Sports

WHENEVER your team loses a match, it smarts, but you get over it. When your team loses to India, however, that one really hurts. Then again, everyone knows that the India-Pakistan cricket rivalry transcends the pitch — it is a political issue, one both countries hold quite near and dear. So when Pakistan failed to produce the goods in Ahmedabad on Saturday, …

ADELAIDE: Austra­lian opening batsman Travis Head has returned to batting for the first time since he fractured his left hand and could join the World Cup squad on Friday, Cricket Australia (CA) said on Sunday. Head broke his finger during a One-day International match against Temba Bavuma-captained South Africa last month but was included in the 15-man World Cup squad …

DHAKA: Bangladesh captain Shakib Al Hasan suffered a thigh injury and is under observation ahead of their World Cup match against India next week, the country’s cricket board said on Saturday. Veteran all-rounder Shakib injured himself during Friday’s eight-wicket loss against New Zealand in Chennai when he scored 40 with the bat and completed his bowling quota of 10 overs …

AHMEDABAD: Paceman Mohammed Siraj feared his humble roots as the son of an auto-rickshaw driver would shatter his dreams of playing at the World Cup. On Saturday, however, the 29-year-old fast bowler played a crucial role in India’s seven-wicket rout of arch-rivals Pakistan at Ahmedabad’s 132,000-seater ground, the world’s biggest cricket arena. He dismissed opener Abdullah Shafique lbw for 20 …

Cricket and flag football were among five sports added to the programme for the 2028 Los Angeles Games on Monday after being approved by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) as it looks to tap into new global audiences. Lacrosse, squash and baseball-softball were also approved at an IOC meeting in Mumbai, having been proposed by 2028 organisers. Under IOC rules, …

MUMBAI: India is interested in hosting the Olympic Games in 2036, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Saturday at the opening ceremony of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) session in Mumbai. The country has never hosted the Olympics bef­ore, but in 2010 Delhi hosted the Commonwealth Games. “India will leave no stone unturned in our efforts to organise the Olympics …

AHMEDABAD: India captain Rohit Sharma heaped praise on his bowling unit after the team’s comprehensive seven-wicket win over arch-rivals Pakistan in a mouthwatering World Cup clash on Saturday. At 155-2 in the 30th over, and with Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan looking set in the middle, Pakistan appeared to be heading towards a 300-plus total at the Narendra Modi Stadium. The wheels, …

IT was the inexplicable batting collapse that undid Pakistan’s bid for a first World Cup victory against India; their hopes and expectations — as well as those of their 240m countrymen — being burned down by their arch-rivals in the Ahmedabad cauldron. Everything was going against the 11 men in green. A crowd of 120,000 had turned the Narendra Modi Stadium into …

KARACHI: “I came here to watch fine cricket and that is exactly what I am doing,” said Gibran Akbar, a cricket enthusiast, watching the ICC World Cup 2023 match between Pakistan and India live from Ahmedabad on a big electronic screen put up at the Com3 Towers parking lot at Bilawal Chowrangi here on Saturday. By this time, Pakistan had already played …

PAKISTAN crumbled in Ahme­dabad in the face of a high quality all-round performance from India, who confirmed their status as tournament favourites. Rohit Sharma scored 86 runs in quick time to render Pakistan’s total meaningless. A remarkable colla­pse, eight wickets for 36 runs, when Pakis­tan seemed well set, tur­ned the game into a no contest. In a Pakistan-India match, to fail to …