Express Sports

On the 16th of November, Gulam Abbas Moontasir, the Indian basketball legend, died at the age of 80. Moontasir was one of India's greatest ball handlers and the most charismatic part of the star studded Railways team that won 9 titles out of 10 played domestically in the 60s and 70s. In this episode, hosts Mihir Vasavda and Rahul Pandey are joined by Shivani Naik to talk about his career, what mad...

Title contenders at the 2022 FIFA World Cup, and led by the talismanic Lionel Messi, Argentina were taken down by Saudi Arabia in a 2-1 defeat in Group C. From their high line and brave sense of attacking, to manager Herve Renard's party look, Indian Express’ Namit Kumar joins host Rahul Pandey to discuss everything that went by in the Group C clash.

In the shadow of several human rights violations, including the death of at least 9 Indian migrant workers, the 2022 FIFA Men’s World Cup will kick off tomorrow (20th November). In this episode, host Mihir Vasavda is joined by Indian Express’ Sandip G, who will be in Qatar covering the tournament. They discuss what is going on in Qatar right now, the favourites and the underdogs this time, how thi...

On Thursday, India suffered a heartbreak at the T20 World Cup after it lost to England by 10 wickets in the semi final in Adelaide. After the match, the cameras caught Indian skipper Rohit Sharma wiping away tears as he looked devastated after the loss, and the former England captain, Michael Vaughan, called India the “most under-performing white-ball team in history”. In this episode, hosts Mihir...

Even though India might have been a bit nervous going into the T20 World Cup without Jasprit Bumrah, it appears that Arshdeep Singh in his absence has handled that responsibility quite well. In this episode, host Mihir Vasavda and Rahul Pandey are joined by Indian Express' Sandip G to talk about Singh's performance so far, and the advantages of him being a left-arm seamer. They also discuss whethe...

Before the upcoming match against South Africa on the 30th of October (Sunday), hosts Mihir Vasavda and Rahul Pandey sit down to dissect India’s first two matches (and wins) against Netherlands and Pakistan. They discuss Virat Kohli's monumental innings, India’s bowling line-up, why and how rains have been affecting the matches, and more.

Earlier this week, Jay Shah, the BCCI secretary and the president of the Asian Cricket Council (ACC), said that the Asia Cup 2023, which is to be hosted by Pakistan, will be shifted to a neutral venue. A few days after that, the Pakistan Cricket Board also issued a strongly-worded statement and threatened to boycott the 2023 ODI World Cup. And all this has happened just before the India-Pakistan T...

With the 2022 ICC Men's T20 World Cup starting tomorrow (16 October), hosts Mihir Vasavda and Rahul Pandey discuss how T20 has spread across the world, has helped democratise the sport, bring in new viewers, and the team they will be looking forward to this time.

After a gap of 7 years, and in the backdrop of Navratri and the upcoming state elections, the National Games are currently underway in Gujarat. With an increased budget of Rs 2000 crore, the authorities somehow managed to get it up and running in a short span of three months. In this episode of Game Time, hosts Mihir Vasavda and Rahul Pandey talk about how serious athletes have been about these ga...

Two bowlers, two controversies. The first one involving Deepti Sharma’s run out that once again sparked the ‘Spirit of Cricket’ debate, and the second involving Jasprit Bumrah, who might not be taking part in the upcoming T20 World Cup. In this episode, host Rahul Pandey is joined by Indian Express’ Devendra Pandey to talk about how Bumrah’s absence will affect India, and why what Sharma did was a...

Right now, the world of chess is shaken by a possible cheating scandal involving American grandmaster Hans Niemann, and world champion Magnus Carlsen. The latter has posted cryptic memes after losing (further fueling suspicions) and has even withdrawn from a match, and the former has said that he is willing to play naked to prove his innocence. In this episode, hosts Mihir Vasavda and Rahul Pandey...

After winning the silver medal at the World Championships, and the Gold at the Olympics, javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra has added another feather in his cap by winning the Gold at the Diamond League. In this episode, hosts Mihir Vasavda and Rahul Pandey join Indian Express’ Nihal Koshie to talk about the significance of this latest win, and break down the phenomenal success of Chopra.

Last month, Serena Williams, one of the greatest athletes of all time, announced her retirement. In her nearly three decade long career, Williams has won 23 Grand slams and has had a tremendous impact on the field of Tennis. Recently, Indian Express’ Sriram Veera, to trace Williams’ journey, had spoken to Williams’ childhood coach Rick Macci. In this episode, we bring the highlights from that conv...

Indian Express’ Sandip G has been in Dubai covering the ongoing Asia Cup, and in this episode he joins hosts Mihir Vasavda and Rahul Pandey to talk about India's dilemma about its top-three, Afghanistan's stunning group-stage run, and of course the intolerant heat.

In this episode, host Rahul Pandey is joined by Indian Express’ Devendra Pandey to decipher Hardik Pandya's player of the match performance, Virat Kohli's return outing, India's bowling and playing XI choices in their thrilling Asia Cup 2022 opener vs Pakistan.

Tomorrow, 28th August, India will face Pakistan in the 15th edition of the Asia Cup cricket tournament. In order to defeat its arch rival, India will really have to get its batting order right. And which raises questions like, what should Kohli’s position be in the match? Should Dinesh Karthik be picked ahead of Rishabh Pant? And how much will Jasprit Bumrah’s absence affect India? To answer these...

In this episode, Rahul Pandey speaks to Mihir Vasavda and Shashank Nair about the suspension of the AIFF from FIFA, the consequences of this action, and what comes next.

Indian Express’ Sandip G, while talking about the recently concluded Chess Olympiad in Mahabalipuram (Chennai) says that he had never seen anything like it. In terms of how it was promoted, organised, and the calibre of players that attend the event. In this episode, he joins host Mihir Vasavda to discuss the biggest highlights of the tournament, and how the Indian teams performed.

In this final episode of the CWG Daily, Mihir Vasavda and Rahul Pandey go over their initial predictions for the games, what they were surprised by, and the final medals tally for India.

In this episode, host Mihir Vasavda speaks to Shivani Naik and Rahul Pandey about India setting a new precedent for its own achievement in track and field with 8 medals.

In this episode, host Mihir Vasavda is joined by Nihal Koshie to speak about the unexpected performance of Avinash Sable in the 3000m steeplechase to clinch the silver medal. They also discuss the improvement of India's performance in track events.

In this episode, host Rahul Pandey joins Shivani Naik to talk about Murali Sreeshankar's turnaround during his penultimate jump as well as a foul that cost him his gold, the domination of India and Pakistan in wrestling, and the the Brummie classic "balti" that has all the Commonwealth athletes and spectators addicted.

In this episode, hosts Mihir Vasavda and Rahul Pandey speak about how the CWG is the main stage for squash, Tejaswin Shankar's distinctively un-Indian habit of being very candid in his tactical performance, a boxing match India lost but worked out to be one of the best amateur matches ever, and what we can expect from today.

In this episode, Mihir Vasavda and Rahul Pandey speak about Saurav Ghosal's brilliant performance, how the judging criteria works in the light of the boxing result of Hussamuddin Mohammad, and Tulika Maan's journey to become a Silver medal judoka.

In this episode, hosts Mihir Vasavda and Rahul Pandey speak to Shivani Naik about Sharath Kamal's gold medal as well as his love for metal music, how lawn bowls may start its ascent to becoming a household name, a curious incident involving a hurriedly eaten sandwich, and a few too many name-based puns.