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Hey Virat, you're the captain of the Indian cricket team, not Captain India - ESPNcricinfo

When a cricketer becomes a law unto himself, as Kohli has, with a tame board and a pliant manager, he tends to mistake his social- media echo-chamber for the world. The ancients had a word for this: hubris. Luckily Kohli seems to have been shocked into self-awareness by the pushback, so nemesis might yet be forestalled. […]The next step would be to get off his hillock of self-esteem, back on to level ground: those 22 yards of turf that are the firm foundation of his fame.

Bordeaux coach Gustavo Poyet faces sack over striker sale rant

When the Bordeaux press officer tried to end his news conference, Poyet said: "No, no, I stop when I want, not when you want. I want public explanations and that they tell you the truth.

Bill Lawry's graceful broadcasting exit - ESPNcricinfo

"I've had a phone call or two, which is fair enough, and I said no because Channel Nine's been my home, I've been very happy there and I think when you've had such an enjoyable trip, at 81 years of age I think it's just the time to call it quits. My wife hasn't been well for probably five or six years so it was either call it quits or cut it short and Channel Nine have been very good. I certainly have enjoyed the Boxing Day Tests and the final Test at the Sydney Cricket Ground, it's just a great atmosphere, the best cricketers in the world playing on the two best grounds probably in Australia, and it's just been a magnificent journey, almost a dream come true.

19 years after debut, Sadagoppan Ramesh takes a trip down memory lane - Firstpost

Ramesh: You know, in one of the corporate speeches, somebody asked me did you play the Test match in which Anil Kumble got 10 wickets? I said I am the Buzz Aldrin, he said I didn’t understand. I said, everybody knows who the first person is to land on the moon — Neil Armstrong. The second one was Buzz Aldrin. Nobody knows about him. So when you talk about Anil Kumble’s 10 wickets, I am the Buzz Aldrin who got 69 and 96 in the Test match and ultimately that suits because after that 10-wicket haul, Anil Kumble was all over the moon (laughs).

Marsh stays calm amid Maxwell clamour - ESPNcricinfo

There is no escaping the fact that Marsh has had a charmed career. SOS, people call him - Son of Swampy. But it's another ABBA song that better sums up Marsh's journey: "If you change your mind, I'm the first in line, honey I'm still free, take a chance on me". Again and again the selectors have taken a chance on Marsh. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. Never has he played more than five Tests in a row.

Jarrod Kimber on the changing role of wicketkeeping - ESPN

Gilchrist was the time-travelling robot god of wicketkeeping's future. If there had been wicketkeepers who could bat before Gilchrist, there had been none who batted like him. Gilchrist walked out with kerosene and a box of matches and just had fun with it. As Sangakkara would say: "He's done something very bad to the traditional wicketkeeper. He's ruined their careers."

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"See, coaches get sacked. The first thing you know when you stop playing and become a coach is that some day you are going to get sacked," he said. "That's the reality. "As an India A and Under-19 coach, I know that someday I'm going to get the boot. Some football managers get sacked after two games, so that's the reality. Players are more powerful than coaches. We know that because we were more powerful than coaches when we played."

ESPNcricinfo - Cricket Teams, Scores, Stats, News, Fixtures, Results, Tables

Every time India plays Pakistan in ICC events, it is so darn obvious that the players on both sides are far better sports than the army of social media "hateriots" who "support" them, or the TV news anchors who impersonate foghorns.

Double deaths, long-sought-for comebacks, and the imperturbable sleeper - ESPNcricinfo

The website redesign[…]The Briefing has occasionally been told it is too critical, so we will take a moment now to reflect on some positive news. As many of you will have noticed, the last few weeks have seen a major cricket publication undergo a substantial makeover. We are pleased to note it has gone without a single hitch, has been totally bug-free, and has been universally beloved of readers, fans and cricketers.

Why Shakib is the best Test allrounder going around today - ESPNcricinfo

And for those who argue that he has played a lot of his cricket against Zimbabwe, the numbers don't back that up, in Tests at least. Out of 50 Tests, only six have been against Zimbabwe. In these matches he averages 39.50 with the bat, and 23.26 with the ball. Exclude Zimbabwe, and his stats are still mightily impressive: a batting average of 41.25, and a bowling average of 33.52. It is tough to argue with numbers like those.

Football Teams, Scores, Stats, News, Fixtures, Results, Tables - ESPN

There are times watching Guardiola's City when it seems that the former Barcelona and Bayern Munich coach attempts to be too clever for the good of his team and himself. Nobody ever seems to know what they are doing in this City team, and that is perhaps a contributory factor in the problems that they experienced against Everton, when only a second-half equaliser by Raheem Sterling secured a point in a 1-1 draw.

