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Former Australia fast bowler Brett Lee weighed in on the recent contest that was called off between India and Pakistan in the ongoing World Championships of Legends (WCL).

Before the clash, WCL released a statement and confirmed that the India-Pakistan fixture at Edgbaston in Birmingham had been scrapped. According to various reports, several former Indian stars refused to participate in the fixture.

The denial of Indian players to feature against Pakistan stems from the heinous terror attack on tourists in Pahalgam on April 22. Following the attack, the relationship between India and Pakistan slumped and hit a new low. Lee was quizzed about his views on the match between the two fierce rivals being called off. While addressing the “tough question”, the former speedster maintained a neutral stance. “That is a tough question. But the thing I’ll say right is, I love India, I love Pakistan. So I hope that they can get to a discretion where they can appreciate themselves. But most importantly, we are here on a tournament. So Australia versus India versus South Africa. We are all inclusive. So what happened last night is what happened. We pushed for it,” Lee, who is representing Australia Champions, told reporters in a press conference.

WCL claimed that it had announced the India-Pak fixture after a recent volleyball match between the two countries to create happy memories for fans. However, the move backfired, and the league acknowledged in its statement that the decision may have ended up hurting the feelings of many and causing discomfort to the Indian legends.

In response, a decision was made to call off the fixture. WCL further apologised for any hurt sentiments. Dhawan shared an email written to the tournament organisers, where he stated that the decision not to play Pakistan had been communicated to the organisers on May 11. The email mentioned that the decision not to play Pakistan was made in consideration of the current geo-political situation.

In his post on X, Dhawan said, “Jo kadam 11 May ko liya, uspe aaj bhi waise hi khada hoon. Mera desh mere liye sab kuch hai, aur desh se badhkar kuch nahi hota.” (I stand by the decision I took on May 11. My country is everything to me, and nothing is bigger than the country.

A relentless Scottie Scheffler sealed his first British Open triumph by four shots as he turned the final day of the tournament into a procession at Royal Portrush on Sunday (July 20, 2025).

The 29-year-old American world number one started out with a four-stroke lead and apart from one blip, never looked like relinquishing his grip as the chasing pack were reduced to scrapping for the minor places.

Scheffler barely put a foot wrong all week on the glorious Causeway Coast, rekindling memories of 15-times major winner Tiger Woods in his pomp, and he rubber-stamped his fourth major title with a clinical final-round 68.

Take the dominant Scheffler out of the equation and the 153rd Open would have been a thriller with the leaderboard underneath him chopping and changing all weekend.

In the end, Harris English was the best of the rest on 13 under after a final-round 66 with fellow American Chris Gotterup a further shot back.

Huge galleries thronged the course and thousands arrived hoping see a Rory McIlroy miracle on the final day.

But Northern Ireland’s favourite sporting son, who began six shots behind Scheffler, was unable to mount a charge and ended up in a tie for seventh on 10 under.

Li tied fourth

Li Haotong, the first Chinese man to go out in the final group of a major, finished tied fourth on 11 under with England’s Matt Fitzpatrick and American Wyndham Clark.

Scheffler has now completed three legs of his career Grand Slam and needs a U.S. Open crown to complete the set. He also became the first current world number one to lift the Claret Jug since Tiger Woods in 2006.

Those hoping to witness a battle royal for golf’s oldest major should probably have known better.

On the last nine occasions Scheffler had gone into the final round of a PGA Tour event leading, he emerged victorious, while his three previous major wins also arrived after a 54-hole lead.

When he birdied the first, fourth and fifth holes to move eight strokes clear the only question seemed to be whether he could set an Open record for a winning margin.

Even when errors did creep in, he simply rolled in long par-saving putts on the sixth and seventh holes to crush the spirit of those hoping for an unlikely collapse.

Only when he double-bogeyed the eighth after failing to get out of a bunker did Scheffler look like a mere mortal, his lead suddenly sliced to four strokes.

