Paceman Lockie Ferguson unleashed a devastating five-wicket barrage as New Zealand downed the West Indies in a roller coaster Twenty20 series opener in Auckland on Friday. The match -- the first international cricket played in New Zealand for almost nine months -- produced a nail-biting finale as the Black Caps reached 179-5 in the final over after being set a target of 176. Persistent showers meant the innings were reduced to 16 and many players, particularly the tourists, were rusty after only

American basketball superstar Stephen Curry shared a thoughtful message and thanked each and everyone, especially his wife Ayesha and family for making a positive impact in his life. On Friday, in a lengthy Instagram post, Curry wrote: Thankful today and every day. Ups and down. All times. Behind these amazing smiles, there's so much to be thankful for! But there's so much room to grow, so many lessons to learn, so many mountains to climb to reach our full potential as individuals and a family.

My decision to return home after the first Test for the impending birth of my first child was made prior to the October 26 selection meeting and I conveyed the same to the selectors at the meeting, India skipper Virat Kohli disclosed on Thursday. Kohli will return home after the first five-day Test in Adelaide that ends on December 21 to be with his wife Anushka, who is due for delivery sometime in January. The decision was made before we had the selection meeting and I explained the same to sel

Newly crowned seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton ended the opening day of practice for the Bahrain Grand Prix fastest for Mercedes even as Red Bull's Alexander Albon crashed. The Briton lapped the 5.4-kilometer long Sakhir track in one minute, 28.971 seconds, 0.347 seconds quicker than Max Verstappen who was second for Red Bull. Valtteri Bottas in the other Mercedes was third. Hamilton set his fastest time under the floodlights in the second of Friday's two 90-minute sessions. The 35-year-old ha

Jockey Yash Narredu stole the limelight at the Pune racetrack where the Mumbai racing season 2020-21 was flagged off yesterday. The youngest jockey of the Narredu clan rode in three of the eight races, riding two winners and losing the third by a whisker. In the fifth race, the Secret Star Plate, Yash rode Giant Star trained by his brother Deepesh Narredu. He was unperturbed until midway in the short Pune homestretch when the race came to a boil and Sunrise Ruby (Zervan up) and Mount Moriah (San

In a security breach, two protesters made their way into the field of play during the first ODI between India and Australia before being escorted out here on Friday. One of the invaders, carrying a placard denouncing India's Adani Group's coal project in Australia, reached close to the pitch just before pacer Navdeep Saini was getting ready to bowl the sixth over of the home team's innings. The two were escorted out by the security after their brief invasion. Fans have returned to the ground for

India skipper Virat Kohli on Friday questioned his team's body language after the opening ODI loss to Australia. India made a dismal start to their tour of Australia, losing the first ODI by 66 runs here. Kohli's men started exactly on a note they wouldn't have liked, giving away 374 runs in 50 overs with rival captain Aaron Finch (114 off 124 balls) and his illustrious predecessor Steve Smith (105 off 66 balls) hitting contrasting hundreds. A pitch that looked docile during the first half sudde

India were rusty in all three facets of the game. Fielders dropped catches, bowlers dished out too many loose deliveries and the batsmen tried to shrug off the rustiness by trying to hit out. It was far from ideal, but after 14 days of quarantine it was always going to be difficult, especially after Australia elected to bat on a placid Sydney Cricket Ground pitch. For the first few overs, there was intent and enthusiasm. But this was not the typical Australian surface that the Indian fast bowler

Jatin Paranjape recently completed his stint as BCCI's national selector along with Sarandeep Singh (North) and Devang Gandhi (East). Paranjape's term was interrupted by the Supreme Court's diktat based on Justice Lodha Committee's report to have national selectors of only Test repute and not more than three selectors on the panel. With the Supreme Court amending its order later, Paranjape and Gandhi were reinstated in the committee after 18 months in August 2018. Paranjape, who became a nationa

Napoli's players honoured club legend Diego Maradona on Thursday by stepping out onto the pitch wearing his number 10 jersey ahead of their Europa League match with Rijeka. Captain Lorenzo Insigne had earlier led the tributes alongside fans gathered outside the San Paolo Stadium before the game, Napoli's first since Maradona's death at the age of 60 on Wednesday. All wearing black armbands, the team also wore Maradona's iconic jersey during the team presentation and minute's silence, under a pho

Australia defeated India by 66 runs in the first One-day International at the Sydney Cricket Ground on Friday to take a 1-0 lead in the three-game series. Though there was a rearguard action from Hardik Pandya, who got his highest ODI score (90 off 76 balls) and added 128 runs for the fifth wicket with opener Shikhar Dhawan (74 off 86), Australia's total of 374 for six wickets in 50 overs, their highest against India in one-dayers, proved too daunting. India finished at 308 for eight wickets in

