Durban's Super Giants pip Pretoria Capitals
Former South African captain Graeme Smith is confident that his country will end its long wait for an ICC trophy in 2023, with the Champions Trophy and World Test Championship final on the horizon. He believes the team is in a strong position to break their drought and is focused on developing the nation's cricket ecosystem ahead of the 2027 World Cup.
The inaugural edition's winner Mumbai Indians will bank on their core group of players while two-time finalists Delhi Capitals will expect fireworks from Shafali Verma when they face-off in the second game of the Women's Premier League here on Saturday. The finalists of the first WPL in 2023, both Mumbai Indians and Delhi Capitals made it to the knockouts in the second edition last year but lost to the eventual champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru in the eliminator and the final respectively. Those defeats were certainly not reflective of how well MI and DC had fared until the knockouts stage, with Harmanpreet Kaur's side finishing second in the points table with five wins in eight matches and Meg Lanning's team topping it with six wins in as many outings. The winners of WPL 2023, Mumbai Indians tend to lean on their core group of players both overseas and Indian and a similar approach can be expected this year, with only a few changes taking place in terms of squad composition. India pacer Pooja Vastrakar, who was grappling with an unspecified injury, was ruled out of the competition and has been replaced by slow left-arm orthodox bowler Parunika Sisodia, who was one of the main performers in India's title-winning campaign in the U-19 Women's T20 World Cup recently. Mumbai Indians have let go of England's Issy Wong, who took the first-ever WPL hat-trick in 2023, after the player lost form and the franchise found the leader of their attack in South Africa's Shabnim Ismail. Among domestic talents, another member of the U-19 T20 World Cup winning squad G Kamalini would be one to watch out for, having finished as the third highest scorer in the competition with 143 runs in seven matches. Apart from a strong leader in Harmanpreet, MI have strong figures from other international sides such as Nat Sciver-Brunt (England), Hayley Matthews (West Indies), Amelia Kerr (New Zealand), as well as South Africans Nadine de Klerk, Shabnim Ismail and Chloe Tryon. While Yastika Bhatia is MI's No 1 wicketkeeper-batter, other Indian players in Saika Ishaque, Sajana Sajeevan, uncapped Akshita Maheshwari and Amanjot Kaur will be expected to play their roles to perfection. On their part, Delhi Capitals will be keen to do one better after finishing as runner-up for two times in a row ever since the competition began. One of the most consistent teams in the competition, the Lanning-led Delhi have strong talent base across departments but the key will be to deliver in crucial matches. All eyes will be on the explosive Indian batter Shafali who has responded to her exclusion from the Indian side with runs in domestic cricket. She forms a lethal opening pair with Lanning at the top, while the likes of Australia's Annabel Sutherland, England's Alice Capsey and India's Jemimah Rodrigues form the core of their middle order. All-rounder Sutherland will hope to draw inspiration from her recent success of having struck 163 in the only Test of the women's Ashes followed by winning the highest individual honour in Australian cricket. While Delhi boasts of three wicketkeeper-batters in India's Taniyaa Bhatia, Nandini Kashyap and Scotland's Sarah Bryce, their bowling looks settled with Marizanne Kapp as the leader of the attack, backed by Australia's Jess Jonassen, India's Radha Yadav and Shikha Pandey as well as Titas Sadhu.
Jasprit Bumrah has been nominated for the ICC men's Player of the Month award for December 2024 after his standout performance against Australia.
Durban's Super Giants claimed a dramatic two-run victory over Pretoria Capitals in their high-scoring SA20 season opener in Durban
Shaun Pollock says the ICC Cricket Committee is working towards giving bowlers "bit more leeway on wides" as the current rule is "very strict on them"
Jasprit Bumrah has been awarded the ICC Men's Player of the Month for December 2024, following his exceptional performance during the Border-Gavaskar Trophy series in Australia.
India captain Niki Prasad described the women's Under-19 T20 World Cup title win as a 'special moment' for the team.
The T20I series against India comes at an opportune time for South Africa's cricketers as it provides an additional stage to highlight their skills before the IPL mega auctio
Sri Lanka used the seamer friendly conditions at Kingsmead to reduce South Africa to 80/4 before rain stopped play on the opening day of the first Test
Joe Root delivered a T20 masterclass to steer the Royals to an equally thrilling eight-wicket victory over Pretoria Capitals at Centurion.
