ChinmayC Blog

Cricket is a game loved by the masses all over the globe and growing irrespective of their differences—political or religious or whatever—and nationalities. The grand gentleman’s sport is a passion in India and in Pakistan with fans waiting for their arch-rivals to meet as often as possible over the decades, apart from the other most prominent arch-rivals pair of Australia and England. However, it’s unfortunate political rivalries have been damaging the spirit of the game in the Indian subcontinent—India, Pakistan and Bangladesh at loggerheads that is depriving the common people of all the three countries to cherish the Tests/ODIs/T20Is on their own grounds. Yes! Neutral venues have been the ‘solution’ since quite a few years now. Nonetheless, Pakistan has been the worst affected due to the nation’s terror activities and therefore, the ‘solution’ has also been failing to solve the issues amicably. Cricket fans just cannot afford to give up watching while the respective Boards cannot a...

The ICC Men’s T20 World Cup-2026 got underway on the 7 th of February, co-hosted by India and Sri Lanka with the first of the day’s three matches played in Colombo , the second in Kolkata and the last in Mumbai which was preceded by a brief inauguration ceremony at the Wankhede Stadium . The twenty participating teams of the 55-match tournament are divided into four groups of five teams each with Bangladesh replaced by Scotland and Pakistan deciding to boycott India in protest against the treatment meted out to Bangladesh by the ICC .  However, Pakistan’s obviously political decision didn’t quite clarify as to what Pakistan cricket team would do if they met India either in the semifinal or the final. Per the latest reports Pakistan is still engaged in parleys with the ICC about their cricket team’s boycott of the Indian cricket team. The big money involved in the match or matches of the archrivals is too big to let it go, with the channels/Boards already losing money as the f...

  In the increasingly tense geopolitical situation in the Indian subcontinent , I think it’s time to take some bold Cricket decisions by the BCCI in active consultation with the ICC and the Government of India , and not dillydallying with the issues involved nor allowing the overwhelming commercial angle win every time which in turn leads to absurd hypocritical scenarios as we’d recently witnessed in the games between India and Pakistan  in the Asia Cup-2025 the winner's Trophy of which is still eluding India. In the upcoming ICC Men’s T20 World Cup-2026 we’re set to behold more games in and off the field with Bangladesh being literally taken over by the radicals and the violent upheaval there leading to atrocities on the minorities, mostly Indian Hindus . What followed in the most popular game of cricket in India is obvious: the outrage in the social media crying hoarse over retaining Mustafizur Rahman in Shahrukh Khan’s KKR franchise for the IPL-2026 thus pressuring ...

Wicketkeeper-batsman Rishabh Pant has rewritten the history of another Indian cricket great Yuvraj Singh . No doubt about that, and cricketers and fans now call him the miracle player. While Yuvraj fought and conquered a rare form of cancer and made a brave comeback to cricket, Rishabh fought and conquered a near-fatal car accident in 2022 and made an astounding comeback to cricket in 2024. Not only did he come back but has been playing tremendous cricket in the IPL-2024 and then now in the first Test against Bangladesh with a superlative attacking century, apart from keeping wickets. Amid the well-deserved international acclaim came the comparison with MS Dhoni --some cricketers saying he has broken Dhoni's record in terms of the number of Test centuries in less than half of the matches Dhoni took to score. Veteran wicketkeeper Dinesh Karthik has righteously pointed out that comparison with the legend is unwarranted at this stage. We fully endorse his view and request all to...

Photo: indiatoday.in Indian cricket fans crowding the Eden Gardens stadium reportedly encouraged Bangladesh players to try prolong the first ever Pink Test a little more; because it was all over in two days and 47 minutes frustrating the general expectation that the match would last at least three days. 45-60 thousand spectators thronged the stadium on the first two days each and even on the third morning when it was apparently clear that India would wrap up the match any moment more than 25000 were present. Such attendance is unprecedented for a five-day Test match ever played in India. Therefore, in terms of pulling people from all strata of society to the stadium the first ever D/N Pink Test is a superhit. However, in Kolkata, the Mecca of Indian Cricket with the famous Eden, enthusiastic crowds are always there for at least two kinds of sports—football and cricket. Given that, one cannot still take away the ‘superhit’ tag, and the fact that the match made Sourav Ganguly, BCCI Presi...

