Four Zimbabwe youth cricketers, who are part of the country's squad for the ICC Under-19 Men's World Cup 2022 in the West Indies commencing on January 14, have tested positive for COVID-19. The four took part in a four-match youth one-day series against the Ireland Under-19 side in Barbados that ended on January 2.

Test skipper Virat Kohli was ruled out of the second Test against South Africa due to an upper-back spasm with KL Rahul taking the charge. The decision to make Rahul captain attracted mixed reactions from cricketers and fans. While some rued the absence of Kohli in the crucial Test, others lauded the Indian management for their bold decision.

India captain Virat Kohli had been ruled out just before the start of the second Test against South Africa at the Wanderers due to an upper back spasm. With India leading 1-0 in the three-match series, vice-captain KL Rahul has stepped in to lead the team in Kohli's absence. Rahul has now become the 34th cricketer to captain India in Test cricket.

Australian Test team vice-captain Steve Smith is a "bit surprised" that England pace bowling stalwart Stuart Broad has not been included in two of the three Ashes games so far in the series, saying a world-class performer like him should always get priority. The 35-year-old Broad is sixth on the list of all-time Test wicket-takers, having taken 526 scalps so far, and ranks third behind country-mate Jimmy Anderson (639 wickets) and former Australian bowler Glenn McGrath (563 wickets) among pacers.

Marco Jansen and Duanne Olivier struck crucial blows to leave India at 53/3 in the first session of day one of the second Test at the Wanderers here on Monday. At lunch, KL Rahul and Hanuma Vihari are unbeaten after South Africa claimed honours in the opening session of the match. It was clearly a session of two halves for India: 36/0 in the first hour and 17/3 in the second hour. The start was quiet for India as Kagiso Rabada got to beat Rahul in the opening over.

Bangladesh team director Khaled Mahmud was appreciative of his team's batting performance in the first Test against New Zealand, saying the process by the batters was excellent. Bangladesh surprised one and all with the solid and gritty batting performance, ending day three at 401/6 and leading by 73 runs. "Very good day for our Test cricket history. It's been challenging, but our process was excellent, the boys did a very good job. The execution was proper in the way we batted, we scored maybe 226 runs today while losing four wickets. The players have spent time between the wickets, and they have done a very good job," said Mahmud in the virtual press conference after the day's play.

Star opener Rohit Sharma, spinners Ravichandran Ashwin, and Axar Patel, and wicketkeeper-batsman Rishabh Pant were the four Indian cricketers who featured in Cricket.com.au's Test team of the Year for 2021, which was revealed on Friday. Having dominated white-ball cricket and his home conditions for years, the 34-year old Rohit Sharma conquered his final frontier this year by proving he can score big Test runs outside of Asia. And a strong 2021 that saw him finish second behind Joe Root in the list for leading run-scorers in 2021. It could have been even better if the classy right-hander had translated multiple strong starts into big hundreds. He reached 20 or more in 14 of his 19 completed innings but posted two centuries -- 161 in a total of 329 to set up a win in Chennai and a patient 127 at The Oval, his maiden Test hundred away from home.

The International Cricket Council (ICC) on Thursday announced England cricketers Tammy Beaumont and Nat Sciver, Indian opener Smriti Mandhana and Ireland's Gaby Lewis as the nominees for the ICC Women's T20I Player of the Year. In a year that saw India win only two of the nine T20Is, opening batter Smriti Mandhana was one of their few bright spots. She played a major role in the first of the two wins, smashing 48 off just 28 balls against South Africa, chasing 113 in the final T20I. The win saved India the blushes, as they managed to avoid the sweep.

Following Team India's first-ever Test victory at Centurion, stylish opener KL Rahul on Thursday said that 2021 will go down as one of the great years in the history of Indian cricket, especially with regards to Test format. He added that his 123 against South Africa in the first Test here is right up there for him alongside his other overseas hundreds. Rahul's seventh Test hundred apart from sharing a 117-run opening partnership with Mayank Agarwal in the first innings set the base for India registering a 113-run win in the Boxing Day Test. The win has enabled the tourists to go 1-0 up in the three-match series.

