Category: Sports

Jemimah Rodrigues, a star player for Delhi Capitals (DC), is excited and determined to win the Women’s Premier League (WPL) trophy this season. DC has finished as runners-up in the last two seasons, losing to Mumbai Indians and Royal Challengers Bengaluru. Rodrigues wants to change that this year.

“We have played well and been consistent,” she said. “I believe we can finally win and lift the trophy this time. We’re working hard as a team to achieve this.”

Rodrigues has a simple way of getting ready for matches. She practices different situations she might face, whether that’s hitting aggressively or staying steady while batting. She also works on her powerful shots by using heavier cricket balls.

At 24, Rodrigues has scored 381 runs in 18 WPL matches, with an impressive strike rate of 143.82. She believes the WPL is crucial for the growth of women’s cricket in India. “Playing against the best makes us all better players,” she explained. “The more competitive matches we have, the more we learn to handle pressure. The excitement for women’s cricket is definitely increasing in India.”

Rodrigues mentioned that she has a close friendship with DC captain Meg Lanning and has learned a lot from her. “I watched her during the World Cup, and she is very competitive and positive. When we finally talked, I was surprised at how friendly she is. She’s aggressive on the field, which helps lead the team,” she said.

The Delhi Capitals will kick off their WPL 2025 campaign against Mumbai Indians on February 15 at the BCA Stadium in Vadodara.

In the second match of the series against England at Barabati Stadium in Cuttack, India made two important changes to their team. Mystery spinner Varun Chakravarthy received his first ODI cap from star all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja. Meanwhile, Shreyas Iyer held onto his spot despite the return of famous player Virat Kohli.

Kuldeep Yadav, who just came back to play cricket after surgery, was rested for this game, giving Chakravarthy a chance to shine. The Tamil Nadu spinner wowed the selectors with his excellent performances in the Vijay Hazare Trophy and the recent T20 series against England, where he took 14 wickets in five games and won the Player of the Series award.

With the Champions Trophy just around the corner, Chakravarthy’s selection puts him in a good position for a spot on that team. However, Indian captain Rohit Sharma mentioned that it’s now up to the 33-year-old spinner to prove himself.

Chakravarthy made history by becoming the second oldest Indian to play his first ODI at 33 years and 164 days, following Farookh Engineer, who did so at 36 years and 138 days in 1974.

As for Virat Kohli, he was back after a knee injury and replaced Shubman Gill at the one down position, while Rohit Sharma opened the batting with Iyer following him.

Teams:
– England: Philip Salt, Ben Duckett, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Jos Buttler(c), Liam Livingstone, Jamie Overton, Gus Atkinson, Adil Rashid, Mark Wood, Saqib Mahmood.
– India: Rohit Sharma(c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul(w), Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Ravindra Jadeja, Harshit Rana, Mohammed Shami, Varun Chakravarthy.

David Bedingham, a cricketer for South Africa and the Sunrisers Eastern Cape team, found himself in a funny situation recently. He had two big events planned for the same weekend: his wedding to his fiancée, Jenna van Niekerk, and the SA20 final where his team was playing for a championship.

Originally, the wedding was set, but then the Sunrisers won enough games to reach the finals, so Bedingham had to change his wedding date. Thankfully, he pushed the wedding to the next day after the final.

Unfortunately for Bedingham, the Sunrisers lost the final to MI Cape Town. He got out early in the game when a teammate, Kagiso Rabada, took his wicket. The Sunrisers struggled to score runs, and MI Cape Town’s strong players like Ryan Rickleton and Dewald Brevis helped their team win by 76 runs.

Earlier, Bedingham spoke to reporters about how his wedding and the game were conflicting. He mentioned that his soon-to-be wife joked about hoping the team would lose, so they could stick to their wedding plans. Bedingham missed his own bachelor party because his team was busy playing in the playoffs, and his father took his place at that event.

Despite the tough loss, Bedingham’s family promised to make sure he got to the wedding on time. In the end, the Sunrisers couldn’t win their third championship title as MI Cape Town played brilliantly in the final match.

In New Delhi, India, 19-year-old cricket star Sam Konstas dreams of becoming a player in all formats of the game. Even after missing two Tests against Sri Lanka, he remains determined. Sam made his debut in front of a full crowd at the MCG during the Boxing Day Test against India, scoring a brilliant 60 runs in his first innings, showing he has the talent to succeed.

