Special Reports
So, MS Dhoni wants to trademark “Mr Cool”. Yes, you read that right. Our man from Ranchi has moved the papers in Kolkata to officially own the tag that millions of cricket fans unofficially stamped on him long ago. As someone who’s shared dressing rooms with hotheads and heartbreakers, I’ll say this upfront—Dhoni has every…
MS Shanker If anyone believed that public outrage, investigative exposés, or even central agency scrutiny would clean up the Hyderabad Cricket Association (HCA), last Sunday’s Annual General Body Meeting (AGM) proved otherwise. What unfolded on June 29 was nothing short of a farcical power-sharing exercise, where tainted officials, past manipulators, and compromised figures re-emerged in…
Girja Shankar Dixit Premjit Lal remains one of the most luminous names in Indian tennis history. In his prime, he was not just a formidable presence on the court but also a symbol of dedication, resilience, and grace. His journey through the sport left an indelible legacy—one that continues to inspire players and admirers decades…
MS Shanker Last Sunday’s Hyderabad Cricket Association (HCA) AGM wasn’t a meeting—it was a reunion of rogues, a mafia-style roll call of those who have turned cricket administration into a looting syndicate. The date may have read 29 June 2025, but the stink in the hall smelled like it had been festering for decades. If…
Preamble Hijacked: Undoing the Politics of the 42nd Amendment The words “Secular” and “Socialist” were not part of the original Constitution adopted on 26 January 1950. These were inserted later through the 42nd Constitutional Amendment during the Emergency in 1976—an authoritarian period under Indira Gandhi’s rule. Today, there is a growing chorus among jurists, constitutional…
Inside the Supervisory Committee Chaos: When Petty Power Games Derailed Reform MS Shanker The tragicomedy unfolding within the Hyderabad Cricket Association (HCA) continues to offer a lesson—not in cricket administration—but in how not to run a public institution. At the heart of this slow-motion disaster lies a web of WhatsApp messages, passive-aggressive emails, backroom groupism,…
After the successful deployment of BrahMos missiles during the recent four-day conflict with Pakistan—where nine enemy air bases and an equal number of terror launchpads were decimated, including the headquarters of two of the world’s most dreaded terrorist organisations, Jaish-e-Mohammad and Lashkar-e-Taiba—India is now poised to field an even more formidable weapon: the K-6 hypersonic…
Roy Emerson remains one of the most accomplished and revered figures in tennis history. Born on November 3, 1936, in Blackbutt, Queensland, Australia, Emerson’s journey from the quiet rhythms of farm life to the global tennis arena is a story of relentless dedication, athletic excellence, and unwavering sportsmanship. Raised on a dairy farm, Emerson developed…
Dwaraka Ravi Teja Speaks Up on What Ails the System MS Shanker In my ongoing series to explore how Hyderabad cricket can reclaim its lost glory, I’ve had the privilege of speaking with several veterans who not only brought laurels to the state but also carried themselves with grace, integrity, and fierce independence. This week,…
11 Years of Decisive Leadership vs. Decades of Drift In the annals of Indian democracy, few contrasts are as striking as that between the eleven-year administration of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the decades-long rule of the Congress Party. Where one is marked by decisiveness, delivery, and disruption of the status quo politics, the other…
