Author: Shamik Chakrabarty

For those four overs, the result became irrelevant. The scoreboard conformed to Neville Cardus’s description of the arid numbers. The roof of the ACA-VDCA Stadium in Vizag was blown off. ‘Mahi maar raha hai’ became the theme. Everything else was incidental. Those who turned up at the ground got a rare opportunity to watch MS Dhoni bat, and they became delirious. Delhi Capitals were under the assumption that they were playing a home game. They were horribly wrong. Yellow was the colour in the stands and ‘Dhoni, Dhoni’ chants were loud and spontaneous. A fan raised a poster that said:…

Over the last few days, Babar Azam’s reappointment as Pakistan’s white-ball captain became one of the worst-kept secrets in Pakistan cricket. On Sunday, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) confirmed it via a statement on X. The statement said: “Babar Azam appointed as white-ball captain.” It added: “Following unanimous recommendation from the PCB’s selection committee, Chairman PCB Mohsin Naqvi has appointed Babar Azam as white-ball (ODI and T20I) captain of the Pakistan men’s cricket team.” Only a few months ago, after Pakistan failed to reach the semi-finals of the 50-over ICC World Cup, Babar had stepped down as captain. Shaheen Afridi…

Finally, Virat Kohli and Gautam Gambhir decided to bury the hatchet, or so it seemed. Respect oozed as Kohli and Gambhir put arms around each other’s shoulder during a strategic time-out, as Royal Challengers Bengaluru played a home IPL game against Kolkata Knight Riders on Sunday. As Kohli and Gambhir, who now is KKR mentor, spoke for a brief while, broke into a smile and parted with a thumbs-up gesture. They have a history of on-field altercations and as recently as in 2023, when Gambhir was the Lucknow Super Giants mentor, he was involved in a round of verbal sparring…

It was Riyan Parag’s night in Jaipur. Without his innings, Rajasthan Royals wouldn’t have reached 185-5. In the end, it proved to be enough, as Delhi Capitals finished on 173-5 to lose the IPL 2024 game by 12 runs. Here are some highlights… Law of averages catches up with Jaiswal Only recently, during the home Test series against England, Yashasvi Jaiswal was looking impregnable, scoring double centuries for fun and hitting the opposition bowlers to smithereens. His time in this IPL so far has proved to be an anti-climax. After getting out for 24 in the first match against Lucknow…

History was made in Hyderabad on Wednesday. Forget about the IPL, Sunrisers Hyderabad’s 277-3 against Mumbai Indians was the highest-ever total in any major T20 league in the world. As for the IPL, it surpassed Royal Challengers Bangalore’s 263-5 against Pune Warriors in 2013 to be comfortably on top of the tree. Mumbai Indians responded with almost equal venom and posted 246-5 to go down by 31 runs. Over the two innings, 523 were scored, and the fans danced in the aisles. When MI reached 193 (in 16.2 overs) in their run chase, another record was set – the highest…

“Don’t attack the short ball.” That was MS Dhoni’s advice to Shivam Dube after he watched the left-hander at the Chennai Super Kings nets for the first time. Sometimes, just a quiet word or a small piece of technical advice can work wonders. Back in 1989, when Mohammad Azharuddin was struggling for form and confidence, he turned to Pakistan batting maestro Zaheer Abbas for advice. “Change the grip” was Zaheer’s suggestion, a small piece of advice that resurrected Azharuddin’s career. In Dube’s case, the problem was the short ball. It was taking him out of his comfort zone. It also…

Suryakumar Yadav will feature in this IPL, as his franchise, Mumbai Indians, are hopeful of getting his services sooner rather than later. It is learnt that Surya’s next fitness test at the National Cricket Academy could happen on March 28. According to an MI insider, things have been progressing well and the batsman will not miss the IPL. Surya underwent a fitness test at the NCA on March 19, but he wasn’t given the go-ahead to participate in the IPL. Accordingly, he missed MI’s opening game against Gujarat Titans and he will miss his team’s next fixture against Sunrisers Hyderabad…

Two young captains will be in focus, when Chennai Super Kings play Gujarat Titans at Chepauk on Tuesday. Both Ruturaj Gaikwad and Shubman Gill have made winning starts to their campaigns and they will look forward to building on their starts. This is a game between the last year’s finalists but with a change. MS Dhoni is no longer the CSK captain, while Hardik Pandya has left Titans for Mumbai Indians. Dhoni, though, remains his team’s think-tank. In fact, the two young captains are aided by two old and wily heads. If for Ruturaj, this season is about learning on…

The first day, first act of Hardik Pandya as Mumbai Indians captain was greeted by a smattering of boos, at the toss. A man who was born and bred in Gujarat, was getting jeered in Ahmedabad. Pandya led Gujarat Titans to the IPL title in 2022 and took the team to the final a year later. But he found himself at the receiving end of a mindless toxicity. Pandya took the new ball against his erstwhile franchise Titans, at the expense of Jasprit Bumrah, and leaked runs. Boos grew louder. “Why is Bumrah not bowling,” Kevin Pietersen asked on air.…

And there they went: “KKR, KKR”… A grey-haired man with a large nose, who somewhat resembled the Mad Hatter, didn’t look impressed. “KKHaar, KKHaar (you will lose, KKR),” he muttered under his breath. Make no mistake, the man was a true-blue Bengali, but somehow not impressed with the home team. “Same old story,” he explained, upon a polite inquiry. “Every year, they bring disappointment.” Kolkata Knight Riders were playing their IPL 2024 opener against Sunrisers Hyderabad and Eden Gardens was steadily filling up. The toss was still five minutes away, the stadium DJ was belting out a Bollywood number and…