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MS Dhoni & Robin Utthappa But even before the auction, CSK have made decisive moves about its leadership group within the side: trading Ravindra Jadeja, a man it had once entrusted captaincy on, to Rajasthan Royals in exchange for Sanju Samson, who was the skipper of RR for many seasons. Former India cricketer Robin Uthappa has said that given the squad Chennai Super Kings’ (CSK) have on their hands after the IPL 2026 auction, this feels “like the right time” for franchise co

The Ashes Singer-songwriter Williamson led an emotional tribute that nearly moved Nathan Lyon to tears The cricket fans at Adelaide Oval on the opening day of the third Test between Australia and England witnessed certain unseen sights: like a huge blanket of rifle-carrying extra police protection with powers to do random searches. Sunday’s terrorist attack at Sydney’s Bondi beach, which reportedly killed 15 civilians and a child. Flags at the stadium flew at half-mast and se

Arshdeep Singh The left-arm white-ball specialist had a bad outing in Mullanpur but roared back with the new ball in Dharamshala to steer India to 2-1 series lead against South Africa. Arshdeep Singh is perhaps the most specialist  white-ball bowler India has had of late . He doesn’t have searing pace nor crazy swing, but yet delivers time and again, with his crafty brain work. There are bound to be ups and downs; this series saw a particularly nasty downer on his home ground

Abhishek Sharma The Gambhir-coached side is staring at the final laps of the World Cup rehearsal with trepidation, with their averages, minus Abhishek, taking a hit by 20 runs (23.90) across 20 games. It is a practice the current India head coach Gautam Gambhir despises, but for the swelling run crisis among the top-order faculty, his team had to turn to their newfound ‘superstar’ to allay fears before the penultimate T20I against South Africa in Lucknow. Captain  Suryakumar

D Gukesh vs Viswanathan Anand World Champion loses to his mentor in another disappointing result as Ganges Grandmasters beat PBG Alaskan Knights What do chess players do when they want to pick a fight over the board? If they’re playing with black pieces, they’re likely to play the Sicilian opening, a razor-sharp option which sends a signal to the opponent that you’re itching for a battle over the 64 squares. That’s exactly what world champion D  Gukesh  did when he faced off

IPL 2026 Auction KKR wanted an Andre Russell replacement; CSK has pressed the reset button To put the IPL mini-auction in a nutshell, it was an afternoon where Kolkata Knight Riders and Chennai Super Kings, entering the table with a purse of Rs 64.30 crore and Rs 43.40 crore respectively, shook the room in Abu Dhabi. Among the top six buys on Tuesday evening, five came from their table. The prices told a story in itself. Top eight buys were Cameron Green ( KKR , Rs 25.30 cror

FIFA Best Awards England's Hannah Hampton has been named the Best Fifa Women's Goalkeeper, while  Manchester City 's Gianluigi Donnarumma won the men's award. Hampton, 25, helped  Chelsea  win the domestic treble last season and England defend their Euro 2025 title this summer. Italy's Donnarumma played a significant role in Paris St-Germain's first Champions League triumph before joining City this summer. Hampton thanked England manager Sarina Weigman and  Chelsea  boss Soni

Cameron Green Australia all-rounder Cameron Green became the most expensive overseas signing in Indian Premier League history when he was bought for 25.2 crore (£2.1m) by Kolkata Knight Riders at the 2026 auction. The successful bid, which followed a bidding war with Rajasthan Royals and Chennai Super Kings, surpassed the 24.75 cr (£2.3m based on exchange rates at the time) that KKR paid for Australia pace bowler Mitchell Starc at the 2024 auction. Green is the third most exp

Thomas Frank In the away end of the City Ground on Sunday, every  Tottenham Hotspur  supporter was given a free scarf by the club. For at least one Spurs supporter, external , the knitwear was most useful for shielding their eyes from another dismal display by their team. Spurs were beaten 3-0 by  Nottingham Forest , a result which leaves them 11th in the Premier League, six points off the top four. Under manager Thomas Frank, Spurs have lost as many league games as they have

Northern Ireland vs Italy Northern Ireland have recorded just one victory over Italy in the 11 previous meetings between the two nations. Michael O'Neill's side face a trip to Italy in March for the semi-finals of the European play-offs for a place in the 2026 World Cup. A win for Northern Ireland in that match would set up a final meeting away to the winner of the other Path A semi-final between Wales and Bosnia and Herzegovina, with the winner of that final qualifying for t

