Author: Boria Majumdar

As the Indian team gets ready to assemble in Doha for the Asian Cup, they do so in a day, there is some good news regarding the fitness of Sahal Abdul Samad. Sahal who hasn’t played in the last 3 weeks is nearing full fitness and is expected to be ready for the first game. While he reported a very slight discomfort over the outer ankle while receiving a pass with his inner foot yesterday, the best news for Indian football fans is that he is pain free at the moment. And that’s what should please the Indian team management…

They remain fond memories. Multiple conversations with King Pele spread over days during his visit to Kolkata in 2015. While some were formal interviews, others were conversations on the fly as we travelled all over the city. So today, on his first death anniversary, I checked my notes and put together some of the best answers that Pele had given in the course of our numerous conversations. Boria: Almost everyone considers you to be the greatest. The King. Can there be a second Pele? Who comes closest to Pele? Pele: Listen, everywhere I go to, people say X or Y…

Eight Indian batters were on show at Centurion and only two – KL Rahul in the first innings and Virat Kohli in the second – stood out. Half the others got out to bad shots and some continued to be in white-ball mode on a bowler-friendly wicket. What would have been going through Rahul Dravid’s mind as he watched some of his boys surrender their wickets? Dravid, one of the greatest batters of his time, was all about application. He would grit it out and not give up his wicket at any cost. As coach, he just watched a team…

At 256-5, India needed a strong first session to pull things back. And in helpful conditions, a good bowling morning is par. What we got instead was below-par intensity and spraying the ball around. The moment Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj were taken off to try and preserve them for the new ball, South Africa were off. Gifts all round the wicket from Shardul Thakur and Prasidh Krishna, and India looked hapless. Runs at a canter and the match was gone. By the time the new ball was taken, South Africa were in complete control. Just compare Nandre Burger, the…

It was October 2002, and I was a PhD student at Oxford University working on the history of Indian cricket when I got a call from an auctioneer in London. He had helped me with material and sounded very excited on the phone. “Come and see what I have found,” he told me. When I met him the next day, I was in disbelief. I was actually holding in my hand a letter from Douglas Jardine addressed to Duleepsinhji, which said that Jardine had finally figured out a way to stop Donald Bradman and he wanted to discuss it with…

KL Rahul during his unbeaten 70 runs knock. Source: BCCI Left out of the Test team after a string of underwhelming performances, much was said about KL Rahul being given a long rope. And the trolls had an absolute feast going after him for days on end. The injury in the IPL did not help and some even rejoiced, saying good riddance, when he wasn’t available for the WTC final. In fact, had it been KL instead of KS (Bharat), the final might have been a different story. Centurion was proof, and how. India were struggling at 93-4 when Rahul…

There is a certain charm to a Boxing Day Test. It is almost like a ritual. Red-ball intensity setting up the post-Christmas holiday season and transitioning into the new year. And for Indian cricket, it is even more special this time round with Rohit Sharma’s team gearing up for the final frontier. The last time India played a Boxing Day Test in South Africa, it was a KL Rahul masterclass that set up the match. And in the middle order, it was Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane who were the two constants alongside Virat Kohli. While Kohli is still there…

India’s women have just clinched a famous Test win against Australia. The sport has new-found momentum after back-to-back Test wins against England and Australia. Just when there were celebrations all round, toxicity seems to have cast a shadow on the win. An ESPN Cricinfo report credited Mithali Raj with having started the transformation. Yes, the headline could have been tweaked but it was clear to everyone what it was trying to portray. Mithali is a pioneer of the sport and some of the players like Sneh Rana, who won the player of the match award against Australia, were brought back…

India is one of the countries that aspires to host the Olympics in 2036. We successfully hosted the International Olympic Committee (IOC) session in October 2023 and, in the presence of the Prime Minister, it was announced that a strong bid would be put together for the 2030 Youth Olympic Games as well. And yet, it has now been a year that Indian wrestling is a mess. More importantly, no end is in sight. Without going into the rights and wrongs, it sends the worst signal to everyone watching. We couldn’t hold elections for months and when we did, it…

Australia, the best team in the world by a country mile. A team that is well and truly comparable to Clive Lloyd’s West Indies and Ricky Ponting’s men’s side that dominated cricket for a decade. Having won World Cups with ease, this Australian women’s team will go down in history as the very best. And that’s what magnifies India’s achievement. Helps us put things in context. Allows us to speak about this Test win, and say that it is the best thing to happen to the sport in years. A year which started with the Women’s Premier League becoming a…