Indian captain Mahendra Singh blamed his opening bowlers for the four-wicket loss against Australia in their cricket tri-series match in Melbourne.
India take on a war-ravaged-but-resilient Afghanistan in their first ever Test match, in Bengaluru, on Thursday.
The loss to Sri Lanka has left England's quarter-final chances hanging in the balance and reliant on them beating Bangladesh in Adelaide on March 9. A wash-out would end their hopes.
Steve Smith scored a brilliant century to help Australia knock out defending champions India and set up a mouth-watering final against neighbours New Zealand, at the Sydney Cricket Ground, on Thursday.
With the threat of in-form off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin looming large, Australia captain Michael Clarke summoned Shane Warne to the team's nets on Wednesday, ahead of their ICC Cricket World Cup semi-final against India, at the Sydney Cricket Ground.
Down with a recurrent back injury, Australia's regular skipper Michael Clarke said the actions of David Warner and other teammates in Birmingham had an "impact on his leadership".
Vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane conceded that the batsmen committed mistakes under challenging conditions as India were bowled out for just 107 runs in the first innings of the rain-affected second Test against England, at Lord's, on Friday.
England batsman Alastair Cook said he could not have penned the final chapter of his Test career any better after he signed off with a memorable 147 against India at the Oval on Monday. Starting the day on 46 not out, the 33-year-old left-hander played with the kind of fluency that has been missing from his game this summer as he reached three figures for the 33rd time to help England score 423-8 declared.
Eoin Morgan and David Willey shone as England held their nerve to beat Australia by three wickets in a tense fourth one-day international at Headingley on Friday and level the series at 2-2.
Liverpool made it three wins out of three as Mohamed Salah scored twice in a convincing 3-1 victory over Arsenal on Saturday to take control at the top of the Premier League.
A selection of musings from around the cricket World Cup.
Having already sealed the series 3-1, England coach Trevor Bayliss suggested they might experiment in the fifth final match starting at the Oval in London on Friday.
The planets closely circle a dwarf star named Trappist-1, which at 39 light years away makes the system a prime candidate to search for signs of life.
Sam Billings played an inspired innings to help England to a comfortable 14-run victory in the first Twenty20 international against Pakistan on Thursday.
England's Chris Woakes hit a six off Shafiul Islam to seal a series-clinching four-wicket victory in the third and final one-day international against Bangladesh on Wednesday. Sam Billings justified his selection with his maiden fifty and Ben Duckett registered his second half-century of the series but it was Ben Stokes' unbeaten 47 off 48 balls that helped England pull off a tricky 278-run chase with 13 balls to spare. Put into bat in Chittagong, Bangladesh had posted a strong 277-6 on the back of a string of top order cameos and Mushfiqur Rahim's unbeaten 67 down the order.
Australia finished second in Pool A after Mitchell Starc bowled the World Cup co-hosts to a seven-wicket victory against Scotland in a match that lasted just 41 overs at the Bellerive Oval in Hobart, on Saturday.
Justin Langer was the foundation rock upon which Australia erected towering piles of runs during a golden era of success.
A summary of sports events and sports persons, who made news on Thursday.
Real Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane denied his side were facing a crisis after they drew 1-1 at home to La Liga minnows Eibar and racked up a fourth consecutive draw for the first time in more than 10 years.
Moeen Ali, the England all-rounder, with a batting strike-rate of 82.1 and an economy rate of 4.2, was tops.
Svetlana Kolesnichenko, the new standard bearer for artistic aquatics, added another European Championships gold to her huge collection of international medals when she took the synchronised swimming solo technical title on Monday.
While Mukesh Ambani-led RIL has nominated former Justice Bharucha as its arbitrator, the Centre chose Justice Khare as its nominee.
Joe Root said that although England got a few things wrong, they never let go of the belief to win.
New outfit Gujarat Lions have witnessed a dream start to their debut Indian Premier League season and the team's head coach Brad Hodge feels they have plenty of match-winners who can help them continue in the same vein in the remainder of the tournament.
'I feel if we were allowed to play that match today, the players will approach that game differently.'
With Australia wobbling at 76 for four on day two, Smith dragged his side back from the brink over eight-and-a-half hours of gut-busting graft and strode off the Gabba after tea on day three with an unbeaten 141 from 326 balls.
All that's transpired on and off the cricket pitch on Monday.
Only Root, former skipper Alastair Cook, Stuart Broad and James Anderson remain from the England team that suffered a 381-run hiding at the Gabba in 2013/14, when a marauding Mitchell Johnson took nine wickets and set the tone for the series.
England pacer James Anderson reclaimed the number-one ranking from India's Ravichandran Ashwin in the ICC Player Rankings for Test Bowlers released on Monday after the end of the Edgbaston Test.
As we sit at home and miss live action, the wondrous phenomenon of sport has delivered so many past glories that we will probably never run out of things to see, recalls Dhruv Munjal.
As the Indian players relaxed at their hotel in Colombo or went out simply taking some time off, the World No 1 spinner and all-rounder spent the evening with coach Ravi Shastri and other members of the support staff.
India's batting mainstay Virat Kohli suggested Australia will make the grave mistake of adding 'fuel to fire' if they needle him in Sunday's win-or-bust World Twenty20 contest but asserted he is good enough to excel without provocations.
Images from Day 1 of the 5th and final opening Test between Australia and England at the SCG in Sydney on Thursday
Images from the English Premier League matches played on Wednesday.
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India opener Murali Vijay hit an unbeaten century and captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni slammed a half-century to frustrate England on the opening day of the first Test at Trent Bridge, on Wednesday.
The left-armer, who injured his bowling hand in a CountyChampionship match against Lancashire, was the third spinner in the 16-man team alongside Moeen Ali and Adil Rashid.
McLaren driver Jenson Button is aware that modern F1 is a bit harder for the fans to follow.
Sri Lanka's Tillakaratne Dilshan and Mahela Jayawardene have been officially reprimanded for excessive appealing during their Champions Trophy match against New Zealand in Birmingham.
England moved relentlessly towards a series-levelling victory over Pakistan on a rain-disrupted third day of the second test in Manchester on Sunday. The hosts bowled out the Pakistanis for 198 before declining to enforce the follow-on, ending the day on 98 for one to lead by a commanding 489 runs with two days remaining at Old Trafford.
Number 11 Ashton Agar made an astonishing record 98 on debut as Australia seized control of the first Ashes Test against England on a wildly fluctuating second day at Trent Bridge on Thursday.
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