Tag: The Indian Express

17Mar By source belowNo Comments

Sports

All England: An Se-young crowned again after 95-minute epic against Wang Zhi Yi in all-time classic

It was supposed to be the first year when women’s singles at the All England would feel the absence of legends like Tai Tzu-ying and Carolina Marin, lost to retirements and ravaged knees. A bunch of former champions – Chen Yufei, Nozomi Okuhara and Akane Yamaguchi – were fading before watching eyes, and churns of transitions like these take a toll on quality of contests. But An Se-young, the Korean Olympic champion and compulsive winner of most titles on the circuit, came into the Birmingham final, telling herself the crown had to be fought for, that all her great achievements were under lock and key, and this week was a race to the summit, from scratch. Chinese badminton did not disappoint. It did not let the ball, née shuttle, drop on the breathtaking legacy of women’s singles over the p...

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16Mar By source belowNo Comments

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Mumbai Indians, WPL 2025 champions: Harmanpreet Kaur leads the way with a special innings under pressure

SYNOPSIS: Mumbai Indians won their 2nd WPL title, riding on clutch performances from their star players, led by a Harmanpreet Kaur special. For Delhi Capitals, three straight final defeats.Meg Lanning’s Delhi Capitals faced yet another final heartbreak after having made it to three finals in three Women’s Premier League editions. Once again – as in the last two editions – it was their batting that let them down, as they fell short in the final hurdle at the Brabourne Stadium. Mumbai Indians clinched their second title, winning by 8 runs while defending 149/7, riding on match-winning performances from their star players. Leading the charge was Harmanpreet Kaur, the captain playing a sensational knock under pressure that proved to be the difference in the end. Harmanpreet steps up Before the...

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16Mar By source belowNo Comments

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Tokyo Olympian wrestlers Deepak Punia aims big with change in technique and weight category

Tokyo Olympian wrestler Deepak Punia returned to the mat on Saturday for the upcoming Asian Championships trials.However, Deepak competed in the 92 kg weight category, which is a non-Olympic category, instead of his pet 86 kg category. “Yes, I have changed my category at the moment. I will play in this category till the World Championships and return to 86 kg after that. Right now, I aim to be on the mat, no matter what category I play. So, it’s just preparation for the World Championships,” Deepak said. Story continues below this ad Returning to the mat after the Olympic qualifiers last year, Deepak triumphed in the trials, booking his berth for the upcoming Asian Championships. Deepak started the trials with a big win against Aryan, winning 10-0. His next opponent in the...

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14Mar By source belowNo Comments

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Former Australia striker Sarah Walsh optimistic of Indian women’s football team’s future

Sarah Walsh, former Australia player and the current head of women’s football in her country, believes India is on the path to becoming a women’s football powerhouse within the next 10 years. Walsh was in conversation with Isa Guha and former women’s footballer and FIFA Council Member Moya Todd at the RCB Innovation Lab Indian Sports Summit at the Padukone Dravid Centre for Sports Excellence on Friday. Walsh, who represented Australia at the Olympics and the FIFA World Cup, stressed how she saw tremendous potential for the Indian women’s football team’s growth on the global stage. Story continues below this ad “I am a little nervous about India in the future of football. I think they’re going to be a powerhouse in 10 years. If you look at world sport through the men’s spor...

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13Mar By source belowNo Comments

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Under-fire PCB revises match fees of players in National T20 Championship

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) on Thursday increased the players’ match fee for the National T20 Championship after its decision to enforce a pay cut faced severe backlash. The PCB had earlier reduced the match fees to Rs 10,000 and Rs 5,000 for players and reserves, forcing its chairman Mohsin Naqvi to issue orders to review the decision. Finding itself in a corner after widespread criticism, PCB has now increased the match fees of players to Rs 40,000 and reserves to Rs 20,000. Story continues below this ad Pakistan’s domestic cricket schedule and structure has been under discussion this season after the board abruptly stopped the National Under-19 Championship after just one day’s play. The decision to reduce the match fees was earlier taken on the orders of Naqvi aft...

