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CSK vs RCB Live Streaming, IPL 2024: When and where to watch Chennai Super Kings vs Royal Challengers Bangalore?

Chennai Super Kings vs Royal Challengers Bengaluru Live Streaming, IPL 2024: A high-stakes match between cross-city rivals Chennai Super Kings and Royal Challengers Bengaluru on Friday will usher in IPL 2024, but, beyond the grandeur around it, the two protagonists will have to find early answers to some deep questions as they attempt to enter a rarefied territory. The Super Kings are five-time and defending champions, and a sixth title will put them in a space where no team has entered so far, not even Mumbai Indians, who also have five IPL trophies. On the other hand, the Royal Challengers, who recently grabbed their maiden title through Women’s Premier League, will be eager to add a first IPL title to their shelf. However, they have their own challenges to master. Find all live str...
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Alcaraz storms past Marozsan to reach Indian Wells quarters

Carlos Alcaraz beat Fabian Marozsan 6-3 6-3 to reach the Indian Wells quarter-finals on Tuesday and avenge his loss to the Hungarian at the Italian Open last year. The Spaniard was in control throughout the match, pounding forehands and never losing his serve as he took another step towards defending his title in the California desert. A crosscourt forehand on match point sealed the win and second seed Alcaraz, who has said his only goal is to win the tournament again, had only a muted reaction after advancing, nodding to his team and yelling “Vamos”. Marozsan was a qualifier when he stunned Alcaraz in straight sets in Rome last May but Alcaraz turned the tables on centre court with a clinical and comprehensive win. “Honestly I was nervous before the match, I’m not going to lie,” Alcara...
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Barcelona into Champions League last eight with 3-1 win over Napoli

Barcelona reached the Champions League quarter-finals for the first time in four years after a thrilling 3-1 home win over Napoli in their last-16 second leg gave them a deserved 4-2 aggregate victory on Tuesday. Early goals by Fermin Lopez and Joao Cancelo set the hosts on their way and, after Amir Rrahmani cut the deficit before the break, Robert Lewandowski wrapped up the win with a late third. Napoli had never beaten Barca in their previous five meetings and it turned out to be a repeat of the 2020 Champions League meeting with a 3-1 home win for the Spanish side after a 1-1 draw in Naples. That was the last time the Catalans had won a knockout stage game in the competition and their most recent qualification for the last eight. In a highly entertaining affair at Montjuic Stadium, B...
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A kick-off to history: English Premier League gets its first Indian-origin referee

When Sunny Singh Gill blows the whistle at London’s Selhurst Park Stadium on Saturday, he will become the first person of South Asian origin to referee a match in the English Premier League. And in doing so, the 39-year-old will be carrying forward the family legacy.Sunny’s appointment to officiate the match between Crystal Palace and Luton Town was announced Tuesday by the Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL), which appoints referees for Premier League games. While the game itself might not be a marquee clash for a majority of football followers beyond those of the two clubs, for the Gills, from Iver near London, it’ll be a moment for generations. Sunny is the elder of the two sons of Jarnail Singh Gill, 62, who remains the only referee to have worn a turban in the English...
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Delhi cricket’s steep slide: Association sits on report that flagged what’s wrong

The Delhi District Cricket Association (DDCA) has a “compromised and conflicted” selection process that bypasses the chief selector and is marked by “rampant interference” of its officials.This is the key point flagged in a scathing indictment by DDCA’s Technical Expert Group (TEG) in the wake of Delhi’s dismal showing last season. The group, chosen by DDCA, includes two 1983 World Cup winners Madan Lal and Sunil Valson and first-class player Vinay Lamba, was set up before the start of the 2022-23 season. Delhi had finished sixth in Group B in last season’s Ranji Trophy and failed to qualify for  the knockouts this season too. The TEG report, submitted last March, is part of a police complaint filed in December 2023 at the IP Estate Police Station by one Avdesh Sharma, that names top DD...
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Yashasvi Jaiswal surpasses Rahul Dravid, equals Virat Kohli

