Chinese President Xi Jinping is all set for an unprecedented third five-year term as he was 'elected' to the powerful Central Committee of the ruling Communist Party on Saturday while several top leaders including Premier Li Keqiang have been left out in the major shake-up at the top.
The revised itinerary of India's home series against the West Indies underwent a few changes with the capital hosting the second ODI on October 11 instead of the one-off T20 which will now be hosted by Cuttack on October 22.
The second match of the four-game series was postponed on Tuesday when four more UAE players tested positive for the novel coronavirus, taking the total to seven COVID-19 cases.
In the middle-order, Shreyas will replace Kohli, who was given a much-needed break ahead of his landmark 100th Test.
Other than achieving the highest Test score by a South African, Graeme Smith has broken a number of other records in just the first two Test of the five-Test series.
The foolish episode has not gone down well with Australian fans back home, and, now, in an attempt to mock Smith and his bunch of imbeciles, an Australian radio station has produced a hilarious music video that has gone viral on social media.
Former Australia captain Ian Chappell has slammed Shaun Marsh's topsy-turvy batting statistic in Test format by comparing it with former fast bowler Glenn McGrath's poor batting records.
Rediff.com brings you a wrap of big stories in pictures with the Best Sports Photos of the Week.
New Zealand's nine-wicket loss to South Africa in the second Test was a closer match than the result suggests and the hosts' captain Ross Taylor believes his team is not far away from being competitive in the third Test in Wellington.
Factbox on the fifth Ashes Test match between Australia and England, which starts on Thursday:
The skies were clear of the bushfire smoke that has shrouded the city on several occasions over the last few months and has organisers prepared for delays during the match.
Alastair Cook marked The Oval's 100th Test match with a familiarly stubborn unbeaten half-century, standing firm as the home side battled to 149 for four against South Africa at tea on an absorbing first day of the third Test on Thursday.
Around 70,000 people are expected to watch the match from the venue on the first day.
Lara's wish for a genuine fast bowler was ignored by the West Indies' selectors.
He bowled a wicket-maiden in the final over of the 2nd T20I match against Ireland and sealed the match with the figures of 2/15.
Pant is also the first Asian wicket-keeper to take five catches in an innings on Test debut.
If Kohli scores six runs, he will become the first Indian in history to score 12,000 runs in T20s.
South Africa coach Micky Arthur reckons India may be "just 2 to 3 per cent" ahead of his team in the crucial third and final cricket Test at this stage but warned the hosts that even a total of 150 in the fourth innings would be hard to achieve. Arthur said the match was heading for an exciting finish and it was important for his wards to stitch a couple of big partnerships to put pressure on India.
He said that southern states like Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu will see the current wave peak next week.
'The Centre is planning to procure five million vials of Remdesivir ahead of the third wave. What's better is that this time, the government is paying us in advance,' said a senior executive of a Mumbai-based pharma player which makes Remdesivir. Sohini Das reports.
Fastest bowler to reach the 200-wicket mark
A round up of the fourth and final day's action of the Ranji Trophy matches on Sunday.
The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 1,08,82,798 which translates to a national COVID-19 recovery rate of 96.91 per cent, while the case fatality rate stands at 1.41 per cent.
Saurabh Kumar grabbed five wickets to play a big role in India 'A's series clinching 113-run victory
The approval by Maharashtra assembly Deputy Speaker Narhari Zirwal to appoint Ajay Choudhary as the Shiv Sena's group leader in the House in place of rebel leader Eknath Shinde may expedite the need for the ruling coalition to prove its majority through a floor test, feels a constitutional expert.
India spinner Ravichandran Ashwin slipped a place to take the third position in the latest ICC Player Rankings for Test bowlers in Dubai on Thursday.
Sue Redfern is poised to make history as the inaugural ICC-appointed female neutral umpire
While some experts believe that a large part of India is still vulnerable to the virus that could trigger a third wave, others feel the country is not likely to be engulfed by another deadly wave unless a new variant emerges.
It was a modest total but still way better than the visitors could have dreamed of when they were 114 for nine, after earlier being 67 for seven.
The last time England toured India, back in early 2021, Joe Root's team went back home beaten and bruised 3-1.
'Rahane hasn't lost the game as captain, he was really brave yesterday to give India a little sniff. I thought the runs were always too much for them, but he gave them a sniff.'
Big test for India, Eng; minnows likely to shake applecart
The India pacer is playing his 100th Test in Motera.
Promising striker Yuvraj Walmiki is all set to return to India's playing eleven in the third hockey Test against South Africa in New Delhi, on Thursday, after remaining in the sidelines for nearly one-and-a-half month due to a hip injury.
Indian men's hockey team suffers 1-5 thrashing at hands of Australia in first Test
India captain Virat Kohli on Wednesday said the consolation win over Australia in the third and final ODI is a timely 'boost' for the remainder of the tour, made possible by the freshness that came with a changed squad.
Deaths are significantly less in the third wave of the Covid-19 pandemic in comparison to the second wave, and the current surge is not witnessing increase in severe illness or death following high vaccination uptake, the government said on Thursday.
The tour will include a 14-day quarantine-cum-training period in Sydney starting November 12 for the Indians who will fly in after the IPL final on November 10.
With the win on Sunday, India won the three-match series 3-0 and Santner pointed out that New Zealand were good in patches and failed to get wickets upfront.
