Samir Chopra | Cricket Blogs

MAY 14, 2013

The misleading aura surrounding Wisden's five

The most anticipated annual award in cricket is just like any other - chosen by people with personal preferences and prejudices

Hashim Amla: one of Wisden's five cricketers of the year © AFP

Enlarge

MAY 07, 2013

The internet and cricket: a brave new world to be seized

The game must find a way of showing itself off online, of allowing the fans to access and enjoy it

APRIL 30, 2013

The Kohli-Mumbai spat, and the lure of sports tribalism

Those who run the IPL will hope that ties to a franchise are uppermost on everyone's minds when the tournament is on

APRIL 25, 2013

The sickening thrill of the late collapse

Remembering two electric periods of play when Malcolm Marshall and Michael Holding ripped India to shreds

APRIL 15, 2013

The joys of pre-season nets

The time to dust off the winter, warm up creaking bones and get ready for the cricket is always a special one

APRIL 01, 2013

Ryder assault had everything to do with alcohol

Soon after news of Jesse Ryder's terrible injuries made the news, we were assured by the NZCPA and Cricket Wellington that the violent assault on him was 'not an alcohol-related incident.'

MARCH 25, 2013

Four-nil means no more 0-4s?

Samir Chopra investigates the dominant nature of India's 4-0 result over Australia, and how it has bucked the trend of previous results

MARCH 18, 2013

Kim Hughes: Shots out of heaven

Australian cricket should have treated Kim Hughes much, much better and left him alone to do what he did best: play the most dazzling cricket strokes imaginable

MARCH 11, 2013

Indian fans knew little about the internal issues dogging Australia on their 1979 tour but, although they were to succumb over the course of a long, draining series, the likes of Kim Hughes and Allan Border left their mark

MARCH 04, 2013

Postcards to my cricketing homeland

Why do I write about cricket? It is because I'm infected by a deep nostalgia, an incurable homesickness; and sometimes because it seems that to stop writing about cricket would be to acknowledge that one part of my life is over and I can never go 'home'

FEBRUARY 13, 2013

The body language of fast bowlers: Diversity in unity

I am truly grateful that there exists such marvelous diversity in the same act, providing the cricket fan with many hours of viewing pleasure

JANUARY 29, 2013

A look at the Kallis-Sobers debate

The Jacques Kallis versus Garfield Sobers comparison and evaluation is guaranteed to draw sharply contrasting reactions from most cricket fans

JANUARY 16, 2013

Cricket's look and feel: A mixed bag

One of the curious ironies of modern cricket is that just as our means of the visual inspection of the game, its players and their skills have grown ever more sophisticated

DECEMBER 30, 2012

Tony Greig: Turning cricketers from Patriots into Professionals

Seemingly a giant of a man, literally and figuratively, he was the captain of a team central to the Indian team's understanding of itself in the cricket world

DECEMBER 22, 2012

Two nations better than one?

One recurring fantasy of the Indian cricket fan is to speculate about a combined India-Pakistan team

DECEMBER 05, 2012

More curiously significant numbers: Birthdays and aids to concentration

I'd like to recount two ways in which I've turned to cricket to see if there was a resonance of interest to me with significant numbers in my life

NOVEMBER 20, 2012

Emergence of new markets with T20 leagues

Tristan Lavalette's piece on cricket in Serbia reminded me once again, that cricket is not yet a truly global sport, but it has great potential to become one