Sports

Bhubaneswar, Dec 8: "Unpredictability" has been haunting Indian men's hockey team for quite some time now but that very factor might just act in their favour when the hosts take on Olympic champions and world no.1 Argentina in the semi-finals of the Hockey World League Final, on Friday. For any team in world hockey, predicting India's performance is next to impossible. 'Inconsistent' is the

Dubai, Dec 8: Riding on his career-best 243 in the third Test against Sri Lanka, India captain Virat Kohli on Thursday jumped three places to grab the second position among batsmen in the ICC Test rankings. Kohli's double ton was followed by a 50 in the second innings as he finished with 610 runs in the series, which India won 1-0 after the first and third Test ended in draws in Kolkata and New

Paris, Dec 8: Portugal`s Cristiano Ronaldo was awarded the Ballon d`Or for world player of the year on Thursday for a joint-record fifth time, going level with eternal rival and Barcelona forward Lionel Messi as the player to have won the prize the most times. The Real Madrid forward won the award, handed out by magazine France Football, for the second consecutive year having led his side to the

Karachi, Dec 7: Banned Pakistan opener, Sharjeel Khan said he has been treated unfairly by the PCB tribunal in the Pakistan Super League spot-fixing case, a claim rejected by the Board as "a ploy to gain sympathy". Interacting with the media for the first time in nearly 10 months, Sharjeel claimed that the punishment of five years ban handed out to him by the PCB anti-corruption tribunal was

Bhubaneshwar, Dec 7: Hosts India produced a spirited performance to stun Olympic silver medallist Belgium in the shoot-out and progress to the semifinals of the Hockey World League (HWL) final after both the teams were locked at 3-3 at the end of regulation time, here today. Warming the bench for most part of the match, goalkeeper Akash Chikte dished out a superb performance to hand India their

Dec 7: Philippe Coutinho's hat-trick inspired Liverpool to score seven in their win over Spartak Moscow on Wednesday as they joined Sevilla, Shakhtar Donetsk and Porto in qualifying for the Champions League last 16. That quartet completed the line-up on the final night of group-stage action that was also notable for another Cristiano Ronaldo goals record in the competition. The Portuguese

New Delhi, Dec 6: The third cricket Test between India and Sri Lanka ended in a draw after the visitors reached 299 for 5 and the two captains agreed to call off the match on the fifth and final day here today. Brief Scores: India: 536/7d and 246/5d Sri Lanka: 373 and 299/5 in 103 overs (Dhananjaya de Silva 119, Roshen Silva 74; Ravindra Jadeja 3/81).

Thiruvananthapuram, Dec 6: A cricket match between India and Sri Lanka may sound nothing new. But, prisoners of the sub-continent playing cricket against jail officials of the island nation will surely be the first of its kind in the history of the two countries. If everything goes as planned, Kerala will host such a unique match next month, official sources said. Jail DGP R Sreelekha has

New Delhi, Dec 6: The Indian Premier League's Governing Council on Wednesday cleared the decks for M S Dhoni's return to Chennai Super Kings, which will make a comeback to the league in the 2018 edition after serving a two-year suspension. The IPL Governing Council, after a meeting here, allowed CSK and Rajasthan Royals, which was also banned for alleged spot-fixing and betting, to retain the

New Delhi, Dec 6: Dhananjaya de Silva put India's victory on hold as he smashed a gritty century to reduce his side's target to just 184 runs at tea of the fifth day of the third and the final Test at the Feroz Shah Kotla Stadium here on Wednesday. Resuming at yesterday's score of 31-3, de Silva tested Indian bowlers as he produced a calm and composed performance to notch a 119-run knock