Sam doesn’t want to limit himself to just Test matches; he wants to play in One Day Internationals (ODIs) and Twenty20 matches as well. He admires Travis Head, a top player, and learns from him about how to approach the game. “I want to test myself and become an all-format player one day,” Sam said.

In his first Test, Sam surprised everyone with his unique shot-making skills, even hitting a remarkable ramp shot against pace bowler Jasprit Bumrah, which turned out to be the first six in Test cricket after 4,000 days! Sam showcased many different shots in his second Test in Sydney, which got the selectors to consider him for the Sri Lanka tour. However, they decided to bring Travis Head to the top of the lineup instead.

Sam went home after the first Test but used the time to learn from experienced players like Steve Smith and Travis Head. He wants to improve his sweeps and reverse sweeps, which are important shots in cricket.

As he hopes to be selected for the World Test Championship final against South Africa, Sam remembers how he and his brothers used to pretend to be famous English bowlers while playing cricket in their backyard. “I remember playing the Ashes series with my brothers, pretending to be Stuart Broad and Jimmy Anderson,” he said. He looks forward to playing in that historic series one day.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) recently revealed the “Champions Ring” to celebrate the Indian cricket team’s victory in the 2024 T20 World Cup. This wonderful event took place during the annual Naman Awards on February 1. In a video shared on Twitter, the rings were shown, featuring the players’ names and numbers, with an Ashoka Chakra symbol in the middle. Surrounding the Chakra are the words: “India T20 World Champions 2024”.

The BCCI posted, “Presenting #TeamIndia with their CHAMPIONS RING to honor their perfect World Cup journey! Diamonds may last forever, but this victory will always be cherished by a billion fans. These memories will resonantly ‘Ring’ with us forever.”

At the ceremony, nine players from the 15-member squad who played in the thrilling final against South Africa were present. However, veteran player Virat Kohli was missing because he was playing a Ranji Trophy match for Delhi on the last day of the game. Kohli had been a star in the final, scoring 76 runs off 59 balls.

Captain Rohit Sharma shared his feelings about winning the World Cup, saying, “Honestly, it took me a while to realize we’ve won the World Cup. After we arrived in Mumbai, it hit us what we actually did. In Barbados, we were stuck for days because of a hurricane, so we couldn’t go out and celebrate right away.”

India won the final even when South Africa only needed 30 runs off the last five overs. The end of the match was full of emotion, with players like Hardik Pandya, Rohit, Kohli, and Jasprit Bumrah shedding tears. This win marked India’s first major trophy since the 2013 Champions Trophy. Remarkably, it was the same group of players who had previously dominated the 2023 World Cup at home but lost to Australia in the final. Rohit, Kohli, and Ravindra Jadeja have since retired from T20Is.

Steve Smith is back in top form! The captain of the Australian cricket team showed everyone how to bat against spin bowlers on Day 2 of the match. He scored 120 runs without being out, hitting 120 runs off 239 balls. His teammate, Alex Carey, also played brilliantly, scoring 139 runs off just 156 balls. Together, they built a great partnership, adding 239 runs for the third wicket.

With this century, Smith has now hit 36 centuries in Test cricket, tying for fifth on the all-time list with Indian legend Rahul Dravid and England’s Joe Root. He has made 17 centuries as Australia’s captain, placing him fourth in that category. Ricky Ponting holds third with 19 centuries, Virat Kohli has 20, and former South African captain Graeme Smith leads with 25 centuries.

This is Smith’s second century in this series and his fourth in the last five Test matches, after not scoring a century for 12 games. He made 101 against India in Brisbane before this amazing performance.

At the end of Day 2, Australia scored 330 runs for 3 wickets, leading Sri Lanka by 73 runs. Sri Lanka got all out for 257 runs. The partnership started after Usman Khawaja got out shortly after lunch, when the score was just 91 runs for 3 wickets. Smith was on 23 runs when an umpire’s decision ruled him lbw (out), but he successfully challenged that call, showing he wasn’t out.

He hit his 36th Test century with a boundary shot against Kamindu Mendis, and then they quickly passed Sri Lanka’s total. Carey hit two fours in one over as he raced to his hundred off just 118 balls, going past Smith’s score.

