Nitesh Kumar India’s para-badminton player brings glory to his nation with second Paralympics gold.
India won several medals at the Paralympics 2024, as they have already been entitled to 9 medals, 3 more than Indian Olympic athletes won in an entire summer Olympics. Last time in Tokyo as well, India had a dream Paralympic campaign with 19 medals, of which they had a record 5 gold medals.
Indian para-badminton kingpin Nitesh Kumar clinched a gold in the SL3 category. The 29-year-old defeated the British shuttler, Daniell Bethell, in a very passionate contest against him in the three rounds, which he won 21-14, 18-21, and 23-21.
India’s Nitesh Kumar leads the Men’s Singles Badminton SL3 with a Gold (Image Credit: The Indian Express)
Nitesh is often known widely for his strategic implication, while the Tokyo Silver medalist won the first round comfortably, while the second round went against him, and he next finished the neck-to-neck final round with a win with his satisfying stamina.
Indian discus thrower Yogesh Kathuniya also made India proud as he turned up for the silver medal. With only his first throw, he retained the silver medal position at the Tokyo Olympics. India can depend on para-badminton players, who will contest for five medal matches.
As the players of the event, Thulasimathi Murugesan and Suhas Yathiraj can be the gold medal contenders, while three others, Manisha Ramadass, Sukant Kadam, and Nithya Sre Sivan, will all be seen in a contest for the bronze medal.
Sumit Antil and Sandip Sanjay Sargar will be seen in the men’s javelin throw events, while the women’s discus throw final will have Kanchan Lakhani for the contest. Lots of hopes will be pinned on a mixed team of paraarchers, Sheetal Devi and Rakesh Kumar, after Sheetal’s disheartening Round of 16 exit in the singles events.
PAK vs BAN: Pakistan is playing the second test match of the Bangladesh series also at Rawalpindi. They lost the first game by a humiliating 10 wickets to the Bangladesh team and were determined to win the match in order to tie the series.
Pakistan made many subtle changes to their squad, and even their top order contributed immensely to their team’s first innings, while even Salman Ali Agha later contributed to the team total with a fighting fifty.
Mehidy Hasan Miraz has struck five times in the first inning, with Bangladesh also facing a tough situation in the first inning as they were 26/6 when Miraz came in to bat alongside Litton Das.
Both the Bangladesh lower-order batters played immensely well, as they had a 150+ run partnership between them to rescue Bangladesh. Miraz got out on 78 while Litton kept his end firm only to score a stunning hundred.
Das backed his team with his 138 and took Bangladesh to 262, a respectable total. In just the 22 balls bowled by Bangladesh at the end of Day 3, they reduced Pakistan to 9/2 while skipper Masood and opener Ayub came into bat on Day 4.
The Bangladesh pacers, Taskin Ahmed and Nahid Rana, struck four times between them as Pakistan are in trouble again with 117/6 at lunch.
It's Lunch on Day 4 in Rawalpindi.
Pakistan is in deep trouble, with a lead of only 129 runs and 4 wickets in hand, relying on crisis man Mohammad Rizwan.#PAKvsBANpic.twitter.com/Z4KoB7CW0m
However, Rizwan again holds the tail with Salman Ali Agha, and Pakistan would be hopeful for a return from their current 126/6 as they lead by 138 runs at the time of writing.
English batter Joe Root has been the talk of the cricketing world recently; the buzz has been on him since Aussie veteran cricketer Ricky Ponting made a remark over Joe Root probably being the cricketer who can level up with Sachin Tendulkar’s record of most test runs, which now stands at 15921 runs.
Ponting remarked in an interview with the ICC that Joe Root is the batter he considers can achieve this remarkable feat. With the form, Root is in, and with his 33-year-old age, he has been convincing enough for Ponting that if the English cricketer plays Tests for the next 5 years, then his 3500 runs seem very accessible.
Root has been recently seen in the home series against Sri Lanka, where he continues his stunning form. Joe Root was seen again holding to his sublime form, as after his first half-century that he scored at Old Trafford, he scored two stunning hundreds at Lord’s in the second game.
