Author: Boria Majumdar

Sourav Ganguly was the one who decided to bat first at Headingly on an overcast morning in 2002. It was a decision that even the great Ian Botham was hugely surprised by. Ganguly did so because he was playing his spin twins, Harbhajan Singh and Anil Kumble, and wanted them to bowl in the fourth innings. Now, he is clear that India must go in with Ravichandran Ashwin in Perth, as he is their best spinner and will have real impact with the number of left-handers in the Australian line-up. Ganguly also bats for Virat Kohli, and says Rishabh Pant…

A RevSportz Exclusive Sourav Ganguly is one of the best analysts of the sport. As captain and leader, he changed the face of Indian cricket. It was his 144 at The Gabba that defined the tour of Australia in 2003-4 and when Ganguly says, “Send Shami immediately to Australia”, it is something that will surely be taken note of. In this hour-long chat in the ground floor living room of his Behala residence, Ganguly opened up on all things Border-Gavaskar Trophy. Part 1 Excerpts: Boria: Shami has bowled 40-plus overs. He has picked up 7 wickets. After this, there aren’t…

It was January 2019, and Rohit Sharma had just reached the hotel in Sydney after a quick trip back to India for the birth of his daughter. We bumped into each other in the hotel reception, and soon after we greeted each other, Rohit took out his phone to show a few photos of the newborn. “It is so tough to leave her back in India and travel,” he said. “As a father, it is very difficult. You want to be with them and experience it all.” Two years later, at the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic, he was yet…

Team RevSportz is now in Australia, and many have had good words for us, and me in particular, for sending colleagues to cover the tour Down Under. And in the same vein, some have mentioned that senior journalists don’t often give opportunities to younger colleagues to travel on marquee tours. These comments don’t really give the full story. First, when you are part of an organisation, you are competing with others in the team. You need to showcase your talent and prove a point. If you are a senior resource and being paid top dollar, more so. Your organisation will…

India played an intra-squad game and, as is the norm in Perth, most of the batters got out nicking behind the wicket. With a week still left for the first Test, things will surely get better for the Indian batting unit. That’s what brings me to Sachin Tendulkar in February 1992 – all of 19 years old and on a wicket which was faster than ever at the hallowed fortress of the WACA. India crumbled round him, but Tendulkar stood strong. Against a top-class Australian bowling attack, he scored one of his best-ever hundreds, and in doing so, established himself…

It was the evening my two-year ban was announced, April 23, 2022. My first thought was to speak to Sharmistha, my wife and co-founder, and tell her that come what may, we wouldn’t let RevSportz suffer. For, it isn’t about me. Never was. It was about creating something that every journalist would want to be a part of. Giving people opportunities they could make the most of. Helping build careers and enriching the fraternity. When you are part of an organisation, it is often about you and yourself. You want to travel, make a mark, break stories, keep churning out…

The Wankhede Stadium, November 14-16 2013, marked the end of an era in Indian sports. Not out on 38 at the end of the first day, Sachin Tendulkar set the stadium alight with some breath-taking shots first thing in the morning on day 2. A trademark straight drive for four to bring up his fifty, and ‘Sachin, Sachin’ chants were going through the roof in the packed stadium. The only question doing the rounds was whether he would get a century in his last innings? He couldn’t. But what he did was no less of an achievement. His vintage batsmanship…

It was June 2023, and we had just broken the news that the hybrid model was the way forward for the Asia Cup and that it would be announced soon. Within moments of breaking the story, I remember getting a call from a senior Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) functionary who asked me why I did not give credit to Najam Sethi, whose idea it was to play the Asia Cup on the hybrid model? When I rebutted saying it was the Asian Cricket Council’s idea, I was asked to verify my sources and told I did not know the ground…

Is there a method to the madness or is the auction a world in itself, which is governed by its own laws and rules, where every plan and strategy is shunned after a while? Do the franchises go by hope and expect that they will be lucky or is there logic behind every buy? Are some of the buys justified? In an auction can there ever be a pattern to the spending? Finally, have the owners moved away from being emotional with their buys and learnt to take hard business calls keeping in mind the huge spends associated with the…

I am not a political analyst, nor is my understanding of American politics anything to write home about. But what stood out for me from Donald Trump’s successful presidential campaign, and what made me write this, was how he used the alternate, new-age media for his winning election march. Without getting into the rights and wrongs of it, the truth is that the traditional, mainstream media was largely opposed to Trump. Having realised that early on, he tapped into the digital media domain, and the new-age platforms that are all parallel establishments and fast gaining ground. That he reached…