Author: Prantik Mazumdar

At the Annual ICC Conference, 2025, that is being hosted in Singapore, Rahul Dravid and Mahela Jayawardene were invited as guests of honour, to discuss various parameters about the future of cricket. With regards to Test cricket, one of the ideas that has been debated for a while is whether there should be a two-tiered structure, one for the top six teams and another for the rest. The key objective being to preserve the quality of competition in the purest form of the game, where the gulf in the standards between Test-playing nations has been widening in recent times.…

Sudden. Abrupt. Understandable. Yet Incomplete. These were my mixed emotions upon seeing Virat Kohli’s Test retirement announcement via his Instagram post. It is hard to comprehend and process the decision, as one hoped that one would be blessed to witness yet another resurgent phase in his Test career, especially given the purple patch that he is enjoying in the ongoing IPL season. One wished that after the lacklustre Border-Gavaskar Trophy, the England series could be the beginning of his resurgence, and one could perhaps see the magic of 2018 rekindled once again. Or perhaps a final swansong for the greatest…

Up until 2024, the IPL had a central anthem, but not anymore. Remember “Cricket ka dharmayudh” in the launch year or the Farah Khan special, “Jumping Japang” in 2013? Or the “India Ka Tyohaar” in PepsiCo’s final year of sponsorship in 2015 or “Ab Sab Normal Hai” for IPL 2022 when the tournament came back in full swing post the pandemic. In 2025, whilst there isn’t a tournament-wide anthem, some of the popular franchises have their own songs, but none that is anywhere close to being catchy or popular. One wonders why? One stream of thought is that after 17…

Dream 11 Hero Fincorp Qatar Airways Dream 11 Dream 11 At the midway point of IPL 2025, that’s how the points table would read if we were to enumerate the principal sponsors of the top five franchises as a proxy metric. Three out of the five teams that Dream 11 has backed, Gujarat Titans (GT), Punjab Kings (PK) and Lucknow Super Giants (LSG), have had a tremendous start to the 18th edition of the tournament and have secured 10 points (until Monday’s KKR-GT match). One of the other two teams, the Kolkata Knight Riders, is at the sixth slot…

If one goes by the IPL fan polls, the robo-dog that you have been seeing strolling across the field could be christened ‘Champak’. Nearly 80% of the fans who voted preferred this option over ‘Buddy’, ‘Jaffa’ or ‘Chulbul’! Where did ‘Champak’ come from and what does it plan to do beyond grabbing attention? The AI-powered quadruped is powered with microphones and cameras that add new dimensions and perspectives to the much-loved IPL. Based on a cursory glance, it appears to be a version of ‘Spot’, the agile mobile, robot-dog that was developed by the Boston Dynamics. The core purpose of…

Punjab Kings (PBKS) generated a record profit of Rs 252 crore ($29.6m) on a revenue base of Rs 664 crore ($78.1m), in 2024. Whilst their revenue grew by a staggering 141 per cent, their profits skyrocketed by nearly 5.5 times. That made them the most profitable franchise in the IPL, with CSK at a distant second at Rs 229 crore ($26.9m) and RCB registering Rs 221 crore ($26m). Revenue-wise, they ended sixth on the table, but their leadership and management team clearly knew how best to maximise yields. They and their fans would wish that they can replicate the same…

Cricket has given him many chances but will Indian cricket give Karun Nair one more chance? Karun Nair just scripted one of the best comebacks the game has ever seen. He asked the game for another chance in 2022, and the game gave him opportunities, and the 33-year-old has grabbed and maximized every ounce out of them. He made his first-class debut in 2013-14 for Karnataka, the season his team went on to win the Ranji Trophy. He contributed three consecutive tons in the final league game and the first two knockout matches. After hitting a lean patch in the…

Chennai Super Kings (CSK) may have been handed their worst defeat at home by Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) a couple of nights ago, but that wouldn’t bother its owners and office-bearers unduly, as they sit pretty as the most valued IPL franchise. As per the Brand Finance IPL Valuation 2024 report, the CSK franchise is valued at $122M, which has grown by 52% over the last fiscal year. Mumbai Indians (MI), RCB and Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) are the only other franchises that enjoy a nine-figure value, with their valuations stacked at $119M, $117M and $109M respectively. Each of the…

We had missed watching the grand opening ceremony of the IPL 2025 at the Eden Gardens, as we had a morning flight to catch from Niagara Falls to Washington DC. But over a sumptuous Nepali dinner on a chilly evening, our cricket-fanatic family were busy ‘Googling’ the new lineups and captains of the 10 franchises, as the mega auctions of 2025 had shaken things up a fair bit. By the time our dessert platter was served, everyone had placed their bets on their favourite franchises. Out of the seven of us, four had once again placed their dollar on the…

Prantik Mazumdar in Bhubaneswar This was our first time as a family to travel together for an international hockey game and we came out overjoyed from the magnificent sporting precinct at the Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneshwar. Like thousands of Indian fans flocking to Dubai this weekend, we too were all set to make our way to the Burj city to watch the Indo-Pak duel at the Champions Trophy, till our cricket-loving son himself nudged us towards hockey! He had thoroughly enjoyed Harmanpreet & Co’s journey at Paris 2024 on television and continues to mimic the nervous, exciting and victorious moments…