Sports

written by Atharva Jori India’s teenage superstar Divya Deshmukh’s dream run at the ongoing FIDE Women’s World Cup 2025 continued as she knocked out former World Champion China’s Tan Zhongyi in the semifinal in Batumi on Wednesday, becoming the first Indian to reach the finals of this elite tournament. This also meant Divya qualified for the Candidates Tournament as well. The 19-year-old stunned World No. 4 for the biggest win of her career. She handed Tan a loss in the second leg of their semifinal clash by white pieces to win the tie 1.5-0.5 after drawing the first leg with black pieces. The monumental feat also helped Divya get her first GM norm and get closer to becoming India’s fourth-ever female Grandmaster. Only Koneru Humpy, Harika Dronavalli and R. Vaishali have the GM title among Indian women. The teenage sensation had earlier ousted second seed China‘s Zhu Jiner in the fourth round, before eliminating compatriot Harika Dronavalli in the quarterfinals. The India No. 2 H...

written by Atharva Jori “I’ll be honest, retirement was not in my head,” Anderson, who had taken 704 wickets in 188 Tests and currently sits at third spot in leading wicket-takers in Test cricket behind Muttiah Muralitharan and Shane Warne, told The Times. “I was still bowling as well as I ever had, and my body was in good shape. I was looking forward to the Ashes. All sport needs young people coming onto the scene, but you have to balance that with age and experience. It’s difficult. I’d been told that as long as I was good enough to warrant a place in the team, and fit enough, they’d keep picking me… but then they changed their mind. I did see their point. I wasn’t angry, though my wife was; probably still is. But then she’s always been my biggest supporter, my biggest help throughout my career,” Two months before he retired from international cricket, Anderson was told by ECB Managing director Rob Key, McCullum and Stokes about him not being in their scheme of things. Anderson di...

written by Atharva Jori Chelsea are in talks to sign Ajax’s Jorrel Hato and RB Leipzig’s Xavi Simons. However, to follow UEFA’s financial rules and manage their large squad, the Blues need to raise over £60 million to bring in new players for the 2025-26 Champions League season. This means selling or loaning out several players who were either on loan last season or not playing regularly under coach Enzo Maresca. Jorrel Hato is a versatile Ajax defender who can play centre-back or left-back. The 19-year-old impressed last season with consistent performances. Chelsea’s interest in the player signals their intent to strengthen the backline. To make room for new defensive recruits, players like Ben Chilwell and Axel Disasi could be on the move. Chilwell was part of Chelsea’s ‘bomb squad’ last pre-season but stayed because no deal was finalized. The club will try to sell or loan him in 2025, preferably permanently. Similarly, Disasi, who was on loan last season, is also likely to be s...

written by Atharva Jori In London on July 8, 2025, former Indian cricketer Yuvraj Singh organised a charity dinner for his YouWeCan Foundation. The event saw participation from several notable figures in the cricket world. It aimed to raise funds for cancer awareness and treatment. Among the attendees was Shubman Gill, the captain of India's Test team, who arrived with his entire squad. Meanwhile, a photograph of Gill has been making waves on social media. In this image, Sara Tendulkar, daughter of Sachin Tendulkar, is seen with Gill, sparking discussions once again. The photo shows Shubman smiling while seated in front of Sara. Reports suggest it was taken when Gill joined the dinner and Sara was already present. However, both Shubman and Sara have never publicly addressed these rumours. At one point, they unfollowed each other on social platforms, seemingly putting an end to the speculations. Despite this, their recent appearance together at the charity event has reignited i...

written by Atharva Jori It’s singer Jasleen Royal’s birthday today, and what better way to celebrate than to rewind to the musical moments that made her a household name. From dreamy bridal entries to tear-jerking couple montages, Jasleen’s songs have become a go-to soundtrack for love stories across the country. But perhaps the biggest seal of approval came from actor Anushka Sharma herself. Back in 2017, when Anushka married cricketer Virat Kohli in a fairytale ceremony in Tuscany, the couple chose Din Shagna Da — a song from Anushka’s own film Phillauri (2017) — to mark the most emotional moment of their lives. The track, composed and sung by Jasleen, instantly went viral after their wedding video dropped, turning what was once a gentle film song into the bridal entry anthem for years to come. In an old interview with Pinkvilla, Jasleen recalled the moment fondly, saying, “Honestly, it feels like an achievement as a songwriter, that your song has more meaning to the people you ...

