Author: Boria Majumdar

Boria Majumdar in London A tour isn’t only about covering games. The behind-the-scenes is as much the story as the matches themselves. These stories are sometimes dark and sometimes funny. Whichever way you look at them, they are part of your diary. It started the day my colleagues landed in Birmingham. While Gargi missed her connection from Dubai to Birmingham with the war in the Middle East delaying flights, others in the team missed the coach from Birmingham to Leeds. As if this wasn’t enough, Amit Shah misplaced the apartment keys (one of the three apartments that we were using)…

Boria Majumdar and Rohit Juglan While some may remember him for Javed Miandad’s last-ball six in Sharjah, they may not be aware of the mental toughness that took Chetan Sharma to England just months later, and a place on the Honours Board at Lord’s. His 18 wickets played a huge part in the 1986 series win, and he spoke exclusively to Boria Majumdar and Rohit Juglan about his expectations for Lord’s, the bond with Akash Deep and how impressive Shubman Gill has been, both as a batsman and leader. Take me back to your fond memories of 1986? You know…

Boria Majumdar in London Shubman Gill speaks of application in the post-Edgbaston scenario. He says the batters must keep applying themselves. Having spent hours at the crease during the second Test, Gill the batter has demonstrated what application is all about. He was a genius who England had no answer to. But, is captain Gill asking for something from some of his players that they are consistently capable of producing? Can Yashaswi Jaiswal, for instance, apply himself against a quality opposition like Jofra Archer and Gus Atkinson and a swinging red ball at Lord’s? An excellent player, does he have…

Boria Majumdar in London Today is Sourav Ganguly’s birthday. He turns 53. And yet, every Bengali still loves to remember him as a young 20-something taking Lord’s by storm on a damp early English summer day in June 1996. Yes, it was some 29 years back, on June 20, 1996, but for us in Bengal, it is still as fresh a memory as India’s Edgbaston win. Pushed up the order to No. 3 in an attempt to expose him to the most challenging of conditions, Sourav Ganguly’s initiation into Test cricket was a real baptism by fire. The stage was…

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…