SPORTS

Although India lost the ODI World Cup final against Australia but they have dominated the ICC ODI Team of the Year, which is captained by Rohit Sharma. The team also featured five other Indians including Virat Kohli, Shubman Gill pace duo of Mohammed Shami and Mohammed Siraj and chinaman Kuldeep Yadav.

Rohit Sharma has scored 1,255 runs at an average of 52 last year. Shubman Gill has struck a brilliant 208 against the Kiwis and also finished as the highest run-scorer (1,584) in the format. Kohli finished as the second-highest run-scorer of the year in ODIs (1,337) and slammed six centuries during the year. He surpassed Sachin Tendulkar's record of most international tons, besides winning the Player of the Tournament award during the World Cup.

When Daniil Medvedev was down two sets to love in the cold, early morning hours Friday during his second-round match against Emil Ruusuvuori, there was a reason he dug deep to win in five sets at 3:40 a.m.

While victory at the time must have seemed like a dream - one that he should have been having at that hour of the night - the two-time Australian Open finalist knew of the rewards that lay ahead if he endured the short-term pain for long-term gain.

The question on everyone's mind during the third and final India-Afghanistan T20I was whether Rohit Sharma had retired hurt or was retired out. In the penultimate ball of the first Super Over, the Indian skipper walked back, leaving fans curious about the nature of his departure.

Rohit, who made a return to the T20I series after more than a year, faced challenges in the first two matches, being dismissed without troubling the scorers.

However, in the third T20I, he made a solid comeback and scored a remarkable 121* off 69 balls, propelling India to a total of 212 for 4 in 20 overs.

Zaka Ashraf, the chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), has tendered his resignation after chairing a managing committee meeting in Lahore on Friday. This announcement comes as a major blow to Pakistani cricket, as Ashraf had taken over the PCB chief role just last year from Najam Sethi. The sudden resignation has left the cricketing fraternity in shock, with various reasons being attributed to Ashraf's departure. One notable factor is his educational qualification, with reports suggesting that he might not be a graduate. Additionally, his tenure was set to end in February, leading to speculation that he anticipated the inevitable and chose to step down.

Bereft of ideas, a lacklustre Indian football team’s woes were compounded by its defensive lapses, resulting in a 0-3 drubbing by a dominant Uzbekistan in the AFC Asian Cup on Thursday. This is India’s second successive defeat in Group B, having started their campaign with a 0-2 loss to title contenders Australia, in which their spirited performance earned them plaudits. However, against the central Asian nation at Ahmed bin Ali Stadium, India’s performance was a far cry from their display against the Socceroos, a FIFA World Cup regular.

Uzbekistan scored through Abbosbek Fayzullaev (4th minute), Igor Sergeev (18th) and Nasrullaev (45+3) to register their first win in the competition after being held to a stalemate by Syria in their tournament opener.