written by Atharva Jori Former India cricket captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni may be synonymous with ice-cool nerves under pressure, but his bid to trademark the moniker ‘Captain Cool’ has hit a legal roadblock. A Delhi-based lawyer, Ashutosh Choudhary, has formally opposed Dhoni’s attempt to register the widely used sporting nickname as a trademark, arguing that the phrase is 'generic, descriptive and intrinsically linked to public commentary and sporting culture.' Filed through Delhi-based law firm KAnalysis Attorneys at Law, the opposition challenges the registrability of the phrase, asserting that it cannot serve as a distinctive commercial identifier for Dhoni or any other single individual. According to the opposition, Dhoni’s star power alone does not entitle him to monopolise a phrase that has historically described several athletes across generations. 'The term 'Captain Cool' is a generic, laudatory expression that has been used for multiple sportsperson...

written by Atharva Jori Barbora Krejcikova took a brief pause, then bent down, hands on knees, trying to gather her thoughts and emotions. And probably hope that her body would somehow hold together. She did this many times in the second half of her third round match at Wimbledon. But as the tame forehand return that crashed into the net on match point suggested, Krejcikova was far from her physical best. In a 6-2, 3-6, 4-6 loss to 10th seed Emma Navarro of the USA, the Czech defending women’s champion was out in the third round. A few hours earlier on Saturday, Danish player Clara Tauson beat the Kazakh 2022 winner Elena Rybakina. The two results ensured that there will be a new women’s champion when the tournament reaches its business end next weekend. The way the match started though it certainly did not look like Krejcikova would be the one to face defeat. The 29-year-old started the match in imposing form. She dominated rallies, broke Navarro’s serve twice while not facing a ...

written by Atharva Jori Two-time Olympic medallist PV Sindhu, who turned 30 on Saturday, received warm wishes from across the sporting world. Among them was a heartfelt message from veteran badminton commentator and former doubles player Gill Clark, who dedicated a special post to Sindhu. Clark, a former World Championships medallist in both women’s and mixed doubles, praised Sindhu as one of the finest performers on the biggest stages. She expressed confidence that the next phase of Sindhu’s journey could be equally remarkable, drawing parallels with sporting legends like Roger Federer and Felix Sanchez, who achieved significant success after turning 30. “Pusarla Venkata Sindhu has always been a “big tournament player" with 2 Olympic and 5 world championship medals (plus medals at Asian Games, Commonwealth Games and Asian Championships). But what is so remarkable, and testament to Sindhu’s character and “big tournament player" reputation, is that with all 7 medals won a...

written by Atharva Jori A cute reaction of India pacer Jasprit Bumrah while being praised for his bowling by ex-player Ravi Shastri on-air has gone viral on social media. Shastri was doing commentary on Day 3 of the game at Edgbaston, Birmingham. At that point, England trailed India by 470 runs. "Seeing the situation India in are at the moment. With England trailing by 470 runs, you can imagine if Jasprit was out there in the middle with that many runs on the board," he said as the camera turned towards Bumrah, who was there at the venue. Notably, Bumrah, who played an important role for India in the first Test, missed the second game as a part of workload management. Ahead of the five-match Test series against England, India's chief selector Ajit Agarkar had already made it clear that Bumrah would not play all the games on the tour. "No Bumrah. Just to manage his workload. Third Test being at Lord's, we think there'll be more in that pitch so we'll ...

written by Atharva Jori D Gukesh is clearly living rent-free in Magnus Carlsen’ head and the 19-year-old Indian Grandmaster proved it once again at the SuperUnited Rapid and Blitz tournament on July 3. In a surprising yet clinical display of his mastery over the game, Gukesh defeated the former world champion in the rapid format — less than a month after his infamous victory over Carlsen, 34, in classical chess at Norway Chess. That match, of course, ended with Carlsen visibly frustrated, banging the table and now, the chess legend seems to have pulled out a new reason to explain his latest loss. “Honestly, I am not enjoying playing chess at all right now. I just, I don't feel any flow at all when I'm playing. I'm constantly hesitating and it's just really poor right now,” Carlsen said in an interview with Take Take Take after the game. This win marked Gukesh’s fifth straight one in the tournament, which catapulted him to the sole lead after six rounds. Carlsen — w...

