Sports

New Delhi, Mar 19: Ricky Ponting Tuesday unequivocally backed Rishabh Pant for the number four slot in India's World Cup line-up and even saw him as one capable of winning the tournament. Former India skipper Sourav Ganguly marked the young wicketkeeper-batsman as one for the future, calling him a "huge asset". With little over two months to go for the World Cup and the number four batsman yet to

Tokyo, Mar 19: The head of Japan's Olympic Committee said Tuesday he would step down in June, as French authorities probe his involvement in payments made before Tokyo was awarded the 2020 Summer Games. "On June 27, my term will expire," Tsunekazu Takeda said at a meeting of the Japan Olympic Committee (JOC) in Tokyo. "Considering the future of the JOC, I think the most appropriate thing is to

Chennai, Mar 18: Chennai Super Kings fans had a lot to cheer about at the MA Chidambaram Stadium here Sunday as the players took part in a practice match. With fans being allowed free entry into three stands, a huge number gathered to watch the CSK players. Though captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni didn't feature in the 'match', there was a loud cheer when he made an appearance. Dhoni trained for about

Dubai, Mar 17: India skipper Virat Kohli and pacer Jasprit Bumrah have retained their top positions in the batsmen and bowlers’ list of the latest ICC ODI rankings issued on Sunday. Kohli remained at number one spot after scoring 310 in the recently-concluded home series against Australia while his deputy Rohit Sharma hit 202 runs to maintain the No.2 spot in the batting chart. Kedar Jadhav’s all

Bengaluru, Mar 17: "You cannot put a cap on anything," said India captain Virat Kohli, insisting that no instructions have been issued to Indian Premier League (IPL) franchises with regards to workload management of World Cup-bound players. However, the Indian captain expects his teammates to be smart enough to manage their workload before the mega event starting May 30. "If I'm able to play 10

Mar 17: Steve Smith and David Warnerhave been welcomed back into the Australian fold with hugs and cuddles at a team meet-up in Dubai and said it was like they'd never left. The disgraced pair, whose year-long bans for ball-tampering expire this month, were invited by coach Justin Langer as part of their re-integration after the scandal in South Africa that rocked the cricketing world. Australia

New Delhi, Mar 17: National record holder KT Irfan Sunday became the first Indian from athletics to qualify for the next year's Olympics while finishing fourth in the 20 km event of the Asian Race Walking Championships in Nomi, Japan. The 29-year-old Irfan clocked 1 hour 20 minutes and 57 seconds to better the Tokyo Olympics qualification standard of 1 hour 21 minutes. The Olympics qualification

Melbourne, Mar 17: Valtteri Bottas capitalised on a late pitstop to upset his world champion team mate Lewis Hamilton and clinch the season-opening Australian Formula One Grand Prix for Mercedes in Melbourne on Sunday. Starting second behind pole-sitter Hamilton, Bottas got the jump on the Briton during a typically messy start at Albert Park and ended up cruising to his fourth win by some 20.80

New Delhi, Mar 16: Cricket-mad fans from Pakistan have furiously been using Twitter to ask if the International Cricket Council (ICC) will ban International cricket in New Zealand after the Christchurch terror attack on Friday. In 2009, Sri Lanka team was attacked during their tour of Pakistan. Seven people were killed in the attack, although, the Sri Lanka cricket team was safe. After this, the

Indian Wells, Mar 16: Rafael Nadal withstood the challenge of Russian Karen Khachanov to set up a blockbuster semi-final with Roger Federer at the ATP Indian Wells Masters Friday despite a flare-up of right knee trouble that required mid-match treatment. World number two Nadal, the highest seed left in the draw after the early ouster of No. 1 Novak Djokovic, dominated both tiebreakers to beat the