England was seen in a grieving situation; in the first innings at Lord’s, that was when Joe Root claimed his 33rd Test century, which helped him level the most hundreds with Alastair Cook; he took over the former skipper with now most hundreds for England.
Alastair Cook’s record broken by Joe Root (Image Credit: CricTracker)
Joe Root has scored 143 and 103 runs in the two innings, while the batter is just less than 100 runs to surpass the former English skipper Alastair Cook as their highest run-getter in the format. He is anyway England’s all-time highest run-getter with all formats together.
Root was asked about how determined he is to break Sachin’s record, to which he answered his main focus lies on scoring runs and letting his team win a test match; he doesn’t have a hundred or Sachin’s record in mind whenever he comes into bat. The answer won hearts over the internet as fans lauded him for this.
Root is now 12377 runs in test cricket, the highest among active cricketers and the seventh highest in history; he is 24 runs and 96 runs behind Kumara Sangakara and Alastair Cook on the list, which will take him to the 5th position in the all-time list.
Also, he stands 1001 runs behind the second-highest run-getter, Australian veteran Ricky Ponting with 13378 runs. With Root’s conversion rate of scoring consistent 100s, he is undoubtedly one of those players who can surely keep the target of breaking Sachin’s record for most Test hundreds (51), if not his record of most runs.
Root now has 34 hundred and would need 18 hundred to break the record, which seems ok after he scored 17 hundred in the last 3 years of his playing. Earlier last year in the World Cup, Indian great Virat Kohli broke Sachin’s record for most ODI hundreds, and now the little master’s test record seems to be under threat.
ICC WTC Points Table: With a game remaining in the Three-match Test series against Sri Lanka, England have sealed the series 2-0 with a big win in the ENG vs SL 2nd Test. This marked the fifth consecutive win in Tests for ENGLAND and this post reads the latest updated ICC WTC Points Table.
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This test witnessed some of the breaking of historic records and the maiden century of young English talent, Gus Atkinson. A fifer for Avisha Fernando and also a big milestone for Joe Root. Let’s first take a look at the match summary:
ENG vs SL 2nd Test: Match Summary
The visiting team won the toss and elected to field, inviting the home side, England, to bat first. While England did not display their usual aggressive start, they maintained control of the innings despite losing three early wickets.
Joe Root back-to-back centuries (Getty Images)
Joe Root, the only member of cricket’s esteemed “Fab Four” still in regular action, continued to showcase his consistent form with a well-crafted century. Following Root’s lead, Gus Atkinson, who recently made headlines with his impressive bowling performances, took advantage of Sri Lanka’s lackluster bowling attack to score a century of his own, boasting a strike rate of over 100. These two standout performances helped propel England to a formidable total of 427 runs in their first innings.
In response, Sri Lanka struggled against England’s disciplined bowling attack, with only Kamindu Mendis providing some resistance with a valuable 74-run contribution. The rest of the Sri Lankan batting lineup failed to cross the 25-run mark, and they were bowled out for 196, giving England a substantial first-innings lead of 231 runs.
Building on their strong position, England added a further 250 runs to their lead, driven once again by a century from Joe Root, who dominated the Sri Lankan bowlers for a second time. Faced with a daunting target, Sri Lanka needed several substantial innings to stay in the game.
Gus Atkinson (Getty Images)
Despite several batsmen getting off to promising starts, none could convert their innings into significant scores. Gus Atkinson, who had shined with the bat in the first innings, proved equally effective with the ball, taking a five-wicket haul to dismiss Sri Lanka for 292. England secured a comprehensive victory by a margin of 190 runs.
Below is the ICC WTC Points Table Updated After the ENG vs SL 2nd Test:
The Indian Premier League, IPL has always been a dominating platform for batters as several players have had the best of the Indian batting tracks. Players like Virat Kohli, Chris Gayle, Rohit Sharma, ABD, Suryakumar and many more have emerged as winners for their teams on many occasions.
However, the T20 game is not completed without the most lethal bowlers, and India have produced many such. Not only to the likes of Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammad Shami and Bhuveneshwar Kumar, several young or experienced domestic pacers have often come to the rising with their supreme calibre in pace bowling.
