India opener Rohit Sharma called Rishabh Pant a "spark" that Indian team needs in the middle-order and has called on people to be more patient with his style of play that sees him get dismissed often in casual manner. ....

India's No.3 batsman Cheteshwar Pujara has now played 28 Test innings without a century. His last century had come 17 Test matches ago, when he scored 193 against Australia in Sydney in January 2019. Since then he has scored nine half-centuries, but has not been able to convert them into three-figure knocks. ....

Rishabh Pant's third Test century (101 off 118 balls) and Washington Sundar's unbeaten 60 on Friday took India to 294/7 wickets at close of the second day of the fourth Test against England -- a lead of 89 runs. Axar Patel was the other unbeaten batsman with 11. ....

The International Cricket Council's (ICC) anti-corruption unit (ACU) is hoping to publicly identify a corruption mastermind in New Delhi soon, based on pieces of evidence gathered from players and officials. ....

A decision on granting visa to the lone Pakistani skeet shooter, Usman Chand, desiring to compete in this month's New Delhi World Cup may come by the end of Friday. ....

India lost Cheteshwar Pujara, captain Virat Kohli and Ajinkya Rahane to end the first session of Day 2 of the fourth Test against England on 80/4 at the Narendra Modi Stadium on Friday. James Anderson, Ben Stokes and Jack Leach struck to help the England get their noses in the front during the session at the end of which India trail by 125 runs with six wickets in hand. ....

Rohit Sharma has been considered one of the stalwarts of Indian batting for over a decade, but quite surprisingly this is only the second time in his 13-year international career that he has played six Tests in a row that India have played. ....

Former Indian captain and now BCCI president Sourav Ganguly has momentarily refused to open a new innings -- one on the murky pitch of party politics. ....

England got a 200-plus total for the first time after five innings of sub-200 scores but the 205 they could muster on Thursday still kept them on the backfoot against India on the first day of the fourth and final Test here at the Narendra Modi Stadium on Thursday. India were 24 for one at stumps. ....

India's Kidambi Srikanth on Thursday beat France's Thomas Rouxel in three games to enter the quarter-finals of the Swiss Open Super 300 badminton tournament. Srikanth beat Rouxel 21-10, 14-21, 21-14 in 52 minutes. ....

In-form left-arm spinner Axar Patel bagged four wickets and R. Ashwin captured three as India bowled England out for 205 runs in their first innings of the fourth and final Test here on Thursday. ....