Sports

Phil Simmons  is Afghanistan's new head coach.  He takes over the role that was left vacant when the Afghanistan Cricket Board terminated  the contract of Lalchand Rajput. Simmons starts work from January 8, and will join the Afghanistan squad in Dubai for the  limited-overs series  against Zimbabwe in February.  His contract end after the 2019 World Cup.

KBFC vs BFC

Indian opener  Shikhar Dhawan  has been ruled out of the opening Test against South Africa due to an ankle injury. As a consequence, Murali Vijay and KL Rahul are reportedly set to open the batting at Cape Town. The first Test between India and South Africa is scheduled to take place at Newlands Cricket Ground on Cape Town from January 5 to 9. The remaining two matches will be held at SuperSport Park in Centurion and New Wanderers Stadium in Johannesburg.

Pune City FC (5) bt NEUFC (0) A.Kuruniyan Marcelinho (3) Adil Khan

Bengaluru FC have announced that they will be missing first-team players Udanta Singh and Braulio due to injuries and John Johnson due to a family emergency for their trip to Kochi to face the Kerela Blasters side on Sunday.

Cristiano Ronaldo has won the Best Player of the Year accolade at the Globe Soccer Awards. Real Madrid's Ronaldo retained the award, making it four wins overall, after helping his club defend the Champions League and win the Liga title. The 32-year-old, who also won his fifth Ballon d'Or, the UEFA Best Player in Europe and FIFA's The Best Award this year. Real were named Club of the Year, with boss Zinedine Zidane collecting the Coach of the Year award. La Liga was voted League of the Year, China coach Marcello Lippi was presented with the Coach Career Award and Roma legend Francesco Totti and ex-Barcelona captain Carles Puyol won the Player Career Award. Other winners included Atletico Madrid coach Diego Simeone, who picked up the Master Coach Special Award, and Egypt coach Hector Cuper, named Best Arab National Team Coach.

    India tour of South Africa: January 5 to February 24     Tri-series in Sri Lanka for the Nidahas Trophy: March Indian Premier League: April-May India tour of United Kingdom: June-September Asia Cup: September West Indies tour of India: October- November India tour of Australia: November 2018-February 2019

Pune City FC vs North East United FC

Mumbai City FC (4) bt DD (0) L.Goian Everton Santos (2) Balwant Singh

https://www.chelseafc.com/landing-pages/campaigns/musonda-signed-shirt-comp.html

https://www.chelseafc.com/news/latest-news/2017/12/quick-quotes--conte-on-courtois.html

Earlier reports suggested that the side were close to signing Spanish goalkeeper Xabi Irureta, who has played for Eibar and Real Zaragoza. With the January transfer window on the horizon, it will be interesting to see how each team, especially the Dynamos, will reinforce their squad.

Bengaluru FC assistant coach Carles Cuadrat has parted ways with the club by mutual consent owing to health concerns. Bengaluru FC would be travelling to Kerela this Sunday to face fellow South Indian rivals Kerela Blasters.

Faf du Plessis (c), Hashim Amla, Temba Bavuma, Quinton de Kock, Theunis de Bruyn, AB de Villiers, Dean Elgar, Keshav Maharaj, Aiden Markram, Morne Morkel, Chris Morris, Andile Phehlukwayo, Vernon Philander, Kagiso Rabada, Dale Steyn.

Mumbai City FC vs Delhi Dynamos FC

Mohsin Khan, Imran Shah, Zaid Alam, Rohail Nazir (wk), Muhammad Taha, Emmad Alam, Ali Zaryab, Saad Khan, Hassan Khan (capt), Musa Khan, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Munir Riaz, Arshad Iqbal, Muhammad Ali, Suleiman Shafqat Reserve players:  Muhammad Junaid, Haider Ali, Muhammad Ilyas, Azam Khan, Mukhtar Ahmed

Kaylum Boshier (capt), Finn Allen, Jakob Bhula, Max Chu, Katene Clarke, Matthew Fisher, Luke Georgeson, Ben Lockrose, Callum McLachlan, Felix Murray, Sandeep Patel, Dale Phillips, Rachin Ravindra, Connor Sullivan, Todd Watson.

