Prem Panicker returns to his home ground -- Rediff.com -- for the Border Gavaskar Trophy series.
If the men of 1983 gave India a reason to dream, the women of 2025 could give it something rarer -- the courage to live that dream in full daylight, under an open sky that finally belongs to them, points out Prem Panicker.
Sack Gambhir before he damages any more careers, if you must. But it cannot stop there. The project ahead must be bigger, more ambitious, and far more urgent: Rebuilding the spine of Indian cricket from the grassroots up, and giving the Test team the seriousness it deserves. Only then will Indian cricket stop lurching from one crisis to another and begin, once again, to imagine greatness, suggests Prem Panicker.
Here's Prem Panicker's unique take on all the action from the opening day of the 2024-2025 Border Gavaskar series.
'That was the key to a game where, on paper, there is nothing to separate the two sides: Intensity. From the first ball of the innings to the run out of Southee, the Australian bowlers and fielders buzzed around like predatory yellow-jacketed wasps.' 'Adding teeth to the bowling and relentless fielding is the captaincy of Michael Clarke, leading in his last one day international. His body may require an entire college of medical specialists to maintain, but his mind is scalpel-sharp, cutting through the complexities of the game to hit on simple solutions.'
After taking Rishabh Pant's wicket, Head pointed one finger into his other hand, which was shaped like a circle.
'On Sunday against South Africa, Shikhar Dhawan took the spotlight and eventually, the Man of the Match award, with a century, but it was Ajinkya Rahane's innings that held the key to India topping the 300 mark.' Prem Panicker's match report card, for Rediff.com.
Jasprit Bumrah now holds an exceptional record of 203 Test wickets at an average of 19.42 -- the first bowler ever to achieve 200 wickets at an average under 20 in the longest format.
'Only he knows whether he has the hunger to go on.'
Prem Panicker previews the day-night Test at Adelaide.
Here's Prem Panicker's unique take on all the action from the second day of the 2024-2025 Border Gavaskar series.
'I saw him quite emotional on the field yesterday.' 'That's unusual for us to see Rohit like that.'
Here's Prem Panicker's unique take on all the action from the third day of the 2024-2025 Border Gavaskar series.
'Who'll tell him that the bigger problems lie elsewhere?'
Here's Prem Panicker's unique take on all the action from the fourth day of the 2024-2025 Border Gavaskar series.
Kohli could manage only 190 runs in his nine innings in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, repeatedly offering edges to the slip cordon or keeper.
The good news is the team management has enough time on hand to think through the defeat and to find answers to the questions Adelaide has thrown up, around both its batting and bowling before the next test begins.
He was a storyteller who made me feel the pulse of history, the stakes of human ambition, and the thrill of a well-told tale. Prem Panicker recalls his debt to Frederick Forsyth, who passed away on Monday.
As part of a series of weekly chats on cricket, Prem Panicker appeared on the rediff Chat at 1300 EDT/1000 PDT on December 8.
As part of a series of weekly chats on cricket, Prem Panicker appeared on the rediff Chat at 1300 EDT/1000 PDT on December 15.
Transcript of Prem Panicker's cricket chat.
'It's not really up to Rohit Sharma.' 'The chairman of selectors has the power to do what's best for Indian cricket, so it's not so much about Rohit himself deciding what should be the future.'
Prem Panicker, on the Rediff chat, delves on what went wrong for Team India and what to expect from Sunday's trans-Tasman World Cup final.
India did not respect the match situation, the playing conditions, and the bowlers, and they've paid a price for it.
Images from Day 1 of the fifth Test between Australia and India at the Sydney Cricket Ground on Friday.
At the end of the first day of play, it is the home side that is firmly in control, and India that is now reduced to chasing the game.
Transcripts of Prem Panicker's chat on Thursday.
Indian batters, with the exception of Yashasvi Jaiswal (84), faltered yet again to lose the match by 184 runs and trail 1-2 in the five-match series.
It was a proper Test innings, it was of the highest class, and given the circumstances it came in, it was one of the best innings by an Indian batsman in recent memory, applauds Prem Panicker.
Those three wickets for six runs, in a manic final 15 minutes of the day's play, undid all the good work that had gone before, asserts Prem Panicker.
When you are defending to save a game, a loose delivery comes along and you suddenly opt to play an attacking shot, you are unlikely to hit as well as if you were playing your naturally aggressive game all along. First Pant, then Jaiswal, found that out the costly way, observes Prem Panicker.
At this point it is still anyone's game, with a draw also an option, says Prem Panicker in his analysis of Day 4.
The seeds of India's defeat were sown in Melbourne, where Bumrah had to bowl 53.2 overs -- 24.4 in the second innings on the back of 28.4 in the first innings. With just three days to recover, that was an inhuman burden on a bowler who had bowled 151 overs in this series.
It was one of the most tantalising days in Indian Parliament. Parties debated for and against the nuclear deal. MPs crossed swords, armed with allegations and statistics. As the nation kept glued to the happenings, rediff.com's Prem Panicker gave its readers a blow-by-blow account of what happened. Here is the transcript:
For now, Modi's government appears singularly focussed on demonstrating that it is not in any way inhibited by the BJP's loss of a majority, and will continue along its patented path of bulldozing all opposition and doing just as it likes, asserts Prem Panicker.
Bouyed by the vociferous crowd at the WACA, India thrashed UAE by 9 wickets.
'There will be a lot of spice to the contest -- there is a reason India is the only team other than England against whom Australia is keen to play a five Test series.' 'I'll watch, as I suspect most fans will -- but this one time, I'll watch with considerable trepidation and, from a fan's point of view, with the hope that the team finds its feet and that right quick,' notes the distinguished cricket commentator Prem Panicker.
Author Rajni Bakshi discusses with Editorial Director Prem Panicker how her latest book Bazaars, Conversations and Markets came about.
The four wickets that India prised out in the third session, on balance, swung the game back in their favour, says Prem Panicker .
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