Author: Boria Majumdar

India were on a modest 87-4 when Hardik Pandya hit the ball straight back at the bowler. Naveen-ul-Haq bent down and got a hand to the it. Suryakumar Yadav, at the non-striker’s end, reacted fast, but no one really knew if he had made it back in time. The Afghanistan players felt they had their man. Surya too was unsure, and said as much to Hardik. When the replay was shown, it became evident that Surya had just about made it. A timely swivel and pushing the bat back in had saved him and India. In the very next over,…

The search for India’s next football head coach is heating up. Contrary to expectations, many have already applied and many more have inquired on email about the possibility. Some have even inquired over calls and may soon submit their applications. Sources say a lot of applicants are from Europe and are keen on taking up the Indian challenge. “There are more than 20 applications already and some of them are very reputed names,” said a source within the AIFF. “The kind of football we now play and the kind of infrastructure we have, there is serious interest in the job.…

Press conferences are generally routine events. Hardly do we get a real headline from it, with most players or coaches wanting to be politically correct. Not this Friday, June 21. From what Revsportz has learnt, at 2pm on Friday, it could be a stormy affair with former head coach Igor Stimac all set to address the press and put out a point by point report against the AIFF in what all has happened in the last one year. Outgoing coach Stimac will also address the contentious issue of his job contract plus how and why the termination clause was done…

We often hear that cricket occupies a large share of the Indian pie. We also hear other sports at home are in need of support. While there is a sizeable audience that follows football, why is it that there is limited money in the sport? The events which have happened over the last few days demonstrate why football languishes. What has happened with coach Igor Stimac will show why sponsors will want to invest in Indian cricket and be conscious of the image risks if they wish to invest in football. Yes, in cricket there is tremendous interest in who…

It was a day of intense drama in Indian football. In fact, the drama began 48 hours earlier when Indian football’s top management met to discuss the future of Igor Stimac. The consensus was that the coach had promised he would resign if the team did not make the third round of Asian World Cup qualifying. So, he should take responsibility and go. The All-India Football Federation (AIFF) wanted to do it amicably, and not get involved in a bitter and public slanging match. Having said that, Stimac decided he would not resign. In fact, the secretary general, M Satyanarayan,…

India start their Super Eights campaign on June 20 against Afghanistan. And that’s what prompted the thought. Could 2024 be Afghanistan’s 1983? Can Rashid Khan and the boys go all the way, where it all started for them back in 2010? I remember covering the Afghanistan-India game in the Caribbean in 2010. There was a certain curiosity about the Afghans. Insurgency or sport was the choice for many. They had chosen sport, and the rest was history. Since then, many like Rashid has gone on to become role models. They are superstars and play T20 cricket all around the world…

When a team loses, heads roll. Often, captain and coach both pay the price. Players are dropped, and their careers come to an end. But what about administrators? If you destroy a World Cup and a bridgehead into a potentially huge new market, what about accountability? Will someone take ownership, and put in their papers? Let’s face it – the US cricket experience has gone south, and badly so. What had started as a major opportunity to make inroads into a new market ended up being a complete damp squib. The pitches were bad, the outfield poor, and drainage pathetic.…

First, it was 10:30am, then 11:30am, 12:30pm and 1:15pm . After four inspections, no decision was taken and then there was an announcement about lightning. So, despite there being no rain in Florida for four hours, the outfield wasn’t made ready for play. There are two possible explanations here: the groundsmen and women weren’t good enough. And two, the organisers should have covered the entire ground knowing full well that the drainage was bad. This is a World Cup, and the match had huge significance for Pakistan. For a change, imagine this was India, and something similar had happened. All…

The New York leg of the T20 World Cup is over and the Nassau County Stadium is being dismantled. Rather, it has been. So how does one rate this leg of the competition? Was it a success and did cricket make serious inroads into the US mind space as it was hoped? Was it a partial success – building the stadium in 106 days, for example, was a real achievement and surely the ICC deserves praise. But what about the pitch and the outfield? Were they of a standard befitting the World Cup? Was security over the top and did…

I have known Igor Stimac well for a while now, having done a number of interviews with him as well. He always speaks his mind and is someone who looks at the glass as half-full rather than half-empty. Last night was different. Stimac sounded lost, like someone who was on the verge of a meltdown. Angry, frustrated, disappointed and upset – all rolled into one. He had just finished the press conference, and we had a fairly detailed chat on what had transpired. Excerpts from the conversation: Boria: Your first reaction to what happened. For us, it was day lightrobbery.…