Sports

Cuttack, Dec 20: The pitch at the Barabati Stadium, untested for about a year, and former skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni attracted maximum attention on the eve of the T20 series opener between India and Sri Lanka here. Dhoni headed straight to the 22-yard strip after dropping his kit bag and examined it minutely from both ends. Moments earlier Rohit Sharma, who is standing in as captain in the

Guna (Madhya Pradesh), Dec 20: A BJP MLA from Madhya Pradesh questioned the patriotism of cricketer Virat Kohli for preferring Italy to India to get married to actor Anushka Sharma. Panna Lal Shakya told a gathering: "Virat earned money in India... But he didn't find any place to marry in the country. Is Hindustan untouchable?... Lord Rama, Lord Krishna, Vikramaditya, Yudhishthir got married on

Karachi, Dec 19: Pakistan cricket team middle-order batsman Babar Azam has played down his comparison with Indian skipper Virat Kohli, saying he should not be likened with such a ‘big player’. Describing Kohli as ‘the No.1 batsman in the world’, the 23-year-old said that he took wants to perform like the Indian cricket team skipper for Pakistan. “He compared me with a very big player. I think it

New Delhi, Dec 19: Rarely does a sport become synonymous with an individual but Pankaj Advani has been just that to cue sports in India for a long time and this year was no different as he claimed a couple of more world titles to add to his legendary status. The 32-year-old has been juggling billiards and snooker quite efficiently for over a decade now. His performance, in fact, has come to define

Sydney, Dec 19: Steve Smith has broken English hearts and smashed records with his phenomenal Ashes batting and is being acclaimed as the best Australian batsman since the greatest of all, Don Bradman. That is rarefied company for the quirky 28-year-old skipper, who led Australia to reclaiming the Ashes with an imperious 239 -- his highest Test score -- in Australia's mammoth first innings 662 for

New Delhi, Dec 18: After a successful ODI series against Sri Lanka, India's stand-in skipper Rohit Sharma has moved two places to grab the fifth position in ICC Player ODI Rankings. India wrapped up 2-1 on Sunday with an emphatic eight-wicket victory in the final ODI in Visakhapatnam. It is for the first time that Sharma has crossed the 800-point mark. Though he enjoyed a career-high ranking of no

Dubai, Dec 18: Top Indian shuttler PV Sindhu suffered yet another final loss, going down fighting against World No. 2 Akane Yamaguchi of Japan in a pulsating women's singles summit clash of the BWF World Superseries Finals on Sunday. In the prestigious season-ending tournament finale, Sindhu played her hearts out before losing 21-15, 12-21, 19-21 to Yamaguchi in an energy-sapping summit clash that

New Delhi, Dec 18: Double Olympic medallist Sushil Kumar made a glorious return to the international arena by clinching a gold medal at the Commonwealth Wrestling Championships in Johannesburg, South Africa today. Returning to international wrestling after more than three years, Sushil defeated New Zealand Akash Khullar's via a pinfall in the final of the 74kg freestyle category to clinch the

Visakhapatnam, Dec 18: Shikhar Dhawan struck a sublime hundred in the nick of time as India delivered yet again in a series decider to beat Sri Lanka by eight wickets in the third ODI and record their eighth successive win in a bilateral contest. India raced to the 216-run target in 32.1 overs with Dhawan (100 n.o. off 85) completing his 12th ODI ton in what turned out to be the penultimate over

Dubai, Dec 16 : Olympic silver-medallist P V Sindhu stood a step away from clinching her maiden Dubai Super Series Finals title after defeating Chen Yufei of China in straight games in the women's singles semifinals here on Saturday. The 22-year-old Indian dished out a controlled game of badminton to outclass the Glasgow World Championship bronze medallist 21-15, 21-18 in a match that lasted a