 2022, but somewhere up in heaven, he would be chuffed to observe how Kuldeep has turned out to be a worthy disciple. The Kanpur-born cricketer, who initially wanted to follow in the footsteps of another magician, Wasim Akram, has been bamboozling one batter after another with his box of variations. More importantly, he never compromises…

When India lock horns against England, there is always a sense of intrigue surrounding the contest. Not just because they are two of the better sides in the cricketing landscape, but also due to the history encompassing the two countries. So, what are the key matchups that could decide the fate of the two teams in the eagerly anticipated T20 World Cup semifinal in Guyana? Let’s have a peek into each one of them. Jofra Archer versus Virat Kohli The England pace bowler has made a fine comeback from his persistent elbow problem. Since his return to the national set-up,…

South Africa’s pace trio ripped through the heart of the Afghanistan batting unit, and in turn powered the side to their first-ever senior ICC World Cup final. Afghanistan could muster a mere 56 in tricky conditions for batting, with South Africa chasing down the target in 8.4 overs. Marco Jansen started the slide by dismissing the in-form Rahmanullah Gurbaz, with a mixture of short and fuller-length deliveries. The tall Jansen then accentuated the variable bounce on display by cleaning up Gulbadin Naib. Kagiso Rabada, the pace spearhead, put Afghanistan under even more pressure by picking up two wickets in a…

A little more than 15 years ago, Afghanistan were part of World Cricket League Division 5. If you time-travel back to the present, they have not only beaten a formidable opponent like Australia, but also progressed to the semifinals of the T20 World Cup. It is a remarkable achievement for a country ravaged by war. Can Afghanistan’s Cinderella-like story continue? Will they go all the way and lift the coveted trophy? For that to happen, first they have to overcome a South Africa-shaped hurdle. The best thing about Afghanistan is the variety in their bowling attack. There was a time…