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on Thursday clarified the reason behind batsman Rohit Sharma not travelling to Australia with the rest of the squad after the conclusion of the Indian Premier League (IPL). India and Australia are slated to lock horns in three ODIs, three T20Is and four Test matches. Rohit was rested for the white-ball leg, but his participation in the Test series is not confirmed as he would be undergoing a further injury assessment on December 11. The BCCI has c

Skipper Aaron Finch and Steve Smith on Friday scored brilliant hundreds as Australia posted a monstrous 375-run target for India in the first ODI of the three-match series. Finch made 114 from 124 deliveries with the help of nine 4s and two 6s while Smith scored 105 off just 66 balls -- an innings studded with eleven 4s and four 6s -- as the hosts posted 374/6 in their allotted 50 overs at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG). Electing to bat, the hosts started off steadily with both Finch and David

The first ODI between Australia and India on Friday suffered a brief disruption as a group of protesters invaded the pitch at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) holding placards saying 'No $1B Adani Loan'. Two people made their way into the centre fielding circle holding up cardboard signs before the start of the seventh over. It took a while before the security guards reacted and escorted the protesters out of the field as players and umpires stood around wondering what was happening. The invaders

Players of both Australia and India cricket teams on Friday paid tribute to Australia's indigenous people by taking part in a 'barefoot circle' ceremony before the start of the first ODI at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG). Players from both teams paid tribute to Australia's indigenous people in a Barefoot Circle ceremony before the start of play, ICC tweeted along with the pictures of the ceremony. While many teams across the globe have taken a knee before games in their fight against racism, th

Indian cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar has always had a close connection with his fans. Sachin, who was born and brought up in Mumbai and is a true Mumbaikar, has entertained his fans for many decades before hanging up his gloves in 2013. Nonetheless, Sachin Tendulkar is very active on social media and often posts messages and updates on his personal life for his fans and followers. On November 25, 2020, Sachin shared a video on his Facebook profile, which he recorded earlier in January this yea

My decision to return home after the first Test for the impending birth of my first child was made prior to the October 26 selection meeting and I conveyed the same to the selectors at the meeting, India skipper Virat Kohli disclosed on Thursday. Kohli will return home after the first five-day Test in Adelaide that ends on December 21 to be with his wife Anushka who is due for delivery sometime in January. The decision was made before we had the selection meeting and I explained the same to sele

Fast bowler Ishant Sharma has been ruled out of India's upcoming four-match Test series against Australia, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) said on Thursday. The BCCI said that Ishant has completely recovered from the side strain he sustained during the 2020 Indian Premier League (IPL). While he's building up his workload in order to achieve Test match fitness, Mr. Ishant Sharma has been ruled out of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, said the board. The board also said that it will hav

Australia captain Aaron Finch on Friday won the toss and elected to bat against India in the first ODI of the three-match series at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG). We will bat first. It's great to have cricket back in Australia and to play in front of crowds will be nice, said Finch. The wicket looks good. Hopefully, we can put runs on the board and defend. Steve Smith is back and he replaces Mitchell Marsh, he added. For India, Mayank Agarwal will open the innings alongside Shikhar Dhawan, inf

Why do Indian cricket teams touring Australia face problems before a ball has been bowled? The latest instance involves cases of COVID-19 in Adelaide just prior to India's tour Down Under. Non-cricket incidents have affected Indian tourists since their first tour of Australia in 1947-48. India became independent on August 15, 1947 and Pakistan was born. This led to prominent Muslim cricketers Mushtaq Ali, Abdul Hafeez Kardar and Fazal Mahmood not joining the touring team. It may be added that Gu

Team India completed their tight 14-day quarantine period last night in Sydney. All players, support staff and families checked out of the highly-secured Western Sydney hotel quarantine and shifted to a regular city hotel. The hard lockdown restrictions that were imposed on the team will now be lifted and there will be more freedom. From today, players will be allowed to take a short walk outside and also pick up some take-away food from a local restaurant. Players will also be allowed to dine o

Not even the man or woman who first coined the phrase expect the unexpected must have imagined this. Today, the Mumbai racing season 2020-21 begins at Pune, with hundreds of horses which traveled from Mumbai to Pune more than six months ago very eager to jump out of the starting gates. The fact that all these horses have been working on the exercise track for so long should ensure they have the best possible fitness to get going. And that, ladies and gentlemen, promises exciting, competitive rac

