SPORTS

Viswanathan Anand, the five-time world champion, has thrown his weight behind the re-election bid of FIDE president Arkady Dvorkovich, a former deputy prime minister of Russia. Though Anand and Dvorkovich didn't give details of Anand's role in FIDE if Dvorkovich and his team are reelected, the Indian Grandmaster's support for the Russian will be seen as significant with campaigning to start in the first week of May.

The FIDE Congress and the General Assembly will be held in Chennai from July 28 after the All India Chess Federation was awarded rights of the 44th Chess Olympiad. "I am committed to run for the next term for FIDE presidency. It is not the start of the campaign yet, the campaign will start only in May. I am happy now that our team will be strengthened by the participation of Viswanathan Anand. Anand will be a huge part of our team if we win," Dvorkovich said at an event where the official handover of the hosting rights was done.

During the match between Royal Challengers Bangalore and Kolkata Knight Riders, the Indian Test cricket veteran and former Indian Premier League (IPL) player, Ishant Sharma made an unusual appearance but the fans felt sorry looking at him.

Even though Dinesh Karthik smashed Andre Russell for a six and a four on back to back deliveries of the final over to win the RCB their first match of the 2022 season, the contest between the two sides remained close throughout the game and scoring proved to be too difficult for both sides to keep up with.

Having said that, one of the most conversation-worthy moments took place in the middle of the match when the cameraman turned the lens towards the big screen which was showing the ‘virtual guests’ and the former Punjab Kings and Delhi Capitals pacer, Ishant Sharma could be seen sitting there, in front of a blank background, wearing a sponsorship shirt.

As Ayush Badoni asserted his presence at the crease and resurrected Lucknow Super Giants' innings by scoring a 41-ball 54 against Gujarat Titans on his IPL debut, the Delhi cricket fraternity sunk in embarrassment.

The 22-year-old Badoni has been touted as the next big batting talent from Delhi, after Rishabh Pant, for a long time now. He has decimated bowling attacks in junior cricket since he was 14, made it to India's U-19 team in 2018, played match-winning knocks in the U-19 Asia Cup and then disappeared. He wasn't eligible to play the U-19 World Cup in February 2020. Here's the interesting bit. Then India U-19 coaches Rahul Dravid and WV Raman had sent messages to Delhi selectors to blood this diminutive middle-order batter straight into the senior state team.

Pakistan captain Babar Azam on Tuesday set a new record by becoming the fastest man from the country to score 4000 runs in ODI cricket. Babar achieved the feat during the first ODI of a 3-match series against Australia at the Gadaffi Stadium in Lahore.

Babar Azam also became the 2nd fattest overall in men's cricket to get to the 4000-run landmark. He got to the landmark in his 82nd innings in the 50-over format of the game, 1 innings slower than South Africa's former opener Hashim Amla.

Babar, however, was quicker than some of the legendary names, including Sir Vivian Richards and Virat Kohli, to get to the 4000-run landmark.

Former India head coach Ravi Shastri claimed he would have comfortably gone for a staggering sum of Rs 15 crore (INR 150 million) had he been part of the Indian Premier League (IPL) auction as a player. One of the finest all-rounders to have played for India, Shastri was known for his flamboyant style of cricket during his playing days.

Considering the demand for multi-dimensional players in T20 cricket these days and all-rounders playing key roles for their respective teams, Shastri claimed he would have raked in huge money had he been part of an IPL auction. When asked about the kind of money he would have fetched as a player at an auction, Shastri said he would have comfortably been in the Rs 15 crore bracket and would also have been the captain of the team.