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As Indian women’s cricket grows onwards and upwards, Mithali Raj’s contribution will always remain significant. A tribute to the former India captain who has called time on her career.

In this issue

09-07-202222 STORIES

Spinning success: Madhya Pradesh left-arm spinner Kumar Kartikeya’s sensational six-wicket haul (6/50) — his best first-class figures — doused Punjab’s spirits in the Ranji Trophy quarterfinals in Alur, Bengaluru.

Ranji Trophy quarterfinals: Punjab’s mighty batting crumbles against MP

Spinners took 10 wickets to bowl out Punjab for 203 in the second innings and set up a 10-wicket win for Madhya Pradesh. Shubham Sharma racked up his

Batting masterclass: Uttar Pradesh captain Karan Sharma, featuring in his fourth first-class outing, displayed all the patience and courage required for this long format. His unbeaten 93 in the second essay proved that there were no demons in the Alur grounds pitch.

Ranji Trophy quarterfinals: Captain Karan Sharma helps UP knock out Karnataka

Karnataka failed to capitalise on a 98-run first-innings advantage and suffered a five-wicket loss to Uttar Pradesh in the quarterfinals. UP captain K

Delightful beginning: Mumbai batsman Suved Parker exults after scoring a double century against Uttarakhand during a Ranji Trophy quarterfinal match at Alur Grounds in Bengaluru. Parkar not only marked his debut with a hundred in the first innings but converted it into a mammoth 252, the fifth highest individual score on debut.

Ranji Trophy quarterfinals: Mumbai posts biggest win by runs in first-class cricket

Mumbai’s Suved Parkar marked his debut with a mammoth 252 in the first innings while his Ranji roommate Yashasvi Jaiswal recorded his maiden first-cla

Making his mark: Bengal’s Sudip Kumar Gharami scored his maiden first-class hundred during the Ranji Trophy quarterfinal against Jharkhand.

Ranji Trophy quarterfinals: Record-breaking batters drive Bengal home

Sudip Kumar Gharami struck a maiden first-class hundred as Bengal amassed 773 in the first innings. With Jharkhand folding up for 298 in the first inn

Rich dividends: Madhya Pradesh’s Kumar Kartikeya Singh celebrates the dismissal of Bengal’s Manoj Tiwary during a Ranji Trophy semifinal match at KSCA Alur ground, Bengaluru.

Ranji Trophy semifinals: Madhya Pradesh in final after 23 years

Madhya Pradesh defeated Bengal by 174 runs to reach the Ranji Trophy final for the first time since 1998-99. Chandrakant Pandit was the captain then,

Prolific run: Mumbai’s Yashasvi Jaiswal celebrates after scoring a century against Uttar Pradesh during their Ranji Trophy semifinal cricket match at Just Cricket Ground in Bengaluru. Besides becoming only the ninth Mumbai batter to notch up a hundred in each innings of a Ranji match, the left-handed batter also achieved a rare distinction of hitting three consecutive hundreds.

Ranji Trophy semifinals: Batting quartet orchestrates Mumbai’s success

For the second time this season, Prithvi Shaw, Sarfaraz Khan, Armaan Jaffer and Yashasvi Jaiswal featured together in Mumbai’s starting XI, this time,

Rishabh Pant captained India during the 1st T20I match between India and South Africa held at the Arun Jaitley Stadium, Delhi on the 9th June 2022.

Statsman: Rishabh Pant second-youngest Indian to captain T20 team

Rishabh Pant, 24, led India for the first time in an international match in the T20I against South Africa in Delhi on June 9, 2022. He is the second-y

Beast of the dance floor: B-Boy Flying Machine (Arif Chaudhary) performs during Red Bull BC One Cypher in Mumbai. Arif took home the crown for the fourth time in five appearances.

Breaking Good: Breakdance as sport and India's talent pool

Breaking, which was once seen only as an underground dance movement, is now part of the mainstream sports and will be making its Summer Olympics debut

Aashin Prasad

Bright prospects: Indian Grandmasters S. L. Narayanan (left) and Nihal Sarin with the AICF Secretary Bharat Singh Chauhan during the preparatory camp for the coming Chess Olympiad.

Narayanan and Nihal Sarin — Treading different paths to success

S. L. Narayanan and Nihal Sarin, two young chess players from Kerala, have quietly firmed up their places in the country’s top-10 list.

Path-breaker? South Africa’s Charl Schwartzel of the Stinger team poses with the trophy after winning the inaugural LIV Golf Invitational. The $25 million event in St. Albans — the biggest prize pot in history — is the first of eight tournaments this year bankrolled by Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, worth a combined $255 million.

