'In 2015 after fighting in the same card as Vijender Singh, I was flying and thought my life is made.' 'But I fell flat. I didn't get any fights after that.' It was heartbreaking.' 'I don't want to go through that again.' 'Therefore, I will fight and go to office the next day.'
The superb build-up run has made India the clear favourites for an unprecedented second World Twenty20 title but the in-form hosts will have to guard against complacency when they take on a spirited New Zealand in their campaign-opener in Nagpur on Tuesday.
The cultivators who take pride in feeding the world have no time to cook for themselves during the harvest season, and that is why they rely on the 2-minute noodles, finds out laxmi Negi/Rediff.com.
The players auctions for this year's IPL is scheduled for this weekend. Rajneesh Gupta looks at the players retained and released by the teams for IPL 2017.
Mumbai rode on Abhishek Nayar's scintillating 47-ball 76 to record a comfortable five-wicket win over Saurashtra in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Twenty20 tournament for west zone, in Vadodara, on Wednesday.
Back in the top half of the league table after a convincing win over Sunrisers Hyderabad, Delhi Daredevils will look to build on the winning momentum when they take on defending champions Mumbai Indians in their Indian Premier League match in Visakhapatnam on Sunday.
A look at this week's hits and misses.
Expect a battle of wits when Royal Challengers Bangalore and Chennai Super Kings lock horns in Wednesday's Indian Premier League match in Bangalore.
India will look for another colossal victory and inch closer to the semi-finals when they square off against an embattled Bangladesh.
'If you have a partnership then you can build on. I think it was the partnership which was important' 'If the margin of defeat was less it would have been better'
India's limited-overs captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, along with his teammates Ravindra Jadeja, Ajinkya Rahane, Suresh Raina and Ravichandran Ashwin, among others, will be up for grabs for the two new IPL teams in the draft to be held in Mumbai.
'Look at Vijender Singh, he is so HOT! His nose is so sharp! I am sure whenever he is in the ring, he doesn't think about his beautiful face. If he had ever thought about his face, he would never have turned professional.' Newbie Ritika Singh gets ready for Bollywood.
However, if anyone has unfinished business over a decade of IPL, it is India captain Virat Kohli. He made his intent amply clear earlier this week.
Before the selectors meet to finalise the squad, you can take on their role and pick 15 players you feel can deliver the World T20 Cup to India.
Mumbai Indians became the first team to qualify for the final of the Indian Premier League with a comfortable 25-run win over Chennai Super Kings at the Wankhede stadium.
The second World Twenty20 semi-final is likely to hinge on who emerges on top in the battle between the big-hitting West Indian batsmen and India's wily spinners when the former champions clash at the Wankhede Stadium on Thursday.
P R Sreejesh produced a brilliant display under the bar as two-time champions India stunned title holders South Korea 2-0 in a Pool B match to breeze into the semi-finals of the Asia Cup hockey tournament.
Chennai Super Kings will look to avenge their first leg loss against Rajasthan Royals.
Rajneesh Gupta presents statistical summary of Delhi Capitals formerly known as Delhi Daredevils and much more.
A round-up of Vijay Hazare Trophy matches played across the country on Saturday.
'The impact Rishabh Pant, Sanju Samson, Ishan Kishan, Shreyas Iyer, Prithvi Shaw, Shubman Gill, Shivam Mavi, Mayank Markande, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna and Washington Sundar had on the IPL not only won hearts, but also the approval of the selectors,' says Ayaz Memon.
Srinivas Bhogle and Purnendu Maji present Rediff.com's Most Valuable Players ratings after the league phase in IPL 10.
Brothers Krunal and Hardik Pandya excelled with the bat and ball respectively as Baroda crushed Punjab by 75 runs in a Vijay Hazare Trophy Group A match.
A summary of the day's play in the Vijay Hazare One-day tournament.
Depleted by the absence of high-profile names, Indian Premier League 2014 champions Kolkata Knight Riders have a tough task on hand when they lock horns with formidable Chennai Super Kings in the opening Group 'A' match of the Champions League T20, in Hyderabad, on Wednesday.