Aman Gandhi, Dennis Musyoka, Aveet Desai, Rene Were, Thomas Ochieng, Sachin Bhudia, Ankit Hirani, Sukhdeep Singh, Jasraj Kundi, Jayant Mepani, Jay Doshi, Maxwel Ager, G rard Mwendwa, Sidhart Vasudev, Abhishekh Chidambaran.  Reserves : Minal Kerai, Viraj Patel.

Jason Sangha (capt), Will Sutherland (vice-capt), Xavier Bartlett, Max Bryant, Jack Edwards, Zak Evans, Jarrod Freeman, Ryan Hadley, Baxter Holt, Nathan McSweeney, Jonathan Merlo, Lloyd Pope, Jason Ralston, Param Uppal, Austin Waugh Austin Waugh  - son of former captain Steve Waugh. Another allrounder,  Will Sutherland , son of Cricket Australia's (CA) chief executive James Sutherland, has been named vice-captain.

CFC (1) bt JFC (0) Jeje

CFC vs Jamshedpur FC

Jamshedpur FC Trindade Belfort Tiri Mehtab Hossain A.Bikey Chennaiyin FC Jeje Jerry K.Singh Augusto Francisco Nelson

India will host England for three ODIs in April as part of the ICC Women's Championship. The matches will be played on April 8, 11 and 14. The ODI series will be played after the T20 tri-series also involving England and Australia. India had narrowly lost to England in the World Cup final in June. It was announced earlier that India will host Australia for a three-match ODI series from March 12 to 18. India play their ICC Women's Championship opener in South Africa from February 5 to 10. They have not played since the loss in the World Cup final

Arsene Wenger set to surpass Sir Alex Ferguson's record for Premier League games managed    when Arsenal travel to West Brom on New Year's Eve.  Friday early morning 1:30 IST's match with Crystal Palace, will see Wenger move level with Ferguson on 810 Premier League games as a top-flight manager. October 1996 was when Wenger took charge.

Moises Henriques will not feature for Sixers today dut to an illness , South African Spinner Botha will lead the squad. The team are currently below the last with 2 loss in 2 games. 

Kamindu Mendis (capt), Dhananjaya Lakshan, Santhush Gunathilaka, Hasitha Boyagoda, Nawanidu Fernando, Nipun Dananjaya, Ashen Bandara, Kishan Sanjula, Nishan Madushka, Jehan Daniel, Praveen Jayawickrama, Haren Buddila, Thisaru Rashmika, Kalana Perera, Nipun Malinga

Carlos Brathwaite (captain), Samuel Badree, Sheldon Cotterell, Rayad Emrit, Andre Fletcher, Chris Gayle, Shimron Hetmyer, Shai Hope, Jason Mohammed, Ashley Nurse, Rovman Powell, Jerome Taylor, Chadwick Walton, Kesrick Williams.

Darren Lehmann has revealed he will not continue as Australia coach beyond the 2019 Ashes. Lehmann has led Australia to a pair of home Ashes victories, as well as World Cup glory in 2015, and is seeking a second successive home whitewash with his side leading the current series 3-0. Australia will bid to make it to a 4-0 lead in the Boxing Day test with England at the MCG.

The Delhi Dynamos are set to  sign India U-17 star forward Shubham Sarangi.

Former India wicket-keeper Saba Karim has been appointed as the BCCI's General Manager of Cricket Operations. Karim, 50, will start his duties from January 1, 2018 and will be reporting to BCCI CEO Rahul Johri. One of Karim's responsibilities will also include assisting Johri in meeting the Board's vision and strategy.

Chennai Super Kings (CSK) will be launching a cricket academy in the middle of next year. The franchise's support staff could be roped in to help out at the academy.

