Author: Shamik Chakrabarty

The Indian government has cleared the Pakistan hockey team’s participation in the upcoming Asia Cup and FIH men’s Junior World Cup, Hockey India sources have confirmed to RevSportz. While the Asia Cup will be played in Rajgir, Bihar, from August 27 to September 7, the 14th edition of the Junior World Cup (U-21) will be held in Chennai and Madurai from November 28 to December 10. This follows a letter from Hockey India to the Indian government about a month-and-a-half ago, stating that denial of visas for the Pakistani players for these two tournaments might go against the international norms…

The final day of the Headingley Test offered a throwback to the 1987 World Cup semi-final between India and England at Wankhede. It was a game where Graham Gooch had swept India out of the tournament, scoring a match-winning 115. Maninder Singh and Ravi Shastri were at the receiving end of his ‘broomstick’ aggression that worked wonderfully well for England. Thirty-eight years down the line, Ben Duckett was doing it in reverse — reverse-sweep to be precise — on a Day 5 pitch against Ravindra Jadeja. A stat put out by ESPNcricinfo reveals that England batters played 39 reverse-sweeps against…

Many moons ago, a callow Chetan Sharma on his first tour of Pakistan, was intercepted by his captain, Sunil Gavaskar, at the dressing room entrance after he got out playing a poor shot. Not that it impacted the game much, but Gavaskar was livid. “Young man,” said the great man in a hushed tone. “If you repeat this, rest assured you would never play for India again.” Sharma was a tail-ender and his primary remit was to share the new ball with Kapil Dev. But Gavaskar reminded him in no uncertain terms that when he was going out to bat,…

“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.…