grand ideas

IPL 2022: The BCCI, in a letter to the franchises, confirmed that the existing 8 teams will be allowed to retain a maximum of 4 players between November 1 and November 25. The two new teams can pick a maximum of 3 players before the mega auction. BCCI confirms IPL 2022 retention rules in a letter to franchises (Courtesy of BCCI) HIGHLIGHTSA maximum of 4 players can be retained by exisiting franchises before mega auctionExisiting teams can retain players between November 1 and 30New teams allowed to pick maximum of 3 players before auction Indian Premier League teams can retain up to 4 players in the lead up to the mega auction for IPL 2022, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has conveyed in a letter to the franchises. The two new teams who will be part of the next season will be allowed to pick 3 players before the auction. A source close to the board confirmed the developments to India Today on Saturday. The existing 8 franchises will be allowed to retain their playe...

India take on New Zealand in one of the most crucial Super 12 matches in Group 2 of T20 World Cup 2021 at the Dubai International Stadium on Sunday, October 31. Both the teams are heading into the crunch contest on the back of defeats to Pakistan who are running away at the top of the group with 3 wins from as many matches. India captain Virat Kohli looked calm and composed when he was addressing the media on the eve of the big-ticket contest in Dubai. While he was condemning the online abuse of Mohammed Shami in strongly-worded statements, there were a few important statements that the skipper made that gave us a sneak peek of his mindset in the lead up to what is going to be a stiff test of his character. The team that loses on Sunday is likely to find it difficult to progress to the semi-final stage. Quite a few have labeled India vs New Zealand as a virtual quarter-final but Afghanistan’s hammering of Scotland and their spirited performance against Pakistan have added an int...

Babar Azam added another feather to his T20I cap on Friday as Pakistan beat Afghanistan to stretch their unbeaten streak in the Unite Arab Emirates on Friday. Babar Azam scored 51 off 45 balls in Pakistan’s 5-wicket win over Afghanistan in the Super 12 (AP Photo) HIGHLIGHTSPakistan (148/5) beat Afghanistan (147/6) by 5 wickets in DubaiBabar Azam completed 1000 T20I runs as Pakistan captain in 26 inningsVirat Kohli had achieved the feat for India in 30 innings to break Faf du Plessis’s record Pakistan captain Babar Azam on Friday broke Virat Kohli’s record to become the fastest skipper to complete 1000 runs in the shortest format of international cricket during the match against Afghanistan in the T20 World Cup in Dubai. Babar Azam shattered the previous record held by the Indian skipper by achieving the feat in 26 innings as compared to 30 taken by Kohli. South Africa’s Faf du Plessis (31), Australian Aaron Finch (32) and New Zealand’s Kane Williamson (...

Major decisions were taken on Thursday’s session of the Assam Cabinet chaired by Chief Minister Dr. Himanta Biswa Sarma including that Olympian Lovlina Borgohain will be appointed as Deputy Superintendent of Police on probation. Lovlina Borgohain became only the third Indian boxer to finish on the Olympic podium in Tokyo this year (AFP Photo) The Assam government on Thursday decided to approve the appointment of Olympic medal-winning boxer Lovlina Borgohain as Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) of Assam police. The decision was taken in the Assam cabinet meeting held in Guwahati under chairmanship of Chief Minister Dr Himanta Biswa Sarma and the state cabinet decided that Olympic bronze medalist Lovlina Borohain to be appointed as Deputy Superintendent of Police on probation. Announcing the cabinet decision, Assam Education minister Dr Ranoj Pegu said that, after Lovlina Borgohain created a history in Tokyo Olympic, the Assam government had announced that, like as Hima Das, Lovl...

Kidambi Srikanth played his heart out to match Kento Momota and also held two-point lead towards the end of the decider but ended up losing the men’s singles second round of the French Open on Wednesday. Kidambi Srikanth won the first game but ran out of steam towards the end of the match to crash out of French Open (AFP Photo) HIGHLIGHTSKento Momota beat Kidambi Srikanth 18-21 22-20 21-19 in a 79-minute matchSrikanth had lost to Momota last week also at Denmark Open but he produced a much better display hereSatwiksairaj Rankireddy and Ashwini Ponnappa made it to the mixed doubles second round Kidambi Srikanth suffered a heartbreaking defeat against top seed Kento Momota to make a second round exit but India’s mixed doubles team of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Ashwini Ponnappa advanced at the French Open Super 750 badminton tournament, in Paris on Wednesday. The Rio quarterfinalist played his heart out to match the Japanese and also held two-point lead towards the end of ...

All-rounder Hardik Pandya’s inability to bowl due to his recurring back injury has hampered the balance of the Indian team in the ongoing ICC T20 World Cup 2021. Hardik Pandya last bowled for India in a T20I match against Sri Lanka in July (AP Photo) HIGHLIGHTSHardik Pandya or a short span during India’s training session in DubaiHardik Pandya hasn’t been bowling this year due to a recurring back injuryIndia will take on New Zealand in their second Super 12 clash on Oct. 31 at the T20 World Cup in Dubai India all-rounder Hardik Pandya started bowling in the nets on Wednesday ahead of the team’s Super 12 clash against New Zealand in the ICC T20 World Cup 2021. Hardik rolled his arm over for a short span of time before switching to batting in the training session in Dubai. Visuals of Pandya bowling in the nets along with Shardul Thakur and Bhuvneshwar Kumar were shown on air just before the match between Scotland and Namibia began in Abu Dhabi. India had no six...

Controversies around the high-voltage India-Pakistan T20 World Cup match on October 24 refuse to die. Former Pakistan cricketer Waqar Younis sparked a fresh controversy on Tuesday, October 26, when he said on a Pakistani news channel that watching Pakistani opener Mohammad Rizwan offering namaz “in front of Hindus was very special to him”. Former Pakistan pacer Shoaib Akhtar was also on the show. However, this did not go down well with Indian sports commentator Harsha Bhogle. He called the statement “dangerous” and said that the cricket world needed to be united and not divided by religion. Bhogle said: “For a person of Waqar Younis’ stature to say that watching Rizwan offering namaz in front of Hindus was very special to him, is one of the most disappointing things I have heard. A lot of us try hard to play such things down and talk up sport and to hear this is terrible.” For a person of Waqar Younis’ stature to say that watching Rizwan offering namaz in front of Hindus...