Paolo Rossi, the hero of Italy's 1982 World Cup-winning campaign, has died at the age of 64. The news was announced on Thursday by Italian TV channel RAI Sport, for whom Rossi had been working as a pundit.
Veteran opener David Warner has been ruled out of the first Test in Adelaide, while his likely replacement Will Pucovski is recovering from concussion after being hit by a bouncer during a tour match.
Rohit Sharma is expected to be fit and ready to fire at the top of the order come the World Cup. Assuming the Rohit-Dhawan partnership stays, KL Rahul will need to be pushed back to No. 4. Given the uncertainties that plague the middle order, maybe that won't be a bad thing.
In the run-up to the team selection, the chairman of selectors Sunil Joshi felt that since Hardik Pandya wasn't bowling at all, sending him to Australia just as a batsman wouldn't be feasible. The selection committee also did not identify T Natarajan, the newest star on the horizon for Team India, as a potential member of the playing XI in the white-ball format.
Karim Benzema sent Real Madrid through to the last 16 of the Champions League on Wednesday alongside their rivals Atletico, while Neymar scored a hat-trick as Paris Saint-Germain beat Istanbul Basaksehir in a match that had been delayed for 24 hours over a racism row.
Team India couldn't pull off an encore of their 2016 T20 series triumph against the Aussies in their den, when they whitewashed the men in yellow 3-0. This time the series scoreline read 2-1, but India were the series winners. Here's a quick look at how five key Indian T20 players did in this series.
The Indian cricket team has been fined 20 per cent of its match fee for maintaining a slow over-rate in the third T20 International against Australia here.
India made a disappointing start to the Australia tour, losing the first two one-dayers before bouncing back to win the last game. Virat Kohli and his men then took their form to the T20s and won the three-match series 2-1. "It's never easy coming to Australia and losing two games and having to make a comeback," said KL Rahul.
Parthiv Patel, who made his Test debut under Sourav Ganguly, at the age of 17 years and 153 days, played 65 international games for the country, which included 25 Tests, 38 ODIs and two T20 Internationals. The left-handed batsman scored nearly 1700 runs (1696) across formats with 934 runs (6 half centuries) coming in the longest format.
After winning the T20I series against Australia in his maiden outing for the country, India pacer T Natarajan on Wednesday said the last few months have been surreal and thanked his teammates for the constant support and encouragement.
Former Australia batsman Neil Harvey, who made his Test debut at the age of 19 in Don Bradman's formidable 1948 side, has urged selectors to consider young talents Will Pucovski and Cameron Green for the upcoming series against India.
Australia vice-captain Pat Cummins is hopeful that rookie opener Will Pucovski will recover from concussion injury well in time ahead of the first Test starting at Adelaide Oval from December 17.
On this day in 2014, Virat Kohli led the country for the first time in a Test match. Kohli made his longest format captaincy debut against Australia at Adelaide Oval in the first game of the four-match Test series.
India captain Virat Kohli wasn't happy that his team lost out on a perfect DRS call just because replay of the delivery bowled to Matthew Wade was shown on giant screen before the permissible limit of 15 seconds.
Thanks to the emergence of new seamers on the block and his own inconsistent ways, Umesh Yadav may have fallen down the pecking order in recent years. However, the Nagpur fast bowler, on the back of his impressive show against Australia A in the tour game at Drummoyne Oval, looks set to be India's third seamer in the opening day/night Test against Australia at the Adelaide Oval from December 17.
Alejandro Sabella, the coach who took Argentina to the World Cup final in 2014, has died aged 66 after years of battling with cancer and heart problems.
Forge FC's long-distance Scotiabank CONCACAF League campaign ended Tuesday in an ill-tempered 1-0 loss to Honduras's CD Marathon in a play-in match with a berth in the CONCACAF Champions League on the line.
Borussia Dortmund's 16-year-old striker Youssoufa Moukoko became the youngest-ever player to feature in a Champions League match when he came on as a second-half substitute at Zenit St Petersburg in their Group F game on Tuesday.
Istanbul Basaksehir's players, closely followed by their opponents Paris St Germain, left the pitch during a Champions League game on Tuesday after the Turkish club accused a match official of racism.
Cristiano Ronaldo struck twice from the penalty spot to win his battle with rival Lionel Messi and guide Juventus to a 3-0 win over Barcelona on Tuesday, earning the Italians top spot in Champions League Group G.
Manchester United crashed out of the Champions League on Tuesday with a 3-2 at RB Leipzig who resisted a late fightback to reach the last 16.
Mandeep Singh, the Punjab team captain, on Tuesday became the first Indian active cricketer to join the ongoing farmer's protest against the new legislation.