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13Mar By source belowNo Comments

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‘He was a better and bigger performer’: Mohammad Hafeez and Shoaib Akhtar compare Hardik Pandya to Abdul Razzaq

Former Pakistan cricketers Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Hafeez would compare Indian all-rounder Hardik Pandya to another ex-Pakistan player Abdul Razzaq and both would agree that Razzaq was a better player than Hardik. However, Hafeez would also concede that Pakistan cricket should have taken more care of Razzaq and also the player himself should have responded more. “I would agree with him. You take out the details of Abdul Razzaq’s performances. He was a better and bigger performer. But the system didn’t look after him and the player also didn’t respond that much. He was limited in his skills and didn’t try to outdo his own potential. Whatever I’ve seen of Razzaq, he was better than this version of Hardik,” Hafeez said speaking on ‘Game on Hai.’ “Hardik is no Marshall, Waqar, Lee or Srinat...

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12Mar By source belowNo Comments

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Wouldn’t want Jasprit Bumrah to play more than Two Tests in a row against England: Shane Bond

Former New Zealand pacer Shane Bond has advised that India should not play Jasprit Bumrah for ‘more than two Tests in a row’ during this summer’s tour to England. Bond warned that another injury to the Indian ace could be a ‘career ender’. Bumrah hasn’t played since the fifth Test against Australia in Sydney in January, when he walked off for scans on Day 2. It was later diagnosed as a stress injury, forcing him to sit out of the Champions Trophy. Bond, who had his fair share of injuries, warned that the transition from the Indian Premier League, starting March 22, to the new World Test Championship cycle ‘will be a risk.’ Story continues below this ad “He’s too valuable for the next World Cup and stuff. So you’d be looking at five Tests in England, I wouldn’t want to be p...

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7Mar By source belowNo Comments

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ICC Safety and Security Manager Dave Musker thanks Pakistan police: The professionalism of the people I have been involved with is exceptional

Champions Trophy 2025 hosted by Pakistan came after 29 years amidst security concerns over the country. Pakistan’s leg of the tournament concluded the semifinal between South Africa and New Zealand in Lahore. The ICC Safety and Security Manager Dave Musker praised the arrangments and professionalism of the security during the tournament. “Just wanted to do a short video to thank all the Pakistani police. Police and the Army have been absolutely superb. Prior to the tournament, there were concerns over by visiting teams over to Pakistan. I personally had not doubts, the professionalism of the people I have been involved with is exceptional the cooperation and the respect I have been shown is amazing,” he said in a video,” Musker said. The country has organized comprehensive security team fo...

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7Mar By source belowNo Comments

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They are very big former players…requested to keep the choice of their words right: Babar Azam’s father slams his critics

Babar Azam has come under immense criticism for Pakistan’s recent performance in the Champions Trophy 2025. His knock against New Zealand in the tournament’s opener was lambasted by the former players because of Babar’s strike rate in a mammoth run chase, and amid the criticism Babar has been dropped from the upcoming T20I series against New Zealand. Babar’s father, Azam Siddique took to Instagram to express his views. He would recall Babar was the member of the ICC T20 team of the year, “Member of ICC’s Twenty20 of the year team, and even after getting the cap, he dropped. It is okay. He will perform in National T20 and in PSL. Insha Allah, he will come back soon after performing in the team,” he said. Siddique would also vent out his frustration on former Pakistan players. “They are very...

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16Feb By source belowNo Comments

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Express Exclusive: PCB chairman Mohsin Naqvi: ‘Champions Trophy is an opportunity to show Pakistan’s ability to host top-tier international cricket’

The moment that Pakistan long waited for is here, with the country set to host its first International Cricket Council event in nearly 30 years. A decade back, after the terrorist attack on the Sri Lanka team in 2009, international cricket had come to a standstill. However, since 2017 from hosting the Pakistan Super League to successfully hosting bilateral series against all Test teams barring India, the Pakistan Cricket Board has managed to put its country back on cricketing map. With the Champions Trophy set to begin on February 19 in Karachi, in an exclusive interaction with The Indian Express, PCB chair Mohsin Naqvi, also the country’s Interior Minister, shares the challenges the board overcame along the way. Excerpts Can you explain how big an undertaking it was to get everything read...

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7Feb By source belowNo Comments

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Ranji quarterfinal: Why there is more grit to Tamil Nadu than that meets the eye

Tamil Nadu skipper R Sai Kishore lays bare what his team has to overcome in the next five days at Nagpur where they face Vidarbha in the Ranji Trophy quarterfinals. “The real competition is with you. If you can face your own insecurities, if you can face your own mind, if you can face your own ego, I think there will be no one who can defeat you. I think that holds true for the Tamil Nadu team. If we can play to your potential, if we can face our own insecurities, there is no team that can stop us,” he says. In many ways, this is what Tamil Nadu are up against when they cross over the ropes at the Civil Lines in Nagpur, the preferred home venue for Vidarbha. As expected Vidarbha — which pocketed more points (40) than any other team in the group stages – have rolled out a green carpet to we...