Rugby It was the news Welsh rugby had feared. And, sadly, expected. The confirmation of Lions flanker Jac Morgan and fellow Wales captain Dewi Lake  leaving the Ospreys for Gloucester  is another blow for the game in Wales that has taken a battering of late. Even amid Welsh rugby's renown tribalism, this news will not have been celebrated by regional rivals. Some see the departures as symptomatic of the apparent ill-health of the game in Wales. Indeed, Ospreys head coach Mark

England vs Ireland Ireland fell to a 2-1 defeat by England in their final FIH Pro League game of the first section of matches. Goals from Tess Howard and Holly Hunt gave England a 2-0 lead, but they had to see out a strong finish from the home side as Caoimhe Perdue scored from a penalty corner to close the gap. England held out for their first win in the competition this season. Ireland lost three of the four games by a 2-1 scoreline, but did put two points on the board with

Mbape Paris St-Germain have been ordered to pay former striker Kylian Mbappe 60 million euros (£52.5m) in unpaid salary and bonuses by a French court. Mbappe had been seeking 263m euros (£231.5m) from his former club after the long-running dispute reached a Paris labour court in November. The European champions were counter suing the France captain for 240m euros (£211m). The 26-year-old Real Madrid forward claimed the nine-figure sum, which included 55m euros (£46.3m) in unp

Portugese Grand Prix Portugal will return to the Formula 1 calendar in 2027 and 2028. The race will be held at the Algarve International Circuit near Portimao, which held two grands prix during the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021. Portugal will effectively be a replacement for the Dutch Grand Prix, which will be held at Zandvoort for the last time next year. Portimao is a 2.89-mile track that swoops over hilly terrain and is highly regarded for its driving challenge. It ha

Usman Khawaja Australia have opted against recalling batter Usman Khawaja for the vital third Ashes Test – a match Ben Stokes has called the most important game in his time as England captain. England, 2-0 down after defeats in the first two Tests, must win in Adelaide to keep their hopes of regaining the urn alive. Defeat would mean a fourth successive series loss in Australia, extend England's run without winning the Ashes to at least 12 years and heap significant pressure

Cycling Spain's World Cup winner Andres Iniesta says owning his new World Tour cycling team is "meaningful on many levels". Iniesta, 41, co-owns the new NSN Cycling team, which took over the ill-fated Israel-Premier Tech team last month. And the former Barcelona legend said: "This new step is meaningful on many levels. It's not only about sport - it's about everything that surrounds sport: the values, the excitement, the community. "I'm very motivated, very excited, and eager

Aryna Sabalenka World number one Aryna Sabalenka has been voted the Women's Tennis Association player of the year for a second successive season. The 27-year-old won four titles - the most on tour - including  retaining the US Open  against Amanda Anisimova in September to claim her fourth Grand Slam singles triumph. Across the season Sabalenka played in a tour-best nine finals, with losses to Madison Keys in the  Australian Open final  in January and Coco Gauff in June's  Fr

ATP The ATP will introduce a new extreme heat rule from the 2026 season which will allow players on the men's tour to take a 10-minute cooling break during best-of-three sets singles matches. The rule is similar to what the WTA - which governs women's professional tennis - brought in more than 30 years ago to protect players in the heat. At the Shanghai Masters in October, temperatures were as high as 34C and humidity at 80% in the daytime, and after world number 15 Holger Ru

Kate O'Connor By any standards, 2025 has been a memorable and life-changing breakthrough year for multi-event athlete Kate O'Connor. The 25-year-old has been one of the success stories of Irish and Northern Irish sport over the past 12 months, her outstanding performances in track and field culminating in a remarkable  silver medal  in the heptathlon at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo in September. The Newry native, who is based in Dundalk, also picked up a pentath

Golf While this golfing year will be remembered for historic and thrilling action, manoeuvres off the course in 2025 also provide a highly significant legacy. A group of new bosses are laying groundwork for rapid evolution, if not revolution, in the professional game. We know that the world's best players create captivating sport, as Rory McIlroy's dramatic Grand Slam completing Masters victory, Scottie Scheffler's ruthless domination that has led to him being named PGA Tour