India's batting maestro Virat Kohli held on to the number two position in the latest ICC ODI rankings for batsmen released on Monday, while Rohit Sharma dropped a place to seventh.
Ricky Ponting says "the balance between bat and ball was nowhere near what it needs to be for a Test match" after watching Australia pile up 337 for one on the first day of the second Test against England at Lord's.
To say Joe Root has been galvanised since being dropped for the fifth Ashes Test that completed England's dismal 5-0 rout in Australia in the early days of last year would be an understatement.
Wayne Rooney scored two first half goals to help send Manchester United to a 4-1 win over a spirited Aston Villa on Saturday, temporarily lifting the gloom surrounding David Moyes' dismal first term in charge.
Alastair Cook and Michael Clarke both have particular reasons for wanting to win the upcoming Ashes series that begins with the first cricket Test in Cardiff starting on Wednesday.
Manchester City boosted their defensive options by signing Argentine centre back Martin Demichelis from Atletico Madrid on Sunday.
Bayern, who won the Champions League in 2013, have yet to hit top form this season, with many players tired after the World Cup and others, including Thiago Alcantara, Bastian Schweinsteiger and Rafinha, out injured.
England captain Alastair Cook believes winning this summer's Ashes series would be his "best achievement".
England trail India 0-2 in the five-match One-Day International series, but coach Peter Moores is still confident of a turnaround in his team's fortunes.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
- 'I've spoken a lot about consistency away from home, I just hope this is the start of it' - 'It takes a lot of hard work to feel you can walk out onto a ground in an international game and have success and once you get it you want it to stay forever. So you've got to ride that wave for as long as you can'
He increasingly looks like a manager unable to cope with the modern tactical realities of football. His display of a fear of failure has been appalling to watch. But Mourinho getting the sack at this juncture will hardly solve the problem, says Dhruv Munjal.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer continued his dream start as Manchester United caretaker manager with a 3-1 Premier League win over Huddersfield on his Old Trafford debut in the dugout on Wednesday.
A summary of sports events and sports persons, who made news on Wednesday
IMAGES from the UEFA Champions League last 16 first leg matches played across Europe on Tuesday
Spain fullback Mario Gaspar scored with a stunning volley and midfielder Santi Cazorla added a late goal as the European champions handed England a chastening 2-0 defeat in a friendly between the continental heavyweights on Friday.
Pakistan will meet Group A toppers England in the first semi-final on Wednesday at the same venue.
Ben Stokes smashed an unbeaten century as England outclassed World champions Australia by 40 runs via the Duckworth-Lewis method in a rain-hit match to knock them out of the ICC Champions Trophy, in Birmingham, on Saturday.
Liverpool beat Leicester City 2-1 to post a fourth successive Premier League victory but conceded their first goal of the season after a nightmare mistake by new keeper Alisson.
Thirty-two countries, ranging from Finland and Sweden to Armenia, Azerbaijan, Macedonia and Kazakhstan, have declared interest in hosting matches at Euro 2020 which will be staged across the continent.
Exasperated at England's consecutive defeats, former captain Alec Stewart said the hosts must learn from India how to play One Day cricket.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
As the countdown to 2018 starts, it's time to rewind those moments in sport that stood out this year.
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger announced on Friday that he will step down from his role at the Premier League club at the end of the season after almost 22 years at the helm.
Saina Nehwal and Kidambi Srikanth won their respective singles matches, while Satwik Rankireddy and Ashwini Ponnappa triumphed in the mixed doubles to help India outclass Malaysia in the final and clinch the gold medal in the Mixed Team badminton gold medal match at the 2018 Commonwealth Games.
Paceman Steven Finn's five-wicket haul put England on the brink of a 2-1 Ashes series lead over Australia on Thursday with the tourists facing a desperate battle to avoid a humiliating third Test defeat.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
The India cricket team recorded a comprehensive 37-run win over Australia in the first T20 at the Adelaide Oval on Tuesday, and take a 1-0 lead in the three match T20 series. Here are the statistical highlights of the match...
Arsene Wenger often says he has no time to look back because he is so focused on the future but he spent a minute reminiscing on Friday on the 10th anniversary of the defeat to Manchester United that ended Arsenal's famous 49-match unbeaten run.
Tiny Cape Verde Islands catapulted themselves into surprise World Cup contention with a 2-1 victory away to South Africa.
Photographer Pravin Talan's 2016 Calendar is a page-turner which celebrates talent.
The trouble-prone Pakistan cricket team dressing room was once again witness to some drama and it took PCB Chairman Shaharyar Khan's intervention to diffuse the controversy generated by Misbah-ul-Haq's decision to rest from the third ODI against Australia.
India will seek to reaffirm their supremacy in the shorter version of the game as they go into a five-match ODI series against an under-strength West Indies in Kochi with the prime focus of preparing for the upcoming cricket World Cup.
'T20 cricket is popular because everything is faster and people want things quicker.' 'Test cricket is going to battle, but I would like to think that it is going to be around and stay around because if you ask Virat Kohli what gives him ultimate pleasure, it would be playing Test cricket for India.'
Gareth Bale scored his 25th goal for Wales but Georgia fought back strongly to earn a deserved 1-1 draw in a World Cup Group D qualifier in Cardiff on Sunday. It left Wales, surprise semi-finalists at Euro 2016, with five points from three games and at risk of losing the group leadership after the day's later matches. Georgia took their first point, following narrow defeats by Austria and Ireland.
A summary of sports events and sports persons, who made news on Saturday
An unassailable lead in their pocket, India would look to clinch the one-day series against England by putting up another dominating display when the two sides square off in the fourth one-dayer in Birmingham on Tuesday.
Raina is much experienced now, fully mature and he could unfold his true genius at the World Cup in Australia-New Zealand next year, writes Haresh Pandya
Spain started their World Cup qualifying campaign with a crushing 8-0 win over Liechtenstein, laying down a marker in Group G with a ruthless second-half display on Monday.
Michael Laudrup became the latest manager to fall victim to a jinx that has now claimed five of the last six men who led their clubs to victory in the League Cup final when the Dane parted company with Swansea City on Tuesday.
