Sports

NEW DELHI: The impact of Suryakumar Yadav’s ince­ndiary shotmaking makes batting easier for his India team-mates, captain Hardik Pandya said after the team’s T20 series victory against Sri Lanka in Rajkot. Yadav, the top-ranked T20 batsman, smashed a 45-ball hundred in Saturday’s decider against Sri Lanka and his unbeaten 112 powered India to an insurmountable 228-5. Yadav became the only …

SYDNEY: South Africa dug deep and denied Australia a 3-0 series sweep with a battling draw in the rain-disrupted third Test at the Sydney Cricket Ground on Sunday, finally finding some fight on the final day of a miserable tour. The hosts, who declared on 475-4 on Saturday to try and force a result, dismissed South Africa for 255 in …

KARACHI: Five Tests in a row, losses in three and victory in none. Add to it an abrupt change of regime in their cricket board, Pakistan have gone through a lot in the last six weeks. Finally, however, they are set to return to their comfort zone; One-day International cricket. The Babar Azam-led unit goes into the three-match series against …

Pakistan captain Babar Azam won the toss and sent New Zealand in to bat Monday in the first day-night international in Karachi. Pakistan handed an ODI cap to 27-year-old leg-spinner Usama Mir after showing good form in domestic matches, while New Zealand included all-rounder Henry Shipley, 26, for his first international.   The teams will also meet on Wednesday and …

RAJKOT: Suryakumar Yadav’s unbeaten century guided India to a 91-run victory over Sri Lanka in the third and final Twenty20 International on Saturday as the hosts clinched the series 2-1. Yadav, the top-ranked batsman in T20s, made 112 not out, hitting seven fours and nine sixes in his 51-ball display as India set Sri Lanka a target of 229 after …

PARIS: Paris St Germain (PSG) rested their biggest stars but still won 3-1 at third-tier Chateauroux in the round of 64 of the Coupe de France on Friday night. With Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappe and Neymar not even on the visiting bench, PSG took the lead after 13 minutes with a right-foot shot from Hugo Ekitike. The home team hit …

After winning a gold medal at the national championship, when a teenage boy told his family members that he was going to Azerbaijan to represent Pakistan at an international contest, they simply did not believe him. Only his paternal grandfather, himself being a former international footballer, accepted it. Today, the world knows him as Muham­mad Waseem, a flyweight boxing prodigy …

PARIS: Didier Deschamps said on Saturday he will remain France coach until the 2026 World Cup after leading the team to the final of the last two editions. Deschamps’ contract expired after the World Cup in Qatar where defending champions France lost to Argentina in a penalty shootout after a thrilling final on December 18. It had been reported that …

SYDNEY: Australia reduced South Africa to 149-6 at the close of play on the fourth day of the rain-disrupted third Test on Saturday after declaring on 475-4 in pursuit of a victory that would give them a 3-0 series sweep. The poor weather that had washed out the best part of two days of the match finally relen­ted at lunch …

RIYADH: Portuguese superstar Cristiano Ronaldo still needs to serve a two-match English Football Association ban before making his Al Nassr debut, an official at the Saudi club told AFP on Friday. Ronaldo was slapped with the ban in November for hitting a mobile phone out of a teenage fan’s hand after Manchester United, his club at the time, lost to …