Nurturing the dream of winning an Olympic medal in Los Angeles 2028, the Olympian archer duo of Deepika Kumari and Atanu Das have roped in former international archer Rahul Banerjee as their coach. Deepika has competed in four Olympics and Atanu has featured in two, though without any success. Even though both belong to Kolkata, Atanu understood Rahul’s coaching philosophy only recently. “I and Rahul bhai were commentating during the Olympics, when we discussed a few things. I liked his ideas, and we started working (in August). Then Deepika joined,” Atanu told The Hindu at the National archery championships here. “We are approaching the sport with a different mindset. We are doing gap analysis and pushing ourselves against different challenges. The hunger and dream to win an Olympic medal has not diminished,” said Atanu. Deepika added, “Rahul bhai has identified mistakes which others could not. It’s a good start, and I am enjoying it. I could not win an Olympics medal due to my mistakes.” A medallist in elite international events, Rahul, the younger brother of decorated archer Dola Banerjee, could relate to Deepika-Atanu’s hunger. “We had similar thoughts. I have won medals almost everywhere except for the Olympics,” said Rahul, who runs a fully-equipped facility, DRB Academy, jointly with Dola, in Kolkata. “There were multiple pieces of advice. For example, Deepika has this issue of ‘let-down’ (drawing the bowstring but not being able to complete the shot) during ranking rounds. It leads to hurrying everything to finish within the stipulated time. We have sorted out her ‘blinking’ issue. Atanu had an issue with his left hand. “The training prepares them well so that they don’t feel the pressure at the Olympics. There was a gap, and I am bridging that gap. This is the first trial of what we have done so far,” said Rahul.

India’s animated celebrations after narrowly avoiding a follow-on at the Gabba on day four of the third Test surprised former and current Australian players including Nathan Lyon. The Indian tail, led by Akash Deep and Jasprit Bumrah, put on a gritty 47-run stand for the final wicket to ensure Australia bat again in the game. “After play, we spoke about that and we were surprised by some of their reactions, especially the way we’ve gone about this game and I think we can be extremely proud about the way we’ve gone about it,” Lyon told Fox Cricket. We’ve driven this game and to get it into the position we find ourselves in at the moment, we feel like that’s a pretty big message to us that they’re feeling confident in where they are in the game. But I honestly feel like there’s a lot of cricket left in this game,” he said on the sidelines of day five. Former wicketkeeper Brad Haddin and Brett Lee too expressed surprise at India’s celebrations. “That reaction surprised me; all they did was pass the follow-on, they’re still a long way behind in the game,” Haddin said. “That would’ve fired me up actually, and I would’ve been saying in the change rooms: ‘Let’s get these guys out there to have a bat (in the second innings).” This effort denied Australian skipper Pat Cummins the chance to enforce a follow-on for the first time in over 13 years. As Akash Deep scored a boundary through gully to achieve this milestone, the Indian dressing room erupted in joy, with the senior duo of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma visibly-ecstatic. “I remember that’s what England said in 2005 when we played it out for the draw, when there was a bit of a celebration from us,” former Australian pacer Lee said.

India’s key spinner Ravichandran Ashwin announced retirement from international cricket on Wednesday (December 18, 2024) by the end of the third Test match Border-Gavaskar series against Australia in Brisbane. He announced his decision during the press meet in Gabba that happened after today’s test match. “This will be my last day as an Indian cricketer in all formats in the international level,” told the reporters. With 765 wickets in his credit, Ashwin is the second-highest wicket-taker from India after Anil Kumble. Ashwin has taken 537 wickets at an average of 24 in 106 Test matches. He is also 7th on the overall list of wicket-takers. He is the second fastest to take 500 Test wickets, reaching it in 98 matches. Ashwin also has 37 5-wicket-hauls in an innings, the second most behind Sri Lanka’s legendary Muttiah Muralitharan.

It will take a herculean effort from Madhya Pradesh to stop Mumbai in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy final at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium here on Sunday. Barring a loss to Kerala in the group stage, Mumbai has been an unstoppable force. No target is out of reach, as the batting line-up consisting of Prithvi Shaw, Ajinkya Rahane, Shreyas Iyer, Suryakumar Yadav, Shivam Dube and Suryansh Shegde can all pack a mighty punch. Opener Rahane, in particular, has been a standout success. The highest run-scorer of the tournament, Rahane has taken the game away in the PowerPlay with electric strokeplay. Shegde, meanwhile, has emerged as a fine finisher, going at a tournament-high strike-rate of 256.7. New ball bowlers Mohit Avasthi and Shardul Thakur have come good with 13 wickets each. Madhya Pradesh depends heavily on Rajat Patidar to produce a magical knock. The Royal Challengers Bengaluru batter has four fifties in nine matches, including an unbeaten 29-ball 66 against Delhi in the semifinal here. Patidar relies on Harpreet Singh for company in the middle-order. A stable presence, Harpreet provides the ideal foil for the attacking Patidar. Venkatesh Iyer has moved down the order in this tournament and could be called into action early in the event of a collapse. MP’s left-arm spinner Kumar Kartikeya is the second-highest wicket-taker of the tournament, even if his efficiency has dipped in the knockout stages.

