Express Sports

Last week, the 16 year old R Praggnanandhaa made headlines globally after he beat World Champion Magnus Carlsen in a rapid chess tournament. Praggnanandhaa, the second youngest Grandmaster in the world, has been slowly rising in the world of Chess. In this episode, host Mihir Vasavda is joined by Indian Express’ Sandip G who has been following Praggnanandhaa’s career, to talk about the Carlsen win...

Last week, veteran India wicketkeeper-batter Wriddhiman Saha revealed that he was threatened by a journalist for not accepting an interview and subsequently shared screenshots of the conversation on social media. Even though Saha did not reveal the name of the journalist, this has become one of the biggest talking points of Indian cricket at the moment. In this episode, hosts Gaurav Bhatt and Mihi...

The Russian teenage figure skater Kamila Valieva caused a major storm at the Beijing Olympics last Monday, when reports emerged that she had failed a test for performance-enhancing drugs. In this episode, hosts Gaurav Bhatt and Mihir Vasava discuss the controversy, the questions it has raised, and the decisions that the Olympics committee has taken regarding the matter.

India recently became the second team in the world, after Australia, to play their 1000th ODI match. In this episode, Indian Express’ Sandip G joins host Gaurav Bhatt to take a look back at India’s ODI performances over the years, and discuss what the format has meant for Indian cricket and why it has been slowly getting endangered. Note: Due to technical issues, this episode could not be released...

Last week, during the Australian Open semifinal between Stefanos Tsitsipas and Daniil Medvedev, the latter lost his temper and started berating the chair umpire. He had been accusing his opponent, Tsitsipas, of being coached illegally by his father-coach Apostolos from the sidelines. This led the officials to conduct a ‘sting operation’, and almost an hour later Tsitsipas was caught. In this episo...

You can listen to the series at: 3 Things - https://bit.ly/34jEQbp Express Elections - https://bit.ly/3gvzDQ1

Hosts Mihir Vasavda and Gaurav Bhatt discuss Rafael Nadal's historic comeback win in the Australian Open final, the 21st Grand Slam title and what it means for his legacy, and why Melbourne Park was the fitting venue.

Pradeep Magazine, one of India’s finest sports journalists, has reported on Cricket and other sports for more than four decades. In this latest book, Not Just Cricket, he gives readers an insight into cricket journalism, and gives them a precious look into the shaping of modern India. In this episode, he joins host Gaurav Bhatt and Mihir Vasavda to talk about the book, Kohli’s captaincy, the insul...

Last week, the world No.1 men’s Tennis player, Novak Djokovic, flew out of Australia after a court upheld the government’s decision to cancel his visa, bringing an end to his hopes of winning the Australian Open. In this episode, host Mihir Vasavda is joined by journalist Bharat Sundaresan, the Australia correspondent for Cricbuzz, to discuss how the fiasco played out in Australia, what the local...

Before Team India lost the series to South Africa on Day 4 of the Cape Town Test, they lost their heads on Day 3. Gaurav and Mihir discuss Virat Kohli and Co's reaction to perceived DRS and stump mic manipulation, and where India fell short on the field. They also give an update on the never-ending Novak Djokovic in Melbourne saga.

World number one men’s tennis player, Novak Djokovic has been confined to an immigration detention hotel in Australia. This is after Australia revoked his visa for entry into the country, and refused to accept a ‘medical exemption’ that Djokovic had been granted to get around a COVID-19 vaccine requirement for all players and their support teams. In this episode, hosts Gaurav Bhatt and Mihir Vasav...

Despite India’s latest win against South Africa at the Centurion, one thing that appears to be clear now is that our middle-order is in crisis. In fact, the middle-order trio, consisting of Virat Kohli, Cheteshwar Pujara, and Ajinkya Rahane, hasn’t scored big for a number of years now. In this episode, host Mihir Vasavda is joined by Indian Express cricket writer Abhishek Purohit to discuss this c...

