Chrissy Teigen and John Legend Welcome a Baby Via Surrogate

The Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) on Wednesday imposed a life ban on five former Olympians for trying to form a parallel body. PHF President Tariq Bugti said that former Olympian and internationals Nasir Ali, Khalid Bashir, Saleem Nazim, Abbas Ali and Haider Ali had been banned for life. "The PHF found them guilty of trying to run a parallel federation, stealing PHF records and using funds from a PHF account without approval," Bugti said. Since last year after Brigadier (retd) Sajjad Khokar was forced to resign as PHF chief after being in power for more than two terms, a power-struggle is going on between two groups to take control of the PHF.

Gautam Gambhir's tenure as India head coach so far has not been a memorable one for sure. It all started with India's tour of Sri Lanka. While the visitors won the T20I series 3-0, they lost the three-match ODI series 2-0. India then thoroughly outplayed Bangladesh in a two-match Test series and a similar performance was expected from them during their three-match series against New Zealand that followed. However, what happened was the exact opposite of the expectations as the Blackcaps outplayed India in the first two Tests to take an unassailable lead of 2-0 with a match to go.

With stars like Rishabh Pant and K L Rahul up for grabs, many IPL team owners will be rubbing their hands in glad anticipation at the upcoming players' auction which promises to create all-time record deals given the available Indian talent in the pool. Aside from Pant and Rahul, there will be Shreyas Iyer, Arshdeep Singh, Washington Sundar, Mohammed Siraj and Mohammed Shami also in the auction pool. All of them can trigger bidding wars but let there be no confusion that Pant will be cynosure of all eyes at the two-day event supposed to be held in third week of December.

The retention lists of all ten franchises for the Indian Premier League (IPL) season next year were finally unveiled on Thursday, with several big names like Jos Buttler, Aiden Markram, Glenn Maxwell, Faf Du Plessis, KL Rahul, Rishabh Pant, Shreyas Iyer etc being let go by their respective franchises. The surprising retentions and releases by all ten franchises have laid down the foundation for what could be an exciting, fun and record-breaking auction later this year. Let us look at several takeways from the auction:

India's batters lost the plot in a matter of 20 minutes, leaving the side at a jittery 86/4 after Ravindra Jadeja and Washington Sundar gave the hosts the early bragging rights by dismissing New Zealand for 235 on an eventful day one of the third and final Test in Mumbai on Friday. Jadeja (5/65) and Sundar (4/81) did their job to perfection but India's batting continued to be a weak link as the side lost three wickets in the space of eight balls, starting with Yashasvi Jaiswal's (30) inexplicable reverse slog sweep. With his 14th five-for in Tests, Jadeja also moved ahead of former pace bowling teammates Zaheer Khan and Ishant Sharma to climb to the fifth spot in the list of highest wicket-takers for India in the format.

Ravindra Jadeja is happy with another five-wicket haul in Test cricket but conceded that in sultry conditions on a slow turner, bowling indeed was hardwork. Jadeja's 14th five-wicket haul came after a brief period of lull as he looked menacing while mixing deliveries, pitching it on good length spots and letting the variable bounce and abrasive surface work in his favour. However Jadeja's assessment of the track was also an indicator that possibly Ravichandran Ashwin has lost a bit of pace in his deliveries as it required more shoulder effort to get the zip off the surface.

What was supposed to be a good day for India, has suddenly turned to be a tricky outing. Needing a win to avoid a series clean sweep, India dismissed New Zealand for 235 in the first innings. In reply, India were 78/1 at one stage, but from 17.2 overs to 18.3 overs, lost three wickets of Yashasvi Jaiswal, Mohammed Siraj and Virat Kohli. Kohli dismissal happened in the last over of the day. In a previous test of the three-match series, Kohli was out in the last over too.  Friday was the first time Virat Kohli got dismissed run out in a home Test.

India's all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja put on a remarkable display of skill and resilience on Day 1 of the Mumbai Test, helping India dismiss New Zealand for 235 runs. Jadeja's performance included his 14th five-wicket haul in Test cricket, an achievement that garnered high praise from former Indian cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar. Once labeling Jadeja as ‘bits-and-pieces' player—Manjrekar took to X to express his admiration. “Over the moon for my favourite cricketer, Jadeja. A fifer! He needed that! And so did the team."

Indian fielder Sarfaraz Khan was on Friday warned by the umpires in the presence of skipper Rohit Sharma for chirping even when the ball was in play, during New Zealand's first innings in the third and final Test of the 2024 series at the Wankhede Stadium. Umpire Richard Illingworth called up Sarfaraz and Rohit and the three had a long animated discussion before the 32nd over of the innings. The umpires were apparently unhappy as Sarfaraz, fielding close to the bat, was engaging in verbals even when the ball became alive.