Author: Subhayan Chakraborty

Subhayan Chakraborty in London It was an optional session for Team India on Tuesday as the visitors stepped on to the iconic Lord’s to start their preparations for the third of the five-Test rubber with the series firmly poised at 1-1. With not much turnaround time for Lord’s from Edgbaston, there were a few absentees in Shubman Gill, Rishabh Pant, Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Akash Deep, Mohammed Siraj and Washington Sundar but all eyes were on ace pacer Jasprit Bumrah, who is set to return to the India playing XI as already confirmed by captain Gill. Head coach Gautam Gambhir…

Subhayan Chakraborty in Birmingham “I can’t see my favorite journalist,” said Shubman Gill with a beaming, friendly smile during the post-match press conference after India breached Fortress Edgbaston and defeated England by 336 runs to level the five-Test series at 1-1. “Where is he? I wanted to see him.” An English journalist had reminded Gill about India’s winless history at the venue before the start of the game. Not only one English journalist, but many experts and fans had questioned Gill when he was named India’s Test captain, and even more so when the visitors lost the Headingley Test despite…

Subhayan Chakraborty in Birmingham Akash Deep may not have found his name on the Edgbaston honours board after the first innings, where he claimed a four-wicket haul while Mohammed Siraj stole the spotlight with a six-wicket performance. However, on Day 4, Akash instilled fear in the English batters with his sheer skill, terrorising them with the new ball. He dismissed Ben Duckett and left ICC’s No. 1 Test batter, Joe Root, utterly clueless with an absolute peach of a delivery, leaving the hosts in disarray heading into the fifth and final day of the Edgbaston Test. Akash’s prowess with the…

Subhayan Chakraborty at Edgbaston It was a rollercoaster of a Day 3 at Edgbaston as England folded for 407 runs with Mohammed Siraj bagging a six-for and Akash Deep picking up four. While Siraj and Akash shared the wickets between them, Prasidh Krishna and the spin duo of Ravindra Jadeja and Washington Sundar went wicketless on a placid track in Birmingham. On what has been a flat and dry surface at Edgbaston, the wicket offered little for the bowlers, especially the slow ones. For England, Shoaib Bashir did get slight purchase from the pitch, ending up with three wickets…

Subhayan Chakraborty in Birmingham Akash Deep came to the Edgbaston Test on the back of a slight back niggle that troubled him throughout the IPL. It was one of the reasons he didn’t feature in either of the two India A games or the opening Test against England in Leeds. Rather than playing, the Bengal pacer focused on increasing his load in the nets and fine-tuning his skills with the Dukes ball. Before Day 2 of the Edgbaston Test, Akash had no experience of bowling with that make of a cricket ball except for in the nets. However, when handed…

Subhayan Chakraborty in Birmingham India are yet to announce their squad for the upcoming Test, likely holding off until the toss to finalise their decision on Jasprit Bumrah. The top-ranked fast bowler is expected to sit out this match, with indications suggesting he may only feature in three of the five Tests in the series. The visitors are poised to make additional tweaks to their lineup. Nitish Kumar Reddy could be brought in to strengthen the batting, while Akash Deep is a likely replacement for Bumrah. Additionally, India might opt for all-rounder Washington Sundar in place of Shardul Thakur to…

Subhayan Chakraborty in Birmingham As the practice session for the Indian team started on Monday at Edgbaston in Birmingham ahead of the second Test against England, the fielding drills saw a bit of a tweak. After several dropped catches in the Headingley Test, Yashasvi Jaiswal was not seen in the slip cordon as Sai Sudharsan and Nitish Kumar Reddy rotated between the fourth slip and gully with Karun Nair taking the first slip, KL Rahul second and Shubman Gill standing at third slip. While the slip catching session was on, head coach Gautam Gambhir and assistant coach Ryan Ten Doeschate…

With the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy going on, the IPL has taken a backseat and the buzz will perhaps resume once the auction date comes closer, in and around December. However, the controversial founder of IPL – Lalit Modi – is never out of the news, and possible controversies. Modi was recently in the news after the prime minister of Vanuatu ordered the cancellation of a passport issued by the island nation to the fugitive, who is wanted by India in a corruption case. But controversy is nothing new for Modi. Be it during his stint as the president of Rajasthan Cricket…

Subhayan Chakraborty in Birmingham When Shoaib Bashir and Ravindra Jadeja extracted significant turn on the Headingley pitch during days 4 and 5 of the first Test of the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy, one question dominated discussions: “Where is Kuldeep Yadav?” As India’s Prasidh Krishna and Shardul Thakur leaked runs at economy rates of over six and five, and Jadeja conceded 100 runs in the fourth innings – a career first – Kuldeep’s absence was keenly felt. Ben Duckett and Zak Crawley helped comfortably chase down the mammoth 371-run target, supported by Joe Root, Ben Stokes, and Jamie Smith. When India began their…

Subhayan Chakraborty in Birmingham After a five-wicket defeat in Headingley, Team India started their preparation for the crucial second Test at Edgbaston in Birmingham on Friday. The visitors started their day with an intense fielding session with all the players participating in it. The Indians had dropped multiple game-changing catches in the first Test to go 0-1 down in the five-match series. After the fielding session, which included slip catching, flat catching and direct hit drills, all the players barring Jasprit Bumrah and Prasidh Krishna, hit the nets to fine-tune their game in the build-up to the Edgbaston Test. Bumrah…