Something about the big car and its passengers, standing solemnly outside their vehicle, piqued the biker's interest.
Test captain Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan are likely to be rested for India's tour of Zimbabwe, but there is no confirmation on Mahendra Singh Dhoni's availability for the short series, starting June 11. India will play three ODIs and two T20 Internationals during the series which marks the end of the season.
India's new selection committee has raised quite a few eyebrows with none of the five members having had a long career in international cricket. But to its credit BCCI followed a transparent process wherein it invited applications for the selection job for the first time and selected the best possible candidates who fitted all the criteria after a round of interview.
Floral tributes were paid on Friday to the martyrs who laid down their lives while fighting terrorists who attacked Mumbai on November 26, 2008.
'Anil has been leading from the front right from the beginning and that should rub off on the team.'
An Australian national has said that he and his friend were abused and harassed by an unruly crowd in Bengaluru on Saturday for having a tattoo of a goddess on his shin.
Eknath Khadse, who had been sulking ever since he had to resign from the Devendra Fadnavis-led ministry in 2016 over corruption allegations, on Wednesday quit the saffron party and is set to join the Sharad Pawar-led NCP on Friday.
Rajneesh Gupta gives us all the numbers.
'When a player is so confident, even though I was not too keen, I thought, 'let him bowl another over'. They say, some things just happen for you and this happened with us'
The third specialist spinner's slot will be the subject of much deliberation when the national selection committee, headed by Sandeep Patil, meets in New Delhi, on Thursday, to announce the squad for the three-Test away series against Sri Lanka, starting August 12.
The duo of Vyas and Desai took the opposing bowlers to the cleaners throughout the innings while stitching a massive first-wicket partnership of 282 runs.
Fringe players have a chance to prove their worth when India 'A' takes on Sri Lanka in the tourists' only warm-up match ahead of the hastily scheduled One-Day International series, in Mumbai on Thursday. The tour game, at the Cricket Club of India's Brabourne Stadium, also provides Rohit Sharma, who is recovering from a fractured finger and shoulder injury, an opportunity prove his fitness and return to the side for the last two games in the best-of-five ODI series.
The domestic season-ending five-day Irani Cup game between newly crowned Ranji Trophy champions Mumbai and the Rest of India, commencing in Mumbai from Sunday, will provide fringe players a good opportunity to stake claims for the national team. The first class match is the last occasion for hopefuls from both ranks to impress the five-member national selection panel headed by Sandeep Patil before attention shifts totally to the T20 format, commencing with the ICC World T20 Championships. With the country expected to play over 15 Test matches post Indian Premier League till the end of next season, this match is the ideal platform for these players to strengthen their claims for the long Test haul. Mumbai, who clinched the Ranji crown for the 41st time last week by defeating Saurashtra by an innings, have a settled combination led by wicket keeper batsman Aditya Tare. They appear to be better prepared than the motley bunch of Rest of India, being led by Madhya Pradesh stumper Naman Ojha. However, they would take the Rest of India lightly at their own peril as the latter have a good bowling attack at their command even without originally named Barinder Sran and Nathu Singh who have been injured and replaced by Ankit Rajpoot and Anureet Singh, according to their coach Ashish Kapoor.
Apart from Thackeray, Council Deputy Chairperson Neelam Gorhe (Shiv Sena), four candidates of the Bharatiya Janata Party -- Ranjitsinh Mohite Patil, Gopichand Padalkar, Praveen Datke and Ramesh Karad; Nationalist Congress Party's Shashikant Shinde and Amol Mitkari and Congress's Rajesh Rathod were in the fray for the nine seats, which fell vacant on April 24.
The IPL auctions are known to spring surprises with little known players hitting a jackpot to become millionaires. Here's a look at some buys that left most people surprised. Carlos Brathwaite (Rs 4.2 cr): Inarguably the biggest surprise buys of 2016 IPL auctions. The Caribbean all-rounder has shown his hitting talent during his heroics against Sri Lanka, lower down the order. But not many would have expected Delhi to roll out a whopping 4.2 crore, which is 14 times his base price Pawan Negi (Rs 8.5 cr) : The new million dollar man! After his selection for the World T20 squad, here came another good news for Pawan Negi. It was Delhi again, that snapped the all-rounder for a monstrous Rs 8.5 crore.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India said on Friday it is "not looking for an escape route" but needs to time to implement the Lodha Committee's recommendations on reforms in cricket administration.
