Mission Domination

December 19 wasn't a good day for Indian cricket. No one could fathom what hit them after 36 all out in Adelaide. Summer of 42 seemed like ancient history! But then something changed and January 19 happened. Adelaide was a nightmare but Brisbane was surreal. A lot changed between 36 all out and 329/7. Everyone saw the performances but what went into putting in that kind of an effort isn't something people are aware of. What was going through Ravi Shastri's mind and what exactly was that phone call with his best buddy Bharat Arun? What did R. Sridhar tell Hanuma Vihari when he hobbled back during tea break in Sydney? And who are these players? The disappointment of Rishabh Pant before those highs, Rohit Sharma's desperation to be out there, Shardul Thakur's grit or the politics that Navdeep Saini faced in his formative years. Why Shubman Gill was always destined to play cricket? How did R. Ashwin turn the corner for one of his finest seasons? What are the tragedies and tough times that made Cheteshwar Pujara who he is today? Every moment has a story as well as a back-story where it all started for this team. Boria Majumdar and Kushan Sarkar track that journey, bringing back their life story in flesh and blood.

Boria Majumdar, a Rhodes scholar, is recognized as one of India's most influential commentators. Having covered international sport between 2000 and 2017, he is currently Consulting Editor, Sport, India Today Group and Senior Research Fellow, University of Central Lancashire. He was formerly Sports Expert at Times Now and Visiting Professor at the Universities of Chicago and Toronto. Majumdar has written more than 1,000 columns on sports over the last fifteen years, and has authored or co-authored multiple books, among them Olympics: The India Story (with Nalin Mehta) and Playing It My Way-Sachin Tendulkar's autobiography.