The Indian Express newsroom's top sporting moments of 2025

As the year comes to a close, we wrap up 2025 with a special year-ender episode. In this edition, we speak to journalists and editors from The Indian Express newsroom, not from the sports desk, about the sporting moments that stayed with them this year. From iconic wins and unforgettable matches to personal favourites that sparked joy, debate, or disbelief, our colleagues share what made 2025 memorable for them as sports fans. 

Produced by Shashank Bhargava
Edited and mixed by Suresh Pawar

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:04):
Hello and welcome to Express Sports podcast. This is the
last game time of twenty twenty five and Jessaki customary
hame ya, Yes, it wasn't term and I don't know
if amit and who are year with us, you'll agree
with me, But I'd rather say that this was a
slow sports here. There weren't like mega sporting events that

(00:27):
we were used to post COVID every year, pull us
a Shanta, but still we weren't shot of storylines and
what we have done this year is slightly different from
the previous ones. We thought key are Hamtinokosa Sunte. So
we'll go beyond the three of us, beyond the sports
team even and try to get a sense of what
the rest of Indian Express newsroom thought of the year

(00:50):
in sport Ahmit Vanayak and I do not know what
people have said. It's only one person who has all
the intel and that is a produce Sasha Shan Pargo
before and Nak come in. Why don't you tell us
what is in store for us?

Speaker 2 (01:05):
Yeah, So we were having a discussion about what should
we do for the year ender episode and we thought
we'll actually speak to people in office who are not
part of the sports team about what their favorite sporting
moment of twenty twenty five was. And we thought that
unlike you guys, you know, these are the people who
only watch sports for the love of it. You guys

(01:28):
do it for both money and love. So we thought,
we'll speak to these just money, just money, Okay, Okay, great,
that's good to know. So then it's good that we
spoke to these people who are just genuine fans of
whatever you know, sport they follow. And yeah, I had

(01:49):
a great time speaking to these people, and a lot
of them spoke about their moments very passionately. So yeah,
and we have ten of them. So I hope you
guys are excited and looking forward to it. And one
thing I want to say, obviously, is that a bunch
of people spoke about cricket, because how can you not
talk about cricket?

Speaker 3 (02:08):
But yeah, it's very easy to not talk about cricket
me hear me, and when I do it all the time.

Speaker 4 (02:15):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (02:16):
But yeah, so are you guys ready, yes, let's go. Okay,
So I thought that, I mean, I thought, maybe, you know,
we could start with a non cricket sport first, because
we'll hear a lot about cricket, so I thought maybe
we could begin with a non cricketing sport, in fact,
sport that yeah, it's not a racket sport either, doesn't

(02:37):
involve a ball, so I thought we could start with
that first. The first person that we'll be hearing from Ishra.
He writes for The Economy. For the paper, he has
a column with us called Explain Speaking. He writes for
the Explained team quite a bit. So here's Mishra talking

(02:59):
about his favorite sporting moment of twenty twenty five.

Speaker 5 (03:04):
Well, it's not exactly a one particular moment, but I
follow Formula one in a bizarre manner. I follow it
on some years and then I let it go because
Formula one has a history of cars dominating and then
becomes very boring. But every three four years it becomes
very interesting because there's massive surgeon competition.

Speaker 6 (03:22):
This was one of those years, and.

Speaker 5 (03:23):
So it's not exactly a moment, but it's the last,
you know, the last three four months of Formula one
racing where the defending champion maxst happened. For Red Bull
Racing was completely down and out in the first half
of the year till August, but in the last nine races.
He's won six of them and came very close to

(03:44):
actually winning the title. And in fact, one could say
that he actually won more Formula One races this year
than the two McLaren drivers, one of them being Lando Norris,
who eventually won because of the point system. But if
you were to just look at the number of races
one Max was Stappin ended up winning more race in
the year. So why it stood out for me is
because I was never a big Max Verstappen fan. I

(04:06):
used to root for Louis Hamilton, who was an underdog
when he sort of started, so I used to root
for Hamilton. He's also one of his kind, you know,
the hardly any black drivers and very different from the
nasty Formula One driver that we all know of the winners.
And I sort of reached a breaking point, as it were,

(04:28):
in twenty twenty one when in the last Abu Dawi robbery,
almost unfairly, Louis Hamilton lost out to Maxwstappan. That victory
would have made Lewis Hamilton the eight time world champion,
an unparalleled achievement, and he got stuck with seven. And
since then there's been a slide and so I did
like Max Westappen, almost like a kid fan, still sulking

(04:52):
over Louis Hamilton's fate.

Speaker 7 (04:54):
But the second half of this year.

Speaker 5 (04:56):
Actually I found that I was rooting for Max because
he showed even though this year was not when he
actually won, I suspect that this year will be the
year and his performance would be the one that would
actually turn him into the legend that he actually is,
because he scored all these points and he won all

(05:17):
these races with the car which was nowhere near as
dominating as the McLaren's or even other cars like Mercedes.
So what I saw in the second half of the
year was this man really at the top of his craft,
not making mistakes and really getting more out of you know,
where the man matters more than the machine. And that
was sort of the I think the standout moment or

(05:39):
notion in my head for this year.

Speaker 6 (05:41):
Yeah, that's pretty interesting.

Speaker 1 (05:43):
I'm because a because we generally feel, I at least
generally feel that after Formula one went off the quote
unquote big TV channels, right, it's not on any of
the OTD platforms the mainstream once at least I thought
the viewership would have been impacted but I've realized that
it has like a niche following off its own, maybe

(06:04):
because of drive to survive your jobio. But then as
his storyline started this it was chappened, which was crazy.
He was more than one hundred points behind in the
championship race in August and he lost the title to
Landon Horris by just two points. So it's quite stunning
in that sense.

Speaker 8 (06:20):
Actually, I want something read to that I've stopped following
formula On like what it was saying there for a
long time. I mean, I don't think I've actually followed
form la on properly since my undergrad days, which is
like what sixteen years back now. But I did watch
the movie this year, the one movie and something that
you said me here on the niche following that it has,
like I watched a couple of times in theaters, and

(06:40):
the first time I saw it was probably the second
or third day if I remember right, and the theater
was packed here in Noida. People came wearing formla on
like merchandise, and there was like huge cheers every time
there was like a reference. I think blues Hamilton comes
once these real life drivers come here and they're in
cameos and they're like cheers, like okay, so this is

(07:02):
like a proper phenomenon.

Speaker 4 (07:04):
No, And I think what you said, the Drive to Survive,
I think.

Speaker 1 (07:06):
But by in Noida, the Formula one is the mainstream sport.

Speaker 8 (07:12):
Yeah, probably not, I guess, but I think. I mean,
the success of one movie overall kind of tells me that, yeah,
I drive to survive. And all these recent developments have
I mean kept the sport relevant, I would guess, I
mean not for me. I mean, I love the movie,
I still don't. Didn't follow the season, but yeah, I
thought that was interesting.

