Sports

written by Atharva Jori Badminton World Championships 2025 — Stern test for Lakshya Sen, Sindhu; Indians in action in ParisIt has been a tough year for India, with injuries and inconsistent form hampering build-up of leading players, and Paris Worlds presents a chance to improve that. Lakshya Sen will face a daunting opener against top seed Shi Yu Qi, while former champion P.V. Sindhu will look to shake off a poor run as Indian shuttlers gear up for a stern test at the BWF Badminton World Championships beginning here on Monday. It has been a tough year for India’s leading players, with injuries and inconsistent form hampering their build-up. Lakshya, ranked 21, is returning to the French capital a year after the heartbreak of finishing fourth at the Olympics. Since then, the 24-year-old from Almora, who claimed a bronze at the 2021 edition, has struggled for results, with a quarterfinal at the All England being his best show in 2024. He has often faltered in tight matches against...

written by Atharva Jori The twists and turns in Indian cricket are never-ending. Such is the nature of a transition period. What has added to the drama is the near-impossible task of playing all three formats. A day after the Ajit Agarkar-led selection committee dropped strong hints of making Shubman Gill an all-format captain by appointing the Test skipper as the vice-captain of the Asia Cup-bound T20I side, it has come to light that the board and the selectors are looking at a different option for ODIs. The BCCI is reportedly considering middle-order batsman Shreyas Iyer as the next captain of India’s ODI team. While no official decision has been made yet, a report in Dainik Jagran indicates that Iyer is being viewed as the long-term option to lead India in the 50-over format, possibly till the 2027 World Cup. Iyer was among the contenders for India’s T20 squad for the upcoming Asia Cup but missed out due to the 15-member squad restriction. Despite that, his recent performances, ...

written by Atharva Jori Ruturaj Gaikwad and Ishan Kishan look all but set to be part of the India A squad for the unofficial Test series against Australia A. Ruturaj didn't play an unofficial Test in England. Ishan hasn't played for India since 2023. India A cricket team will host Australia A in an unofficial Test and ODI series from September 16 to October 5. The series includes two unofficial Tests and three one-dayers. Both series could be a star-studded affair due to the presence of capped players. Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma could feature in the one-dayers before they travel to Australia for the ODI series. As the fans wait for the squads for both series, here we have a look at the likely India A squad for the unofficial Test series Abhimanyu Easwaran and Ruturaj Gaikwad look set to face the new ball against Australia A. Both are uncapped in Test cricket. Easwaran travelled to Australia and England but didn't get an opportunity. Ruturaj, on the other hand, went t...

written by Atharva Jori With a blistering century backed by a fiery fifty, 22-year-old Dewald Brevis has arrived on the international arena in style. Just like his childhood hero, AB de Villiers, Brevis can play the lap shot, scoop, switch hit, ramp, and reverse sweep. He is finally showing his class, and his coach Deon Botes, who also coached De Villiers and Faf du Plessis, shares how the child prodigy battled his dark phase and turned it around by going back to the basics Growing up in Mohali, in a 2BHK flat, Shubman Gill’s favourite pastime was copying his childhood hero -- Virat Kohli. He would try to imitate his walk, his cover drive, his celebration, and even played most of his early career with a red handkerchief tucked in his trousers. Around 8,782 kilometers from Mohali, in Pretoria, in the Brevis’ backyard, Dewald and his elder brother Reinardt, wearing Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers’ Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) jerseys, used to mimic both the legends with match si...

written by Atharva Jori Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) have reportedly offered 21-year-old batting star Angkrish Raghuvanshi and India all-rounder Ramandeep Singh in a prospective trade deal with Rajasthan Royals (RR) for their captain, Sanju Samson. According to Anandabazar Patrika, KKR only wants to lose one of them in exchange. Trading of players during the off-season has been available since 2009. However, it has become much more popular recently, as teams have grown and the competition has become more competitive. There are two types of trades available: all-cash, like Hardik Pandya moving to the Mumbai Indians from the Gujarat Titans in 2023, and player exchanges, where there’s a straight swap and the balance in book value is adjusted with cash. In Samson’s case, his book value, i.e., the salary he earns at RR, is Rs. 18 crore. Angkrish earns Rs. 3 crore while Ramandeep gets Rs. 4 crore. So if KKR were to trade only one of them, they would have to pay RR Rs. 15 or 14 crore, res...

written by Atharva Jori Divya annihilated Lei 10-3 to reach the quarterfinals of the Women’s Speed Chess Championship 2025 on Monday. Indian teenage prodigy Divya Deshmukh is just unstoppable at the moment as she continues to dominate her opponents while putting cracks in the great Chinese wall and their dominance with each passing game. Divya’s latest prey was China’s Lei Tingjie, who finished fourth in the recently concluded FIDE Women’s World Cup 2025 in Batumi, Georgia. India’s latest (88th) Grandmaster and only the fourth female GM from the country after winning the Women’s World Cup, Divya, beat Lei in the Women’s Speed Chess Championship 2025 on Monday. Divya annihilated Lei 10-3 to reach the quarterfinals of the event conducted by chess.com in an online format. A high-on-confidence Divya decimated Lei with both white and black pieces. She lost only one game while ending up winning eight and drawing four to get an eight-point win over the Chinese. Earlier, Divya beat comp...