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Let’s take a look at the Top 5 domestic pace bowlers:
5. Thangarasu Natarajan
The Tamil Nadu based left-arm pacer has been a part of the Sunrisers camp for quite some time and he has emerged as their team’s lead bowler. Bowling alongside greats like Bhuvi and now skipper Cummins, Natarajan has yet emerged to be their highest wicket-taker.
Though the left-armer has not played for India since 2021 any further for India, yet he remains one of IPL’s most reliable pacers, especially with his ability to excel in death overs. If released from the SRH, he will hold a special place in every team’s radar.
4. Avesh Khan
The Royals pacer played a full season in absence of Prasidh Krishna, and emerged as a top class bowling choice for the skipper with both the new ball and the death overs as well. Avesh has since then made to Indian team as well as he was also a part of the reserves team for India’s T20 World Cup campaign.
Avesh might not be among the players to be released by Royals, however, if so he might be one of the most hyped pacers with the largest of sums to be acquired.
Avesh Khan starred as a Royals pacer (Image Credit: Times of India)
3. Harshit Rana
Kolkata Knight Riders never looked a very impressive bowling deck with only Mitchell Starc in their deck. It was only when Harshit Rana and Vaibhav Arora the two youngsters emerged as massive wicket-taking options alongside their spinners and Andre Russell.
Rana was earlier picked for the Zimbabwe as well as Sri Lanka tour, and since then he has been awaiting a debut for the Men in Blue. Rana will be horse over whom Kolkata will pin their money yet he remains a major target in the mega-auction.
Harshal Patel has been in the buzz since his full season with the Royal Challengers Bangalore, as he broke the Dwayne Bravo record for most wickets in a single season. He was then moved to Punjab Kings for a huge purse of 11 Crores INR a sum which seemed too high for an Indian bowler.
However, it was Harshal who stepped as Punjab Kings’ lead wicket-taker and also their highest wicket-taker on another occasion in IPL 2024, as he remains one of the best bowlers in the competition with the large amount of variability he brings to the side.
Harshal Patel the highest wicket taker in 2024 (Image Credit: India TV News)
1. Tushar Deshpande
The top on the list is none other than, CSK’s Wonderman, Tushar Deshpande. As the Mumbai youngster has often emerged as their top choice among death bowlers. While like Avesh, Tushar has also bowled equally well with both the new and old ball.
If the player is not among the retained options for CSK, then he surely gets the backing of several teams who are in need of such an efficient bowler in the powerplay as well as at the end of the innings.
The Paris Paralympics 2024 progressed to the fourth day, which consisted of knockout-encounters in Para-Badminton. The Indian para-badminton players have qualified for seven medal-encounters which are set to take place today.
Talking about para-athletics shot put para-athlete Ravi Rongali failed to secure a medal for the nation as he finished at the fifth position although he managed to register a personal best score as he threw at a distance of 10.63 meters in the final of the men’s shot put F 40 event.
And now, the Paris Paralympics 2024 will progress to the fifth day, where India’s para-athletes will be contesting in six medal-encounters while the mixed-double SH 6 duo Sivrajan and Nithya will be contesting for the bronze medal encounter.
On the other hand, Sumit Antil – the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic-Champion and silver medal winner Yogesh Kathauniya will also look forward to defending their medals at the annoying Paris Paralympics 2024.
India’s Paris Paralympics 2024 schedule on the 2nd of September:
Para-Badminton – Mixed Doubles SH6 Bronze Medal Match
Para-Badminton – Men’s Singles SL4 Gold Medal Match
4:30 pm
Nihal Singh, Amir Ahmad Bhat (If they Qualify)
Para Shooting – P3 – Mixed 25m Pistol SH1 Final
8:00 pm onwards
Sheetal Devi/Rakesh Kumar vs To be decided
Para Archery – Mixed Team Compound Open Quarterfinals
8:40 pm
Sheetal Devi/Rakesh Kumar (If they qualify)
Mixed Team Compound Open Semifinals
9:40 onwards
Suhas Yathiraj vs Lucas Mazur (FRA)
Para-Badminton – Women’s Singles SH6 Bronze Medal Match
9:40 pm
Suhas Yathiraj vs Fredy Setiawan (INA)
Men’s Singles SL4 Bronze Medal Match
9:40 pm
Sumit Antil, Sandip Sanjay Sargar, Sandeep
Para Athletics – Men’s Javelin Throw – F64 Final –
10:30 pm
Kanchan Lakhani
Para Athletics – Women’s Discus Throw – F53 Final
10:34 pm
Sheetal Devi/Rakesh Kumar (If they qualify)
Para Archery – Mixed Team Compound Open Medal Rounds
10:35 pm onwards
Nithya Sre Sumathy Sivan vs Rina Marlina (INA)
Para Badminton – Women’s Singles SH6 Bronze Medal Match
Not before 11:50 pm
Deepthi Jeevanji
Para Athletics – Women’s 400m – T20 Round 1
11:50 pm
Where to watch the Indian Paralympic stars in action?
