Sports - The Purbottar

23 Oct

Vaibhav Sooryavanshi in Line to Replace Injured Ishan Kishan for India’s Second T20I Against New Zealand

sunny EditorSports

Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, who remained benched during the entire T20I assignment against West Indies and the opening match against the Kiwis, now stands on the brink of making it to India's playing eleven for the second T20I after the BCCI confirmed that Ishan Kishan has been sidelined with a low-grade right adductor strain picked up in the series opener. In a media interaction on Friday, batting coach Sitanshu Kotak shed light on the tactical shift that saw Tilak Varma promoted to number three in the first game, attributing it to Ishan's physical discomfort and indicating that the left-hander is unlikely to…

16 Oct

Workload Focus: Jasprit Bumrah Likely to Skip New Zealand One-Day Series

sunny EditorSports

India’s premier fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah is set to skip the upcoming five-match ODI series against New Zealand as the team management has decided to focus entirely on his red-ball preparation, with a TOI report confirming that despite being fully fit, the fast bowler needs his workload managed ahead of the Test assignment. The strategy involves Bumrah playing the third India A fixture starting November 6 to gain match practice ahead of the opening Test against New Zealand in Wellington on November 19, thereby utilizing the intervening gap to gear up for the longer format after initiating his red-ball training…

15 Oct

New World Record: Abhishek Sharma Surpasses Suryakumar Yadav to Claim Massive T20I Feat

sunny EditorSports

Cementing his stellar form in the international arena, India opener Abhishek Sharma etched his name in the history books during Wednesday's fourth T20I against the West Indies by breaking a massive world record when he struck his 69th maximum of 2026, overtaking former Indian skipper Suryakumar Yadav’s milestone of 68 sixes registered in 2022 to claim the crown for the most sixes hit in a calendar year in T20Is, and since India still has six more T20Is lined up before the year ends, Abhishek is well-positioned to stretch this record towards a triple-digit figure, leading the elite list of full-member…

14 Oct

Did Heavy Workload Affect Mohammed Siraj’s Performance? Former Coach Sheds Light

sunny EditorSports

Although Mohammed Siraj has cemented his reputation as one of India's most dependable fast bowlers across formats and stepped up as the senior pace leader with Jasprit Bumrah facing fitness troubles and Mohammed Shami out of the squad, his recent dip in form and pace during the Sri Lanka Test series and the West Indies ODIs drew attention from former bowling coach Bharat Arun, who addressed the media via Sony Sports Network to describe Siraj's slump as a temporary phase, noting that the rest and specific training workloads given to him before the Sri Lanka series meant that returning from…

12 Oct

Denmark Open: Tough Draws for Lakshya Sen and Kidambi Srikanth in Men’s Singles

Preeti SinghSports

In the USD 950,000 prize money 'Denmark Open Super 750' badminton tournament set to begin tomorrow, India's star players are facing a tough challenge. Two-time Olympic medalist PV Sindhu will face world No. 1 and defending champion An Se-young of South Korea in the first round of women's singles itself. This match will be extremely crucial for 31-year-old Sindhu, who won the Japan Open in July, as she has lost all of her last 10 matches against An Se-young. On the other hand, Lakshya Sen also faces a tough draw in men's singles. Lakshya, the only Indian men's singles player…

05 Oct

Major Blow to Mohammed Shami’s India Return Hopes Amid Fresh Setback

sunny EditorSports

Mohammed Shami's prospects of an international comeback appear increasingly dim as a combination of fitness hurdles, injuries, and unexplained selection omissions have kept the veteran seamer out of the squad since 2025, even as he performs strongly on the domestic circuit. During a recent Cricbuzz discussion addressing India's bowling vulnerabilities despite a 2-1 ODI series win over the West Indies, former cricketer Dinesh Karthik firmly ruled out bringing Shami back, arguing that the team has progressed beyond him and that looking backward is futile. Karthik instead endorsed the current pool of fast bowlers, which includes established names like Arshdeep Singh,…

29 Sep

Equal to the Greats: Virat Kohli Levels With Sunil Gavaskar After Scoring 55th ODI Ton vs West Indies

sunny EditorSports

In the first ODI against the West Indies held in Thiruvananthapuram, Virat Kohli smashed his 55th ODI century with an unbeaten 139 that successfully guided India to a commanding victory while enabling him to break and equal numerous records, most notably tying with the legendary Sunil Gavaskar in an exclusive milestone list. Gavaskar, who historically built a formidable reputation for his prolific scoring against the West Indies, now shares the record for the most centuries against the Caribbean team with Kohli, as Gavaskar achieved 13 hundreds in 38 matches while Kohli reached his 13th century against the same opposition in…

25 Sep

Double Delight: Indian Men’s and Women’s Kabaddi Teams Storm Into Asian Games Finals

Preeti SinghSports

The Indian men's and women's kabaddi teams maintained their dominance at the Asian Games by defeating Thailand and Nepal respectively in the semi-finals to enter the finals. With these spectacular victories, both teams have moved one step closer to defending their gold medals. The Indian women's team, which has remained unbeaten in the tournament so far, secured a comfortable 48-24 win against Nepal. Taking a 31-17 lead in the first half, India brought the game completely under their control. Meanwhile, in the men's semi-final, the Indian team defeated Thailand by a massive margin of 66-28 points. Leading 37-18 in the…

25 Sep

Asian Games Shooting: Suruchi-Kamaljeet Win Gold in 10M Pistol, Men’s 50M 3P Team Takes Silver

sunny EditorSports

Bouncing back strongly from their earlier disappointments in their respective individual events where Kamaljeet finished ninth and Suruchi placed 26th, Indian shooters Suruchi Singh and Kamaljeet clinched the prestigious gold medal in the 10m air pistol mixed team event at the Asian Games on Friday by securing the top spot in qualifications with 587 points and 29 inner 10s, and subsequently dominating the medal round with a stellar total of 484.6 to comfortably defeat South Korea's Suhyeon Hong and Gaeun Choo by a massive 6.6-point margin while Iran secured the bronze with 415.8, thus successfully concluding India's campaign in the…

24 Sep

India Roars Past South Korea 8-2 to Stay Firmly Atop Pool A in Men’s Hockey at the 2026 Asian Games

sunny EditorSports

The Asian Games 2026 men's hockey tournament saw India maintain their exceptional form by crushing South Korea 8-2 in their Pool A match at the Gifu Prefectural Green Stadium in Aichi-Nagoya on Thursday, marking their third consecutive triumph to hold firm at the top of Pool A following dominant earlier wins against Indonesia (13-1) and Sri Lanka (16-1), as India asserted dominance early on by opening the scoring in the fourth minute, getting a second goal from Dilpreet Singh, and capitalizing on a penalty corner through captain Harmanpreet Singh before Abhishek Nain's 14th-minute goal established a commanding 4-0 lead by…