But it proved false hope for those pursuing a giant of golf, and a birdie at the ninth and another at the 12th hole steadied the ship and all that needed deciding then was who would come second.

Ace swimmer Srihari Nataraj clocked 49.46 to break Veerdhawal Khade’s 17-year-old best Indian time for 100m freestyle and qualify for the semifinals at the World University Games in Berlin on Sunday (July 20, 2025).

Srihari reduced Khade’s record, set in the Commonwealth Youth Games at Pune, by 0.01 second in the heats.

The 24-year-old also made it to the 50m backstroke semifinals with a time of 25.59 in the heats. The best Indian time (25.11) in this event also belongs to Srihari, who achieved it at the Uzbekistan Open championships in 2021.

Nitish Kumar Reddy is in danger of being ruled out of the remainder of the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy after picking up a knee injury while training at the gym.

The Hindu understands that the all-rounder underwent scans, which revealed ligament damage, and the BCCI medical team is currently monitoring the situation before making a decision about his future.

Nitish skipped the team’s visit to Manchester United FC, and also could not be spotted in the optional practice session.

With the series on the line, this comes as a huge blow. With Jasprit Bumrah’s workload in question, Arshdeep Singh suffering a cut on his bowling hand and Akash Deep unlikely to attain full fitness before the fourth Test, beginning on Wednesday, the Indian think-tank now faces a major challenge. Anshul Kamboj linked up with the team in Manchester on Sunday, after being named as a back-up for Arshdeep.

After sitting out of the series-opener in Leeds, Nitish played the second and third Tests. Though he failed to make an impact in Birmingham, with two runs and no wickets, he took crucial wickets of Ben Duckett and Zake Crawley at Lord’s in the first innings, while dismissing Crawley again in the second essay.

So far, India has played a seam-bowling all-rounder, with Shardul Thakur playing the first Test before Nitish featured in the other two.

Defending champion Indian Railways subdued a youthful Indian Navy 3-1 in the final of the 96th MCC-Murugappa Gold Cup hockey tournament at the SDAT-Mayor Radhakrishnan Stadium here on Sunday and completed a hat-trick of titles.

After a sedate start in the pool matches, Railways peaked when it mattered most: in the knockouts.

It was a lesson in spotting the weakness of the opponent and working out a plan and executing it to a T.

Realising that the Navy players are excellent in deflections through long and short passes from the 25-yard, dotted lines and the striking circle, Railways seldom allowed the rival strikers any leeway to unleash their shots. Such was the effectiveness of the Railways defence.

In all the four quarters, Railways held the upper hand, negating Navy’s counter-attacks with ease.

Hardly 10 minutes into the contest, Railways scored through Shivam Anand who scooped one to the roof of the net after receiving the pass from Gursahibjit Singh from the left. It could have been 2-0 for Railways towards the end of first quarter if not for Zameer, being the last man standing behind ‘keeper Sanjay Bhaskar, blocking a shot by Sayyad Niyaz Rahim.

Within minutes, Navy equalised through Aakib Rahim Arif who slotted it home from the top of the circle.

Thereafter, it was Railways’ show all the way. Pankaj Rawat converted a copy-book penalty corner shot in the third quarter and Niyaz Rahim’s fierce hit from the circle in the 57th minute made it beyond the reach of Navy.

Sunil Kumar Singh, who was the head coach of Railways for three straight time, was ecstatic. “It’s a huge achievement for us to have a hat-trick in such a big tournament. We improved after each match. We knew the opponent will be depending on the slap shot. We only had to make sure we block it once they enter the 25-yard,” said Sunil.

Railways received Rs. 7 lakh while Navy had to be content with Rs. 5 lakh.

M. M. Murugappan, chairman, CUMI and Chola MS, gave away the prizes.

The result (final): Indian Railways 3 (Shivam Anand 8, Pankaj Rawat 37, Sayyad Niyaz Rahim 57) bt Navy 1 (Aakib Rahim Arif 15).