One can watch the Indian Paralympic athletes perform at the Paris Paralympics 2024 on DD Sports on television and the matches will also be broadcast live on Jio Cinema and the Paralympics Youtube channel for free.
Five-time IPL champions and the joint-most successful team in the history of the Indian Premier League (IPL) – Chennai Super Kings are regarded as one of the best and the most-prestigious teams in the history of the cash-rich T20 league.
They are often lambasted for signing players who are on the wrong side of 30, but, despite the criticisms, they always find a way to silence their critics and their history of lifting the IPL Trophy five times goes on to show how consistent they have been over the years.
Their best captain MS Dhoni continues to remain the main player of the franchise and even though he resigned from the captaincy of the team and Ruturaj Gaikwad took over the reins of the team from him, the Yellow Army still managed to perform well last year despite not qualifying for the Playoffs.
However, there are doubts regarding the participation of MSD in next year’s edition of the T20 League. India’s Cricket Governing Body, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has not officially revealed the number of players that are going to be allowed to be retained by each participating franchise and there’s no official confirmation regarding the return of the Right-To-Match (RTM) cards as well.
Nevertheless, the Chennai-based franchise are looking forward to the upcoming mega-auction as they look to make a lot of changes in their squad and choosing to stick with the players who are already past their prime might not be a successful move. The article below will cover the three players that the franchise might not retain ahead of the IPL 2025’s mega auction:
Three Players Chennai Super Kings might not retain ahead of next year’s mega-auction:
3 . Ajinkya Rahane
(Photo by Vishal Bhatnagar/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
CSK’s 36 year-old Ajinkya Rahane who had an amazing IPL 2023, scoring the second- highest number of runs for the franchise in that season, did not have a good season at all for the Chennai-based team in the previous edition of the cash-rich T20 League. He wasn’t able to play with the same aggressive intent he showed in IPL 2023 and managed to score just 242 runs.
He failed to score a single half-century in the previous season in contrast to the two he scored in IPL 2023. His strike-rate was also pretty low at 123.47 which made matters even worse for the veteran.
Considering just 5-6 players will be allowed to be retained by each IPL Franchise, the Chennai-based team will not be keen on retaining the services of Rahane.
2. Shardul Thakur
Image: IPL/CSK
Shardul Thakur, often known as Lord Thakur, had his best phase as a bowler between IPL 2018-2021, where he played a crucial role for the franchise with the ball and picked up wickets at crucial junctures which allowed the team to lift the IPL trophy twice in IPL 2018 and 2021.
However, due to the limited number of retentions permitted to each franchise, Chennai had to take the tough decision of releasing Thakur and he plied his trade for Delhi Capitals (DC) and Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) for one-one season each but he wasn’t able to create any kind of impact and as a result, he was released ahead of IPL 2024.
In the IPL 2024-mini auction, CSK snapped up Thakur for 4 crore Indian rupees and many people thought that the all-rounder would return to his best after returning to the franchise where he had his best IPL seasons but much to the dismay of the fans, he failed to perform well, picking up just five wickets in at a really high economy rate of 9.75.
1 . Deepak Chahar
Image: IPL/BCCI
Chennai’s Premier bowler, Deepak Chahar, has played a crucial role for the franchise since joining them in 2018, helping them get crucial breakthroughs with his astonishing swinging-deliveries. But, last season was one where he failed to perform according to expectations.
