Author: Boria Majumdar

Much has already been written on the Eden Gardens pitch issue. But in all that is being said, a lot of impractical suggestions are also being peddled. And that’s where the focus is getting lost. Let me make things clear – there is nothing unfair about asking for home advantage. At the heart of the IPL is the home-and-away concept and home advantage is something that is expected and assumed. KKR are well within their rights to ask for it and suggest the same. And like I had written yesterday, all that is needed at the moment is a conversation…

Where do I stand on this pitch controversy? Many KKR fans who are regular viewers of my show have asked this question. More so after the KKR spinners did what they did in Guwahati, winning the game against the Rajasthan Royals. First things first, I don’t really think it is a controversy. I also think there is no need for any further statements from either Ajinkya Rahane or Sujan Mukherjee. All that we need to see are some back-room discussions. Diplomatic back-channel dialogue, which is so very common in sport, is all that is required. No one is asking Sujan…

Rhituparno Pakhira is now out on bail. He spent two nights in jail and had his parents worried. He is now banned from watching IPL games. And yet, he doesn’t regret jumping over the fence and doing what he did – touching and literally worshipping Virat Kohli. This was almost like revisiting what Sudhir Gautam, Sachin Tendulkar fan, did two decades ago. He too jumped over the fence to touch his idol, and got hammered by the police in the process. That was when Sachin stepped in and drilled sense into him. There is a slight difference here between Rhituparno…

In a photograph that went viral on social media last week, KKR players were seen at the Eden Gardens seeking blessings by praying to the stumps ahead of the start of the season. That act sums up the IPL perfectly. At its core, it remains very Indian, and is the perfect mesh of the traditional and the modern. Over the course of the 17 years since the inception of the IPL, I have spent time with multiple teams and owners and been amazed at the kind of passion the league generates. Prashad is often passed on to the team members…

There was a lot of hype around Hamza Chowdhury and what he brings to the table. Could 185th-ranked Bangladesh upset India? Or was the fear unfounded and India, with all their ISL riches, could hold off Chowdhury and win comfortably? The truth is, India were acutely disappointing. Just bad. Awful. No intent, no passion, no rigour. The national team played like a 5th division Kolkata para side with absolutely no vision or pride. For a show like this, you don’t need a national team. Any side made of 11 players could play like this. Kick the ball without purpose, and…

Gujarat Titans (GT) will begin their IPL 2025 campaign later today in Ahmedabad against Punjab Kings (PBKS). Under Shubman Gill’s captaincy, they will look to kick off the campaign with a win, but for that, eyes will be on Mohammed Siraj as he needs to step up to help GT secure victory. After playing for seven years with Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB), Siraj will now don the GT jersey and look to give his best. Ahead of their season opener, Siraj had an exclusive chat with RevSportz’s Editor-in-Chief, Boria Majumdar, where he opened up about his new team, environment, preparations,…

Till 10pm the day before yesterday, Vignesh Puthur was a nobody. Some nerds who follow cricket 24/7 had heard of him, but for the rest of India, he was an unknown commodity. And then, it all changed with the three wickets at the Chepauk. Analytics show he was one of the most-searched names around 10pm on Sunday, and is now a story that is nationally known. Vignesh, overnight, is a celebrity and that’s what brings us to brand IPL and its aura. Ishan Kishan scored a 100 on his comeback in the Buchi Babu tournament. No more than two lines…

15.25 crores. The figure was such that it would send a chill down anyone’s spine. And when a young man of 23 has to justify this price tag, it can turn into the kind of pressure that’s too much to bear. Firstly, Ishan Kishan did not orchestrate the price in 2022. His franchise found him worthy enough to pay that amount, and he had no hand in it. So, for anyone to say ‘Oh, he was paid 15 crores’ was actually unfair on the young man. Call it the pressure of expectations or the pressure of the price tag, but…

Self confidence, often mistaken for arrogance by some, is the key to understanding Virat Kohli. “He might appear flamboyant but he has great peripheral vision,” Sachin Tendulkar had once said. “He can read the game brilliantly and can anticipate what is likely to happen five or six overs down the line. That’s what makes him different from many of his contemporaries.” Did Sachin mean that Virat has a great sense of how an innings is poised and how to pace his own knock? In other words, was Sachin crediting him with some kind of cricketing prescience? “He reads a game…

Season 18 is upon us, and it is perhaps pertinent to take a look at the journey thus far. First things first, the IPL has resulted in an unprecedented windfall for the BCCI and for franchise owners of all the competing teams – a number that has now gone up to ten. It is this unprecedented success of the IPL, repeated for 17 straight years between 2008 and 2024, that helped consolidate India’s position at world cricket’s centre, while completing the process of financial takeover of the game. Apprehensions The BCCI’s decision to put iconic cricketers under the commercial hammer…