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7Feb By source belowNo Comments

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Shreyas Iyer wasn’t likely to play if Kohli was fit…first Indian to score 500+ runs batting at 4: Aakash Chopra slams selection thought process

India was 19-2 when Shreyas Iyer walked to the crease on Thursday. The likes of Jofra Archer and Saqib Mahmood were bowling thunderbolts to the batters under lights defending 249 runs. However, Iyer was up to the challenge as he came up with a sublime counter-attacking innings of 36-ball 59 which changed the momentum of the game. After the game, Iyer would reveal that he was not supposed to play the game and it was only because Virat Kohli had an injury the night before. “As you all know I wasn’t supposed to play today. Virat unfortunately got injured and then I got the opportunity. I kept myself prepared. I knew that at any point of time I can get a chance to play. The same thing happened with me last year as well during the Asia Cup. I got injured and someone else came in and scored a ce...

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5Feb By source belowNo Comments

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‘Hopefully, I can be back for the first game’: Young star Sam Konstas on flying back to Australia amid Sri Lanka Tour

After being dropped from the Australian XI from the first Test against Sri Lanka, 19-year-old Australian sensation Sam Konstas has flown back to Sydney prior to the second Test against the hosts starting this week. Konstas is scheduled to play for New South Wales against Queensland in Brisbane in a Sheffield Shield match later this week and the news of Konstas flying back to Australia was broken by The Age on Tuesday. “That’s the plan. Hopefully, I can be back for the first game (NSW vs Queensland on Saturday),” Konstas told The Age while speaking at the team hotel in Galle when asked about his plans after reaching Sydney The 19-year-old opener had made his debut against India during the fourth Test at Melbourne in the Border-Gavaskar trophy. The NSW youngster had created history with a ...

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30Jan By source belowNo Comments

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IND vs ENG: India are playing with just one fast bowler…are missing a trick: Parthiv Patel

In the first three T20Is against England in the ongoing series India has picked up just one frontline seamer. If it was Arshdeep Singh in Kolkata, Chennai it was Mohammed Shami in Rajkot. Hardik Pandya took the new ball and bowled at the death and played the role of the second seamer in the side. The tactic bore fruits in the first two games however, India lost the third T20I at Rajkot and former Indian batter Parthiv Patel opiated that having an extra seamer on the night would have been better. “India is playing with just one fast bowler. You went with four spinners which worked in favour of Liam Livingstone. He went after them and scored runs. If another pacer was there in the Playing XI, it would have been easy to target Liam. India is missing a trick,” said Patel on Star Sports. While ...

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29Jan By source belowNo Comments

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Sri Lanka vs Australia: It’s really disappointing…to have only four Tests: Dhananjaya De Silva unhappy with schedule

Sri Lanka will play Australia in the two-match Test series at home starting on Wednesday. After the series, the only other series Sri Lanka is scheduled for is a two-match Test series in June against Bangladesh after which they play their next series in 2026 against West Indies a year later. “It’s disappointing, as a good Test cricketing country, to have only four Tests,” said Sri Lankan captain Dhananjaya de Silva ahead of the Test series against Australia. “Honestly, it is a big disadvantage, especially considering ours is a good side, as well,” he added. “I’m hoping we can get more fixtures than we have. We’re hoping to discuss the opportunity to play more Test series and hopefully, we get an open window for that. Hopefully, Sri Lanka Cricket can organize something. But all we can do i...

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28Jan By source belowNo Comments

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Virat Kohli checks in for Ranji Trophy: Greets old friends, plays football before batting for an hour

At 9 am on Tuesday, Pradeep Rana, a Delhi police sub-inspector was shocked by the presence of media gathering outside the Virender Sehwag gate at the Arun Jaitley Stadium. He alerted his superior over the phone: “Sir do log hi hai jyada security lag sakti hai, kuch aur log bhej do (We’ll need more security for today, please send more force).”A few minutes later, the buzz outside the Kotla stadium gathered pace with TV reporters and photo-journalists, trying to get the best shot of Virat Kohli, who entered the stadium in his car. Kohli is playing a Ranji Trophy match for Delhi after a gap of 12 years. Delhi will take on Railways from January 30 in their last group match. Story continues after this ad Delhi’s team manager Mahesh Bhati greeted Kohli outside the Virat Kohli pa...