Slow over-rates and frequent ball changes have been the major talking points of the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy so far. Indian all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja also drew flak for allegedly ignoring the umpire’s message to get on with the game when he was having a drink between overs during the third Test at Lord’s.

As several former cricketers, including former England captain Michael Atherton, criticised the umpires for losing their grip on the game, legendary umpire Dickie Bird believes that it’s important for the match officials to be strong and ensure that they have the last word on the field.

“The spectators pay a lot of money to watch Test matches nowadays. Too many stoppages is not good for Test cricket as it loses interest and that’s where the umpires need to be strong and tell the players that they should get going and such stoppages won’t be tolerated,” Bird told The Hindu.

The 92-year-old, who has followed the series closely, believes the DRS has diminished the authority of the umpires slightly. “Now, I see they are changing the ball every now and then, and that automatically slows down the game, but the umpires should make sure that they don’t allow unnecessary breaks as it kills the buzz,” he said.

“In my time, I would jokingly tell the players, ‘come on, lads, get on with the game, let’s not kill the (charm) of the game.’ We would have a good laugh and I ensured that we were back in action as quickly as possible,” Bird, who officiated in 66 Tests and 69 ODIs, said, adding: “My era also had some great characters, but we still got going without (much trouble).”

Ishaan Madesh and Arjun Chheda, two 16-year-olds stole the spotlight in the MRF Formula 2000 category, each clinching a race win as the first round of the MRF MMSC FMSCI Indian National Car Racing Championship 2025 concluded at the Kari Motor Speedway here on Sunday. Chheda completed a double, having won Race 1 on Saturday and returning to the podium again.

In the MRF Formula 1600 class, Arjun Nair and Nigel Abraham Thomas emerged victorious in one race apiece in the class.

In the Indian Touring Cars (ITC) category, defending champion Biren Pithawalla (Team N1 Racing) pulled off a dramatic win in Race-3, denying former national champion Arjun Balu (Race Concepts) a triple crown. Balu, who was leading the race, suffered a misfire in his car, allowing Pithawalla, despite a turbo issue in his VW Polo, to seize the opportunity and charge towards victory.

The results (Provisional – all 14 laps unless mentioned otherwise): MRF F2000 (Race-2): 1. Ishaan Madesh 15:41.539s; 2. Arjun Chheda 15:43.950; 3. Akhil Agarwal 15:52.431. Race-3 (12 laps): 1. Arjun 13:24.051s; 2. Ishaan 13:26.776s; 3. Akhil Agarwal 13:39.242s.

MRF F1600 (Race-2): 1. Nigel Abraham Thomas 16:52.562s; 2. Sai Shiva Makesh Sankaran 16:55.351s; 3. Zahan Commissariat 17:07.254s. Race-3 (12 laps): 1. Arjun Nair 14:21.433s; 2. Sankaran 14:21.938s; 3. Thomas 14:22.159s.

Indian Touring Cars (Race-2): 1. Arjun Balu 17:36.755s; 2. Biren Pithawalla 17:54.495s; 3. Dhruv Chavan (Buzzing Hornet) 18:00.579s. ITC1625: 1. Suprej Venkat 18:44.318s; 2. D. Vidyaprakash 18:45.078s. Race-3 (12 laps): 1. Biren 15:03.891s; 2. Arjun Balu 15:15.873s; 3. Dhruv 15:32.586s. ITC1625: 1. D. Vidyaparakash 16:03.234s; Suprej 16:06.154s.

Indian Junior Touring Cars (Race-2): 1. Rithvik Thomas (Race Concepts) 18:48.451s; 2. Nikunj Vagh (Team N1) 17:41.724s+1 lap; 3. Yug Italiya (Team N1) 17:41.755s+1 lap. Race-3 (12 laps): 1. Rithvik 16:10.084s; 2. Yug 16:20.009s; 3. Nikhunj 16:20.678s.

