Month: August 2023

Manchester United will face the Bayern Munich of Harry Kane in this season’s Champions League while Thursday’s draw for the group stage also placed Paris Saint-Germain and Newcastle United together. Bayern and United will be favourites to advance from Group A which also includes Danish champions FC Copenhagen and Galatasaray, the Turkish champions. Group F, in contrast, looks to be the toughest of all with Saudi-owned Newcastle facing AC Milan and Borussia Dortmund as well as Qatar-backed PSG. Newcastle are appearing in the Champions League for the first time in 20 years and their lack of recent pedigree in Europe’s elite club competition meant they were left lurking dangerously among the sides in pot four for the draw.
Having held on to Kylian Mbappe, French champions PSG will be expected to advance to the last 16 but Newcastle will hope to finish ahead of Dortmund and a Milan team that got to the semi-finals last season.
Holders Manchester City, meanwhile, could hardly have asked for a kinder draw as they will take on RB Leipzig, Red Star Belgrade and Young Boys in Group G.
Pep Guardiola’s side can be expected to rack up the goals against the champions of Serbia and Switzerland, while City hammered Leipzig 8-1 on aggregate in the last 16 last season.
Back in the Champions League for the first time since 2016/17, Arsenal will face Europa League winners Sevilla, former European Cup winners PSV Eindhoven and Lens of France in Group B.
Real Madrid, the record 14-time champions who won the trophy in 2022, were drawn with Italian champions Napoli in Group C, which also features Braga of Portugal and Champions League debutants Union Berlin.
Barcelona will take on Porto, Shakhtar Donetsk and Royal Antwerp of Belgium in Group H.
Last season’s runners-up Inter Milan are in Group D with Portuguese champions Benfica, Red Bull Salzburg and Real Sociedad of Spain.
Scottish champions Celtic will face Feyenoord, Atletico Madrid and Lazio in Group E.
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

If India’s newly-crowned javelin World Champion Neeraj Chopra needs help to get the spectators to cheer for him in Zurich during the Diamond League on Thursday night, help is at hand. Always the showman, Italy’s high jump World Champion Gianmarco Tamberi has promised to do his bit for the Indian star.
“Tomorrow Gianmarco told me that ‘I will cheer for you with public’ and I will also try to cheer for him,” Chopra said at the pre-competition press conference on Wednesday.
Tamberi immediately responded saying he would get the spectators in the Stadion Letzigrund stadium on their feet.
“I spoke with him before in the car and he [Chopra] told me ‘I really want this 90 metres’. I told him, man we are in Zurich, everything is possible because the crowd is just amazing. I will do the crowd… the last two metres, I will do it for you. Concentrate on 89 (metres),” Tamberi said jokingly.

ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup tickets for India’s matches at Dharamsala, Lucknow and Mumbai are all set to go on sale from Friday, September 1. The sale of tickets will commence at 8:00 PM IST.
ICC Men’s ODI World Cup 2023: Full Coverage
Tickets for India matches in Dharamsala, Lucknow and Mumbai will go on general sale via the official ticketing website https://tickets.cricketworldcup.com.
The upcoming ticket release will feature the following matches:
Sunday, October 22: India v New Zealand, Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association Stadium, Dharamsala
Sunday, October 29: India v England, Stadium, Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Ekana Cricket Stadium, Lucknow
Thursday, November 2: India v Sri Lanka, Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai
Tickets for India’s other fixtures at the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023 will go on sale on the following dates at 20h00 IST:
September 2: India matches at Bengaluru and Kolkata
September 3: India match at Ahmedabad
September 15: Semi-Finals and Final
India’s schedule for the 2023 ODI World Cup:
October 8: India vs Australia in Chennai, 2 PM
October 11: India vs Afghanistan in New Delhi, 2 PM
October 14: India vs Pakistan in Ahmedabad, 2 PM
October 19: India vs Bangladesh in Pune, 2 PM
October 22: India vs New Zealand in Dharamsala, 2 PM
October 29: India vs England in Lucknow, 2 PM
November 2: India vs Sri Lanka in Mumbai, 2 PM
November 5: India vs South Africa in Kolkata, 2 PM
November 11: India vs Netherlands in Bengaluru, 2 PM

Pakistan skipper Babar Azam was elated at being praised by India star Virat Kohli and detailed the mutual respect that exists between them.Kohli had conveyed his admiration and recalled his first meeting with Pakistan’s star batter Babar Azam in an interaction with Star Sports last year.
I saw a lot of regard and respect from him from day one, and that hasn’t changed. Regardless of the fact he’s probably the top batsman in the world across formats, performing so consistently and rightly so. He has amazing talent and Ive always enjoyed watching him play.
So that [Babars attitude] hasnt changed because hes performing now, and hes coming into his own. I dont see his attitude or approach changing towards me.
Babar reacted to Virats comments recently on Star Sports, and discussed Virats influence on his game.
It feels really good. When someone talks about you like this. And what Kohli has said, has made me very proud and happy. 
Such praise gives you confidence. When I met him in 2019, he was at his peak. Hes still at his peak. I wanted to take something from his game. I learnt a lot from him. He gave a detailed explanation to all my questions. That helped me.
When you do such things for each other, it feels really good.
Both batters have excelled in the ODI format over the years. Babar, whose most recent knock was a match-winning 151 against Nepal, averages 59.47 in the format with 5353 runs to his name. He has 19 ODI hundreds, the second most for Pakistan in the format.
Virat, on the other hand, has 12898 runs at an average of 57.32. He has 46 ODI hundreds to his name, which is the second most in the format’s history. 
Never write off a champion: Why Ponting never lost faith in Virat Kohli
Virat spoke to Star Sports about his love for the ODI game, and why the format has brought the best out of him.
I love playing ODI cricket. I think ODI cricket is one format which tests your game completely. Your technique, your composure, playing the situation. And playing differently in different phases of the game. 
So I think it tests you as a batsman completely, thats why I feel that ODI cricket has always brought the best out of me, because I like to embrace that challenge, and play according to the situation to help my team win.
Dinesh Karthik breaks down India v Pakistan | CWC 2023
As I said, it provides an opportunity to test myself regularly. All aspects of my batting, and thats why I really enjoy playing ODI cricket.
With the presence of Shaheen Shah Afridi, Haris Rauf, Naseem Shah and Shadab Khan in their attack, Pakistan possess one of the most dangerous attacks in world cricket.
Virat added that he was aware of Pakistan’s bowling capabilities, and rated them highly. 
I feel bowling is their strength, and theyve got some really impactful bowlers who can change the pace of the game anytime, based on their skill-set. So you have to be at your absolute best to face them.