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25Jan By source belowNo Comments

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India vs England: Shivam Dube set to join Indian squad in Rajkot for ongoing T20I series

Allrounder Shivam Dube, who was part of the World Cup-winning campaign last year, has been added to India’s T20I squad for the ongoing five-match T20 series against England by the senior selection committee. Dube will join the Indian team in Rajkot. The Indian Express understands that Dube has been called up to the squad as Nitish Kumar Reddy is reported to have picked up an injury from which he hasn’t recovered yet. Dube played for Mumbai in the Ranji Trophy match against Jammu and Kashmir, though his performances were disappointing at the Bandra Kurla Complex, where he got out 0 in both innings as Mumbai suffered a damaging defeat. Dube wasn’t originally picked for the Indian T20 team as selectors had gone with Reddy and Hardik Pandya as the two all-rounders in the squad. The Mumbaikar ...

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24Jan By source belowNo Comments

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Manchester United deems its financial losses ‘not sustainable’ and defends midseason ticket price hikes

Manchester United has told fans it cannot sustain its current financial losses and risks breaching Premier League rules after facing a backlash over rising ticket prices. The record 20-time English champion, which is co-owned by the American Glazer family and British billionaire Jim Ratcliffe, said it had lost more than 300 million pounds ($371 million) over the past three years. “This is not sustainable and if we do not act now we are in danger of failing to comply with PSR/FFP (financial) requirements in future years and significantly impacting our ability to compete on the pitch,” United wrote in a letter to fan group The 1958 and seen by The Associated Press. Supporters have hit out after United raised its lowest-priced tickets to 66 pounds ($81) partway through the season. Previously,...

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23Jan By source belowNo Comments

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Lewis Hamilton says driving a Ferrari F1 car for first time was ‘exciting and special’

Lewis Hamilton drove a Ferrari Formula 1 car for the first time Wednesday and described it as “one of the best feelings of my life.” Hamilton was behind the wheel of a 2023-specification Ferrari SF-23 bearing his racing number, 44, at the team’s Fiorano test track and wore a new helmet design in yellow with a prominent Prancing Horse logo. The 40-year-old British driver set out for his first lap at 9:16 a.m. local time in light fog and twice waved to a crowd of around 1,000 spectators, who had gathered on a nearby bridge despite the cold and wet weather. “When I started the car up and drove through that garage door, I had the biggest smile on my face,” Hamilton said of his first drive in a Ferrari since joining the Italian team for the 2025 season. “It reminded me of the very first time I...

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23Jan By source belowNo Comments

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Bayern Munich at a loss to explain Champions League struggles

Flying in the Bundesliga, Bayern Munich is stuttering in the Champions League. The Bavarian powerhouse lost 3-0 at Feyenoord on Wednesday for its third defeat of the campaign, denting its hopes of reaching the round of 16 without having to contest a playoff. Bayern reserve goalkeeper Sven Ulreich was shown a red card for complaining at the end of a game in which his team missed its opportunities at one end while leaving itself susceptible to attacks at the other. “When I see how many big chances we have again, how much we invest for a chance, how many we didn’t take, and how easy we’re making it at the moment for the opposition to score goals. That was very, very bad today,” Bayern midfielder Joshua Kimmich said. Bayern had dominated all the statistics — possession, attempts at goal, corne...

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19Jan By source belowNo Comments

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Ravindra Jadeja to play Saurashtra vs Delhi Ranji Trophy game

India’s recent performances in red-ball cricket have raised questions on whether is it wise for some of the star players to go and play domestic cricket. The BCCI had made participation in domestic cricket mandatory unless the player is unavailable due to an injury. While it was confirmed on Saturday that Rohit Sharma will play Mumbai’s Ranji trophy game against Jammu and Kashmir on Sunday all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja added the list as he too will play Saurashtra’s Ranji game against Delhi. “Jadeja has turned up for training today. He will play the next match,” Saurashtra Cricket Association president Jaydev Shah told PTI on Sunday. While Rishabh Pant will be part of Delhi’s playing eleven against Saurashtra, India talisman Virat Kohli will not take part in the game due to an injury. Post t...

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