India won their maiden Women's World Cup title with a 52-run victory over South Africa at the DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai on Sunday.
'Commendable' performances in a losing cause should 'never' be celebrated, said India head coach Gautam Gambhir as he took a critical view of the team's recent ODI series defeat to Australia.
South Africa captain Laura Wolvaardt scored a hundred for the ages before the seasoned Marizanne Kapp made the ball talk in good batting conditions to script a 125-run victory over England and enter their maiden Women's ODI Cup final, in Guwahati, on Wednesday.
The match between Australia and England was abandoned due to rain.
Jharkhand-Baroda match ends in draw
The entire nation erupted in joy when captain Harmanpreet Kaur completed the decisive catch to dismiss Nadine de Klerk off Deepti's bowling in the 46th over.
'But I think that the manner in which they play is part of the reason why I think they've got their best chance in 15 years of regaining the Ashes Down Under, because in 2010-11 when we went down there and won, we pushed back against Australia.'
India's mystery spinner Varun Chakaravarthy retained his place among the world's top T20I bowlers, sitting just ahead of New Zealand's Jacob Duffy in the latest ICC Men's Rankings update.
Jemimah Rodrigues produced a sensational knock that included 14 fours as India pulled off the biggest successful chase in women's ODI history with nine balls to spare.
Pakistan, led by Fatima Sana, failed to register a single victory in the Women's ODI World Cup -- losing four matches and three games abandoned because of rain in Colombo.
This knock was Rohit at his best, mixing patience, power, and timing with finesse.
Earlier in the match, Ruturaj Gaikwad continued his rich vein of form, compiling a classy 116 off 163 balls as Maharashtra posted 313 in their first innings.
Wolvaardt played eight ODIs in October at the Women's World Cup, amassing 470 runs at a stunning average of 67.14 and an impressive strike rate of 97.91.
Shami, 35, was left out of India's 15-member squad for the two home Tests against South Africa, scheduled to commence on Friday at the famed Eden Gardens in Kolkata. Before his most recent snub, Shami had openly expressed his disappointment about being sidelined from India's recent Test fixtures.
Former South African cricketer Jonty Rhodes said that Team India does not need to prepare turning wickets as they can bowl out their opponents with their pace line-up and having another spin-friendly wicket for the second Test against South Africa will be a "big test of their ability".
Even weeks after the ICC Women's World Cup semi-final, Australia captain Alyssa Healy is still reeling from India's record-breaking chase, describing the loss as a bitter blow that 'will hurt for a little while'.
Indian Grandmasters Arjun Erigaisi and R Praggnanandhaa played out solid draws while P Harikrishna wriggled out of a difficult situation to head into a tie-break in the fourth round of the Chess World Cup, in Panjim on Wednesday.
Mhatre's maiden ton, Dube blitz fire Mumbai to seven-wicket win over Vidarbha
The last time two specialist keepers played together in a Test was in 1986, when Kiran More and Chandrakant Pandit featured in the same XI, with Pandit playing as a batter.
Jemimah's success is carved not just from talent and hard work, but from dreams, faith, and an unshakable spirit.
Dravid fully understood what the younger crop of players were going through after the loss in the final, following a dominant 10-match win streak, saying that he went through such emotions when India lost to Australia in the 2003 World Cup finals, and it hurts a lot when something comes really close and players miss out on it.
A round-up of Ranji Trophy matches played on Monday.
India A skipper Rishabh Pant allayed injury concerns, smashing a quickfire half-century after being forced to retire hurt on Day 3 of the four-day match against South Africa A.
Names and names and names and names... 329 in all. Some Indian. Some Canadian. Some British. Berry. Gupta. Jain. James. Bhatt. Beauchesne. Chatlani. Enayati. Lougheed.... Vaihayasi Pande Daniel visits Ahakista, Ireland, home to the memorial for the worst terrorist atrocity in India's history.
In India's title-winning ICC Women's World Cup, Richa scored 235 runs in eight innings at an average of 39.16 and a strike rate of over 133, with a brilliant, innings-saving 94 against South Africa as her best knock.
Shubman Gill's form in the series is a concern for India as he has now gone six games without a half-century.
Karnataka, Maharashtra register innings wins to go 1-2 in Group B of Ranji Tropphy.
Though the 41-year-old scored against Maldives in an international friendly, the country's all-time highest goal-scorer failed to find the back of the net in subsequent competitive fixtures for the Blue Tigers.
India will be desperate for a quality replacement for the crucial No. 4 slot with Shubman Gill likely to be ruled out for the must-win second and final Test against South Africa.
'But I would say given the importance of this series and given the conditions we think we are going to face, he (Nitish Kumar Reddy) might miss out in this Test this week.'
Opener Saim Ayub scored a quickfire 71 from 38 balls and seamer Faheem Ashraf took 4/23 as Pakistan cruised to a nine-wicket win over South Africa in the second T20I.
Records tumbled at Lord's as Rishabh Pant, despite an injured finger, blasted his way into the history books
Smriti Mandhana dropped a rung to second but Jemimah Rodrigues scaled nine positions to be 10th in the latest ICC women's ODI rankings after India's title-winning World Cup performance.
'Someone like Virat Kohli, that's a once-in-a-generation sort of player.'
When Abhishek Sharma and Shubman Gill bat together at the top of the order, they put smiles on the faces of everyone and are learning the different facets of dealing with various match situations in the shortest format, skipper Suryakumar Yadav said after his team won the five-match T20I series against Australia on Saturday.
Substitute Jorgen Strand Larsen scored twice in two minutes as Wolverhampton Wanderers beat fellow Premier League strugglers West Ham United 3-2 to reach the third round of the League Cup on Tuesday.
Jemimah Rodrigues rose through the ranks in Mumbai to become one of the key batters for India, but the journey wasn't easy.
I didn''t do well in semis, and only I know how I spent the nights until WC final: Shafali Verma
The series promises a fascinating duel between the two modern-day pace greats.
As India chase history at home in Navi Mumbai, while Laura Wolvaardt's South Africa will look to script their own fairytale, by finally breaking their run of heartbreaks at ICC events.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Investor Information - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances