Indian cricket team is in uncharted territory as the first Test against England starts today. The new look team is led by Shubhman Gill is both a leap of faith by selectors as well as a big generational jump.

His first love was reporting. And while on the job in locations as diverse as Paris and Biafra, Frederick Forsythe who passed away recently dug out the nuggets of lives unknown which would later be the material of his best selling fiction.

The choice of Shubman Gill to lead Indian cricket team in the forthcoming Test series against England is not a shot in the dark. There is little doubt about his credentials. But he will be under  greater scrutiny post this responsibility. It is the  right move in the backdrop of the team’s transition. 

A political row has erupted over the decision to shift the venue of final match of the Indian Premier League 2025, as well as the second qualifier, from Kolkata to Ahmedebad. West Bengal Minister of Sports and Youth Welfare Aroop Biswas alleged on Thursday that politics was behind the cricketing move.

A deceptively simple tale of four city bred youth leaving behind the concrete jungle and slumming with a vengeance amidst the forests of Palamau in what was then Bihar turned out to be one of the finest films directed by Satyajit Ray -Aranyer Din Ratri. When it was released 56 years ago, people made a beeline for the theatres in Kolkata, while critics were almost at a loss for words in its praise. 

Robert De Nero’s film acting career seems to come a full circle when he was recently awarded Cannes Lifetime Achievement Award. His screen performance was the cynosure of all eyes in 1976 at this film festival when Martin Scorsese’s “Taxi Driver”.