Category: SPORTS

Jose Mourinho believes Manchester United have been found wanting for motivation in a difficult start to the season, but is expecting a big response from his side in Saturday’s visit to West Ham.United begin the weekend sitting seventh, eight points off the top of the Premier League, after defeats to Brighton and Tottenham and being held to a 1-1 draw at home by Wolves last Saturday after three straight wins. That was followed on Tuesday by elimination from the League Cup on penalties at home by Championship side Derby County…

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Jose Mourinho’s astonishing feud with Paul Pogba will take another twist when Manchester United’s warring duo head to West Ham, while Chelsea’s Eden Hazard bids to inflict more misery on Liverpool.On any other weekend, the showdown between Premier League leaders Liverpool and title rivals Chelsea at Stamford Bridge would be the centre of attention. But United manager Mourinho is embroiled in a clash of egos with France midfielder Pogba that threatens to derail his side’s season.Mourinho and Pogba were filmed in a heated discussion at United’s training ground on Wednesday,…

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India will be aiming to reassert their continental supremacy while an injury-hit Bangladesh will hope to shrug off stage fright when the two sides square off in the grand finale of the Asia Cup here Friday.A passionate Bangladesh turned out to be the party-poopers on Wednesday as they wrecked the prospects of an India-Pakistan summit clash with a gutsy performance despite losing key players to injury. On paper, India will remain overwhelming favourites to win the tournament for a record seventh time while Bangladesh will be hoping to be third-time…

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Maharashtra produced a clinical show to defeat Railways by seven wickets in a lop- sided Elite Group A match of the Vijay Hazare Trophy played here Wednesday.Maharashtra bowlers put up a spirited show to bundle out the Railways for a paltry 180 in 48.2 overs.And then their batsman took the side home with 8.4 overs to spare at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium with Ruturaj Gaikwad (84 off 93 balls) top-scoring for the side.For Railways, one-down Mrunal Devdhar (64 off 94 balls) emerged as the top-scorer.But their other top four batsmen…

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India’s talismanic skipper Virat Kohli says Test cricket should not be “tinkered” with and does not see it getting compressed to four days, as the ICC mulls ways to prop up the sport’s traditional format.Kohli has been one of the top run-getters in Tests in recent times, and plays and talks about it with passion.”I cannot explain to you the job satisfaction that you get when you do well in Test cricket, because you know how demanding it is,” Kohli told ‘Wisden’. “It’s the most beautiful format of the game.…

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Five-time world champion Viswanathan Anand is expectedly rested for the opening tie as the fifth seed Indian men take on El Salvador in the 43rd Chess Olympiad here Tuesday. After a glittering and probably the best ever opening ceremony in any Olympiad that was a mix of performances by the local stars, its time now to set the clock rolling and start the biggest biennial chess event. Anand, being one of the most respected player in the competition was called for the ceremonial draw of lots that gave top seeded United…

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Indian tennis legend Vijay Amritraj on Sunday said that the country needs to develop quality singles players if it wants to be in the elite group in the world.India recently lost to Serbia in the Davis World Group Play-off tie 0-4 and Amritraj felt the country was lacking in the number of quality singles players.”The focus has to be on singles for India. We need four good singles players. There is no point just having good doubles players. Since we do not have enough number of good singles players, we…

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Hailing his team’s “clinical performance” against Bangladesh, India skipper Rohit Sharma says they would look to replicate the show in Sunday’s Super Four Asia Cup match against arch-rivals Pakistan here.Rohit played another classy knock after comeback man Ravindra Jadeja picked up a four-wicket haul to set up a seven-wicket win in their opening Super Four match Friday.”It was a clinical performance from the start. We bowled very well and we always knew it was going to be better batting under the lights. Very good from everyone. It was important on…

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Rahul Dravid, the last captain to lead India to a series win in England, says the current side faced unusually tough conditions in the recently concluded five-match rubber and the batsmen must prepare better before embarking on the next English tour.”Lets just be honest first. The conditions in England were not easy for batting. I think batsmen of both teams struggled. If you take out Virat Kohli from the equation, it was not an easy series for the batsmen. I have played in England quite a bit, the conditions can…

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Pakistan pummelled, India will look to up the ante against Bangladesh, who have a penchant for playing the party poopers, in their opening Super Four encounter of the Asia Cup here Friday.For India, the worry will be the team combination as Hardik Pandya has been ruled out of the tournament owing to back spasms, while Bhuvneshwar Kumar might be rested after back-to-back games against Hong Kong and Pakistan.The pull-outs of Axar Patel and Shardul Thakur further compounded India’s injury woes. Left-arm pacer Khaleel Ahmed may come in place of Bhuvneshwar…

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