Month: August 2023

The name Cristiano Ronaldo hardly needs any introduction in the sporting universe. Having ruled the goalscoring charts in Europe, Ronaldo switched to Saudi Arabian club Al-Nassr at the start of this year, leaving Manchester United after a tumultuous period. The Portuguese superstar has been on fine form in front of the goal, and fans have been turning up in numbers to get a glimpse of his performances. In fact, when a blind girl came up to witness Ronaldo’s performances, the iconic forward took out time to meet her and thank her for ‘bringing him luck’.
Ronaldo remains one of the most loved footballers across the globe. The vast list of his Instagram followers speaks for the fan-following he has in the sporting world. As Ronaldo’s Al-Nassr thrashed Saudi Pro League side Al Fateh 5-0, the girl fan got the opportunity to meet the man she adores highly.
“I’m your biggest fan,” the girl can be heard saying in the video. Ronaldo, in response, said: “Thank you, thank you.”
“Actually, I just came for you. I loved you playing and I can’t believe that you scored those three goals,” she further said. “You gave me luck,” Ronaldo said in response.
A wonderful clip of Cristiano Ronaldo with a blind Christian fangirl
pic.twitter.com/2I0f9yK4zs
Dino (@PepsiEra) August 26, 2023
Ronaldo’s arrival in the Saudi Pro League is said to have made a big impact. While the Real Madrid and Manchester United legend joined the league in January, a host of other top players have signed for different clubs in Saudi Arabia this summer.
The likes of Karim Benzema, Neymar Jr., N’Golo Kante, Jordan Henderson, Ruben Neves, have are all playing in the Saudi Pro League.
Many experts feel it’s just the start for the Saudi League which an go on to be one of the best leagues in the world, especially considering the funds at its disposal.

The extended sessions of batting practice, being part of match simulations, the intense wicketkeeping drills – all gave hopes that BCCI selector Ajit Agarkar’s revelation from a week back would turn out to be wrong and that KL Rahul would battle out from the fresh injury blow, incurred just days before his Asia Cup selection, and make himself available to be part of India’s XI for the continental tournament. The belief was such, courtesy of the footages shown by Star Sports from India’s training camp in Alur, that the discussion on a Plan B for became inconsequential. But Agarkar was right. After the conclusion of the camp on Tuesday, India head coach Rahul Dravid reiterated what the chairman of selectors had said a week back in New Delhi. Rahul, despite showing improvements, was ruled out of the group-stage matches in Asia Cup as a “precautionary” measure with the ODI World Cup a month away.
KL Rahul will be missing the first two matches in Asia Cup 2023
Rahul, who was initially out with a hamstring injury incurred during IPL 2023, will not be travelling with the Indian team to Sri Lanka on Wednesday and will head to the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bengaluru where he will work with the physios in a bid to become “fully fit” for the Super Four stage of Asia Cup. The wicketkeeper-batter will also undergo a fitness test on September 4 before a call is taken on his Sri Lanka travel.
Although Dravid confessed that he is “not too worried about it”, Rahul’s absence opens up a host of questions and selection headaches pertaining to India’s playing XI for the Asia Cup. India do have a like-for-like replacement in Ishan Kishan which supposedly should not raise a concern, but the questions pertains to his batting position in the line-up and subsequently what the rest of the batting order would look like.
With India just three days away from figuring out their XI for the opener against arch-rivals Pakistan at the Pallekele International Stadium, we look at the possible scenarios with Rahul out…

1. If Ishan Kishan opens…: Gill could bat at No. 3, where he played only four times in his ODI career and scored 130 against Zimbabwe in a match last year. Kohli could then take the No. 4 spot, which the likes of Ravi Shastri and AB de Villiers had recently suggested, implying that Shreyas Iyer will either miss out to make way for a potent No. 5 option in Suryakumar Yadav or bat at that position himself, where he has played nine times, scoring three half-centuries. The other possibility is if Iyer and Kohli remain as No. 3 and 4 respectively while Gill makes way for Suryakumar at No. 5.
