Author: Boria Majumdar

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…

I have known Sanjay (Manjrekar) for years. And may I say, I enjoy speaking to him. Having said that, I have never understood his urge of being different. His latest tweet on Gautam Gambhir, may I say, wasn’t necessary. In fact, it is unbecoming of a senior professional like Sanjay. It comes across as bitter and unnecessary. First, I did not find anything objectionable with the Gautam Gambhir press conference in Mumbai on Monday. Second, I have been part of press meets which are far more mundane than the Gautam one. Or far more volatile. For Sanjay to say what…

There was a point in Gautam Gambhir’s press conference where it seemed his composure was slightly off balance. Rather, he was a tad irritated. It was when he was asked about a Ricky Ponting comment on Virat Kohli. Gautam, the feisty character that he is, shot back: “What does Ponting know about Indian cricket”… That’s what brings me to ask why the question was asked in the first place. Why does Ponting saying something about an Indian batter become a national headline in India? Does Sunil Gavaskar saying something or Sachin Tendulkar saying something about an Australian batter become a…

This is a series that was long overdue. That there are deep co-relations between sport and business is known. Corporate leaders, more often than not, give sporting references when they speak and are often influenced by lessons learnt from sport when they act in the boardroom. What drives them? How are these leaders backstage? What has sport taught them? How do they deal with adversity and failure? How do they motivate large teams? What is key to decision-making? And in all of this, where does sport come in? These are some of the questions we have often asked ourselves. Now…