Author: Boria Majumdar

The relationship that Sachin Tendulkar and Virat Kohli share with each other is best summed up by the following incident on this very day a decade ago. It was November 16, 2013, Tendulkar’s retirement day, and he himself had narrated it to me. “As I reached the dressing room post the presentation and post my speech and was sitting all by myself Virat walked up to me,” he said. “I could see tears in his eyes and he came up to me to give me something very special. He said his dad had given him this (a family heirloom for…

Let me start with a conversation with Rohit Sharma on February 25, 2020. He had hurt his hamstring in New Zealand and was back in India midway through the tour, forced to miss the two Test matches he was so looking forward to playing. He was in red-hot form in the white-ball leg of the tour and, just a few months earlier, had scored five hundreds in the 2019 World Cup, the most by a batsman in a single tournament in the competition’s history. To get injured yet again when in such form was terribly unfortunate. It was the first…

With just 24 hours to go for yet another India-New Zealand semi-final, it is time to go back to a conversation I had with Virat Kohli sometime after India had lost the World Cup semi-final in Manchester in July 2019. He had been dismissed for one by an incoming Trent Boult delivery, a ball that television replays showed was clipping the top of the stump. The decision could have gone either way, and it was unfortunate for Kohli and India that the umpire’s dreaded finger had gone up. “Honestly, when we went to the World Cup, I had this very…

It was late December 2019, and we had just finished a chat show with one of MS Dhoni’s sponsors in New Delhi. I had a flight to catch in a few hours and was looking to grab some lunch before I left the hotel. That was when the invite came. “Do you want to have lunch together?” asked Dhoni, before disappearing into the elevator. “Please come up to my room and we can grab a bite.” There was no one else present, and we could have a conversation without having to think of what would come out in the media.…

Fans are the lifeblood of sport ,and cricket is no exception. So to read that over a million fans have flocked to the stadiums during the ICC World Cup is heartening. And as I write, quite a few thousand have turned up at the Eden Gardens for the inconsequential England v Pakistan encounter. Yes, the semi-finalists are all decided. Or almost, if you wish to believe in the surreal possibility of Pakistan still making it. The England-Pakistan match is more about pride and Champions Tropy qualification (for England) than anything else. Despite this, fans have turned up to enjoy the…

In a major blow to Sri Lankan cricket, the International Cricket Council (ICC) was forced to take the extreme step and suspend the Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) board citing direct government interference. Such government intervention goes against the ICC constitution. The ICC board will discuss further sanctions and the conditions of suspension at a meeting on November 21, two days after the World Cup final. While this isn’t something new in sport and Zimbabwe and the USA have been suspended in the past, what is worrying is that Sri Lanka are expected to host the Under-19 World Cup in January.…

A RevSportz Exclusive Boria: Hello and welcome to another special interview with coach Igor Stimac. The World Cup qualifiers. The coach has said multiple times in the past that hese are the matches that define character, define the national team. I know the preparation has not been ideal. I know Jeakson are not available. Anwar Ali not available. These are important blows. But how are you looking at things, coach? Because Kuwait and Qatar, more importantly Kuwait in the first match, will perhaps define our campaign. So, first thoughts? Igor Stimac: Yes, you are right. I will just repeat what…

Between May and July 2023, Indian football could do no wrong. Three tournament wins on the bounce, and the scenes in Bengaluru at the end of the SAFF Championship said it all – 26,000 fans singing Vande Mataram had signalled the arrival of a new dawn. Or, did we make a mistake? Was it a false dawn given what was to follow? Since July, things have gone consistently downhill for the sport. A caveat is necessary here – while the players have done well and this is perhaps the best Indian football team in over a decade, administratively, the sport…

It has been 14 months since a new dispensation took over the reins of Indian football. One of the first decisions taken was the appointment of Shaji Prabhakaran as secretary general. Since then, Prabhakaran had been one of the most visible faces of the new administration, who also courted controversy over his salary and other issues. But now, things have come to a tipping point with the AIFF Executive Committee removing him with immediate effect. In response, Prabhakaran, Media reports suggests has sent a letter. “As per AIFF Constitution, it is the Executive Committee that can only dismiss or terminate…

Exactly a year ago, in an interview to RevSportz, Jeff Thomson, the former Australian fast bowling legend, had labelled Glenn Maxwell a hit-and-miss player. To be fair to him, he wasn’t wrong. Maxwell, with all his talent, had not been consistent, and when it came to 50-over cricket, he had never played more than 100 balls in an innings until Tuesday night. He had always been kind of an enigma. Prone to freakish injuries and impulsive behaviour, Maxwell had very rarely been Australia’s go-to man. Not anymore. Not after last night. At 91-7, the Afghan celebrations had started. Rashid Khan…