Category: SPORTS

Arsenal will look to bounce back to winning ways after winless in their last four matches in all competitions as they take on red-hot Leicester City in a battle for the top four places. Leicester City are in red hot form and are currently in third place. They have, in contrast to Arsenal, won all of their last four matches. Their winning streak includes a 9-0 thrashing of Southampton away as well as a 2-0 win at Crystal Palace. Arsenal fell from the top four to fifth, and they sit…

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Mahesh Bhupathi says he does not mind being fired as the Indian Davis Cup team’s captain but what is unacceptable to him is the tennis federation’s allegation that he refused national duty.Bhupathi, one of the most successful players in India’s tennis history, insisted that he never made himself unavailable for the Pakistan tie, which has now been shifted out of Islamabad by the ITF due to security concerns.The All India Tennis Association (AITA) chose former Davis Cupper Rohit Rajpal as Bhupathi’s successor.”I am not going to sit back after winning…

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The Indian team paid the price for Rishabh Pant’s poor DRS calls against Bangladesh and skipper Rohit Sharma says that he doesn’t want to jump to a conclusion yet whether the youngster is good enough to take tricky review decisions.India did not review the decision when the umpire turned down an lbw appeal against Mushfiqur Rahim in the third ball of the 10th over, bowled by leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal.Rahim was on six at that time and went on to make an unbeaten 60 to lead Bangladesh to a comfortable seven-wicket…

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Pakistan were saved by the rain Sunday as persistent showers halted a rampant Aaron Finch as Australia headed for victory in their opening Twenty20 international.The visitors managed 107 for five in a reduced 15 overs due to the weather at the Sydney Cricket Ground, with Australia set a target of 119 under the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern (DLS) method.With dark clouds looming, Finch plundered 37 off the first 3.1 overs, leaving David Warner, who scored 217 without losing his wicket in his previous three innings, a mere spectator at the other end. He…

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There is no dearth of options to have a settled middle order going into the World T20 next year reckons stand-in skipper Rohit Sharma, who advocated the need to shift from chop-and-change policy to provide the youngsters a sense of security.Whenever India’s top-order fires, the team stays in a good space but a weak middle and lower order has been exposed a number of times when that does not happen.Asked if the team has zeroed in on, on this aspect, ahead of the World T20 in Australia, Rohit said, “We…

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Cheteshwar Pujara can’t wait for India’s first ever Day/Night Test despite all the talk of it being a challenge as he is confident that the country’s formidable batting line-up will have no trouble adapting to the pink ball.The prolific batsman topped the run charts (453) with two daddy hundreds, including a 256 not out for India Blue in the Duleep Trophy more than three years back when pink ball was experimented with for the first time by the Sourav Ganguly-led BCCI technical committee.Now, after taking over as the BCCI president,…

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BCCI ethics officer D K Jain has asked Indian cricket great Rahul Dravid to appear in person for the second time, on November 12, for “further submissions and clarifications” on the conflict of interest allegations levelled against him.The 46-year-old former India captain had earlier explained his case in the personal hearing held in Mumbai on September 26.MPCA life member Sanjiv Gupta had filed the complaint against Dravid, alleging conflict of interest in his current role as National Cricket Academy (NCA) Head and being an India Cements employee.”Jain wrote to Dravid…

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The Indian women’s football team exuded confidence before departing for Vietnam on Wednesday to play two FIFA International friendlies. The team that has won the SAFF Women’s Championship impressed in the AFC Olympic Qualifiers Round 2 and finished third in the COTIF Cup in Spain this year. Head coach Maymol Rocky believes that the team has now reached the point where they need to play higher-ranked opposition like Vietnam (34, as compared to India’s 57), in order to further improve. “I think this is the first time that we will…

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“We will put our best foot forward against Oman and Afghanistan,” promised India captain Sunil Chhetri, days after his defenceless team left its scoring boots at home in a 1-1 stalemate with Bangladesh in the FIFA World Cup Qualifiers. On a high after holding Asian champion and 2022 World Cup hosts Qatar to a goalless draw, a struggling India escaped with a 1-1 draw against lower-ranked Bangladesh in their previous second round qualifying match in Kolkata. “I think one of them is going to be in Dushanbe because they (Afghanistan)…

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Sydney, Oct 29 (AFP) Australian selectors on Tuesday flagged a number of batting spots still up for grabs in the upcoming Test series against Pakistan, with an A side promising a run-off among a number of contenders. Wicketkeeper Alex Carey will lead Australia A in a three-day match against Pakistan ahead of a Test series, pushing his case for Test selection. Joe Burns, who was controversially left out of the Ashes squad, will join Marcus Harris at the top of the order, with Usman Khawaja, Travis Head, Nic Maddinson and…

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