MSD Faf S.Raina RTM R.Ashwin R.Jadeja

James Faulkner A.Rahane S.Smith RTM D.Kulkarni D.Karthik

Rohit Sharma J.Bumrah H.Panndya RTM Mitchell McClenghan P.Patel

Virat Kohli ABD Y.Chahal RTM KL Rahul S.Badree

S.Narine G.Gambhir Nathan Coulter Nile RTM R.Uthappa Manish Pandey

Murli Vijay H.Amla S.Sharma RTM Mohit Sharma W.Saha

R.Pant K.Rabada C.Morris RTM Karun Nair S.Samson

David Warner B.Kumar S.Dhawan RTM Rashid Khan Fizz

2009: Buried under the big names 2010: The beginning  2011: Retained by RCB, 2012: The turning point  2013: First taste of captaincy 2017: The season to forget

2008 - Hits jackpot in the first auctions 2009 - Under Gilchrist 2010 - Star 2012 - Star 2013,2014,2015,2016 and 2017 - Leading

Crystal Palace  are monitoring Besiktas striker  Cenk Tosun . The Turkish striker also attracts other teams

Brazilian striker  Fred  has had his contract terminated by  Atletico Mineiro . The 34-year-old scored 42 goals in 83 appearances in all competitions for the Brazilian club since joining in 2016.

2008 - Leads Punjab into the semifinals 2010 - Poor form 2011 - New team 2012 - Cancer breaks hearts 2013 - Grand  comeback , poor form 2014 - The king of good times 2015 - Jackpot in the auctions 2016 - Trophy 2017 - Try, Try and Try

1. Services 2. Haryana 3. Maharashtra 4. Tamil Nadu 5. Uttar Pradesh 6. Indian Railways 7. Uttarakhand 8. Kerala 9. Gujarat 10. Rajasthan 11. Madhya Pradesh 12. Manipur 13. Odisha 14. WB State Unit 15. Delhi 16. Pondicherry 17. Goa 18. Vidharbha 19. Telangana 20. Assam 21. Jharkhand 22. Andhra Pradesh 23. BSNL 24. Chandigarh 25. Jammu & Kashmir 26. Himachal Pradesh 27. Punjab 28. Tripura 29. Karnataka 30. Bihar 31. Chattisgarh

West Indies pacer  Ronsford Beaton  has been reported for a suspect bowling action during West Indies'  second ODI  against New Zealand on Saturday. Beaton bowled eight overs in that match and picked up 1 for 60.

Wasim Jaffer is a senior batsmen and he has taken up the role of mentor of Vidarbha after a long stint with Mumbai.

ATK star Robbie Keane is all set to leave India for a while, as he goes back to his home country Ireland, to spend some time with his family. The Kolkatta-side had acquired the services of the legendary former Irish captain as the marquee player of the season.

Sarfraz Ahmed (capt&wk), Azhar Ali, Fakhar Zaman, Imam ul Haq, Babar Azam, Shoaib Malik, Mohammad Hafeez, Haris Sohail, Faheem Ashraf, Shadab Khan, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Amir, Hasan Ali, Aamer Yamin, Rumman Raees

Virat Kohli (c), Rohit Sharma (vc), Shikhar Dhawan, Ajinkya Rahane, Shreyas Iyer, Manish Pandey, Kedar Jadhav, Dinesh Karthik, MS Dhoni (wk), Axar Patel, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Hardik Pandya, Mohammed Shami, Shardul Thakur.

ATK (1) bt DDFC (0) Robbie Keane

ATK vs DDFC

Kerala Blasters goalkeeper Paul Rachubka was voted by the fans as the Player of the Month for November. Matches Played: 3 Saves: 9 Clean Sheets: 2

When asked to pick between the two biggest football stars, Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi, Berbatov made a rather surprising choice – Andres Iniesta.

Criterion: 1. Players eligible for this award must be under 26 years of age at the start of the voting period and have played no more than five Tests and/or ten ODIs before that date. 2. The voting period for taking into account players' performance fell between 21 September 2016 and 21 September 2017. Let us take a look at ten possible contenders who can go on to win this award. Peter Handscomb Yuzvendra Chahal Fakhar Zaman Alzarri Joseph Shabad Khan Kuldeep Yadav Jasprit Bumrah Hasan Ali Evin Lewis Hardik Pandya

The 2018 IPL auction will be held on January 27 and 28, in Bangalore.

Former Australian batsman Brad Hodge has been appointed as the coach of the Kings XI Punjab team ahead of 2018 IPL.