While the game of cricket originated in England in the late 16 th century and developed globally from the 19 th century the red ball has been used traditionally—since at least the early 19 th century. International cricket matches have been played since 1844 and Test Cricket from 1877. The color change in cricket began only towards the late 20 th century; however, the traditional red ball has continued to be used till today—in test and first-class cricket matches or completions. With the changes in the format of the game the colors of the ball started changing along with the traditional white dress of the cricketers on the field becoming colored. The ‘red’ became ‘white’ in 1977 when Karry Packer introduced World Series Cricket (WSC) in Australia—as a breakaway ‘commercial’ league. It also included colored clothing for different players from different teams, use of floodlights and white balls. The erstwhile ‘day’ one-day international (ODI) matches became day-night, and it was the ...

About 25000 cricket fans defied severe levels of pollution and thronged the Arun Jaitley stadium in Delhi on the evening of 3 rd November, 2019. Their love for the game and eagerness to support their team prevailed over pollution; as it were, to vindicate BCCI President Sourav Ganguly’s decision to go ahead with the match. The efforts taken by the authorities try cut down the pollution level around the stadium were eye-catching; in the sense that no such devotion is as yet to be seen to save the common people of the national capital from AQI levels that reached over 500-mark in some places. Well, this is cricket in India—and the money involved with the game! Now over to the cricket played. The defying fans were ultimately disappointed with their home team’s efforts, and Bangladesh somewhat easily won the first T20I match by 7 wickets. In nine T20I marches played so far between the two sides this was the first ever win for Bangladesh, and that too in India. The joy of the conquering Ti...

New cricket rivalries are emerging at the moment in India, immediately after former India captain Sourav Ganguly took charge as President, Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on 23 rd October, 2019. All cricket lovers including cricket commentators and top players welcomed taking over charge by Ganguly, mainly because for the first time a real cricketer—and an aggressive one too—has occupied the most important position. True to his nature, Sourav has already started planning for a productive era of Indian cricket; he met the present India captain Virat Kohli too. In the course of this he took two crucial decisions which are loaded with suspense and tension. India-Bangladesh Series-2019 is set to start with a T20I match to be played in Delhi on 3 rd November and there was a hue and cry over it due to the pollution levels in the national capital spiking to severe levels, particularly after Diwali celebrations and the continued stubble burning in the countryside. Cricketer turn...

It is only logical that the unbeaten team of the Unimoni Asia Cup tournament become the eventual champions. India was the only team that remained unbeaten and in the Final tonight became the worthy champions beating an upbeat Bangladesh by  3  wickets. However, the highly competitive match was not without its moments of worries or even scares. First, it was a risky toss to win owing to India’s decision to field first, because in the slow pitches of UAE a total around 250 often proved to be insurmountable. Second, Bangladesh did show the promise of running away with the match while batting. Third, in the Indian innings loss of Dhawan and Rayadu early and the departure of Rohit while in full flow raised scares for an Indian conquest. And then the fall of Dhoni at the score 160/5 put the onus of a victory on the bowlers again. Put into bat Bangladesh started a brilliant opening partnership of 120 runs in just 20 overs and looked set for a total of over 250 runs. However, all the ...

In the last Super Four match of the Unimoni Asia Cup-2018 played in Abu Dhabi tonight Bangladesh played like tigers overcoming a spirited-in-splits Pakistan by  37  runs. It was a virtual semi-final with the winner set to meet India in the Final to be played in Dubai on Friday, 28 th September, 2018. Seemingly Pakistan could never recover psychologically from the dumps inflicted by arch-rivals India, not once but two times. Their batting was lackadaisical and painfully slow this time too. More importantly for millions of fans all over the globe, a possible third encounter between India and Pakistan in the tournament was snuffed out.      Bangladesh won the toss and elected to bat first. After a shaky start they finally managed to put up a competitive 240-run target for Pakistan thanks to a glorious but unlucky innings of 99 by Musfiqur Rahim and a dashing 60 by Mohammad Mithun. Pakistan bowled them out in 48.5 overs. In reply Pakistan also tottered at the start ...

The 14 th edition of Asia Cup of One Day Internationals (ODI) between cricket playing nations of Asia began tonight, the 15 th of September, 2018 in United Arab Emirates. UAE hosts this tournament for the third time due to well-known reasons. In the inaugural match played at the Dubai International stadium Bangladesh crushed Sri Lanka by 137 runs. Bangladesh, batting first, innings was built mainly on a superlative 144 runs by Musfiqur Rahim who was the last man out setting a competitive target of 261 runs. Sri Lanka began very shakily and kept on losing wickets at regular intervals including a  run-out, the whole team finally getting bowled out for a mere 124 . With its string of successes in last two years Bangladesh has become the team to watch out for in this two-week tournament. It was nice to see Lasith Malinga back in the Sri Lanka team and also among wickets again. Asia Cup this year has six teams with Hong Kong joining the five full ODI members—India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka...

