Players.bio is a large online platform sharing the best live coverage of your favourite sports: Football, Golf, Rugby, Cricket, F1, Boxing, NFL, NBA, plus the latest sports news, transfers & scores. Exclusive interviews, fresh photos and videos, breaking news. Stay tuned to know everything you wish about your favorite stars 24/7. Check our daily updates and make sure you don't miss anything about celebrities' lives.
In spirit, they are 'guru bhais', having learnt their lessons under the iconic Ramakant Achrekar. Both know how it feels to lay hands on the silverware. When the final of the Ranji Trophy starts at the Chinnaswamy Stadium on Wednesday morning, one can be forgiven for thinking that it is being played between two Mumbai sides.
At the other end, Yashasvi was leaving every outside off delivery with ease without replying to the sledges from the Uttar Pradesh bowlers and fielders. Watching Yashasvi going into the 'Pujara and Dravid mode' frustrated the UP bowlers. The left-hander got off the mark off the 54th delivery he faced when he guided Ankit Rajpoot towards square leg for a boundary. He was applauded by his teammates in the dressing room and he smiled and raised his bat. Yashasvi had a plan to stay in the middle for as long as possible and put valuable runs for the team on the board in the crucial clash. And the 20-year-old did it in style, plundering 181 runs off 372 balls, including 23 boundaries and 1 six. This also meant back to back centuries in both innings for Yashasvi. The Mumbai batsman became the ninth Mumbai batsman to score a century in both innings for Mumbai in a Ranji Trophy match. Yashasvi, who scored 100 in the first innings and 181 in the second, joined an elite Mumbai cricket list which has the likes of Vinod Kambli, Sachin Tendulkar, Rohit Sharma, Ajinkya Rahane and Wasim Jaffer on it.
Team India coach Rahul Dravid has gone on record to say that he wants to identify his core team for the tournament as soon as possible and by the end of the England T20Is in July, wants to have a fair idea about the 18 to 20-odd players he would be looking at ahead of the World Cup in Australia. Some of the regular players were rested for the series against South Africa. Captain Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Jasprit Bumrah were all rested. Surykumar Yadav was nursing an injury. KL Rahul was initially named the captain of the series before he got injured and Rishabh Pant was asked to lead for the first time. TimesofIndia.com here looks at players who were given a full run in the series, that is, they played all the five matches against South Africa and how some of them capitalised on the chances, while others failed to make the most of the opportunities - the hits and the misses. First a look at the players who made it count:
With a few of the big guns rested, the man chosen to lead the 17-man Indian squad for this tour is Hardik Pandya, who till just a short while back was struggling to bowl, wasn't really effective with the bat and was then on the sidelines, with nagging lower back issues. It's something that has plagued him for a long time. He underwent back surgery in London in 2019, before the injury came back to haunt him again. Which is why in IPL 2022, when the Gujarat Titans named him as their captain after bringing him onboard as a pre-auction signing, there were more than a few raised eyebrows. How effective would Hardik be in shouldering the responsibilities of captaincy? Was it the right call to name him captain of a debutant IPL team, which would be looking to make a mark in their maiden season? Would he be able to bowl? Hardik had an answer for each of those questions and more. What we saw in IPL 2022 was Hardik 2.0. A calmer, more focused version of the very talented all-rounder, who took to captaincy like a fish to water.
Tyson Fury could face Joe Joyce on his boxing return – before fighting the winner of Anthony Joshua‘s rematch with Oleksandr Usyk.
Mark Boucher termed India seamer Bhuvneshwar Kumar's performance in the series as "special" while ruing the absence of Aiden Markram, who he feels could have made a lot of difference for the Proteas over the course of the five T20Is. Bhuvneshwar, who now only plays white-ball cricket, got six wickets in four completed games and gave away only 85 runs in 14 overs at an economy rate which was just a shade above six runs per over. "Bhuvi was special in this whole series as we came up against some quality bowling. He put us under pressure in Powerplays and barring one game (Delhi), where we got off to a good start, they have dominated us with both ball and bat in Powerplays," Boucher said after the series ended in 2-2 despite Proteas going 2-0 up at the onset.
Work is underway to transform the rooftop of Bruntwood Works’ Blackfriars House into a wine-led restaurant and bar space with panoramic views of Manchester’s skyline. Climat, located in Parsonage Gardens conservation zone, will open its doors this autumn.
World Cup, says India head coach Rahul Dravid, who wants to identify a core group of 18-20 players by the end of England series. For Dravid, to be a part of the World T20 set-up, it won't be enough to just the "knock the door". Anyone who wants to stake a claim in that squad of 15 will need to "bang it down".