Author: Boria Majumdar

Boria Majumdar in London In the course of the last week, almost a thousand comments popped up on our shows from people who said India will lose 0-5. Many of them also suggested that without Virat Kohli playing, there is no buzz. The truth is, Edgbaston was packed to capacity on each of the first four days and even on the final one. Despite the rain in the morning, it was a sizeable crowd. In fact, Indian fans had taken over the Eric Hollies Stand and the noise was deafening. No individual has ever been bigger than the sport and…

Boria Majumdar at Edgbaston He was on his way back to India and, I must say, was missing the action. “I’d have loved to stay on for Lord’s but as you know, I need to be back in Kolkata for some pressing work,” said Sourav Ganguly as we caught up on a video call. Ganguly had said ahead of the series that he saw huge potential in Shubman Gill and that India’s new No. 4 had it in him to take over from the great Virat Kohli. And now that he had been vindicated, he was mighty pleased. “Shubman is…

Not many had given this young Indian bowling attack a chance. In fact, the moment it was known that Jasprit Bumrah wasn’t playing, it was suggested that England would score 600 each time they batted and India did not stand a chance. Such words always have one desired impact – they hurt the egos of elite high performers and push them to go one step further to prove the critics wrong. Akash Deep, who was hardly given much build-up ahead of the Test match, decided to put his hand up, and how. Each time India needed something special, he was…

Boria Majumdar in Birmingham There is something about watching young fast bowlers. The skill and the hunger to make things work. The joy when things finally fall in place and the ecstasy that one feels seeing something fantastic unfold. Akash Deep’s spell in the last hour of Day 4 was one such experience. He was on song from the very first over. The ball to Ben Duckett where India lost a review was the perfect example of skill. Even the great Mohammed Shami, who Akash models himself on, would have been proud to bowl that one. It pitched on middle,…

Boria Majumdar at Edgbaston There are two results possible. A draw and an Indian win. While some might argue why did India not declare earlier, I don’t have a problem with their approach. They made sure that England were given just enough overs tonight for the two premier fast bowlers to have a crack at them and then come back and do it again with a newish ball tomorrow morning. The blows dealt by Mohammed Siraj and Akash Deep vindicated this stand. The Dukes will do something till about 30 overs or so and England did bowl well today morning…

Boria Majumdar at Edgbaston Someone in the press box reminded me this morning that Shubman Gill had an average of 35 ahead of the series. “Is it true?”, the journalist asked. Was he being cheeky? The answer is that I don’t know. When you think of it, you are indeed surprised. From what we have seen here, the class, hunger, penchant for runs, you tend to think that this is surely someone averaging over 50 in Test cricket. Two shots defined Gill as a batter in this innings. Josh Tongue, post-lunch, tried the short-ball ploy. In no time, India’s captain…

Boria Majumdar, Birmingham Mohammed Siraj is the man of the moment for India. A six-wicket haul and he has set it up for the batters to take control. The question I want to ask is how many of us thought if he was Hindu or Muslim when he was leading the team back to the change room? How many of us even bothered about his religion or caste or other markers of identity? All that mattered was he was the leader of our attack, filling in for the genius called Jasprit Bumrah in the crucial second Test. Needless to say,…

Boria Majumdar It was match day minus two and the Indian players were just about finishing their net session. It was an intense few hours and almost all the bowlers except Jasprit Bumrah had gone flat out. Mohammed Siraj had just finished his stint and was walking back to the change room to get into his batting gear and come and knock a few. That’s when we bumped into each other. It is well known that Siraj and I share a very good rapport. We exchanged normal pleasantries and gave each other a hug. That’s when Siraj started. It was…

Boria Majumdar in Birmingham Shubman Gill’s story is that of perseverance, hard work, unbelievable talent and also sacrifices of a family that moved out of its comfort zone to build a career for their beloved child. At the start of this journey, a small but significant role was played by former India left-arm seamer Karsan Ghavri. Like in the case of Cheteshwar Pujara, his father Arvind had sought Ghavri’s advice on whether to invest time and energy in his son’s career and got a positive feedback. When it came to Shubman, it was completely the opposite, as it was Ghavri…

As India’s innings folded for 587, there was a collective sigh across the ground. Finally, the ordeal was over for England after 150 overs of toil. The England supporters all felt they could look ahead to two hours of entertainment. The openers would come out and smash the Indian bowling around. Without Jasprit Bumrah, this wasn’t an attack to bother about and it was time to make the most of this batting deck. It started as planned. As Zak Crawley hit Akash Deep for two boundaries in the first over itself, the crowd found voice. This is what they had…