Author: Boria Majumdar

Boria Majumdar in Melbourne The Boxing Day Test is the biggest draw of the Australian summer. Talking of great rivalries in cricket, it doesn’t get better than India versus Australia. Ticket sales have been very encouraging, and if administrators are to be believed, a crowd of 90,000 is expected at the MCG on December 26 when the Boxing Day Test gets underway. There’s a lot at stake for both these powerhouses of world cricket, each aiming to make the final of the World Test Championship and give their fans the perfect New Year present. The Indian fans’ dislike of the…

I have always felt that covering Test cricket is the most challenging and, at the same time, most enjoyable assignment for a journalist who loves the sport. More so when it is the Boxing Day Test with everything to play for, there could be close to 100,000 people at the MCG, and the intensity and the drama add to the theatre, making it a spectacle unrivalled. That’s what should get the best out of a journalist. How do you report on the match? How do you stand out? How do you break the clutter? What can you be different in…

Over the last four years, Mohammed Siraj has seen it all. He lost his father early into the tour of Australia in November 2020 and could not come home because of the quarantine norms Down Under. What’s more, none of his teammates could even go to his room to give him a shoulder to cry on. At the time, there were police outside every room just in case the Indians tried to violate protocol. Only the physio was allowed to go to his room to treat him, and Nitin Patel used the window to console the young man who was…

The Boxing Day Test is one of the most important matches for India in recent times. The stakes are huge. If India win, they retain the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. It would mean that Australia have failed to beat India at home in a decade, an achievement Indian cricket fans would savour for all time to come. It will also mean that the World Test Championship final door stays ajar. Clearly, there is a lot to play for at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG). And that’s where the story moves to Rohit Sharma. He hasn’t looked the part in the series so…

Boria Majumdar Great champions are all about humility. And it is a quality that is passed on across generations. D Gukesh is no different. Since he won the World Chess Championship, we had been planning an interview. In fact, the exchange was on with his father, Dr Rajnikanth. We did not want to do a two-minute news interview. That was already done in Singapore, so the idea was to go deeper and do a proper celebration. Dr Rajnikanth had suggested that he’d message the moment they settled down in Chennai, and had a breather from the celebrations. And true to…

I was away from cricket journalism for two years during my ban. During these 24 months, I was barred from interviewing any cricketer. And, may I say, I followed every sanction imposed on me in letter and spirit. It was important to write Banned: A social media trial, and tell my story. Now, the book is a bestseller. Why am I saying this? What’s the significance? The answer is Ravichandran Ashwin. Rather, my surprising meeting with Ashwin on the flight back after the deferred England-India Test match at Edgbaston in July 2022. I was pleasantly surprised to find Ashwin, one…

The New Zealand series had ended, and R Ashwin and I were having a conversation. The team was to leave for Australia a day later, and all of a sudden he said to me, “It is time to think. I want to bow out on my terms. It has always been about the team for me. I will never want to be just a passenger.” The words took time to sink in. Here was one of India’s greatest match-winners speaking. He had a modest series against New Zealand, yes, but just weeks earlier, he had scored a hundred and helped…

India were five down for 74 and in desperate need of a partnership. Rohit Sharma had yet again failed and the pressure was mounting. KL Rahul was looking assured but needed support. A loss in this Test match would mean India go to Melbourne 1-2 down and, all of a sudden, Australia literally be able to smell the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. That’s how important Ravindra Jadeja’s contribution was. Potentially, the difference between a draw and a defeat. Under pressure, Jadeja, as he has so often done in the past, played one of his best Test innings. Finally, it was evident that…

Test cricket is defined by fight. That’s what India showed on day four at the Gabba. A kind of dogged determination that lights up a series and lives in fan memory for years on end. And that’s what the Indian batting unit was lacking in Adelaide. The tail wasn’t doing much, and it was clearly hurting India. With the top order looking limp, the contribution from the middle and lower-middle order assumed enormous significance. That’s what we finally got to watch at the Gabba. At 213-9, most Indian fans had given up hope. With an hour of play still left,…

Shubman Gill has a bundle of talent. But it is one thing to have such ability and a very different thing to do justice to it. So far, he has not in his Test match career. His red-ball record is modest and unless he scores in tough situations, he can never be a great of Indian cricket. And by great, I mean the likes of Sunil Gavaskar, Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and Virat Kohli. That’s the yardstick of greatness and Gill, so far, has not even reached halfway. His shot in the first innings of the Gabba Test is evidence.…