Entire tour:  K Jennings (Lancashire, capt), J Clarke (Worcestershire), L Livingstone (Lancashire), S Curran (Surrey), J Porter (Essex), P Coughlin (Nottinghamshire), S Mahmood (Lancashire), N Gubbins (Middlesex), A Davies (Lancashire, wk). Red-ball only:  H Hameed (Lancashire), D Lawrence (Essex), B Foakes (Surrey, wk), T Roland-Jones (Middlesex), J Leach (Somerset), M Crane (Hampshire), J Tongue (Worcestershire). White-ball only:  S Northeast (Kent), L Dawson (Hampshire), D Bess (Somerset), T Helm (Middlesex), G Garton (Sussex), M Parkinson (Lancashire). Itinerary:  February 5-7: Tour Match, Sabina Park, Jamaica; February 11-14: v West Indies A, Trelawny Multiplex, Jamaica; February 18-21: v West Indies A, Sabina Park, Jamaica; February 26 - March 1: v West Indies A, Vivian Richards Cricket Ground, Antigua; March 4: Tour Match, Vivian Richards Cricket Ground, Antigua; March 6: v West Indies A, Coolidge Cricket Ground, Antigua; March 9: v West Indies A, Cooli...

Jonty Rhodes  has been replaced as Mumbai Indians' fielding coach, thus ending his nine-season relationship with the three-time IPL champions. New Zealand's  James Pamment  replaces Rhodes as Mumbai's new fielding coach. Rhodes joined the current IPL champions in 2009.

Wes Agar, Alex Carey, Jonathon Dean, Ben Laughlin, Jake Lehmann, Michael Neser, Peter Siddle, Billy Stanlake, Jake Weatherald, Colin Ingram, Travis Head, Kelvin Smith, Jonathan Wells, Rashid Khan

Faf du Plessis (capt), Hashim Amla, Temba Bavuma, Quinton de Kock, Theunis de Bruyn, AB de Villiers, Dean Elgar, Keshav Maharaj, Aiden Markram, Morne Morkel, Andile Phehlukwayo, Vernon Philander, Kagiso Rabada, Dale Steyn

Sean Abbott, Sam Billings (overseas), Jackson Bird, Johan Botha, Ben Dwarshuis, Mickey Edwards, Jack Edwards, Moises Henriques (captain), Daniel Hughes, Nathan Lyon, Nic Maddinson, Peter Nevill, Steve O’Keefe, Jason Roy (overseas), Jordan Silk, Mitchell Starc, Henry Thornton

http://www.iplt20.com/video/25140/m6-pwi-vs-kxip-gurkeerat-the-super-mann-singh

Former Brazilian World Cup champion Kaka announced his retirement as a player, suggesting that a management career at his old club AC Milan could be on the cards.

Real Madrid (1) bt Gremio (0) C.Ronaldo

Ashton Agar, Cameron Bancroft, Jason Behrendorff, Hilton Cartwright, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Cameron Green, Josh Inglis, Mitchell Johnson, Michael Klinger, Mitch Marsh, Shaun Marsh, Joel Paris, Jhye Richardson, Ashton Turner, Andrew Tye, Adam Voges (Captain), Sam Whiteman, David Willey 

Aaron Finch (c), Dwayne Bravo (WI), Tom Cooper, Marcus Harris, Brad Hodge, Brad Hogg, Jon Holland, Tim Ludeman, Joe Mennie, Mohammad Nabi (AFG), James Pattinson, Kieron Pollard (WI - international replacement), Kane Richardson, Matt Short, Will Sutherland (rookie), Chris Tremain, Guy Walker, Beau Webster, Cameron White, Jack Wildermuth

Thisara Perera (capt.), Upul Tharanga, Angelo Mathews, Kusal Perera, Danushka Gunathilaka, Niroshan Dickwella, Asela Gunaratne, Sadeera Samarawickrama, Dasun Shanaka, Chaturanga de Silva, Sachith Pathirana, Akila Dananjaya, Dushmantha Chameera, Nuwan Pradeep, Vishwa Fernando The T20s will be played in Cuttack, Indore and Mumbai, starting on December 20.

