Sports कट्टा

The curious case of Delhi & District Cricket Association (DDCA). The DDCA is frequently in the news for the wrong reasons rather than the right ones. However, DDCA has nurtured some generational talents, who have gone on to represent Indian cricket at the highest level. The culture of Delhi Cricket is something as revered as Mumbai Cricket. Virender Sehwag, Ashish Nehra, Virat Kohli, Ishant Sharma and Rishabh Pant are some of t...

The selection committee meeting for Team India’s World Cup squad is always up for a huge debate. The deadline to submit the preliminary squad is May 1 and the team news could be out anytime soon. Only a handful of players are certain of their berth in the World Cup squad, but there could be some jostling for remaining positions. Against that backdrop, Sports Katta organised a selection committee meeting convened and chaired by Team...

Sanjay Dhas knew that if he were blessed with a baby boy, he would name him after legendary India batter Sachin Tendulkar. He did name his son - Sachin. He probably had foreseen that Sachin Dhas would become a cricketer as well. Sachin remembers playing with only bat and ball, nothing else. He started playing cricket at four and played his first invitation match at six. Coming from a small village like Beed, he rose through the ran...

April 18, 2008. The first match of the IPL was played between Royal Challengers Bangalore and Kolkata Knight Riders. IPL is into its 17th season and has seen numerous players turn up for different franchises. Some players turned out to be only one-season wonders. The likes of MS Dhoni, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and Dinesh Karthik, who played in the inaugural IPL season, are still active. The talent IPL has seen is enormous. It has ...

Darshan Nalkande started playing cricket in his home town, Akola, at a young age. At 13, he was selected into Vidarbha Cricket Association’s residential academy, Nagpur. To pursue his cricketing dream, he moved to Nagpur. Throughout his formative years, his parents backed his dream and today Darshan has ensured that his parents’ hardships were not in vain. At 25, he is an integral part of the Vidarbha cricket team in all three form...

The Indian Premier League (IPL) began in 2008 and in 16 seasons, the league has grown exponentially. The IPL has taken Indian cricket to the next level in every possible way. There have been moments on and off the field that will forever stay in people's memories. The IPL has seen the rise and fall of some superstars.  Some cricketers will always be remembered for their consistency over the years, while others will always be rememb...

Bablu Patil began his cricketing journey way back in 2004 at 19. However, he knew cricket could not be his only source of livelihood and joined the Maharashtra Police in 2006. However, his love for sports saw him participate in various tournaments as a sprinter with the police force. As part of the State Reserve Police Force (SRPF), he often had to visit the Naxalite area of Maharashtra -Gadchiroli. Even in that remote area, he org...

The Indian Premier League (IPL) began in 2008 and in 16 seasons, the league has grown exponentially. The IPL has taken Indian cricket to the next level in every possible way. There have been moments on and off the field that will forever stay in people's memories. The IPL has seen the rise and fall of some superstars.  Some cricketers will always be remembered for their consistency over the years, while others will always be rememb...

Rishab Pant dazzled with a scintillating half-century in Delhi Capitals' victory over Chennai Super Kings. Pant, who is back in action after a long lay-off, is getting sharper by the innings and is putting his name in the hat for the T20 World Cup selection. Despite their first loss of the season, Ruturaj Gaikwad has impressed as a skipper after taking over the reins from MS Dhoni. The Wankhede crowd jeered Hardik Pandya and was 'a...

Sahil Godbole is a Sydney-based financial crime analyst working with a reputed bank. That’s his bread and butter. However, as a passionate cricket lover, he runs a side business of bat repairs. He started this venture out of his garage during the COVID-19 lockdown after he successfully repaired the broken bat of one of his housemates. In these last four years, he has repaired around 600 bats and it’s been all training on the job. S...

Ketan Mhatre started his cricket journey playing underarm cricket before being picked for his village’s tennis-ball cricket team. However, he didn’t get an opportunity right away. He had to be the 12th man for a considerable time but Ketan was clear about what he wanted to do. When the opportunity came, he grabbed it with both hands. His reward for taking his opportunity was a sports bike. First of his many. Today, he has earned so...

Hardik Pandya moved back to Mumbai Indians from Gujarat Titans and was subsequently named the team's captain. The move and his appointment haven't gone down well with fans of both teams. He is getting trolled on social media platforms mercilessly. In Mumbai Indians' season opener against Gujarat Titans in Ahmedabad, fans of both teams jeered him constantly. Amol Karhadkar, Sports Journalist, The Hindu and Amol Gokhale analyze event...

When Tushar Deshpande made his Sports Katta debut in 2020, he was yet to earn an Indian Premier League cap. As he returns to Sports Katta for another conversation in our special series 'IPL Uwaach', he not only has an IPL title to his but has also been crowned Ranji Trophy champion. Add to that the fact that Deshpande was Chennai Super Kings' highest wicket-taker during its triumphant IPL 2023 campaign and it underlines the boy fro...

The world of tennis-ball cricket is unearthed and beyond imagination. In the last few years, it has blossomed. The fan base of tennis-ball cricket is growing exponentially courtesy of live-streaming platforms. Players have made a decent career playing tennis-ball cricket as the sport became commercially viable. Krishna Satpute  @KrishnaSatputeOfficial  is the superstar of this ‘tennis-ball’ world. The fans fondly call him the ‘God ...

Sumit Dhekale started his cricketing journey at 16, playing leather-ball cricket. At the same time, he would also indulge in various kinds of tennis-ball cricket viz box cricket, light-tennis etc. As he became better and better with tennis-ball cricket, the leather-ball cricket took a back seat. However, even today he likes leather-ball cricket better and plays in leather-ball tournaments whenever time permits. There’s an ear-to-ea...

Vishwanath ‘Vishu’ Jadhav used to play under-arm cricket as a kid and always wanted to be a batter. He often used to accompany his local team to cricket games but never liked it when he was used just as a fielder. Even then he was clear about two things - he enjoys batting and he doesn’t enjoy studying. Vishu used to roll his arm in practice and would do well against left-handed batters. But one day he was asked to defend a small t...

The IPL 2024 (Indian Premier League) will kick off on March 22 with the Southern Derby between Chennai Super Kings and Royal Challengers Bangalore. But this IPL feels different from the rest. Why so? Not just the players, but even selectors are padding up for what follows next. The T20 World Cup that begins on June 1. Players will be eager to make their cases and earn a ticket to the West Indies and the USA. Captain Rohit Sharma, h...