The 2022 World Cup gets underway in three weeks' time in Qatar, with France hoping to become the first team to successfully defend the title since Brazil 60 years ago.
Novak Djokovic said his Wimbledon triumph gave him a much-needed boost of confidence during a tough season and that it laid the platform for a strong finish to the year.
Arshdeep Singh credits his success in the ongoing T20 World Cup to senior pace bowling partner Bhuvneshwar Kumar who, he feels, has been creating relentless pressure in Powerplay overs which has made it easier for him to get wickets.
Points Table for the T20 World Cup 2022 tournament in Australia. The Super 12 stage of the T20 World Cup 2022 will be played as a round robin with two groups of six. The top two from each go through to the semi-finals.
Marcus Rashford's 100th goal for Manchester United sealed a 1-0 win against West Ham as the England forward made his push for a World Cup place on Sunday.
David Miller and Aiden Markram smashed half-centuries to lead South Africa to a five-wicket win over India in Perth on Sunday and put them in pole position for a semi-final berth at the T20 World Cup. South Africa's bowlers, led by Lungi Ngidi, restricted India to 133-9 and then their batsmen passed their target with two balls to spare largely due to a 76-run stand between Miller, who scored 59 not out, and Markram, who made 52.
With India having won their first two matches of the ongoing T20 World Cup in Australia, the Men in Blue are in a very strong position to qualify for the semi-finals. Pakistan's two consecutive losses have further ensured that there is no immediate threat to India's qualification chances.
Pakistan have three matches remaining in the Super 12 stage, against Netherlands (Oct 30), South Africa (Nov 3) and Bangladesh (Nov 6). They are in 5th place in the six-team group. The top teams will go through to the semi-finals.
Inter Milan eased to a 3-0 victory over relegation-threatened Sampdoria side at the San Siro on Saturday, extending their winning Serie A streak to four games.
England cricket captain Jos Buttler said his team retained an advantage playing last in the final round of group matches at the Twenty20 World Cup as they will know exactly what is needed in terms of net run rate to reach the semi-finals.
Top Indian doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty defeated top seeds and former world champions, Takuro Hoki and Yugo Kobayashi of Japan, 23-21, 21-18 in the quarterfinals of the French Open BWF World Tour Super 750 tournament in Paris on Friday.
On-loan Arsenal footballer Pablo Mari said Friday that he is recovering from surgery after being stabbed during a deadly knife attack in an Italian supermarket.
Pakistan captain Babar Azam defended his decision to play an extra fast bowler in Thursday's shock Twenty20 World Cup defeat by Zimbabwe but said the 2009 champions were not up to the mark in all departments after their campaign was left in tatters.
India are all set to open their FIH Pro League campaign against New Zealand at Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar on Friday. After finishing third last season and bagging silver at Commonwealth Games, the team will be hoping to get the new season of Pro League off to a good start especially with World Cup coming up in less than three months’ time.
India now go to the top of their group, but this minnow bashing will be quickly forgotten. It’s onward to the biggest remaining challenge, South Africa, who hit 205/5 and beat Bangladesh by 104 runs, lie in wait on a scorcher of a pitch in Perth on Sunday.
India, fresh off a morale boosting win vs arch rivals Pakistan will take on minnows the Netherlands in Sydney today.
Atletico Madrid missed a stoppage-time penalty in a 2-2 draw at home to Bayer Leverkusen on Wednesday which ended their hopes of reaching the Champions League knockout stage.
Liverpool booked their place in the Champions League last 16 on Wednesday with a 3-0 win over Ajax in Amsterdam, while Porto also reached the knockout phase.
Borussia Dortmund drew 0-0 with already-qualified Manchester City on Tuesday to book their spot in the Champions League knockout stage with a game to spare.
RB Leipzig took a big step closer to the Champions League knockout stage with a 3-2 home win over Real Madrid on Tuesday.
Kylian Mbappe and a Lionel Messi in vintage form both scored twice as Paris Saint-Germain crushed Israel's Maccabi Haifa 7-2 on Tuesday to secure a place in the last 16 of this season's Champions League with one group game to spare.
Chelsea qualified for the last 16 of the Champions League as Kai Havertz's sumptuous strike earned a 2-1 win away to Salzburg.
Rafael Nadal will return to competition at next week's Paris Masters before taking his place at the season-ending ATP Finals, coach Carlos Moya said.
Set a target of 80 in nine overs by Zimbabwe, which was revised to 64 in seven overs after a brief rain interruption in their opening T20 World Cup match, South Africa were cruising at 51 for no loss in three overs. Rain then came in their way and the match ended in 'no result'.
Two-time champions West Indies failed to qualify for the Super 12 stage of the T20 showpiece in Australia after suffering defeats against Scotland and Ireland in the first round.
Hardik Pandya is waxing philosophical. Late into the night, an hour after India's incredible win against Pakistan, Hardik is full of energy, shaking hands, backslapping acquaintances, taking great pains to explain how the match swung India's way.