Michael Beer, Scott Boland, Jackson Coleman, Ben Dunk, James Faulkner, Seb Gotch, Evan Gulbis, Peter Handscomb, Sam Harper, John Hastings (captain), Ben Hilfenhaus, Glenn Maxwell, Kevin Pietersen (ENG), Rob Quiney, Marcus Stoinis, Dan Worrall, Luke Wright (ENG), Adam Zampa

George Bailey (captain), Jofra Archer (overseas), James Bazley, Cameron Boyce, Dan Christian, Hamish Kingston, Ben McDermott, Simon Milenko, Tymal Mills (overseas), David Moody, Tim Paine, Jake Reed, Sam Rainbird, Tom Rogers, Clive Rose, D'Arcy Short, Matthew Wade

Salah won the African Player of the Year after scoring for Liverpool, AS Roma and Egypt.

Mohammad Siraj Avesh Khan Basil Thampi Ankit Rajpoot

India is all set to host the 2023 World Cup. India will also host the upcoming Champions Trophy in 2021.

Ahead of their tour of England in July 2018, the Virat Kohli-led Indian team will be travelling to Ireland to take on the Irishmen in two matches. The schedule is yet to be decided but BCCI wants one ODI and one T20 while the hosts want to have back-to-back T20s on consecutive days.

Indian team will host Afghanistan for their first ever Test.

India's two-day tour game ahead of their three-match Test series in South Africa has been cancelled.

Max Bryant, Joe Burns, Ben Cutting, Brendan Doggett, Jason Floros, Cameron Gannon, Sam Heazlett, Shadab Khan (overseas), Marnus Labuschagne, Josh Lalor, Chris Lynn, Brendon McCullum (Captain), Jimmy Peirson, Matt Renshaw, Alex Ross, Mitchell Swepson, Mark Steketee, Cameron Valente, Yasir Shah 

ATK announced today that the team has signed former Newcastle United player Ryan Taylor as a replacement for the injured Carl Baker.

Thatal, who was in the Indian squad for the FIFA U17 World Cup, turned down an offer to play for the Indian Arrows as his interest lies in playing in the Indian Super League.

Shane Watson (captain), Fawad Ahmed, Aiden Blizzard, Jos Buttler (OS), Pat Cummins, Callum Ferguson, Ryan Gibson, Chris Green, Jay Lenton, Usman Khawaja, Mitchell McClenaghan (overseas), Arjun Nair, Clint McKay, Kurtis Patterson, Ben Rohrer, Gurinder Sandhu, Blake Macdonald

 Kane Williamson (capt.), Tim Southee, Todd Astle,Trent Boult, Colin de Grandhomme, Lockie Ferguson, Matt Henry, Tom Latham, Adam Milne, Colin Munro, Henry Nicholls, Ross Taylor, George Worker

Player of the Tournament: Mats Grambusch (Germany) Top Scorer: Loick Luypaert (Belgium) Best Goal Keeper: Juan Vivaldi (Argentina) Best Young Player: Victor Wegnez (Belgium)

Borussia Dortmund v Atalanta OGC Nice v Lokomotiv Moskva FC Kobenhavn v Atletico de Madrid Spartak Moskva v Athletic Bilbao AEK Athens v Dynamo Kyiv Celtic v FC Zenit St. Petersburg SSC Napoli v RB Leipzig FK Crvena Zvezda v CSKA Moskva Olympique Lyonnais v Villarreal CF Real Sociedad v FC Salzburg FK Partizan v FC Viktoria Plzen FC Steaua Bucuresti v SS Lazio PFC Ludogorets v AC Milan FC Astana v Sporting Clube de Portugal Ostersunds FK v Arsenal FC Olympique Marseille v SC Braga

Juventus vs Tottenham Hotspur FC Basel vs Manchester City FC Porto vs Liverpool Sevilla vs Manchester United Real Madrid vs Paris Saint-Germain Shakhtar Donetsk vs AS Roma Chelsea vs Barcelona Bayern Munich vs Besiktas

Indian U-17 striker Aman Chetri, who is considered to be one of the brightest prospects in the country, has been signed by  ISL  side Chennaiyin FC.  The Super Machans face off against Bengaluru FC in their next ISL encounter.

Mohammad Rakip has become the first Indian U17 player to have signed for an  ISL  side, Kerala Blasters.