Speaker 3 (07:30):
And me, just like OU said, you know, I'm only
fascinated by the fortunes of one guy, usually Lewis Hamilton,
and so this season was very fascinating for me because
it's Lewis Hamilton, one of the more story drivers, racing
for the first time with Ferrari, one of the most
story teams, and he ends up I think the season
he was what six or something in the standings. So

(07:52):
that's how terrible the combination was. You know, on paper,
it looks great, but that's how terrible it went. And
there was this one moment where I think he was
desperately trying to tell his team that, you know, let
me go ahead. I think this was during Miami or something,
where he's trying to tell his team that, you know,
please let me overtake. My teammate Charles Leclerk, and both

(08:12):
of us have different strategies, let me overtake. And these
guys are taking their own sweet time. Okay, it's a
sport of speed and these guys are going being glacial
about it. So Hamilton finally snaps on the radio, Yeah,
have a tea break while you're at it. You know
that I think summed up beautifully. What how frustrating it
can be for somebody like a Lewis Hamilton, and how

(08:32):
frustrating it can be.

Speaker 7 (08:33):
For some of his fans.

Speaker 1 (08:35):
Yeah, it's quite funny. I actually purchased the subscription just
to watch Formula One at the start of the season,
and I ended up watching just like one lap of
the Saturday sprint race. That's that I have not followed
the rest of the season ascose as I would have liked.
But he was hoping he Knew Year resolutions and all that.
That's an interesting first one, sesshon, What do we have next?

Speaker 4 (08:56):
Okay?

Speaker 2 (08:57):
So next I think let's talk about what is perhaps
the most popular sport in the world. And the person
that we'll be hearing from is Sidhar Pavarsni. He's part
of the business team. He primarily reports on data and
the economy and so you know a lot of looking

(09:18):
at numbers. So he was happy to take out time
and talk about, you know, something other than that. So
here's Sidha talking about his favorite moment.

Speaker 9 (09:28):
Well, if you narrow it down to just one moment,
it's going to be difficult for simple. I support Liverpool
Football Club and they won the league title the English
Premier League after having changed the legendary manager Jurgen Club
last year and they went to under the new manager
in the first offing. But in terms of the big
story from a football perspective, European football perspective, I would

(09:50):
say it's always romantic when a small club, a so
called small club does well and does so well that
it actually wins something. Every once in a while you
see that a small club beats a Barcelona, a Real Madrid,
a Manchester City. But Crystal Palace, which is a London
based club, did is in the midst of the best

(10:10):
year of its existence in May it defeated Manchester City
in the final of the FA Cup, which is the
oldest football competition in the world, defeated City one nil.
City obviously managed by Pep Guardiola who is widely regarded
as the greatest manager ever and City. Manchester City are
of course the most dominant force in English football for

(10:31):
the last decade. What has also helped is their manager,
Oliver Glasner, who took over in February twenty twenty four
if I remember correctly, and he's by all accounts the
best manager they've ever had. He is probably in the
top two three four best manager in the Premier League
right now. Currently they are Palace fourth in the Premier

(10:53):
League four twenty so they are in what is called
the Champions League position which Champions League obvious the most
prestigious competition in Europe.

Speaker 6 (11:00):
They should not be in that position.

Speaker 9 (11:01):
There is no tangible reason for them to be there,
is just that they are there. And to be fair,
Christi Pas aren't the only team doing really well right now.
When I say only team, I mean the so called
small club the likes of Brighton and Hua Albion. They
have sold players of more than three hundred million over
the last two or three years itself. Kaisied of Philippe
Kaisiedo and Ecuadorian was sold to Chelsea for one hundred

(11:22):
and fifteen million pounds. Alexis McCallister of the work of
Winno the Argentina was sold to Liverpool for thirty five
to fifty million, depending on which number you believe. And
they are I think seventh or eighth right now. And
they're also working under a really young thirty to thirty
three year old manager who also came from the German league,
the Bundesliga, the second division at actually and they're all
just swinning. Another club Bournemouth, who have literally sold their

(11:45):
entire defense this summer. Dean huis And went to Realmitted
for fifty million pounds. Miloshquirkish Hungarian went to Liverpool for
forty million. Another Ukrainian center back Zabani went to PSD
Paris for seventy million. And they have had a bad
few set of results the last five sixteen, but they
were in the top ten of the league. They shouldn't
have been so for me, the story of twenty twenty

(12:05):
five is these so called smaller clubs doing exceedingly well.
Just to give an idea of how small Bournemouth is.
Their entire stadium has only can house maybe twelve thousand people,
which is a sixth of let's say Arsenal, a fifth
of Liverpool, a seventh of Manchester United.

Speaker 6 (12:24):
Their revenues are.

Speaker 9 (12:24):
Incredibly small in terms of what they can generate on
their own and not what they get from let's say
broadcast and TV deals, which is split fairly evenly amongst
Premier League clubs. But they should not be doing so well.
So for me, it's the small clubs who are the
story of twenty twenty five.

Speaker 1 (12:41):
It's just amazing how he started with Liverpool winning the
title and just ignored the current struggles of Liverpool. So
let's just see if we can get him on poard
and drag him on that. But it is funny because
when he mentioned small clubs, he was just going to
talk about Arsenal, although they can classify as a small club.

Speaker 10 (12:58):
Nine.

Speaker 4 (12:58):
No, but that's a really nice point that he brought up.

Speaker 8 (13:01):
I think Newcastle are technically not a small club, but
they also won I think after ages, I.

Speaker 1 (13:06):
Mean they haven't won a title or anything, so Crystal
Palace won something and yeah, it's.

Speaker 8 (13:11):
An I for Crystal Palace to do the to to
defeat City in FA Cup final is yeah, it was
amazing and they I think they followed it up with
the Community Shield win as well at the start of
the season by beating Liverpool And yeah, I mean, as
an Arsenal fan, I'd say thanks to Crystal Palace for
those two big restulets, which probably meant a brigs could

(13:32):
come to Arsenal list talks rows and yeah it's nice
for them to win something and yeah, good. Always these
underdog stories are always fascinating. I think right now as
fear recording, they've slipped down a little bit. But yeah,
his point stands.

Speaker 1 (13:44):
By the way, couldn't you tell that he looks at
a lot of data. Yeah, that's what men I said, right,
it's a good point. He's a proper numbers man and
I'm Bonnemouth caristidium capacity, which is like quite stunning, I
must say.

Speaker 8 (13:56):
Very very passionately put forward to I think you could
see that he was a number man from the way
he explained all those transfers and things like that are.

Speaker 2 (14:05):
Yeah, let's move to the number three, Sasha, Yeah, let's
move to the number three. And I was thinking maybe
we could do one more non cricketing sport before we
move on to cricket. Okay, So the next person that
we'll be hearing from is Asadrahman. He writes on politics,
specifically he covers the Congress Party. Okay, so this is

(14:29):
what he had to say.

Speaker 11 (14:32):
See, I watch a range of sports, so I watched tennis, cricket, football,
and try to stay updated with some other sports also
like Formula one and some motor sports also. So, but
the one moment that really struck out for me this
year was the French Open final in the Tennis Grand Slam,
in which Carlos Alcarez defeated Yannick Sina. So the two players,

(14:58):
they are the next Roger Federer versus Nadal's sort of
rivalry has been brewing between them, and so I felt
that that match had everything because like it started off
with Sinner, you know, very being very dominant and completely
running all over Alcaraz, and it was a five set match.
In the first two sets, it was all Sinner and

(15:21):
Sinner was way ahead of Alcaraz, and then in the
third set, Alcaaz had to defend three match points and
it was almost like it was that match was done.
Like I remember watching it at my home in Lucknow.
I was on leave at the time. One of the
reasons why I got to watch that match in pieces
because I was on lead and the third set was
almost done, and I was thinking that the match is

(15:43):
almost over. There are three match points, Sinner's going to
win one of them and the match will be over.
But Alcaraz managed to win all the three match points,
basically defended all three match points one that point, went
on to win the set, and then went on to
win another two sets and win the match. So if
you think about the scale of the comeback, it was

(16:06):
not just in that set, but it was also that
Alcarez had to could not put a foot wrong once
he had gone down by two sets, and once those
three match points were there, it was all about, like,
you know, everything had to be really.

