Author: Shamik Chakrabarty

“Perhaps this time they will win,” said Dilip Vengsarkar, oozing optimism. “There’s always a first.” Over the phone, we were conversing about India’s poor record at Edgbaston, the venue for the second Test of the ongoing series. It was Thursday evening, and the news of Jasprit Bumrah likely opting out of the game still didn’t reach Vengsarkar. “Why, what happened,” he asked. That it’s not down to any injury and totally about managing the workload of the fast bowler elicited a sharp response from the former India captain. “Aare baap re (oh my God)!” he exclaimed. Even with Bumrah, India…

Shamik Chakrabarty First up, some hard numbers… Since October 2024, India have played nine Tests, losing seven. In any sport, this is a sackable offence as regards the head coach. In football, the coach would have been sacked in the morning. At Headingley, India became the first team to lose a Test despite five individual hundreds. They scored 835 runs over two innings and, yet, lost the game by five wickets. After the defeat, some pundits spoke about how the tourists were tactically outsmarted by England. To put things in perspective though, playing against a side that had one-and-a-half bowlers…

Shubman Gill carried himself well after the loss in Leeds, as he spoke to Mike Atherton at the post-match presentation. “Dropped catches, lower-order not contributing cost us,” India’s new Test captain was matter-of-factly. Gill is a very good batsman and led from the front with a brilliant hundred in the first innings. He has a charming personality and speaks very good English. He ticks almost all the boxes to be the next pin-up boy in Indian cricket. Gill is a greenhorn as a captain and he was never going to throw his teammates under the bus in his first post-match…

Shamik Chakrabarty On June 14, when the Club World Cup kicked off in Miami’s Hard Rock Stadium, Gianni Infantino, the Fifa president, must have felt American. This billion-dollar tournament (read, football pageant), staged across 11 cities in the United States, is his baby. So much so that his name is etched twice on the trophy that would be lifted by the winners on July 13. Commerce aside, this is Infantino and Fifa’s vanity project. On Sunday, Bayern Munich played against Auckland City, a team of semi-professional footballers, and won 10-0. Across the pond on the same day, England and a…

In the wake of the Chinnaswamy stampede tragedy, the BCCI has formed a three-member committee that will come up with standard celebration guidelines for the IPL franchises within a fortnight. The decision was taken at the cricket board’s 28th Apex Council meeting on Saturday. The committee will have BCCI secretary Devajit Saikia as its chair, alongside treasurer Prabhtej Singh Bhatia and vice-president Rajeev Shukla. On June 4, Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s IPL victory parade revelry had left 11 people dead and 56 injured outside M Chinnaswamy Stadium. While expressing shock and grief over the incident, the BCCI officials had spoken about…

It was the summer of heartbreak for Karun Nair. Circa 2018, and India were touring England for a five-Test series. Nair was in the squad, although warming the bench until an opportunity arose ahead of the final Test at The Oval. But the team management, captain Virat Kohli and head coach Ravi Shastri, in consultation with the then selection committee, decided to fly in Hanuma Vihari from India and drafted him into the playing XI. Nair’s international career came to a grinding halt. Four years later, after he was dropped from the Karnataka Ranji Trophy squad, Nair took to social…

On Wednesday, Morne Morkel, India’s bowling coach, talked up Nitish Kumar Reddy, as he interacted with the media at Beckenham. “He is a guy that can bowl that magic ball,” Morkel told reporters. From Mohinder Amarnath to Mudassar Nazar – dibbly-dobbly seamers have emerged as game-changers in England in the past. Can Reddy be India’s ‘man with the golden arm’ in the upcoming five Test series in Blighty? As a batsman, Reddy made a good start to his Test career in Australia and returned with some credit in the bank, including a hundred, from a disastrous tour for his side.…

The AFC Asian Cup qualifier against Hong Kong was, in all likelihood, Manolo Marquez’s last game in charge as the Indian football team coach. The Spaniard reportedly has expressed his desire to leave. Rather, he should be sacked in the morning. Apologies for drawing a Stevie Wonder analogy, but Marquez is full-time FC Goa manager and a “part-time lover” (read, coach) of Indian football. Sir Matt Busby simultaneously managed Manchester United and Scotland in 1958. Jimmy Murphy was Sir Matt’s assistant at United and the manager of the Wales national team. For a brief period, Sir Alex Ferguson managed…

On Sunday, after a five-hour-and-29-minute epic at Roland-Garros, the Carlos Alcaraz era in tennis began in earnest. Jannik Sinner, too, played his part to make the French Open final an all-time classic. It was the first men’s championship match in a Grand Slam between two players born in the 2000s — 21 months apart. In terms of legendary title showdowns, it also offered a throwback to the 2008 Wimbledon final between Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal. Federer and Nadal have hung up their racquets. Novak Djokovic’s glorious career has entered the twilight zone. The ‘Big 3’ are now the past,…

On Wednesday, 11 people died because Royal Challengers Bengaluru won the IPL after 18 years of wait. Political blame game has cast a spell on the tragedy, while heads continue to roll. Arrests have been made, including RCB’s marketing head Nikhil Sosale. On Saturday, two Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA) officials, secretary A Shankar and treasurer ES Jairam, put in their papers “owing moral responsibility”. Stampedes are like foot-worn ghosts that rear their ugly head from time to time — from the New Delhi railway station disaster to the Maha Kumbh Mela crowd crush and the Bengaluru IPL tragedy. Life…