Author: Boria Majumdar

The equation had changed from 13 off 6 to 10 from 2. Mohit Sharma was bowling the most brilliant last over one could possibly hope to see. Four yorkers, and he had nailed them all. Faced with his deceptive and incredible skill, Shivam Dube and Ravindra Jadeja were finding it incredibly hard to get the ball away. He just needed to do it for one more ball. Had that been anything less than four, Gujarat Titans would have celebrated back-to-back titles. It was that close. Jadeja, on strike, knew it well. It was his moment of reckoning. He could be…

He walked in with the stage set. Perhaps somewhat surprisingly, given that he hadn’t come out at No.5 or No.6 even once this season. Intense focus writ large on his face. The crowd going crazy. They wanted their hero to do the job. But this is sport. It has its ways of surprising you. And there are no retakes. Mohit bowled and, to his utter disbelief, Dhoni hit it straight to the fielder at cover who made no mistake. The stadium was stunned. As was everyone watching. Was the 2019 curse back? Martin Guptill then. Mohit Sharma now. And…

It was 19-18 in the decider, and HS Prannoy, like he had done all match, went for the line. It was the perfect shot, or so it seemed until it was challenged. Was it a challenge in desperation? Could well have been because the young Chinese had just one challenge remaining. And as he was sitting in his chair hoping the shuttle would be called out, he saw something that was cruel. About 10 per cent of the shuttle was in, and all of a sudden, Prannoy had match point. At 20-18, he was serving for the match and the…

We had spoken briefly after he won the 2023 Malaysia Masters, and all he said was: “Boria, let’s speak properly in two hours once I have better Internet at the hotel.” Thereafter, he sent me a long message thanking Gopi [Pullela Gopichand] and his support team for all the work they had put in to make this victory possible. But the conversation was due. And as planned, we connected in two hours. This time, it was a rather long and detailed conversation. Excerpts: Boria: Has it sunk in? Years and years of effort. First Super Series title. Thoughts? Prannoy: You…

This is no longer about who is right or who is wrong. There is no debate that the wrestlers’ protest is no longer just a sports movement. Politics has taken over, and it is now far more complex than when it started. But in all this, one thing is for certain. India is losing out every second in this whole affair. You don’t want to see visuals of women being pulled and dragged by law-enforcement officers, or forcibly pinned to the ground. We remember what happened with the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement. India is the world’s largest democracy,…

Over the years, MS Dhoni has done it again and again. In many close encounters, the most famous being the T20 World Cup final in 2007 with Joginder Sharma, and the 2011 World Cup final when he promoted himself in the batting order ahead of the in-form Yuvraj Singh and Suresh Raina — much to everyone’s surprise – and took India home. A third memory, not so firmly etched in the public imagination, is how Dhoni turned the tide in the 2013 Champions Trophy final against England in Birmingham. Defending a modest 129 off 20 overs in a rain-curtailed game,…

He was one of the main architects of the incredible Thomas Cup win a year ago, and rates it as one of the greatest moments in his career, and in the history of Indian badminton. And now, HS Prannoy is the world No.7, the highest-ranked Indian in the men’s singles. Speaking to Boria Majumdar, Prannoy opened up on the pressures of the Olympic qualification cycle, beating higher-ranked players regularly and more. Excerpts. Boria: You had a really good year in 2022. Starting with the Thomas Cup win, you have repeatedly beaten higher-ranked players and now you have achieved your highest-ever…

Shubman Gill’s story is one of perseverance, hard work, unbelievable talent and also the sacrifices of a family that moved out of its comfort zone to build a career for their beloved child. Lakhwinder Singh, his father, is a farmer, as is his grandfather. They hail from Fazilka, a small village on the India-Pakistan border. We remember talking to Lakhwinder just after his son had scored a stylish hundred against Pakistan at the U-19 World Cup in 2018. It was a near flawless innings. You didn’t want to get up while this kid was batting. Tall and upright, languid and…

Just as the car leaves Southampton and makes its way into the countryside, all you see is green. Huge stretches of green, occasionally interspersed with patches of yellow, welcome the eye. Had there been no satellite technology, one could never have imagined that there could be something incredibly interesting a few miles further into the drive. As the navigation system directed the car, I was left wondering how people managed this commute in 1730, the year the ‘Bat and Ball’ pub was first established. It was in this pub that cricket’s rules were first formalised in the 1750s under the…

Shubman Gill is the next pin-up boy of Indian cricket. After Sunil Gavaskar left the scene, it was Sachin Tendulkar who filled that void in more ways than one. By the time Tendulkar made an entire nation emotional, Virat Kohli was ready to take the baton from him. Now, as the shades of grey in Kohli’s beard grows exponentially, he would certainly want Gill to be ready by the time he decides to call time. And one can rest assured that Gill is ready for all the challenges. Anyone who watched him bat on Friday night would agree that he…