India’s Yashasvi Jaiswal has scored more than fifty plus score in every Test of the ongoing series against England. The young left-hander has also scored two double-centuries in the series. With a Test remaining in Dharamshala Jaiswal is on the verge of breaking the record for the most runs in a bilateral series. During the fourth Test in Ranchi Jaiswal equalled the record of Virat Kohli of 655 runs tally which the latter made against England as well in 2016 at home. In addition to that Jaiswal has surpassed current Indian coach Rahul Dravid’s tally of 619 runs and 602 runs against Australia and England respectively away from home. Ahead of Jaiswal in the list is Kohli (692 runs) who has had a coming-of-age Test series against Australia away in 2014/15. However, former cricketer Sunil G...
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Smiles are back: Officials promise land to hockey star Jyoti Chhetri to build house

THE SMILES do not leave the faces of India’s hockey striker Jyoti Chhetri, her parents and brother. Along with joy, there’s an overwhelming sense of relief. On the day The Indian Express reported that Jyoti, who was part of the national team participating in the FIH League here, has been fighting to avert demolition of her house in Panposh, Rourkela, local government officials Tuesday visited the family and assured them of help. Taking a sympathetic view of the situation, the officials promised them a plot of land where they can build a new house. Separately, the Odisha government announced a cash prize of Rs 12.5 lakh for Jyoti and other players from the state who won laurels at the recently concluded Hockey 5s World Cup, Asian Games and Asian Champions Trophy. “This morning, some peop...
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Chelsea all at sea: Ponderous Pochettino, misfiring stars despite £1 billion in transfers and clueless American owner

Mauricio Pochettino was on a rambling roll after Chelsea’s loss to Wolves last week. His stream of thought went like this: “To be focused on playing football, you need to be free in your mind. You can’t be affected because of the stock market in New York or Tokyo, or the weather in I don’t know where because the farms cannot grow the cereals. That is why I keep my hair like this. It’s because I do not suffer for things that I am not in charge of. I only suffer for sport, for football, to try to improve the players, to give them good things. A good platform to win games. If there is no rain at my farm, I cannot grow the crops. You kill the business of my family on the farm and they need money. That is stress. With that, you can lose your hair. But I cannot lose my hair because the oppone...
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In U-19 cricketers’ journey to WC final, meet those who laid ground for them

The flight from Mumbai to South Africa for India’s Under-19 cricketers was long and tiring. The trek to the final, where they will meet Australia on Sunday in a repeat of the senior men’s World Cup final, was also tough. Their real journey, though, was several years in the making. Many of these young cricketers left the comforts of their hometown, and the warmth of their relatives and friends, so that they could realise their cricketing dreams. Uday Saharan, the captain, was only 12 when he shifted from his home in Rajasthan’s Sri Ganganagar district to Punjab’s Fazilka district, 80 km away, so that he could get better training facilities. Vice captain Saumy Pandey and his parents moved from Bharatpur in Madhya Pradesh’s Sidhi district to a rented accommodation in Rewa, 40 km away, so t...
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Why it’s not wise to write-off Novak Djokovic

Stadiums are kangaroo courts, infamous for their hasty judgments. Sports fans are instant opinion-makers. They are also the judge and jury. So, last weekend at the Australian Open, after his loss to 22-year-old Jannik Sinner in the semifinal, the verdict on Novak Djokovic was diligently passed. The greatest ever tennis player was past his prime at 36; the 20-something Gen-Next had finally caught up and it was curtains for the Djokovic era.The undisputed World No.1 would call the face-off with Sinner his “worst Grand Slam match ever.” Statistics too indicated so. The man known to play a flawless percentage game had 54 unforced errors. One of the best returners in the history of the sport didn’t have a single break point on Sinner’s serve. It was the darkest day of Djokovic’s sparkling ca...
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Nozomi Okuhara’s nightmare in India: Long wait at airport, fleeced by cabbie, 4-hour-long wait time in hotel lobby

