Author: RevSportz Comment

As the dates on the calendar ticked over, from October to November, India’s momentum seemed inexorable. The towelling of South Africa at Eden Gardens was intimidating, reminiscent of Muhammad Ali toying with a succession of highly rated heavyweights in his mid-1960s prime. New Zealand gave it a proper go in the semi-final, but in the end, it was always going to come down to the ultimate test in cricket – a knockout game against Australia. Other teams have cut a swathe through previous World Cups, just as India did in 2023. But even in those tournaments, Australia found a way…

If India go on to lose this World Cup final, the shot Rohit Sharma played will be spoken about for years. Right through this tournament, Rohit’s statements of intent in the powerplay had been a massive part of India’s 10-match unbeaten run. Nasser Hussain and many others had spoken admiringly about how India’s captain had set the tone for his team. Just like playing a high line in football, the margin between success and failure is wafer-thin when you bat with such a sense of adventure. Rohit had already sauntered down the pitch to launch Glenn Maxwell for a massive…

RevSportz Comment “Dhoni finishes off in style. A magnificent strike into the crowd. India lift the World Cup after 28 years…” Unless you live under a rock or at the bottom of the Mariana Trench, you would have seen and heard that clip from April 2, 2011 replayed hundreds of times across the last dozen years. It’s probably safe to say that quarter-minute of Ravi Shastri is Indian television’s moon-landing moment – ‘One small step for man’ and all that. But here’s the thing. India didn’t win the World Cup at the Wankhede Stadium. The biggest strides towards lifting it were…

Igor Stimac talks too much. There is too much focus on the coach, and his outspoken comments just bring negative attention. Who is Igor Stimac to tell the powers that be how to run Indian football? His uneasy relationship with several ISL clubs doesn’t help the sport. This is just a distilled sample of the opinions that have been aired in recent months, especially after the Indian football team’s results have tapered off. Stimac’s touchline antics, which have brought two red cards, have made him a lightning rod for criticism, and taken attention away from the mess that is football…

So far at this World Cup, there has been a chasm in class between India’s batters and bowlers and the rest. That state of affairs clearly doesn’t sit well with some. In the build-up to the India-New Zealand semi-final at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai, much of the social-media buzz centered on the pitch chosen for the game. That it wasn’t a fresh one raised accusations of home-team favouritism and meddling. “Changes to planned pitch rotations are common towards the end of an event of this length, and has already happened a couple of times,” said an ICC spokesperson. “This…

In the end, that unprecedented 50th ODI hundred came at the most appropriate venue – the Wankhede Stadium, where Sachin Tendulkar had been a ball boy during the 1987 World Cup, the first one that India hosted. Given how Virat Kohli had batted in the World Cup so far, it had always seemed a matter of when, not if. In any case, maybe we need to get over the century obsession. The late Peter Roebuck always used to say that Tendulkar’s greatest ODI innings wasn’t one of those 49 tons, but the 98 he scored under huge pressure in a…

India: A+ Top of the class, by a country mile. What millions of fans want to know now is whether they can ace the final exam. They were asked difficult questions at times in the league phase, most notably by Australia in their opening game when they slipped to 2-3 in the pursuit of a modest total. But each subsequent mini-crisis saw a player or three step up and do the needful. Five of the batters have over 250 runs, and each of the five frontline bowlers has at least 12 wickets. Which other team could afford to bench R…

“It’s just a World Cup so you have to take the heat somehow,” Ramiz Raja told the BBC’s Test Match Special after England’s comfortable 93-run victory in Bengaluru had put the full stop on a disastrous Pakistan campaign. “The problem with this team is it has the potential to play modern-day cricket but they have been a bit shy and timid with their approach.” Of course, having been Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman as recently as last year, Raja had to be diplomatic with his choice of words. But here’s a reality check. ‘Shy and timid’ pretty much describes Pakistan’s…

RevSportz Comment We know what you’re thinking. What a ridiculous clickbait headline. Which lunatic would compare the four-time rugby world champions, South Africa’s mighty Springboks, with a cricket team that had won precisely five World Cup matches before Tuesday night’s thrilling tussle with Australia, five-time winners of cricket’s premier trophy? But bear with us for a minute. Think beyond mere runs and wickets. Cast your mind back to what Siya Kolisi, the Springboks’ captain, said after edging out the All Blacks in the World Cup final. “People who are not from South Africa don’t understand what it means for our…

Marking his guard in the first over in an ODI against Sri Lanka might have taken Virat Kohli back more than 15 years, to where it all began. The middle of nowhere. The Rangiri Dambulla International Stadium in central Sri Lanka is as far from the madding crowd as you can get. Near the historic rock fortress of Sigiriya and surrounded by jungle, it was a world removed from the Feroz Shah Kotla which was Kohli’s home ground when he was making his way in domestic cricket. That morning, in the heart of Sri Lanka’s Cultural Triangle, Kohli opened the…