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In this issue

19-05-201820 STORIES

Workers and supporters of the Janata Dal (United) celebrate in Patna after Bihar’s caste-based census report was released on October 4, 2023. The report revealed that OBCs and EBCs constitute 63 per cent of the State’s total population.

How the BJP is failing the OBC test

Desperate to increase vote share while protecting its Hindutva pitch, BJP needs to woo the OBCs. This explains its move to communalise reservation.

Mr UnCongeniality: Patrick Reed, only 27, has managed to make enemies of golf fans, team-mates in the Ryder Cup, his own parents and sister and most writers on the sport.

The bad apples

Sportsmen do behave badly, as do rock stars and politicians. But sports fans are more forgiving. To remain unpopular in an environment where bad behav

Suresh Menon

Electrifying knock: India’s captain Kapil Dev plays a lofted shot during his brilliant innings of 175 not out, against Zimbabwe in a Group B match of the 1983 Prudential World Cup. India, 17 for 5 at one stage, not only prospered through Kapil’s blitzkrieg but also turned the tables on Zimbabwe, winning by 31 runs.

It ain’t over till it’s over

Matches where teams have fought back from a seemingly no-win situation to emerge winners, and games where teams have ended up on the losing side desp

S. Ananth Narayanan

Jerry Lalrinzuala of Chennaiyin FC during match 46 of the Hero Indian Super League between Chennaiyin FC and FC Pune City held at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, Chennai India on the 13th January 2018

Photo by: Arjun Singh / ISL / SPORTZPICS

Jerry: A left-back with the right attitude

Starting to play football as a left winger and then shifting to left back as per his coach's advice, Jerry Lalrinzuala has won the 'Emerging Player aw

Pylo push ups.

Like a drummer in an orchestra

A wicketkeeper has many short and sharp multi-directional movements, with lightning reflexes to catch, stump and effect run outs. Once the key moveme

Ramji Srinivasan

Ramji Srinivasan

Manika Batra takes a break from practice.

The Batra mantra!

Manika Batra reflects on her golden journey in Gold Coast.

Making India proud: Manika Batra at her residence in Naraina Vihar in New Delhi.

GeTTing all the aTTention

With a stunning show at the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games, Manika Batra has become the cynosure and the new poster girl of Indian women’s sport.

Udanta Singh plays for Bengaluru FC as a winger.

‘When I am down, I listen to music’

The best advice the BFC footballer had was from Sunil Chhetri — “Just believe in yourself and keep working hard.”

Aashin Prasad

Charting his own course: Zinedine Zidane has been smart enough to not let the boardroom influence his football.

Zizou is the Real man!

Zinedine Zidane may not have managed a team at the highest level, but he had been a part of the Real Madrid set-up for a long time. He knew what his

Excellence personified: Ace shooter Heena Sidu has found a worthy rival in teen sensation Manu Bhaker (right).

Beyond the realm of the Commonwealth

Indian shooting has turned a new page. It does not need a platform like the Commonwealth Games any more to make the big leap into the bigger events l

Kamesh Srinivasan

Food For Thought

Do not take sleep for granted!

Deep sleep both on training days and competition days is crucial to success.

Ryan Fernando

The World Cup will be poorer with the absence of Italy’s Gianluigi Buffon

Not bound for Russia

Heavyweight teams like Holland, Chile and Italy have failed to make it to Russia 2018 and the football fans will miss some masters of the game when t

Sunil Chhetri

On a roll: Vijender Singh celebrates after defeating Matiouze Royer of France by a technical knock-out at Copper Box Arena in London, England. The Indian pro boxing is around one man: Vijender.

It’s time to raise the game

The Indian professional boxing buzz is about Vijender Singh, and therein lies the rub.

Shamya Dasgupta

Shamya Dasgupta

Never before has women’s tennis boasted more depth outside the top-10 and more parity inside it.

20-somethings reign in women’s tennis

Let’s take a look at what happened during the first three tumultuous months and what could happen for the rest of 2018.

Paul Fein

Winning combination: Achanta Sharath Kamal and and Sathiyan Gnanasekaran in action in the men’s team event.

Sharath and Sathiyan, the awesome twosome

Unlike Sharath, who participated in his fourth Commonwealth Games, Sathiyan made a memorable debut and matched his senior’s collection — a team gold,

The Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur has been Rajasthan Royals’ ‘fortress’. The team notched up a winning streak of nine matches here before a defeat to Kolkata Knight Riders broke it on April 18, 2018.

RR falls one short of IPL record!

A statistical glance at the fortnight gone by in the Indian Premier League.

A fan of IPL: Commentator Kevin Pietersen chats up with Royal Challengers Bangalore captain Virat Kohli at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata. Pietersen, a straightforward bloke who calls a spade a shovel, had fired a salvo against David Lloyd for running down the IPL.

On The Write Line

IPL and the polarising effect

How money was the reason for the spat between Kevin Pietersen and David ‘Bumble’ Lloyd on social media recently is a typical example of the divided op

Sunil Gavaskar

Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton, of Britain, celebrates with his team after winning the Azerbaijan Formula One Grand Prix.

View from the paddock

Amidst high drama, Hamilton races ahead

Lewis Hamilton was owed a win for Melbourne and his body language and attitude after the race was clearly of someone who knew he had been lucky to win

Karun Chandhok

Rajasthan Royals' Ajinkya Rahane during the 2018 IPL season

Rahane: 'I want to be a match-winner in 2019 World Cup'

The newly appointed Rajasthan Royals skipper Ajinkya Rahane opened up to Sportstar on captaincy, upcoming England tour and his limited-overs ambitions

Donning orange, Alex Hales is yet to feature in the playing eleven but he is keeping himself fit and ready.

Hale and hearty, Alex in wonderland!

The thrill and talent pool of the IPL, the ball-tampering scandal, Ben Stokes' comeback to Virat Kohli and Cheteshwar Pujara in county cricket — Engla

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