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Pakistan, fearless with the bat and fearsome with the ball, gave India its most painful bleed in cricket at the Oval on Sunday with an attack so lethal that the defending champions limped back with the ignominy of a 180-run defeat. The stage could not have been bigger for Pakistan, a nation reeling under terrorism and bereft of any cricket at home for long years after the infamous attack on the touring Sri Lankan team. Comprehensively beating arch rivals India at an ICC Final and lifting the Champions Trophy for the first time will go a long way in rebuilding the confidence of this nation which implodes at the drop of a hat and yet can be passionate tamer of any situation emanating out of the blue. The big stage win was extra special because a group of mostly untested youngsters, sporting nothing but passion and self-belief, pitted their battle impossible against seasoned star campaigners from India and showed them up as a bunch of club cricketers. The victory will, indeed, m...

Sachin Tendulkar has inspired generations with his acumen, determination, and humility — traits that carve legends out of stars.  MEENAKSHI RAO  explores what shaped this man extraordinaire in the backdrop of the recent docu-film serenading the icon Memories diminish, stars fade into new dawns. The public and its adulation move on, as do time and moments that make a legend. It’s been three years and just over five months since Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar retired from all forms of cricket on that sobbing day of November 16, 2013, at Wankhede Stadium, which left the nation wondering what India is without Sachin in the middle and what Sachin is without cricket. That was the day this colossal called Sachin,  hamara  Sachin, played the last Test match of his career, scored 74 runs, kissed the ground he so often rocked with his bat and walked away into the sunset after a teary-eyed, simple and heart-warming first-ever public speech of his 24-year-long career in a...