Former Indian cricketers including legendary batter Sachin Tendulkar on Thursday showered praise on the Virat Kohli-led side for their historic win at the Centurion, saying the team has capability to pick 20 wickets in a Test match anywhere in the world. Team India defeated South Africa by 113 runs in the opening Test at Centurion to take a 1-0 lead in the three-match series. The win is also India's first-ever Test victory at the venue, which is largely considered to be a fortress for South Africa. "Superb bowling by an attack that can pick 20 wickets in a Test match anywhere in the world. Congratulations to #TeamIndia on a convincing victory!," Tendulkar wrote on Twitter.

Two in-form teams, Jamshedpur FC and Odisha FC, will look to outdo one another in what could be a battle of attrition in 2021-22 Hero Indian Super League (ISL) at the Tilak Maidan Stadium here on Tuesday. Odisha have got off to a flying start this season, winning three of their four games so far. They are placed second, three points adrift of table leaders Mumbai City FC. The Kiko Ramirez-coached side beat NorthEast United FC in their last outing, a game where they showed their defensive solidity as well besides possessing a collection of good attackers.

Hockey Punjab became the first team to make it to the quarter-finals of the 11th Hockey India Senior Men's National Championship at the Major Dhyanchand Hockey Stadium, Nehrunagar-Pimpri on Monday, beating Hockey Andhra Pradesh 7-1 in a preliminary league match here. Hockey Karnataka and Hockey Chandigarh remained unbeaten and stayed on the course of quarter-final berths registering second wins respectively pools. Hockey Karnataka downed Le Puducherry Hockey 4-1 in Pool C and Hockey Chandigarh edged out Manipur Hockey 1-0 in Pool E. In a Pool D encounter, Punjab thrashed Hockey Andhra Pradesh to remain unbeaten in a group reduced to three teams after Hockey Andaman and Nicobar failed to turn up for the championship. Punjab began their match with India international and 2020 Tokyo Olympics bronze medallist Rupinder Pal Singh (2nd min) converting his team's second penalty corner. Thereafter, Hockey Punjab displayed a collective show with Lovepreet Jainth (5th); Ranjot Singh (19th), Sudarshan Singh (29th) sounding the board. Hockey Andhra 

Bangladesh slipped to 76/7 at stumps on Day 4 of the second Test after Pakistan declared at 300/4 in their first innings, here on Tuesday. Bangladesh had a horror-filled Day Four in Dhaka as Sajid Khan, the young Pakistani spinner, ripped through the hosts' batting order and bagged six wickets. After rain played spoilsport on two consecutive days, the start of day four also got delayed due to light showers and a wet outfield. However, the match resumed after almost an hour and a half's wait with Pakistan on 188/2, and Babar Azam and Azhar Ali were on 71 not out and 52 not out respectively.

Tennis fans in the country will a look to look forward to when the Bengaluru Open returns after the Covid break with two weeks of pulsating action as the Karnataka State Lawn Tennis Association (KSLTA) will host two back-to-back ATP Challenger Events slated to begin from February 7 next year. The two events will offer total prize money of US$ 107,000 and will be played at the KSLTA Stadium here.

Putting on an impressive bowling show, India A reduced South Africa A to 116/5 before bad light cut short the play on Day 3 of the second four-day game, here on Thursday. While Ishan Porel scalped two, Saurabh Kumar and Baba Aparajith picked a wicket each. Resuming the proceedings on Day 3 at 198/5, India A added 78 runs to their overnight score before being all-out for 276.

Bangla Tigers' Hazratullah Zazai hopes the winning momentum will continue in the eliminator match of the Abu Dhabi T10 after a comfortable 30 runs win over Northern Warriors at the Zayed Cricket Stadium on Thursday. The left-hand Afghan opener scored an unbeaten 55 runs from 31 balls and built 96 runs partnership with Faf Du Plessis to raise 119/1

Senior off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin on Monday moved past Harbhajan Singh's tally of 417 wickets, becoming India's third-highest wicket-keeper in Test cricket. Former India spinner Harbhajan Singh congratulated Ashwin for his achievement on Monday.

