Author: Boria Majumdar

“They have a complete game, and are surely going to be the team to watch out for in the next few months,” said Pullela Gopichand when I asked him about Satwik Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty and how he saw them shaping up in the next year after having won the Indonesian Open Super 1000. “If you check, there are few like them around the world. They have the physical strength to hit the big smashes, they have the defence and age is on their side. They will only get better. And having played in Tokyo and knowing what it…

As the dust settles on Sania Mirza’s retirement and it starts to sink in that we won’t watch her play again, the belief is firmed up that we won’t ever have a second Sania. She was much like Aamir Khan’s character in Three Idiots. A once-in-a-lifetime phenomenon who came as a breath of fresh air for Indian tennis. And that’s what begs the questions. “How did Sania happen?” “What made Sania Unique?” “How could a middle-class family from Hyderabad with no background in elite sport produce a champion like her?” “What’s the backstory?” “How did Imran Mirza helped Sania become…

On Father’s Day, it is pertinent to look at Sachin and Arjun Tendulkar, and understand what it takes to be a father and son in the same sport. It was the same with Sunil and Rohan Gavaskar as well. While writing Playing it May Way, Sachin had spoken a lot to me about Sara and Arjun, and the difficulties of being a Tendulkar. Sample this: “There is a common misconception that our children have it really smooth all the time. Rather, it has never been easy on them. They are not able to do the things which normal kids indulge…

There is a lot of talk on social media about the Najam Sethi press conference. Some have even expressed apprehension about Pakistan’s participation in the World Cup in India. Sethi, understandably has paraded the politically correct line, that it is the Pakistan government’s call and not the Pakistan Cricket Board’s decision to make. That was always the case, and he hasn’t said anything new. Now let’s explore his statement in greater depth. At this point, Pakistan has one of the best 50-overs teams in the world. Not long ago, they made it to the top of the ICC’s ODI rankings.…

We remember watching Leander Paes play Andre Agassi at the Atlanta Olympics in 1996, and the pride we felt each time Paes stunned the crowd with one of his fancy drop shots, too many of which may ultimately have cost him the match. Leander, then ranked 127 in the world, was someone who raised the bar a series of notches when he donned the national colours at the Olympics. In qualifying for the semi-finals, Leander upset four competitors ranked higher than him in the ATP rankings. As Rohit Brijnath, one of India’s finest sports writers, who covered the Atlanta games,…

The Asia Cup announcement on Thursday was perhaps the only available option left for the Asian Cricket Council (ACC). In an ideal scenario, you wouldn’t want a hybrid-hosting model. But then, without it, Pakistan wouldn’t have been part of the tournament. And without Pakistan, the whole edifice of the ACC becomes weaker. The ACC was originally founded on the premise of keeping the Asian bloc together. Without Pakistan, it would lose sheen. Also, without India and Pakistan playing each other, the broadcaster, in this case Star Sports, wouldn’t want to pay even a third of the monies agreed. Estimates say…

Now, it is a habit. There are thousands of articles written every single day on Indian sport. Some newspapers have three pages dedicated to sport, and there are countless websites and digital platforms that cover sports news and features. And more are springing up every single day. What is also interesting is that more and more sites are now starting to cover Olympic sport in India, and that only augurs well for the country going forward. So, when did it all start? Har far back does sports writing in India go? What were the earliest pieces like, and where were…

At a time when we are awaiting the start of the MLC and fixtures have been announced, it is pertinent to look back at the history of cricket in the US and ask the question why the sport lost put to Baseball despite being a competitor in the 19th century. Before 1860 (and to a limited extent afterwards), cricket enjoyed its own popularity in the US, and the question as to whether cricket or baseball would ultimately capture the American sporting heart was still unanswered. The earliest record of cricket in the Americas was found in the ‘secret diary’ of William…

With 100 days to go for the Asian Games, it is pertinent to look back at how the competition started 72 years earlier in India in 1951. From the very inception of the idea in 1947-48, Nehru was supportive of it. However, it was one thing for Nehru and the Congress to support the Asian Games, quite another to pay for it. India had just gone through the largest and bloodiest forced migration in history. Partition had created an estimated 20 million refugees—about a million came to Delhi alone—and crores were being spent on their rehabilitation all over north India.…

It was day three of the Boxing Day Test during India’s 2011-2012 tour of Australia, and all of a sudden, there was a murmur in the media box. The cause was something flashed on the giant screen. In listing the fastest deliveries bowled in the match, the first four entries, if I remember correctly, read: “Umesh Yadav 151 kmph, Umesh Yadav 149 kmph, Umesh Yadav 148.6 kmph, Umesh Yadav 148 kmph.” Clearly, it was a first in the annals of Indian cricket. A young Indian fast bowler consistently clocking 150 kmph and creating serious discomfort for the opposition batsmen was…