Newly-crowned seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton will have his sights set on rounding off a dominant season with a flourish as Formula One heads into its season ending triple-header starting with Sunday's Bahrain Grand Prix. The Briton, who had surpassed Michael Schumacher's record haul of wins, pole positions and podiums, became Formula One's most successful driver ever after he equalled the German great's tally of seven titles at the last race in Turkey. Three wins from the final three r

KL Rahul almost forgot that his last ODI innings resulted in a century for India. It is also easy to forget that Australia and India played a three-match ODI series earlier this year. It has been such a turbulent year that everyone just wants cricket to begin. Today's encounter will be the first cricket match at the Sydney Cricket Ground this season. The winter rugby codes stretched well into October, meaning the ground staff had minimal time to repair and prepare the pitch. The fresh pitch and

For the last two months, Virat Kohli and Aaron Finch were sharing the same dressing room for Royal Challengers Bangalore and hatching plans to beat their opponents in the Indian Premier League, where they finished in the Top Four. Today onwards, Kohli and Finch will be in rival camps where the former will aim to do an encore over the Australians. During the 2018-19 historic Test series win, India also beat the Aussies 2-1 in the ODIs and drew the T20I series 1-1. It was the first time that Austr

India captain Virat Kohli on Thursday didn't hide his displeasure at the Rohit Sharma injury saga, stating that confusion and lack of clarity has led to the team management playing a waiting game on his availability which is not ideal. Answering media queries online ahead of the ODI series against Australia starting today, Kohli said Rohit was said to be unavailable before the selection committee meeting earlier this month. Before the selection meeting, we got a mail that he is unavailable, that

Tennis great Boris Becker said Wednesday he is stepping down from a position overseeing youth development and the Davis Cup team at the German Tennis Federation. The six-time major winner said he no longer had enough time to do the job that he started in 2017. Becker has been charged in London over accusations he hid assets including two Wimbledon trophies, real estate and bank accounts during bankruptcy proceedings. He could face several years in prison if convicted. As head of men's tennis in

It's a three-way battle to pick the national selector from East Zone with Shiv Sunder Das, Ranadeb Bose and Debasis Mohanty in the fray. Bowlers everywhere Mohanty is currently a junior national selector since 2018. If the former India pacer is elevated to the senior selection committee, then Bose is likely to get a look in for the junior national selection committee. Das, the former India opener, may have an outside chance to be a part of the senior national selection committee, which is domina

New Zealand Cricket (NZC) head Greg Barclay has been elected as the ICC's new Independent Chairman after he comfortably defeated Singapore's Imran Khwaja to succeed India's Shashank Manohar. The voting was carried out during ICC's annual quarterly meeting on Tuesday. The electronic voting process involved 16 board of directors -- 12 from full member (Test playing nations), three associate countries and one independent female director (Indra Nooyi of PepsiCo). It is an honour to be elected as the

Australia's head coach Justin Langer on Wednesday asserted that there would be no room for abuse when his team takes on India in an upcoming series but he expects plenty of banter between the two evenly-matched sides. Langer, who had a reputation of being an aggressive player himself, said that in the last couple of years, the Aussies have had lots of conversations about behaviours both on and off the field. Australia have copped quite a bit of criticism for its players' win-at-all-cost mindset

It has been an eventful return for Sania Mirza after embracing motherhood and giving birth to baby boy Izhaan, by winning the very first doubles title in January 2020 after nearly a two-year break from the sport. The Doubles title at the WTA Hobart International 2020 with her Ukrainian partner Nadiia Kichenok also cemented the fact that she has put in the hard yards to be back at 100% and begin her second innings right from the point where she left it. The winner of six grand slam titles and Pad

The debate on who between Pele and Diego Maradona was the better player didn't make sense to many who grew up in the 80s and 90s because the magician from Brazil last played in October 1977. Interestingly, even FIFA seemed to fail in this matter as the Player of the Century award was handed jointly to Pele and Maradona in 2000. No wonder then that football lost not just one of its favourite sons on Wednesday as Maradona passed away, but also the reason why millions across the globe took to the g

Football great Diego Maradona''s death triggered an outpouring of emotional tributes in the Indian sporting fraternity on Wednesday with the country''s cricket chief Sourav Ganguly saying that he has lost his hero. Maradona, considered the greatest footballer of all time alongside Brazil''s Pele, died following a cardiac arrest, two weeks after undergoing a surgery to remove a blood clot in his brain. My hero no more ..my mad genius rest in peace ..I watched football for you.. pic.twitter.com/Jh