Author: Boria Majumdar

It is a shame. Let us face it and accept it. The city has been shamed, and India, a nation aspiring to bid for the 2036 Olympics, has been left a laughing stock before the world. I watched the visuals in utter shock. Somehow, it always ends up being about the fans. And yet, from top to bottom, it was not. People had travelled from far and wide to be part of a spectacle. What they witnessed instead was a disaster of humongous proportions. At an event of this scale, there has to be protocol. There wasn’t. Only a handful…

Lionel Messi is in Kolkata. And so is Luis Suarez and others. There will be a lot of events around the tour, which will involve politicians and celebrities and corporates. But for me, the real deal is the fan. Corporates and HNI’s and even some from the media have had the privilege of watching Messi play in different parts of the world. Some will travel to the FIFA world cup 2026 as well. But for the mad Messi fans, who worship him on a daily basis and yet haven’t been able to consume him up front, this is their occasion.…

Shubman Gill and Suryakumar Yadav need to score, and do so immediately Fifteen matches at an average of 23, and the pressure is indeed mounting on Gill. Surya is in the same boat. India’s captain and vice-captain need runs and without any further delay. With the World Cup round the corner, clouds suddenly hang over two premier batters. If two of the top three don’t score consistently, how can things be right heading into the biggest tournament of all? With Jaiswal and Samson waiting in the wings, the murmurs will only grow louder if things don’t change in Dharamshala. Sport…

It was early February 2022, and Hardik Pandya was already up and running for the day by 5:30 am. He was all set to go out and train—part of a rigorous daily routine building up to the IPL. Pandya, by his own admission, needed a break after the 2021 T20 World Cup to recalibrate. His not bowling had become a major controversy, and to a degree, he had to shoulder the blame for India’s failure to progress past the group stages of the tournament in Dubai. He needed to redeem himself and set the record straight. He had to make…

When R Ashwin called me a week ago and asked if I could travel to Chennai to be part of the mock IPL auction he was conducting, I was apprehensive. At times, these things are more show-off than anything meaningful. With all the aviation chaos going on in the country, the easy thing would have been to withdraw and not travel. But then, Ashwin has this ability to convince you, and it is tough to say no to him. He had also requested that I host the fireside chat after the auction, and it was an important review show after…

In business summits in India, you rarely see sport get its due. There is always a sports session, but it is tucked away between lunch and tea, and more of a token presence than anything else. If the other sessions take a little extra time, the sports session is the one that gets chopped. In my previous organisation, I was once asked to do a 10-minute session, down from 45! The truth is, few really care. That’s where the Telangana Rising Summit was different. It was refreshing because it had sport at the start of Day Two, straight after the…

We had just finished lunch and managed to avoid an invasion from a monkey at the Pullela Gopichand Academy in Hyderabad. Gopi, Prasad and I had settled down to have some lovely watermelon in his office when the Dronacharya pointed out a couple of young Mizo kids training outside. “They are your story,” he said with a smile. My interest had instantly peaked. Mizoram and badminton isn’t the natural combination, and it would be nice to hear it from the man. “It was just after Rio when a senior IAS officer from Mizoram wrote to me for the first time.…

India had just won the final ODI in Vizag and had also taken the series 2–1. It was another white-ball series win under Gautam Gambhir, and yet he was subjected to serious abuse on social media. Sample this: “India is winning despite Gambhir, not because of him,” said a viewer on our show. “Gambhir has no role,” he went on to suggest. This viewer isn’t alone. There are many like him, and the narrative is that Gambhir isn’t doing the job expected of him. The truth is that in white-ball cricket, he has done a fine job. If India is…

On Sunday, December 7, Smriti Mandhana issued a public statement saying that her wedding had been called off and asked people to respect her privacy and that of her family. Shortly afterwards, Palash Muchhal did the same. I am absolutely not concerned about what transpired, or who is right and who is wrong. What led to this isn’t my concern at all. What is concerning, however, is that both of them had to issue statements under extreme social media pressure. A man and a woman, for whatever reason, have decided to call off their wedding. When you think about it,…

As my readers go through this column, I am on a flight to Chennai (provided it isn’t cancelled) to help Ravi Ashwin with his mock auction. With Ashwin, things are always interesting. He thinks out of the box and is never averse to taking risks or trying new things. His foray into the digital media space is one such example. Ashwin is a wonderful speaker and could easily have landed a commentary contract that paid him more than enough. In fact, he can do so at any point in time. However, he has chosen not to. Instead, he is intent…