Author: Soorya G

It was an action-packed day of football in the La Liga as defending champions Atletico Madrid beat an ambitious Rayo Vallecano side. Athletic Club were held by Getafe, while Granada beat Alaves in a thrilling five-goal encounter. Osasuna breezed past a tame Levante squad that offered very little resistance, and Goncalo Guedes’ powerful strike from inside the six-yard box meant that Valencia posted an important win over Elche, who are now at 14th place. Getafe and Atheltic Club played out a gripping draw as striker Enes Unal’s header put the visitors in front after just three minutes of play. It was an end-to-end game from…

ICC Women’s ODI World Cup favourites Australia nonchalantly brushed the Indian women away as the group stage of the marquee tournament enters its business end. Australia chased down the 278-run target that the Indians set them, with absolutely no jitters along the way, almost as if the daunting target was nothing. Openers Rachael Haynes and Alyssa Healy created a solid platform before captain Meg Lanning played a fabulous knock of 97 to take the Aussies home comfortably by a six-wicket margin. Earlier in the day, the Indian women produced an excellent batting performance, courtesy of the middle-order trio of Yastika Bhatia, Mithali Raj and Harmanpreet Kaur, who all contributed valuable half centuries, before Pooja Vastrakar’s entertaining…

Aussie superstar and one of RCB’s shining lights of the 2021 IPL season Glenn Maxwell feels that the world will see a transformed version of former Indian captain Virat Kohli, who had also stepped down from his position as captain of RCB before the start of the UAE leg of the 2021 IPL. “He knows he’s handing the captaincy over, which I think is potentially a big burden for him. It might have been something that’s been weighing him down for a while and now that he’s been able to release it, it might be dangerous news for opposition teams,” Maxwell…

The South African Test match side has been left in a pickle, as their premier players have all opted to prioritise the Indian Premier League over the Test series against Bangladesh. The mass exodus of players towards the lucrative league did not seem to impress skipper Dean Elgar, who said that while the board left the decision to each individual, the choices of the players would be “a litmus test of loyalty”. However, the series will still have to be played, and Cricket South Africa announced a 15-man squad for the Bangladesh series.  Middle-order batsman Khaya Zondo, who has shown lots of promise in…

The Pakistan squad which faced the West Indies in December in the home white-ball series has not been tinkered with too much, apart from a couple of forced changes. Fast bowler Mohammed Hasnain, whose action was reported for a suspected illegal action during the Big Bash League, where he appeared for the Sydney Thunder, failed a biomechanics test which revealed that the paceman’s elbow extension exceeded the 15-degree limit, which effectively puts him out of action until such time as his action is deemed legal by an ICC-certified biomechanics lab. Hasnain has been replaced by Hasan Ali, who last played a…

The South African women continued their stellar campaign in the 2022 Women’s World Cup with a crucial win against New Zealand, as they extended their unbeaten run in the tournament to four games. The win now sees the Proteas put one foot into the semifinals, along with favourites Australia, who are currently the table-toppers, bettering South Africa only in terms of net run rate. New Zealand skipper Sophie Devine won the toss and decided to bat first but lost her opening partner Suzie Bates very early on in the innings, as an inswinging delivery beat an attempted cover drive, crashing into the stumps. Devine…

Seven Indian players will feature in the 50-over tournament and are expected to travel this week. The ongoing Dhaka Premier League will soon see an influx of Indian talent, as seven Indian players have been signed up by the teams of Bangladesh’s only List-A competition. Hanuma Vihari and Abhimanyu Easwaran are amongst the top names who will feature in the tournament. Parvez Rasool, Baba Aparajith, Chirag Jani, Ashok Menaria, and Gurinder Singh will complete the Indian representation in the tournament. All the players have signed deals varying in duration and are expected to join their respective teams shortly. It is also interesting to note that none of the players…

Indian veteran batter Harmanpreet Kaur has played crucial innings of 109 and 71 in the ongoing IIC Women’s ODI World Cup, and has played an instrumental role in the team’s success so far Despite an underwhelming period between the last World Cup and the ongoing edition of the tournament, Kaur boasts an incredible average of 50.46 in World Cups. Having played 19 innings in the marquee tournament so far, she has amassed 757 runs, placing her in elite company. Kaur has the ninth-highest average in World Cups, just behind legendary ex-England captain Charlotte Edwards. She has had a disappointing run from 2017 onwards and faced a severe drought…

The former Indian cricketer Mohammed Kaif has drawn a lot of flak online after his recent comments about the Indian Test match side after the conclusion of their home series against Sri Lanka, which was their first under new all-format skipper Rohit Sharma. India blew away their southern neighbours in relentless fashion, dominating the entire series, as they won both games by huge margins. Wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant was named man of the series for his brilliant performances in both games. Post the conclusion of the series, Kaif took to Twitter to express his happiness over the achievements of the Indian squad, and…

The Punjab Kings have taken an out-of-the-box decision as they attempt to capture their maiden Indian Premier League trophy appointing former England domestic cricketer Julian Wood, who is regarded as a leading expert in power-hitting and has worked with players and franchises in leagues across the world. Although Wood does not have any competitive cricket in him for the better part of two decades, he is still considered as one of the best with regard to his technique and has been approached by PBKS for his expertise in hitting the long ball. He played in 62 matches for English County Hampshire, scoring…