2. If Ishan Kishan bats at No. 3…: He has done it four times in his career so far with two fifties. This would mean, Kohli at No. 4 and Iyer at No. 5.
3. If Ishan Kishan bats at No. 4…: He has batted at that position as many times as he has opened for India, but with an average of only 21, scoring 106 runs with one half-century. This would imply Kohli will retain his usual spot while Iyer could bat one down the order.
4. What about Sanju Samson?:The toughest question is whether India would risk playing Ishan Kishan at No. 5, where he has never batted so far, or will they make use of Samson, who has been picked as a travelling reserve keeping Rahul’s niggle in mind. Samson has batted nine times outside the top 4 with an average of 52 at No. 5 and 90 at No. 6 , scoring a fifty each.

The return of Jasprit Bumrah has been the biggest news in Indian cricket in recent times. The ace pacer, once the bowling spearhead of team team, had been out of action by lower back injury and subsequent rehabilitation for the last 11 months. However, his comeback against Ireland in the T20I series had Indian cricket fans going gaga over his return. A big test awaits for him in the form of Asia Cup and the World Cup.
Playing a T20I match, where a maximum of four overs can be bowler by a player, and an ODI match, where the strike bowler of the team is expected to bowl 10 intense overs is different. Indian cricket team head coach Rahul Dravid, in his pre-departure press conference before boarding a flight to Sri Lanka, hinted that Bumrah will be slowed eased into full action.
“It’s great to have them (Bumrah and Prasidh Krishna) back and see them bowling well. Jasprit is someone we have missed a lot in the past two years he hasn’t played much. We will ease him into it slowly. Ireland was a good opportunity to ease him in. Now we have a whole month to build that up before the World Cup. The duo’s return gives us more options in the pace bowling department,” he said.
Home advantage not there?
The former India captain also felt that the home advantage for the sub-continent teams has reduced significantly in the last decade, owing to foreign players regularly competing in the conditions, with IPL a major draw.
“The whole thing of home advantage at sub-continent has reduced to a large extent over the past 10-12 years. People come and play here so much, especially tournaments like the IPL. They are here for two-three months getting used to conditions. It will be a tight tournament,” Dravid said.

As the Asia Cup 2023 begins, it’s the India and Pakistan teams that are being considered the ‘favourites’ for the title. Though it was the Sri Lankan team that won the title last time around (in the T20 version of the tournament), India and Pakistan are being seen as the two outright favourites. While the Indian team has won the tournament, in the ODI version, the most number of times, Pakistan have really pulled their socks up in the last few years. Veteran Indian spinner, Ravichandran Ashwin, in his preview for the Asia Cup 2023, tried to decode the rise of the Paksitan team over the last 5-6 years, and what makes them favourites this year, alongside the Indian team.
“I used to envy looking at the Pakistan side. 5-6 years back, they used to struggle in big tournaments like Asia Cup and World Cup. Yes, of course, they have won big tournaments in the past. They have won the 1992 World Cup and delivered a consistent performance in the T20 World Cup. The main reason for the last 5-6 years’ rise can be attributed to Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan,” Ashwin said in a video on his YouTube channel.
In fact, Ashwin also credited Pakistani players’ experience of playing in different conditions all across the globe as a major reason behind their improved ability to deliver on big stages.
“It all comes down to their squad depth. Pakistan have always produced extraordinary cricketers. because of tape ball cricket, they have always had fast bowlers coming through their ranks. Their batting has been special in the late 90s and 2000s. But their exposure to different leagues has been a major reason for their re-emergence in the last 5-6 years. They have PSL. In the recent BBL drafts they were at least 60-70 Pakistan players.
They are playing Test cricket and play their own T20 leagues. But they are also playing all around the world in England and Australia, and this year there aren’t many Pakistan players in CPL, but they always dominate CPL too. They play in the Emirati League, USA, and also in Canada. When talent meets opportunity with different exposures. In IPL, we make sure that talent meets opportunity and that’s why we are seeing more cricketers from different regions,” Ashwin explained.