Twice champions West Indies suffered a surprise elimination by Ireland with a nine-wicket thrashing in Hobart on Friday, ending bottom of Group B with two points and thus failing to progress to the 'Super 12' stage of the tournament.
Serena Williams on Monday said she has not retired from tennis and that the chances of her returning are "very high" after she previously indicated that she would step away from the sport after last month's US Open.
Tim Paine has accused South Africa of blatant ball-tampering just days after Australian cricket was rocked by the sandpaper-gate scandal in 2018, alleging it was covered up by the match broadcaster.
Aston Villa have named Unai Emery as manager to succeed Steven Gerrard, the Premier League club said on Monday, as the Spaniard returns to the English top flight for a second stint.
Lesser mortals melt in the glare, their craft and training consumed by the fear of failure. Then there are the precious few who cannot perform without the spotlight. Enter Virat Kohli, show stealer, king of the stage, owner of the big occasion, who chose to kick-start another phase of his acclaimed career in the cauldron of the MCG on Sunday night, in the heat of a crucial T20 World Cup game against Pakistan.
Arshdeep Singh had "sleepless nights" after dropping a sitter against Pakistan during Asia Cup but a healthy a team environment allowed the young Indian left-arm pacer to move on from that and produce a game changing performance against the arch-rivals in the T20 World Cup.
Champions Australia will keep faith in the 11 players who were humbled in their T20 World Cup opener against New Zealand as the hosts prepare to face resurgent Sri Lanka, all-rounder Mitchell Marsh said on Monday.
Ousmane Dembele scored and provided assists for Sergi Roberto, Robert Lewandowski and Ferran Torres as Barcelona cruised past Athletic Bilbao 4-0 in LaLiga on Sunday.
Many people came out on Goodluck street, and Fergusson College Road and chanted slogans hailing Virat Kohli and Team India. A large crowd danced to the beats of drums on many streets. India beat Pakistan by four wickets, led by Virat Kohli's epic knock.
Kohli's magical 82-run knock engineered India's four-wicket win over arch-rival Pakistan in their blockbuster T20 World Cup face-off at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, packed with 90,000 boisterous fans, on Sunday
Virat Kohli is back, and there can be no better news for India as they begin their World Cup campaign in difficult conditions in Australia. He took control of a chase of 160 in the company of Hardik Pandya on a pacy, bouncy pitch after India had collapsed to 31/4 in 6.1 overs. Kohli and Pandya believed, putting on 113 runs for the fifth wicket as India got out of jail by four wickets.
The 2022 ICC Men's T20 World Cup is officially in progress with the Super 12 stage also getting underway. But for the 1.3 billion Indian fans and their Pakistani neighbours, the real action begins on the 23rd October when the two archrivals play each other in Melbourne in what will be the opening match for both teams.
If there's one realm of cricket where Pakistan has always been blessed with 'gold-standard' material, it is fast bowling. From the days of Fazal Mahmood in the 1950s to Imran Khan and Sarfaraz Nawaz in the 70s; Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis and Shoaib Akhtar in the 90s and 2000s to Umar Gul and Wahab Riaz in the past decade, Pakistan has had an embarrassment of riches in the pace department.
Carlos Sainz outpaced team-mate Charles Leclerc to take pole position as Ferrari dominated Saturday's tense qualifying for Sunday's United States Grand Prix.
Liverpool's Premier League title challenge suffered another massive blow in a 1-0 defeat to Nottingham Forest as Erling Haaland returned Manchester City to winning ways with a 3-1 victory over Brighton.
For a while on match eve, it seemed Indian and Pakistani cricketers and fans had brought their own sunshine to the Melbourne Cricket Ground. It even seemed a possibility that the notoriously fickle Melbourne weather, in deference to the big occasion, would deign to keep the rain away in time for a full game on Sunday.
The eighth edition of the T20 World Cup which is currently underway in Australia has entered the Super 12 stage. And we have already seen one big upset of sorts, with hosts and defending champions Australia being beaten by a huge margin of 89 runs by New Zealand, who are eyeing their first T20 World Cup title. The top teams from around the world have been preparing for the marquee competition for a while and with all their plans and strategies in order, it is now time for them to execute their plans on the field.
Commonwealth Games champion Lakshya Sen suffered a straight game loss to Japan's Kodai Naraoka in the men's singles quarterfinal to bring down curtains on India's campaign at the Denmark Open Super 750 tournament.
Ahead of the big India vs Pakistan game at the T20 World Cup in Melbourne, TimesofIndia.com looks at some very interesting statistics and trivia for matches between the two arch-rivals in T20 World Cups and in T20Is overall.
England all-rounder Ben Stokes has slammed the "stupid" size of boundary marking sponges at stadiums after seamer Reece Topley was ruled out of the Twenty20 World Cup having suffered a leg injury by stepping on one during a fielding drill.