Life in The Press Box

1983

With Sunil Gavaskar and a Colleague, Ashis Shukla

  • 13 January: First day at the office; Career begins with ‘The Telegraph’.
  • 8 March: First article appears on ‘The Telegraph’ on Management Schools.
  • June: First article appears in ABP Robibasoriyo on Summer School Cricket.
  • 1 July: Joins ABP as Apprentice Journalist.
  • December: Covers India v West Indies One day international cricket match from Jamshedpur.

1984 & 1985

  • Landmark Interviews: Gary Sobers, Denis Lillee
  • Two National Exclusive Cricket Stories –
    • Kapil’s impending captaincy loss to Sunny.
    • Gavaskar’s Declaration Story at the Eden Gardens.
  • March: Confirmation as an ABP Staffer.
  • July: First ever overseas tour– to Sri Lanka for coverage of the test and one day series.
  • Weekly ‘Desh’ column begins – ‘Khelar Khuchro Khobor’.
  • First write up in an English magazine – ‘Sportsworld’.

1986

  • Sharjah back-to-back tournament coverage and Super Exclusive Viv Richards Interview.
  • First ever Imran Khan interview – little did he know many more were to follow!

1987

  • Bicentenary Test coverage.
  • His first World Cup coverage which is hoisted by India and Pakistan.
  • First write up in the ‘Sunday’ magazine.

1988 & 1989

  • Meets Tendulkar. Does the prodigy’s first ever interview in Bengal.
  • Asia Cup coverage in Bangladesh.
  • Covers a historical tour to Pakistan.
  • Starts writing for ‘Cricket Life’ : A London based Cricket magazine edited by Imran Khan.
  • Covers a historical tour to Pakistan.
  • Starts writing for ‘Cricket Life’ : A London based Cricket magazine edited by Imran Khan.

1990

Lord’s Press Box 2010 

  • Covers his first full length cricket series in England.
  • Reports on Bengal’s immortal Ranji Trophy triumph.
  • Does trendsetting Interviews with Bobby Charlton and Amitabh Bachchan.
  • Covers the US Open and manages to meet Chris Evert.

1991

  • Covers Wimbledon with tremendous proficiency and manages to get Jimmy Connors, Stefen Edberg and Peter Graf – three major interviews in his maiden BigW coverage.

1992

  • A truly remarkable professional calendar year in which covers his 2nd World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.
  • In the process interviews
    • Bradman
    • Miller
    • Larwood
  • His first book gets published – Silly point theke.
  • Sets off a historical tour to South Africa
    with the Indian Cricket Team and makes it all the more memorable by partnering Sunil Gavaskar in a century partnership stand.
  • Manages the rarest ever interviews with – Nelson Mandela.
  • ‘Desh’ column ends after 7 long years.

1993

  • Interviews another Nobel laureate Arthur C Clarke in Colombo.
    Gets a sensational interview with Viv Richards where Viv confesses that he indeed was the father of Neena Gupta’s child. The article is promptly reproduced by Wisden.

1994

  • Does a thrilling article for ABP based on his experience inside Dawood Ibrahim’s cabin, at the Sharjah cricket ground.
  • Wisden reprints his article from ‘Sportsworld’, for the second time. A rare honour for Indian Cricket Writers.
  • 1 November : Leaves ABP Sports after Eleven long years.

1995 & 1996

  • 15 April: Joins Saturday Special ‘Patrika’ as the Departmental Editor.
  • Covers his third World Cup. This time from Pakistan.
  • Does a Landmark Imran Khan Interview for ‘Sunday’ and Pak Parliament takes notice in an agitated manner. ‘Sunday’ faces ban.
  • Gets threatened by the Karachi betting syndicate for his expose on match fixing.
  • Appears in a 13-episode TV Series named ‘Slog overs’ as the Co-anchor.

1997 & 1998

Perth Press Box – 2000

  • Embarks on his first trip to West Indies and the only Brian Lara interview of the series duly followed.

Two Landmark interviews :

  • Shah Rukh Khan’s first ever interview to ABP.
  • Taslima Nasreen’s interview from unknown Dhaka underground destination.

1999 & 2000

Edbagstone Gallery -2011

  • Fourth World Cup Coverage from England.
  • His Second Tour to Australia.
  • Starts writing for the high profile magazine ‘Cricket Talk’.
  • Does Mohd Younis, a future Nobel laureate’s exclusive interview from Dhaka.

2001 & 2002

West Indies World Cup- 2007

  • Starts second stint in television by anchoring ‘Saaf Katha’ and makes waves.
  • His major book in cricket comes out: Bodyliner Judhdhe.
  • August 23: Takes over as the Sports Editor of ABP in addition to the existing Patrika responsibilities.
  • Covers the Mini World Cup in Sri Lanka.

2003 & 2004

  • South Africa World Cup coverage – his fifth. In which Sourav’s India makes it to the finals.
  • Covers Steve Waugh’s farewell series in Australia and earns tremendous praise for his sensitive and romantic Steve Waugh exist write ups.
  • Embarks on a tour to Pakistan which ends on a sad note as he rushes back home after hearing the death news of his brother-in-law.
  • Goes to USA to take part in a Indo-Bangla cultural functions at Manhattan, New York.
  • Four books of him are published including ‘Bapi Bari Ja’ which was to become the biggest box office hit.

2005 & 2006

  • Breaks the mother of All Exclusives Stories – Greg Chappell’s E Mail against Ganguly.
  • Begins Working with ‘Star Ananda’ as a Cricket Analyst.
  • His Father dies, while covering Sourav Ganguly’s historic comeback series in South Africa. Rushes back home from Durban.
  • Wins the All-India SJFI award for the Best Cricket Story.
  • Takes over as the President of the Kolkata Sports Journalists’ Club.

2007 & 2008

Sydney Press Box – with Boria Majumder and Kuntal Chakrabarty

  • Covers his sixth World Cup: This time in the West Indies.
  • Joins Biswo Bongo Sammelon in Detroit as the Guest Performer.
  • Trendsetting Interviews throughout the year
  • Soumitra Chottopadhyay
  • Kapil Dev
  • Tiger Pataudi
  • Portrayal of Sourav Ganguly’s farewell test series.
  • On TV – landmark farewell interview with Ganguly.
  • Website named after his by two IT professionals.

2009 & 2010

With Scyld Berry in Ahmedabad

  • Sensational John Buchanan Interview on Captancy which was lapped up by the cricketing media worldwide.
  • Enrique interview in South Africa .
  • KKN Award for the best journalist (Both Sports + Entertainment ).
  • “SACH” Bengali released by Tendulkar .

2011, 2012 & 2013

With Boria Majumder and Sabyasachi Sarker in Chennai
  • “SACH” Gautam’s first English book launched by Kumble and Dravid in Bengaluru.
  •  Moti Nandy Award for Excellence in Journalism.
  •  Coverage of his 7th World Cup Cricket.
  •  Special Award from Lokhandwala Puja Committee for SACH.
  •  “JAYA HE” Released by Sunil Ganguly.
  •  Ruud Gullit Special interview.
  •  The author of first ever Bangla E-Book.
  • 13th January – Completed 30 years in Journalism and also in ABP.
  • April-Sensational and super exclusive interview of Moonmoon Sen on Suchitra Sen.