Bayern Munich have announced that players who are not vaccinated against Covid-19 will be subject to wage cuts. Media reports suggest that the record German champions have announced the cuts for unvaccinated players such as Joshua Kimmich, as professional football in Germany is suffering from a rising number of positive infection cases and quarantine orders.

Reigning world champion PV Sindhu and former world No. 1 Kidambi Srikanth crashed out of the 2021 Indonesia Masters badminton tournament after losing their respective women's and men's singles semi-final matches, here on Saturday. The 26-year old Sindhu wasn't at her usual best and lost 13-21 9-21 against Japan's Akane Yamaguchi in a one-sided semi-final contest that lasted for just 32 minutes. The Indian shuttler struggled with keeping her returns in right from the start and she never recovered from an early deficit. On the other hand, Yamaguchi got a great dip on her

Germany's Alexander Zverev reached the semifinal of the 2021 ATP Finals after beating Poland's Hubert Hurkacz, moving to 2-1 in Red Group action, here on Thursday. Third seed Zverev, who won the title in 2018, was rarely troubled by an off-colour Hurkacz as he registered a comprehensive 6-2 6-4 win. The 24-year old played aggressively and consistently, hitting 22 winners and committing just eight unforced errors to secure victory after 62 minutes.

India's double Olympic medallist PV Sindhu and in-form Lakshya Sen entered the second round of the 2021 Indonesia Masters badminton tournament after registering victories in their respective matches, here on Tuesday. Sindhu, who was last seen in action at the French Open semifinals, beat Thailand's Supanida Katethong 21-15, 21-19 in a women's singles match, which lasted 43 minutes. Up against the 

India T20I captain Rohit Sharma said that the team needs to get the template right in the format. He added that India needs to form its own template rather than following some other team's formula. Sharma and head coach Rahul Dravid addressed the pre-match press conference ahead of the first T20I against New Zealand on Wednesday. "I think the template is a very important one. We just need to set the template right, and we have got some time to do that. India has been brilliant in T20Is but it's just that we just haven't won an ICC tournament. But we have played and performed well as the team. Of course, there are some holes that we need to fill up and make sure that they

Two explosions occurred in the centre of Uganda's capital, where the Indian para-badminton team has gone to take part in an international tournament, but the shutters are safe. The blasts, which are reported to have occurred just 100 meters from the hotel the Indian team is staying in, have killed at least two people and set several cars on fire. However, Para-Badminton India took to social media and said that players are safe. "Indian Team is Safe!There is multiple Bomb Blast 100 mtr away from the official Hotel," it said in a tweet. Coach Vikash Khanna

Golfer Amandeep Drall, who had a fine season in Europe and then won on return to India last month for the Hero Women's Pro Golf Tour, will be looking to maintain the form this week at the 12th leg of the Tour to be played at the Hyderabad Golf Club. The tournament will carry a purse of Rs 9 lakh. Amandeep won the 10th leg at Chandigarh and was runner-up in the 11th leg at Panchkula. The event was won by amateur Avani Prashanth who is not playing this week. With many of the stars 

Wicket-keeper batsman Matthew Wade on Sunday said that it was a huge achievement for Australia to win the maiden Men's T20 World Cup trophy, adding that the boys had the belief to become the first team to achieve success for their country. A clinical unbeaten knock from Mitchell Marsh (77 not out off 50 balls) along with a crucial half-century from David Warner (53 off 38 balls) led Australia to their first Men's T20 World Cup trophy, defeating New Zealand by eight wickets in the final of the ICC Men's T20 World Cup at the Dubai International Stadium on Sunday. "It's huge. First T20 World Cup coming in, felt like a lot of people wrote us off early, but internally we spoke about how we could be the first team to achieve this

Former Indian cricketer VVS Laxman on Friday paid tributes to Pakistan batter Mohammad Rizwan's commitment to the team at the ICC T20 World Cup here, saying that the opener was a great example of "courage and determination", after the 29-year-old battled serious health issues to slam a half-century in a losing cause on Thursday (November 11). Not many would have known before Pakistan's semifinal clash against Australia that Rizwan had spent two nights in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of a hospital here after he developed a severe

