B R Sharan Kumar

  Developing Champions in Cricket : A Book That Goes Beyond the Boundary   By Sharan Kumar   Cricket has travelled a remarkable distance in India. Once confined largely to a handful of metropolitan centres, the game today has captured the imagination of children in the smallest towns and remotest corners of the country. Television, the IPL, and countless rags-to-riches stories have transformed cricket into a dream that knows no geographical boundaries. Every youngster now believes that with talent, guidance and opportunity, the journey to the top is possible.   It is against this backdrop that Developing Champions in Cricket , authored by noted journalist Vedam Jaishankar , assumes significance. More than a coffee table book, it is a thoughtful guide for parents, coaches and young cricketers embarking on their cricketing journey.   The Brijesh Patel Cricket Academy , the oldest private cricket academy of its kind in the country, deserves enormous...

        When Punters Need More Luck Than Form   By Sharan Kumar   Pune racing produced another day when favourites looked more like suggestions than selections, while outsiders repeatedly helped themselves to the spoils. From 20-to-1 winners to fancied runners finding creative ways to disappoint, punters were left wondering whether the form book had quietly resigned. Upsets are the salt in racing’s diet, but when they become the main course, the sport risks losing the confidence of the very people who keep the betting ring alive.   The problem is not that outsiders win. That is part of racing’s charm. The problem arises when the same pattern keeps repeating itself: stables enter two or more horses, good jockeys are put up on all of them, and punters are left trying to work out which one is actually expected to win. Inevitably, the horse carrying the biggest price, and consequently attracting the least attention, seems to find the winn...

  Ooty Race Course Lost, Eco-Park Plan Raises Larger Questions   By Sharan Kumar     With the Ooty Race Course already lost to the Madras Race Club, the proposed eco-park has sparked a wider debate on environmental priorities and the steady erosion of racing spaces in Tamil Nadu. Strikingly, resistance has come largely from environmentalists rather than the club itself. Coupled with growing pressure on the Guindy racecourse, concerns are mounting that racing is being undone as much by internal inaction as by external policy decisions.   The Nilgiri Documentation Centre (NDC) has pointed out that the proposal runs contrary to the government’s own decarbonisation goals for the district. As reported in The Hindu , Ooty currently falls far short of global norms for open spaces. Against a requirement of nearly 1,200 acres, the town is left with barely 55 acres of wetland, the race course,  making it a critical environmental asset rather than surpl...

  Magnitude Rewrites the Script in Dubai World Cup   By Sharan Kumar   The Dubai World Cup once again served its favourite dish, surprise with a side of shattered expectations, as Magnitude tore up the script. Driven boldly by Jose Ortiz, he went straight to the front and stayed there, dictating terms with unflinching authority. Forever Young, chasing history and a coveted double, gave everything in pursuit but found no way past a rival who refused to bend. In Dubai, reputations travel well, but resilience decides who returns home with the prize.   And if that felt like a twist, the backstory made it richer still. Magnitude ran exactly as his name promised, large, loud and impossible to ignore, dictating matters with the swagger of a horse who had not bothered to read the pre-race script. That script, of course, had been carefully written for Forever Young, whose Saudi Cup–Dubai World Cup double was spoken of as destiny. Destiny, it turns out, had other t...

  Forever Young to Defy Rivals and Rising Turbulence   By Sharan Kumar   Amid the distant rumble of conflict and the uneasy choreography of a region on edge, the Dubai World Cup refuses to dim its lights. Missiles may carve their brief, menacing arcs across nearby skies, but on Saturday, something far more enduring takes flight. Horses. One thing is certain, missiles or no missiles, they will be flying at Meydan, as the nine-race card bursts into motion with its usual theatre and defiance.   The world gathers this year not in tranquil anticipation, but in quiet resilience. The tremors of war have brushed close enough to be felt, if not always seen. Yet Dubai, composed as ever, has chosen continuity over capitulation. Life has flickered, hesitated, gathered itself again. And racing, true to its stubborn heartbeat, has refused to yield.   There is, in that, something deeply poignant.   For sport, at its best, is not merely entertainment. I...

      When a Positive Isn’t Open and Shut   By Sharan Kumar   Cluster positives, contaminated water, and expert opinion shift the Shambala case from individual culpability to a broader environmental concern, testing how far strict liability should stretch in the face of scientific complexity.   The Lamotrigine positive in Shambala’s Group 3 triumph has stirred the pot, and not gently. In racing, a positive test is usually treated like a fire alarm, loud, urgent, and rarely questioned. But what happens when the alarm keeps ringing in multiple rooms, and someone quietly points out that the wiring itself might be faulty?   There is no disputing the foundation on which racing is built. Strict liability is its spine. If a prohibited substance is detected, the trainer is responsible. No ifs, no buts, no philosophical detours. It is a rule designed for clarity, not comfort. Racing, after all, prefers clean lines to messy explanations. ...