India's awe-inspiring batting depth will face a stern test against South Africa's quality spin attack in the first Test, starting in Kolkata on Friday.
It was poetry in motion as Simone Biles mesmerised spectators at the Bercy Arena in Paris and watching all over the world with her dazzling routines to win her fifth Olympic gold medal as she made a triumphant return to the women's gymnastics team final at the Paris Games on Tuesday.
Jannik Sinner's tennis may be making headlines, but his off-court life is drawing just as much curiosity especially after his ATP Finals win, where a smiling Laila Hasanovic was the first person he hugged.
Shubman Gill retired hurt after suffering a neck sprain while attempting a slog-sweep off Simon Harmer on the second day of the first Test against South Africa, in Kolkata, on Saturday.
At Paris Fashion Week 2025, she didn't just walk the ramp -- Aishwarya Rai made fashion history.
Liverpool shrugged off the absence of Mohamed Salah as midfielder Dominik Szoboszlai scored an 88th-minute penalty to give them a 1-0 Champions League win at Inter Milan.
Vice-captain Rishabh Pant said India's batters should have adapted to the challenge of playing on a tricky pitch at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata.
South Africa completed a memorable 2-0 series sweep against India after off-spinner Simon Harmer claimed 6/37 to bowl the Proteas to a comprehensive 408-run victory in the second Test,
Openers Yashasvi Jaiswal and K L Rahul perished early as India fumbled in the chase of a mammoth 549-run target on Day 4 of the second Test.
South African captain Temba Bavuma on Sunday said his game is built around an unshakeable defence, which stood him in good stead on a disintegrating Eden Gardens track, where 38 wickets fell inside eight sessions.
South Africa's Aiden Markram created a new world record for the most catches by a fielder in a Test match, during the second Test against India in Guwahati on Wednesday.
How Mumbai Maidan coach Patwal's tough-love sessions gave Harmer his second wind
'Jassi bhai just told me that the wicket-taking option was if you bowl at the stumps...'
South Africa fought a rearguard action to turn the second Test against Pakistan on its head and take the upper hand after an enthralling third day's play on Wednesday.
Spin great Harbhajan Singh said India don't have a specialist off-spinner for Test cricket.
Little-known ambidextrous Bengal spinner Kaushik Maity seamlessly doubled up for both roles during the optional practice session.
Former players Irfan Pathan and Venkatesh Prasad have questioned the Indian team's muddled approach, lack of stability and the increasing reliance on all-rounders.
'Constant changes to the playing XI, batting orders, and frequent rotations prevent stability.'
Germany secured a place at next year's World Cup by crushing Slovakia 6-0 in their final qualifier on Monday.
Sack Gambhir before he damages any more careers, if you must. But it cannot stop there. The project ahead must be bigger, more ambitious, and far more urgent: Rebuilding the spine of Indian cricket from the grassroots up, and giving the Test team the seriousness it deserves. Only then will Indian cricket stop lurching from one crisis to another and begin, once again, to imagine greatness, suggests Prem Panicker.
Armed with a potent spin attack, taking on South Africa seems like competing against a "subcontinent team", Ten Doeschate said, admitting that they need to get better at negotiating the challenge posed by tweakers.
India have long curated home tracks that accentuate turn, but the assumption their own batters would master such conditions no longer appears safe following their defeat in the opening Test against South Africa.
On a surface offering little assistance for bowlers, South Africa's top order had frittered away starts but number seven Muthusamy marshalled a lower-order surge with a composed 109.
South Africa coach Shukri Conrad was overwhelmed to see his spinners rule the roost in the first Test against India at the Eden Gardens, signalling to him that the Rainbow Nation is no longer an exclusive "fast bowling country" and hoped that a lot more slow bowlers will emerge.
Simone Biles clinched her sixth Olympic gold medal in front of an ecstatic crowd at the Paris Games on Thursday.
'You saw Yashasvi Jaiswal start in the second innings, did you see the first three balls, the kind of shots that he attempted?'
Marco Jansen picked 12 wickets in the two Tests at an average of 10.08 including a six-wicket haul in the first innings of the Guwahati Test, while Jasprit Bumrah managed eight wickets in the series.
Daryl Mitchell becomes only the second player from New Zealand to hold the top the ICC ranking for ODI batters.
South Africa pulled off a sensational victory inside three days of the opening Test against India on Sunday and the manner of it would go a long way in silencing those who doubted their credentials as the reigning world test champions.
The second and final Test starts in Guwahati from Saturday with India trailing 0-1 after the defeat on a challenging Eden Gardens pitch in Kolkata.
'When you are playing on spin-friendly pitches, you need to prepare differently.'
South African captain Temba Bavuma mixed grit with humour after his team's shock win over India in Kolkata, celebrating his hard-fought fifty and the "small hands" catch that turned the match on its head.
Eberechi Eze scored a majestic hat-trick as Arsenal trounced north London rivals Tottenham Hotspur 4-1 to open up a commanding six-point lead.
'You don't come to a country to win a Test match, you obviously want to win the series.
This was India's fourth defeat in the last six Tests at home and in all four Tests -- including three against New Zealand -- their batters have flopped against spin.
Shubman Gill might just want to be fit enough to bat, as even a half-fit skipper is seen as more effective than Sai Sudharsan, Abhimanyu Easwaran or Sarfaraz Khan.
Gill stretchered out with neck injury; ''just bad timing'', says Morne Morkel
K L Rahul on Saturday conceded that Indian batters' repeated struggles against spin, especially on home tracks, remain a concern.
Ravichandran Ashwin exposed India batters' lack of quality to battle ball tweakers by claiming that if legendary batter Sachin Tendulkar or past domestic heroes Amol Muzumdar, the India women's team head coach and Mithun Manhas had played against spinners on such a track, the Test would have gone to four days, unlike India's harrowing 30-run defeat against South Africa at Eden Gardens.
Bayern beat Borussia Moenchengladbach 3-0 on Saturday to bag their 13th win from 13 matches across all competitions this season.
