Author: Boria Majumdar

I have said this in the past, and I am saying it again. There can be no second Sachin Tendulkar in red-ball cricket. He was the greatest, and a genius of a very different magnitude. Having said that, Virat Kohli is also a once-in-a-generation player who must be hurting hugely after what happened against New Zealand. Much like Rohit Sharma, Kohli was not at his best. Or remotely close to it. But that’s where I think things will work for him and India in Australia. A proud performer, he will go back to the drawing board and figure it out.…

Amid all the anger, the IPL is always a soft target. India have lost a home series – emphatically so – and hence it is time to blame the IPL. Blame the retention process, for that’s what must have occupied the players mind space’ before this Test. Nothing could be more wrong. Let’s deep dive to explore this a little. For a second, assume that the IPL retention was on the players’ minds. The one who was deeply involved in the retention drama and who decided at the last to put himself into the auction was Rishabh Pant. And needless…

The Mumbai deck was nothing out of the ordinary. There were no real demons either. And yet the Indian batters put up a display which has no rational explanation. The issues started at the top. Rohit Sharma can never bring his white-ball approach to Test cricket and be successful. This is a very different format and the captain has to trust his defence, which he isn’t at the moment. The result was the most ordinary shot of all, with a fielder placed exactly for such a mistake. Shubman Gill, one of the better players for India in the series, played…

He played a stellar hand in KKR’s title triumph and was also a part of the leadership group for the franchise in 2024. Having missed out on retention, Venkatesh Iyer is understandably emotional. And yet he sees the rationale behind the retentions and hopes that his former franchise will surely lift the paddle for him at the auction. Excerpts from the conversation: Boria: You had some fantastic seasons with KKR. When you came on the scene in 2021, KKR seemed down and out. And then that fantastic run taking the team to the finals. In 2024, the title win. Clearly,…

Shreyas Iyer was one of the most-talked-about players in the IPL retention process. So was Andre Russell. And Phil Salt. Why did KKR not retain Iyer? Why did they pay the maximum for Rinku Singh – more than for Sunil Narine and Russell? Were they not in touch with Iyer, as some reports claimed? Did Iyer ask for an exorbitant amount of money as some others have suggested? The man to answer each of these questions was Venky Mysore, CEO of KKR. In his first interview since the process ended, Mysore answered all the tough questions. Excerpts from the conversation:…

He has always had a sense of calm about him. A very West Indian kind of relaxed mindset and demeanour. And having seen adversity, he knows that one needs to celebrate and value the good that comes your way. The urge to keep getting better, to be the best version of oneself, is what defines the new Nicholas Pooran. That’s what came through in the long and candid conversation at RPSG House in Kolkata as we settled down to speak about his IPL retention. Shashwat Goenka, now much more hands on than he was a few years back, outlined in…

There can be no better day than Diwali/Kali puja to make this announcement. I am delighted to say that Tata Steel and RevSportz will continue to be partners going forward, and the 2025 edition of the Trailblazers Conclave, presented by Tata Steel, will now be a two-and-a-half-day affair between March 6-8, 2025. One of the fundamental pillars of this collaboration has been our emphasis on multi-sport coverage. To support Indian Olympic and Paralympic sport and tell the stories which will inspire the coming generations. Cover events on ground, and create forums for dialogue between all stakeholders of sport, including athletes,…

Contrary to the popular perception that he has been paid 18 crores, Nicholas Pooran, the West Indies white-ball specialist who was in Kolkata yesterday to meet Dr Sanjiv Goenka, is being paid over 20 crores by the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) franchise as their top retention. A source confirmed that it was a unanimous call from the coaching staff to choose Pooran whose astounding IPL strike-rate of 162.29 put him well above KL Rahul, the other option for LSG as a top retention. Pooran, to his credit, has been a stellar performer in T20 leagues across the world and, in…

December, 2017. He had just about settled down in his chair for the interview when I decided to spice things up a little. “Cristiano Ronaldo claims he is the greatest,” I said. “How do you react to it?” As his interpreter translated the question for him, I thought I sensed a degree of unease. I was wrong. All of a sudden, he burst into a fit of laughter. And interestingly, it continued for nearly 15-20 seconds. “Cristiano is a very good player,” said Diego Maradona, before pausing. “But, greatest?” He looked at me, and just indicated himself with the certainty…

We are all talking about the IPL retention deadline. In fact, social media is in a tizzy with all sorts of stories floating around. Come October 31, and it will finally be known to the world who are the players retained by the 10 franchises. While a number of names are already out in the open, there is still conjecture over the fate of a number of key individuals. But that’s not the point here. The point is how the IPL Governing Council and the BCCI have successfully made this process far more interesting than it could have been. One…