Former World champion and Olympic medallist, Japan’s Nozomi Okuhara has narrated her allegedly nightmarish experience when she arrived in India for the Odisha Open badminton Super 100, including an anxious time during the stopover in Delhi and trouble checking into a hotel in Cuttack.This follows certain ‘problems’ foreign players posted about, at tournaments in Lucknow and Guwahati the last two weeks. Okuhara, a former World No.1, posted about the problems she had in hailing a cab at Delhi airport and having to wait for more than four hours to check into a Cuttack hotel, on fansnet.jp. “The full story of harsh travel in India. I was prepared for it, but due to a series of problems, it was a physically and mentally demanding journey. I think I can survive somehow with the help of (PV) S...
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WPL sets moneyball rolling for women’s game: Crore-plus for 2 uncapped players

When pace bowling all-rounder Kashvee Gautam, 20, finished her training in Chandigarh and picked her phone, she saw at least 100 missed calls. Sensing she had been picked up in the Women’s Premier League (WPL) auction, she dialled her father Dinesh who told her that she was bagged by Gujarat Giants for Rs 2 crore — the highest a women cricketer who is yet to represent the country has ever got.Kashvee’s earnings are more than that of the present India captain Harmanpreet Kaur, who was roped in by Mumbai Indians for Rs 1.80 crore in the first season last year. Senior Indian player Smriti Mandhana, with Rs 3.40 crore, is the WPL’s highest earner. Hard-hitting opener Vrinda Dinesh, 22, too, was at the nets with the Karnataka Under-23 team that was participating in a BCCI age-group tournamen...
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Squash: For 15-year old prodigy Anahat Singh, a journey of passion and perspective

Spotlight has come early in Anahat Singh’s life. At an age where almost anyone would still be trying to figure out what they want their careers to be, the 15-year old Anahat has a path in front of her. But along with that, she has perspective too.At the Asian Games, when India played Hong Kong in the women’s team semifinal, Anahat was up against a top 50 player in the world in Lee Ka Yi with the match poised at 1-1. A win for her, unlikely as it should be on paper, would have taken India to the gold medal match. After losing two hard-fought games, Anahat put together a sensational run to save eight match points and had the momentum on her side but eventually lost. As she stepped out of the court, she sat on the bench and stared into the distance. India had won bronze, but the teenager ...
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China Masters Super 750: Satwik-Chirag fall just short in the final after nearly scripting an epic comeback

An epic comeback, by definition, requires a setback. On Sunday, in the men’s doubles final of the China Masters Super 750, India’s Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty seemed down and out at various points in the deciding third game. World No.1 Liang Wei Keng and Wang Chang led 10-3 and then 19-10. They had seven match points at 20-13. The finish line was in sight. They were bouncing around the court like Energizer bunnies.But the Indians, top seeds at the event, calmly reeled off one point after another to save six of those championship points. But in the end, they fell just short of what would have been one of the all-time great fightbacks, as Liang-Wang won the final 21-19 18-21 21-19 after a 71-minute thriller. It also brought an end to a remarkable win streak for Satwik-Chirag...
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After loss, a PM Modi pep talk in dressing room: ‘Played well, tried hard’

AFTER THE World Cup final loss on Sunday, the disappointed Indian dressing room got a surprise visitor. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, after handing the winners’ trophy to Australian skipper Pat Cummins, dropped by to console and motivate captain Rohit Sharma and coach Rahul Dravid’s heartbroken team whose 10-game imperious World Cup march was halted in the game they comprehensively lost by six wickets. Those present at the interaction said Modi, after addressing the Indian team, sought out individual players to have a word with them. Mohammad Shami, the tournament’s leading wicket-taker and the pacer responsible for triggering a frenzy at the stadium with his deadly spell, would later tweet a picture of him resting his head on the Prime Minister’s shoulder. Of his 24 wickets in this Wor...
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The sleeper hit this World Cup: A simple, informal show from Pakistan