“That’s why in the last 5-6 years, Pakistan are not only producing world-class cricketers but these talents are only delivering in the big stages.”
Ashwin feels if Babar Azam and Mohamad Rizwan remain on song in the coming months, it would be tough to be Pakistan in the Asia Cup and the ODI World Cup.
“If Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan gives consistent performances with the bat in the middle-order,
then Pakistan are going to be one hell of a team going into this Asia Cup and World Cup. It will take some beating. Pakistan is an exceptional side.
“This year’s Asia Cup’s most games will be played in Sri Lanka. Who else are more equipped for Sri Lankan conditions than Pakistan? Because almost all the foreigners in the Lanka Premier League are Pakistanis,” he asserted.

Marizanne Kapp is among the platinum players for the WBBL draft  •  Getty Images

PreviewHasty World Cup prep begins as England embark on first white-ball campaign since March
Big picture: Back to the 20-over format
Roll up, roll up! We’ve had rollercoaster men’s and women’s Ashes, the Hundred has enjoyed its month in the spotlight but there’s still room in the sardine can for a bilateral white-ball series or three! Astute followers of the game will be aware that New Zealand arrived in the country a few days ago, but the rest of you are forgiven if you missed it between 100-ball shenanigans and World Cup squad headlines.
The tour begins with four – yes, four – T20Is, starting at Chester-le-Street on Wednesday, before four – yes, four – ODIs that will set England on the runway towards their 50-over World Cup defence. As such, the T20Is provide more of an opportunity to test the hosts’ depth, ahead of another global event in the US and Caribbean next year – although plans to blood a trio of young pace bowlers have already taken a turn after injuries ruled out John Turner and Josh Tongue.
Gus Atkinson, one of the breakout stars of the season and a man capable of bowling 95mph/152kph, should, however, win an England debut over the next few days. Atkinson helped Oval Invincibles to the Hundred title at the weekend, having caught Jos Buttler’s eye during a head-to-head contest earlier in the campaign, and the Surrey man has shot up the pecking order to the extent that he is also in the provisional World Cup squad – despite having only played two List A games in his career.
There should also be chances for the likes of Rehan Ahmed, Luke Wood and Will Jacks, while Jonny Bairstow is set to play his first T20I in over a year, having missed England’s victorious T20 World Cup campaign in Australia. Bairstow may be the immediate beneficiary of Alex Hales’ recent retirement, having only opened sporadically over the course of his international T20 career.
Such is the sense of dislocation around the schedule, England haven’t actually played a limited-overs international since mid-March, when their world champion status was knocked by a 3-0 T20I defeat in Bangladesh. But Buttler, coming in off the back of a tournament-leading run haul in the Hundred, and Matthew Mott now have an intensive programme with which to fine-tune preparations for the subcontinent.
As it happens, the tournament opener on October 5 will pit England against, yes, New Zealand, in a rematch of the 2019 final (with Player of the Match at Lord’s, Ben Stokes, back out of retirement, although he won’t be involved in the T20Is). Tim Southee, New Zealand’s T20I captain, acknowledged that all roads currently lead to Ahmedabad, and there is plenty for the tourists to get straightened out over while in England.
They arrived on the back of a 2-1 win in the UAE with an experimental side – but saw a remarkable record of 39 games without defeat against non-Test nations ended in the second match of the series. The squad to face England will be significantly stronger, however, with several already in rhythm after plying their trade in the Hundred.
For New Zealand’s World Cup hopes, the most-important element of this tour might be how Kane Williamson goes in his rehabilitation from a serious knee injury. Williamson is not expected to be involved against England, while Trent Boult will only play the ODIs as he returns to the fold after opting out of a central contract last year – but after several months in which the global T20 franchise circuit has dominated conversations, a different narrative is starting to build.
