Author: Shamik Chakrabarty

Shamik Chakrabarty in Mumbai Steel is what separates the achievers and the also-rans. It is called khadoos in the Mumbai maidans. On Saturday in Sydney, Rohit Sharma channelled his inner Shivaji Park khadoos to score a match-winning hundred for India. At Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC) here in Mumbai, Ajinkya Rahane revelled in it, as he scored an unbeaten 118 to get the hosts out of the woods against Chhattisgarh. Old is still gold. Rohit went to Australia with the narrative — perform or perish. He is returning with the Player of the Series award. Through his 73 in Adelaide and…

By Shamik Chakrabarty in Mumbai On the face of it, this is a David versus Goliath battle. Mumbai are Indian cricket’s royalty. Chhattisgarh, despite boasting the experience of Shashank Singh and Aditya Sarwate, are minnows. The Ranji Trophy match, starting on Saturday, however, will keep a player under the lens. Sarfaraz Khan, rather his India A omission, is talk of the town at the moment. Sarfaraz was present at Mumbai’s training at Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC) on the match eve. His calm exterior barely revealed anything. Deep inside, the 27-year-old must be hurting. The challenge for him would be to…

Shamik Chakrabarty, Mumbai With Sarfaraz Khan’s India A snub turning political, and indirectly and deplorably a “communal bias” being mentioned by some political functionaries, Irfan Pathan, the former India cricketer, has urged everyone to put things in perspective. In a post on his X (formerly Twitter) handle, the ex-left-arm seamer has condemned the subversion of truth. “Selectors and the coach (management) will always have a plan,” Irfan wrote. “Sometimes it might look wrong in the fans’ eyes, but please don’t twist things or create narratives that aren’t even close to the truth.” Sarfaraz wasn’t picked in the India A squads…

Shamik Chakrabarty, Mumbai Virat Kohli came to Adelaide as the highest run-getter at the venue, across formats, among visiting batsmen in international cricket. With 975 runs in 17 innings before the second ODI between India and Australia, he towered over the likes of Vivian Richards, Brian Lara and Gordon Greenidge. In his 18th innings at Adelaide Oval, his happy hunting ground, the former India captain perished for a four-ball duck. For two innings in a row in the ongoing series, he hasn’t troubled the scorers. Kohli was leg-before to Xavier Bartlett – a delivery that jagged back and skidded off…

Shamik Chakrabarty, Mumbai The last match that Sarfaraz Khan played for India A, he scored 92 against England Lions in Canterbury. It was in the lead-up to the five-Test series against England in the summer. The 27-year-old wasn’t part of the Test side but he played the intra-squad game ahead of the series opener in Leeds and scored a hundred against Jasprit Bumrah & Co. Four months down the line, Sarfaraz finds himself out of the India A scheme of things. On Tuesday, the Ajit Agarkar-led selection committee named the India A squads for the two multi-day matches against South…

Shamik Chakrabarty, Mumbai On Sunday, a ‘Happy Diwali’ message from Mohammed Shami landed on WhatsApp. This correspondent was tempted to ask him about his future plans, but it wouldn’t have been proper, for it was an occasion to exchange season’s greetings and not to ask professional/career questions. On the face of it, Shami is hurting. The Ajit Agarkar-led selection committee has ostensibly moved on from him under the pretext of fitness. Shami is on the wrong side of 30 and had a year-long injury hiatus after the 2023 World Cup before returning to the competitive fold last season. He played…

Shamik Chakrabarty, Mumbai Shams Mulani was the third-highest wicket-taker in the 2024-25 Ranji Trophy season with 44 scalps. He also scored 365 runs. The spin-bowling all-rounder was surprisingly overlooked for the multi-day games between India A and Australia A last month. Mulani’s response was a seven-for against Jammu and Kashmir that secured a 35-run win for Mumbai in Srinagar on Saturday. Chasing 243 for victory, Jammu and Kashmir were bundled out for 207 in their second innings. In fact, it was Mulani’s game. He scored 91 in the first innings and added 159 runs with Siddhesh Lad for the fifth…

The Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) has pulled out of a tri-series in Pakistan after Pakistan’s airstrikes killed 10 civilians (as per news agency AFP’s report), including cricketers in a border province in Afghanistan. In a strongly-worded statement, the ACB has called it a “cowardly attack”, while Rashid Khan, Afghanistan’s most famous cricketer, has called it “barbaric”. Afghanistan were to play a T20I tri-series in Pakistan in November, with Sri Lanka being the third team. “The Afghanistan Cricket Board expresses its deepest sorrow and grief over the tragic martyrdom of the brave cricketers from Urgun District in Paktika Province, who were…

Shamik Chakrabarty, Mumbai A four-ball duck in the second innings against Jammu and Kashmir has seemingly put Ajinkya Rahane under pressure. After taking a 61-run first-innings lead, Mumbai were bundled out for 181 in their second dig, presenting their opponents with a serious chance to win the Ranji Trophy fixture in Srinagar. Jammu and Kashmir finished Day 3 on 21/1. They need another 222 runs to get over the line on the final day. If they do, it would be their third straight win over the 42-time champions in this tournament. Mumbai fell prey to collective batting failure in their…

Shamik Chakrabarty, Mumbai For the bulk of his glorious career, Rohit Sharma used to set up his innings in ODIs. It used to be a slow burn followed by acceleration towards the latter half of the innings. The approach made him one of the finest-ever in the 50-over format. Then, he decided to change his style and go gung-ho from the outset. India took a different batting approach at the 2023 World Cup and Rohit was the torchbearer, leading from the front and resplendent in his selfless cricket. Rohit’s career strike-rate is 92.80. At the 2023 World Cup, he scored…