Serbian world No. 1 Novak Djokovic is in the 'Green Group' of the 2021 Nitto ATP Finals -- the elite year-end tournament for the top-eight tennis players in the world -- along with Greece's world No.3 Stefanos Tsitsipas, Andrey Rublev of Russia and Norwegian Casper Ruud. The tournament, scheduled to run from November 14 to 21 at the Pala Alpitour here, will see the 'Red Group' being led by defending champion from Russia Daniil Medvedev. The group also

Australian skipper Aaron Finch said that despite being sloppy on the field during the first half of the game, it was a complete team effort which helped the side make it to the ICC T20 World Cup final and set up a title clash with the Kane Williamson-led New Zealand. Finch, who went first ball to Shaheen Shah Afridi but later saw teammates David Warner, Matthew Wade and Marcus Stoinis come up with crucial scores to lead Australia to a five-wicket win against Pakistan in the semifinal here on Thursday evening, said that while the Wade-Stoinis partnership was outstanding, the team was "pretty sloppy 

After 25 days of breath-taking action, the finalists for the T20 World Cup have been decided. The Black Caps won a thrilling semifinal against 2016 runners-up England, triumphing in a match that was billed as a rematch of their 2019 50-over World Cup final. It is the third straight ICC final they have made across three formats, having clinched the inaugural World Test Championship title earlier this year and finished runners-up in the 2019 Cricket World Cup. They were also runners up in 2015, giving them a run of three World Cup finals across four limited-overs competitions, with the 2016 T20

Top-order batter Rohit Sharma, wicket-keeper Rishabh Pant and the pace-bowling duo of Mohammed Shami and Jasprit Bumrah are not in the squad for the two-Test series against New Zealand, beginning in Kanpur on November 25. The All-India Senior Selection Committee of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), while announcing the squad for the two Tests, did not give any reason for their exclusion, although it is widely speculated that they have been rested due to the gruelling schedule over the last six months.

India captain Virat Kohli dropped four places to eighth while his team-mate KL Rahul jumped three slots to fifth in the latest ICC men's T20I Player Rankings for batters, released on Wednesday. Apart from first two matches the T20 World Cup, Kohli didn't get too many opportunities to bat and it affected his T20I batting rankings. On the other hand, Rahul with his three fifties in India's last three matches, moved to No 5. After returning low scores against Pakistan 

Indian wrestler Nisha Dahiya has released a video on social media and said the news that she and her brother were shot dead by unknown assailants was fake. In the video, with Olympic medallist Sakshi Malik by her side, Nisha said that she is in Gonda, Uttar Pradesh, for the senior national wrestling championships. "Hello, my name is Nisha. I have come to play Senior Nationals in Gonda and I am completely fine. This is fake news. I am completely fine," she 

The Indian senior women's football team will feature in an international tournament in Manaus, where they are going to play three matches against Brazil, Chile and Venezuela. The team will begin their campaign against Brazil on November 25 followed by matches against Chile on November 28, and Venezuela on December 1. This will be the first time any Indian Senior National team will be playing against either Brazil, Chile or Venezuela.

Indian shooter Rahi Sarnobat clinched silver medal in women's 25m pistol at ISSF Presidents Cup, which ended in the Polish city of Wroclaw, on Tuesday. That effort along with Manu Bhaker's second gold, which she won on the final day partnering Turkey's Ozgur Varlik in the 25m Rapid Fire pistol Mixed Team competition, meant that the Indians won a total of five medals in the prestigious year ending event. Manu had earlier partnered Iran's Javad Foroughi to clinch the 10m Air Pistol Mixed Team title, on day two of competitions. The seasoned Rahi 

Naval Tata Hockey Academy, Jamshedpur, and Anwar Hockey Society, Uttar Pradesh registered contrasting wins to log full points in their respective groups on the opening day of the 5th SNBP All-India Hockey Tournament (Boys Under-16) at the Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex here on Tuesday. In a Pool-B encounter, Naval Tata Hockey Academy got the better of Guru Hockey Academy 3-1. The Jamshedpur team went one up through Abhishek Tigga (26th) to end the first half 1-0. On the switch over, Jolen Topno (32nd) made it 2-0, before Sandeep (50th) pulled one back for Guru Hockey Academy. Later a penalty corner