On February 7, Captain Steve Smith put on a dazzling display of batting skills against Sri Lanka’s spin bowlers, alongside Alex Carey, as both players scored unbeaten centuries. Their fantastic partnership helped Australia reach a strong total of 330 runs for three wickets on day two of the second test in Galle. Smith scored 120 runs, marking his second century in a row in this series, while Carey made an impressive 139 runs—both filled with 22 fours and 3 sixes.

The pair played well together, combining for an amazing 239-run partnership for the fourth wicket at a fast rate of almost four-and-a-half runs per over, keeping Australia on track for a 2-0 series win. Earlier, Sri Lanka was all out for 257 runs, with Kusal Mendis left not out at 85. Matthew Kuhnemann helped get Sri Lanka’s last batsman out, finishing with three wickets.

Australia’s bowlers Mitchell Starc and Nathan Lyon also took three wickets each. Kusal Mendis, batting at number seven, outshined Dinesh Chandimal to become Sri Lanka’s top scorer in their first innings.

Travis Head began the Australian innings with a quick 21 runs but was caught out after an edge landed in the hands of Sri Lanka’s captain, Dhananjaya de Silva. Marnus Labuschagne was out lbw for just four runs, and Smith survived a close lbw call soon after. He was on 23 runs when another lbw appeal was made, but it was overturned on review, showing the ball had hit him outside the off-stump.

Peiris then got Usman Khawaja out after lunch, but Smith and Carey teamed up well, especially since Carey had stepped up to bat at number five due to Josh Inglis being injured. Smith’s pulled shot off Kamindu Mendis brought up his 36th test century, and soon Australia had passed Sri Lanka’s score. Carey hit two boundaries off Jayasuriya in one over to reach his century in just 118 balls, eventually outscoring Smith.

This report has been drafted from an automated news feed without any text changes.

Rohit Sharma, the captain of India, is having a tough time with his batting. This year, he has played 16 innings across all formats of cricket but only scored 166 runs. His performance in Test cricket has been especially poor, with his average dropping below 25 for the first time in his career.

Rohit tried to make a comeback in the Ranji Trophy after almost ten years but didn’t do well, scoring only 3 and 28 runs in his two innings. Fans were hoping for a better show from him in the ODI series against England, especially since he has been a great player in this format for many years. However, during the first ODI in Nagpur, Rohit only faced 7 balls before getting out for just 2 runs.

This was his seventh single-digit score in his last ten international innings. Former India player Suresh Raina mentioned that the pitch was good for Rohit to score runs, but Rohit didn’t take his time to adjust and ended up making a mistake.

With less than two weeks to go before India plays Bangladesh in the Champions Trophy, Rohit’s batting is a concern for the team. Raina believes if Rohit can score runs in the last two ODIs, he will be a stronger captain in the big tournament.

In the first ODI, India won thanks to excellent bowling from Ravindra Jadeja and newcomer Harshit, along with good batting from Shreyas Iyer and Shubman Gill. But there are concerns about another star player, Virat Kohli, who missed the game due to a sore knee. Raina noted it’s important for Kohli to be fit so the top three players can play together before the Champions Trophy.

India’s vice-captain Shubman Gill has eased worries about Virat Kohli’s knee injury. He said that Kohli will be ready to play in the second ODI against England in Cuttack on February 9. Kohli missed the first match in Nagpur because his right knee was swollen after a fitness test showed he wasn’t ready to play. Shreyas Iyer stepped in for him after India’s win, while Gill moved up to the No. 3 batting spot.

India won the first match by four wickets, taking a 1-0 lead in the three-match series. After the game, Gill explained that Kohli’s injury is minor and not serious. “When he woke up today, his knee was swollen, but he was fine in practice yesterday. There’s nothing to worry about. He will definitely be fit for the next game,” said Gill.

Kohli, 36, rarely misses matches due to injury, so his absence was surprising. Gill performed well at No. 3, scoring 87 runs off 95 balls, helping India chase down the target after some early wickets fell. He said that moving to the No. 3 position wasn’t too challenging for him because he usually bats there in Test matches.

“I play at No. 3 in Tests, so it wasn’t a big change. But the game situation is different. If early wickets fall, you need to adjust. If the openers do well, you keep up the momentum. That’s how I approached it,” Gill explained.

With the second ODI coming up, Kohli’s return will strengthen India’s batting lineup as they aim to win the series.