Mark Boucher, the former head coach of Mumbai Indians, believes the Hardik Pandya-led will approach Thursday’s IPL 2025 match against Sunrisers Hyderabad at their home turf Wankhede Stadium with a big boost in confidence following their come-from-behind 12-run win over Delhi Capitals.

At the Arun Jaitley Stadium on Sunday, DC were cruising in their chase of 206 by reaching 113/1 at the half-way mark. But after that, a spirited comeback from MI’s bowlers, led by leg-spinner Karn Sharma’s 3-36, along with a tactical ball change after the 13th over, helped them trigger DC’s batting implosion and register just the second win of the ongoing season.

MI are now back home to take on SRH, who are arriving after chasing 245 against Punjab Kings, with left-handed opener Abhishek Sharma slamming a blazing 141. “Mumbai Indians will be in a good space at the moment, especially after winning a close game. Sometimes in the competition, they have been on the losing end of the close games – I mean, the games they have lost have gone down the wire.”

“That’s why Hardik said if they had hit some (more runs), they would have been on the winning side and the result would have changed. So, it was nice for them to come from a situation where halfway, they would have struggled to get a positive result in this game.”

As the race for the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup 2025 intensifies through the ongoing Qualifier, several standout performers have been rewarded with significant leaps in the latest ICC Women’s ODI Rankings — a testament to their match-winning contributions on the big stage.

Leading the pack is West Indies skipper Hayley Matthews, who continues to stake a strong claim for the No.1 all-rounder spot currently held by Australia’s Ashleigh Gardner. Matthews has been in imperious form in Pakistan, smashing an unbeaten century and picking up 10 wickets in her first three games.

Her all-round brilliance has elevated her to 432 rating points, narrowing the gap on South Africa’s Marizanne Kapp (444) and Gardner (470), and firmly placing her ahead of England’s Nat Sciver-Brunt (375), who sits fourth.

The Indian Supercross Racing League (ISRL), the world’s first franchise-based Supercross league, Season 2 kicks off with the opening of rider registration on April 24, promising new international faces, and the return of celebrated talent from across the globe.

The rider registration process covers four competitive categories: 450cc International Riders, 250cc International Riders, 250cc India-Asia Mix and 85cc Junior Class.

Riders can register to be part of the mega auction, where teams will build their dream squads for the 2025 season. Registration does not guarantee participation, it is the first step in joining the official rider pool for team selection during the auction process.

After an inaugural run that brought together over 100 elite riders from nine countries and electrified fans across Indian cities, season 2 is poised to reach greater heights with enhanced ambition, a bigger format, and added star power.

India will tour Bangladesh for a white-ball series comprising three ODIs and as many T20Is, scheduled from August 17 to 31 in Mirpur and Chattogram, as the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) announced the schedule on Tuesday.

The Indian team will arrive in Dhaka on August 13 ahead of the ODI series opener on August 17 at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium in Mirpur. The third and final ODI will be played in Chattogram, which will also host the first game of the three-match T20I series on August 26. The action will head back to Mirpur for the second and third T20Is.

Antoine Semenyo’s first-minute goal proved decisive as AFC Bournemouth boosted their European hopes with a 1-0 victory over Fulham at the Vitality Stadium.

Semenyo’s eighth Premier League goal of the season was enough to snap a run of six top-flight matches without a win for the Cherries.

Bournemouth, who pegged Fulham back to a 2-2 draw late on in the reverse fixture in December, had to hold onto their lead for all but the opening 53 seconds of Monday’s encounter.

The victory takes Bournemouth up into eighth, a place above Fulham and right back in the mix for European qualification, while the Cottagers’ slim hopes of pushing for a UEFA Champions League place have likely been extinguished.

A rapid start saw Semenyo curl a beautiful effort past Bernd Leno following some superb work from Alex Scott.

India’s top-ranked grandmasters Nihal Sarin and Aravindh Chithambaram will compete at the Esports World Cup (EWC) 2025, as the duo is named in S8UL's chess roster, the franchise said.