Ciro Immobile scored his fifth Champions League goal this season as Lazio reached the last 16 for the first time in two decades on Tuesday with a 2-2 draw against 10-man Club Brugge.
Government apathy has achieved what drugs could not: break the spirit and resilience of a world champion archer.
Australia's star opening batsman David Warner has been ruled out of the first Test against India, but will try to return for the second instalment on Boxing Day, Cricket Australia said Wednesday.
Virat Kohli blasted 85 but it wasn't enough to prevent Australia from fighting off a T20 series sweep with a thrilling 12-run victory in the final match in Sydney on Tuesday. The India skipper did not have enough support from the others. Shikhar Dhawan was the next best at 28. The magic of Hardik Pandya did not work, although there was a brief glimmer of hope.
"We have played some really good cricket for the last 11 or 12 T20s. The fact is that we had a squad that had players without much international exposure. The standout is that the guys are not giving up. Someone is putting their hand up every time. We are a team that shows belief to try and win games," Virat Kohli said.
Baltimore Ravens receiver Dez Bryant was scratched from Tuesday night's game against his former team after apparently testing positive for COVID-19.
It was on December 8, 2011, when Virender Sehwag became just the second batsman in the history of the sport to score a double century in ODIs.
The Boxing Federation of India elections, which were to be conducted at its December 18 Annual General Meeting, have been postponed owing to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Veteran Sri Lankan all-rounder Angelo Mathews is slowly coming to terms with the fact his body can no longer stand up to the rigours of Test bowling and that his future role in the team will be as a specialist batsman.
Gustav Svensson scored off a corner kick in the final moments of second-half stoppage time, and the Seattle Sounders beat Minnesota United 3-2 on Monday night to advance to the MLS Cup final.
Looks like Rohit Sharma has not allowed the fiasco surrounding his injury, controversy over participation in the IPL, personal issues and rehab process at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) to affect his regular business. The India opener managed to squeeze in time to make a visit to Alibaug to look for property recently.
New Zealand public health officials have cleared almost the entire Pakistan cricket squad to leave their managed isolation facilities later on Tuesday.
West Indies fast bowler Kemar Roach and wicketkeeper Shane Dowrich have been ruled out of the second Test against New Zealand and are to return home, the team said on Tuesday.
Former Arsenal midfielder Freddie Ljungberg has questioned the club's decision to freeze out Mesut Ozil from their Premier League squad and says there are few better players at opening up defences than the German playmaker.
A strong comeback after consecutive defeats in the first two ODIs has masked India's shoddy performance on the field. It isn't that the usual suspects have squandered opportunities, but some of India's best - Virat Kohli, Ravindra Jadeja, Manish Pandey and Hardik Pandya - have dropped sitters. While their butterfingers have been a sore point, the ground fielding too has left a lot to be desired.
An Argentine senator wants to put Diego Maradona on the country's bank notes and presented a project to Congress on Monday to get the late soccer star and possibly even his 'Hand of God' image on a 1,000-peso note.
Former Indian batsman VVS Laxman expressed his joy at India sealing the T20I series against Australia with one match to spare.
Tiger Woods' induction into the World Golf Hall of Fame will have to wait, after organisers said they were postponing the 2021 ceremony until the following year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Four-times world champion Sebastian Vettel now has big shoes to fill next season after Sergio Perez won Sunday's Sakhir Grand Prix for Racing Point, Formula One's motorsport managing director Ross Brawn said on Monday.
France midfielder Paul Pogba should leave Manchester United during the next transfer window before his contract ends in June 22, his agent was quoted as saying on Monday.
India's preparations for next year's T20 World Cup started with a bang when Virat Kohli's boys sealed the T20I series against Australia on Sunday. Now, the icing on the cake would be a clean sweep of the three-match series. The Men in Blue have a golden chance, and they can achieve the feat in the inconsequential third T20I at the Sydney Cricket Ground on Tuesday.
Anju Bobby George, India's only athlete to have won a medal at the IAAF World Championship, in a startling revelation said she competed throughout her career with just one kidney — a condition known as renal agenesis.
Athletes competing at next year's Tokyo Olympics will have a shorter than usual stay at the world's biggest multi-sports event due to tight COVID-19 health protocols, the International Olympic Committee said.
Southampton came from behind to beat traditional south coast rivals Brighton & Hove Albion 2-1 in the Premier League on Monday as Jannik Vestergaard and Danny Ings cancelled out a Pascal Gross opener for the home side.
Alex Smith threw for 296 yards and a touchdown, Dustin Hopkins kicked a tiebreaking 45-yard field goal with 2:04 remaining, and Washington beat the Steelers 23-17 on Monday night.