written by Atharva Jori Will he? Won't he? The next edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) is still seven months away, but the one question lingering on everyone's minds is whether MS Dhoni will turn up one more season for his franchise Chennai Super Kings (CSK)? The long-time talisman has been battling knee pain season after season, but still, he has kept the five-time champions at the top of his priority list. CSK finished at the bottom of the points table in IPL 2025. Hence, it remains to be seen whether Dhoni turns up one more season as a player. The 2011 World Cup-winning captain made an appearance during an event recently, and it was there that he spoke about his future plans, saying there is still a lot of time left for him to decide whether he will play the IPL 2026 edition or not. “I don't know whether I'll play or not. I have time to decide. I have some time until December, so I'll take another couple of months, and then finally, I can make my dec...

written by Atharva Jori Kohli can be seen posing with Gujarat Titans' assistant coach Naeem Amin in a training facility in the photo that he posted. Speculation over Virat Kohli’s cricketing future erupted on socia media after the former India captain posted a photo of himself with greying hair, which itself came in the wake of murmurs of the team’s selectors contemplating his and Rohit Sharma’s future with the ODI team. Kohli, however, may have put at least some of the speculation to rest with an Instagram story on Friday. The 36-year-old posted a photo on his Instagram stories along with Gujarat Titans’ assistant coach Naeem Amin in a training facility, thanking the latter for helping him out with a hit. Kohli and Rohit have both retired from T20Is and Tests, thus making the ODI format the only one in which they are still active in international cricket. Kohli had hung up his boots in shortest format after his player-of-the-match performance in the final of the T20 World Cup ...

written by Atharva Jori With both players in the 80s and India having fought back from a massive 311-run deficit, they refused to settle for a draw without reaching well-deserved centuries. The sight of the umpires caught awkwardly in the middle as Jadeja and Sundar pushed on left many divided, with a few also invoking debates on whether the Indian duo acted in the right ‘spirit’. Many, however, also attacked Stokes for forcing a draw after the duo had worked relentlessly hard to fight for the draw. Now that the dust has settled, Sachin Tendulkar has weighed in on the controversy, breaking his silence during his post-series analysis. Without mincing words, Tendulkar criticised the manner in which Stokes approached the duo, adding that it wasn't Sundar and Jadeja's headache to ensure England bowlers stay well-rested for the fifth Test. “Washington scored a hundred, and Jadeja scored a hundred. Why is it not in the right spirit? They were playing for a draw. Before that, the...

written by Atharva Jori Legendary MS Dhoni has confirmed that Ruturaj Gaikwad will return as Chennai Super Kings captain in IPL 2026. Gaikwad was forced to end his season early last year due to injury concerns. Legendary Chennai Super Kings cricketer MS Dhoni confirmed the return of Ruturaj Gaikwad as the captain of the franchise in Indian Premier League 2026. Speaking on a private event in Chennai on Saturday, August 2, Dhoni said that CSK opener will return to the side and take over his usual duties. MS Dhoni was forced to take over CSK's captaincy from Gaikwad due to the latter's injury in the IPL 2025. Gaikwad fractured his arm early in the tournament, one that went terribly for the Chennai-based side. “We are slightly worried about our batting order. But I think our batting order is quite sorted out now. Rutu (Gaikwad) will be coming back. He got injured. But he will be coming back. So, we are quite sorted now,” said Dhoni during a private function in Chennai. “I wo...

written by Atharva Jori Magnus Carlsen and Gukesh Dommaraju's chess encounters have gained significant attention, particularly following events like Norway Chess 2025, where they exchanged victories. Magnus Carlsen and Gukesh Dommaraju's battles on the chessboard have become one of the most talked-about clashes. The duo faced each other plenty of times in the recent past, including the famous Norway Chess 2025, where Carlsen won once, and lost another. But what has been most interesting is the Norwegian's habit of criticising the World Champion several times. Another such instance occurred when Carlsen, while participating in the Esports World Cup chess tournament, was asked to stay quiet till he heard the name of a chess player who was better than him. Carlsen remained silent throughout the session and only broke his silence when Garry Kasparov's name came up. Later, as the video went viral on Instagram, Carlsen trolled Gukesh and wrote, "Would have stayed q...

written by Atharva Jori Shubman Gill broke a massive world record with his first run in the fifth Test against England at the Oval. The Indian captain has been in red-hot form in his debut assignment, leading the side with over 700 runs and four centuries. Shubman Gill continued his record-breaking spree during the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy on the first day of play in the fifth Test at Oval on Thursday (July 31) after he walked out to bat in the first session in tricky conditions following England's decision to bowl first. After Yashasvi Jaiswal's early dismissal and a rare failure for KL Rahul, Gill walked into the middle in 16th over. He made 15 runs in 23 balls and ensured India did not lose any more wickets before the lunch break and a long stoppage in the match due to rain. The 25-year-old set a huge world record with his first run of the day as he broke Gary Sobers' long-standing world record for the most runs by a captain in an away Test series. After his dismis...