India's unfortunate exit from the title race of the Hockey World Cup was scripted on Sunday at the end of a breathless penalty shootout in the crossover match against New Zealand, who went on to win 5-4 in sudden death.
India's defence never looked organized in just the first knockout game they played at the World Cup. The New Zealanders found easy passage into the Indian circle, especially in the last quarter, when the defenders were spotted waiting for the Kiwi attackers inside the circle, whereas they should have been tackling them outside the D. It was the same mistake India committed in the 2018 Asian Games final against Malaysia. The team lost on both occasions.
The BCCI is all set to get richer by at least Rs 4000 crore with some of the top business houses set to bid aggressively for the five Women's IPL (WIPL) teams that would be auctioned on Wednesday. According to market experts, the teams are expected to shell out in the "range of 500 to 600 crore INR" per team in the closed-bid auction.
Stefanos Tsitsipas found another gear when it counted to fend off Jannik Sinner in a five-set thriller and reach the Australian Open quarter-finals in a rare win for the high seeds on Sunday.
Thailand's Kunlavut Vitidsarn and Korea's An Seyoung emerged champions at the India Open after stunning wins over two-time world champions Viktor Axelsen and Akane Yamaguchi in their men's and women's singles finals, respectively on Sunday.
Umran Malik might be warming the bench in the ODIs against New Zealand as the team management has preferred all-rounder Shardul Thakur over him but the express pacer has been mighty impressive with his sheer pace in his short international career. Bowling at around 150 clicks consistently, the Jammu and Kashmir speedster has taken the Indian cricket by storm with his raw pace but has struggled with accuracy.
Former India drag-flicker Rupinder Pal Singh feels that international teams will find it increasingly difficult to score from penalty corners as the use of technology in the game -- such as video analysis by opponents -- has made the exponents of the craft difficult to beat the defenders.