written by Atharva Jori In one of the most touching moments of the ongoing India-England Test series, star Indian opener Yashasvi Jaiswal met 12-year-old Ravi, a visually impaired fan and passionate cricket follower, on Saturday at Edgbaston. The young fan had earlier expressed his desire to meet Jaiswal during the Headingley Test, a wish that finally came true in Birmingham - and it turned out to be an unforgettable day for both of them. The BCCI shared a heartwarming video of the interaction, captioned: “Meet 12-year old Ravi – He is blind but an avid cricket follower. He had one wish – to meet Yashasvi Jaiswal and his wish came true this morning at Edgbaston.”

written by Atharva Jori Alibaug is the hottest beachscape for several stars, including Shah Rukh Khan, Gauri Khan, Deepika Padukone, and Ranveer Singh, to name a few. Celebrity couple Virat Kohli and Anushka Sharma also own a luxury holiday home there, worth Rs 32 crore. Fans keep getting glimpses of their beautiful lavish farmhouse on social media. Virat and Anushka are also often spotted taking a ferry from Mumbai to Alibaug. Here’s a look inside their chic vacation house. According to the Architectural Digest, it is built by the popular international architecture firm Stefan Antoni Olmesdahl Truen Architects (SAOTA), led by Phillippe Fouche. The villa built over a 10,000-square-foot plot, with mostly natural materials – pristine stones, exotic Italian marbles, raw travertines, and Turkish limestones, which been primarily used extensively to add value to the space. The four-bedroom and four-bathroom villa, designed in a California Konkan style, has an earthy warmth because of it...

Written by Atharva Jori Liverpool's Portuguese forward Diogo Jota has died in a car crash near Zamora, in northwestern Spain, police said on Thursday. He was 28. The Civil Guard said a vehicle veered off a motorway and burst into flames shortly after midnight in the municipality of Cernadilla in Zamora province, confirming the deaths of Jota and his brother, Andre Silva. Two young people die in an accident on the A-52 (Palacios de Sanabria). The Rionegro del Puente Fire Station (Northern Zone of the @DiputacionZA Consortium) responds,” Zamora’s Provincial Council said in an official statement. “The vehicle caught fire, and the flames spread to the vegetation. They were 28 and 26 years old. RIP.” Jota, born in Porto, began his football journey through the youth ranks of Pacos de Ferreira before earning a move to Atletico Madrid in 2016. Immediately after joining the Spanish club, he returned home to join FC Porto for a season-long loan spell, and later joined Wolverhampton Wand...

Written by Atharva Jori in Ontario, the former world No 1 Srikanth showed once more that he has managed to turn things around with his form in recent times, as he managed to beat Priyanshu for the first time with a come-from-behind 18-21, 21-19, 21-14 win in 53 minutes. According to the official BWF statistics, Srikanth Kidambi and Priyanshu Rajawat have faced each other just twice on the international circuit before their first-round meeting at the Canada Open Super 300 on Wednesday. On both those occasions, the younger Indian shuttler – often likened to Srikanth for his gameplay – had beaten his senior teammate. And both those wins (at 2023 Australian Open and German Open earlier this year) had come in straight games, with Srikanth only managing a maximum of 14 points. But in Ontario, the former world No 1 showed once more that he has managed to turn things around with his form in recent times, as he managed to beat Priyanshu for the first time with a come-from-behind 18-21, 21-19...

Written by Atharva Jori Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma's Next India Assignment Likely To Be Rescheduled India's white-ball tour of Bangladesh in August could be rescheduled because it needs clearance from the Indian government, a senior Bangladesh cricket official told AFP on Wednesday. The series, including three one-day and three T20 matches, is due to start on August 17 in Dhaka. However, Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) media committee chairman Iftikhar Rahman told AFP that its Indian counterpart, the BCCI, has informed them the tour might be delayed. The BCCI has not made any comment on the tour. "The tour is part of the FTP (International Cricket Council's Future Tours Programme), so cancellation is not an option. But it may be rescheduled to a mutually convenient time," Rahman said, without giving further details. BCB sources said that the tour was awaiting a green light from India's government, reports repeated in Indian media. The uncertainty follows re...

