Author: Boria Majumdar

It was around 2pm on January 18, 2021, and the enormity of what India were up against on day five at The Gabba was slowly dawning on us. Australia had set India a target of 328 and, on a wearing pitch, were overwhelming favourites to close out the series 2-1. The ball had started to misbehave from the cracks, and it was going to be a serious test for India’s batsmen against the likes of Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood, Mitchell Starc and Nathan Lyon. Maybe it was on an impulse that I sent a message to Virat Kohli. How good…

Dilip Vengsarkar navigated some tricky times during his tenure as chief selector. Long before that, after a storied career with the bat, he had set about helping the board put in place a robust system for identifying young talent. A certain Virat Kohli was one of the beneficiaries. In this exclusive chat with Boria Majumdar, RevSportz’s editor-in-chief, Vengsarkar looks back at his first impressions of a young Kohli and the hunger that made him special. Boria: When you first saw Virat, how did you identify that this guy was special? What made you introduce him to the international circuit? Dilip…

It was around 8 am that Ravichandran Ashwin and I first spoke on the phone. About five to seven minutes into the conversation, I questioned him on Virat Kohli, and if he felt there was a possibility of him continuing in Test cricket. Ashwin flipped it back to me and asked what I felt. We both agreed that Test cricket would be poorer without Kohli around. At that point, neither of us knew that by 12 noon, Kohli would make it public. That he was giving up playing in whites and calling time on what has been a stellar career.…

Shardul Thakur has played some of his best Test innings under Virat Kohli the Test captain. One of the Test matches that immediately come to mind is the fourth Test of the 2021 India versus England series in England. With the series tied 1-1, there was everything to play for, going into the contest at The Oval. With India reeling at 127/7, Shardul walked out to bat and scored a brilliant 57 of 36 balls. It allowed India to get to 191 and give Kohli and his team something to bowl at. Shardul then followed it up with another stroke-filled…

Have we seen the last of Virat Kohli the Test bat? The answer is yes. In an emotional message, he has called it a day from Test match cricket. While there was news that the BCCI was trying to get him to change his mind, especially with Rohit Sharma also having just retired, the truth is that Kohli had decided and there was no turning back. Now we know that it was the Sydney Test last January that was our final sighting of Kohli the Test batter. Did he still have the game to score runs in difficult conditions in…

I am no military expert, and will never claim to be one, unlike some of our television anchors who have portrayed themselves as clowns in the last few days. It was as if they knew more than government, more than the army and more than anyone in the official domain. They decided how India should act and charted the way forward. In sum, they were a pain. And may I say, I unequivocally welcome the ceasefire. Yes, there was news of violations, as confirmed by the government of India, but with the international community watching closely, there is every reason…

Boria Majumdar Successful sports stories don’t happen overnight. They need to be nurtured for years for the world to see them in full bloom. For an 87.58 metre throw or a badminton academy that changes the course of the sport forever, years of effort populate the backstage. And in many of these cases, the mother, literally, is the unsung hero. On Mother’s Day, it is essential that we celebrate some of these women and their contribution to sport. A trip to India’s medal-winning badminton factory, the Pullela Gopichand Academy in Hyderabad, can never be complete without dining with the young…

Will Virat Kohli travel to England, or will he not? Have we seen the last of him in red-ball cricket? Does he still have the game to score runs in difficult conditions in England? How tough will it be for India to deal with this void if he decides to give up Test cricket and move on? The truth is that Kohli hasn’t been the same Test player he once was over the three or four years. In Australia, the bowlers had his number, with Kohli time and again making the same mistake outside the off stump. Except the Perth…

Sport unites and this time round it has done so with the cancellation of the IPL. All of India shares the same sentiment that with the soldiers fighting to defend the nation, it was not apt to continue with the IPL at the moment. From a cricketing standpoint, can this break be utilised better by India’s cricketers, specifically Jasprit Bumrah for example, to better prepare for the tour? A fresh Bumrah could be India’s answer to this tough assignment and a couple of weeks of extra rest and preparation could do him a world of good. In fact, if the…

Social media brings with it added social responsibility. For men and women like us who are in the media domain, even more so. We have access to certain nuggets of information that might be appealing to the general public if put out. The truth is, in a situation as sensitive as now, every piece of information has to be handled with sensitivity and restraint. To give a specific example. I read last night across multiple social media handles how players were to be transported from Dharamshala to another city. Every detail was provided of the players’ proposed movement. I was…