In this year’s final episode of Game Time, hosts Gaurav Bhatt and Mihir Vasavda are joined by the entire Indian Express sports team to take a look back at 2021, and share their favorite sports moments of the year.

Last week, Virat Kohli was removed as ODI's skipper and the National Committee Team made Rohit Sharma the sole white-ball leader of the Indian cricket team. Earlier this week, Kohli gave a press conference in which he addressed some of the questions, and speculations that have emerged out of this decision. But this has only led to more speculation, confusion, and concerns. This week on Game Time,...

Earlier this week, Virat Kohli was removed as India's ODI captain with the national selection committee making Rohit Sharma the sole white-ball leader of the team. In addition to this, Ajinkya Rahane was removed from Test vice-captaincy, a position which was also given to Rohit. This is a seismic change in Indian Cricket, and to talk about it, host Mihir Vasava is joined by Indian Express’ Sandip...

In this episode, Andrew Amsan joins host Gaurav Bhatt to talk about a small nondescript village in Haryana that is training national medal winning Javelin throwers out of an abandoned chicken farm turned cow shed.

The allegations of racism made by the former cricketer Azeem Rafiq have shaken the Yorkshire club (one of UK's biggest county cricket clubs), and has led to the resignation of several top officials. The person who got Rafiq to actually open up about his past is the noted cricket journalist, George Dobell. This week on Game Time, Indian Express' Chief cricket writer Sriram Veera talks to Dobell abo...

This week on Game Time, hosts Gaurav Bhatt and Mihir Vasavda first talk about the former Yorkshire cricketer Azeem Rafiq levelling allegations that he was subjected to racism by players and coaches during his two stints at the county club. And then, they discuss the disappearance of Chinese tennis star Peng Shuai after she accused a former top government official in China of sexual assault.

Earlier this week, as India beat Namibia at the T20 World Cup, Ravi Shastri’s tenure as India’s head coach came to an end. In this episode, hosts Gaurav Bhatt and Mihir Vasavda are joined by Indian Express’ Chief cricket writer Sriram Veera to talk about his career, his synergy with Virat Kohli, and what he has meant for India’s cricket team. Link to Sriram Veera's article - https://bit.ly/30jK98S

After outclassing Scotland and securing the best run rate, India now hope for Afghanistan to upset New Zealand on Sunday. Shamik Chakrabarty joins Gaurav Bhatt to discuss the scenarios, Scotland's feel-good story at this tournament and Afghanistan's chances against New Zealand.

India opened their account at the ongoing T20 World Cup and, at least mathematically, kept themselves in contention with a 66-run win against Afghanistan. Shamik Chakrabarty joins hosts Gaurav Bhatt and Mihir Vasavda to discuss the changed approach, the scenarios, and whether it was too little too late.

With two losses in two matches, India's T20 World Cup campaign looks, in effect, over. Shamik Chakrabarty joins hosts Gaurav Bhatt and Mihir Vasavda to discuss the body language of Virat Kohli and Co, the selection and combination issues as well as the road ahead.

This week on Game Time, hosts Gaurav Bhatt and Mihir Vasavda discuss everything cricket. First, they go over Lucknow becoming the most valued team in IPL, and Ahmedabad getting pocketed by one of the world’s leading sports investors. Next, they discuss Quinton de Kock refusing to take the knee before a match, and why that has caused a backlash. And finally, they talk about the trolling and the vit...

In the first episode of our T20 World Cup special series, Shamik Chakrabarty joins host Gaurav Bhatt to discuss Pakistan 10-wicket win over India, Virat Kohli's innings and the team combinations. Shamik also shares the scenes from the stadium and how the hyperbolic discourse around the India-Pakistan cricket matches hasn't yet extended to the players on the field.

Tomorrow, on the 24th of October, arch rivals India and Pakistan face each other at the T20 World Cup in Dubai. As always, there have now been several calls made by politicians on both sides that the teams should not be playing together. But the match of course remains highly anticipated by cricket fans. In this episode, hosts Gaurav Bhatt and Mihir Vasavda talk about the lineup of the two teams,...