Speaker 7 (16:20):
Really perfect from him.

Speaker 11 (16:21):
A little slip up would have given Yannick Sinner a
chance to win the match. So I think that moment
really stuck with me, and I think this whole year,
all the sports that I've watched, I think it's one
of those moments, you know that a great comeback in
a sports, in a match, in a game is something
that really stays with you.

Speaker 3 (16:38):
Yeah, absolutely, I think and infect in tennis, I think
more than any other sport. Now it becomes a slightly
easier to like picture yourself in the middle considering it's
a very one on one gladiatorial sport in a sense, right,
and you always when you're trying to imagine sport, you
and you're trying to imagine yourself in the middle of

(16:59):
the thicket of action. You're always trying to think, I
will be so low in the whatever year, and then
I'll make a comeback. So from that perspective, I think
it was one of the as he said, one for
the ages. The scale of the comeback was insane. A
lot of people would have switched off the TVs and
then maybe next day would have founded something special up
one hundred percent. So this was one of the best

(17:20):
moments I think sporting wise in the year. Winnag anythink, yeah,
I mean easily top three for me as well. Incredible
match at the shared a stat recently.

Speaker 8 (17:29):
I think it's not about the French Open itself, but
incredibly after sixteen matches officially the end of the year,
Alcaraz and Cina, I've played sixteen matches and the number
of points one in their rivalry so far is equal
sixteen hundred and fifty one points. Like the actual points
that you win during it at match that you love
forty love. That point tally is exactly level after sixteen matches.

(17:54):
I think someone had shared this dat recently and I
went and checked their sixteen matches and total points and
all that.

Speaker 4 (18:00):
Yeah, turned out to be true. It's the year of Sinkraz,
so to speak.

Speaker 8 (18:04):
Twenty twenty five, them splitting the four Grand Slams to
each and Alcaast finishing year and number one, but Siner
winning the year in finale. Pretty incredible, how this rivalry
is developing. Yeah, twenty twenty five will be defined in
tennis as the year Sinner and Alcarez stepped up big
time and left everyone behind them. Let you worried about
the gulf in gap between them and the rest of

(18:26):
the field. Kind of might make it a little too predictable,
but they are playing at a different level compared to
the two and that French Open final will be one
for the ages five hours and twenty nine minutes, if
I remember vaguely incredible match and so many twenturns just
pick between these two.

Speaker 2 (18:42):
Okay, perfect, So now we move on to cricket. Okay,
there were a bunch of people who wanted to talk
about cricket. Cricket was part of their favorite sporting moment
of twenty twenty five, and we'll begin with Paramita Chakrabati.
She is part of the National Opinions Team. She writes

(19:05):
about books about gender, about the workplace politics, and this
is what she.

Speaker 4 (19:14):
Had to say.

Speaker 12 (19:16):
I think, for me, the standout moment this year would
be the women's World Cup win in November. You know,
everybody's talking about how it is the nineteen eighty three moment.
It totally isn't simply because they've been there before. When
the men's cricket team went to England in nineteen eighty three,
there were rank outsiders, nobody had any expectations of them.
This women's team, however, were in two World Cup finals.

(19:38):
They came very close to winning it in twenty seventeen,
so this just seemed like a homecoming of sorts. But
what I really really enjoyed was how the women paid
tribute to the ones who came before them and how
they met paved the way for those after them. I
don't know if you saw this interaction they had with
the president after the win where they spoke of how

(19:59):
they have picked up the pieces from mithilaraj Dianadolji Anjunchopra
and how the journey has been made easier because of that.
So any sort of sisterhood is something that I have
deep regard for and it has shown in the way
this women have played. You know, they are not most
of them are not from big cities. They've come from
the margins of India. But the way they came together

(20:21):
on that field, it was something amazing. I think that
is my standout moment.

Speaker 4 (20:25):
Was there any particular moment in any particular match that's you.

Speaker 12 (20:30):
I think Amanjo course catch to get the South African
captain out in the final.

Speaker 6 (20:36):
She was almost losing it.

Speaker 13 (20:38):
She juggled around with it.

Speaker 12 (20:39):
And when she finally caught it, you could have seen
the look on the South African captain's face, but it
was amazing. I think that was a moment that will
stand out for me.

Speaker 4 (20:48):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (20:49):
I actually loved how Barubata basically made it a point
to kind of say that, you know, let's stop trying
to get equivalence with the men's port in this and
trying to say that Mesa, who are the nineteen eighty
three men? So that I think was a lovely way
to put it. I completely agree with her that this
maybe not be the nineteen eighty three moment for women's cricket,

(21:10):
considering they'd reached the final a couple of times before this,
but they had not been able to get past. And
we've done multiple stories also in the lead up to
the World Cup or in the past couple of years
about the kind of things that women's cricketers in India
have had to endure. There's somebody who've never been given
their due, you know, you had I think almost fifteen

(21:32):
years after the IPL started, we got a women's league
that also like five teams.

Speaker 7 (21:37):
All of that. There's always that talk about.

Speaker 3 (21:39):
How it's never traveling, it's always like maybe in one city,
all of those things, but yeah, I mean this final
that happened that too in Mumbai was clearly the crowning
moment of women's cricket in India because you had full fans,
you had very passionate fans, many of them had followed
them for a while, so you had everything and it
was definitely the crowning moment for women's cricket in India

(22:02):
or in fact the world.

Speaker 1 (22:03):
Actually, the only reason only way I see there are
some similarities between nineteen eighty three and twenty twenty five
is on both instance, I feel the teams were completely dismissed.
There weren't many chances given to any of them. I
know that India were favorites and home soil and everything,
but wider audience beyond the circle that closely followed women's cricket,

(22:24):
there was still a lot of cynicism.

Speaker 6 (22:26):
I feel.

Speaker 1 (22:26):
I don't know when I if he fit the same
because he follows the team much closer than I do,
but the level of cynicism I felt was the same.
And also the neglect from the administration was at some
level also quite similar. So those are the two reasons.
So I feel that it is similar to nineteen eighty three,
but not the bigger broader picture.

Speaker 6 (22:46):
Of course.

Speaker 4 (22:47):
Now I'll just speak for the cynicism.

Speaker 8 (22:49):
Yeah, that they definitely middle of the tournament after they
lost those three matches. I think even they would agree
that they weren't getting things right and it didn't look
like a champion team. But credited him for how they
turned things around, and I mean, yeah, goes without saying easily.
The moment of twenty twenty five for me was that
actually the semi final was probably a bigger moment so
to speak. But yeah, the eventual cats that haven't precre

(23:12):
took just be prepaid over and over again. Yeah, moment
of the year for me if you had to pick one.