Super Stock (Race-2, 13 laps): 1. Krishanu Dutta Bhuyan (Zion Racing) 18:36.365s; 2. Kesara Godage (Redline Racing) 18:38.743s; 3. Manan Patel (Gameover Motorsports) 18:39.184s. Race-3 (11 laps): 1. Kesar (Redline Racing India) 15:41.190s; 2. Krishanu 15:44.604s; 3. Anirudha Arvind (Strada Motorsports) 15:46.728s.

Formula LGB 1300 Open (Race-2): 1. Bhuvan Bonu (MSPORT) 21:02.762s; 2. Bala Prasath (DTS Racing) 21:08.968s; 3. Neythan McPherson (Momentum Motorsports) 21:10.171s. Junior: 1. Bhuvan 21:02.762s; 2. Neythan 21:10.171s; 3. Aditya Patnaik (Momentum Motorsports) 21:12.492s.

Volkswagen Polo Cup (Race-2): 1. Aditya Patnaik (Buzzing Hornet) 18:15.689s; 2. Pratik Sonawane (Buzzing Hornet) 18:18.037s; 3. Ojas Surve (Buzzing Hornet) 18:18.904s. Race-3 (12 laps): 1. Aman Nagdev (Buzzing Hornet) 15:31.208s; 2. Aditya 15:39.615s; 3. Pratik 15:43.667s.

Dhruv Jurel isn’t quite expressive. He is calm, though not often quiet. He comes with a positive mindset, and is always ready to put in the hard yards.

The son of an army man, he focuses on ‘process’ and ‘discipline’. Those two words, he believes, have helped him grow as a cricketer. In a competitive environment, where opportunity doesn’t come easy, long waits may often make or break careers, and for Jurel, it has been a long eight-month wait since his last Test outing in Perth last November.

But the 24-year-old has taken it in his stride.

Ever since landing in England a couple of months ago, Jurel has featured in just two games for India-A, where he scored 227 runs in four innings and claimed seven catches. But in the senior team, Jurel has been under the shadow of Rishabh Pant, the team’s vice-captain and the first-choice wicketkeeper-batter.

While Pant featured in all three Tests in the series so far, Jurel worked closely with fielding coach T. Dilip and batting coach Sitanshu Kotak over the last several weeks to make sure he remains fit and in the groove.

When India had a long session at Beckenham earlier this week, Jurel was among the first few batters to have a long session in the nets. As bowling coach Morne Morkel aimed at Jurel’s stumps to test his outside edge, the youngster remained unperturbed and looked confident throughout.

And as India gears up for the must-win fourth Test at Old Trafford, India’s assistant coach Ryan ten Doeschate indicated that if Pant, who hurt his left index finger during the Lord’s Test, isn’t ready to keep the wickets, India could look at Jurel. In that case, Pant could be used as a specialist batter. Jurel, being a steady middle-order batter, could also add depth to the batting department.

However, if both Jurel and Pant end up playing together, it would be a selection headache for the team management. But sources indicated that Pant will be monitored over the next couple of days before taking a call.

“We don’t want to go through that again where we have to replace the keeper halfway through in the innings. We are just trying to give (Pant’s finger) as long as possible (to heal), and hopefully he’s good to go in Manchester in the first training session,” Doeschate said, adding: “Jurel is in the equation.”

In the previous Test, Jurel came in as Pant’s substitute after the latter hurt his finger, and ended up conceding 25 byes in the second innings, as India went down by 22 runs to concede a 1-2 lead in the five-match series. But it’s not just Jurel, several wicket-keepers have struggled in England where the ball wobbles a lot once it goes past the batter.

Despite earning praise from the cricketing fraternity, it has still been a long wait for Jurel. But now, with the series on the line and the team management not willing to risk Pant, he could just get lucky.