Author: Boria Majumdar

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…

If anyone calls Afghanistan a minnow, we now have to doubt that person’s understanding of cricket. Let’s all agree that as a team, Afghanistan have come a long way. Call them minnows at your own peril. They are here to write their own destiny and, in doing so, prove sceptics wrong. But for what was probably the greatest innings in World Cup history from Glenn Maxwell, they would have been within striking distance of a place in the World Cup semi-finals. A win against Australia, five-time champions, would have easily been the greatest achievement in Afghan sport. That they aren’t…

With the recent news that Saudi Arabia, which has invested billions of dollars into sports over the last few years, has shown an interest in the Indian Premier League (IPL), who better to talk to about the subject than Lalit Modi, whose brainchild the league was? Modi’s creation utterly transformed the cricket landscape. But what does the future hold, especially given the interest from Saudi, whose football league has already poached several stars from European leagues? In this in-depth conversation with Boria Majumdar, RevSportz editor-in-chief, Modi talks of this, how the IPL has grown and why he feels the 30-billion…

A RevSportz Exclusive With the recent news that Saudi Arabia, which has invested billions of dollars into sports over the last few years, has shown an interest in the Indian Premier League (IPL), who better to talk to about the subject than Lalit Modi, whose brainchild the league was? Modi’s creation utterly transformed the cricket landscape. But what does the future hold, especially given the interest from Saudi, whose football league has already poached several stars from European leagues? In this in-depth conversation with Boria Majumdar, RevSportz editor-in-chief, Modi talks of this, how the IPL has grown and why he…

Pressure. Perhaps the most-used word when it comes to sport. Everyone who has played sport will tell you there is always pressure. From fans, parent bodies, sponsors, family and, most importantly, from yourself. At the end of the day, a sportsperson is alone grappling with his or her own mind. A mind that is full of clutter and constantly fighting to be freed. Of all the thoughts that keep flooding in, of the possibilities that keep disturbing the equilibrium and finally all the hope and expectation of what can be. The possibilities, options and the potential going forward. Sachin Tendulkar,…

It was Virat Kohli’s first tour down under with the senior team. And at Perth in January 2012, Australia, as they often do, had managed to get under his skin. Not able to handle the heckling from spectators, Kohli descended to low-level combat. He showed the middle finger to a particularly noisy section of the crowd after they called him a ‘wanker’. The anger (mis)management was a feature of early Kohli, and there were concerns if it would get in the way of a full blossoming of his talent. Two months down the line, it was a very different story.…