Spinner Rashid seeks more control as Titans eye IPL playoffs
BENGALURU :Gujarat Titans spinner Rashid Khan acknowledged it had been a tough Indian Premier League (IPL) season for him and that he must control his line and length better.
Afghanistan Sport News
Best Catch Of IPL 2025? Rashid Khan Stuns Everyone With Sensational Diving Catch
Rashid Khan pulled off a sensational diving catch to leave everyone stunned during the IPL 2025 encounter between Gujarat Titans and Sunrisers Hyderabad on Friday. The experienced Afghanistan cricket team all-rounder ran almost 32 metres to complete a brilliant catch to dismiss Travis Head. During the fifth over of the SRH innings, Head completely miscued a shot off the bowing of Prasidh Krishna and the ball went high up in the air. Rashid, who was positioned at deep mid, ran backwards and pulled off the perfect dive to complete the catch. The commentators were impressed with the effort with some hailing it as the 'best catch of IPL 2025' and the video of the catch has gone viral on social media.
Bangladesh to face the UAE in 2-match T20 series in Sharjah
SHARJAH: The Bangladesh men’s cricket team will visit the UAE this month for a two-match T20 International series against the Emirati national side. The games will be played at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium on May 17 and 19.
Cricket still able to accommodate old traditions and new styles
LONDON: In cricketing history, the exploits of Vaibhav Suryavanshi are assured of a prime place. At 14 years of age, he scored a century in 35 deliveries for the Rajasthan Royals in the Indian Premier League on April 28, 2025.
Bayer Leverkusen sign highly rated teenager Ibrahim Maza from Hertha Berlin
BERLIN: Bayer Leverkusen have snapped up highly rated teenager Ibrahim Maza from second-division club Hertha Berlin in their first signing for next season. The 19-year-old Maza, an attacking midfielder, signed a contract through June 2030, the 2024 Bundesliga champion said on Thursday. Kicker magazine reported the clubs agreed on a transfer fee of around 12 million euros ($13.6 million) for the player. It promises to be the start of a busy summer at Leverkusen with key players including Jonathan Tan set to leave, uncertainty over the future of star Florian Wirtz, and coach Xabi Alonso expected to leave amid links to former club Real Madrid. Former Barcelona coach Xavi and Erik ten Hag, who was previously in charge of Manchester United, are reportedly candidates to succeed Alonso, who led unbeaten Leverkusen to a league and cup double last season. The Berlin-born Maza became Hertha’s most promising youth player after joining the capital club’s junior ranks from local club Reinickendorfer Füchse in 2016. Hertha were relegated from the Bundesliga in 2023 — Maza scored in the club’s last game in the division — and he became one of the team’s key attacking threats in the second division where the 1.8-meter right-footed player scored five goals and set up five more this season. “Maza is currently one of the most interesting young attacking players,” Leverkusen sporting director Simon Rolfes said. “Ibrahim suits us and our style of football.
University Dodgeball Championship launches in 3 Saudi cities
RIYADH: The Saudi Dodgeball Federation and the Saudi Federation for University Sports are launching the Men’s University Dodgeball Championship, a two-day tournament that will be held in Riyadh, Jeddah and Dammam starting Friday. A strategic partnership between the two federations, the initiative aims to promote the sport of dodgeball and support the goals of Saudi Vision 2030 in the sporting sector, a media statement said on Thursday. It also aims to foster a culture of physical activity and broaden sports participation within the university community. Dar Al Uloom University in Riyadh will host the capital’s tournament on Friday, featuring five teams: three from King Saud University and two from Imam Mohammad Ibn Saud Islamic University. Meanwhile, the Jeddah International College’s sports hall hosts four participants representing the University of Jeddah, Effat University, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, and Jeddah International College. The third leg of the championship will take place on Saturday at King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals in Dhahran, featuring teams from the Arab Open University, Prince Mohammad Bin Fahd University, Al-Ghad College and the host university. The university championship series represent a major step forward in expanding dodgeball’s presence in Saudi universities.
Flintoff proud as Afghan refugee protege plays for Lancashire second team
LONDON: Andrew Flintoff has revealed his pride at seeing ‘Field of Dreams’ protege Adnan Miakhel, a refugee from Afghanistan, make his first appearance for Lancashire’s second team. The former England cricket captain, who made his name in cricket as a hugely talented all-rounder while playing for Lancashire, his native county, has been back in the public eye lately following the release of a new documentary detailing the painful recovery from his life-changing car crash. The program sees Flintoff speaking about how returning from show business to cricket has helped him gain fresh meaning in life, with Miakhel’s appearance in a three-day friendly against Yorkshire — the traditional arch-rivals of northwest county Lancashire — uniting the worlds of entertainment and sport. The Afghan refugee was the breakout star of Flintoff’s television reality show about a scratch team of would-be cricketers based in Preston, Lancashire, and was awarded asylum in the United Kingdom after his mentor wrote to the Home Office (Britain’s interior ministry) supporting his application. Flintoff, reflecting on Miakhel’s elevation from Lancashire’s Under-18s last season to the second string this year, posted on X: “Some journeys are longer and harder, I’m so proud of this fine young man.” Miakhel scored 25 not out batting at number 10 in the first innings and dismissed first-teamers Jonny Tattersall and Matt Revis as he claimed figures of 2-72 from 13 overs. The game at Liverpool’s Northern Cricket Club is a friendly match which does not restrict teams to the usual standard 11 players and Miakhel is not listed to bat in the second innings. Rossall School, which awarded Miakhel a scholarship, paid its own tribute, adding on X: “Amazing to see
How a fighter pilot’s mental techniques helped tiny Bodø/Glimt reach the Europa League semifinals
OSLO: How did an unheralded Norwegian team from a tiny town north of the Arctic Circle become one of the fairytale stories of European soccer? For Bodø/Glimt, the transformation has been underpinned by a fighter pilot who developed mental techniques for his squadron before bombing missions in Libya. Bjørn Mannsverk discovered a group of players exuding negative energy and prone to “a collective mental breakdown” when he was asked in early 2017 to join the backroom staff of a team that had just been relegated to Norway’s second tier. His task as “mental coach” at Bodø/Glimt? To make players talk openly about their feelings, lower stress levels, change their attitudes and routines about things like preparation and nutrition, and remove the stigma around mental training. Winning or losing no longer mattered. It was all about following a philosophy and culture established by Mannsverk, a former Royal Norwegian air force squadron leader whose military duties took him to Afghanistan after the 9/11 attacks and to Libya for a NATO-led intervention in 2011.