Neeru Bhatia

Sports Journalist! The exclamation was always audible when I decided to specialise in sports reporting, way back in 1996, when girls in cricket grounds and press boxes were few. Why? Initially, I was surprised too by my decision but not as much as others were. I started my journalism career with TV – features, politics, current affairs you name it!

I was part of it as a reporter in TV Today. First Good Morning Today- a morning show then Newstrack and then Aaj Tak. Whenever the opportunity arose, I would suggest, pitch, insist on a sports story or rather a cricket story. Pardon me, I was so one dimensional then!

I was Deputy Chief of Bureau, The Week magazine till early 2024; work included news reporting on sports events and developments in India and abroad, writing long form features, interviews, conceptualising/ideating larger packages on sports and other subjects. As a senior editorial team in the New Delhi bureau of The Week magazine, I have specialised in sports investigative stories related to match fixing, spot fixing, and investigation.

Reported extensively on the ICC World Cups 2003-2023; the ICC Twenty20 Championships from 2009 onwards; Asian Games 2010-2014; Commonwealth Games 2010; FIH Hockey World Cups 2002, 2010; multiple national and international sports competitions including F1 Grand Prix in Britain, India and Shanghai; India’s tour to Australia (2004 & 2008), Pakistan (2006) and all the Tests and ODIs in India.