Author: Boria Majumdar

My five key takeaways from the World Cup schedule that was announced on Tuesday in Mumbai. How did Eden Gardens get the semi-final? For the longest time, there was speculation in the media that the two semi-finals would be allotted to Chennai and Mumbai. So how and why did it change? What happened backstage? The two main players in this story are Jay Shah, the BCCI Secretary, and Snehasish Ganguly, the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) President. Ganguly, sources said, had been in constant touch with Shah, who is clearly the most powerful man in the BCCI at the moment.…

On the day the World Cup schedule will be announced, the one man who will start to feel the pressure is Rohit Sharma. This could be his final opportunity to win an ICC Trophy for India. It was the first time I had seen Rohit since that fateful day in Manchester in July 2019, and it was expected that the conversation would turn to the World Cup at some point. “The five hundreds really don’t mean much anymore,” Rohit said in a very matter-of-fact way. “Personally, it was a great achievement but when you are playing a team sport, it…

Contrary to popular expectation, one of the semi-finals of the 2023 World Cup has been allocated to Eden Gardens in Kolkata. The second semi-final will be played at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai with the caveat that if India make it, which is expected, Rohit Sharma will lead his team out on his home ground. The final is set to be played at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. Also, there continues to be a degree of uncertainty over Ahmedabad as the venue for the India-Pakistan encounter. While it will be announced as the venue for the marquee clash,…

The wrestling controversy, which was showing signs of a resolution, has gone further south yet again with two important developments in the last couple of days. First, it is now an open war between the protesting wrestlers and Yogeshwar Dutt, a former Olympic medallist. And second, the Guwahati High Court has now issued a stay order on the forthcoming Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) elections, which had been scheduled for July 11. While the election issue is now sub judice, and we need to wait and see what the courts decide on the matter, on the Yogeshwar-v-Wrestlers issue, the protesters…

The ICC is all set to announce the much-awaited World Cup schedule in Mumbai on June 27. And that itinerary will include the eagerly anticipated India-Pakistan game on 15 October in Ahmedabad. Sources in the know said that Pakistan had not mentioned any objection relating to Ahmedabad. All they had said was that the Pakistan government would have to take a final call. So the ICC can safely assume that Pakistan have no qualms about playing in Ahmedabad until their government says otherwise. The key question that arises is how the ICC can go ahead and rubber-stamp the schedule when…

On June 26, 1983, a day after India won the Prudential Cup, The Telegraph published the following report: ‘West Bengal Congress (I) MLA, Mr Rajesh Khaitan has urged the Indian Cricket Control Board President Mr NKP Salve to press for holding the next World Cup cricket tournament in the country. In a statement here, Mr Khaitan said Mr Salve’s initial response to the suggestion was “favourable” and he had agreed to “positively take up the matter”.’ Reflecting on this dream, Raj Singh Dungarpur, one of the country’s foremost cricket administrators, wrote in his foreword to NKP Salve’s The Story of…

The one question I had posed to almost every past West Indian great while researching the significance of 1983 was how they looked back at the final. Is it something they have deliberately tried to distance themselves from? Was it a bad dream, which is not to be spoken about? Or was it something they had anticipated, something which wasn’t a miracle after all? Among the many West Indians interviewed, it was most fascinating to hear Jeffrey Dujon speak on the subject. For Dujon, it was just a bizarre day. He was insistent that June 25, 1983 was different, a…

For Sir Clive Lloyd, 1983 remains a melancholic memory that he has relived many times since. While the wound has healed with time, the scar remains. Chasing a record third consecutive World Cup title as captain, Lloyd was emphatic in declaring there was no question of complacency. The West Indians had lost to India in their opening match of the tournament, and knew what Kapil Dev and his men were capable of. India were not a team to be taken lightly. ‘They had beaten Australia and England on their way to the final and had some excellent all-round cricketers in…

I have had the privilege of interviewing Kapil paaji several times. One of my personal favorites was the one at Lord’s after he had just finished giving away the awards to the Indian players as the Chair of the Jury of Indian Cricket Heroes, jointly organised by the RP Sanjiv Goenka Group and the Virat Kohli Foundation. Soon after the function, we were both standing opposite the nursery ground at Lord’s. The clock had ticked to about the same time as when India had won the World Cup in 1983. When asked if he was remembering that incredible occasion, all…

There are some moments that are etched in people’s memories forever. And if you are Sachin Tendulkar, 1983 was especially special. I have had the privilege of discussing the World Cup triumph and its significance with Sachin multiple times during the writing of Playing it My Way, and while shooting Sachin: A Billion Dreams. And almost every year, on June 25, Sachin has posted his thoughts on the win on his social-media handles. For the master, 1983 is hugely important. “June 25, 1983 was a day Indian cricket changed forever,” Sachin had said while filming the documentary. “I remember watching…