The all-round ability of the current Indian cricket team excites former captain Rahul Dravid, who feels Mahendra Singh Dhoni's men are a certainty for at least the semifinals of the World Twenty20 Championships. Dravid, who was here for the Laureus Sport for Good programme 'Magic Bus' in his capacity as a member of its World Sports Academy, said India looks to be the most "formidable" team of the tournament, the main draw of which gets underway from March 15. "I think India would make the top four, but after that, it's just a question of who has a better day in the semifinal and final... There's a good crop of players coming through. I think it's going to be an exciting 24 months for the Indian team. "I think the good thing about this Indian team and this T20 World Cup is they have good depth, they have good all-round depth at the moment," Dravid said. "Players like Hardik Pandya and Pawan Negi, it just shows that they have got sort of batting right down to No. 8, 9. They have got six or seven bowlers to call upon in Indian conditions that they can use.
A clinical Chennai Super Kings defeated Royal Challengers Bangalore by three wickets in a nail-biting second qualifier to sail into the final of the Indian Premier League cricket tournament in Ranchi, making it a record sixth appearance in eight editions of the event.
Pargat Singh played a key role in Michael Nobbs' appointment as India's chief hockey coach but the former captain now says it is high time the under-performing Australian is given the "marching orders".
David Warner pulverized a listless Chennai Super Kings attack into submission with some breathtaking strokeplay as Sunrisers Hyderabad won by six wickets to keep slim chances of qualifying for the IPL play-offs alive.
Rescue teams on Wednesday fished out the body of a student from the Beas River and intensified the hunt for 19 others missing even as a case of negligence has been registered against authorities of the Larji Hydropower project in connection with the incident.
A summary of sports events and persons who made news on Saturday
'Political parties have appropriated our military victories -- the Kargil war is the BJP's and the Bangladesh war is the Congress's -- what is going on?' As Uttarakhand -- where faujis number nearly 40% of the state's population -- prepares to vote, Rediff.com's Archana Masih discovers what upsets retired soldiers in Uttarakhand the most is a forgotten protest in the heart of Delhi.
Jolted by the shock loss to New Zealand in the opening game, India will be fighting a survival battle quite early in the tournament when they take on arch foes Pakistan in what is being seen as the marquee clash of the ICC World Twenty20 in Kolkata on Saturday. The hosts, who started clear title-favourites, were in for a blow in the first match itself when New Zealand's spinners bamboozled their famed batting line-up on a turning Nagpur track. As a result, the world No.1 side is staring at an early elimination should it lose to Pakistan in the high-voltage game at the Eden Gardens. As is the case with most India-Pakistan contests, this game too has been preceded by its share of drama. The match was originally scheduled to be held in Dharamsala but was shifted here after the Himachal Pradesh government expressed inability to provide security to the Pakistan team owing to protests by ex-servicemen and their families.
'I would not be running had it not been for the army.' 'I learned to value my time only after I was posted in Kashmir.' 'I was posted there for three months. In those three months I learned everything about life.'
Gurcharan Singh tells Laxmi Negi/Rediff.com why he deserted the Indian team and the reason for wanting to return to the country after 15 years.
Unstoppable so far with clinical performances, a formidable India will square off against a passionate and sprightly Bangladesh in their quest for continental supremacy in the final of the Asia Cup Twenty20 cricket tournament, in Mirpur, on Sunday.
It will be a battle of tactics as a formidable Chennai Super Kings, led by the wily Mahendra Singh Dhoni, square off against a confident Royal Challengers Bangalore under an aggressive Virat Kohli in the second qualifier of the Indian Premier League, in Ranchi on Friday.
Kieron Pollard scripted Mumbai Indian's sensational four-wicket win over Royal Challengers Bangalore with a blistering 70-run knock which overshadowed Samuel Badree's hat-trick in an Indian Premier League game, in Bengaluru, on Friday.
Kolkata Knight Riders would look to quickly redeem themselves when they face the same opponents in the return leg.
Gautam Gambhir was on Saturday handed a suspended four-match ban from first-class cricket for his ugly confrontation with Delhi Ranji coach KP Bhaskar earlier this year, a punishment he said will abide by.
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