Author: Boria Majumdar

The relationship that Sachin Tendulkar and Virat Kohli share is best summed up by an incident that occurred on November 16, 2013, Tendulkar’s retirement day, and he himself had narrated it to me. “As I reached the dressing room post the presentation ceremony and after my speech and was sitting all by myself Virat walked up to me,” he said. “I could see tears in his eyes and he came up to me to give me something very special. He said his dad had given him this (a family heirloom for good luck) and he always wondered who he would…

On Thursday, I had a long chat with Savita Punia. After 300 caps for India and a stunning save in the shootout to give India a famous win, Savita is back, and how. My colleague Rohan Chowdhury was keen to do an interview and celebrate the effort, and that’s why I had called her. “I will always remember what you had said that fateful night when we lost to Japan,” she told me. “My father and husband are both aware. I was about to retire, and you had literally stopped me from making the mistake. Will always remember it.” For…

Michael Clarke will be commentating on the IPL. His podcast, the Beyond 23 podcast, all of us watch. He’s spoken at length about the Champions Trophy and this interview is also leading into the Trailblazers Conclave. Question from Gargi Raut of RevSportz: If India wins the Champions Trophy, like the T20 World Cup, should Rohit Sharma retire on a high or would you want him to continue? I think it’s up to Rohit. I think with a lot of these senior players in all teams, not just India, when you’ve given so much to your country, you’ve played for such…

Pullela Gopichand has been in the news the last few days. After his comments on who should play sport in India went viral, we have seen many different interpretations of it in the media. It is with great pleasure that we announce that Gopichand is coming to the Trailblazers Conclave next week, to interact with the audience on each of the issues he has raised. Why did we pick Gopi? Why is he special? How does he produce a good player, I had asked him once. I was aware the question doesn’t have a straightforward answer. There is no mathematical…

Why do we organise the Trailblazers conclave? Is it just to celebrate the medal winners who have made India proud? Or is it to celebrate sport and not just the medals? For us, every athlete who did not win in Paris 2024 is also a winner and champion of the future. We are as much keen to know about their mental health and support them. Document their stories, and celebrate them in the very same way that we do a Neeraj Chopra or a PR Sreejesh. To quote Abhinav Bindra, who is a regular at the conclave, “The most important…

RevSportz Trailblazers Conclave 2.0 had just ended on March 8, 2024 and each of us had started to celebrate. For five months, we had worked to get India’s best Olympic and Paralympic athletes under one roof to make for meaningful dialogue that could enrich the sports ecosystem. The ambition was to make a difference in an Olympic and Paralympic year. With 30 of our best athletes a part of the conclave for two days, Mission Impossible had just been accomplished. That was when Shriyanka Sadangi walked up to me to say goodbye. Shriyanka is one of our best shooters at…

By Boria Majumdar In a remarkable show of resilience and skill, the Indian women’s hockey team stunned defending champions and World No. 1 Netherlands, clinching a dramatic 2-1 shootout victory after a pulsating 2-2 draw in the FIH Hockey Pro League at the Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar on Tuesday. This win, led by the brilliance of Savita Punia, Deepika, and Baljeet Kaur, is one of the most significant in India’s hockey history, symbolising the team’s unrelenting spirit despite the heartbreak of missing out on the Paris Olympics. For Savita, this match held special significance. In January 2024, after India’s crushing…

Indian football has been all doom and gloom for a while now. The national team hasn’t looked great, and the World Cup dream remains a distant one. Failure to make the third round of the FIFA World Cup qualifiers still rankles, and there is no immediate solution in sight either. That’s where Mohun Bagan Super Giant (MBSG) are like a breath of fresh air. The management is committed and professional, financial support isn’t an issue, the fan base is ever-growing and the quality of players is at a very decent level and can get better from here. That’s what brings…

How bad are Pakistan? Who is responsible for this effort, or rather the lack of it? Will heads roll, and who will stand up and apologise to the fans? Hosting a global tournament after 29 years, Pakistan are all but out with a match to go. When they step out on home soil against Bangladesh, they would be fighting hard to stave off a whitewash in the Champions Trophy. Let’s speak about the Pakistan batting to start with. In the first 27 overs, there were more than 100 dot balls. This was cricket from the 1990s. The world has moved…

All eyes will be on the Dubai International Stadium from midday on Sunday. India versus Pakistan is always a special clash, and it is expected that the stadium will be full and make for a real spectacle. Tickets are hard to get, and online quotas were exhausted in no time. Fans have trooped in from all parts of the world and a huge number have made it to Dubai to watch just this one clash. However, while all of this is great for the build-up, what we also need is some real competition. Pakistan cricket – both the men’s and…