Amar Panicker

26 | Journalist @IndiaToday | Views are personal.

Not a know-it-all.

[Amar Panicker @AmarPanicker]

Went in with low expectations. Came out with a lot to think about.

Parag flew to London, watched West Ham hold Man City, and sat down with Jarrod Bowen to talk leadership, motivation and what it takes to keep a dressing room alive.

#IPL2026 #RiyanParag #RajasthanRoyals

[India Today Sports @ITGDsports]

#Morocco looked flat before half-time. They looked unstoppable after it.

#AzzedineOunahi inspired a ruthless second-half turnaround as Morocco ended #Canada's dream with a 3-0 win to reach the #FIFAWorldCup2026 quarter-finals.

@AmarPanicker's report 👇
https://t.co/cAhE12hwrE

[India Today Sports @ITGDsports]

#France were expected to steamroll #Paraguay. Instead, they were dragged into a bruising battle of wills.

#KylianMbappe's penalty, Desire Doue's impact and Paraguay's remarkable resistance shaped a gripping #FIFAWorldCup2026 Round of 16 contest.

Read @AmarPanicker's report ⤵️

https://t.co/hKfeNZjdrD

[IndiaToday @IndiaToday]

#France were expected to steamroll #Paraguay. Instead, they were dragged into a bruising battle of wills.

#KylianMbappe's penalty, Desire Doue's impact and Paraguay's remarkable resistance shaped a gripping #FIFAWorldCup2026 Round of 16 contest.

Read @AmarPanicker's report ⤵️

https://t.co/axPLkG1qdl

[India Today Sports @ITGDsports]

One goal for Cristiano Ronaldo, one headache for Portugal

@DeboDenoC writes as Portugal ready to face Spain in the #FIFAWorldCup Round of 16

#CristianoRonaldo
https://t.co/FaQU7cXPMF

[India Today Sports @ITGDsports]

Belgium are through to the Round of 16 after an extraordinary 3-2 extra-time win over Senegal, overturning a two-goal deficit before a dramatic VAR-awarded penalty settled a World Cup classic.

Read @AmarPanicker's full match report. ⚽

#FIFAWorldCup2026 #Belgium #Senegal #BELvsSEN

https://t.co/HKCZOWTdAy

[India Today Sports @ITGDsports]

#Paraguay have authored the greatest night in their footballing history.

Led by Orlando Gill's heroics, La Albirroja stunned four-time champions #Germany on penalties to book their place in the FIFA World Cup Round of 16.

Read the report written by @AmarPanicker

#FIFAWorldCup2026 #GERvsPAR

https://t.co/XN5eyWF68R

[𒋻 @AdiiiFCB]

Will they ask Christian Pulisic or Weston Mckennie what do they think about their country inflicting a genocide in Gaza and bombing Iranian kids? Why are these type of questions always asked to Asians and Africans?

[India Today Sports @ITGDsports]

#OusmaneDembélé had to wait years to win over France. One unforgettable night against Norway changed everything.

The Ballon d'Or winner's historic #FIFAWorldCup2026 hat-trick was years in the making.

@AmarPanicker ✍️

Read:
https://t.co/UcqHs2JZCC

[India Today Sports @ITGDsports]

Vaibhav Sooryavanshi is set for a historic India debut in the T20I series against Ireland.

A debut will mean that Vaibhav will now become the youngest Indian to play men's international cricket, beating Sachin Tendulkar's record.

Ahead of the historic occasion, we asked a few veteran journalists:

How famous was Sachin Tendulkar before his first game for the national team?

[Geopolitik @geopolitiik]

What a statement. Probably the greatest statement made by any cricketer ever.

[Joy Bhattacharjya @joybhattacharj]

For a moment let us set aside the fact that changing the name of the AIFF to the Football Federation of Bharat or adding Vande Mataram in addition to the National Anthem before matches is not going to make any material difference to how the Indian team plays football.
My question is, did none of the committee members in the room even think that as the guardians and guiding lights of the world's most popular sport in the world's most populous country, these were not the decisions that every football lover was looking for from them?
And that worries me more than any name change or additional ceremony. They have no idea how tone deaf their decisions sounded in the middle of a World Cup, utterly detached from ground realities.

[shireenahmed.bsky.social @_shireenahmed_]

Absolutely teaching this as a "don't do this" lesson in my sports journalism class.

[IndiaToday @IndiaToday]

Messi vs Ronaldo: A rivalry that refuses to end. 🐐

This #FIFAWorldCup2026 is proof that two icons have grown beyond goals and trophies.

It's now a fan culture unlike anything the sport has ever seen.

@AmarPanicker ✍️

#MessiVsRonaldo #FIFAWorldCup2026
https://t.co/BxrtfvVv6L

[India Today Sports @ITGDsports]

Messi vs Ronaldo: A rivalry that refuses to end. 🐐

This #FIFAWorldCup2026 is proof that two icons have grown beyond goals and trophies.

It's now a fan culture unlike anything the sport has ever seen.

@AmarPanicker ✍️

#MessiVsRonaldo #FIFAWorldCup2026
https://t.co/PLGBW2SMCN

[Akshay Ramesh @iamnotakshayr]

This from a 19-year-old. Stop everything and read this.

[Internet Freedom Foundation (IFF) @internetfreedom]

Dear Ministry of IT,
Scammers are reportedly using Spyware and Mass Surveillance Facial Recognition to leak NEET papers. Kindly issue a ban. /s

[Pavel Durov @durov]

Banning social media for teenagers only puts them in greater danger.

Teens are forced to switch to VPNs — and unlock far worse illegal content.

We’ve seen this before. When the Russian government banned Telegram, 95% of Russian teenagers kept using it. They just moved to VPNs.

[Reuben Joe Joseph @reubenjoe14]

Can I just say that the number of long-range goals/attempts at the World Cup after a long season of the Arsenalification of football is a balm to the soul

[Pavel Durov @durov]

India’s IT ministry banned Telegram for one week because some users shared leaked exam questions.

This punishes 150M+ ordinary Telegram users in India — not the insiders who leaked the exam materials.

And the ban hasn't stopped anything. The leaks just moved to other apps.

[India Today Sports @ITGDsports]

What was your first #FIFAWorldCup memory?

@AmarPanicker asked colleagues around the @IndiaToday newsroom about their first World Cup memory that first captured their imagination.

The answers were nostalgic, surprising and deeply personal.

Read:
https://t.co/3cWPuAUEpz