Written by Atharva Jori Budding Indian cricketer Vaibhav Suryavanshi, who took world cricket by storm with his flamboyance during the IPL 2025 season earlier this year, followed by fiery knocks in the ongoing U19 ODI tour of England, was spotted at the Edgbasto cricket ground on Thursday, where he witnessed the historic Shubman Gill knock Carrying his sublime form and adding to his overnight knock of century, Gill added a hundred more on Day 2 to become the first-ever Indian captain to score a double century in a Test match in England. He also became the first Asian skipper to score 200 in a SENA country, surpassing the previous best of 193 by Tillakaratne Dilshan at Lord's in 2011, while the knock was only the second instance in history where an Indian skipper scored a double ton in an overseas Test, after Virat Kohli's 200 at North Sound in 2016. Moments after Gill's wild celebration in Birmingham, which propelled India's score well past 500, the cameraman caught ...

Written by Atharva Jori IND vs ENG: Shubman Gill slams double century, equals Virat Kohli's rare Test record Shubman Gill delivered a career-defining knock on Day 2 of the second Test against England at the Edgbaston Cricket Ground in Birmingham, bringing up his maiden Test double century in emphatic fashion. With this monumental effort, Gill became only the third Indian to score a Test double hundred in England, and the first Indian captain to achieve the feat on English soil. Among Indian captains, only Virat Kohli (7 double tons) has scored more. Others to have reached the 200-run mark once as captain include MAK Pataudi, Sunil Gavaskar, Sachin Tendulkar, MS Dhoni, and now Shubman Gill. Shubman gill is batting in his own world as he followed up a century in his first innings as India’s Test captain in Leeds with a double century in the second match at Edgbaston. The 25-year-old got to the mark in 311 balls, his innings punctuated by 21 fours and two sixes.

Written by Atharva Jori As Shubman Gill led from the front with a resilient century and Rishabh Pant threatened briefly during his stay at the crease, the stump mic picked up a moment that gave a clear insight into the action on the ground during India's first innings at Edgbaston. Amid shifting momentum and a softening ball, the duo were heard recalibrating their approach in real time, showcasing how India’s batters were adapting after a series of collapses haunted them in the first Test. Rishabh Pant pulls up Shubman Gill after India captain jumps the gun over stump mic call: 'Pehle hi mat decide kar' Gill, at the striker’s end, appeared to agree with the observation, indicating they wouldn’t push for sharp singles. But Pant, ever instinctive, cautioned against jumping to conclusions. His message: make the call in the moment, but don’t predetermine the outcome. Gill, who scored his second century of the series and remained unbeaten on 114 at stumps on Day 1, was play...

Written by Atharva Jori While Praggnanandhaa has 2779 points, Arjun and Gukesh both have 2776 points. The Indian trio are ranked 4th, 5th, and 6th in the standings. Praggnanandhaa R gained 12 rating points, thanks to his performance at the UzChess Cup tournament in Tashkent, which helped him climb to the world no 4 spot for the first time in his career in the latest FIDE ratings list released by the global governing body of chess on July 1. Praggnanandhaa thus is the top-ranked Indian player in the FIDE ratings list in classical chess, leapfrogging compatriots Arjun Erigaisi and world champion Gukesh into fourth spot. Praggnanandhaa had spoken about how the India No 1 position was something that “could change after every game”. Praggnanandhaa was asked about the joke in chess circles about how the toughest position in chess to hang on to is India number one. “This India number one can change every game. I don’t think it matters who’s India number one right now. I don’t think it re...

Written by Atharva Jori India have not decided which three Tests Bumrah will be a part of over the course of the English summer. He has played one, leaving him to feature in two out of the next four games. With India’s premier fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah’s availability for the second India vs England Test still unclear, former India player Sanjay Manjrekar said that India have to line up with the seamer at Edgbaston because leaving him out at this critical juncture makes little to no sense. “I mean there’s no doubt in anyone’s mind and I don’t think India has a choice. He’s got to play. He didn’t bowl as much as one would have thought in the second innings. Plus, he didn’t take to the field towards the end as well. Long enough gap and if he doesn’t play now and you have seen how the bowling attack looks, even with Bumrah in the second innings in the last test. So Bumrah’s got to play. And I know, he’s not going to play the full series but play this one and we’ll see what happens in ...