Changing How the World Thinks About Set Pieces | StatsBomb

trailblazing tactical pioneer Tony Pulis and Stoke in 08-09 created 53 shots and eight goals off long throws alone. This is a phase of play where the vast majority of teams produce nothing. Stoke produced a shot and a half a game (which was like 15% of their total shots) just from throw-ins during the Rory Delap years. If you are able to build and execute a long-throw program, it’s the equivalent of magicing free goals out of thin air.

Changing How the World Thinks About Set Pieces | StatsBomb

Atletico Madrid toyed around with long throws back in 14-15 and created three goals from them. As you can see from the video above, FC Midtjylland obviously started creating goals from throw-ins themselves. Meanwhile, trailblazing tactical pioneer Tony Pulis and Stoke in 08-09 created 53 shots and eight goals off long throws alone. This is a phase of play where the vast majority of teams produce nothing. Stoke produced a shot and a half a game (which was like 15% of their total shots) just from throw-ins during the Rory Delap years. If you are able to build and execute a long-throw program, it’s the equivalent of magicing free goals out of thin air.

'When I saw the flag, I felt I was flying' - As India turns 70, Balbir Singh Sr recalls how the newly independent country won the hockey gold at the 1948 Olympics in London, helping to ease the pain of Partition.

"People asked me not to go to India. And I said why shouldn't I go, I have won three gold medals for my country. Nothing will happen to me there." Stuck at the New Delhi airport, a relative who served with the paramilitary forces picked him up in a military convoy. "They asked him to hide so people wouldn't see his turban. But he stood up and said, 'I wore a turban when I won the Olympics for India,'" says his daughter Sushbir.

Dharakhoh – Nomad With a Desk Job

As your train[…] makes its way up the steep incline, a sudden curtain of silence falls on the place. Suddenly, the chirping of crickets is the loudest sound you hear and you find yourself standing on a small ridge surrounded by all sides by thick forests covering virtually every inch in sight. Start walking in the same direction as your train and after about a kilometer or so, you would come across a small hut by the trackside and peering inside you may come across Shyam Saran. Shyam Saran is a keyman, one of the gazillions that the Indian Railways employs. His job, is to keep you alive. Be it day or night, he walks the tracks from Dharakhoh to Maramjhiri – 13 kilometers uphill checking every nut, bolt and tie. He has been doing that for donkey’s years without a promotion. He doesn’t know what a multiplex is, nor does he give a damn about the Sensex crossing 10k. He cares two hoots for the Ambani brothers and is the least bit bothered about Sourav being dropped and the Lok Sabha being stalled.

Chairman Vinod Rai on the first 100 days of the Committee of Administrators working with the BCCI | Cricket | ESPN Cricinfo

Recently I met Tendulkar when I was launching a book based on him. I took the opportunity to tell him: "My call upon on you is that you are an icon, a legend and Indian cricket has ridden on your shoulders for such a long time. People like you, Rahul Dravid, Anil Kumble, Sourav Ganguly, Kapil Dev must come forward and not only mentor players but also speak up for the cause of cricket." I asked him if he really believed that India should not participate in the Champions Trophy, to which he said we should. I told him then to please speak up and say what a terrible loss it would be for cricket in India if we did not participate.

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The Sudeva coaches have come off a run of pan-India trials. On a good day elsewhere, they say, between 100 and 150 aspirants show up. Aizawl's 800 leaves them benumbed. The boys are packed onto a single grandstand like spectators at a game. A third age-group has been hurriedly added because there are 6-year-olds staggering around as well. The final breakdown: 213 under-14s, 150 under-13s and 448 under-12s, total 811. "Crazy" says Vijay Hakari, one of Sudeva's co-founders. "This is crazy. We've seen nothing like it."

Mullally's rally | The Cricket Monthly | ESPN Cricinfo

(There followed a scene, which I'll cut for brevity, where a toothy 55lb shark thrashed about on the deck of the boat, and Bumble leapt at Andy Caddick like Scooby Doo jumping into Shaggy's arms.) "… and when we got back I chucked it into the back of the pickup and Bumble's like, 'Ay up lad, what are you going to do with that?' And I said, 'You know what I'm going to do with it'… […][…] and I took it to the big fancy hotel reception and said, 'Excuse me, can I have Mr Atherton's room key?' I dragged it up through the elevator, it's still bloody and it stinks, I stuck it on his bed, I got a marker pen and a bit of paper and stuck a note on its pectoral fin. 'Athers, this is what you call a fish… '"

100 days in the court of King Donald

And her diplomacy has not been limited to cupcakes. Ahead of her father’s first meeting with the Japanese prime minister, she posted a video of her daughter singing a wildly popular Japanese song called “Pen Pineapple Apple Pen” on Instagram. This became an icebreaker when Shinzo Abe met Trump and his daughter at Trump Tower last November. Two of her children also sang in Mandarin for Chinese President Xi Jinping and his wife Peng Liyuan at Mar-a-Lago earlier this month.

