The Kolkata giants are hoping to rope in two of the best-known Indian origin football names in Europe for its National Football League campaign.
The venue for the second Test is the Basin Reserve in Wellington, traditionally a seamer-friendly ground. Considering the conditions, India needs to sacrifice a batsman to bolster the seam attack. The best Mahendra Singh Dhoni and his men can hope for is winning the second and final Test and squaring the series. Winning, though, says Bikash Mohapatra, will only mitigate the humiliation suffered, and not absolve the team of consistent underperformance.
Kevin Pietersen will be available for the full IPL 7 season. Which of the franchises will grab the dashing batsman at the IPL auction? Rediff.com's Bikash Mohapatra lists the overseas players who could make the big move this IPL season.
The auction for the seventh edition of the Indian Premier League will feature 219 capped players (169 Indians and 50 overseas cricketers) and 292 uncapped (255 Indians and 37 overseas players). Bikash Mohapatra picks the key Indian players likely to be pursued by the franchises.
In Mumbai to launch a business venture, Portuguese football legend Luis Figo, winner of the Ballon d'Or in 2000 and the FIFA World Player of 2001, discusses Barcelona, Real Madrid...
The transfer market has thrown up promising strike partnerships this season. Bikash Mohapatra's picks six potentially formidable combinations in Europe.
After impressive scores against New Zealand, Australia and West Indies on docile Indian conditions, Cheteshwar Pujara has a chance to prove himself on the challenging tracks of South Africa, writes Bikash Mohapatra.
Following the dismal showing on the recent tours of South Africa and New Zealand, the calls to strip Mahendra Singh Dhoni of the Test team's captaincy are growing. Bikash Mohapatra looks back on how the predecessors of India's most successful captain were relieved of the mantle.
Former Manchester City goalkeeper Alex Williams, who is in India to help young footballers improve their technical skills, gets nostalgic about his former club talking to Bikash Mohapatra.
The quartet of Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray has kept the Grand Slams tournaments mostly to themselves. Bikash Mohapatra showcases the few others who have broken that trend in the last decade.
The Australian Open provided Stefan Edberg, Boris Becker and Ivan Lendl the opportunity to renew rivalries as coaches. At the end of it, Bikash Mohapatra believes it was the Swede who went away with the bragging rights.
For the fifth straight year Melbourne brought agony for Nadal. Bikash Mohapatra summarises the Spaniard's no show Down Under.
Former BCCI secretary and vice-president Niranjan Shah tells Bikash Mohapatra there's still one more special innings left in Sachin Tendulkar
Pacer Mohammed Shami, says Bikash Mohapatra, should be allowed enough time to recover and improve upon his existing skills to ensure great returns for Team India.
The hallowed venue, says Bikash Mohapatra, has inadvertently played its part in ensuring several special moments in the Mumbai batsman's fledgling career.
Erapalli Prasanna and Bishan Singh Bedi, arguably the greatest off-spinner and left-arm spinner in cricket history, tell Rediff.com's Bikash Mohapatra why R Ashwin does not do well away from home.
Here's a look at the biggest upsets at the just-concluded 14th IAAF World Athletics Championships in Moscow.
Legends Bapu Nadkarni, Chandu Borde E A S Prasanna look back on India's first Test win overseas.
Praveen Amre, who was involved in a match-winning partnership with Sachin Tendulkar on his ODI debut, tells Bikash Mohapatra that the Master Blaster's feat of playing in 200 Test matches will be difficult to replicate.
Dhawal Kulkarni, Sachin Tendulkar's teammate in Mumbai's Ranji Trophy squad and Mumbai Indians says nobody can match the batting legend, or even get close.
'Ishant was good early on in his career, but his graph went down... He picks six wickets in one innings, but can't pick even one in the next.' Former India players assess the beleagured Indian pacer in conversation with Bikash Mohapatra.
Bikash Mohapatra lends an ear as experts make an assessment of India's bowling woes.
Ricky Ponting's decision to retire in the middle of the 2012 Test series against South Africa, who were led by Graeme Smith, proved costly for Australia. For someone who not only took away the former Aussie captain's record, but also condemned him to retirement in defeat, Bikash Mohapatra says, it is a shame that Smith did not learn from the Australian's error in judgment while calling it a day.
Graeme Smith was one of the best captains, ever. He led South Africa to a record 53 victories in his 108 Tests in charge. Under his able leadership South Africa rose to become the top-ranked team in Test cricket. He is the only captain to win away series against Australia and England. Failure to win the World Cup, however, says Bikash Mohapatra, will be the biggest regret in an otherwise illustrious career.
India's Under-19 World Cup-winning captain tells Bikash Mohapatra that the habit of maintaining a diary made him an author even before he became an international cricketer.
The No. 2-ranked Test nation in the world was expected to have it easy against the Black Caps, ranked No. 8. Instead, they will return empty-handed from the trip. Here's a look at how the 11 Indian players -- there was no change in the team for the second Test -- fared in the just-concluded series.
Jonathan Trott is not the first instance of a cricketer suffering from stress-related issues. Many of his compatriots, as some of the game's big names, says Bikash Mohapatra, were laid low by depression.
Bikash Mohapatra takes a look at the five best winter transfers in 2014.
'To make Kevin Pietersen the scapegoat is an easy way out for the ECB. It is about not accepting collective failure and brushing the reality under the carpet. It also is about taking your best player for granted. It is not that the ECB bosses do not recognise Pietersen's rare talent,' says Bikash Mohapatra. 'It is just that they cannot accept that such genius is accompanied by a temperament that needs to be dealt with delicately.'
Scindia, who is now with the BJP and took oath as a member from Madhya Pradesh, greeted his bete noire before taking oath. Scindia and Singh had differences that led to Scindia quitting the Congress. Scindia also greeted Congress leaders Mallikarjun Kharge and Ghulam Nabi Azad.
Having made his Test debut on November 15, 1989, the batting icon, discovers Bikash Mohapatra, joins an elite club of only four players who have played international cricket for 25 years or more.
The hoopla surrounding Sachin Tendulkar's farewell, says Bikash Mohapatra, has completely camouflaged what could be a mismatch series, as the West Indies team neither has the pedigree nor players to get past M S Dhon's side.
The biggest names to snub the Premier League in the transfer window.
While winning the World Championships is a huge achievement in itself, the only thing that probably surpasses it is a gold medal at the Olympics. A day after the World Championships, we take a look at those few athletes who successfully managed to repeat their gold medal winning efforts at the London Olympics in Moscow.
Niranjan Shah, manager when India last toured New Zealand, tells Bikash Mohapatra M S Dhon's team has enough experience to emerge triumphant in both the Tests and ODIs again.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic struck four times as PSG thrashed Belgian side Anderlecht 5-0 on Wednesday night and joined a select band of strikers to score four goals in a single Champions League match. Bikash Mohapatra presents nine other players who preceded the Swede in performing the feat.
In our series to celebrate Sachin Tendulkar's landmark 200th Test, ex-India pacer Manoj Prabhakar shares his thoughts on his former teammate with Bikash Mohapatra
Despite talk about doing well overseas, the reality is it will take more time, and a concentrated effort -- and that includes making sporting wickets at home -- for Team India to perform consistently overseas, let alone win, says Bikash Mohapatra.
Going by current form and placement, Bikash Mohapatra says it won't come as a surprise if the Swiss maestro fails to qualify for the season-ending ATP World Tour finals.
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