Form guide
England LLLWW (last five Tests, most recent first)New Zealand WLWWW
In the spotlight: Harry Brook and Kyle Jamieson
Jos Buttler last week described Harry Brook as unfortunate to miss out on selection for the World Cup, sentiments which he repeated before the game at Chester-le-Street. Brook is a T20 World Cup winner who averages 62.15 with a strike rate of 91.76 in Tests – and therefore perfectly suited to the 50-over game – but Stokes’ return has nixed his hopes of being in India (at least for now). Having responded to his omission by scoring the fastest century in the short history of the Hundred, off 41 balls, he will doubtless be keen to nudge the selectors again.
Kyle Jamieson suffered a back injury on New Zealand’s tour of England in 2022 that subsequently ruled him out of action for much of the next 14 months. His phenomenal start to life as a Test cricketer led to a US$2.5m IPL deal in 2021, although life has not always run smoothly as he attempted to juggle his workload across formats. Jamieson has only featured eight ODIs and 11 T20Is for New Zealand but played his first cricket since February in the UAE and could yet be a key weapon at the 50-over World Cup, with his imposing height and ability as a lower-order hitter.
Team news: England test bench, NZ welcome big guns
England’s intention for this series had been to blood their next tier of white-ball quicks, ahead of next year’s defence of their T20 World Cup title, but two of those uncapped prospects, John Turner and Josh Tongue, have already been withdrawn through injury, with Brydon Carse and the old-stager Chris Jordan slotting in in their stead. The third of that trio of new boys, Atkinson, is sure to play at some stage as England seek to fast-track his international experience ahead of his prospective World Cup call-up, although having featured in Oval Invincibles’ victory in the men’s Hundred final on Sunday night, his involvement may yet be deferred. On the batting side, Brook is the squad’s cause celebre, although Ben Duckett and Jacks have plenty of incentive to impress as well, with Buttler having admitted last week that nothing is yet set in stone for the World Cup.
England: 1 Jos Buttler (capt & wk), 2 Jonny Bairstow, 3 Dawid Malan, 4 Harry Brook, 5 Liam Livingstone, 6 Moeen Ali, 7 Sam Curran, 8 Adil Rashid, 9 Chris Jordan/Brydon Carse, 10 Luke Wood, 11 Gus Atkinson
New Zealand’s squad is assembling Avengers-style from myriad corners of the cricketing universe. A scratch squad contested a brace of warm-up games against Worcestershire and Gloucestershire, but now a host of Hundred combatants are returning to the fray – among them Southee, Daryl Mitchell and Adam Milne, who provided three touches of Kiwi class in an otherwise dead-rubber clash between Birmingham Phoenix and London Spirit last week. In a rather more high-profile outing, Devon Conway and Finn Allen formed a potent alliance for Southern Brave in Saturday’s Eliminator at The Oval, and will slot back in at the top of the NZ order, after Tim Seifert and Chad Bowes stood in against UAE. Jamieson made his comeback in that series after a long-standing back injury, and will continue his progress over the coming games. Jimmy Neesham, a hero of the Hundred final for Oval Invincibles, is heading home for the birth of his child.
New Zealand: 1 Devon Conway (wk), 2 Finn Allen, 3 Mark Chapman/Tim Seifert, 4 Glenn Phillips, 5 Daryl Mitchell, 6 Rachin Ravindra/Cole McConchie, 7 Mitchell Santner, 8 Kyle Jamieson, 9 Tim Southee (capt), 10 Lockie Ferguson/Adam Milne, 11 Ish Sodhi
Chester-le-Street last hosted a T20 international in 2017, and is not known as a batter-friendly venue – in this year’s Vitality Blast, it was the third-lowest scoring of the major grounds, with runs coming at 8.27 an over. There is a chance of some rain to freshen conditions further on Wednesday, although the forecast for the evening is clear.

