Expresso National and International Sports News Update at 1:30 pm on 26 December 2023

In cricket SA vs IND news: Sanjay Manjrekar believes team management ‘will not forget’ Sanju Samson’s maiden ODI century to help India win the three-match ODI series 2-1 in Paarl. Manjrekar, speaking on ESPNCricinfo said, “So, what that hundred, that innings and the way he played, has done is, the selectors and the team management will not forget it. And that is the reason Sanju Samson was in the squad against expectation. I know this was an ODI series, but people will need to remember its result. ” More than the score, it was the way Samson approached the innings that showed the batters had grown leaps and bounds since he last played for India.

Seeing medium pacers or slow medium pacers, former Pakistan pacer Waqar Younis rued the lack of speed in the Pakistan pace battery saying there was no real pace in the team which lost comprehensively to Australia in the 1st Test. He said on ESPN’s Around The Wicket show, “There are a few injured, I can understand, but in the past, you would always see a battery of fast bowlers that they could always bring on.” Shaheen Shah Afridi, Khurram Shahzad, Aamer Jamal, and Faheem Ashraf were leading Pakistan's pace battery in the Test against Australia. Pakistan plays the second Test against Australia starting today, Boxing Day, December 26th.

The ICC rejected Usman Khawaja’s bid to wear a black dove holding an olive branch on his bat and shoes for the Boxing Day Test against Pakistan. The Aussie opener had trained at the MCG nets on Sunday, Dec 24th, wearing shoes with the logo. Per The Sydney Morning Herald, Khawaja had checked the logo with both Cricket Australia and the Australian Cricketers Association and got no objection from either body, but a rejection arrived from the ICC on Sunday morning. After his bid to wear shoes with a message was denied, Khawaja wore a black armband for which he was again reprimanded.

In India's squad for ODIs, and T20Is, Richa Ghosh, Saika Ishaque, and Shreyanka Patil were named in the ODI side for the Australia series. Renuka Thakur, Mannat Kashyap, and Titas Sadhu — will also be coming into the team. India and Australia will play three ODIs and three T20Is in Mumbai after the hosts registered their first-ever win in women’s Test cricket history over Australia by eight wickets on Sunday, Dec 24th. The three-match ODI series will be played at Wankhede Stadium on December 28, 30, and January 2. The T20Is will happen at Navi Mumbai’s DY Patil stadium, on January 5, 7, and 9. India’s side for the T20I series against the Australian women’s team, meanwhile, has remained unchanged.

In chess news: Around six Indian players lost valuable possessions, including a passport, when they were in Sitges to compete in the Sunway Sitges Chess tournament. The list includes GM Sankalp Gupta, IM Dushyant Sharma, woman GM Srija Seshadri, woman IMs Mounika Akshaya, and Arpita Mukherjee, and woman FIDE master Vishwa Shah. Their apartments were in the official accommodation buildings, two kilometers from the event. No players of other nationalities had similar issues. Mounika said, “The organisers helped us file a complaint but the police told us on our face that it’s going to be no use. When we asked the organizers for compensation for things we had lost because this was their official apartment, they made fun of us.”

Chess Grandmaster-siblings Praggnanandhaa and Vaishali will limit the number of tournaments they play in before the Candidates tournament. Coach RB Ramesh says they will find a balance between playing tournament and preparation, and that two separate teams with seconds are already in place. The Chess Gurukul in Chennai’s T-Nagar is the preparation center for the siblings. Having booked their Candidates' berths earlier this year, the two are studying each of the seven opponents they will face in Toronto. With the winners of the Candidates to face China’s Ding Liren and Ju Wenjun in the World Chess Championship later next year, Ramesh is yet to decide if he will travel to Canada or assist them remotely from Chennai.

In football news: Lionel Messi will reunite with his good friend and one part of the iconic MSN trio, Luis Suarez, as Inter Miami signed the Uruguayan star on Dec 22nd. Along with Neymar, they were part of Barcelona's devastating attacking trio, who helped the Catalan giants win the historic treble in the 2014-15 season. Inter Miami co-owner David Beckham said, “We are delighted to have a player of Luis’ quality and passion for the game join our Club. He joins a squad that is inspiring the next generation and we look forward to seeing him take to the field with both former teammates and young players from our Academy." Suarez's contract runs through the 2024 Major League Soccer season.

Lastly, in wrestling news: Sanjay Singh was elected WFI chief on Dec 21st, and Sakshi Malik quit wrestling, as the wrestlers underlined their disappointment with the government, claiming it couldn’t fulfill its promise to keep out Bhushan’s family and associates from the election process. With garlands draped around his neck, firecrackers bursting in the background, and supporters chanting his name, he flashed the victory sign for the cameras. Sanjay defeated Anita Sheoran by a margin of 40-7. Sakshi and Vinesh Phogat broke down while addressing the media at the Press Club of India in Delhi. Vinesh said, “He is Brij Bhushan’s right-hand man. Now that he is president, the coming batch of women wrestlers will also fall prey.”

Click to listen to yesterday's bulletin