'It feels great to carry on this musical tradition.'
The tears flowed freely for the South African players as they realised the trophy they had fought so hard for was once again out of reach.
Sitanshu Kotak, 52, is a longtime staff of the National Cricket Academy as its batting coach
Ons Jabeur slumped to her chair, coughing as she tapped her chest, three games into the opening set.
Sasikumar Mukund returned to Davis Cup action with a fluent straight-sets victory over lower-ranked Liova Ayite Ajavon, putting India ahead 1-0 in the World Group I play-off tie against Togo, in New Delhi, Saturday.
The tech community, which was getting ready to use the ChatGPT fever and raise unlimited capital for their businesses, is going to face tougher obstacles now, predicts Ajit Balakrishnan.
Star opener Smriti Mandhana, wicketkeeper-batter Richa Ghosh and all-rounder Deepti Sharma were on Saturday named in the ICC Women's T20I Team of Year 2024.
As the nation celebrates its 76th Republic Day, India's sports fraternity took to social media to share their patriotic sentiments and wishes with fans across the country on Sunday.
Spin great Ravichandran Ashwin says New Zealand, despite the absence of the long-serving pace duo of Trent Boult and Tim Southee, who have quit playing the 50-over format, will pose a challenge to India.
One fabric, two looks. Let us know which is your favourite.
Former New Zealand bowler James Franklin had filled in for the former South African pacer.
Shaheen Shah Afridi's Test future is under scrutiny after he was sidelined for the two-Test series against the West Indies at home.
Bollywood stars are on their year end break already!
Anmolpreet smashes fastest List A hundred by an Indian
Nissanka had featured in a 41-run opening partnership with Dimuth Karunaratne, who scored 20 before being undone by a rising delivery from Kagiso Rabada that forced an edge behind to wicketkeeper Kyle Verreynne.
Sasikumar Mukund will aim for a winning return to the Davis Cup fold as India faces Togo in the World Group I Play-off.
This year's Sundance Film Festival was rich with films and the theatres were warm, even as temperatures outside dipped to below freezing point. It snowed only once but the sidewalks remained slippery for a few days.
Du Plessis backed Kohli, his one-time teammate at Royal Challengers Bangalore, to come back stronger from the struggles, and said retirement is a "very personal" choice.
All-rounder Dottin, who is currently in India with the West Indies team for the white-ball series, was the costliest among overseas players and was bought by the Giants for the second time in the auction.
'It was a disaster on his part to give an oral remark which allowed ascertainment of the religious character of places of worship.' 'This disrupted the social harmony of the country.'
"I think he (Shami) will be a major miss for India, given the Australian conditions. The pace and bouncy wickets in Australia would have helped India in gaining an upper hand if Shami had been in the squad but that's not in the selector's hand as he is recovering, but I think he will be missed," Adams said.
J P Duminy, who joined the Proteas side as their batting coach in March last year, left his role with immediate effect following a mutual agreement, said the country's cricket governing body (CSA).
Morocco change the mood for African football with exploits in Qatar
India batter Tilak Varma on Friday achieved a historic feat during the fourth and final match against South Africa in Johannesburg.
'We know Dinesh Karthik will be here this year which is fantastic and it's great for the tournament.'
Employers in India are planning to outpace global adoption in certain future technologies as companies operating in the country are heavily investing in technologies like artificial intelligence (AI), energy technologies, robotics, and autonomous systems, said the World Economic Forum (WEF) in its latest "Future of Jobs" report released on Wednesday. The report, released days before the WEF annual meeting in Davos from January 20-25, notes that 35 per cent employers in India think that adopting semiconductors and computing technologies (compared to 20 per cent globally) will transform their operations while 21 per cent employers think that adopting quantum and encryption technologies (compared to 12 per cent globally) will also transform their operations.
'There are a lot of players who have been performing well even before him, so there is a routine or process that I think that the management has come up with, so it is important to follow that. He has been performing consistently well, so I believe his time will come soon.'
Karun Nair has smashed 664 runs with five centuries in eight matches at an astonishing average of 664 in the Vijay Hazare Trophy.
The United Kingdom extracted USD 64.82 trillion from India over a century of colonialism between 1765 and 1900 and USD 33.8 trillion of this went to the richest 10 per cent -- enough money to carpet London in notes of 50 British pound almost four times over.
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