New Zealand steadily squandered a good start, slumping from 172-2 to 231-7 before rallying to 315-9 at stumps Saturday (December 14, 2024) on the first day of the third test against England. Mitchell Santner hit the last ball of the day for six to reach his fourth test half century and was 50 not out while Will O’Rourke had yet to score. The New Zealand tail added 76 runs in the last eight overs of the day to bring some balance back into the game after the failure of the middle order. After a 105-run opening partnership between Tom Latham and Will Young, New Zealand enjoyed the rare experience of holding the upper hand over England in a series which so far has been one-sided in favor of the tourists. England holds an unassailable 2-0 lead, winning the first test in four days by eight wickets and the second in three days by 323 runs. In those seven days, New Zealand only occasionally had a dominant session. But England won the toss and chose to bowl and by lunch New Zealand was 93-0 At that point it appeared England captain Ben Stokes might have misread or over-estimated the conditions when he decided to send New Zealand in. The pitch at Seddon Park had a slight green hue and warm conditions and puffy clouds seemed to offer the promise the ball would swing. Instead, there was a firm brown surface under a thin cover of grass and the day warmed quickly, burning off the overcast so that the ball neither seamed or swung to any great extent. Latham and Young set a sound platform for the New Zealand innings when they put on 105 for the first wicket, the Kiwis’ best opening partnership in 28 tests. Young was selected in place of Devon Conway whose wife has just given birth to their first child. There already was a clamour for his selection as Conway had made only 21 runs in four innings in the first two tests of this series and Young was Player of the Series and averaged almost 50 when New Zealand swept India 3-0 at home in October and early November. Young played with boldness from the start Saturday and was 42 not out at lunch including 40 runs from boundaries. At 42 he surpassed 1,000 runs in test cricket and became the first New Zealander since Stephen Fleming to achieve that milestone without making a test century. Rachin Ravindra made 18 with four well-hit boundaries and seemed set when he played loosely at a wide ball from Brydon Carse and was caught by Ben Duckett in the gully. There was an anxious pause when the television umpire checked for a no ball but there was no reprieve for Ravindra and this time no bad news for Carse who bowled Williamson with a no-ball in the second test. Kane Williamson reached 44 with every sign of authority on his home pitch on which he averages 94. Then he clamped down on a ball which bounced back onto his stumps and he tried vainly to kick it away. In quick succession New Zealand lost Daryl Mitchell (14), Glenn Phillips (5) and second test century-maker Tom Blundell (21), all to unwise shots. Santner and Matt Henry put on 41 for the eighth wicket before Henry (8) was brilliantly caught by Brook off Stokes. Brook first caught the ball standing on the boundary rope at fine leg, threw it up in the air and stepped over the boundary, then caught it again as he stepped back into the field of play. That brought out Tim Southee in his 107th and last test for New Zealand. Southee will retire at the end of the series aged 36 and as New Zealand’s second-highest test wicket-taker with 389. Southee, who received a guard of honor from the England fielders when he walked out, hit the second ball he faced for the 96th six of his career and the fourth ball for the 97th. England took the second new ball and Southee hit the first ball bowled with it for his 98th six. He also hit a four in his 23 from 10 balls before skying a ball.

