SPORTS

The sleepy town of Motihari in Bihar found itself under the spotlight on Friday when local lad Shakibul Gani (22) scripted cricketing history, hitting a triple century on first-class debut --- the first in the world to do so.

In the Ranji Plate tie against Mizoram in Kolkata, he blazed 341 runs off 405 balls, eclipsing the previous record of MP’s Ajay Rohera (unbeaten 267 against Hyderabad in 2018).

Shakibul is the youngest of six children in the family. His mother, Asma Khatoon, told TOI she gifted him three new bats before he left home for Kolkata earlier this week. He said: "Amma, nazar utaar deen (bless these bats),” which Asma promptly did with a wisp of mustard seed smoke. The 341 was hit with one of these bats.

After their struggles so far in the tour, India will hope to pick themselves up and put up a much better fight in what is now a must-win clash in the third One-Day International against New Zealand.

The India women's cricket team haven't had it easy since arriving in New Zealand, losing the one-off Twenty20 International before suffering back-to-back losses at the start of the ODI series. After their 62-run defeat in the opener, India fought back harder, this time putting 270 on the board after opting to bat with skipper Mithali Raj and wicketkeeper-batter Richa Ghosh scoring 60s, while rookie opener S Meghana scoring 49.

Ravi Bishnoi's two-wicket haul was backed up by quality knocks by Rohit Sharma (40) and Suryakumar Yadav (34*) as India defeated West Indies by six wickets in the first T20I of the three-match series here at the Eden Gardens on Wednesday. With this win, India has gained a 1-0 lead in the three-match series and the second T20I will now be played on Friday at the same venue.

Chasing 158, India got off to a quickfire start as openers Rohit Sharma and Ishan Kishan put on 58 runs inside the first six overs. The 64-run opening stand finally came to an end in the eighth over as Roston Chase got the better of Rohit (40). Chase got his second wicket in the 12th over as he dismissed Kishan (35) and India was reduced to 93/2, still needing 65 runs for the win.

West Indies will collide with India in a T20I series. The India vs West Indies T20I series will witness its first encounter on February 16 (Wednesday). The match will take place at Eden Gardens Stadium in Kolkata. A total of three t20I clashes will be played during the series.

West Indies lost the ODI series to India 3-0. The visitors were totally outplayed in all three games and faced a humiliating whitewash. In the T20I series, Kieron Pollard is the skipper of West Indies while Rohit Sharma will lead India. Here we take a glance at West Indies’ predicted playing XI against India in the 1st T20I encounter.

Chennai Super Kings (CSK) did not bid for 'Mr IPL' Suresh Raina at the IPL 2022 Mega Auction held in Bengaluru on February 12 and 13.

Not only CSK, no other franchise bid for Raina as he went unsold for the first time ever in IPL. That means Raina will not take part in the upcoming season of IPL. 

Speaking on CSK's YouTube channel, CEO Kasi Viswanath stated the reason why Chennai did not buy Suresh Raina.