ChinmayC Blog

What happened in Pahalgam on 22nd April, 2025 is beyond words that can condemn the terrorist act enough. It rages through your blood stream, it tortures your mind and infuriates you with helpless wrath. India mirrored that rage through Operation Sindoor , striking the terrorists' hubs inside Pakistan. The Government of India mentioned time and again that the Operation was aimed at destroying terror, and that it was not a strike against the country or its people. And the Indian Army did exactly that.  The problem is that the terrorists there have always been proven to be actively in league with the Pak army and this unholy alliance controls and directs effectively the Government policy and political strategy. An elected government technically represents the people and therefore the people of Pakistan need not necessarily think about India any differently than their government, and this means that the Indian fury cannot get limited only against the terrorists. It encompasses the wh...

The ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup-2023 unfolding in India is not even halfway through as of today, and it’s impossible to say which of the contesting 10 teams are going to make it to the Top 4 in the knockout stage. And there’ve been huge upsets too in terms of the short-format World Champions England losing to Afghanistan and the ebullient South Africa, after they scored in excess of 400 runs against Sri Lanka, falling again to Netherlands. As we write this Pakistan and Australia fighting it out in a very important match for both of them: Pakistan, after making a rollicking start in the tournament, fell apart against India while Australia registered their first win against Afghanistan after three consecutive losses. Therefore, at the current juncture, we can hardly predict which teams are going to stage a fight-back or which teams are going to the top seamlessly, except perhaps for two teams: India and New Zealand. Both of them have won four out of four matches each so far—every win bei...

No doubt, we cannot question the fundamental rights of people, particularly the ebullient young generation, of loving short and sweet but highly entertaining cricket games like movies. Add to it the digital revolution taking place all over the world as well as in India, even penetrating the rural areas thanks to the initiatives of the government. Now everyone, young or older, wants to enjoy whatever they love on their mobiles or tabs or laptops from wherever they happen to be. For what do you think the streaming platforms are becoming so popular? The digital experience is always unique, as it is very personal, independent and not location-dependent as we’ve already mentioned. In such a scenario what the Indian Premiere League (IPL) has achieved in its 3-day e-auction for TV and Digital broadcasting rights is mindboggling indeed, but not entirely unexpected. The four packages of media rights, A, B, C and D, fetched the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) a record-breaking figur...

The movie aptly titled ‘83’ is really worth reliving Team India’s glorious World Cup victory at Lord’s in 1983 defeating the mighty West Indies , thus stopping the latter’s hat-trick moments after victories in 1975 and 1979 ; and in fact, the West Indies team is yet to win their third World Cup since then. I missed watching the movie on the big screen as moviegoing has been effectively stopped since the last two years, particularly for the elderly people like me. I grabbed the opportunity as soon as the great cricket movie was premiered on television yesterday. The movie too has suffered due to the pandemic: first it was slated for release in 2019 which, unfortunately, was postponed due to post-production reasons and after that the COVID-19 recurring bans and restrictions never allowed to make the movie reach millions of cricket fans. Finally, though it could be released in December 2021 its shows were again affected by the Omicron wave. Therefore, as it were, the movie could not re...

The International Cricket Council (ICC) has been having brainstorming virtual sessions with all stakeholders on resumption of cricket in the past months under the shadow of the Coronavirus pandemic. Till now the Council has not been able to take a final call on the main issue of contention: when to hold the ICC T20 Cricket World Cup. It's very ironical that in a year which can also be termed as T20 the T20 mega event just cannot get underway that was originally scheduled in October, 2020 in Australia. Now, the Indian cricket board, Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), has been eagerly waiting for the decision on the T20 World Cup, because since its postponment is almost final the ICC decision will give the BCCI a window during October-November to organize its favorite money-spinner, the Indian Premiere League (IPL), of course, without the noisy reveling crowds.  All the while the ICC has been busy framing new rules for the most popular game of the world, a craze in India. ...

While most of the World Cup-2019 squads of various nations are having or are going to have training camps soon for the all-important event India continue to have just Indian Premiere League (IPL-2019). Well... That Virat Kohli continued to captain Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) even after the most disgraceful proceedings as far as the team performances are concerned has obvious reason. Being a superlative cricketer that he is and also being Team India captain Virat had been the star attraction of the IPL-2019. Therefore, despite the upsetting losses he was still having most of the commercial time on the air along with some of his non-performers, and an appetizing element of suspense being maintained by the cricketing experts or the media or the spectators that he might stage a comeback for his franchise yet, and who knows..! For similar reasons in terms of money and glamour Indian cricketers just could not leave the IPL halfway while many of the other international cricketers had al...

Finally ending a lot of speculation and suspense about the possible heroes who could bring home the third World Cup title the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) today in Mumbai announced the 15-member Team India for the World Cup-2015 that starts in Australia and New Zealand from 14 th February. Team selection has not thrown up many surprises and was mostly on expected or speculated lines. Focus on a Young Team India continued to prioritize the selection and most of cricket experts agree that the team is indeed a balanced one. However, there are a few ‘ifs’ and ‘buts’ as always. Yuvraj Singh, the hero of the World Cup-2011 victory in Mumbai, did not get the nod despite his current good record in domestic cricket. Two factors—his recent performances abroad and his age—most probably went against him. BCCI secretary Sanjay Patel said in the press conference that there was a discussion on Yuvraj’s selection.   Rohit Sharma who recently hit the highest ever ODI (One Day Inte...

Kolkata, March 13, 1996. The Cricket World Cup-1996 Semi Final match between India and Sri Lanka. More than hundred thousand restive spectators were expecting a great Indian victory.  Excitement was more because India beat archrivals Pakistan in an emotionally drenched quarterfinal just prior to the match. It was a day and night match. India won the toss and elected to field first. A decision that irked the whole nation including the surging ones at the majestic Eden Garden grounds. The Eden Gardens pitch had been a slow turner always, particularly in those years and so, team batting first seemed to be favored. But Sri Lanka did not go off to a good start losing two wickets for one run and finally managing to score 251 for 8 which seemed a good score, but quite within reach of the famed Indian batting strength. Though India lost Sidhu early Tendulkar and Sanjay Manjrekar put the team a commanding 98 for 1. And then all hell broke loose. From that position of strength India lost s...

As late as the 43 rd over Pakistan had the New Zealand innings and the match in control. The expected target was around 220—quite achievable considering Pak batting strength. But mayhem broke loose then. Pakistan already fielded badly dropping several straight forward catches, but the bowlers managed to keep NZ batsmen in check. Shoaib Akhter, the fastest and the most experienced campaigner started it all. Suddenly he became so generous that fours and sixes just rained apart from wides. As many as 28 runs were scored in his 9 th and 46 th of the innings. Is this the most expensive WC over ever? Other Pak bowlers did no help to their team either. Last 30 balls yielded more than 100 runs! As happens in one day games teams score maximum runs in the last ten, but today after being in absolute control Pakistan seemed to give up. Crossing 250, okay possible. But more than 300 (303 target to be exact) was just the impossible made possible by Pak. When we say Pak bowled horribly in the en...