Speaker 2 (23:17):
Okay, guys, So now we are moving on to another person.
Her name is Nionica Boss. She is part of the
Bombay Bureau. She writes about local governance and a lot
of civic issues and she's going to be talking about
the cricketer who perhaps has the most fans in India.

Speaker 4 (23:38):
Maybe I'm right.

Speaker 14 (23:40):
If one were to ask me about my favorite sporting
moment of the year, it has to be Coley's knockout
performances and those centuries against South Africa in the three
match ODI series which concluded earlier this year, earlier this month. Actually, really,
I mean it felt so amazing to watch Kali, you know,
back in his form and just to get that glimpse

(24:02):
of the old Coalie because for me, I started watching
cricket because and around the time when Coalie joined the
Indian cricket team, So just to get a glimpse of
that old Coalie bag felt so amazing. And the fact
that this performance has come against the backdround of so
much speculation and so much criticism, and he had been
going through a bad slump for a while now, and

(24:24):
earlier this year when he played during the Border Gavaskut Trophy,
his performances had been poor and then he ended up
announcing his retirement from the Test match and soon after that,
after the Indian Cricket team won the T twenty World
Cup at West Indies, Collie announced his retirement from the
T twenty format as well. So really, at present he's

(24:46):
only left with the ODI Cricket matches to prove his
metal as a cricketer. And it's not just the professional criticism,
but also Colei has been subjected to so much scrutiny
in his personal life and with so much negativity around you,
you really need to be in a solid space to
just block out the noise and continue practicing and continue

(25:09):
your just to have that kind of dedication towards the sport.
So really, you know, after all this, at the end
of the year, when we got to see Collie scorer
one thirty five in the first match and then one
zero two in the second match. It felt amazing, and
you know, like after the match ended, I would watch
and wait to just your Coale speak because he's such

(25:30):
an excellent speaker as well.

Speaker 13 (25:31):
So yeah, I mean it.

Speaker 14 (25:33):
Just unlike the bandwagon of selectors and former players and
team management who would go on television to give their comments,
the way Collie stayed away from the limelight and trained
hard and delivered when it mattered the most, Jillie was
something for me.

Speaker 1 (25:50):
That'll been an interesting year for Coley now, you guys.
I mean from the ipal title to everything that happened
between him and Gotamamble at least reported to happen between
him and can Be the differences and everything, to then
ending the year on such a high that I mean,
I'll be very surprised if he isn't in the squad
for the fifty oh World Cup in twenty twenty seven.

Speaker 6 (26:10):
What a year for him, Yeah, I.

Speaker 8 (26:11):
Think slightly unfortunately the whole ipl title kind of I mean,
it was great on the day that they won, but
all the things that happened afterwards kind of took the
scene away from it. I thought significantly as it, I mean,
should kind of disappointing how things spanned out after that,
So I think I don't think it was celebrated, so
to speak, as much as it might have been otherwise.

(26:34):
So for him to come back to the ODA format,
and you know, with all the speculation about his future,
both him and Drow it to show what they're capable
of in this, I mean the format that they both
aced through their careers. Both of them probably are best
at fifty oh cricket among all three formats.

Speaker 4 (26:48):
So for them to show that they still have the fight,
it's been interesting to see.

Speaker 13 (26:52):
I think.

Speaker 4 (26:52):
Yeah, twenty twenty.

Speaker 8 (26:53):
Seven is still quite a bit away, so that sense,
can they keep this going with just one format over
the next year. I mean, in terms of their talent,
there is no doubt, but do they still have the
drive to hang around till twenty twenty seven? I think
it's more them question than otherwise, I think. So it's
going to be an interesting year to see how they
mix and match their playing time.

Speaker 4 (27:13):
Something to look forward to twenty six.

Speaker 2 (27:15):
Okay, guys, So although me or you mentioned in the
beginning that you know, we spoke to people not from
this sports team. There is one exception to that, which
is that I spoke to some leave the way, the
the National sports editor and also I guess RK Boss
And not because you asked me to or he asked
me to. I just really wanted to speak to him

(27:36):
and I thought since we were talking about cricket, I
should also ask him about this. And yeah, I think
he had a very interesting moment to share.

Speaker 6 (27:48):
So I'll say that I was there.

Speaker 15 (27:49):
So it has stuck in my mind in the England series,
the most what if series ever, like anything could have happened.

Speaker 6 (27:56):
Right. So there you are sitting I think it was the.

Speaker 15 (27:58):
Lord's Match, third Test match, and it's getting late, and
it's getting very late in India that people here are
waiting for you to file a copy. It's almost reaching
LEVENI ish right, and on the crease is Siraj and Jadeja.
They are having the partnership of their lives now. They
were supposed to score some seventy eighty runs for the

(28:19):
last wicket and they're almost reaching there. Now they're like,
say about thirty runs closed, right, And there you're waiting
to write, what is it the greatest ever come back
by India or is it going to be a case
of England snatching victory from the jaws of defeat? And
all those phrases are in your mind and what to
write and what not to write, when to start, one
to end and again like I'm all set to write, okay,

(28:42):
since these guys are playing exceptional cricket, like Siraj is
middling every ball and Jadeja is not giving him strike
and Siraj is saying, donah, I'll play like you don't
worry at all, and the absolutely his confidence is perfectly.
He has the right to bat, and he is batting.
And then after tea or lunch it was, and they
get shown Bush's but she has got an injured hand.

Speaker 6 (29:02):
He's got fractured one.

Speaker 15 (29:04):
Hand, and he's just bowling with his one hand, and
he bowls a ball to Siraj, and Siraj actually from
the middle of his bat he defends the ball and
that ball in a crazy freaky thing which I've never
ever seen in cricket. The ball bounces in front of
him and then suddenly takes a u turn towards the
stump and there's a small pebble on the way. It

(29:24):
climbs over it and hits the stump and just one
bale drops.

Speaker 6 (29:28):
Right.

Speaker 15 (29:28):
So I haven't ever, never, ever seen a drama like this.
It's a crazy moment which just still gets stuck in
my mind. And Siraj was here for our idea exchange
and he said, Sota, I remember that ball, the bail
falling from the stumps, and he still gets nightmares for that,

(29:48):
and again he insists that please man a ball middle
of the bat.

Speaker 6 (29:51):
Samarata. I had not edged it. I was not beaten
by that ball, but still I got out.

Speaker 7 (29:57):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (29:57):
I mean, guys, I think when we just think of that.
So there's so many what if moments, and this one
happened in such slow motion, right the moment the ball
hits Siraj's back to hitting the stumps, it's almost filmy
ending to it. The slow motion and the celebration and
one guy is almost in tears and everything that happened
over there, it was incredible.

Speaker 7 (30:18):
And especially how it kind of framed the whole series.

Speaker 3 (30:21):
Right like before the team went there, everybody was saying that,
you know, very young team, Shubu Gil as captain.

Speaker 7 (30:27):
Yeah, totally no, owill the affair all of that is.

Speaker 3 (30:32):
Happening then suddenly you have this seesawing of a series
which ends with India basically I think winning by w
six runs or something in the final Test, like as
close as it can get. And if I'm not mistaken,
this was the one tour where all matches went for
all five days, so all twenty five days action. We
got so insane insane number of things happening in this

(30:53):
whole series and kind.

