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India coach Duncan Fletcher blamed the lack of big partnerships for his team’s disappointing show in the Test series against Australia so far and asked the celebrated middle-order to fire in unison. India’s highly-rated batting failed once again as the team were folded up for 191 on the opening day of the second Test here at the Sydney Cricket Ground. “It is important that they (batting) click together,” Fletcher told reporters after close of play....

Pune FC, who hold the AFC and Indian Club Licence, will be representing India in the play-offs for a berth in the prestigious AFC Champions League. Two AFC Cup slots have also been allocated to India with a caveat that should Pune FC fail to qualify for the main round of the AFC Champions League via the playoffs they will take up the one AFC Cup slot with I-League champions Churchill Brothers being the other....

India has made the jump by virtue of its second consecutive runner-up finish at the Champions Trophy in Breda, Netherlands earlier this month. Champions Trophy winners Australia remained on top of the chart, thanks to title its victory. The Kookaburras claimed their 15th Champions Trophy by defeating India in a shoot-out in the final, ensuring that the reigning world champions held on to the top spot in the rankings table....

Every overseas visiting football expert has a tip or two for the development of the game at the grassroots level in India. Now a technical official of an English Premier League (EPL) side Queens Park Rangers (QPR) has come up with one – that skills can only be honed on well-tended turfs and there was a “crying need for good pitches” in India. QPR Youth Development Manager Steve Gallen believes if India has to become a football powerhouse in the region, to start with the grounds need to be evenly grassed....

“The surge is alarming,” said S.K. Sarin, a government health expert in New Delhi. Delhi’s top elected official, Arvind Kejriwal, said that 5,000 hospital beds are still available in the capital and more capacity is being added. Still, doctors from nearby hospitals will treat moderately ill patients at the temporary treatment centers. At Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan (LNJP) Hospital in New Delhi, the Indian capital city’s largest facility treating COVID-19 patients, two or three patients were seen sharing single beds in some wards as overworked doctors attended to them, according to Reuters....

New Delhi - The Indian men’s archery team, comprising Jayanta Talukdar, Rahul Banerjee and Tarundeep Rai, qualified for the London Olympics after they finished second in the qualification of the 3rd Stage World Cup Archery Championship at Ogden, Utah, Friday. The Indian team will face US in the final for the gold medal match slated for Sunday. In the Olympic qualifiers, which were held simultaneously, the Indian team finished second in the final losing 218-221 to Japan to book their London ticket....

The 28-year-old Tripura gymnast was unimpressive in the national selection trials conducted by the Gymnastics Federation of India (GFI) on September 14 and 15 here at the Indira Gandhi Indoor Sports Complex. The national selection trials were the last chance to qualify for the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships to be held from October 18 to 24 in Japan. Dipa was among the 16 elite Indian female gymnasts who competed at the national selection trials....

The series will be key to the team’s future, as it will not just test the cricketers’ abilities in difficult conditions abroad, but on top of that will a be a warm-up for the 2019 World Cup. India is among one of the leading contenders to lift the 2019 World Cup which will be held in England. This is the right time for India to register an away ODI series victory because the current Australian ODI side is a little fragile....

Resuming at 87 for 3 wickets after lunch, Indian middle order batters Ajinkya Rahane and Rohit Sharma tried to consolidate the first innings by playing cautiously against a combined attack of pace and spin with restricted field placement. Sharma, who came in place Cheteshwar Pujara, was the first to exit in the third consecutive maiden over and 26th over of the innings during the post-lunch session, as he nicked an off-stump ball by Test debutant Alzarri Joseph to give wicket keeper Shane Dowrich a regular catch, his second after getting off-opener Shikhar Dawan for one run in the third over....

“The conditions here are such that you cannot deny the fact that pacers will get assistance in this wicket. But yes, all I can say is that it will not be as excessive as witnessed during domestic matches in the winters. The weather has eased out slightly and you can expect controlled movement,” he said to CricketNext. “We have tried to prepare a true Test match wicket where the game lasts till the fifth day....

After India’s reality check, all eyes will be on decider at Hyderabad, against two teams who have fought neck and neck over the past decade and a half to stake claim as the limited-overs superpower of the current era. Here’s a prediction of what India’s line-up might look like for the decider: Rohit Sharma The highest run-getter from either side in the ODIs that preceded the ongoing series, Sharma has failed to fire in both T20Is, racking up just 19 runs combined in Ranchi and Guwahati....

Extra cover: Kohli bashes Australia; insists friendship with them is over Quite often during this series, the team, and Kohli, especially, have been taunted a fair bit. The skipper spoke about how his team will handle such situations. Some people want to create some spice sitting at some part of the world. They don’t confront such situations themselves. The easiest thing to do is to just sit at home and write a blog or speak on Mic but to go out there and bowl and bat is different....

They were unable to rise to the occasion upon being pushed on the backfoot right from the word go. With their latest spin trio showing the way in both departments, India surged to a clinical eight-wicket victory and the resultant 2-0 lead with two more matches still to play. Here are five major talking points from the fascinating encounter at the PCA Stadium. #5 Win the toss and win the match, not quite so The toss does make an impact in the game, even more so in the subcontinent....

Having begun the day on 128/7, New Zealand did well to get past 200 and that was thanks largely to Jeetan Patel’s 47 and his 60-run partnership with BJ Watling for the eighth wicket. However, they couldn’t manage too much more as they were bowled out for 204. In their second innings, India got off to the worst possible start as they were struggling at 43/4 and then lost six wickets with the score at just 106 but Rohit Sharma and Wriddhiman Saha got together to ensure India’s lead went past 300....

As the countdown for the home series against the Black Caps begins, one of the vital talking points before the series must be the Indian spinners. They literally made the star-studded Proteas batting line-up dance to their tune in their last home series and drubbed them 3-0 on spin friendly tracks. Indian spinners Ravichandran Ashwin has been a revelation for India in Tests and his record especially in India is mind-boggling....

His replacement is yet to be announced and it will be interesting to see who will replace the opening batsman. India already have Gautam Gambhir, who made a comeback to the national team replacing the injured KL Rahul. It is highly likely that Gambhir will replace Dhawan in the playing XI and will play a Test for India for the first time since 2014. After missing the first Test, Dhawan was given a chance to resurrect his Test career in place of in-form KL Rahul, who was ruled out of the series due to a hamstring injury....

Opting to bowl first after winning the toss, the Men in Blue were clinical in the field, restricting the Proteas to a meager 149. They then comfortably strolled past the target with seven wickets in hand to procure a 1-0 lead in the Gandhi-Mandela series. Kicking off the proceedings, Deepak Chahar jolted South Africa early by sending Reeza Hendricks back for a single-digit score. But newly-appointed skipper Quinton de Kock went hammer and tongs right from the onset, dispatching youngster Navdeep Saini for three consecutive boundaries....

Virat Kohli pointed out that the dew factor and overcast conditions meant that he would have been happy to bowl first, and he was proven right. West Indies dropped Hemraj Chandrapaul and replaced him with the fast bowler Oshane Thomas, while the injured Ashley Nurse was replaced by the experienced leg-spinner Devendra Bishoo. But Holder’s decision to bat first proved to be a blunder as the Windies top order collapsed badly....

For India, Dhoni is batting on 9999 career ODI runs. He is just one run short of reaching 10000 runs in ODI playing for India. He has already crossed 10000 runs in ODIs, but not all of those runs came while playing for India. Dhoni’s aggregate of runs in ODIs at present stands at 10,173 in 331 matches at an average of 50. However, during the 2007 Afro-Asia Cup, while representing Asia XI, Dhoni scored 2,33 and 139 not out....