The sight of India’s batsmen No.3 and 5, Kohli and Raina, bowling the last two overs of a one-day innings in the CB series in Australia was rather disturbing. One could understand had they been summoned in the second innings after the match was virtually won. But throwing the ball to them in the first [...]

I still fondly recall that evening of a brisk summer day in Australia in early 2004 —we’d leveled the series, first time ever. Rahul Dravid, my senior, my Hero, had sat next to me in a rather cheery dressing room during those final moments. I had hesitantly, anxiously probed him about my batting, hoping to [...]

It’s been over a week since Rahul Dravid hung up his boots. Yet, tributes to his illustrious career are still pouring in, and so they will be for some time to come. Greats often leave behind such legacies—of tales and memories, unforgettable and eternal. I’ve read over a dozen by now, written a few too. [...]

There must be something that almost compels us to not look beyond the God of Cricket. Ironically, one gets so taken up by his sheer act of brilliance, that even the thought of ‘how he does it?’ doesn’t cross the mind. Perhaps, magnificence is best admired, not deciphered and understood. It goes without saying that [...]

It took Dravid’s retirement to force us out of our slumber. Crucial questions like—who would clinch No.3? Who would be the next Dravid?—are beginning to surface only now as India finds itself in the lurch. Ironically, the same voices, vehemently campaigning for his retirement, are now looking for a Dravid clone. Unfortunately though, in the [...]

The greats of the sport have called Mankading ‘shameful’ and ‘petty behavior’, ‘infant school’ cricket. Yet, it continues to occur, sparking a fair degree of outrage, and stirring an inevitable conflict between cricket’s legality and ethics. The cricketing world seems to be divided on this; the likes of Ian Chappell believe “stupidity must be punished”, and that [...]

Statistics are known to hide a lot more than they reveal, yet when they do the talking, they can be pretty unforgiving. A look at India’s report card overseas, since June 2011, tells us just that. Two whitewashes in England and Australia made the score line 0-8 in Test matches, while a whitewash in England [...]