Why do your musical tastes get frozen over in your twenties? | Aeon Essays

But why should I care? Why should any of us care? Maybe it’s about the fear of becoming what we’ve always loathed: someone reflexively and guiltlessly willing to serve up a load of things-were-better-in-my-day, one of the most facile and benighted of all declarations. If you take pride in regarding yourself as culturally current, always willing to indulge the best of everything wherever it’s found, such taste blockages can be pretty frustrating, even embarrassing. And that hoary old consolation for the erectile dysfunction of the slightly older – ‘It happens to everyone’ – is no consolation at all.

A hero prepares for his return to Gaddafi Stadium | Cricket | ESPN Cricinfo

Khalil was asked to park the bus in the hockey stadium across the street where he notified officials that personal items of players such as phones and chains were still in the bus. He was then taken to a police station for questioning. "Initially, the agencies took me as a suspect." He recalls that some Pakistan cricketers - including Misbah-ul-Haq - came to get him from the station and then took him to meet the Sri Lankan players. This happened, according to Khalil, because both Sangakkara and Muttiah Muralitharan had asked to see him. "They kept thanking me for saving their lives," says Khalil.[…]

Nirmal Shekar column: Is No. 18 a peak too steep for Federer? - The Hindu

While Federer, winner of 17 Grand Slam titles, might agree with the Golden Bear, he would also come to realise that he may not have too much time in which to win his own 18th. Though he has never talked about quitting or even about pondering the question of retirement with any kind of seriousness, Djokovic has turned out to be his nemesis in recent times and the best chance that the Swiss maestro may have of adding to his impressive collection of Grand Slam silverware will come if and when the Serbian world champion loses early in a Major. “Age is a question of mind over matter. If you don’t mind, it doesn’t matter,” wrote Mark Twain.

Ranji Trophy final: Sloppy Mumbai have only themselves to blame for historic loss to Gujarat

[…]When he eventually went, he was frustrated about not seeing it through till the very end, and walked back a dejected man. For context, he had scored 143 of the required 312 runs, and Gujarat only needed 13 to get past the finish line at that point. Mumbai’s gradual meltdown on the final day still feels barely believable, and, while with their inexperienced bowling attack this is still a creditable achievement, they are not a side who have ever settled for silver.

Ranji Trophy: Prithvi Shaw's authoritative innings is testament to Mumbai’s cricket talent - Firstpost

The hundred also makes him the second youngest first-class centurion for Mumbai after, hush hush, you-know-who. If nothing else, this is a testament of Mumbai cricket’s place as a special outlier among India’s cricketing circles. Teenage prodigies are belted out from the school cricket production line with a frequency that only alarms the rest of the country. Kids post mammoth individual scores in tournaments that are covered extensively by local media. Not a day goes by without someone talking about the khadoos spirit that defines the sport in the city.

Australia vs Pakistan: Stern Boxing Day test for buoyant Misbah and Co at fortress MCG - Firstpost

The fixture itself, though, is a visitors’ nightmare, with only three wins in the past 20 years, since the end of West Indies’ lengthy period of dominance. In this period, only South Africa (once) and England (twice), have put it past the Australians, in front of intimidating crowds which Ian Chappell once memorably described as “an atmosphere so charged that it would make the Christians feel like the Coliseum was a home game.” In the middle of the grand theatre that is the MCG, you can only empathise if visiting sides experience a vertigo inducing effect a la Paul Kelly’s Leaps and Bounds, shot not very far from the arena.

Alan Mullally: 'My autobiography won't be boring, because I'm not boring' | Cricket | ESPN Cricinfo

In my first Test, I guided Nasser Hussain through to his first England hundred. The first ball Javagal Srinath bowled to me, I tried to give it the old Gordon Greenidge - off the back foot on the up through the covers. Played and missed. Hussain came down the wicket. He didn't know what to say. He was close to a hundred. "Just watch the ball and stick around." I said, "Yeah, no problem man." A few balls later I hooked one for four. Hussain made his hundred, and then soon after, he got out, hooking, caught fine leg. We were walking off and I said, "Jesus Christ, Hussain. You've cost me another fifty."