Speaker 8 (30:54):
Of fitting like how he came back and was the
face of the heart of India's win in the fifth Test.
That level the series, you know that. I think the
moments Siraj's moments almost defined the series. The Lord's incident then,
you know, stepping on the boundary rope in the fifth
Test in a catch that could have potentially been costly,
and then running into bowl I think he bold like

(31:14):
a crazy number of deliveries that over only plays it
from either side to play five matches and then to
deliver that final spell. Yeah, in incredible moments. Just the
Siraj moments from that series will make it too many
highlights of the year, I think.

Speaker 1 (31:27):
Yeah, in the way Australia thrashing England right now, it
just goes to showkeep Dono teams India England Kitna so
error and it made it's like watching two football teams
with open defenses right, just entertaining. So I think it
was one of those kinds of series.

Speaker 2 (31:41):
Okay, so this is our last cricketing bit. This one
is coming from Sonal Gupta. She writes features and explainers
on a wide range of things from art and culture
and international affairs and me obviously spoke to her, So
this is what she said.

Speaker 16 (32:01):
So for me twenty twenty five, I wouldn't really call
it like one moment, but as someone who doesn't really
consider herself as a cricket fan, and I know this
comes across as something you can't really say India, but
as someone doesn't follow cricket a lot. And I probably
know like four or five people in the current squad.
But someone I've still come across because I follow so

(32:23):
much of social media for my work is ashleeep sing.
That man is after the gen z heart. I feel
like he's also twenty six years old.

Speaker 13 (32:31):
He has a.

Speaker 16 (32:31):
Long, long career ahead of him, I'm sure, but he's
so fun to follow on social media because I think
he really brings this behind the scenes vibe to the
whole cricket squad. You always see, you know, like we
have Iratkoli, you have Rohit Shalma and all these other people.
And you see that their feeds on Instagram are very
like either they're very branded or they're curated and very polished.

(32:54):
Everything is neat and perfect. But I think Ashleep Sing
brings like this very chaotic energy to Instagram. You see
him following all the trends that are going on. I
saw one reel where you know, he's dancing alongside Colipiada
and it's very funny to see like these men in
blue being awkward being you know, they're dancing. There was
a very recent reel that came out with Virat Koli

(33:15):
that I think did really well. I think it had
like some over one hundred million views or something, and
it's just a joke about how Wirrat Culi couldn't take
a century because the target I don't know what it's called,
but the run rate or whatever it was not you know,
enough for him to actually score a century. And I
found that really funny and I'm sure other people did
as well. But then there was a parallel reel that
came out about the amount of convincing that Ashteep had

(33:38):
to do to get Rat to participate, and I find
it really funny. I think for someone who was like
a non cricket fan, actually really brings like the homely,
the human side of cricketers alive.

Speaker 1 (33:48):
And any twenty twenty five trend that he really picked
on and did well in his reels.

Speaker 6 (33:54):
I think a lot.

Speaker 16 (33:55):
Of like these recreating viral music videos you had him
doing Amian Girl. I don't know if everyone knows about it,
but it's like you lip sync and you follow along
this song and he did that, and that's how I
actually discovered him. I found that hilarious because I've never
seen like professional cricketers, especially like national team cricketers do
this before, so that was very funny.

Speaker 7 (34:16):
I think Indian cricket does need some characters like R
Steve No because otherwise AU have somebody like a rohit
who can be really funny, but their social media is
full of some sponsored posts, branded content, all of that nonsense.
But yeah, so I think actually in that sense, I
find him really hilarious. Some of the videos that he does.

Speaker 3 (34:36):
There are also these antiques of him, you know, mimicking
fans and all of that, while they're shouting Siraji's name
and all of that, and joy Swal's name and all
of that, and just a very colorful character.

Speaker 7 (34:49):
Lovely to see you.

Speaker 1 (34:50):
I mean I do that all the time, but not
on this one. I think he should be the official
behind the scenes of the Indian team matches. Those who
come in in MIT as well on tour might be
of some use.

Speaker 8 (35:06):
I was thinking of, Yeah, I don't disagree with any
of this, Like, it's great what he does. I just
remembering the Chahal TV that used to be there a
while back, which eventually transcended into a little bit of cringe.

Speaker 4 (35:18):
I hope actually doesn't. I mean, he comes up to
us as a naturally.

Speaker 8 (35:21):
Funny guy, so he continues doing this because yeah, I mean,
I definitely agree with's what Sonald said. It's just not
common in men's cricket. The women's team, I think, is
a little more different that way, especially. I mean, yeah,
Jenny is probably the first name that comes to mind
when it comes to these Instagram stuff. They generally have
a much more casual vibe about their social media than

(35:41):
the men's team. I mean, whether it changes or not
in the immediate future remains to be seen. But yeah,
what Azeem does for the men's team is pretty unique.
It's very interesting character foricial.

Speaker 3 (35:51):
And because you mentioned cringe, I think I remember it's
very easy for a lot of these franchises to ipl
franchises at least to get influencers will do like border
on the proper cringe just because popular and whatever, like
I think LSG and all of these guys kajo social media.
Yeah that is like utter cringe, but.

Speaker 7 (36:14):
It's like yuck.

Speaker 1 (36:15):
Yeah, but it's sanitized, yeah, like Instagram now or so
that's a refreshing. But on this note, now there is
if anyone who slightly is interested in Indian football, it's
extremely funny sad way may to watch what Adai is doing.
Is this player with Kerala Blasters and national team and

(36:37):
real of him trying to be an uber driver or
Santa Claus Bundra road pay. It's just funny that what
il guys are doing when there's nothing happening kind of
a thing. But yeah, it's nice when players go out
of that whole compulsion of being like very image conscious
and sanitized on their social media and do something fun
and in fact, you.

Speaker 3 (36:58):
Know, because when I mentioned Jemima, I remember a bitch
of World Cup. I think they've gotten Chiagusha to like
meet the team in the dressing room and these guys
forced her to sing a song and like and Chiagushal
says a few verses and Jemmy being Jemmy, just suddenly
stands up on the table, points at her and says
up Mumbai, like really fascinating.

Speaker 7 (37:18):
QUI quitted guys like, very very fun to see.

Speaker 2 (37:22):
Okay, So now I'm finally moving on from cricket. Okay,
we will be hearing from Sakshi Chun. She is well,
she's based in Delhi. Oh this might be basketball, yes, yes, yes,
this is basketball.

Speaker 4 (37:37):
How do you know that?

Speaker 6 (37:38):
Meell?

Speaker 1 (37:38):
I mean from all the interactions I've had with it,
it's always been about basketball.

Speaker 4 (37:42):
So yeah, that's correct.

Speaker 2 (37:44):
In fact, it was after we recorded that I found
out that she used to play for UP.

Speaker 17 (37:49):
So I basically have to And they're both basketball related
because that's the sport I follow.

Speaker 13 (37:55):
So one is.

Speaker 17 (37:56):
In January seventy fourth Inter National Championship was held in
Gujrat where the match was going on between Punjab and
Indian Railways, which was a neck to neck match throughout
the time and in the last the score was seventy
two for Punjab and seventy for Indian Railways with the
two seconds left on the short clock. And in those

(38:17):
two seconds, this player he plays for India, also said
Singh Sekho. He in a very disbalanced position shortter three pointer.
We call it the buzzer beater shot and it went
in and Railways won seventy three seventy two. And the
other was during the Under nineteen Junior National Championship in Ludiana.

