The Indian cricket team will leave for Ahmedabad on Thursday afternoon for the remaining two Tests against England while the Indian Premier League auctions will be underway here. ....

The Indian Premier League's Punjab team will be known as Punjab Kings instead of Kings XI Punjab, the franchise announced on Wednesday. ....

The Indian Premier League (IPL) mini-auction on Thursday could see a huge demand for bowlers even as Australian batsmen Steve Smith, Marnus Labuschagne, and Glenn Maxwell, England's Dawid Malan, all-rounders Chris Morris of South Africa and Bangladesh's Shakib Al Hasan could be the hottest properties. ....

The final of the 2020/21 edition of the Indian Super League (ISL) will be played on March 13, organisers Football Sports Development Limited (FSDL) said in a statement on Wednesday. The match will be played at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Fatorda, Goa, for the second consecutive time. ....

India on Wednesday announced their 17-man squad for the upcoming third and fourth Test matches against England, both of which will be played at the Sardar Patel stadium in Motera, near Ahmedabad. Fast bowler Shardul Thakur has been released for the Vijay Hazare Trophy and Umesh Yadav will replace him after a fitness assessment. ....

Former South Africa captain Faf du Plessis on Wednesday announced his retirement from Test cricket, thus ending a nine-year career that started in November 2012. He clarified he is not retiring from ODI cricket yet and focussing on T20s. ....

Goals from Mohammed Salah and Sadio Mane gave Liverpool a clinical 2-0 win over an errant RB Leipzig in the first leg of their Champions League round of 16 fixture. Liverpool left behind a string of unfavourable results in the Premier League and were clinical in keeping out Leipzig whose errors ended up costing them the match. ....

Left-arm spinner Axar Patel's father was a rare parent in Nadiad town of Gujarat who let his son opt for cricket despite him being a bright student and a rank holder in school. Among the parents of meritorious kids that a top Kheda district cricket official tried to convince to let their kids play cricket, he was met with stubbornness and often rudeness. ....

India off-spinner R Ashwin said on Tuesday that Indian cricketing fraternity needs to magnanimously deflect away criticism of Indian cricket pitches when it comes from overseas cricketers. ....

American 23-time Grand Slam champion Serena Williams on Tuesday reached the semi-final of the 2021 Australian Open after beating Romanian world No.2 Simona Halep in straight sets at the Rod Laver Arena. Williams beat Halep 6-3, 6-3 to set up a semi-final clash against Japanese third seed Naomi Osaka. ....

Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Tuesday laid the foundation stone of an international hockey stadium in Rourkela in Sundergarh district, which will be India's largest of its kind when completed. ....