In eight matches, the speedster managed to pick up just five matches at an astonishingly high-average of 40, which if you take into account the standards he has set for himself, is certainly not a Deepak-Chahar like thing.
His persistent injury issues have not been kind to him either and missing important matches for the CSK is something the franchise is not going to be pleased with.
The Chennai based team, are undergoing a transitional phase after MSD stepped down from his leadership duties last year and Ruturaj Gaikwad became the new captain.
Plus, the limited number of retentions will not work in the favour of Deepak as well as CSK will be keen on prioritising the likes of Ruturaj Gaikwad, Shivam Dube, Ravindra Jadeja and Matheesha Pathirana over the elder Chahar. As a result, the chances of Deepak Chahar getting retained by the Ruturaj-Gaikwad led team are looking pretty bleak.
PAK vs BAN 2nd Test: When it comes to delivering under pressure, Litton Das never disappoints! Despite Pakistan’s fierce early attack, Bangladesh remains firmly in the game, thanks to their former skipper and star batsman, Litton Das, who once again proved his mettle.
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This knock from him is going to be his most memorable one. This isn’t his highest score in test cricket but he will rank this knock as his best. This was an innings that may save a game for Bangladesh and what else you ask a veteran player better than this?
Taking nothing away from Mehidy Hasan Miraz as he was equally good with DAS. They both took Bangladesh out of the daunting well. The match is at the level now and Pakistan would surely be the melancholy side at dusk.
Let’s take a look at the match summary of PAK v BAN 2nd Test Day 2:
PAK vs BAN 2nd Test Day 3 Highlights
Bangladesh started with 10 runs (the overnight score) and just after adding up 4 runs to it, they lost their first wicket in the form of Zakir Hasan. Khurram Shahzad had a big role today in the absence of Shaheen and Naseem and he matched the exact size of their shoes.
He picked up four wickets within just 16 balls and he got incredible support from Mir Hamza and all of a sudden, Bangladesh were SIX WICKETS DOWN in the first 11 overs for just 26 runs on the board. The TOP six include- Zakir Hasan, Shadman Islam, Shanto, Mominul, Mushfiqur Rahim, and Shakib.
Khurram Shahzad Ran Through the Bangladeshi Top Order(Associate Press)
Litton Das and Mehidy Hasan were the two batters on the crease and this was the last batting pair of Bangladesh. Pakistan were very tidy with their lines and discipline but the two batters survived the first session.
Mehidy was taking on the bad balls while Litton was comfortably taking his time and setting his foot for a big innings. In an eventual turn of events, Mehidy was caught and bowled by the young sensation Khurram Shahzad at his individual 78(124). This was Khurram’s fifth wicket and he marked his first-ever test fifer at home.
Mehidy and Litton revived Bangladesh (Associate Press)
Litton Das didn’t let his weapons go down but started to be cautious about playing with a lower-end batter. He smashed his century and continued good form of cricket with Hasan Mahmud. Bangladesh, who were once reduced to 6 down for 26 scored 262 runs on the back of Litton Das and Mehidy Hasan.
Agha Salman was the one who finally got the breakthrough and he got the big fish Litton Das at 138(228). Bangladesh were bowled out for 262 runs and Pakistan were only left with a first-innings lead of 12 runs.
Pakistan had 4 overs to bat in the evening and Bangladesh bowlers were eyeing for this moment. Bangladesh have successfully removed two batters of Pakistan in the last 4 overs and Pakistan are in big trouble now.
Below are the teams’ scorecards of the PAK vs BAN 2nd Test:
PAK vs BAN: Pakistan bounced back properly in the first session of Day 3, as the seamers rattled through the defence of the Bangladeshi top order.
The first day was washed out totally by rain in Rawalpindi, and Pakistan seemed disappointed by their wasted day after a first test loss in their homeland. However, the rain gods favored them as they made it to the ground on a sunny day on Day 2, where Mehidy Hasan Miraz, the Bangladesh all-rounder, gained immense success with the ball.
Miraz’s 5-wicket haul alongside Taskin’s 3-fer broke the back of Pakistan’s batting order and restricted them to 274, while Bangladesh were 14/0.
