Author: G Rajaraman

It has been nearly 17 years since Rohit Sharma made his debut for India in Twenty20 international. Like it happens when one is browsing memories of many wonderful cricketers who have graced the game, the mind makes time seem to either speed or crawl, depending on what comes up. Surely, when one looks back at his Twenty 20 international debut, it seems like it was yesterday. He was 20 when he walked in to bat for the first time in a Twenty20 international. It was the Super Eights contest against England in the ICC World Twenty20 2007 at the Kingsmead…

The ICC T20 World Cup assumes the adventurer’s role today, journeying to the United States of America in search of a new audience, even if they are primarily expats from cricket-playing nations. But, back in 2007, during the inaugural tournament, few knew what to expect. A product that had started off as fun event to draw crowds to cricket grounds in England was growing into a big business. I had no idea of what I was setting myself up for when I accepted an offer from Yahoo! and its associates to travel to South Africa for the inaugural ICC World Twenty20.…

Biryani, my friends tell me is usually prepared on slow fire, but Sunrisers Hyderabad painfully discovered on Sunday that its goose could be cooked in a jiffy as well. The Indian Premier League final at the MA Chidamabaram Stadium was an anti-climax for the side that had caught the eye with its blazing batting in the league phase. The Kolkata Knight Riders seam and swing bowlers delivered the ball on brilliant lines and lengths on a track that offered them assistance. It caused a procession of batters to come and leave in an unholy hurry. It was the kind of…

Pat Cummins has been a delightful study in leadership with empathy during the Indian Premier League 2024 season. It is well known that he had led Australia to ICC titles with aplomb, but the IPL is a different beast, having demands of its own from leaders and players alike. To helm a team that comes together a few weeks in a year presents its own set of challengers to its captains. Therefore, irrespective of the outcome of Sunday’s final, many will pick Cummins as the captain of the season, though Kolkata Knight Riders’ Shreyas Iyer has undoubtedly led his team…

Mitchell Starc on Tuesday as well as Trent Boult and R Ashwin on Wednesday gave fans of the Indian Premier League a glimpse of what master actors do when the arc lights are turned on and the director says ‘Action’. They acquire a different persona, getting beneath the skin of the character they are portraying. Such cricketers who lift their game and deliver in the big-ticket matches are worth their weight in gold, not just the price they command because of the dynamics of the IPL Players’ Auction. Their ability to step up and deliver quality performances makes them stand…

Royal Challengers Bengaluru, embracing a name change in alignment with its home city but retaining its amazing fan base, have many heroes in their Cinderella story so far in the Indian Premier League 2024 season. But from the Indian cricket team’s perspective, Mohammed Siraj’s re-discovery of rhythm has been a big gain. He will not mind being overshadowed by left-arm seamer Yash Dayal and the team’s batters. Virat Kohli has been the standout bat while skipper Faf du Plessis and Rajat Patidar found magical spells of play often enough. Will Jacks, with a blazing unbeaten century in Ahmedabad, and Dinesh…

India is set to lose the Asian Games women’s 63kg class boxing bronze medal won by Parveen Hooda in Hangzhou last year after she was handed a 22-month ban beginning September 17, 2023, for whereabouts failures by the International Testing Agency (ITA), which handles the International Boxing Association’s (IBA) anti-doping matters. Since her results obtained between December 1, 2022, and May 17, 2024, have been disqualified, it can be inferred that the Olympic Council of Asia will ask her to return the Asian Games bronze. Worse, since the ban lasts until July 16, 2025, the World No. 3 and 2022…

The Indian Weightlifting Federation (IWLF) has suspended 10 coaches for three years after their trainees tested positive for banned substances in the IWLF National Championships for Youth, Juniors and Seniors held in the Tamil Nadu city of Nagercoil from December 27, 2022, to January 7, 2023. In taking this step, IWLF has taken cognisance of the rising incidence of doping and turned the clock by seven years to the time when it last imposed such sanctions on coaches, holding them accountable for the doping offences of their wards. It remains the only National Sports Federation that makes the coaches responsible…

Neeraj Chopra, low on intensity and high on competitive mode on Wednesday, overshadowed all else in the AFI Federation Cup Athletics Championships at the Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar. But before he hogged the limelight, Abha Khatua scripted a women’s Shot Put national record and enhanced her chances of qualifying for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games with an 18.41m effort. Abha, a 28-year-old Bengal-born athlete who represents Maharashtra, is among a dozen Indian athletes who, at the moment, can punch their tickets to Paris on the basis of their Road to Paris 24 rankings. As someone who breached the 18m mark…

Aman Sehrawat’s grit and sharp focus helped him become the first male wrestler to earn India a ticket to Paris 2024 Olympic Games with a commendable show in the World Qualifier in Istanbul on Saturday. A loss in the semifinals has left Sujeet Kalkal with the task of winning both his bouts on Sunday to join Sehrawat as the only freestyle wrestlers from India to make it to Paris. Sehrawat beat Asian Games silver medallist Han Chong-Song (North Korea) 12-2 with a dominant show in the men’s freestyle 57kg draw. The second highest ranked wrestler in the competition at World…