India rode on Sandeep Singh's brilliance to virtually seal its place in the final of the men's hockey Olympic Qualification tournament after defeating Canada 3-2 in a hard-fought round-robin match in New Delhi on Wednesday.
Mahendra Singh Dhoni hit couple of towering sixes in his 43 but once again failed as a finisher with Karnataka pipping Jharkhand by five runs in a group D league encounter of the Vijay Hazare Trophy.
Dhoni has turned back the clock with his last three innings, two of them half centuries, adding to the fine run of imposing all-rounder Shane Watson.
A rampaging Kolkata Knight Riders stand in the way of Delhi Daredevils' revival plan as the two teams, with contrasting runs so far, gear up to clash in an Indian Premier League (IPL) fixture in Kolkata on Friday.
Mohammed Azharuddeen slammed a 37-ball century to power Kerala to an emphatic eight-wicket victory against Mumbai in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy T20 match at the Wankhede Stadium, in Mumbai, on Wednesday.
It was exactly 25 years when Mohammad Azharuddin-led India got the better of Sri Lanka in the final to win their fourth Asia Cup title, at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium, on April 14, 1995.
A summary of sports events and sports persons, who made news on Thursday
Their fate hanging in balance, a loss in the penultimate league round match may virtually sound the death knell for one of the two teams.
A round-up of Day 2 of the Ranji Trophy matches played on Tuesday.
Senior cricketers Yuvraj Singh, Gautam Gambhir and Suresh Raina will lead India Red, India Blue and India Green teams respectively in the Duleep Trophy to be played at Greater Noida International Cricket Stadium from August 23 to September 14. The four-day tournament will be played for the first time with pink ball and under lights.
The 11th edition of the Indian Premier League will commence, on Saturday, April 7 and will end on 27th May
Ajinkya Rahane was chosen as captain of the depleted Indian team for the limited overs tour to Zimbabwe next month as the selectors decided to rest several seniors including Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Virat Kohli.
This was Mumbai's second successive win after they had beaten Delhi in the lung-opener.
Kerala hit back to reduce Gujarat to 97 for 4 after being bowled out for 185 on the opening day of the Ranji Trophy quarter-finals.
Delhi Daredevils won the 'Battle of the Minnows' as they defeated Pune Warriors by 15 runs in the Indian Premier League in Raipur on Sunday.
A dominant India hammered arch-rivals Pakistan 5-1 with SV Sunil striking twice in a round-robin league match of the Sultan Azlan Cup hockey tournament in Ipoh on Tuesday. The highlight of the match was four fantastic field goals from India while the other came from a penalty corner conversion. After their scrappy win over Canada in the last match, the Indians rose to the occasion and looked more organised and purposeful against Pakistan. It took India just four minute to take the lead through Manpreet Singh, who scored with a fierce reverse shot from a tight angle after being fed by Sunil. But Pakistan equalised three minutes later when skipper Muhammad Irfan (7th minute) converted the second of their successive penalty corners. India restored their lead in the 10th minute through Sunil, who scored with a deft touch off Manpreet's shot from outside the circle.
Rajneesh Gupta presents a complete statistical IPL dossier.
Railways wrested the initiative in the final session to leave Rajasthan struggling at 56 for three in reply to their first innings score of 405 on the second day of the four-day Ranji Trophy Group A match in Bhubaneswar on Sunday.
KXIP are riding a roller-coaster ride, having to endure a controversy involving their captain Ravichandran Ashwin who 'Mankaded' Rajasthan Royals batsman Jos Buttler in their first match, an act which was legal but criticised by some as against the 'Spirit of Cricket'.
India were off to a disappointing start at the Lanco International Super Series hockey tournament. They squandered a one-goal lead and lost 1-2 to England in Perth on Thursday. Gurvinder Singh Chandi gave India the lead before England bounced back through goals from Daniel Fox and David Condon.
