Phil Simmons named Afghanistan coach

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.

ISL Playing Today

KBFC vs BFC

S.Dhawan ruled out of first test

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 vs North East United FC

Pune City FC (5) bt NEUFC (0)

A.Kuruniyan
Marcelinho (3)
Adil Khan

Udanta Singh and 2 others ruled out of Bengaluru FC's clash

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.

Rino Anto to miss clash against Bengaluru FC

Awards

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.

Indian Cricket Team 2018 schedule

    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

ISL Playing Today

Pune City FC vs North East United FC

Mumbai City FC vs Delhi Dynamos

Mumbai City FC (4) bt DD (0)

L.Goian
Everton Santos (2)
Balwant Singh

Win a signed T-Shirt

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

Quick Quotes: Conte on Courtois

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

New Sri Lanka cricket coach bans music at training

Delhi Dynamos FC turn down approach from ex-La Liga goalkeeper Xabi Irureta

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 steps down

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.

South Africa's squad for 1st Test against India

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.

ISL Playing Today

Mumbai City FC vs Delhi Dynamos FC

Pakistan U-19 squad

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

NZ U-19 squad

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.

Kenya U-19 squad

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.

Australia U-19 WC squad

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 vs JFC

CFC (1) bt JFC (0)

Jeje

ISL Playing Today

CFC vs Jamshedpur FC

ISL Fantasy: Jamshedpur FC vs Chennaiyin FC

Jamshedpur FC

Trindade
Belfort
Tiri
Mehtab Hossain
A.Bikey

Chennaiyin FC

Jeje
Jerry
K.Singh
Augusto
Francisco
Nelson

Indian women to host England in April

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 recored!

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.

Johan Botha will captain Sixers in Henriques' absence.

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. 

SL U-19s squad

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

WI squad vs NZ

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.

Lehmann to step down after 2019 Ashes

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.

Delhi Dynamos FC to sign India U-17 star Shubham Sarangi

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

Saba Karim appointed as BCCI General Manager

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.

CSK plans cricket academy

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.

3 players that Chennai Super Kings should retain

MSD

Faf

S.Raina

RTM

R.Ashwin

R.Jadeja

3 players that Rajasthan Royals should retain

James Faulkner

A.Rahane

S.Smith

RTM

D.Kulkarni

D.Karthik

3 players that Mumbai Indians should retain

Rohit Sharma

J.Bumrah

H.Panndya

RTM

Mitchell McClenghan

P.Patel

3 players that RCB should retain

Virat Kohli

ABD

Y.Chahal

RTM

KL Rahul

S.Badree

3 players that Kolkata Knight Riders should retain

S.Narine

G.Gambhir

Nathan Coulter Nile

RTM

R.Uthappa

Manish Pandey

3 players that Kings XI Punjab should retain

Murli Vijay

H.Amla

S.Sharma

RTM

Mohit Sharma

W.Saha

3 players that Delhi Daredevils should retain

R.Pant

K.Rabada

C.Morris

RTM

Karun Nair

S.Samson

3 players SRH should retain

David Warner

B.Kumar

S.Dhawan

RTM

Rashid Khan

Fizz

Virat Kohli in IPL

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

Rohit Sharma in the IPL: The journey from 2008-2017

2008 - Hits jackpot in the first auctions

2009 - Under Gilchrist

2010 - Star

2012 - Star

2013,2014,2015,2016 and 2017 - Leading

Confirmed..!

Crystal Palace are monitoring Besiktas striker Cenk Tosun.

The Turkish striker also attracts other teams

TERMINATED

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.

Yuvraj Singh in IPL: The transformation from 2008-2017

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

Complete list of teams in Kabaddi Nationals

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 Unit15. 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 Beaton reported for suspect action

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 takes up a new role at Vidarbha

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

ATK's Robbie Keane set to go back to Ireland for Christmas holidays

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.

Pakistan ODI squad vs NZ

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

India ODI squad vs SA

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 vs DDFC

ATK (1) bt DDFC (0)

Robbie Keane

ISL Playing Today

ATK vs DDFC

Kerala Blasters goal keeper Paul Rachubka voted as Fans Player of the Month

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

Dimitar Berbatov picks FC Barcelona's Andres Iniesta

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

Five contenders for ICC Emerging Cricketer of the Year award

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

IPL auction to be held on January 27, 28

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

Brad Hodge appointed as Kings XI Punjab coach

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

England Lions squads:

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, Coolidge Cricket Ground, Antigua; March 11: v West Indies A, Coolidge Cricket Ground, Antigua. (North-South Series follows in Barbados from March 18-23 - squad to be announced).

Jonty Rhodes leaves Mumbai Indians

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.

Adelaide Strikers

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

South Africa Test squad vs Zimbabwe

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

Sydney Sixers

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

Gurkeerat "The Super" Mann Singh

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

Kaka announces retirement

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.

Club World Cup 2017

Real Madrid (1) bt Gremio (0)

C.Ronaldo

Perth Scorchers

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 

Melbourne Renegades

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

Sri Lanka squad for T20's vs India

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.

Melbourne Stars

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

Hobart Hurricanes

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 named African Player of the Year

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

Four rookies to travel with team to SA as net pacers

Mohammad Siraj
Avesh Khan
Basil Thampi
Ankit Rajpoot

India to host 2021 Champions Trophy, 2023 World Cup

India is all set to host the 2023 World Cup.

India will also host the upcoming Champions Trophy in 2021.

Indian team to tour Ireland for two matches in 2018

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.

India to host Afghanistan

Indian team will host Afghanistan for their first ever Test.

Tour game cancelled

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

Brisbane Heat

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 rope in former Newcastle star Ryan Taylor in place of Carl Baker

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

FIFA U17 World Cup star Komal Thatal to sign for ATK

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.

Sydney Thunder

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

NZ ODI Squad

 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

HWL Awards

Player of the Tournament: Mats Grambusch (Germany)

Top Scorer: Loick Luypaert (Belgium)

Best Goal Keeper: Juan Vivaldi (Argentina)

Best Young Player: Victor Wegnez (Belgium)

Europa League Draw

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

Champions League Draw

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

CFC sign Aman Chetri

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 signs for Kerala Blasters

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