Then Khurram Shahzad and Mir Hamza, the two Pakistan seamers, one brought in place of Naseem Shah, delivered with the new ball, as the bowling pair struck six times within 36 balls as he demolished the Bangladesh batters, as they ended 6/26.
The bowlers from both ends kept it simple, as he targeted the stumps and stuck to his line and length. With Mir Hamza finding lateral movement with the wind, he got the earlier of Zakir Hasan before finally getting him trapped in front of the wicket.
Khurram Shahzad, on the other hand, struck more with his fine length and line, as he often hit the stumps with his better pace. Hamza has two wickets as well. The Pakistan team were then given some resistance from the Bangladesh lower-order batters, Litton Das and Mehidy Hasan Miraz, as they both added vital runs for Bangladesh to help them avoid their follow-on.
Litton Das holds onto fine form at Rawalpindi (Image Credit: ESPNcricinfo)
Bangladesh now in their first innings are 118/6, with both batters still holding onto their innings at 44* and 43* for Litton and Mehidy at the time of writing.
The Indians have so far managed to win five medals at the ongoing Paris Paralympics 2024, and one of them includes Avani Lekhara’s historic gold medal. Avani became the first Indian female Paralympian to win two gold medals as she successfully defended her Tokyo Paralympics gold medal in the women’s 10-metre air-rifle standing SH-1 shooting. She also went on to create a new world-record for her outstanding performance.
Besides Lekhara, para shooter Mona Agarwal managed to win a bronze medal as well which meant India recorded a double-podium medal finish for the first time in a single tournament. Para Pistol Shooter Rubina Francis further increased the nation’s medal tally by securing a Bronze medal, while Manish Narwal won the silver medal in the same category as well, showcasing how exceptional the performance of India has been in shooting at the Paris Paralympics 2024.
Talking about other sports, archery star Sheetal Devi started things off by creating a world record in ranking-round but she had to be satisfied with the silver medal in the end. The 17-year-old then alongside fellow countrymen Rakesh Kumar created a new compound mixed-team world-record with a score of 1399.
Talking about athletics, Preethi Pal secured a bronze medal in the women’s 100-metre T-35 event on Friday. The Indian para-athletes will look forward to increasing the medal tally of the nation by performing well in today’s events. The schedule for today’s events in the Paris Paralympics 2024 is given below.
India’s Paris Paralympics 2024 schedule on the 1st of September:
1:00 PM – Sidhartha Babu and Avani Lekhara, Para-Shooting Round 3 – Mixed 10 metre Air Rifle Prone SH1 Qualification
1:40 PM – Rakshitha Raju, Para Athletics – Women’s 1500 metre – T11 Round 1
2:00 PM – Anita and Narayana Konganapalle, Para-Rowing Mixed Doubles Sculls-Final B PR-3
3:00 PM – Sriharsha Devaraddi Ramakrishna, Para-Shooting – Mixed 10 metre Air Rifle Prone SH2 Qualification
3:12 PM – Ravi Rongali, Para Athletics – Men’s Shot Put Final F40 Final – (Medal-event)
4:30 pm – Sidhartha Babu and Avani Lekhara, Para-Shooting Round 3, Mixed 10-metre Air-Rifle Prone SH 1 Final (If they qualify and Medal-Event)
6:30 pm – Sriharsha Devaraddi Ramakrishna, Para Shooting Mixed 10-metre Air-Rifle Prone SH 2 Final (If he qualified and Medal-Event)
8:10 pm – Sukant Kadam vs Suhas L.Y, Para Badminton Men’s Singles SL 4 Semi-Final
8:30 pm – Bhavinaben Patel, Para Table-Tennis Women’s Singles Round of 16 WS 4
From 9:16 pm Onwards – Rakesh Kumar, Para Archery Men’s Individual Compound-Open Quarterfinal (If he qualifies)
10:40 pm – Ram Pal and Nishad Kumar, Para Athletics Men’s High-Jump T 47 Final (Medal-Event)
Where to watch the Indian Paralympic stars in action?
One can watch the Indian Paralympic athletes perform at the Paris Paralympics 2024 on DD Sports on television and the matches will also be broadcast live on Jio Cinema and the Paralympics Youtube channel for free