'An India-Pakistan hockey match still attracts a lot of excitement, but the pressure thing is gone nowadays' 'We rallied after conceding an early goal and took the lead, but could not win due to a very high level of performance by India'
'When you saw him, you immediately knew that he was something special.'
Ace drag-flicker Sandeep Singh's hat-trick went in vain as table toppers Delhi Waveriders eked out a close 4-3 win over Mumbai Magicians in a thrilling round-robin match to continue their dream run in the ongoing Hockey India League in New Delhi on Saturday.
India's selectors went on expected lines, leaving out former champions while giving the nod to top performers in domestic circuit in the 30-man probables' list for the 2015 World Cup.
While Kings XI's biggest star Chris Gayle scored a 47-ball 79 in the Jaipur match, his Jamaican compatriot Andre Russell also looked in blistering touch for KKR in the match against Sunriserrs Hyderabad. Their rivalry will be one of the sub plots of Wednesday's clash in Kolkata.
With a debate raging over the run out, it remains to be seen how Ashwin and Co. start afresh in what will be their first away match of the season.
India dazzled with a near-perfect performance to stun world champions Australia 4-3 in a pulsating round-robin match of the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup hockey tournament at Ipoh on Monday.
India, eying their maiden Champions Trophy title, had earlier crushed bitter-rivals Pakistan 4-0 in their campaign opener on Saturrday.
Gujarat Lions would look to better their debut season's success and aim for a winning start against two-time champions Kolkata Knight Riders in an Indian Premier League match, in Rajkot on Friday.
Chahar started the rot for KKR early in their innings when he trapped opener Chris Lynn in front of the wickets as the Aussie missed a pull off a delivery that kept low. Lynn was sent back inside the first over for a duck. He came into the equation in the next over when he took a brilliant catch, running backwards, to dismiss Sunil Narine for just 6 off the bowling of Harbhajan Singh.
Afghanistan's Rashid Khan came up with a brilliant all-round effort as Sunrisers Hyderabad scored a 13-run victory over Kolkata Knight Riders in the second qualifier and made the final of the Indian Premier League at the Eden Gardens on Friday.
Openers Robin Uthappa and KB Pawan scored half-centuries as Karnataka gave a strong reply to Baroda by reaching 148 for two in reply to hosts' 406 all out on the second day of their Ranji Trophy Group B match in Vadodara.
Devdutt Padikkal continued his terrific form ahead of the IPL with a third successive century as the defending champions stormed into the Vijay Hazare Trophy quarterfinals
Young Affan Yousuf scored two goals as Dabang Mumbai defeated Delhi Waveriders 3-2 in a closely-fought round robin match to stay on top of the leaderboard in the fifth edition of Hockey India League, in Mumbai, on Monday.
The fact that some of the records in the ongoing IPL are held by KKR players reflects the red-hot form of the team.
Karnataka's hard-hitting batsman Robin Uthappa was included in the Indian team for the one-off Twenty20 international against South Africa, to be played in Johannesburg, on March 30. The match is being staged to commemorate 150 years of Indians' settlement in South Africa.
Mahendra Singh Dhoni will be eager to break the sequence of reverses and get Rising Pune Supergiants' campaign back on track when they lock horns with in-form Kolkata Knight Riders.
It was an inauspicious start to the inaugural Day/Night Duleep Trophy match with a major floodlight malfunction grabbing more attention than Pink ball making its first class debut in India. A power failure saw two stoppages in play with the second one leading to lights going off completely in a couple of floodlight towers. There was a total 78 minutes of interruption due to power tripping in two towers in two separate phases.
India gave away a goal in the eighth minute before bouncing back strongly after half time to lead 2-1. But Belgium struck four minutes from the hooter to snatch a 2-2 draw in an evenly-contested match.
Former India captain Gautam Gambhir has said Delhi chief coach KP Bhaskar made talented youngsters "so insecure" that he was left with no option but to ask him a few tough questions.