Speaker 13 (38:38):
The Punjab team was playing with.

Speaker 17 (38:40):
Uttar Pradesh and usually you have tall players in basketball.

Speaker 13 (38:44):
So this Panjab player who's.

Speaker 17 (38:45):
Not like average height, his name was Migain Singhaliwal. He
went over like a six one, six to two guy
and did a post a dunk. We call it post
a dunk because he went all over his body and
slammed it in the ring. So that was the moment,
like the entire stadium stood up.

Speaker 13 (39:03):
We were obviously watching it online.

Speaker 17 (39:05):
Those two moments were like the Aura moments of twenty
twenty five.

Speaker 2 (39:09):
By the way, when you said you're going to talk
about basketball, I thought you're going to talk about NBA.
I did not know that you're going to talk about
these specific moments from the domestic scene in India.

Speaker 17 (39:23):
Yes, because ideally everybody likes to talk about NBA international
players and what they do. But I feel personally that
there is a lot of recognition that the game needs
in India, and also the fact that we also.

Speaker 13 (39:37):
Have very good players, like we do.

Speaker 17 (39:39):
Have players from India who have gone and played in
the NBA G League, or who have gone and played
in China and so Bea and all these places where
the talent is considered to be top notch. So I'm
personally a fan of watching domestic basketball and trying to
lift the game from at the domestic level. I want

(40:00):
the game to be lifted from there. That's why my
moment is not inn we related. My movements are completely
domestic to highlight that these players are also doing similar stuff.
Like how Stephen Curry shoots the ball with one leg
flying in the air.

Speaker 13 (40:15):
That is exactly how Sickos shot was.

Speaker 17 (40:18):
His one leg was flying in the air and he
was almost about to fall to the sideline and he
shot it in that disbalanced manner.

Speaker 1 (40:25):
It's actually quite a stunning thing, guys. I mean, I
don't know, I don't follow basketball that much, either NBA
or the domestic game. I mean, I think you do
follow basketball.

Speaker 3 (40:35):
Yeah, and I think see, I understand the point that
she's making that India does have talent, but then see,
I think a lot of Indian players, like you have
principle saying, who's been given an opportunity to go play
in the G League. And see, I've watched those games
right when he was playing in the G League against
other teams, and like he's what he's summoned six eight
or something. He was playing in the power forward the

(40:57):
position back in that league, and he was legitimately getting
bullied at the post, right, So I've seen that and
that kind of informed the decision that maybe Indians still
need a lot more to be playing even in the
G League, forget the NBA actual league, but even the
G League. So yeah, I mean, I completely understand our
point that India does have a lot of talent, but

(41:18):
it's not as if they've not been given opportunities. We've
had multiple women. You have Honey Harsimran cor who's playing
in a D league university. We have guys like Sanjana
Rames who are playing in a D League university in US,
so they have been given those opportunities to make sure
that they are in the pathway, you know, to play

(41:40):
in the WNBA at some point, but those things haven't
worked out.

Speaker 7 (41:43):
It must be because of a reason.

Speaker 3 (41:45):
Like I'm not getting into that whole argument about genetics
and all of that, but I just feel that, like
maybe there are certain things that are still not there
among the Indian players.

Speaker 7 (41:55):
At least I guess so.

Speaker 6 (41:56):
I guess so.

Speaker 1 (41:57):
But I think for most of us who aren't union
the sport that much, the saddest moment from basketball would
be off that Haryana player Hardy Karati I think his
name was when the pole fell on him when he
was just trying to go for a dunk. So that
was one heartbreaking moment. And I think that's also the
point in a way that she's trying to make that
India maybe players, but they don't get that kind of

(42:21):
I don't know if the infrastructure is so universally across
India or what, but yeah, that one kind of stayed
with me that moment.

Speaker 8 (42:29):
No, But I mean, yeah, just one thing to add
is what Sashan said, Like, I mean, I was genuinely
surprised that she picked two Indian basketball moments. I didn't
see that coming, so yeah, colored me surprise, Shank.

Speaker 4 (42:39):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (42:40):
And in fact, talking about surprises, we have two more
moments to go and both of these actually kind of
surprised me, one more than the other. This next one
is coming from Ichasharma. She's actually part of the podcast team.
She's part of my team. And actually, yeah, why don't you,
I mean more clips, potetial hierarchy, snakya. So here's it cha, right.

Speaker 18 (43:05):
So for me, something that I have been following quite
recently is Moto GP and it's only been a year
for me, but I really love the sport at something
you know, which is technical and tactical at the same time,
and I really enjoy that there are so many different
rider styles and something that really stood out for me
this season was and for many others as well, was
Mark Marquez, you know, sealing his seventh Premiers like title

(43:28):
at the Japanese Grand Prix. And it wasn't just about
his win. Actually it was you know, seeing so many
years of setbacks and it was like a huge comeback
for I think everyone. And apart from that, you also
have his brother, you know, Alex Marquez who got his
first Moto GP win at the Spanish Grand Prix Jerez.

(43:49):
And in that Grand Prix also we saw like Mark
was crashing, but it.

Speaker 13 (43:53):
Was more like, you know, you could almost feel.

Speaker 18 (43:55):
That new chapter energy for Alex, and of course you
have the Silverstone where to be honest, if you see
from a different perspective, there was kind of a late
heartbreak for Krtaro, but you have the Zechi winning there
as well. And something which I can just not stop
thinking about is that, like just related to Wizeki was

(44:16):
again that he actually went on to win the Australian
Grand Prix after hitting a seagill at the start of it,
like early on in the race. So that was something
like that as well happened this season. And of course,
as I mentioned that, there were a lot of things
that happened this season, but it would be almost unfair
to not mention the French ground tree at Lemons where

(44:39):
Johann Zarco ending. You know, France's seventy one year of
wait for a home win, so you have even that
and yeah, so like just the season was everything that
you wanted to see and you know, lean.

Speaker 8 (44:53):
On well those last moment. It's actually felt click grey
con Latin to me basically other than Oscellan GP and
French GP and those names. I mean, it just flew
over my head. Everything was just giving us all new
ideas for the next season. But it'sha for our listeners.
I think it is very important to underland here that

(45:13):
she is one of the pillars of the Game Time podcast.
She and Shashank they produce whenever whoever's available. I mean
we give random times, random days, and one of them
is always there, and she's always this silent spectator. So
I would never have guessed that she's so deep into
motorsports sill motor GP. So well, I think maybe we

(45:34):
can have some of it in the coming year. And
I don't think we cover motor GP a whole lot.
I think the last piece.

Speaker 3 (45:40):
That we've written on MotoGP on maybe the website or
the paper, was when we had written about it coming
to India at some stage, was it.

Speaker 1 (45:50):
Yeah, they were talks about it, right, Heather bad if
I'm not wrong, Yeah, and then.

Speaker 6 (45:54):
That feel true?

Speaker 7 (45:55):
Interesting?

Speaker 6 (45:56):
Interesting, good one.

Speaker 1 (45:57):
You've caught a soft guard there, like the seagull on
the motor GQI track.

Speaker 2 (46:01):
Ogain and talking about sports that the Indian Express doesn't cover.
Here's our final moment and this was the one that
surprised me the most. Perhaps and this is coming from
al jun Sen Gupta. He is part of the explained team.
And here's what he said, Sergeant, what is your favorite

(46:23):
sporting moment of twenty twenty.

