PARIS: Paris St Germain forward Kylian Mbappe has been named France captain to succeed Hugo Lloris, the French football federation (FFF) said on Monday. French sports daily L’Equipe reported that Mbappe had accepted the captaincy after speaking with coach Didier Deschamps. “Didier Deschamps has named Kylian Mbappe the new captain of Les Bleus. Antoine Griezmann if the vice-captain,” the FFF said on …

KARACHI: Pakistan coach Shahzad Anwar is impressed seeing his charges take their initial steps after their long hiatus from international football. The national football team lost 1-0 away to the Maldives in an international friendly on Tuesday, its first match since November’s defeat to Nepal by the same scoreline in a game that ended a drought stretching over three years …

LAHORE: Emphasising that the predominantly young squad selected for the forthcoming Afghanistan T20 series is rich in talent, Pakistan’s interim head coach Abdul Rehman on Tuesday said his batters have the ability to handle the opponent team’s potent spin attack. “The team have all their bases covered. Our batters are quite able to give their best against Afghanistan’s spin attack …

CHENNAI: Top-ranked India face Australia in the series-deciding third One-day International here at the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium on Wednesday. After suffering a 10-wicket thrashing in the second ODI at Vishakhapatnam, the Rohit Sharma-led India will have a lot to ponder. Earlier in the first ODI, the hosts had won by five wickets in Mumbai. India are not expected to make …

KARACHI: Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah on Tuesday formally launched the Sindh Premier League (SPL) by playing on the bowling of national cricketer Sarfraz Ahmed. Speaking at the launching ceremony at the CM House, he said that a new cricket league was aimed at empowering the youth of the province by providing them with an opportunity to showcase their …

WELLINGTON: New Zealand head coach Gary Stead says it is time for the Black Caps to have separate coaches guiding the Test and white-ball teams to help ease the demands on staff. Stead has held both roles since succeeding Mike Hesson in 2018, guiding New Zealand to the final of the 50-over 2019 World Cup and the inaugural World Test …

KABUL: Wily leg-spinner Rashid Khan will lead a strong 17-man Afghanistan squad in the Twenty20 International series against Pakistan starting in Sharjah this week, selectors announced on Tuesday. The three-match series, the first bilateral between the neighbours, will be played in Sharjah on March 24, 26 and 27. Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) chief executive Naseeb Khan said the best available …

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has received $242 million from the United States to support flood relief, recovery efforts, disaster resilience and food security and the US-Pakistani diaspora contributed about $42m to the total. On Tuesday, US Ambassador to Pakistan Donald Blome highlighted the valuable contributions of the diaspora and the private sector at a US Agency for International Development (USAID) conference aimed …

KARACHI: The outstanding auto financing continued to decline for the eighth consecutive month in February dipping almost 9 per cent to Rs326 billion from Rs357bn in the same month last year, data released by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) showed on Tuesday. Samiullah Tariq, head of Research Pak Kuwait Investment Company, said car financing would remain depressed in coming …