Author: Bharath Ramaraj

When injury rules an athlete out of playing top-flight sport, depressing thoughts might cross the mind — Why only me? Why now? Rajat Patidar, the middle-order bat from Madhya Pradesh, would have had similar thoughts after he was laid low by a career-threatening Achilles heel injury. He had to undergo surgery in May for that. The swashbuckling batter had just made it to the Indian limited-over side on the back of some noteworthy performances in IPL 2022. Moreover, he had averaged over 50 in first-class cricket over two seasons. In the 2022 Ranji Trophy final against Mumbai, he had compiled…

The Australian cricket team and 50-over World Cup titles seem to be synonymous. Before the summit clash against India, Australia had five titles, and now they have added one more with a crushing six-wicket win in front of a humongous home crowd in Ahmedabad. Travis Head was the man of the moment for Australia, scoring a game-changing 137. He also took a brilliant catch to dismiss Rohit Sharma. Meanwhile, Marnus Labuschagne turned out to be the supporting cast for Head as the duo put on a game-breaking 192-run stand. Earlier, the bowlers too had done their job by using…

First ball or last ball of his innings, Travis Head, the Australian opener, seems to have one game-plan —give the ball an almighty thump. The game-changing knock against South Africa in the World Cup semi-final at Eden Gardens further epitomized Head’s ability to break open a game with a volley of shots. On occasions, he threw the kitchen sink at the ball, as mistimed shots rocketed through backward point and mid-wicket regions. The upshot of Head’s pyrotechnics at the top of the order was it negated the early threat of South African pacers finding some seam movement. Incidentally, the third…

Australia and South Africa have a storied history of playing out thrillers not just in cricket, but also in rugby. While South Africa’s rugby team continue to find ways to close out tense encounters in World Cups, the same can’t be said about the cricket side. In the latest installment of South Africa-Australia contests, Australia once more came out on top, winning the Eden Gardens semi-final by three wickets. In a game of fine margins, Australia took their chances, while South Africa fluffed as many as four catches, and that proved to be the difference. Australia chased down the target…

What was it like to watch Mohammed Shami bowl at the Wankhede Stadium in the semi-final against New Zealand? Just think of the fast bowler’s delivery to dismiss Tom Latham and you might get an answer. As Latham walked out to bat with the score reading 220 for 3, the New Zealand vice-captain would have hoped for relatively easier conditions to bat. Theoretically, at that stage of an ODI innings, you wouldn’t expect the ball to dart around. But Shami had other ideas. From round the wicket and slightly wide of the crease, he angled the ball back into the…

On a sweltering day at the Wankhede stadium, Virat Kohli whipped one towards backward square leg while facing Lockie Ferguson. The significance of that double was that it took Kohli past Sachin Tendulkar’s record of 49 ODI tons. It took somewhere close to 9150 days to cross the landmark, and Kohli aptly punched the air in delight and bowed down to the great man, while Tendulkar stood up and applauded. Not just Tendulkar, but millions of fans across the country would have celebrated the mark. Some memories don’t fade away, and this would be one of them. The India-New Zealand…

At 11.30 AM, on May 29, 1953, Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay became the first climbers to confirm the conquest of Mount Everest. But what is the connection between that historical event and a World Cup semi-final set to be played between India and New Zealand some 70 years later at the Wankhede Stadium? The answer lay in a question that was asked at the pre-match press conference to the New Zealand skipper, Kane Williamson. The question went on the lines of, “On May 29, 1953, about 70 years back…” Even before the reporter could complete it, Williamson quipped,…

How to stop the Indian juggernaut? Ahead of India’s World Cup semi-final against New Zealand at the Wankhede Stadium, this question seems to have become a bigger puzzle than a complex mathematical equation for the rest of the teams. The five frontline bowlers are relentless and skillful. The batting unit is notching up tall scores. More importantly, starting with Rohit Sharma at the top, they are playing with a touch of bravado and intent. Just to illustrate the point about India’s dominance, they have batted first four times in the tournament so far, scoring over 300 on three occasions. The…

Bharath Ramaraj at the Chinnaswamy It is Diwali season all over India. Boom! Dhoom! Rat-A-Tat! Dabbb! One after another, firecrackers lit up the country’s cities and villages. Inside the Chinnaswamy Stadium, too, it felt as if Diwali was being celebrated, but of a different kind. Different streams of colour bursting forth outside were matched by the pizzazz of KL Rahul and Shreyas Iyer’s stroke-play. The explosive din reached its crescendo in the last few overs of the Indian innings. By then, even the spirited Netherlands unit seemed to have lost its vigour amid all the bedlam. While bowling to Iyer,…

It was just another normal day. But something caught the eye in the evening as you scrolled through various news outlets. Sybrand Engelbrecht, the former South African cricketer, had made it to the Netherlands squad for the 2023 World Cup. Engelbrecht, a right-hand batter, had virtually disappeared from the cricket scene after leading the Western Province first-class side some seven years ago. The inquisitive mind started wondering where he had been all these years. Ultimately, when you met the cricketer himself at a function, all those lingering doubts were cleared. “After 2016, I did my MBA and started working in…