Author: Boria Majumdar

The IPL will have a new champion tomorrow. And it is fitting that the top-two teams have made the final. They have indeed been the most consistent, and perhaps also the most deserving. Shreyas Iyer has turned a new leaf with his captaincy and his batting, and Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB), as a unit, have outperformed almost every opponent. Pressure. That’s what will decide the IPL from here on. Which team and management deals with pressure better? Who wants it more? Who can keep calm? Each team has men of quality and the line between error and a superhuman effort…

Animesh Kujur won a bronze in the 200m dash at the Asian Athletics Championships on Saturday, yet again highlighting the progress in Indian sprinting over the last year or so. Could we see a sub-10-second Indian finish in the next few years? Will we see some fantastic performances at the Asian Games, and can these runners realistically start to think of making the finals at LA 28 – in the 4×100 relay, for example? These were the questions I asked James Hillier, Athletics Director at the Reliance Foundation, as he was about to leave for the airport in South Korea. …

It was just days after he suffered a debilitating shoulder injury that I had a chat with Shreyas. He was in pain but the resolve had not gone away one bit. While he was still unsure if he needed surgery, his focus was very much on the comeback. He wanted the big stage for himself and was determined to make a mark. That he had to undergo surgery and miss cricket for months made him even more determined. It was the same determination that was on show tonight against the Mumbai Indians (MI) as he led Punjab to the IPL…

Boria Majumdar James Hillier is Athletics Director of the Reliance Foundation. Under his tutelage, several Indian athletes, especially Jyothi Yarraji, have made quantum leaps and become real forces to be reckoned with at Asian level. In this exclusive interaction with Boria Majumdar, RevSportz editor-in-chief, Hillier talks of the mindset change and how he expects some athletics to make the finals of their events at Los Angeles 2028. Boria: Fantastic performance by India in Korea at the Asian Athletics Championships (2025). It is truly undergoing a sprint revolution. How proud and happy are you? Hillier: Yeah, I think as a nation,…

Jasprit Bumrah is unique. He is the only Indian cricketer who is universally loved by fans. His injury did not lead to a single meme, and almost every fan was worried about him not being there for India. His return to the IPL was celebrated the country over, and in many ways, Bumrah has been able to unite the toxic worlds of Indian cricket fandom. There could be two reasons behind this. First, he is India’s most valuable player by a country mile. In batting, there have been occasions where Rohit Sharma has done better than Virat Kohli and vice…

As I watched the build-up shows on RevSportz from outside the Mullanpur Stadium over the last two days, one thing was apparent. The fans were there in numbers and soaking in every bit of it. The heat wasn’t a hindrance, and brand IPL trumped everything. As Gargi Raut made her way through the masses of fans who had all reached hours before the games started, it was evident that India’s only global sports brand was alive and kicking. The crowds are in fact a telling comment on the tournament’s popularity. Needless to say, a packed 100,000 are expected in Ahmedabad…

Test Cricket: A history, Tim Wigmore, Quercus, April 2025 It is never easy to write a book with a huge scope. And when it involves documenting multiple narratives and understanding complex socio-political contexts, the task becomes even more difficult. Maybe that’s why there is no perfect history of cricket. Or rather, can’t be. Tim Wigmore’s Test Cricket: A history isn’t perfect. but it comes close to being the go-to book if you are looking at one comprehensive narrative of how the format evolved and transformed itself over time. Wigmore is an accomplished cricket writer and has spoken to more than…

It had been a par IPL for Rohit Sharma up until tonight. Some good efforts coupled with ordinary ones, he was still searching for that one extraordinary innings that stood out for him and his team. That’s what happened tonight. When it mattered the most, Rohit came into his own for Mumbai Indians to seal the deal. While Jonny Bairstow provided early momentum, it was Rohit thereafter for a while. All his trademark shots came out and his fans started to find voice. Under pressure, the former India captain played an innings of real class. Fifty came up in no…

My first meeting with Jagmohan Dalmiya was rather strange. Back home for field research in March 2001, I landed up at the Cricket Association of Bengal office wearing a T-shirt and chappals. I had pages of questions for Dalmiya on the lack of transparency in Indian cricket and was rather aggressive to start with. It was the immediate aftermath of the match-fixing scandal and I was out to expose the rot. Dalmiya, after giving me a patient hearing, asked if I would dress the same way if I wanted to research the MCC’s archives. “You said you are from Oxford.…

Three run-outs. That’s how it all changed. After being down and out in the first three weeks of the IPL, Mumbai Indians (MI) have once again made it to the play-offs. Sport is all about grabbing your opportunity and that’s what stands out in this team. Against Delhi Capitals in Delhi, it all seemed done and dusted a month ago. Vipraj Nigam was batting beautifully after a Karun Nair classic, and Mumbai were rock bottom of the league table. Jasprit Bumrah, making a comeback from injury, was hit all over the park by Karun and it seemed that there was…