Finally all the IPL-weary Indian cricket superstars have to be rested, especially after the full-strength Team India failed to deliver in the just concluded Bangladesh tour losing the ODI series 1-2. The rested players are ODI captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Test captain Virat Kohli, Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, Suresh Raina and spinner R Ashwin. With Dhoni not around some decisions became easier to take. Like dropping Ravindra Jadeja, bringing in Harbhajan Singh to the one day team after he made a comeback to the Test team in Bangladesh and selecting the captain for the second-string Team India for the tour of Zimbabwe starting 10th July. The tour consists of three one day internationals (ODI) and two T20 matches. This made-easy squad was announced by the BCCI national selectors in New Delhi today.  Of course, having rested all the 'worthy' cricketers there was nobody 'worthy' enough to lead the team except for Ajinkya Rahane whose 'quality' is conveniently disc...

Bangladesh have made history on the night of 21 st June, 2015 at Mirpur in Dhaka. On the first International Yoga Day they have made their golden day in cricket. They have won the first ever One Day International (ODI) cricket series against mighty India. Not only won, they have outplayed, mauled and humiliated India in all departments of the game and in every cricketing way possible. Bangladesh defeated India by 6 wickets with 9 overs to spare of the 47 allotted through D/L method due to rain interruption in the second ODI against India last evening. In the first ODI they won by 79 runs thus outclassing India in the series and taking an unassailable 2-0 lead in the 3-match series. For the first time the erstwhile ‘minnows’ have beaten India in two back to back ODIs. The sensational  débutante  of the first ODI, Mustafizur Rahman took an incredible haul of 11 wickets and became the first bowler in the world to do so in his first two one day internationals. And, Banglades...

Bangladesh proved it precisely and clinically--that their cricketers are a spirited and hugely improved lot, that they beating Pakistan squarely was not a fluke, that they running India close to elimination from the World Cup-2015 was not an aberration, and that they have now avenged their exit from the World Cup effectively, so-called it might be though. They had excelled in every department of the game in the first One Day International match against India in Dhaka last evening thrashing and humiliating India by 79 runs. Winning the toss and electing to bat first they raced to a big score right away, despite being put into a tight corner at least twice by India. The Indian pacers were made fun of and only some spinning ability prevented them from reaching even 400. There were no big individual scores, it being a total and spirited team effort.  It seemed the Indian cricket superstars did not take them seriously enough. Even after conceding 307 runs Indian batsmen had a rather cas...

It rained every day of the five days of the one-off Test match between India and Bangladesh at Fatullah. The second day's play was completely washed out and rains accounted for the loss of about 248 overs of the match, mind you, everyday you are supposed to play out 90 overs. This shows the poor planning of bilateral cricket series between the Asian neighbors. It was scheduled at a time when the South-West Monsoon hit India and advanced to most parts of the country. Besides, it was the only match that could be fitted into the madness. Now what will happen to the 3 one day internationals, nobody could guess. The first one is scheduled to start on June 18 in Dhaka.  Ashwin With Virat The test, in its realized portions, went the way it was expected with India dominating in all fields of the game. Winning the toss and electing to bat first India had to fight primarily its main opponent--the rains--than the Bangladesh bowlers. India lost the first wicket only after scoring in excess of ...

Mushfiqur Rahim  The one-off Test match between India and Bangladesh begins tomorrow at Fatullah near Dhaka. Two points would make this match quite interesting. First, as we have mentioned earlier the host team cannot be taken lightly  any more , at least in One-Day Internationals, after its strong performances in the World Cup-2015 and the recent series against Pakistan. Second, the bitter aftermath of the World Cup quarter final in March this year between the two teams sort of makes this a ‘revenge’ match for Bangladesh players and fans. Virat Kohli There were views about bad umpiring decisions that led to the rather untenable view that India robbed Bangladesh of a World Cup semi-final berth—the margin of defeat and the form of Team India at that time are pointers that India would not have lost the match under any circumstances. The ‘views’ were so strong that Mustafa Kamal who alleged Indian bias resigned as the President of the ICC. Anyway, cricket Tests nowadays need...