Virat Kohli knows the cameras will be on him for the next two months. Starting with the Asia Cup and then the Cricket World Cup 2023, Virat Kohli will be expected to deliver. His first test will be in the India vs Pakistan contest in Sri Lanka on Saturday. Virat Kohli has performed well against Pakistan. His cracking six off Haris Rauf at the MCG is still talked about a lot in cricket circles. Australia’s World Cup-winning spinner Brad Hogg is among the admirers of that shot.  
Hogg said that Kohli’s hunger should be a cause of concern for the rivals. “I was looking at Virat Kohli’s stats the other day. Tendulkar got a slightly better conversion rate of 100s. Virat Kohli’s got a better record. I just think he has got his hunger back and a little bit of pressure taken off him. I think he’s got unfinished business and that’s probably the big danger for opposition teams. That innings against Pakistan here at the MCG, hitting Haris Rauf back over his head of good length. That was the best shot that I have ever seen in cricket. It was brilliant. Fans got to realize that there is a lot of pressure on Virat Kohli. He also can have ups and downs even the great Sachin Tendulkar had ups and downs. When he has got that right frame of mind and has that pressure off his back we see a dominant Virat Kohli. I am not worried about the Indian batting. I am probably worried about the Indian bowling attack. It is their bowling which doesn’t get them off to a good start,” he said on Backstage with Boria.
After the Asia Cup’s conclusion, teams will prepare to face for the ICC ODI World Cup. The former World Cup-winning Australian spinner picked South Africa as the dark horse to make it to the semis.
“Well, West Indies are out of it. I love the Netherlands and they might upset a team or two, maybe South Africa, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka won’t be involved in the top 4. England too might not make it to the last four as they do not have a stabilized middle order. They don’t have Jofra and I just don’t think they know what their bowling combination will be. We are not going to see a dominant England. They rely too heavily on their top three. I don’t think their middle order is enough experience so they are out of the fire. Pakistan with their spin and pace strength will be very good defensively. Their batters are too aggressive enough. Australia will be going in as favourites. They have enough variety in the middle order, India on their home soil with powerful batting and bowling. South Africa can be the biggest surprise package. Keshav Maharaj can play a huge role. They have quality batting depth and have two fiery pace bowlers in Nortje and Rabada. So, South Africa for me is the team that could upset India and Australia,” said Hogg.
Finally on being asked to comment on Kuldeep Yadav, the Aussie chinaman bowler said, “He had a great IPL this year. He has come back well. What defines a player is someone who has been dropped. He has been out of the game, and worked on his action. He is not falling away as much. He is now getting a more revolution on the ball and drift as well. I think Rohit Sharma captains him well. He is a fighter. Absolutely loved the way he gone about it. Just loved the way he has come back into that team and just performed straightaway.”
With ANI inputs

The Asia Cup 2023 is already underway, with four teams already playing a match each. While India and Pakistan are the heavyweights and favourites to reach the final, the other teams are no pushovers. Afghanistan cane be the dark horse in the tournament. In the last few years they have shown the capability to shine against more fancied opponents. India cricket team star spinner Ravichandran Ashwin praised their team. To add to that, he compared two of Afghanistan stars with Rajinikanth’s character in the movie ‘Jailer’
“We can divide the Afghanistan team into two parts. They have the X-factor for sure. On their day they can beat any team in the Asia Cup as well as the World Cup. Because they have the muscle to do that. They might not have XI match winners in their side, but they have 5-6 players out of their eleven that can scare their opponent with their ‘tiger ka hukum’ performances,” Ashwin said on his YouTube channel.
“Let us look at their ‘tiger ka hukum’ match-winners. Rahmanullah Gurbaz. He is not the like the first half Thalaivar in ‘Jailer’ when he causally bring a dead body to Yogi Babu’s car. He is more like the second half Thalaivar, when he goes and gives a warning directly. Be it is pickup pulls or his tempo of the games, he has got the game to completely transform the state of a match with his batting at the international level.  He has not problem against the short ball. Inside the powerplay, he is the x-factor player.
“The only problem is if he takes the aggressive approach and fails, do they have other to match him and put runs on the board? But he has an ideal foil in Ibrahim Zadran. He is more like our Thalaivar, who accompanies Yogi Babu in the first half. He gets the job done silently.
“Afghanistan’s batting when there is swing or seam is a big question mark.”
Afghanistan’s first match is against Bangladesh on September 3.

Congratulations @viacom18 for winning the @BCCI Media Rights for both linear and digital for the next 5 years. India Cricket will continue to grow in both spaces as after @IPL, and @wplt20, we extend the partnership @BCCI Media Rights as well. Together we will continue to
— Jay Shah (@JayShah) August 31, 2023