Centre Court Pickleball League match in Bangalore

Pizza and pickleball

Sharmada Balu struts onto the pickleball court as if to bend it to her will. The floral pop of colour on her hair makes as vivid a statement as the scoreline at the end of the match. Through the game, she remonstrates, she celebrates; fist pumps at her teammates, high-fives with some young fans courtside.

Outlook 11 February 2026 Issue: No More A Gentleman’s Game

Outlook | The journey of women’s cricket in India

Outlook magazine published an issue dedicated to women’s cricket, and I wrote an essay on the recent growth of the sport in India. The piece tracked the journey of women’s cricket from being played in front of sparse crowds to capturing the imagination of the nation with victory at the ICC Women’s World Cup 2025.

BBC Indian Sportswoman of the Year nominees

BBC Sportswoman of the Year: Choosing the best

The BBC Indian Sportswoman of the Year award nominations are out. For the second year in a row, I’ve been fortunate to be part of the panel to shortlist these names. I find this task exhilarating. It allows me the chance to revisit stellar performances. I get to celebrate others I might have missed over

Virat Kohli has a smile during a recording of the RCB podcast

RCB podcast season 2: Gamechangers

The challenge with returning to the next year of the RCB podcast was to avoid the season 2 slump. Season 1 of “How IPL changed my life” had the high-emotion rags to riches stories. How do we capture the same level of emotion and maintain a newness to conversations with many of the same players?

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