Speaker 10 (46:24):
Five When the Dodgers won the World Series. I think
it was one of the most incredible sporting spectacles I've
ever witnessed. I know baseball isn't big in India, but
for all cricket nerds out there especially, I think there's
a lot that you will like about this sport. And

(46:45):
for me, the final of the World seies. Again, this
is a game seven, both teams have won three each
winner takes al and its being pitted as a David
versus Golayath story. Right, it's the Los Angeles Dodgers, with
the best player in the world and the biggest payroll,
versus the Toronto Blue.

Speaker 7 (47:02):
Jays, who also have a big payroll.

Speaker 10 (47:04):
But you know they cast themselves as a team of
misfit underdogs. So the Blue Jays were winning for the
longest time until the ninth innings. The ninth inning is
the final inning of a baseball game, and a relatively
unknown player. So of all the Dodgers big name players,
they don't hit the home run. It's Miguel Rojas, who's,

(47:27):
you know, end of the bench kind of guy. He
hits an unlikely home run. This is I think, his
first home run of a right handed pitcher in the
whole season. So it's like the probability of that happening
is just next to zero and ties the game. And
then there are the Blue Jays still have an innings
to respond, and they almost win it, but two completely

(47:51):
incredible moments at the field right and matter of inches,
I don't even know how to describe it, but one
base running error by the Blue Jays second basement and
an incredible catch in the outfield where basically the Dodgers
center fielder bulldozes his right fielder to make the catch,

(48:13):
and the right field of things that the ball has dropped,
but somehow the catch happened, and then the game goes
on for another two three innings and ultimately the Dodgers win.
I was supporting the Dodgers, so I liked it right.
If I was a Blue Jays fan, I probably would
have hated this game, but I think this game.

Speaker 7 (48:31):
Was everything that I like about sports.

Speaker 10 (48:34):
It was unpredictable, it was emotionally taxing in some ways,
but since I ended up on the right side of
the game, it was very rewarding. And for someone who's
never watched a game of baseball, I think you would
have enjoyed this game too. The emotion among the fans.
You know they're waiting for their first World Series, when

(48:58):
you know they're two outs away from win it all.
Then the game is tied and then they end up losing.
So that experience again, I couldn't only imagine what it
would have been in the stadium. And I was up
till what nine o'clock in the morning to watch this game,
so I stayed up all night. Effectively, I was worth it,

(49:19):
and I was tired next day in office. I probably
didn't do a great job that day, but I thoroughly
enjoyed it. And one of my favorite sporting moments.

Speaker 13 (49:30):
Of all time.

Speaker 3 (49:32):
Yeah, urgent domestic League World Series, but I lose to it.
But you know, I think maybe Urgin didn't touch upon this.
But what was fascinating about this whole Dodgers winning the
World Series was the fact that a lot of the base,
the supporter base of this team is primarily Latino. I

(49:55):
think the stadium that these guys play in is about
fifty thousand or something capacity here, half of them are
usually filled by Latinos. And this title came at a
time when the Trump administration was basically conducting raid after
raid on you know, people who of Latin American origin
and basically throwing them on the ground, putting them in jails,

(50:16):
depolting them, all of them. And there was a team
here which was kind of winning it for those guys. So,
I mean the win was not just for the team.
It was a lot about the city. It was a
lot about the Latin Americans who who were basically being
persecuted by the administration in a sense. But then you
also had, you know, the team winning.

Speaker 6 (50:36):
It for you.

Speaker 1 (50:37):
That's a great one. I didn't know that, so that
kind of puts it into context also me.

Speaker 3 (50:41):
I think if you remember when we had gone to
Tokyo to cover the Olympics, there was a lot of
chatter back then about this one Japanese baseballer called Shoheianian.

Speaker 7 (50:52):
Yeah, like he was the face.

Speaker 3 (50:54):
Of every magazine you could imagine all of that was
happening Chotani place for the Dodgers. He was one of
the stars of the team. He doesn't talk a lot,
like you don't get you know, in American sport, you
have athletes who are outspoken. You have athletes who are
like they will come and say whatever. They are like
cowboys of the court. Right in chess, you have somebody
like a Bobby Fisher. You have like in uh, whatever,

(51:18):
whatever sport you look at. Right in basketball, you have
Steph Curry, Lebron James who will call President Donald Trump
at a press conference, never caring about who's listening, what
could happen to them. And then you have somebody like
Ah who is barely ever speaks. He's demure if you
will that if that term can be used. So he's
that kind. And still almost all of America is kind

(51:41):
of given their heart to this guy for something that
he does. He's great at pitching, he's great at batting
as well. So very fascinating sport. Obviously we don't cover
it too much because we have a rare urgents and
probably follows it.

Speaker 7 (51:55):
The rest of us don't.

Speaker 1 (51:56):
But that's putting in to great context here good stuff.
They're a surprising, very surprising. I thought when Shashanka before
the recording, when he mentioned there is a surprise sport,
I was sure it would be frisbee because last I
don't know, just game time start to its tran to
plug Frisbee over years, So I mean as random Major
League Baseball and frisbee are as random for me.

Speaker 2 (52:14):
With new apologies, O, okay, perfect, guys, those were all
the ten moments. You guys want to share your favorite
moments from twenty twenty five.

Speaker 3 (52:23):
Okay, I'll do one moment that basically everybody in the
sport was talking about. It got a lot of outsiders
to like kind of focus on the sport. And then
I will talk about a moment that maybe nobody noticed,
but then it kind of showed exactly what chess players are, right.
The first moment was Magnus Sculsen losing to Goucash and
then smashing his fist and that was the fish thump

(52:47):
on the table that was heard around the world once again,
after I think the maybe after the whole Hands Nemen
cheating allegations, this was the first time that the rest
of the world took notice of sport again. The chest again, right.
So it was one of those moments. And because when
I was in Norway, like that frustration of Magnus for
losing to Boukish. That didn't just end with that fish smash, right,

(53:11):
So I followed him on the way to his car.
This man gets into his car, the door shut and
you can hear him below his guts out, and I'm
told that apparently while they were on the way to
the hotel, they had to stop the car somewhere. Magnus
had to get out, he had to again scream into
the whatever Norwegian air, and then he had to get
back into the car.

Speaker 7 (53:31):
So it was that frustrating.

Speaker 3 (53:33):
Why was it frustrating is because Magnus at some point
believes that he is much better than everybody else in
the world, including Goukish and gukeis is the guy who
currently occupies the World Champions thrown only because Magnus is
somebody who's not interested in sitting on the throne anymore.

Speaker 7 (53:47):
So he's abdicated now sits on it.

Speaker 3 (53:50):
So Magnus was basically drawing that game till the end,
and there was one point at the end very blundered.
Now Magnus Caulson's entire legele. He's built on the fact
that he could torture people in the end games. Like
everybody in chess agrees that Magnus is somebody whose primary
fote is the endgame.

Speaker 6 (54:11):
Right.

Speaker 3 (54:11):
He's taken games that anybody would offer draws for and
drag them out so much that people end up crumbling
and losing to him. That was his forte. And for
Magnus to like kind of lose in an endgame by
blundering was something that it was a slap to the ego.
Right then we started talking about what constitutes good behavior

(54:32):
on a chessboard, was issuing disrespect to his opponent and
all of that.

