Author: Boria Majumdar

It was just days after he had suffered a debilitating shoulder injury that I chatted with Shreyas Iyer. He was in pain, but the resolve had not gone away one bit. While he was still unsure if he needed surgery, his focus was very much on his return. He wanted the big stage for himself and was determined to make a mark. That he had to undergo surgery and missed the next World Cup must have made him even more determined. Knowing Shreyas, he must have been itching to be out there in India colours. Since then, much has happened…

Fear of failure. A very common phrase, and an often-used one when it comes to elite, high-performance sport. If we ever needed an example of a player impacted by it, Rohit Sharma in Nagpur was one. In his desperation to succeed, Rohit looked apprehensive. Anxious and subdued, he wasn’t remotely close to what he was in World Cup 2023. In fact, back then, he was able to give India the starts because he did not care about failure. He looked purposeful and determined. In Nagpur, things were very different. He seemed scared and was conscious of not getting out. Eventually,…

I have said multiple times in the past, that if there is one format where Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli can still make a serious difference, it is the 50-over one. While Kohli is the greatest to have played the 50-over game, Rohit too has been stellar, and was perhaps the most impactful Indian batter in the 2023 World Cup on home soil. Additionally, Kohli is a livewire on the field and saves a few extra runs in every game. Each time I have said this on my show, the comment has been met with strange responses. A huge number…

It was kind of obvious. When we as a team sat down to identify our focus sport for the Tata Steel Trailblazers Conclave 3.0, the answer was staring at us. Chess. There can be no debate that Indian chess took giant strides in 2024. In the words of Viswanathan Anand, “There is no doubt the sport is doing well and the future is looking great, but it will take some doing to match 2024.” Anand is right when he says this. From D Gukesh winning the candidates and Arjun Erigaisi crossing the 2800 Elo rating, to India winning the men’s…

We have all celebrated Navdeep Singh for his gold medal at the Paris Paralympics. It was a fantastic effort to throw 47.32m to win gold and give India a record 7th gold medal. However, what we haven’t celebrated much is his sportsmanship, something we look forward to doing at the Tata Steel Trailblazers Conclave in Kolkata between March 6 and 8, 2025. Soon after the announcement was made that Iran’s Sadegh Beit was disqualified in Paris, he was in tears. It was understandable, for, in an instant, he had gone from being Olympic gold medallist to a disqualified athlete who…

It is now a sport that India dominates and will continue to in the next few years. Vishy’s children, it can be said, have all grown up. To see Indians finish first and second in the recently concluded Tata Steel Chess tournament in the Netherlands, fondly called the Wimbledon of Chess, was immensely satisfying. D Gukesh and R Praggnanandhaa went into the final round tied and, surprisingly, both lost their matches. Arjun Erigaisi, despite a poor tournament, came back brilliantly in the last two rounds to take down Fabiano Caruana and Gukesh. Pragg too lost, and it meant the contest…

Sport in India received a real boost with the union budget adding a further 350 crores to the kitty. In a non-Olympic year, this is a significant addition. It shows that the sector is vibrant and the central government is serious about the 2036 Olympic bid. More money in the domain is always welcome. Take the IPL, for example. It has made the cricketers millionaires and many now aspire to play the sport. Also, it is no longer restricted to men. With the start of the WPL, women have started to make serious money from cricket, and it is now…

To run a successful franchise league isn’t easy and we have seen that with far too many sports in the last decade. Some leagues have shut down while others found it hard to get off the ground. Hockey India had also tried it in the past, and to bring it back in a better and more vibrant avatar is a good job done. Packed crowds at the Birsa Munda Stadium said it all. There are takers for the sport and the standard of play was of the very highest class. From an Indian standpoint, the efforts of Jugraj Singh, 10…

Sachin Tendulkar received the Lifetime Achievement Award at the BCCI Annual Awards function in Mumbai yesterday. It was but natural he will. It could have happened earlier or a year later but the fact that Sachin would get it was known. His impact on Indian and world cricket is unrivalled and for many like me he was one of the reasons to fall in love with the sport. My first encounter with Sachin was at the age of 11. The year, 1987. As a child growing up with cricket, it was inevitable that I’d be mourning Sunil Gavaskar’s leaving the…

There were more than 15,000 fans on day 1 at the Arun Jaitley Stadium to watch Virat Kohli. The number fell to approximately less than 10,000 on day 2. After Kohli got out, it was down to 1,000. On day 3, and Kohli was fielding, mind you, the number was not even 1,000. What does this tell you? If these fans wanted to watch Kohli, why did they not turn up on day 3 as well? Or was it all hype created in the lead-up to the game, and post-day 1, it all went back to square one? Can Kohli…