Author: Shamik Chakrabarty

The last time when Virat Kohli played a List A game that was not an ODI was in 2013. Rohit Sharma’s last Vijay Hazare Trophy match was seven years ago. Now, on the wrong side of thirty and being reduced to one-format players, the Indian team management and the selection committee felt that Rohit and Kohli must play domestic cricket to retain their match sharpness. Forget that Rohit had returned from the ODI series in Australia bagging the Player of the Series award and Kohli secured it in the home ODI series against South Africa without any game time in…

The Pondicherry Native Cricket Player Association has written to the BCCI’s Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU), alleging that Satvik Deswal has forged his documents to play for the Pondicherry cricket team. In an email to the BCCI’s ACU, dated December 15 and accessed by RevSportz, the Pondicherry Native Cricket Player Association stated: “It has been over a month since we submitted a formal complaint to the BCCI Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU) regarding the use of forged documents by Satvik Deswal to qualify and represent the Pondicherry team.” The email added: “Despite bringing this matter to your notice, we observe that many players allegedly…

In one of the first judicial interventions in India, granting protection to the personality and publicity rights of a sportsperson, the Delhi High Court on Tuesday ordered Cricket Tak (one of the primary defendants) and Others to take down all infringing posts, videos, and allied content related to Sunil Gavaskar from their social media platforms and/or e-commerce websites within 72 hours. Certain platforms allegedly have been using the legendary former India captain’s name for their commercial benefits. Disparaging and lewd comments, too, allegedly have been posted on certain platforms involving Gavaskar and another sports broadcaster. The batting great had moved…

The Delhi-Andhra game in the Vijay Hazare Trophy to be played on Wednesday has been moved out of Chinnaswamy Stadium to the BCCI’s Centre of Excellence (CoE) in Bangalore. Although Chinnaswamy was originally scheduled to host the game, the venue didn’t receive permission from the Bengaluru City Police to play host to the match that would see Virat Kohli turning up for Delhi. According to sources, the City Police was iffy against the backdrop of the tragic Chinnaswamy Stadium stampede during Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s IPL title celebrations on June 3 that claimed 11 lives and injured 56 others. The Karnataka…

“Virat Kohli is charged up, he is ready to rock,” said Sarandeep Singh, the Delhi coach, over the phone, a day before the start of this season’s Vijay Hazare Trophy. Delhi’s opening game is against Andhra and Sarandeep confirmed that Kohli would be playing. “He is playing tomorrow,” said the coach. Delhi, who will play their matches in Bengaluru, are supposed to play their matches at Chinnaswamy Stadium. But the game could be shifted to the BCCI’s Centre of Excellence (CoE). As of now, it stays at Chinnaswamy, to be played before empty stands. The final clearance from the police,…

Rohit Sharma addressed students at Masters’ Union, one of India’s leading business and technology schools, during their convocation ceremony in Gurugram on Sunday, where he was invited as chief guest. The former India captain was felicitated and a free-wheeling interaction with the students followed. Rohit was asked about pivoting a couple of times in his cricket career, from an off-spinner to a batter, and then a middle-order batter to an opener. The batting stalwart said: “The reason I started as an off-spinner was because I always loved batting. There was no doubt about it. But the off-spin came in because we had…

Make no mistake, Shubman Gill is not in India’s T20 World Cup squad because his form didn’t merit a place in the XV. Ajit Agarkar, the chief selector, and Suryakumar Yadav, the captain, spoke about how it was more down to team combination rather than form, as the selectors and the team management wanted a wicketkeeper-batsman at the top and a player of a similar profile as a back-up. The bottom line is that, if Gill were setting the stands alight with his batting after returning to the T20I fold as vice-captain, he would have been the second name on…

The Ajit Agarkar-led selection committee chose to be bold. They refused to put champagne on ice, opting for champagne cricket at the top instead. The result? Shubman Gill, who until Friday was India’s vice-captain in the T20Is, has been dropped for the upcoming T20I World Cup. The defending champions would be going to the ICC’s biennial showpiece with Abhishek Sharma and Sanju Samson as their first-choice opening pair and Ishan Kishan as the reserve. For the next few days, Gill would continue to be the story of the selection meeting that took place here in Mumbai on Saturday. But let’s…

Hurricane Hardik blew at Motera that ravaged South Africa’s bowling, George Linde in particular. After his first three overs, the left-arm spinner’s figures read 1/19. On a batting paradise at Narendra Modi Stadium, it was an excellent effort. Then the carnage began. After 13 overs, India were 131/3, losing the toss and batting first in the final T20I against South Africa on Friday. Suryakumar Yadav (5) yet again fell cheaply and Pandya walked out to bat to a rousing reception from nearly 80,000 fans. People in this part of the world still love the home boy, the former Gujarat Titans…

The immediate focus is the T20 World Cup provisional squad selection. The small matter of picking the squads for the white-ball series — three ODIs and five T20Is — against New Zealand next month is there as well. The World Cup starts on February 7 and the participating cricket boards will have to send the provisional squads to the ICC by early January. The Ajit Agarkar-led selection committee will pick the Indian squad for the World Cup on Saturday. The BCCI hasn’t confirmed it yet. On the face of it, Test cricket has taken a back seat at the moment.…