Cricket
India completed a whitewash of Sri Lanka in the three-Test series with an innings victory in Pallekele. Shikhar Dhawan, K. L. Rahul and Hardik Pandya excelled with the bat to help India score 487, before which the bowlers took over. In a combined effort of seamers securing early breakthroughs and spinners running through the rest of the batting order, India bowled its opponent out for 135 and 181. The victory gave India its first cleansweep abroad in a series of three Tests or more.
Less than a week later, Dhawan continued his good run with the bat, batting through India’s successful chase of Sri Lanka’s 216 in the first One-Day International of a five-match series in Dambulla. Dhawan scored an unbeaten 132, featuring in an unbroken 197-run partnership with captain Virat Kohli as India eased through to a nine-wicket win.
About 600 kilometres away, Albert Tuti Patriots’ winning run came to an end in the final as Chepauk Super Gillies clinched the Tamil Nadu Premier League title at the M. A. Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai. H. Gopinath was among the stars for Gillies with a quickfire 50 at the top of the order, in his team’s chase of the winning target of 144.
The first day-night Test in England was over in three days with a crushing innings victory over West Indies by the host in Birmingham. Stuart Broad, who went past Ian Botham’s tally of 383 Test wickets to be England’s second highest wicket taker, was among the wreckers in chief alongside his seam partners James Anderson and Toby Roland-Jones. England bowled its opponent out for 168 and 137 after scoring 514 for 8 declared, an innings highlighted by opener Alastair Cook’s double-century.
In what may be further unsettling for West Indies, Kraigg Brathwaite, its opening batsman, was reported for illegal action .
Bangladesh left out limited-overs star Mahmudullah and Mominul Haque from its 14-man squad for the first Test against the visiting Australia in Dhaka. Australia visits the country for a Test series after 11 years.
The Committee of Administrators has submitted to the Supreme Court a fifth status report on the implementation of the Lodha committee reforms by the Board of Control for Cricket in India. In a damning report, the committee observes the members of the BCCI are making no efforts to bring in the ordered reforms. Ahead of the domestic season, cricket administrators, under pressure, seem to be riddled with doubts about how to incorporate the necessary reforms.
Umar Akmal, the Pakistan batsman, attacked his team’s coach Mickey Arthur on Twitter by saying the fitness tests held ahead of the Champions Trophy in June were to drop him from the national side. “These tests were held to get me out of the team,” Umar wrote in his Twitter handle.
Lalchand Rajput features no more in the plans of Afghanistan Cricket Board in the future development of its national team. After having gained Test status, Afghanistan has now decided to move on from Rajput.
The cricket boards of Afghanistan and Pakistan resolved their differences when their representatives met in a meeting of the Asian Cricket Council. As a result, Pakistan’s players will be free to participate in the local leagues in the neighbouring country.
Tennis
Rafael Nadal suffered an upset defeat to Australia’s Nick Kyrgios in the quarterfinals of the Cincinnati Masters. Nonetheless, Nadal will climb to the top of the world rankings for the first time since 2014. Grigor Dimitrov and Nicky Kyrgios were playing the ATP 1000 tournament final at the time of writing late on Sunday. Among women, Garbine Muguruza won the title.
Leander Paes has decided to team up with Purav Raja for the Winston-Salem Open and the U.S. Open.
Victoria Azarenka may skip the U.S. Open .
Ramkumar Ramanathan exited the Cincinnati Masters in the second round after an impressive run that had him negotiating two rounds of qualifying.
Maria Sharapova has received a wildcard for U.S. Open.
Football
Cristiano Ronaldo received a five-match ban for pushing the referee in Real Madrid’s victory over Barcelona. Real Madrid’s manager Zinedine Zidane has expressed anguish over the decision.
Real Madrid won the Spanish Super Cup by completing a 5-1 victory in two legs over Barcelona on Wednesday.
Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, Harry Kane and a few others have been shortlisted for the FIFA Best Player Award .
Manchester United continued its winning run with another 4-0 win , this time over Swansea City at The Liberty Stadium.
Chelsea managed a rearguard effort to defeat London rival Tottenham Hotspur with the help of two goals from Marcos Alonso.
Juventus began its bid for a seventh consecutive Serie A title with a 3-0 win over Cagliari .
Puneri Paltan, Jaipur Pink Panthers, Telugu Titans, U Mumba, Dabang Delhi KC and others registered victories in the Pro Kabaddi League this week. Gujarat Fortunegiants with six wins leads the table, followed by Puneri Paltan with five wins.
Chess
In the St. Louis rapid and blitz chess championship, a tournament that marked the return of the veteran legend Garry Kasparov, Viswanathan Anand garnered 14 points for a ninth-place finish .
After six rounds at the Abu Dhabi Masters , D. Harika has registered two wins, three draws and just one loss.
Badminton
India’s 16-year old shuttler Lakshya Sen clinched the Bulgaria Open International Series title .
Two new badminton teams - Ahmedabad Smash Masters and Guwahati Easter Warriors - were added to the Premier Badminton League fold at its launch during the week. The tournament begins in December.
Potential stakeholders in Chennai hope to bring the PBL to the city , after the earlier editions of the tournament were bypassed due to a few reasons.
Hockey
India defeated the Netherlands 2-1 in three matches in its Europe Tour. It ended the tour on a high , defeating Austria 4-3.
Athletics
Mo Farah hopes to provide his fans a fitting finale to his career when he participates in the 3,000-metres race in Birmingham at the IAAF Diamond League, which will be his final race on home soil. Farah was surprisingly beaten by Muktar Edris in the corresponding race in the World Athletics Championships.
Table Tennis
Sarthak Gandhi won the silver for India at the ITTF Nigeria Open on Monday. The pair of Soumyajit Ghosh and Sathiyan Gnanasekaran won the silver medal in the men’s doubles at Bulgaria Open on Sunday.
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