Speaker 7 (54:36):
So that was one moment.

Speaker 3 (54:37):
The other moment, the one that typified what kind of
awkward creatures chess players are, happened recently at the Global
Chess League closing ceremony. Right there's this team called Alpine
SG Pipers with Fabiano and Leon Mendosa all of them,
so they won the title.

Speaker 7 (54:55):
After the presentations were done, they.

Speaker 3 (54:57):
Were told Royal Opera House, johemmba, we give you champagne
bottles and you're supposed to like a formula and drivers,
do you have to spray it into the audience.

Speaker 7 (55:06):
Now, a couple of problems with that.

Speaker 3 (55:08):
None of these guys have ever clearly ever handled champagne bottle.
So they are given three champagne bottles, Like there is
a video of this. Also like they're very awkwardly looking
around about what to do with this. At some point
they look at the manager doing properly like a formula
and driver would so then they also start like a
very vigorously shaking the bottle. Then at some point they

(55:31):
managed to open the bottle. After discussing the tragicory of
the cork and everything, the champagne starts flowing.

Speaker 7 (55:36):
It literally falls in front of them.

Speaker 3 (55:38):
On the parapet and it does not get stashed into
the crowd, which is a good thing because there were
a bunch of kids in the club. So yeah, that
kind of for me, it typified the kind of power
people chess players are absolutely like, Yesachi's sometimes, you know,
tournament organizers bring these guys in things in you know,
chess players you should celebrate like others sportsmen or other athletes,

(56:02):
but it kind.

Speaker 7 (56:03):
Of yah is lost on them.

Speaker 1 (56:05):
Yeah, I saw your Instagram story and that was extremely
funny the way they tried to do that. When do
you want to go with your moment or should I?

Speaker 8 (56:12):
Oh, yeah, I mean I've already mentioned my moment in
the middle of the podcast. I mean, yes, intervening the
Women's World Cup. Don't think anything is going to top that,
So that's my piece. You can't go at me.

Speaker 1 (56:22):
Oh So then I was just, you know, slightly worried
that our moments could end up being the same because
I think this was one of those very like I mentioned,
it was a slow sports here when it comes to
Olympic sports, right, and it wasn't a lot, but one
thing that I really really it was heartwarming was kilimbish
Rikhant reaching that final of the Malaysia Masters, Right. It

(56:45):
was more than a thousand days I think you had
mentioned in your report, I think, or twelve eight days
since he had reached that far in a tournament. And
his expressions that win over Tanaka in the semi final,
I mean, she kan't we've spoken so much, right he is.
This is this one player who've been we've been rooting
for to win succeed for a very long time, just

(57:08):
for the kind of player. He's a beautiful, elegant player
that he is, and it hasn't been a great couple
of years for Indian badminton, especially for Shrie Kant. He
couldn't go for the paras Olympics too, and at the
start of the cycle. To get that kind of a
win for him, it was just very pleasing. Not much
happened after that, but that's sport. I mean, you have
that one week, one day where things fall in place

(57:29):
for you and it was quite beautiful.

Speaker 8 (57:31):
Yeah, nice choice, mate, actually, and remember that week for
what she said. I can't remember if it was a
quarter final or the set after the match when he
was asked by the BW media person, where have you
been all this wild and he said, yeah, even the
referees have been asking me, the chartum players are asking
me where I've been, So yeah, it's very nice.

Speaker 1 (57:54):
It's just one of those twos that, yeah, that it
just kind of sums of why we like sports, right
And following the journey of these players, it's just incredible
when they're losing constantly and still every week they travel,
they wake up, they go and compete and lose and
then repeat the whole process again. For someone like them
to have such a win after more than twelve hundred
days of not so happy outings on the court.

Speaker 6 (58:17):
It was really cool.

Speaker 8 (58:18):
Yeah, I mean, she can't someone you just I mean
you just want to watch him play every time he
gets on the court. He is the kind who will
delight you and frustrate you an equal measure. But he's
the sort of player who makes you fall in love
with the sport as much as hate it sometimes. So
one of those clear guys you want to root for,
sort of player, not the most flawless, but certainly one
of the most elegant, nice joys made. Actually, just one

(58:40):
more from badminton if I could pick, I think Yasindhu
at the World Championships, even though she fell short of
a medal, I think, for a brief while they're in
that win against Wang Shi, the second best player in
the world this year, she showed glimpses of I think
twenty nineteen set two. We were talking about that during
I think on the day of the match as well.
Is one of those moments that wound the clock back
for Sindhu. And sure there is still like I mean,

(59:02):
if you're not done yet, I mean unfortunate she couldn't
go on to get that medal with just one more
win needed, but that that win against Wang Xi was
something else that day I remember really pretty poor.

Speaker 1 (59:14):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, questaring, this has been a marathon episode.
Before we go, Shashan, do you want to come in
with your favorite moment, maybe.

Speaker 4 (59:20):
A favorite sporting moments?

Speaker 2 (59:23):
You know, I love when, you know, I get to
record with people who are talking about something so passionately.
So I had a great time talking to these people.
Even though Jobio bold jobyo players, I had no idea
who they were, most of them.

Speaker 7 (59:38):
But yeah, I just like putting all of this together.

Speaker 8 (59:41):
It's an easy escape route. Man, you just picked the
easiest option.

Speaker 2 (59:47):
Last weekend, you a Mariga penn fighting. They would Now,
I don't know how many people can relate to that one.
Now we mentioned that brilliant, brilliant, It has been a
marathon episode. But well, I guess you will allow us
to indul just once, and this has been that kind
of a thing. It's been a great year, and I
guess I speak for all of us here that you know,
hopefully it'll be a cracking twenty twenty six. It's I mean,

(01:00:10):
I can't even think of the number of events that
are lined up. I was just doing some math and
guys on Indian soil itself. In the first one to
eighty one days of the year, from January to June,
we have won forty six T twenty.

Speaker 6 (01:00:25):
Games, men and women.

Speaker 1 (01:00:26):
So good luck to us, God bless us everyone who's
watching the game and following T twenty cricket, because it's
going to be mad. The next six months of the
year are going to be mad for different reasons, which
we'll be talking about at a later episode.

Speaker 8 (01:00:39):
Yeah, it was just going to say twenty twenty six
promises to be utterly Ponker's year for sport. Just the
World Cups and the Ancient Games and all these big
events one after another. It's going to be, yeah, quite hectic.
I think twenty twenty five was, like you said at
the start, very odd in that since post COVID, like
we've been having one major event or the other every year.

(01:01:00):
Twenty twenty five had just I think ye cricket World
Cup at home, but no multi sport major event. But yeah,
twenty twenty six promises to be bonkers in that sense.

Speaker 2 (01:01:10):
Lovely.

Speaker 1 (01:01:10):
That's it, guys, Thanks for listening, Thanks for sticking with
us all through twenty twenty five. We'll be back with
a new episode of Game Time in January, and before
we go, wishing.

Speaker 7 (01:01:20):
All of you are very happy New Year.

Speaker 6 (01:01:22):
Thanks for listening.

Speaker 2 (01:01:24):
You were listening to Express Sports by the Indian Express.
This week's show was edited and mixed by Soyesh Pawar
and produced by Meshahan Bargev. If you like the show,
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(01:01:47):
Indian Express dot com.