'It's happened before. Not just Virat but there's many players that have come up to IPL time and ... look, we know it's a cash rich tournament, there's some money up for grabs.'
This year's Tour de France had been advertised as an exciting battle royale between four great riders yet it panned out as an underwhelming contest as Chris Froome's rivals failed to live up to expectations.
A selection of musings from around the cricket World Cup.
'The stigma that FIFA is a corrupt body has to be erased once and for all. One fears that will not happen until Sepp Blatter goes'
Steven Gerrard is second only to Zinedine Zidane in terms of his world-class status, says former England and Liverpool striker Michael Owen.
Five of these have wound up since, according to records of the Ministry of Corporate Affairs
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
Indians thrive in ordinariness -- from academia and science to business and military power. Sports is just an apt metaphor, says Shekhar Gupta.
Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers said striker Luis Suarez has gone against the values of the club after he publicly accused Rodgers of not honouring a promise to allow him to leave.
Switzerland's potential Davis Cup fairytale this weekend was clouded by uncertainty over the fitness of Roger Federer and rumours of a strained relationship between the all-time great and his teammate Stanislas Wawrinka. But all seems to be fine now in the Swiss camp as this picture suggests.
The injuries and form aside, it was that famous fall-out with then captain Michael Clarke and coach Mickey Arthur that brought ignominy unto Watson.
On Wednesday, Minister of State (External Affairs) M J Akbar resigned from his post after facing a flurry of allegations of sexual harassment by women journalists. As the women journalists 'feel vindicated' following his resignation, here's a list of the women who came forward and shared their ordeal.
English cricketers can "forget" about the shorter format unless they embrace the Indian Premier League, according to the maverick Kevin Pietersen, who says his efforts to get his countrymen to play in the IPL have fallen on "deaf ears".
Chelsea striker Diego Costa has denied he deliberately stamped on Liverpool's Emre Can.
While Sonu Sood stays consistent and Deepika inevitably dazzles, it is Shah Rukh himself who appears the most out of place, says Raja Sen.
Two former England managers and one of the country's most famous black players have rubbished allegations by Sol Campbell that he would have been national team captain for more than 10 years if he was white.
A selection of musings from around the cricket World Cup.
Less than a week after FIFA set up a task force to look into when the 2022 World Cup finals in Qatar can be held, English FA chairman Greg Dyke said it will never take place in the searing heat of the Middle East summer.
Going into the final Test against South Africa, Australia are staring at the lowest ebb in their 140-year cricketing history.
Indrani is easily the most striking woman arriving in the court complex from jail on trial days. For those who don't know who she is, there is absurd puzzlement written large on faces when they bump into her. When she reaches or leaves the premises, one notices heads swivelling in jaw-dropping curiosity, as did a pair of transsexual undertrials who crossed her path at the last hearing of 2018, who were, not surprisingly, a less unusual sight than Indrani.
Here's your weekly dose of weird, true and funny news from around the world.
'I belonged to the working class, not the middle class.' 'I was a rag-picker. I used to pick up coal from the railway tracks.' 'I was rejected from the FTII, as I was very unkempt and skinny.' 'I did not look like a hero, villain or comedian.' 'But Girish Karnad and Jairaj said I should be taken based on merit, not looks.'
'T20 isn't the killer. The T20 format is good for the game.' 'The majority of international cricketers still value Test cricket.'
Throughout, Mekhail spoke calmly, with hardly an inflection making even the barest attempt to hijack his tone. His tone was so empty it made his narrative all the more touching. And ugly and grey, as the monsoon sky beyond the window.
The post mandate comments that 'darkness has descended on India' shows the kind of opposition Modi has to overcome. It is this aspirational India that is attempting to throw away shackles of Macualayism. Make no mistake it is a tectonic shift and a beginning of the end of Maculayan mindset that has 'ruled' India for close to 60 years, says Colonel (retd) Anil Athale.
