Author: Boria Majumdar

We started planning our coverage of the England tour in Australia in January 2025. Budgets, travel plans, hotels and, more importantly, whether it was even feasible for a three-year-old organisation to think of sending a eight-member team for two months to the UK. England is expensive, and money was always an important consideration. The truth is it sounded impossible to start with. But then, we started breaking things down, worked our way through the maze, and realised that if we have to do quality coverage of a very different nature, we need a sizeable team in England. If we are…

A 110-run defeat to end a limp campaign. As a Kolkata Knight Riders fan, should you feel disappointed? May be not. This team needs change. Members of the coaching staff have outlived their usefulness. A good last game would have meant all of these issues stayed under the veil. Fans would speak about that and not much would change. Not now. The gloves are off and cracks exposed. KKR is not the team it was in 2024. The management has to take stock and ring in the changes. If the fans were hoping for a good end to a bad…

Boria Majumdar It was a tame end to a stellar campaign. In fact, if wasn’t surprising because Kidambi Srikanth did not have much left in the tank after the marathon effort on Saturday. Not just that, but he played five hours and 10 minutes across seven days. Ranked No. 65 and making the final after coming through qualifying, this event was proof that he still has done juice left. The question is whether can he ride on this and believe that he can, or will he yet again disappear and leave us all wondering what happened? Srikanth could have been…

Boria Majumdar It was 4.45 am on September 9, 2017. Pullela Gopichand and I had agreed to drive to the airport together to board our respective flights. I was the primary beneficiary, for I knew I would have his undivided attention at that hour, and ask him how the SAI-Gopichand National Badminton Academy in Hyderabad was fast turning into a supply line of champions. The conversation started with Kidambi Srikanth. “He has enormous talent,” Gopi had said. “The day he is at peace with his mind, you will see him win title after title,” the Dronacharya had asserted. His disciple…

It was the evening after India’s shocking defeat in the 2019 World Cup against New Zealand in Manchester, and we were yet to come to terms with what had transpired. India had failed to chase down 240 and the dream of winning the trophy had come to an end. The man most in the line of fire was Rishabh Pant. He had played an irresponsible shot and given it away. Rishabh, understandably, was the subject of Twitter trolls and many called him overrated. He was considered overweight and slammed for his approach to the sport. Sitting in a Manchester restaurant…

By Boria Majumdar He wasn’t a part of the Indian set-up for a while. Nor was he initially in the IPL. For the record, Shardul Thakur went unsold at the auction and was subsequently drafted in by LSG as a replacement for Mohsin Khan. From being the toast of the nation to being out in the wilderness, Shardul has seen it all. In fact, by his own admission, all seemed lost when he was left out of the team that travelled to Australia. He had done well down under and was understandably dejected. For two days, he couldn’t do much.…

The transition has begun. The retirements of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma from red-ball cricket means the selection for the England tour is the most important one in years, and perhaps the most difficult for Ajit Agarkar and his committee. I have three main points of interest leading into the meeting. Firstly, is it the end of the road for Ajinkya Rahane and Cheteshwar Pujara, and is it now final that we won’t see them play for India again? With Kohli and Rohit not there, one of them could have had a slim chance of being picked. Will the selectors…

In a major shift in focus and thought process in the last 48 hours, Mohun Bagan Super Giant (MBSG) have now decided to up their game even more and focus on three national team players to consolidate their grip on Indian football. The club had unprecedented success in 2024-25 and are keen not to rest on their laurels. With a clear mandate from the coach Jose Molina and the ownership, read Sanjiv Goenka, the MBSG senior management and CEO are on the job. Each of these national team players is keen on the club’s long-term vision is what I have…

KL Rahul is well and truly an enigma. That he has talent is known the world over. In fact, no one in a proper frame of mind would question that. However, when it comes to key contests, and it has been proved time and again, Rahul just bottles it and is unable to deliver to potential. Does he put too much pressure on himself or is it something else? India don’t have answers to these questions, and this will surely be one of the reasons why he will perhaps be overlooked for captaincy for the England series. Take the 2019…

It was around 2pm UK time and I had just finished a long talk. I was a tad exhausted, having spoken for an hour and-a-half. That’s when Rohan Chowdhury posted in our work group asking if the Robson Robinho deal was done. It was being said on social media and he was checking. It was imperative I checked with my sources. I did and the answer was a clear No. The deal hasn’t moved an inch from where it once was and all that is being said is baseless. Social media has its own ways of saying things and once…