A look at what can happen if the Supreme Court decides to implement the reforms the Justice Lodha panel recommended for the BCCI.
Board of Control for Cricket in India secretary Anurag Thakur confirmed that a call on India's new chief coach will be taken in September.
The below-par Test record of Rohit Sharma is expected to be the focus of discussion when the selection committee, headed by Sandeep Patil, picks the Indian cricket squad for the home Test series against New Zealand . Despite Rohit's poor form in the Tests, he has the confidence of captain Virat Kohli, who feels that the ODI specialist should be given a longer run to prove himself in the Test format.
The continued suspense over Mahendra Singh Dhoni's future has revived the debate on whether the biggest icons in Indian cricket know when the time is right to bow out of the scene gracefully.
Sandeep Shanbhag, a chartered accountant and director of Wonderland Consultants, a tax and financial advisory firm, discussed the impact of Budget proposals in a chat with Rediff.com's readers.
Maharashtra's Labour Minister Dilip Walse-Patil has sought a written submission from the General Motors' (GM) Employees Union and the management of the company detailing its stance on the issue of plant closure. The labour minister asked the warring sides for submission at a hearing on Tuesday. Both sides have been given a week's time to reply.
Police said the FIR was filed at a police station in Dakshina Kannada district based on a complaint against the writer whose utterances on Hinduism and Hindu Gods have come under vicious attacks from fringe rightwing outfit.
Star batsman Suresh Raina will look to get some batting practice ahead of the upcoming South Africa series along with some of the other fringe players as India 'A' take on Bangladesh 'A' in a three-match One-Day series, starting in Bengaluru, on Wednesday.
India skipper Virat Kohli termed his team's win over the West Indies in the first Test a 'complete performance.'
Maharashtra government on Friday moved the Supreme Court challenging the Bombay High Court's verdict acquitting Bollywood superstar Salman Khan in the 2002 hit-and-run case in which one person was killed and four others were injured.
A few proven, but currently out-of-form, cricketers are likely to get the nod when the national selectors draw up a list of 30 Indian probables for the upcoming World Cup in Australia and New Zealand in Mumbai on Thursday.
Inexperience cost England, feels Morgan
Elavenil Valarivan and Anish Bhanwala, two of India's finest young shooters, were on Friday named in a 34-member core group for the Tokyo Olympics. The National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) released the list of shooters who will be training separately for the quadrennial sporting extravaganza, scheduled to be held next summer after the COVID-19 pandemic pushed the Games back by a year.
In opting for an extra spinner, says Harish Kotian/Rediff.com, India have picked a batsman less.
Statistical highlights of the first ODI match between India and New Zealand, in Dharamsala, on Sunday.
World No 1 Elavenil Valarivan was on Sunday included in a 15-member Indian shooting contingent for the Tokyo Olympics at the expense of quota winner Chinki Yadav, who had claimed a gold in the Delhi World Cup last month.
A round-up of all the Ranji Trophy matches played on Friday.
With part-timers like Suresh Raina and Rohit Sharma capable of bowling a few overs of spin, India might have ended up picking one spinner too many in their squad, says Harish Kotian.
Karnataka's in-form young opener K L Rahul has staked a strong claim for his inclusion in India's Test squad to Australia.
Hardik has just taken 10 Tests to record a rare feat -- scored a ton and taken 5 wickets. Still not 25, Hardik has shown that he belongs to the place, says Rajneesh Gupta, giving us the numbers that matter.
Summary of all Ranji Trophy matches played on Saturday
It has been also revealed that V G Siddhartha had written a letter to the Board of Directors and employees of Coffee Day Enterprises, saying he had 'failed as an entrepreneur'.
'And Tina, that girl inside that woman, wants to try different things.'
India's champions from the last edition who will be missed when the action commences in Australia-New Zealand next year.