Author: Shamik Chakrabarty

Death, taxes and Luke Shaw getting injured – the three unavoidable things in this world. The Manchester United left-back has sustained a calf issue in training and will miss the start of the English Premier League season. United play the season opener against Fulham on Friday. The 29-year-old hasn’t played for the club since February and his only start in the last six months came in the Euro 2024 final. Over the past 10 years, Shaw has missed 264 games for his club and the country. When fit, he is one of the best left-backs in Europe, but somehow it…

Shamik Chakrabarty This Olympics came against the backdrop of the Israel-Hamas war and the Russia-Ukraine war, and said: “We are the world/We are the children”. The Olympics still remains an outlier at a time when commodification has engulfed the world of sport. At the Games, however, it is about ordinary people doing extraordinary things and achieving personal fulfilment. Winners are celebrated, but there are no losers. Ask Kinzang Lhamo, and she would answer in the affirmative. The athlete from Bhutan finished last in the women’s marathon, clocking three hours, 52 minutes and 59 seconds. She crossed the line to a…

To paraphrase Paul Simon, in the naked light Arshad Nadeem saw, ten thousand people, maybe more… ‘Welcome home’ they said to their hero, as the Turkish Airlines flight carrying the champion athlete touched down at Lahore’s Allama Iqbal airport to a water cannon salute late on Saturday. Nadeem went to the Olympics as a dark horse. He returned as a gold medallist, boasting a Games record and ending Pakistan’s 32-year-old medal drought. At Nadeem’s village near Mian Channu, about 300 kilometres off Lahore, the locals have arranged a jalsa (musical soiree) to celebrate their home boy’s triumph. Nadeem’s brother Shahid…

Vinesh Phogat on Thursday announced her retirement from wrestling, a day after she was disqualified from the 50kg category in the women’s freestyle wrestling at the Paris Olympics. The wrestler failed the second weigh-in, as she was found above the permissible weight limit, and was barred from taking part in the final. In an emotional post on her X handle, Phogat wrote: “Mother wrestling has gotten the better of me. I lost. Forgive me, Your dream, my courage is all broken. I don’t have any more strength now.” She added: “Goodbye wrestling 2001-2024. I will always be indebted to you…

Shamik Chakrabarty in Colombo At the stadium entrance, a local fan spoke about his love for Virat Kohli. Sporting a No. 18 shirt, he made a bold prediction about his hero scoring a hundred in the third ODI. If that would mean a defeat for Sri Lanka, he wouldn’t mind. The fan must have left the ground heartbroken. The second ball that Kohli faced, from medium-pacer Asitha Fernando, flew off a thick outside edge and just wide of backward point to the boundary. He looked a tad uncertain but gradually settled down. The way Kohli opened the face of the…

Shamik Chakrabarty in Colombo Yet again, Sri Lanka won the toss — three on the spin — and they made a good start in the third ODI. An 89-run opening stand between Pathum Nissanka and Avishka Fernando gave them control in a game, which is a must-win for India. The tourists made two changes, bringing in Rishabh Pant and Riyan Parag for KL Rahul and Arshdeep Singh, respectively. Here are some nuggets from the final game of this white-ball series… Riyan gets his ODI cap from Kohli Virat Kohli has always been Riyan’s idol and it was befitting that the…

Shamik Chakrabarty in Colombo Four days have passed since the first ODI between India and Sri Lanka played on August 2. Still, there’s no official word from Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC), the host board, on the Super Over controversy. The game ended in a tie and instead of following the ICC’s playing conditions that mandated a Super Over for a tied ODI, match referee Ranjan Madugalle and on-field umpires Joel Wilson and Raveendra Wimalasir decided to bring down the curtain on the proceedings. Respective boards can amend the playing conditions for bilateral series, but the SLC is yet to confirm…

Shamik Chakrabarty in Colombo At the Premadasa Stadium nets on Tuesday, the emphasis was firmly on playing spin. The Indian batsmen have struggled against Sri Lanka’s spinners in the ongoing series, and this is not a case in isolation. Across formats, there appears to be a decline in the quality of batsmanship, when the ball is turning. It happened in Bangladesh two years ago. It happened against Australia in Indore last year. There was a time when Indian batsmen were masters of playing spin even on turners. Very few in the current squad can match their predecessors’ skill-set. Gautam Gambhir,…

Shamik Chakrabarty in Colombo The game changed after Rohit Sharma’s dismissal. Until then, India were in command, as they raced to 97 in the 14th over without losing a wicket, chasing 241 for victory. Rohit perished to a reverse-sweep against Jeffrey Vandersay and Shubman Gill departed close on his heels. Shivam Dube was sent at No. 4 to counter Sri Lanka’s spin threat and he got out for a four-ball duck. In the second ODI here in Colombo on Sunday, India became a prisoner of their left-right obsession, at the expense of a stable batting order. Axar Patel came at…

Shamik Chakrabarty in Colombo Rohit Sharma plays a high-risk game in white-ball cricket these days. He has consciously made the change in his approach it has been yielding high returns. Rohit’s batting was a reason why India looked so dominant in last year’s World Cup until they fell at the final hurdle. He wasn’t the team’s highest run-scorer in the tournament. Virat Kohli had 765 runs in 11 innings, while Rohit made 597 from the same number of innings. What stood out was his strike-rate, 125.94, which was wonderfully impressive by ODI standards. His batting allowed others to play freely…