Quotes
“I don’t think he has a point to prove. We all know what a fantastic player he is. He’s unfortunate to miss out on selection at this stage. We’ve said it for a long time in English white-ball cricket we’ve got a lot of depth and talent, and young players coming through pushing [for selection] has been a hallmark of the team. It’s natural that good players miss out.”England captain Jos Buttler on Brook’s standing
“Any cricket now in the lead-up to the World Cup is good cricket. For the guys that go on to that tournament, you’re playing against quality white-ball opposition. I know it’s a different format but I think any cricket leading into the World Cup is good cricket.” New Zealand captain Tim Southee
Alan Gardner is a deputy editor at ESPNcricinfo. @alanroderick

Fourteen newly-minted world champions are scheduled to compete at the Weltklasse meeting in Zurich as the Wanda Diamond League resumes this week, just days after the World Athletics Championships concluded in Budapest.
Several of those events will feature the full podium from Budapest, including the women’s 100m hurdles, both men’s and women’s pole vault and the women’s triple jump.
The female pole vaulters will be the first to take the stage, competing in the traditional city event in the Zurich train station on Wednesday evening (30). Nina Kennedy and Katie Moon, who completed a historic competition in Budapest when they agreed to share the gold medal after jumping for more than two hours, will return along with bronze medallist Wilma Murto of Finland, and leading vaulters Sandi Morris and Tina Sutej to put on another show for the citizens of Zurich.
On Thursday, in front of a sold-out Letzigrund Stadium, Noah Lyles will return to his favoured distance, the 200m. Last week Lyles became the first man since Usain Bolt in 2015 to claim the world sprint double, and he will take on five of the six men who followed him home in the longer sprint in Budapest, including silver medallist Erriyon Knighton and fourth-placed Zharnel Hughes.
Fellow US sprint star Sha’Carri Richardson will begin a triumphant tour of Europe after claiming the mantle of world’s fastest woman in Budapest. She will face Olympic champion Elaine Thompson-Herah, who has struggled to find that form so far this year.
The women’s 200m will be similarly intriguing as Jamaica’s two-time world champion Shericka Jackson (21.41 in Budapest) edges ever closer to the 35-year-old world record of 21.34, set by Florence Griffith-Joyner at the 1988 Olympic Games. Silver medallist Gabby Thomas will also be on hand to challenge Jackson.
Another dual world champion, Danielle Williams, leads a full-strength field in the 100m hurdles, with silver medallist and Olympic champion Jasmine Camacho-Quinn, bronze medallist Kendra Harrsion,  2019 world champion Nia Ali, fourth-placed Devynne Charlton and home hope Ditaji Kambundji all on the starting line.
Norway’s Karsten Warholm went one better, winning his third world 400m hurdles title in Budapest, and will take on Brazil’s 2022 world champion Alison Dos Santos of Brazil in the quarter-sticks.
Yulimar Rojas competes in the Wanda Diamond League final in Zurich (© Getty Images)
For true dominance, Venezuela’s Yulimar Rojas stands supreme as a four-time world champion, although it required all her might to defeat Ukraine’s Maryna Bekh-Romanchuk to win that fourth title. They will go head-to-head again in Zurich, with Cuba’s Leyanis Perez Hernandez completing the podium performers in the field.
The horizontal jumps continue with the men’s long jump where world champion Miltiadis Tentoglou of Greece takes on 2019 world champion and Budapest bronze medallist Tajay Gayle, rising star Mattia Furlani and Switzerland’s own Simon Ehammer.
In the pole vault, the four medallists return to the runway. World champion Mondo Duplantis will once again meet silver medallist Ernest Obiena, the first athlete from the Philippines to win a World Championships medal, and shared bronze medallists Chris Nilsen and Kurtis Marschall.
Mondo Duplantis celebrates his winning vault at the Wanda Diamond League final in Zurich (© AFP / Diamond League)
Italy’s world high jump champion Gianmarco Tamberi found his best form of the year at exactly the right time in Budapest and will take that momentum into Zurich, where he will face his old friend, rival and fellow Olympic champion Mutaz Barshim.
