Author: Shamik Chakrabarty

Make no mistake, Jasprit Bumrah has done the biggest ‘carryjob’ since Deigo Maradona at the 1986 World Cup. In a World Cup-winning campaign, the Argentine legend still had Jorge Burruchaga and Jorge Valdano to support him. But Bumrah so far has played a lone ranger — honourable mentions, Yashasvi Jaiswal and Nitish Kumar Reddy — in the ongoing Border-Gavaskar Trophy. He has almost single-handedly kept India in the series. The tourists go to the final Test in Sydney 2-1 down, theoretically with a chance to win the game and retain the trophy. As stumps were drawn on Day 4 of…

The gallows humour led to a bit of mischief. As Rohit Sharma failed yet again and India lost seven wickets in the final session to slump to a defeat in the fourth Test against Australia in Melbourne, this correspondent flipped through some old stats. Somehow, India’s forgettable tour of Pakistan in 1982-83 came to mind and batting averages were checked. Even amid the ruins, there were only three single-digit averages. Kris Srikkanth, 9.33, but he only played two Tests. In fact, his failure, and Arun Lal’s, had prompted Sunil Gavaskar to promote Ravi Shastri to open the innings in the…

Short-term, Mohammed Shami is officially no longer in the reckoning for the ongoing Border-Gavaskar Trophy, as a swollen left knee has put paid to his hopes of joining the Indian team in Australia. Long-term, it feels like the end of the road for the 34-year-old fast bowler as far as Test cricket is concerned. A BCCI press release on Monday confirmed that Shami wouldn’t be sent to Australia for the last two Tests of the ongoing series. “Based on the current medical assessment, the BCCI Medical Team has determined that his knee requires more time for controlled exposure to bowling…

What is spin bowling? The Cambridge Dictionary defines it as: “A way of bowling the ball in cricket so that the ball turns around and around and changes direction when it hits the ground.” As arid as it gets, for spin bowling at the height of its intellectual excellence is a work of art, beautifully captured by Ritwika Dhar, a Ravichandran Ashwin fan, on social media (X). The pencil sketch, “The Spin Mudra”, alludes to a dance form at the point of loading. As Ashwin released the ball, it would create a false sensory impression for the batsmen. Ashwin was…

It’s official. The 2025 Champions Trophy will be played in a hybrid model, the International Cricket Council (ICC) has confirmed. In fact, as RevSportz reported on December 13, all the India-Pakistan matches in the ICC tournaments until 2027 will be played at a neutral venue. The schedule for next year’s Champions Trophy, with the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) as the designated host, hasn’t been put out yet, but according to sources, the India versus Pakistan group league fixture is likely to be played on February 23. The tournament will be played in February-March. “The ICC Board has today approved that…

Erapalli Prasanna called Ravichandran Ashwin’s mid-series retirement “unfortunate”, while lavishing praise on his junior. On Wednesday, Ashwin shocked the cricket world by abruptly announcing his international retirement at the end of the third Test between India and Australia in Brisbane. With two more Tests still to be played in the ongoing series, the off-spinner’s decision created much scope for conjecture. For someone who has 537 Test wickets, including 37 five-fors, and six hundreds, the end shouldn’t have been like that. Prasanna concurred. “Ashwin was the best off-spinner of the present era,” the great man, who was part of the famed…

There are several memorable lines in Sir Alex Ferguson’s Leading: Learning from Life and My Years at Manchester United, written jointly with Michael Moritz. This article cherry-picks a couple of them to put things in context. “You cannot lead by following,” wrote the legendary former United manager. There’s another: “One mark of a leader is his willingness to share information.” As a leader, Sir Alex transcended his sport. He was invited to teach at the Harvard Business School even. Naturally, his leadership principles are relevant in every profession. Cricket can’t be an exception. It looks like the Indian cricket team…

First some hard numbers… As Australia posted 445 in their first innings at the Gabba, India’s bowling – Jasprit Bumrah aside – cut a sorry figure. Mohammed Siraj bowled 23.2 overs, gave away 97 runs and took two wickets. Akash Deep returned with 1/95 from 29.5 overs. Against Travis Head’s assault, the two fast bowlers, and also Ravindra Jadeja (0/95, 23 overs), looked clueless. At the end of the second day’s play, India’s bowling coach Morne Morkel came for the press conference and claimed that the team had a plan against Head & Co. Unfortunately, it was not visible. He…

Finally, the Champions Trophy deadlock seems to have been broken. According to sources, a hybrid model – it might be rephrased as a fusion model – that was agreed upon, has been rubber-stamped by all parties. A formal announcement in this regard might come as early as Saturday, after a virtual meeting involving ICC chair Jay Shah, Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chief Mohsin Naqvi and other Board members. Shah is currently in Brisbane. The ICC, of course, will not comment until the arrangement is official. “Discussions ongoing,” said an ICC functionary. “Any announcement will be made through a media release.”…

In the end, after a fortnight of fierce battle, plays and counter-plays, it had come down to the 55th move in Game 14 of the World Chess Championship. Ding Liren moved his rook to f2, and D Gukesh gawked at the board and pounced like a hawk. A couple of moves later, the Indian became the youngest-ever world champion in the history of chess. Dilly ding, Ding done. For the first time during the World Championship match, Gukesh acted like a teenager. As he rearranged the pieces on the board, the 18-year-old started to sob. Then, he would go and…