The answer to this question, I must admit upfront, will not come from this column. Nor is it likely to be provided by the selectors, even though they have kept him out of the Rest of India side to play the Irani Trophy which effectively rules him out of the series against Australia. As has been the case over the past few years, the answer lies in the head and body of Kolkata's most famous... more

I like Sourav Ganguly's chutzpah and never-say-die attitude. This is what has kept his cricketing career alive after the several obstacles and pitfalls he has overcome in the past few years. This is what, I reckon, makes him believe that he is still good enough to play for Indian for the next two years though he has been omitted from the Rest of India side to play the Irani Trophy later... more

Whatever compunctions actors may have about reviews, I prefer to read the `experts' on Saturdays before wending my way to the box-office. I am an avid, but not insane cinema buff, and having come to grief several times watching mindless turnips and lemons, have been chastened to respect the reviewer. Some are top class, some pedestrian, but almost all of them sincere. On Naseeruddin... more

Mahendra Singh Dhoni, one hears, has enrolled towards a degree in commerce. If this is not just an endorsement for promoting education in Jharkhand (though this is laudable too), it adds another fascinating dimension to this cricketer. It is not that educated young men are new to cricket. In fact, one of the game's immortals and earliest icons was WG Grace, who was a qualified doctor, and there... more

Over the past few months, I had been inundated with queries about the usefulness of the senior pros in Indian cricket – Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Saurav Gangulhy, V V S Laxman, Anil Kumble. Are they good enough to survive the hurly burly of modern cricket, especially after the introduction of Twenty20? Aren't they just too old to play what has increasingly become a young man's game? Are... more

There is not a little irony in the fact that in the week leading up to the 25 anniversary of India’s greatest sporting moment – winning the cricket World Cup on June 25, 1983 -- Kapil Dev had had to publicly grapple, as it were, with the Punjab Cricket Association to prevent his memorabilia from being thrown out of the Mohali stadium. Luckily, good sense dawned not just on the PCA... more

It's 25 years to the day since Kapil Dev made his amazing 175 not out against Zimbabwe at the picturesque Tunbridge Wells ground, but I’ve had no reason to believe that there has been a better one-day hundred since, or indeed earlier, by any player from any country. Time neither dulled its appeal or dimmed its impact. A whopping 940 ODI hundreds have been scored yet, many of them forgettable,... more