All posts tagged: Sandeep Dwivedi Newsletter

Everybody loves Vaibhav Sooryavanshi: From Bihar to Rajasthan Royals to the fans of his daringly blissful batting | Cricket News

Published by Webster

This was to be a season about the born-again Virat Kohli’s title defense and fit-again Rohit Sharma’s revival. How quickly the script changed. India has now fallen in love with the cuteness and daring of a chubby 15-year-old – Vaibhav Sooryavanshi. “Never work with children or animals” – they say in showbiz. Cricket and cricketers too will vouch – these ‘li’l ones’ are show-stealers. Sooryavanshi is the face of the world’s jazziest sporting league. He has also forced a state to increase its investment in the sport, a franchise to baby-sit him while presenting the world the spectacular sight of a 15-year-old batting without a care in the world. After a couple of sixes against Bumrah, the other night he hit Aussie Josh Hazlewood 4, 4, 4 and 6 in his opening over. Everyone wants a piece of him but Bihar believes he belongs to them. Before this IPL, at India’s u-19 World Cup victory celebrations, the tournament’s hero Sooryavanshi, would shout across to the team DJ – “Bahut Punjabi ho gaya, ab Bhojpuri bajega”. …

Saim Ayub lbw Jasprit Bumrah: The India-Pak short story with a twist that will worry South Africa | Cricket News

Published by Webster

Not just his batsmanship, even the primal human instinct to dodge sudden danger failed Saim Ayub. If cricket, like gymnastics, had judges, they would be flashing 10s at Jasprit Bumrah’s perfect yorker to Saim. That dismissal from the India-Pakistan game in Colombo would soon become the most-watched, most-memed and most-layered clip of the World T20 so far. Such was the speed and precision of the Bumrah missile that it didn’t give the left-handed Pakistan opener time to even pull out his front-leg from harm’s way. As for Saim’s bat, it had barely reached his knees in its journey from shoulder-level to the feet. Saim lbw Bumrah – wasn’t just another wicket on the scoreboard, it was more. It was a short story with a past, subplots, intrigue, consequences and a twist at the end. There was something in it for everyone. For Pakistan, the Bumrah yorker was a brutal reminder to the widening gap in the cricket quality of the two nations that were once equals. Saim, 24, is the highest paid Pakistan T20 league …

What Ishan Kishan can learn from Rishabh Pant’s fate? Carry the sword, but don’t forget the shield | Cricket News

Published by Webster

Rishabh Pant is a compulsive risk-taker, a perpetual rollercoaster rider and an enigma who toggles between “stupid, stupid, stupid” and “superb, superb, superb”. He is a special batting talent with an uncanny knack for frustrating coaches and selectors. Recently, during the South Africa Test series that India lost, the wicket-keeper cum stand-in captain, true to his reputation, had coaches pulling their hair out after he played the kind of stroke that clearly indicated brain-fade. There were repercussions. As collateral damage, his Test misgivings resulted in him not making it to the T20 World Cup that starts at home next month. And it’s been said that his place in the ODI team too is in doubt. That’s life for batsmen living on the edge. They take calculated risks and also gamble to ace odds. These batting buccaneers keep burying the good old ethos of batting to build their own creed. That bargain comes with consequences, as Rishabh would have realised. But then he can’t help it; he is a compulsive stroke-maker. Rishabh belongs to the Cult …

Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and now Shubman Gill: How Gautam Gambhir and Ajit Agarkar consistently rejected star-culture | Cricket News

Published by Webster

The year in which the world took fat jabs and got thinner, Indian cricket also took the revolutionary step of discarding its heavyweights. 2025 will be remembered for Indian cricket taking some very un-Indian cricketing decisions. First, Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma were told they wouldn’t be needed for Tests. And by the year’s end, just about a month before the T20 World Cup at home; Shubman Gill – the Test, ODI captain, and T20I vice-captain – was dropped. Be it the Kings or the Prince, no one was extended extra-ordinary privileges. Never-ever in India had cricketing royalty been unilaterally treated as commoners. These bolts from the blue were a blow to cricket’s deep-rooted cult of personality. Shubman Gill walks off the field after bowled out by South Africa’s Marco Jansen during the third T20I cricket match between India and South Africa in Dharamshala. (AP Photo/Ashwini Bhatia) In a nation deeply ingrained in VIP culture – where rush-hour traffic stands still for cars with beacons, hospitals have dedicated counters and queues for the privileged and …

Who is Shohei Ohtani? Samurai with Hello Kitty cuteness in baseball

Published by Webster

Months before a 60-year-old woman with Indian roots might become the US president, a 30-year-old Japanese man is redefining baseball, the ultimate American pastime. The age of Asia, it seems, is upon America with the land of the rising sun announcing dawn. And they thought it was China they needed to worry about. The Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris might have nosed ahead of her Republican rival Donald Trump on the popularity charts but she is nowhere near the cult following of Shohei Ohtani, the Los Angeles Dodgers two-way star who has hit the Major League Baseball, and all 50 American states, like a giant spiraling storm. This isn’t just a baseball story, it’s much more. It’s about soft-power superseding real power, the blurring of international borders and excellence leading to acceptability. It’s also about multicultural America delivering on its promise of equality and making even unrealistic dreams come true. Born to a national level badminton playing mother and an amateur baseball playing father, the Japanese had pedigree. But Ohtani isn’t some ‘find of the …

40 smart lines to make you sound like an IPL pundit | Ipl News

Published by Webster

New captains, intriguing succession, imminent big ticket retirement – this could well be the most-discussed IPL ever. For the next couple of months, most mornings will see office canteens, airport lounges, corner shops, walking clubs, park benches and WhatsApp groups of punters hosting impromptu cricket discussions about previous night’s IPL games. Compiled especially for the under-confident fan reluctant to pour their two rupee wisdom into the ocean of IPL opinions, here’s a cheat sheet cum dictionary cum ready-reckoner. This is a last-minute revision of IPL characters, teams and terms – the crash course to be IPL-intelligent. Borrowing liberally from the cliches mouthed by TV pundits, here are some smart lines to sound like an expert. xxx 1. MS Dhoni: Refer to him as Thala or Mahi. Thala for a reason, MahiWay can be part of post-match analysis when CSK wins. 2. Transition: This could easily be the most-used word of IPL Season 17. If the young leaders Shubman Gill and Ruturaj Gaikwad fail, say these are teething problems or they are learning the ropes. In …

Yashasvi Jaiswal’s success a hat-tip to Mumbai, city with big heart and giving cricketers | Cricket News

Published by Webster

Here’s a request. While applauding India’s bright new star Yashasvi Jaiswal’s runs and his technical correctness, do give a hat-tip to his city Mumbai that has dutifully conserved its cricketing heritage like a precious family heirloom. Cricket’s original Indian home hasn’t allowed the wild winds of change to uproot the foundation of the game. Had it not been for Mumbai, Yashasvi wouldn’t have happened. His is a barely believable true story. As an 11-year-old son of a small-time shopkeeper in Bhadohi in UP, he had travelled all alone to the city that Bollywood keeps telling the world fulfils every dream. Yashavi wanted to play for India, he was driven and focused. He eventually did. There was help from coaches, mentors and guardians but if one zooms out, a more heartening bigger picture emerges. Yashasvi, the outsider with raw talent, was adopted by a system that still works on meritocracy. Unlike the erstwhile cricketing heavyweight Delhi, Mumbai still cares for its cricket and young cricketers. Had the young Yashasvi undertaken the shorter trip from home and …