Three-time champions India geared up for Sunday's final against Sri Lanka with a resounding 206-run victory over Pakistan in their last league encounter of the Women's Asia Cup in Dambulla on Friday. Meanwhile, in another match, India's opponent in the final, Sri Lanka, beat Bangladesh by nine wickets in Kurunegala.
A summary of sports events and persons who made news on Sunday
Shafali Verma is by far the most decorated of the lot having already played in three World Cup finals at senior level.
Smriti Mandhana, a 19-year-old left-hander from Mumbai, hit an unbeaten 73 off 52 balls to lift India to 147 for four after home team captain Mithali Raj won the toss and elected to bat.
The ICC, on Thursday, extended the deadline for the submission of the 15-player final squad for the World Twenty20 Championship in Sri Lanka by six days after receiving requests from various member nations.
The Indian hockey team that won a second successive Olympic bronze for the country here on Thursday featured 11 players, who will come back as two-time medallists from the quadrennial showpiece.
Indian sprinter Dutee Chand set a new national record while winning the 60m dash heats at the 7th Asian Indoor Athletics Championships in Doha on Friday.
The rebel stronghold of Kilinochchi was decorated with red and yellow rebel flags and senior rebels joined parents of the suicide bombers -- known as the Black Tigers -- for a public ceremony.
India's Parul Chaudhary and Priti secured silver and bronze medals respectively in the women's 3000m steeplechase, unheralded Ancy Sojan made a grand entry on the big stage.
A decision on Ranji Trophy was expected to be taken in the meeting on Sunday but the members could not find a consensus, despite BCCI president Sourav Ganguly batting firmly for the prestigious first-class tournament.
Teenage Indian batting sensation Shafali Verma on Wednesday rose to the top spot in the ICC women's T20 International rankings, riding on her stellar run at the T20 World Cup in Australia. The 16-year-old Verma takes over from New Zealand's Suzie Bates, who had been the top batter since October 2018 after wresting the spot from West Indies captain Stafanie Taylor.
Jhulan sustained a side strain ahead of India's final World Cup group game against South Africa and missed the Sri Lanka tour in July.
The CJI said there is an urgent need to emerge from the adjournment culture to a culture of professionalism.
The simmering tension between India and Pakistan cricket boards was palpable after PCB chief Najam Sethi took a sarcastic jibe at BCCI secretary Jay Shah.
Mithali Raj will lead the 14-member Indian squad in the next month's ICC Women's World Cup Qualifiers which brings together 10 sides in their quest to claim the remaining four places in the main event to be held in June next year. The tournament will run from February 7 to 21 at four Colombo venues and the sides finishing in the top four of the Super Six stage will join defending champion Australia, host England, former winner New Zealand and reigning ICC World Twenty20 champion West Indies in the ICC Women's World Cup 2017 from June 26 to July 23.
The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) announced a provisional home schedule for 2021, on Wednesday, with a five-match Test series against India set to headline the English summer.
Four Indian quarter-milers running below 53 seconds augurs well for the country's hopes of winning six straight Asian Games gold in women's 4x400m relay since 2002.
Indian para athletes record best ever finish at World Championship, earn 17 quota places for Paris Games
The second edition of the Women's Premier League, beginning in Bengaluru on Friday with a high-profile match between defending champions Mumbai Indians and runners-up Delhi Capitals, will be optimistic about meeting its existential purpose of giving a wider platform to promising home-grown talents.
Sri Lanka's Chamari Athapaththu won her maiden women's ODI Cricketer of the Year award, becoming the first female cricketer from the country to win an ICC award.
The first Women's Cricket World Cup was held in England in 1973, two years before the first men's world cup in 1975.
Arch-rivals India and Pakistan were drawn in same group for the ICC World Twenty20 2016. The two teams will face off on March 19 in Dharamsala.
Mithali Raj rued the missed opportunity to not only complete a 3-0 series whitewash against a quality side like England, but also lose out on crucial two points in the ICC Women's Championship.
Major cricket event will return to Pakistan after more than two decades with the country set to host the 2025 Champions Trophy, an ICC flagship tournament.
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.
Smith said the team trusted the security arrangements in place.
Indian women's cricket team skipper Mithali Raj said their first aim is to qualify for the semifinals of the Women's Twenty20 World Cup. "Our first aim is to qualify for the semifinals, but we will treat all group matches on par with the knockout matches," Mithali told reporters ahead of the warm-up matches here. Mithali said the team is confident of performing well in the World Cup as they had a very successful T20 series against Australia and Sri Lanka prior to the tournament. "We had a very successful T20 series against Australia and Sri Lanka. Getting into the World Cup with these wins, the team is very confident. With the kind of phase the team is in, I don't see why we shouldn't be qualifying for semifinals," she said. Asked about the toughest opponent in the event, Mithal said Australia even though India had beaten them recently. "Australia will be a tough contender for us, even though we have beaten them recently," she said.
Murugan, along with Santhan, both Sri Lankan nationals, were taken in a police vehicle following their release to the special refugee camp in Tiruchirappalli in the state.
'Fitness and fielding are two things I want my team to improve'
Saina Nehwal and Chetan Anand led the charge as India got off to a flying start in the Thomas and Uber Cup Asian Zone qualifiers, with both the men's and women's teams notching contrasting victories over Sri Lanka and Hong Kong respectively, in NakhonRatchasima, Thailand, on Monday.
PM also invoked 'chai pe charcha', saying it was not just a slogan but a 'mark of deep respect for the dignity and integrity of honest labour'.
India's per capita GDP of $5,238 in 2013 was 65 per cent lower than Iran, 54 per cent lower than Maldives, 44 per cent lower than Sri Lanka and 27 per cent lower than Bhutan, according to the Human Development Report 2015
BCCI president Sourav Ganguly said: 'Along with the international home series, the BCCI's domestic tournaments are crucial as they are a stepping stone towards making India a strong international side.'
If the BJP has to work as a junior partner of Vijay's TVK, then either the party will have to change the state leader, or the latter should change himself. Incidentally, ever since Vijay started talking politics and elections, the pro-BJP/Hindutva social media had stopped dragging his name into any non-existing issue.' In particular, they have stopped referring to him by his Christian name, 'Joseph Vijay', observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
Just like in last year's ICC World Test Championship Final and the ICC Men's Cricket World Cup final, India and Australia are set to clash in the showpiece finale of another landmark ICC tournament, this time at the ICC U19 Men's World Cup 2024 in South Africa on Sunday.
India garnered most of the gold medals on offer for the fourth successive day at the 12th South Asian Games, as their swimmers, archers and track-and-field athletes ensured the top position on the medals tally remained unchallenged, in Guwahati, on Tuesday.
The stunning performance earned Parul her second medal in Hangzhou after claiming a silver in the women's 3000m Steeplechase on Monday.
Root thanks England fan over phone for his support.
'I don't believe the talk of free will.' 'They are either forced to dress like this, or indoctrinated.'
Hundreds of Muslim women on Friday protested against the Sena mouthpiece.
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