Sports

LONDON: Tottenham Hotspur manager Antonio Conte is “not really happy” that the Premier League will resume just eight days after the World Cup and hinted he might rest players for the Boxing Day match at Brentford. Out of the 12 Tottenham players who featured in Qatar, Conte has ruled France goalkeeper Hugo Lloris and Argentina’s Cristian Romero, who played in …

SAO PAULO: Family members visited the legendary Pele on Saturday at the Sao Paulo hospital where he is suffering from worsening cancer as well as kidney and heart problems, according to a social media post by his daughter. Edinho, Pele’s son — who was recently appointed coach of Serie B football club Londrina, based in Parana in the north — …

KARACHI: Less than a week ago, captain Babar Azam was defending himself, his team-mates and coaches after the side’s defeat in the third Test against England in Karachi, which marked Pakistan’s first-ever whitewash at home. Making it clear that he wasn’t ready to relinquish captaincy after Pakistan had lost four home Test matches in a row, the star batter had …

Skipper Babar Azam hit a brilliant century to lead Pakistan’s recovery to 224-4 at tea after New Zealand’s spinners made early inroads on the opening day of the first Test in Karachi on Monday. Azam struck spinner Michael Bracewell for a six towards mid-wicket to complete his ninth Test century, reviving Pakistan after they were struggling on 115-4 at lunch. …

Babar Azam on Monday became the Pakistani batsman with the most runs — 2,436 — in all formats of the game in a calendar year. Babar broke the record of former captain and incumbent batting coach Mohammad Yousaf, who made the record in 2006 with 2,435 runs to his name.     The national team captain played 51 innings in …

DHAKA: Bangladesh fought their way into what earlier appeared a lost cause on Saturday, knocking over four Indian wickets to leave the visitors teetering after Liton Das compiled a gritty half-century on the third day of the second Test here at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium. The Bangladesh bowlers were given 145 runs to defend after Liton’s steely 73 and a …

KARACHI: The Quaid-e-Azam Gold Cup, which is the showpiece event of the Karachi Race Club (KRC), appears to be a two-horse race between bay horse Royal Ransom and filly Queen of Spades when it takes place in the winter Gymkhana race meeting here at the Karachi Racecourse on Sunday. The meeting marks the culmination of the racing calendar. A full …

MELBOURNE: Veteran David Warner accused Cricket Australia (CA) on Saturday of a lack of support in his appeal against a lifetime leadership ban and revealed he struggled mentally during the recent series against the West Indies. The dynamic opener and former Test vice-captain was banned from any leadership role over his part in the Cape Town ball-tampering affair in 2018. He launched a bid …

Ravichandran Ashwin and Shreyas Iyer combined to help India prevail in a low-scoring thriller against Bangladesh and complete a 2-0 series sweep following a nervy three-wicket victory in the second Test on Sunday. Chasing 145 on a turning track where the ball often kept low, India were already on the back foot after a top order meltdown had left them …

KARACHI: Saud Shakeel was thrown at the deep end as soon as he made his way into the Pakistan Test squad. Against an England side riding high on “Bazball” — their ultra-aggressive style playing Test cricket — Saud responded with grace and maturity to show he belonged in the Test arena. Although Pakistan were whitewashed for the first-ever time in a Test …