Author: Boria Majumdar

RevSportz Exclusive Amid the challenges faced by East Bengal’s men’s team in the Indian Super League (ISL) for the last few years, the club’s women’s team brought home a reason to celebrate by clinching the Indian Women’s League (IWL) title this season. In light of this triumph, and to discuss the road ahead for the senior men’s team, the dynamics of the upcoming Super Cup, and more, Debabrata Sarkar—popularly known as Nitu Sarkar or Nitu Da—and Rupak Saha, the club’s General Secretary, sat down for a conversation with Boria Majumdar. Boria Majumdar: We did not celebrate the Indian Women’s League…

It was over Christmas in 2007 that the rules of the forthcoming IPL were worked out in Mumbai between the BCCI and the International Management Group (IMG) top brass. Should franchises be assigned icon players, or should they go under the hammer was a key question that people had to answer. How would it look if Sachin Tendulkar was bought by a franchise other than Mumbai? Or Sourav Ganguly was picked up by anyone except the Kolkata Knight Riders? Would such things end up dividing fan loyalty, and would such a move go down well with the fans? Also Read:…

Some things, they say, are destined to happen, and India’s victory in the 2007 World T20 in South Africa was one such. More than anything, it was this victory that set the stage for the IPL. It was proof of concept for broadcasters and advertisers alike, that Indians loved the format and would queue up to watch it prime time if it was packaged well. In fact, when Lalit Modi managed to get a buy-in from BCCI President Sharad Pawar for the league in early September 2007, and walked out of the meeting with 25 million dollars in hand to…

In the contemporary sporting world, few would doubt that India is the new cricket superpower. It is more often than not that India leads, and others follow. Without exaggeration, Indian cricket is a mirror in which nations, communities, men and women now see themselves. That reflection is sometimes bright, sometimes dark, sometimes distorted, sometimes magnified. Cricket, for hundreds of millions of Indians, is a source of mass exhilaration and depression, security and insecurity, pride and humiliation, bonding and alienation. In fact, for many in India, cricket has replaced religion as a source of emotional strength and spiritual passion. And since…

The host broadcaster has named the IPL the Indian Possible League. No one has done justice to this tagline better than Karun Nair. Hardik Pandya was right when he said the way Karun was batting, Mumbai Indians (MI) were running out of options the other night in Delhi. In fact, the transformation of Karun and his zeal to chase excellence is a life lesson for everyone. No one has played Jasprit Bumrah better, and his 89 was one of the best innings of this IPL. Karun hasn’t had the luck of the draw go his way. To be left out…

It was mid-day on April 24, 2019. As the car turned into the bylane leading to 19A, Perry Cross Road, Sachin’s home in Mumbai, I was slightly taken aback to see a fairly big crowd that time of day. My initial thought was there must have been an accident of some sort and as a result there was a pile up of cars stretching back to the main road. Accordingly, I decided to get out of the car and walk to his house to be on time for my meeting with the birthday boy. That’s when I realised that the…

We have all seen sport long enough to know that strange things happen. But then, what happened on Tuesday night was more than strange. Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), from nowhere, just blew the chase. Over confidence? Cockiness? Bad batting? Or a combination of it all? And no, the pitch wasn’t to blame either. Chasing 112, KKR needed a partnership to get them close. Interestingly, they did get one when Ajinkya Rahane and Angkrish Raghuvanshi were batting. The chase was a canter, and it all seemed routine. That’s when calamity struck. Atrocious shots and complete irresponsibility meant that Punjab Kings (PBKS)…

It was billed as a battle between Shreyas Iyer and Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR). Sadly for the fans and everyone following, it turned out to be a no-contest. This is how we have known Punjab Kings (PBKS) over the years. A team that starts well, but then loses the plot. And today, they lost the plot badly, very badly. We will never know if Shreyas was extra-charged. What we do know is the wicket was good. Harshit Rana bowled well and picked up the three key top-order wickets after Punjab got off to a flier. Priyansh Arya went for one…

In the second part of the insightful interview with RevSportz, Sanjog Gupta takes a deep dive to share his views on how IPL as a brand is now unrivalled, even bigger than the cricket World Cup. He also gives his take on future innovations. Is the IPL now so far ahead of even the World Cup that it has become unrivalled in the market space? This is a much longer conversation. I think IPL is a truly unique brand, which as you said for various reasons stands almost in its own ecosystem in its own world. I don’t think any…

Sanjog Gupta, the current Chief Executive Officer of JioStar, has delved deeper into the regionalisation and customisation of sports broadcast. In the first part of this exclusive chat with RevSportz, he shares his thoughts on a range of topics, including the growth of the IPL brand, and how the brand has married broadcasting with local languages and culture to provide the viewers a unique experience. When I see the IPL brand, and when I see the data, they are staggering numbers. What stands out is that there is a continuous increase, the country doesn’t seem to have enough of this…