The gap between individual morality and the nation’s morality

Dollar-rich countries in the Middle East ruled by despots and with dodgy human rights records already own top football clubs in Europe and England. Co

Suresh Menon

Hurt and out: Alexander Zverev of Germany is wheeled off in a wheelchair following an injury against Rafael Nadal of Spain during the French Open men’s singles semifinal match at Roland Garros this year.

Food For Thought

Train to eat precisely and scientifically

There are two other parameters that frighten me as a sports nutritionist in a player’s life: sickness and injury. They are always lurking in the sidel

Ryan Fernando

Top facilities: Kalinga Institute’s sports village consists of an Olympic size swimming pool, athletics synthetic track, hockey, rugby and cricket stadiums with floodlights. They also have tennis hard courts and archery training field.

KIIT & KISS: A sports hub with world-class infrastructure

For well over a decade now, KIIT and KISS have quietly created a sports hub, churning out international stars and athletes in the country. They house

Aashin Prasad

With that motivation, the best serve return in history, and a complete game, Novak Djokovic is the oddsmakers’ strong favourite to win the Wimbledon this year.

Who will win Wimbledon?

Do any of the leading men’s contenders have the right stuff to dethrone Novak Djokovic? Can Iga Swiatek, a clay-court star whose two Grand Slam titles

Paul Fein

Working wonders: New England coach Brendon McCullum and new captain Ben Stokes have struck a winning combination very soon.

On The Write Line

The Stokes-McCullum effect

The England team with another captain and coach had, just a year earlier, declined a similar challenge of getting 270 odd to win on the final day agai

Sunil Gavaskar

The journey from Mithu to Mithali Raj wasn’t easy. We trace the legendary Indian cricketer's journey through the eyes of those who knew her best.

Women's Cricket

Mithali Raj - Celebrating the queen of Indian cricket

As India’s women’s cricket grows onwards and upwards, Mithali Raj’s contribution will always remain significant.

Celebration time: The Golden State Warriors pose with the trophy after defeating the Boston Celtics 103-90 in Game Six to win the 2022 NBA Finals.

NBA Finals: A sweet triumph for the Warriors

The Warriors doubled down on their strategy to retain their star players at a high cost — they pay the highest luxury tax in the league — even after K

Srinivasan Ramani

Leader of the pack: Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen has now won five of the last six races. With 13 races still left in the year, it is too early to confidently say Verstappen will run away with the title but if the Dutchman were to defend his crown, the last two weeks, at Baku and Montreal, will surely go down as a pivotal moment in the season.

F1: Red Bull flying away with the lead

Red Bull’s Verstappen won his sixth race of the season in the Canadian GP after taking pole position in a rain-affected qualifying session. The reigni

Roar of the Blue Tigers: Indian players celebrate with the national flag after winning their AFC Asian Cup 2023 Qualifiers final round football match against Hong Kong, at VYBK stadium in Kolkata.

AFC Asian Cup 2023: General Stimac and his new band of warriors get the berth

India won all three matches in the group D engagement of the final qualifying stage to qualify for the AFC Asian Cup 2023.

Amitabha Das Sharma

Golden leap: B. Aishwarya of Karnataka took the gold medal in triple jump with a 14.14m effort before adding another gold medal in the long jump event at the National Inter-State Senior Athletics Championships.

Inter-State Athletics Championships: New stars take the spotlight

In the absence of track and field stars like Olympic gold medallist Neeraj Chopra and national 3000m steeplechase champion Avinash Sable, javelin thro

Santadeep Dey

Analysts feel that the high premium that the IPL digital rights got, and the fact that for the first time the TV and online rights got split, will be a big game-changer for the Indian Premier League.

IPL Media Rights auction: BCCI’s blockbuster sale could open floodgates to higher viewership

IPL Media Rights: The high premium that digital rights commanded at the auction could be a game-changer for the league, franchises’ fortunes and the w

High jumper Tejaswin Shankar achieved the Commonwealth Games qualification mark (2.25m) with a leap of 2.27m in the NCAA, USA's national college sports competition, earlier this month.

Denied CWG spot despite meeting qualification standard, Tejaswin Shankar has no regrets

As things stand, Tejaswin would also have been a medal contender in Birmingham. Only two jumpers who will prospectively be competing at the Commonweal

Jonathan Selvaraj

South Africa captain Temba Bavuma ahead of the T20I series against India.

Temba Bavuma, South Africa's symbol of hope

The diminutive, soft-spoken captain is a significant figure in South African sport, but can he leave behind a legacy of greatness?

Abhishek Mukherjee

Archive

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