Making its debut at this year’s edition of the EWC, Chess will feature a total prize pool of USD 1.5 million (approximately Rs 12.9 crore), with Grandmaster Magnus Carlsen joining as the Global Ambassador.

The format will follow a rapid 10+0 time control, where each player will have 10 minutes per game with no increment. Players will qualify through the Champions Chess Tour’s February and May events, while a Last Chance Qualifier in Riyadh will determine the final four competitors.

Sarin, a 20-year-old chess prodigy from Thrissur, Kerala, is widely regarded as one of the brightest young talents on the global chess circuit. He began playing at the age of six and rose to prominence after winning the World Youth Chess Championship in the under-10 category in Durban. Since then, he has delivered strong international performances, including a runner-up finish in the Chess dot com Global Championship in 2022.

After going without a title in 17 years in the Indian Premier League (IPL) history, Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) are currently in fourth position in the points table. They have made a superb start with three wins and two losses in five matches. One of the things that seems to have changed RCB's fortunes this season is the appointment of Rajat Patidar as captain.

As Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) prepare to take on Rajasthan Royals at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur on Sunday, captain Rajat Patidar talked about his philosophy towards batting and captaincy that has helped him emerge as the team's highest scorer so far.

Patidar expanded on his approach to captaincy and batting in the pre-match press conference ahead of the match against Rajasthan Royals and said he tries to keep both roles separate.

"I see myself as captain when I'm on the field, but when I'm batting, I don't feel the pressure of being a captain. I focus on my strengths with the bat and avoid feeling like I have to do something different just because I am leading the team. Even in domestic cricket, I try to stay in the moment and do my best for the team," the RCB captain said.

Half-centuries by Nicholas Pooran (61) and Aiden Markram (58) propelled Lucknow Super Giants to a six-wicket victory, with three balls to spare, over the table toppers Gujarat Titans at the Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium here on Saturday.

After Gujarat Titans reached 180/6 in the first innings, powered by half-centuries by openers Shubman Gill’s 60 and Sai Sudharsan’s fourth half-century of the tournament, Markram walked out to bat with an unlikely opening partner in Rishabh Pant (21), with Mitchell Marsh not in the matchday squad due to personal reasons.

Pant, who has struggled through the course of the season, stayed on the backfoot as Markram took the fight to the GT bowlers in the opening exchanges. Mohammed Siraj was taken to the cleaners as they racked up 20 runs in the third over.

Punjab Kings won the toss and elected to bat first against Sunrisers Hyderabad in Match 27 of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium here on Saturday. The 22-year-old Sri Lanka pacer, Eshan Malinga, will make his IPL debut for Sunrisers Hyderabad, replacing compatriot Kamindu Mendis, whereas Punjab Kings decided to go ahead with the same playing XI.

Punjab Kings' captain Shreyas Iyer said, "We are going to bat. In the last few games, we have batted first, and we have the ability to post good scores. We want to play some aggressive cricket, that's our mindset at the moment. We have seen that we don't have a fantastic record in the power-play. We don't have that thought at the back of our minds. Every individual in our team plays their own brand of cricket. We have to be top-notch and need to back our instincts. We have to keep repeating that again and again. Playing with the same team."

Skipper Shubman Gill has become the first player to reach the 2000-run milestone for the Gujarat Titans franchise in the Indian Premier League. He achieved the feat while scoring 60 runs against the Lucknow Super Giants in the first innings on Saturday.

Gill joined the newly made franchise in 2022 and has played 51 games for the franchise. After the departure of Hardik Pandya in 2024, Gill was made skipper and is now in his second season as captain of the side. So far, he has scored 2007 runs for the team at an average of 44.60 and a strike rate of 147.89.

The 25-year-old scored 483 runs in his first season for the team before proceeding to have a stellar 2023 campaign, where Gujarat lost in the final to Chennai Super Kings (CSK), as he racked 890 runs in 17 games at an average of 59.33 with his highest score being 129 against Mumbai Indians in the second qualifier. He recorded three centuries and four half-centuries in the campaign.