A batter enjoying a rich vein of form and a legend searching for runs joined forces as Australia relished a perfect Sunday (December 15, 2024) at the Gabba. With the series level at 1-1, the host gets an opportunity to press ahead even as the threat of rain lingers. In his previous three Test knocks at this venue, Travis Head, with three ducks, never troubled the scorers. However, this time around, he kept the number-crunchers busy. Just like Zaheer Abbas and Graham Gooch, classy batters of the past, the Australian southpaw too revealed a voracious appetite for Indian bowling. His 152, a follow-up to the 140 at Adelaide, ensured that the host sat pretty on the second day of the third Test. Head found an ally in Steve Smith, who in his previous 24 innings in Tests, failed to score a ton. Amends were finally made and as Smith, scratchy to start with and magisterial later, scored 101, it proved to be a key component for Australia to post an unfinished first innings score of 405 for seven at close, with a belligerent Alex Carey and Mitchell Starc at the crease. Earlier, Smith and Head combined once Marnus Labuschagne fell. It was an alliance of contrasts, Head slotted the fifth gear, Smith, meanwhile, survived lbw appeals and play-and-miss routines. The duo found the post-lunch phase to be productive and when Ravindra Jadeja came on, Head tucked into some freebies. Smith, found his voice too, driving Akash Deep twice, while Head waded into Mohammed Siraj with slashes and pulls. Nitish Kumar found the batters too intimidating and soon Head reached his inevitable ton. After tea, Head dallied with Nitish on 112 but the edge proved tough for a diving Rohit Sharma at first slip. Soon Smith etched his hundred and the belated post-celebratory swing of the bat reflected his enormous relief. He fell edging Jasprit Bumrah and Rohit plucked a fine catch but by then the 241-run fourth-wicket partnership had placed Australia on a strong pedestal. With the new ball, Bumrah (five for 72) continued to strike, and scalped Mitchell Marsh and Head. In the morning, openers Usman Khawaja and Nathan McSweeney strived to extend the overnight score of 28 for no loss. But Bumrah had a contrarian idea and lured edges from the duo. The host struggled at 38 for two with Labuschagne and Smith at the crease. The latter had an exaggerated trigger moment, moving across the stumps a touch more than usual just at the release-point of the delivery. There was a spot of gamesmanship as Siraj swapped the bails and Labuschagne reversed the change. Perhaps it distracted the batter as he reached out to a Nitish delivery and the edge flew to Virat Kohli. Australia 75 for three, and in need of a partnership. It was a requirement that found an immediate response as Head swatted Nitish and drove Bumrah. Australia moved to 104 for three at lunch, a total that gained heft as the day wore on. The scores Australia – 1st innings: Usman Khawaja c Pant b Bumrah 21 (54b, 3×4), Nathan McSweeney c Kohli b Bumrah 9 (49b, 1×4), Marnus Labuschagne c Kohli b Nitish 12 (55b), Steve Smith c Rohit b Bumrah 101 (190b, 12×4), Travis Head c Pant b Bumrah 152 (160b, 18×4), Mitchell Marsh c Kohli b Bumrah 5 (16b), Alex Carey (batting) 45 (47b, 5×4, 1×6), Pat Cummins c Pant b Siraj 20 (33b, 1×4), Mitchell Starc (batting) 7 (7b). Extras (lb-17, nb-5, w-11): 33; Total (for seven wkts., in 101 overs): 405. Fall of wickets: 1-31 (Khawaja, 16.1), 2-38 (McSweeney, 18.3), 3-75 (Labuschagne, 33.2), 4-316 (Smith, 82.6), 5-326 (Marsh, 86.2), 6-327 (Head, 86.5), 7-385 (Cummins, 97.5). India bowling: Bumrah 25-7-72-5, Siraj 22.2-4-97-1, Akash 24.4-5-78-0, Nitish 13-1-65-1, Jadeja 16-2-76-0.

It will be a two-way fight between incumbent Rohan Jaitley and former India cricketer Kirti Azad for the president’s post in the three-day DDCA elections beginning on Friday (December 13, 2024). The results will be declared on December 16. The Jaitley-led panel holds significant clout among the 3748 members likely to vote in the elections. Azad, a member of the 1983 World Cup-winning India team and sitting Trinamool Congress MP from Bardhaman-Durgapur constituency, is confident of change in the Delhi & District Cricket Association, which is not the best governed BCCI-affiliated State unit in the country. The 65-year-old has levelled massive corruption allegations against the current dispensation ahead of the elections. “A change is constant. If there is no change there is nothing in life. I am confident. There is an undercurrent. People want change and that change is going to come,” Azad told PTI. However, an office bearer of the existing dispensation said Jaitley’s panel would win the elections easily. “As far as we see it, it is a no contest. Rohan-led panel will win easily,” he said. For the vice-president’s position, there is a three-way battle between Rakesh Kumar Bansal, Shikha Kumar and Sudhir Kumar Agarwal. Interestingly, two out of the four contesting candidates for the secretary share the same name — Sanjay Bhardwaj — who will be up against former secretary Vinod Tihara and Ashok Sharma. Three candidates are in the race to become treasurer, including Gurpreet Sareen, Harish Singla and Rajan Goel. For the joint secretary’s post, the fight will be between Amit Grover, Kamal Chopra and Karnail Singh. As many as 25 candidates are in the fray to become DDCA directors.

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin on Friday (December 13. 2024) announced a sum of ₹5 crore to chess sensation D. Gukesh, who emerged as the youngest world chess champion on Thursday. Mr. Stalin spoke to Mr. Gukesh over phone to commend him on the feat. He has also accepted the request of Deputy Chief Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin and announced a sum of ₹5 crore to Mr. Gukesh on his achievement.