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Ram had his chances, with 3 set points at 6-5, but Shevchenko managed to somehow hold him off, even with 2nd serves. In the second set TB, Ram started well, but then his first serves deserted him, and he lost six points in a row after being up 3-1. Basically, Ram's nerves didn't hold up when he had ...

[R1] Q- Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND, 332) l. Alexander Shevchenko (UZB, 56) 16 67(3) 5-5 in the second set after a surprisingly one-sided loss in the first set. Ramkumar holds comfortably for 6-5. Shevchenko serving: 0-15, 0-30, 0-40, 15-40 (2 more set points for Ramkumar), 30-40, Deuce :-( , Ad-out (s...

RoI are 196/3 at tea on Day 3 in response to Mumbai's 537 all out in the Irani Cup (first innings, but the match may well be decided on the first innings lead). Abhimanyu Easwaran is 108* -- his third century in consecutive matches. Easwaran is a bit like Bhaskar Pillai (sometimes written 'KP Bhaska...

Playing the "Nationals" in October is ludicrous too. If you want the top guys to play, you should host the Nationals in December, like they used to be in the past. Even then (late-1970s), the top international pros (Amritraj brothers and perhaps Sashi Menon) would be absent, but the cream ...

It was an incredible achievement for us to win both team gold medals at the Chess Olympiad! And naturally there were other individual medals too -- most of them gold -- for the various boards. But being world team champions (and individual champions) brings pressure. Let's hope our chess heroes can ...

Bhambri/Olivetti seem to have withdrawn from the Shanghai Masters. They were scheduled to play the top seeds, but their spot in the draw has been taken by an alternate pair. Bad news! The draw says "illness" (not specifying which partner), so probably a temporary problem.

Yes, Musheer Khan looks like a very special talent. But he got injured in a very bad car accident on his way to Lucknow for the Irani Cup -- and is sidelined for the next 4-6 months, it seems. So he will miss most of this cricket season, sadly.

KL Rahul has redeemed himself in this series. Those in the know among cricketing greats seem to believe that Rahul's overseas batting (especially the two centuries in South Africa -- including the match-winning one at Centurion in 2021) have made a permanent niche for him in the side. Number-crunche...

^^^^ According to a random internet source ( :D ), the hard court speeds on the ATP tour (GS/Masters) is as follows. Shanghai is the fastest of them all. Tournament Court Pace Index Australian Open 38 Indian Wells 27.9 Miami 30.4 Canada Open 35.2 Cincinnati 40.2 US Open 35.4 Shanghai 42.9 Paris 39....

Sarfaraz Khan took his score to 221* at the end of the second day of the Irani Cup, as Mumbai piled up 536/9. Mukesh Kumar (4/109), Yash Dayal (2/89) and Prasid Krishna (2/102) were the wicket-takers for RoI, with just one wicket to a spinner. Sarfaraz is making it very difficult to keep him out of ...

[R1] Sumit Nagal (IND, 82; CH 68) l. WC-Wu Yibing (CHN, 561; CH 54) 36 36 Sumit cannot expect to get an easier match than this in a Masters. Yet he lost badly. The fast court of course doesn't suit his game, but he needs to find a way to win this type of match. He is indeed just turning up to maximi...

Chris Tavare was dour batting personified. Even the English cricket fans remember him as the epitome of old-style dull test batting.

Day 1 of the Irani Cup saw Mukesh Kumar take 3 early wickets to put Mumbai under some pressure at 37/3 (including Prithvi Shaw for 4). But skipper Rahane started the fightback, first in the company of Shreyas Iyer (57) and then Sarfaraz Khan (54*). Rahane was unbeaten on 86 when play was called off ...

It would be terrific to have two Indians in the second round of a Masters singles, even if they play their R1 matches on consecutive days (rather than the same day). I think it's great news that Ramkumar's R1 match is on Thursday, giving him an extra day of rest after his exertions on consecutive da...

Good chance for Ramkumar to pull an upset, especially as he will be match-sharp after two good matches in the past two days. But I would have preferred him to have played R1 on Thursday instead of tomorrow.