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Failure in major tournaments often leads to retirements from captaincy, a particular format of cricket or from international cricket altogether. The 2025 Champions Trophy has proved to be no exception.
RIYADH: Oisin Murphy is returning to Saudi Arabia for the penultimate week of Riyadh Season, and the four-time British champion is seeking to extend his good fortune at the King Abdulaziz Racecourse after his strike on Byzantine Dream in the Longines Red Sea Turf Handicap.
Yet another knockout stage heartbreak at yet another ICC event. But perennial bridesmaid South Africa remains on the right track two years before the ODI World Cup at home, feels the team's head coach Rob Walter after its semifinal exit from the Champions Trophy in Lahore. Having topped their group, South Africa came up short in the second semifinal against New Zealand in Lahore on Wednesday night and went down by 50 runs in a chase of 362. Walter said there are enough positives to take back home notwithstanding a tough loss.
There has been a lot of chatter over the 'hybrid' nature of Champions Trophy 2025 and whether that handed India "unfair advantage" in their campaign. India played all of their matches in Dubai after they refused to travel to Pakistan due to political tensions. However, head coach Gautam Gambhir had a sharp retort to the comments and even went on to call the critics "perpetual cribbers". However, the South Africa media has taken aim at the former India opener and criticised his "cringeworthy arrogance" while stating that even if India triumph in the final, the victory will be "hollow" for Gambhir and Co. In a report published by South African media website iol.co.za, Gambhir was slammed for his comments on the topic and the report went to say that "his arrogance throughout this whole situation is cringe-worthy".
Naomi Osaka was bundled out of the first round at Indian Wells on Wednesday, falling 6-4, 6-4 to Camila Osorio in the Japanese star's first tournament since injury forced her out of the Australian Open. Former world number one Osaka, now ranked 56th in the world, looked rusty against the 52nd-ranked Colombian, struggling to find the range on her powerful groundstrokes on a chilly night in the California desert. "There were certain things that felt extremely off because I could only start to practice serving after a certain amount of time and stuff like that," said Osaka. "So I think given the situation, it wasn't that terrible.
In what was a rare occurence, Pakistan batter Saud Shakeel was timed out during the final of the ongoing President's Trophy between State Bank of Pakistan and Pakistan Television (PTV) in Rawalpindi. Saud became first Pakistan and only the seventh cricket in first-class cricket to be timed out. Saud, who is the vice-captain of Pakistan's Test team, was late to come out of the dressing room, following two dismissals in as many balls. PTV captain Amad Butt made a smart appeal after Saud didn't take his guard within the required three minutes.
World number two Alexander Zverev, riding high after a runner-up finish to Jannik Sinner at the Australian Open, aims to turn things around at Indian Wells after three tough tournaments in February. "It was a rough South American swing for me," the German said Wednesday as he prepared to launch his campaign at the combined ATP and WTA tournament in the California desert. "I got ill two out of three weeks which isn't great. But I wanted to go on clay. I wanted to play that swing. I've heard so many great things about it, so I wanted to experience it once."
India's win over Australia in the Champions Trophy 2025 was not only about Virat Kohli. The India star headlined the four wicket win with a 98-ball 84. But, he found enough support in the 265-run chase in Dubai. Shreyas Iyer (45, 62b) and Hardik Pandya (28, 24b) made big impacts as did KL Rahul (42*, 34b), who stayed unbeaten till the end to take India over the line. Rahul is also India's no. 1 wicketkeeper in the Champions Trophy. While he primarily played in the top order in Tests, he has been used as the No. 6 in ODIs.