Author: Boria Majumdar

Boria Majumdar in Leeds In the end it was a fascinating Test match with England holding their nerve. India, who many thought will be pushovers in Leeds, fought till the end and skipper Shubman Gill kept rotating his bowlers around to stay in the hunt. While India batted superbly and fought hard, the one thing that really let the team down in this Test match was fielding. On the last day also, India let the centurion Ben Duckett off when he was on 98. Yet again it was Yashasvi Jaiswal. He went on to make 149. Add the five catches…

Boria Majumdar in Leeds In our post-match live show, most comments, and there were more than 1500 of them, expressed apprehension about India’s bowling attack. The refrain was the same – India are a one-bowler-dependant team and Jasprit Bumrah lacks support. In the absence of a proper support cast, England have a strong chance of overhauling this rather difficult target. These arguments are mostly true. Since Australia, India have struggled to find support for Bumrah. Mohammed Siraj and Prasidh Krishna have been consistently inconsistent. Three or four good balls are followed by a couple of loose balls, and that’s when…

Boria Majumdar in Leeds It was moments after the World Test Championship final had ended and Debasis Sen and I were doing a show from outside the Grace Gates of the Lord’s cricket ground. That’s when I heard someone call out my name. It was a tad surprising, for the gentleman was in the middle of the road, and waving at me with a smile. It was Dilip Doshi. I responded with a warm ‘Dilipda’ and requested him to come and join our show. He did and for the next 30 minutes, we analysed the WTC final together. In fact,…

Boria Majumdar in Leeds It was as if Farokh Engineer was waiting for the call. The moment Rishabh Pant scored the hundred, I dialled Engineer, for I was certain he would be celebrating. “I was playing bridge and watching Rishabh,” said Engineer unable to contain his excitement. “Absolutely incredible innings this was. I enjoyed every minute of it.” “How many hundreds has got?” he asked me. “Must be 12-13?” Even before I could answer that he now had eight in Tests, Engineer had started again, “This is the age of batsman-wicketkeepers, and as a batter-keeper, Rishabh Pant is undoubtedly the…

Boria Majumdar in Leeds This has been a real exhibition from KL Rahul. An innings of serious class and discipline. There have been phases of the game where he was beaten multiple times. He was lucky to survive a peach from Chris Woakes. But at no point did he give up. He didn’t mind looking ugly at times. It was proper Test match batting. He got a few blows into his body and yet stayed put. Rahul wasn’t ready to give up and that’s what India needed from their star batter. Each time he was beaten you could see Rahul…

On Olympic day it is pertinent to ask as to when did India’s engagement with the Olympic movement actually start? While established histories have traced India’s participation to the Antwerp Games in 1920, there are documents that show that the engagement actually goes back to 1911-12 and there was much talk about India’s possible participation in Stockholm. This was almost a decade before India sent its first set of athletes to Antwerp. These documents, a couple of which are being reprinted for our readers, demonstrate that a series of letters were exchanged between the British Olympic Association, the International Olympic…

Boria Majumdar in Leeds All through his career, much has been said about KL Rahul being given a long rope. And the trolls have had an absolute feast going after him for days on end. The injury in the 2023 IPL, for example, led some to say good riddance, for it ruled him out of the World Test Championship (WTC) final. That he still averages 35 after over a decade in international cricket is often cited as proof of Rahul’s inconsistency at the Test level. For his fans, however, Rahul is penning his own story. And needless to say, his…

Boria Majumdar in Leeds I am running out of superlatives for Jasprit Bumrah, who now has 12 five-fors in away Tests at an average of 19. Catches dropped, chances gone begging, little support from the other end, and yet he keeps coming. Relentless and committed, determined and skilful. A bowler of his skill bowling at the top of his powers is pure art. The thrill of watching him steaming in and bowling is exactly what Test cricket is all about. The moment the ball is handed to him, you kind of know something will happen. The shake of the shoulder,…

Boria Majumdar in Leeds England were in control of proceedings at a potentially decisive stage of play on Day 2 of the first Test. Almost against the run of play, Jasprit Bumrah, India’s talisman, got the wicket of Ben Duckett. Once the cheers subsided, the English section of the crowd started to celebrate almost. Coming out was Joe Root, England’s and perhaps the world’s best batter and someone who has literally tormented teams in the last two years. The ball was fairly old and India were facing the daunting prospect of bowling to Root and Ollie Pope. Making matters worse…

Boria Majumdar in Leeds It was a day of missed opportunities for India. If day one was perfect, day two was the classic imperfect day. First, from 430-3, India collapsed to 471 all out. It was a bad collapse, with the last seven wickets falling for a paltry 41 runs. When almost everyone expected the team to score 550 and bat England out of the game, some poor shots and some good English fielding made sure it was not the case. Even then, 471 was a decent enough score, and with the cloud cover over Headingley, the conditions were perfect…