Another who has the knack of finding his best form when it matters most, India’s world and Olympic javelin champion Neeraj Chopra, will also return fresh from his triumph in Budapest, and will face bronze medallist Jakub Vadlejch and fourth-place finisher Julian Weber.
Many of the world’s best middle-distance runners have opted for rest and recovery this week after a hot and gruelling World Championships campaign, but world 1500m champion Josh Kerr wants more after his upset win over Olympic champion Jakob Ingebrigtsen.
Kerr will need to be on his game again with eight sub-3:30 runners in the field. They include world 5000m silver medallist Mohamed Katir, US champion Yared Nuguse and Kenya’s Abel Kipsang.
Bahrain’s world steeplechase champion Winfred Yavi has also chosen to back up from her triumph and will meet the other medallists, world record-holder Beatrice Chepkoech and Faith Cherotich, and a field packed with quality.
Four world finalists, led by fourth-placed Raevyn Rogers, will compete in the women’s 800m, along with European 1500m champion Laura Muir, stepping down in distance.
Olympic 10,000m champion Selemon Barega, the 5000m bronze medallist in Budapest, will also step down to the 5000m, racing alongside world steeplechase record-holder Lamecha Girma, Yomif Kejelcha and Swiss-based contender Dominic Lobalu.
Nicole Jeffery for World Athletics

Rohit Sharma’s ODI centuries have nosedived since the 2019 World Cup he has scored just three hundreds in the last four years but the India captain has been a different beast altogether in Tests. Since being promoted as opener in the home series against South Africa, Rohit has dished out some classic tons. Beyond the double centuries, Rohit’s 161 against England on a rank Chennai turner in 2021, 127 versus the same opponent a few months later at the Oval it was his first Test century overseas and the 120 against Australia in Nagpur on another spin-friendly surface is a testament to how far Rohit has come as a Test player.
Rohit Sharma trains in Alur ahead of the Asia Cup. (PTI)
In fact, Rohit is one of the few Indian batters, who has played more quality knocks at home than abroad. Make no mistake. He really had to grind for that century at The Oval but it’s the centuries he has amassed at home that have been the bigger challenge. The conditions weren’t particularly favourable for batting, and recently, the India skipper has displayed the highest level of consistency among the team’s Test batters. As Rohit explained how he had to change his batting approach focussing more on scoring at a quicker strike-rate than going for daddy hundreds, burying the home vs overseas debate, he asserted that some of his best Tests have come playing on Indian pitches.
“Look at my recent Test innings in India. I can tell you that batting in India is much more difficult now than batting overseas, especially in the last 2-3 years. The pitches that we have played on, it is more challenging than overseas. That’s why we haven’t spoken about runs and averages of batting unit. All of us agreed that we want to play on challenging pitches,” Rohit told PTI in an interaction.
“I don’t want to worry about what kind of averages we finish with. That is how I think but different players will have different thought processes, and I don’t want to change that. I am going to play on pitches that suit our bowlers.”
Rohit was handed Team India’s captaincy a lot later than usual. Ideally a captain in India is selected young with years in front of him look at Virat Kohli and MS Dhoni but Rohit was almost 34 when he became Indias all-format captain. It hasn’t even been two years. But having led Mumbai Indians for 11 years, captaincy wasn’t new to Rohit. He even took charge of the Indian team whenever Kohli wasn’t available during his reign and even led India to wins in Nidahas Trophy and the Asia Cup in 2018.
In a sense, Rohit has already stepped away as India’s T20I captain. Post the 2023 World Cup, the duration for which he continues in ODIs will likely lead to an intriguing discussion. At 36, Rohit doesn’t have a long road as captain ahead, but he emphasises that there are greater priorities than the concept of having a captaincy ‘shelf-life’.
“You get a responsibility; you produce a result and more important is if you are happy with the responsibility that you have been entrusted with. This is more important questions than the shelf life,” he added.
“I am a person who goes with the flow. What I feel right now, I would want to do without thinking about what I want to do five or six months later. I like to take things as they come but prepare according to what is in store in the future.”