Sports

Johannesburg, Mar 28: Australia coach Darren Lehmann and skipper Steve Smith faced the axe on Tuesday with cricket chiefs holding crisis talks in South Africa to deal with an escalating cheating scandal. Cricket Australia (CA) boss James Sutherland, under mounting pressure to come down hard on what Australian media has dubbed a "rotten" team culture, has arrived in Johannesburg and is expected to

London, Mar 28: Letting Virat Kohli play county cricket is "nonsense", feels former England captain Bob Willis, who wants the prolific Indian captain to "suffer" from the wretched form he endured in 2014, when his team comes here for a Test series later this year. Kohli is expected to play for Surrey in the Division One of English county in his bid to prepare for the five-Test August-September

Steve Smith was handed full-time captaincy of the Australian cricket team after the team lost the Ashes 2-3 to England under the leadership of Michael Clarke in 2015. With his on-field aggression and match-winning attitude, Smith became Australia's brand of "hard, aggressive" cricket in a short period of time. Just 32 months on, the 28-year-old Smith has been sent home in disgrace from a tour of

Mumbai, March 27: Right-handed Indian batsman Ajinkya Rahane, who was appointed captain of the Rajasthan Royals (RR) for the upcoming season of the Indian Premier League (IPL), has expressed his happiness over leading a side which means "family" to him. Rahane was named the team's skipper after Australian batsman Steve Smith post the ball-tampering episode in the Cape Town Test against South

Sydney, Mar 27: The duo of Manu Bhaker and Anmol secured India's seventh gold medal in the ISSF junior World Cup by winning the mixed 10m air pistol event with a qualification world record here on Tuesday. Genemat Sekhon bagged an individual bronze medal in the junior women's skeet, shooting a 36 in the final. In the mixed 10m air rifle event, 17-year-old Shreya Agrawal and 19-year-old Arjun

Cape Town, Mar 27: Steve Smith's problems are far from over and if reports in the English media are to be believed the 28-year-old could be stripped of the Australian captaincy permanently. Also in the dock is Smith's deputy David Warner. Reports suggest that both Smith and Warner are facing one-year bans with coach Darren Lehmann set to resign with immediate effect as cricket chiefs hold crisis

Cape Town, Mar 27: Australian cricketer Cameron Bancroft may have got away with his now infamous attempt to alter the condition of the ball in the third Test against South Africa at Newlands had he not panicked and stuffed the evidence down his trousers. That is the belief of Alvin Naicker, the head of production at host broadcaster SuperSport and the man in the director's chair who broke one of

Mumbai, Mar 26: India were knocked out of reckoning from the Twenty20 tri-series final after Australia handed the hosts their third successive defeat, the highlight of which was medium pacer Megan Schutt becoming the first bowler from Down Under to claim a hat-trick in the format. Australia outplayed Harmanpreet Kaur's team by 36 runs. Having failed to secure a single win in the series so far

New Delhi, Mar 26: Australian skipper Steve Smithtoday decided to step down from Rajasthan Royals' captaincy in the wake of severe backlash he has faced after admitting to ball tampering during the third Test against South Africa. India's Test vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane will now lead the franchise in the upcoming 11th edition of Indian Premier League as Cricket Australia is mulling harsher

Harare, Mar 26: Afghanistan captain Asghar Stanikzai said his side will head into next year's World Cup aiming to lift the trophy, after capping a remarkable recovery in qualifying by thrashing the West Indies in Sunday's final. Both Afghanistan and West Indies had already made sure of their places in the 2019 World Cup by topping the 10-team qualifying tournament in Zimbabwe. Mohammad Shahzad