Author: Subhayan Chakraborty

Subhayan Chakraborty at Old Trafford Over a whirlwind few days, 24-year-old Anshul Kamboj has gone from a promising talent to a potential debutant for India in the fourth Test against England at Old Trafford. The young fast bowler’s journey has been on the fast lane, with a packed schedule that saw him join the Indian Test squad on Saturday, mingle with his new teammates on Sunday, and hit the ground running in the nets on Monday. By Wednesday, he could be donning the Indian whites for the first time. The Haryana pacer with the nickname ‘AK-47’, going by his initials…

Subhayan Chakraborty in Manchester As India conducted their practice session at the Old Trafford Cricket Ground on Monday ahead of the fourth Test against England, Haryana pacer Anshul Kamboj, who has joined the squad for the remainder of the series, made an instant impact with his tight lines and lengths at the net session. Akash Deep has a groin niggle, Arshdeep Singh’s thumb injury has ruled out of the fourth Test, and a knee injury has ended Nitish Kumar Reddy’s tour. With the opportunity of a first Test cap very real, Kamboj was on the money from the very…

As one walks into the Etihad Campus, the ongoing transformation of Manchester City’s home ground, the Etihad Stadium, is immediately striking. The renovation is a complex engineering feat, spearheaded by contractor John Sisk & Son (Sisk), as part of an ambitious £300 million redevelopment. At the heart of the project is the vertical expansion of the North Stand, which will add 8,000 new seats and increase the stadium’s total capacity to over 60,000. During a tour of the Etihad Campus, organised for RevSportz, the stadium’s transformation was clearly visible, with the pitch temporarily under wraps. The essence of the city…

Subhayan Chakraborty in Manchester In Beckenham, India’s men’s cricket team held a practice session, while approximately 200 miles away in Manchester, Old Trafford Cricket Ground presented a quiet and serene scene. The much-anticipated fourth Test between India and England is five days away, yet there is little of the excitement typically associated with the Indian team’s arrival. Normal life continues in Manchester, with traffic around Talbot Road maintaining its usual, unhurried pace. Across from the cricket stadium lies an Indian grocery store. When we visited to pick up a few items, we struck up a conversation in Hindi with the…

Subhayan Chakraborty in Manchester As India prepare for the fourth Test against England at Old Trafford, Manchester, starting July 23, the team faces critical decisions regarding its playing XI. With Jasprit Bumrah returning at Lord’s after being rested at Edgbaston, and with enough break before the Manchester Test, the pace attack is expected to feature Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, and Akash Deep, leaving little room for Arshdeep Singh. The Indian pace trio of Bumrah, Siraj, and Akash has shown enough potency in the series to justify their retention over Arshdeep, who remains untested in Test cricket, unless workload…

Subhayan Chakraborty in London The Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy so far has been a series of missed opportunities for Team India. Had they seized their chances at Headingley or not chased personal milestones just before Lunch on Day 3 at Lord’s, India could have already sealed the series 3-0. Even setting aside the ifs and buts, India have failed to win crucial moments in the series, the biggest being losing wickets in the final overs before session breaks, relinquishing momentum to the hosts. On Day 3 at Lord’s, when KL Rahul and Rishabh Pant were pushing England on the back foot with…

With the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy nicely poised at 1-1, and the ongoing Lord’s Test hanging in the balance, former India opener, Wasim Jaffer, who played a crucial role the last time India won a Test series on English soil, in 2007, in an exclusive interview with RevSportz, talked about a range of things starting from the young Indian team, the opening duo of KL Rahul and Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill’s record-breaking batting show, Jasprit Bumrah and much more. Here are the excerpts: The series is nicely locked at 1-1. This young Indian team has done well so far. What has been…

Subhayan Chakraborty at Lord’s Taking painkillers while scoring runs for India, Rishabh Pant once again set his finger injury aside to put his team ahead on Day 3 of the Lord’s Test. He stitched a crucial 141-run stand with KL Rahul and completed his half-century in style. With Yashasvi Jaiswal, Karun Nair and Shubman Gill failing to convert starts, India were in a spot of bother at 107/3 in reply to England’s 387. Until that run out, Pant was bossing the bowlers. Pant was struck on his left index finger while keeping on Day 1 and didn’t don the big…

With the Dukes ball copping criticism for not lasting for the designated 80 overs during the ongoing Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy, the owner of the ball manufacturing factory in England, Dilip Jajodia, cites rapid change in the weather in the UK, the power of modern-day bats and lesser grass on the pitches as possible reasons of the ball losing shape sooner than expected. The new Dukes was changed after 64 deliveries on Day 2 of the Lord’s Test, while the replacement lasted 48 deliveries. “Nothing is wrong because we make the ball to a standard. It’s made with natural, raw materials like…

Subhayan Chakraborty at Lord’s The Lord’s Test is always a grand spectacle, no matter who’s battling it out at this legendary venue. The hallowed ground, the electric atmosphere, that quirky slope, the iconic balconies, and every inch of the stands—Lord’s oozes history, earning its rightful title as ‘The Home of Cricket’. Day 1 of the England-India Test was no exception, with the series locked at 1-1. This is the pivotal match, the one to seize momentum in the second half of the five-match showdown. The day held extra magic for Sachin Tendulkar, the ‘God of Cricket’. Despite a modest…