Gayle's sixes got bigger, Watson played with a passion for Rajasthan Royals that is harder to spot when he plays for Australia, Mike Hussey made you wonder why he retired so soon, James Faulkner gave indications that he might seriously trouble England in the Ashes series, and Dwayne Bravo left you wondering if he bowls better than he bats, observes Purnendu Maji and Srinivas Bhogle.
While we wait for Batra's latest to drop on Amazon Prime Video on February 11, Sukanya Verma looks at how Bollywood has dealt with affairs of the heart over the years.
The Aussie showed his pedigree as he smashed 117 not out from 57 balls to help CSK crush the Sunrisers Hyderabad by 8 wickets and claim their third IPL title.
The latest qualifying rankings feature three Chinese weightlifters in the top five.
'A friend of mine said she grew up not liking cricket. She hated cricket.' 'But she said when I was watching your film, I suddenly had a life-altering moment when I thought that if this is what cricket does to you, then have I missed out on a large part of my life?' 'I got tears in my eyes when I read that.'
Hands down, the star of the show is Rajkummar Rao, observes Sukanya Verma.
'There were initial hiccups with Ayushmann as Mr Bachchan has an aura; he isn't called a legend for anything.'
Red Bull's double world champion Sebastian Vettel ran away with the inaugural Indian Formula One Grand Prix on Sunday for his 11th victory in 17 races this season.
Kane and Shikhar took the game calmly over the line to book a berth in the playoffs and all but end Delhi's chances of progressing in the competition.
Ian Thorpe's decision to return to competitive swimming has added an intriguing new twist to next year's London Olympics and sets the stage for possibly one of the most anticipated races of all time.
>'The women, warts and all, are fascinating and frustrating for their flaws.' 'As much director Alankrita Shrivastava wants them to chart their course on their own terms, she pauses much too frequently to throw in a little pity party,' observes Sukanya Verma.
With Valentine's Day coming up, we invited readers to share stories of their first loves with us. Here is the first set of responses!
Aditi Mutatkar braved a calf injury en route to a straight-game triumph over Sri Lanka's Thilini Jayasinghe as Indian shuttlers began their individual campaigns at the Asian Games on a bittersweet note in Guangzhou on Tuesday.
'There were moments when you didn't know if you will get out of there alive.'
Whether it's real life or reel, Anushka Sharma makes sure her man has a unique job!
Bruno Fernandes and Edinson Cavani scored twice each as Manchester United took a giant step towards the Europa League final with a 6-2 drubbing of AS Roma in their semi-final first leg at Old Trafford on Thursday.
Whatever your reason to quit, there are some basic rules of conduct for that big 'last day'.
'All the guys in this country were stuck in the 'alpha' for the longest time.' 'They were told not to cry, be the man in the house.' 'I wanted to touch upon that vulnerability and innocence that is still alive in men.'
Moreno, who holds a degree from the University of Barcelona in trade and international relations, began working alongside Luis Enrique with Barcelona's B team in 2010 in the scouting department.
Hard-hitting Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga breathed a huge sigh of relief on Sunday after a maiden tour victory that proved his fairytale Australian Open run was no fluke.
Thanks to the encouragement she has received from Anjali Singh, her college buddy and an editor at Houghton Mifflin whose acquisition of Marjane Satrapi's Persepolis became a successful Oscar-nominated graphic film, Keshni Kashyap is on her way to the bookstore.
Former champions Sri Lanka are all but out of the tournament after the Islanders produced a dismal batting show to manage a modest 203, a target which the Proteas overhauled with 76 balls in hand.
Oliver Kahn played his last competitive match against Mohun Bagan, and was greeted with a standing ovation by the capacity 1.2 lakh crowd.
Devastated and heartbroken was how West Indies centurion Carlos Brathwaite described himself after narrowly failing to deliver victory for his side in a dramatic run chase against New Zealand, on Saturday. In pursuit of 292, Brathwaite bludgeoned five sixes and nine fours in a quick-fire 101 before falling to a well-judged catch by Trent Boult on the long-on boundary, aiming to finish the chase in style with just five runs needed.
Oliver Kahn is looking forward to play in front of capacity crowd at the Salt Lake stadium when Bayern Munich take on Mohun Bagan in a friendly.
A year ago Eleanor Harvey was not sure she would make the Rio Games, but on Wednesday she stunned one of her heroes in Canada's strongest individual fencing performance ever at the Olympics.
Sukanya Verma makes a playlist of 15 profound Rajesh Khanna ditties.
Bollywood is known to make everything look dazzling and dramatic -- suffering, seclusion, hopelessness.
He has been in a rich vein of form at international level too, leading Poland to the finals with 16 goals,
Sunita, who arrived at the station with the STS-116 mission, replaced European Space Agency Astronaut Thomas Reiter on the Expedition 14 crew at midnight on December 12.
'My contribution to Uttama Villain is going to make me proud.'
Arsenal suffered a shock Europa League exit to Olympiakos Piraeus on away goals after a 2-1 extra-time home defeat, while Manchester United and Wolverhampton Wanderers cruised into the last 16 with emphatic aggregate wins on Thursday.
With his team up against it, the scene is set for Steve Waugh to finish his career batting for his team's survival.
Floyd Landis would love nothing more than to win a second Tour de France to make up for the bittersweet memories of last year's victory.
Renault took second and third place with Italian Giancarlo Fisichella and newly-crowned champion Fernando Alonso respectively.
Ferrari's Charles Leclerc held off Lewis Hamilton to win his first Formula One race on Sunday in the Belgian Formula One Grand Prix.