FOUR FORMER Pakistan captains, one of them a living legend, an endearing anchor, a rudimentary set, no complicated data-crunching, no over-philosophising analysis, no raised voices and no hero-worship.This World Cup, a no-frills, rich-in-content talk show featuring cricket’s renowned pundits from Pakistan — Wasim Akram, Moin Khan, Misbah-ul-Haq, Shoaib Malik  — along with a pleasant presenter, Fakhr-e-Alam, with an entertainment background, has cut through the clutter and proved to be a sleeper hit. The Pavilion, a flagship free-streaming show of A Sports, part of Pakistan’s largest media network ARY, is fast approaching the 1000k subscriber mark with most of its hour-long video capsules securing close to one million views. Among the lakhs of Indians following the show are former India ...
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TV & digital viewership, stadium attendance at World Cup make ICC hopeful about future of ODIs

At a time when doubts are often expressed over the future of the 50-over format, the ongoing ODI World Cup in India has given the International Cricket Council (ICC) several reasons for optimism. According to the ICC’s chief commercial officer Anurag Dahiya, as of the 35th game of the tournament, the television viewership had hit 500 million and the digital numbers too had seen record numbers with the organisers expecting the overall tally to be double that of the 2019 edition. Following successive T20 World Cups in 2021 and 2022, there were apprehensions ahead of this World Cup. Despite being staged in India, the usual buzz that one witnessed in 2011 was missing. There were also fears that the cricket-crazy public’s appetite for the 50-over game may have come down. But Dahiya said that...
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Virat Kohli and Kane Williamson: Rivals on the pitch, friends off it who bond over YouTube links and books

Virat Kohli is talking about human species’ larger role in the planet. Why we are here and what’s our role. Not quite Yuval Noah Harari, but with spiritualism sprinkled. In the ICC video from a couple of years ago, it takes a few seconds to sink in that he is actually talking about his friendship with Kane Williamson.“We connected on lots of things beyond cricket: how we look at life, the larger reason for everything, it was interesting to note his way of looking at life is pretty similar to mine. We bonded on that,” Kohli says. “To keep an awareness of what we actually are here as human beings, as species, a larger reason for why we are here and be at ease with ourselves. Then everything becomes opportunity and no pressure. I was amazed to know that we connected on books, the videos or...
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‘South Africa certainly have a potent attack’: Mitchell Starc before SA vs AUS World Cup semi-final

Australia is on a seven-match unbeaten streak going into the semifinals. Pat Cummins’ lineup lost its opening two games to India and South Africa but rebounded strongly to secure a semifinal spot well ahead of time. Opening batter David Warner, with 499 runs in nine games, and spinner Adam Zampa, with a tournament-leading 22 wickets, have led the turnaround. Then, allrounder Glenn Maxwell set the tournament afire with two stunning knocks. The first was against the Netherlands in Delhi, where he smacked the fastest World Cup century off only 40 balls. The second was against Afghanistan in Mumbai when Australia was down to 91/7 in a 292-run chase. Maxwell, cramping and in pain, plundered an unbeaten, stand-and-deliver 201 off 128 balls in what is widely regarded as one of the greatest ODI...
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Arsenal vs Manchester City: A season-defining game awaits

The last time Arsenal secured full three points against Manchester City, in the Premier League, the days before the Christmas of 2015, Arsene Wenger was in charge. His side were in hunt for the title, but eventually finished 10 points behind fairytale artistes Leicester City. Pep Guardiola had not yet made up his mind to descend next season at the Etihad. The game extended City’s abysmal record at the Emirates to one win in 19 bouts. Wenger, in a profusion of optimism, said this “victory could fuel the title charge.” Seven years and 15 meetings later, Arsenal are yet to taste a victory in the league against a club that is vaulting into the hall-of-famer territory, if they already have not. Until last year, when Arsenal demonstrated their title-contending prowess until crash-burning towa...