Author: Boria Majumdar

It was around 8 o’clock in the evening, and our football correspondent Rahul Giri called to ask if I was good for a call with someone in the Kerala Blasters senior management. Rahul sounded concerned but was keen at the same time. When we got on the call, the complexity of the situation became clear to me in no time. “Let me explain the economics to you, Boria,” the person said at the very start. “We earn sponsorship revenue between Rs 15-17 crore when we play at home. We also earn ticket revenue between Rs 5-7 crore. Add Rs 15-17…

Stalwarts of Indian Hockey; Abhishek Nain, Jugraj Singh and Sukhjeet Singh in conversation with Boria Majumdar ahead of the start of Hockey India League 2026. They talk about their plans to defend the title for Shrachi Bengal Tigers, preparing for an action-packed 2026, focusing on World Cup, significance of fan support, thriving under pressure, need for hockey to be commercially viable and plenty more. Boria: [To Jugraj Singh] Tell us a bit about Hockey India League (HIL) and your performance last year. Jugraj Singh: It is a great league and it has been a great one for me. It has…

It’s Hero Hockey India League (HIL) time and fans of the sport really need to get behind it to make it a success. First things first, the leagues for both men and women aren’t perfect. There have been issues and it is always better to accept and introspect. Having said that, the truth also is we do have the leagues happening and that’s something to look forward to and support when we see what’s happening with Indian football. Hardik Singh, one of the stalwarts of Indian hockey, said it well: “We get to play with the best in the world…

Australia prepared a track that reduced the Boxing Day Test to a farce. It was nigh on unplayable and made things a lottery at the MCG. We have forever argued that such tracks make the lesser team a force and undermine the qualities that the better team has. Australia had taken an unassailable lead in the series and England were literally down and out. A good wicket, and Australia could have rubbed it in. The MCG lottery made sure Bazball was given a lifeline and allowed to save face. This was not Test cricket. A match that ended inside two…

With Ageas Federal Life Insurance (AFLI) led by Jude Gomes successfully relaunching the brand earlier this month, making Trailblazers 2026 even bigger is now part of standing up to the tagline of “Har Wada Mumkin”. RevSportz and Ageas Federal Life Insurance go back a long way. The very first programme on RevSportz, Backstage With Boria, was supported by AFLI back in December 2021. The show is our flagship and continues to have the Ageas Federal imprint. It has featured the very best athletes from Neeraj Chopra to Sachin Tendulkar to Sania Mirza and D Gukesh, and continues to be the…

By the time my readers read this piece, one session of Day 2 of the fourth Ashes Test has been completed at the MCG. Who knows how many more wickets would fall? Twenty wickets on Boxing Day and yet again it will be a three-day Test match. Has batsmanship really touched a new low and is it now certain that modern batters can’t play the moving ball? Most innings over 20 that we have seen are cameos and not the conventional Test match innings that had once defined batting in the game’s purest format. Yes, there was grass on the…

Pullela Gopichand often narrates a story that he says changed his life as a coach. He was once in a coaching clinic with young aspirants and was throwing them some shuttles to get them used to it. When he threw a shuttle to a very young girl, around 9-10 years old, she couldn’t catch it. Gopi threw one more time and when the girl failed to catch it again, he moved on to the next child. When the drill got over, the girl who had failed, came up to Gopi and said: “Sir, I have never done this in my…

This is a festive week and may I say sport, above everything, brings joy. And the two men who have given fans a lot of joy in the last couple of months are Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma. There were talks about whether they could still make things happen in the 50-over format now that they no longer play much cricket. In fact, between May and October, they did not play any cricket and the questions were asked. In sport, it is only about performance, and there was a question mark over Rohit and Virat, whether they could continue to…

A year without silverware, but not without substance. Chirag Shetty opens up on injuries, grief, mental resets and why finishing 2025 in the world’s top three still feels like progress – with Asian Games 2026, a home World Championships and the ultimate dream of LA 2028 firmly in focus. Boria: How do you look back at 2025? Chirag: To sum it up it wasn’t an ideal year. With us not winning a title, Satwik’s (Satwiksairaj Rankireddy ) father passing away tragically, me getting injured, having to stay away from the game for 2-3 months, not knowing when will the comeback…

Now that India’s men’s team have completed their international cricket assignments for 2025, it is time to take stock and look back. For head coach Gautam Gambhir, it has been a mixed year. Below-par performances in red-ball cricket, with the series loss to South Africa, have somewhat undone the success in England. In white-ball cricket, however, India under Gambhir have been stellar, and will go into the World Cup in February as favourites. Test Cricket Red-ball efforts at home have been poor. Failing to chase down 124 in Kolkata was a real downer. Yes, Shubman Gill’s presence could have—and…