Author: Shamik Chakrabarty

The current elected executive committee of the All India Football Federation (AIFF) is eligible to complete its full term from 2022-2026, with world football’s governing body, Fifa, giving its seal of approval. The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) has dittoed. In a letter signed by Elkhan Mammadov, Fifa’s Chief Member Associations Officer and Vahid Kardany, AFC’s Chief Member Associations Officer Deputy General Secretary – Member Associations, the governing bodies have given their approval. The letter dated April 29, 2025, a copy of which is with RevSportz, was emailed to AIFF president Kalyan Chaubey. “By this letter, and in accordance with the…

Shamik Chakrabarty, Mumbai On Tuesday, a post from Hanuma Vihari, the half-forgotten man of Indian cricket, popped up on social media. The Andhra batsman spoke about his relocation, that he would be plying his trade for Tripura in this domestic season. “After thoughtful consideration, I have made the decision to move to the Tripura Cricket Association, where I’ll be representing the state in all three formats of the game,” read the post. At 31 years of age, Vihari is not old. Far from it. But international cricket seems to have passed him by. He should have had a longer career…

Will Shubman Gill play the Duleep Trophy or will he not, that is the question. The tournament starts on Thursday, with North Zone playing their opener against East Zone. The teams have already reached Bengaluru. And the North Zone squad has started preparations for the first game, assuming that their captain would be available. “If Shubman is not available, he would inform the selectors and/or the BCCI,” a member of the North Zone coaching staff told RevSportz on condition of anonymity. “We haven’t heard anything from them, or Shubman, as yet, and accordingly, we are expecting him to join…

Jaydev Shah Cheteshwar Pujara was always a great support for the Indian cricket team, irrespective of the conditions and situations. We at the Saurashtra Cricket Association are very proud that he went on to play more than 100 Tests. Very few players have achieved that in India, or in world cricket for that matter. He has been a very big player, but now he has taken the decision to hang up his boots. Saurashtra and Indian cricket will miss him. Especially Saurashtra cricket and the players need his guidance. So even after retiring as an active cricketer, he will…

Shamik Chakrabarty, Mumbai Changes are on the cards in Indian cricket administration across different state associations. To start with, Sourav Ganguly is set to return to the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) as its president. In Madhya Pradesh, Union minister Jyotiraditya Scindia’s son Mahanaryaman is likely to be elected unopposed as the president at the state association’s AGM on September 2. Down south, former India medium-pacer Venkatesh Prasad’s team has launched its election manifesto, making a vow to bring back transparency at the Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA) and cricket at Chinnaswamy Stadium. Ganguly came to top-level cricket administration in…

Shamik Chakrabarty, Mumbai Former chief selector MSK Prasad feels that the current selection committee under Ajit Agarkar could easily have avoided controversy by picking a 17-member squad for the Asia Cup. From Shreyas Iyer’s snub to Shubman Gill’s return to the T20I team as Suryakumar Yadav’s deputy, and Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli’s future, he touched upon many issues in an interview with RevSportz. Excerpts: Q: What are your thoughts on Shreyas Iyer’s omission from the Asia Cup squad? Do you see him in the Indian team for the T20 World Cup? A: My heart goes (out) to Shreyas Iyer,…

Shamik Chakrabarty, Mumbai Only a couple of days ago, Ajinkya Naik, the Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) president, told RevSportz that the selectors and the association’s cricket committee would take a call on Ajinkya Rahane’s future as the Mumbai Ranji Trophy team captain. The player’s decision to relinquish captaincy came on its heels. That the MCA is planning to groom a new captain was reported by this website. “Captaining and winning championships with the Mumbai team has been an absolute honour,” Rahane said in a classy post on X (formerly Twitter). He added: “With a new domestic season ahead, I believe…

Shamik Chakrabarty, Mumbai Rohit Sharma is willing to play the unofficial ODI series between India A and Australia A in September-October as part of his preparations for the Australia tour, RevSportz understands. India’s ODI captain hasn’t played international cricket since the Champions Trophy in March, a tournament that India won. He hasn’t played any cricket after the IPL. India will tour Australia for a white-ball series in October-November; three ODIs and five T20Is are part of the roster. The ODIs would be played in Perth, Adelaide and Sydney on October 19, 23 and 25. There’s a feeling in the Mumbai…

Shamik Chakrabarty, Mumbai Some years ago, in 2018-19, when Ajit Agarkar was the Mumbai chief selector, he reportedly had a fallout with Shreyas Iyer. As the story goes, the latter was feeling tired after a long flight from New Zealand where he went for an India A team tour. Shreyas decided to opt out of Mumbai’s next match against Chhattisgarh that was starting in three days. He had a valid reason for his case to be considered, but the message, according to someone in the know, was communicated to Agarkar differently by a then Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) official. Agarkar…

Shamik Chakrabarty, Mumbai Over the last three days, Mumbai has received 500mm of rain. Normal life has been severely disrupted in India’s commercial capital. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has issued a “red alert”, and educational institutions have been declared closed. The state government, too, declared a holiday on Tuesday and asked people to stay indoors. Credit to the BCCI for going ahead with the Asia Cup team selection and having a press conference that was addressed by chief selector Ajit Agarkar and captain Suryakumar Yadav. The selection meeting, originally scheduled at 12 noon, started a couple of hours late,…