Sport
Unbeaten India heap more misery on holders England at World Cup
India maintained their unbeaten streak at the 2023 World Cup with a 100-run victory in a low-scoring contest against holders England, who are facing a premature exit following their fifth defeat in six group matches on Sunday.
Rohit Sharma saved India’s blushes with a captain’s knock of 87 in what initially appeared a below-par total of 229-9 on a tricky surface at the Ekana Stadium in Lucknow, Reuters reported.
Put into bat, the hosts slumped to 40-3 in the 12th over before Rohit forged a 91-run partnership with KL Rahul (39) to arrest their slide.
Suryakumar Yadav contributed a breezy 49 down the order and India’s tailenders scored some useful runs towards the end to take them past the 225-mark.
England were reduced to 52-5 inside 16 overs in a remarkable batting capitulation and were eventually bundled out for 129 in inside 35 overs with Mohammed Shami claiming 4-22 for India.
Liam Livingstone’s 27 was the top score in England’s sorry-looking scorecard.
“I think this was a game where we showed a lot of character,” Rohit said after India’s sixth successive win in the tournament.
“All the experienced players stood up at the right time and won us the game.”
Holders England went into the match as the bottom-placed team with only mathematical chances of making the semi-finals after just one win in their previous five group matches.
In India, they faced the tournament’s only unbeaten side looking unstoppable in their home conditions.
Jos Buttler elected to field after winning the toss and had reasons to feel vindicated as India slumped to 40-3 in the 12th over.
David Willey (3-45) began with a maiden and sent groans across the stadium in the seventh over when he dismissed Virat Kohli for a nine-ball duck.
The early setbacks forced Rohit to shelve his natural strokeplay and he combined with Rahul to arrest their slide.
India crawled to the 100-mark at the halfway stage of their innings but still had plenty of overs as well as considerable batting firepower left to make up for the loss.
Willey dismissed Rahul and Adil Rashid sent back Rohit to snuff out those hopes but Suryakumar’s cheeky knock took India past 200.
England began briskly but were soon jolted out of any complacence after Jasprit Bumrah (3-32) dismissed Dawid Malan and Joe Root with successive deliveries in the fifth over of the innings.
Like Root, Ben Stokes could not open his account either and had his stumps wrecked by Shami as England’s start proved worse than that of their opponents.
Kohli dropped Jonny Bairstow in the slip but the batter dragged a delivery from Shami on to his stumps to depart with England reeling at 39-4 in the 10th over.
Buttler’s dismissal was emblematic of England’s shambolic batting in the match.
The England captain was utterly deceived by a Kuldeep Yadav (2-24) delivery that pitched outside off-stump, turned sharply and sneaked through the yawning bat-pad gap to hit the middle stump.
“Very disappointing,” Buttler said.
“At the halfway stage chasing 230 we fancied ourselves. But it’s the same old story.”
Sport
Omar Zawak thrash Istiqlal Kabul 5-1 in ACL
Omar Zawak secured an emphatic 5-1 victory over Istiqlal Kabul in the 80th match of the sixth season of Afghanistan Champions League Roshan, delivering an impressive attacking performance.
The match was played in Kabul on Tuesday. Both teams struggled to find the back of the net in the first half, which ended goalless.
However, Omar Zawak stepped up their attacking efforts in the second half, scoring five goals to take control of the match. Istiqlal Kabul managed to score just once as Omar Zawak sealed a convincing 5-1 victory.
Omar Zawak will face Ariana Khost in their next match on November 12, while Istiqlal Kabul will take on Aino Mina Kandahar on the same day.
All matches of the sixth season of Afghanistan Champions League are broadcast live on Ariana Television.
Sport
First Test between Afghanistan and Zimbabwe ends in a draw
Zimbabwe produced a remarkable batting display to secure a draw against Afghanistan in the first Test in Sharjah, with Craig Ervine and Wessly Madhevere scoring unbeaten centuries on the final day.
Resuming the fifth and final day at 164/3, Zimbabwe finished on 523/5 in their second innings, following their first-innings total of 504. This marked the first time in Test cricket history that a team has scored more than 500 runs in both innings of a match.
Craig Ervine remained unbeaten on 206, while Madhevere scored 100 not out, as the pair frustrated Afghanistan’s bowlers throughout the day.
Ervine, aged 41 years and 82 days, became the third-oldest player to score a double century in Test cricket.
Afghanistan had posted 514 in their first innings. Afghanistan needed early wickets to put pressure on the hosts, but Zimbabwe’s batters showed patience and discipline on a pitch offering little assistance to the bowlers.
Brian Bennett scored a half-century before Mohammad Saleem dismissed him, while debutant Antum Naqvi contributed 61 runs. Naqvi and Ervine shared a 140-run partnership before Abdul Malik broke the stand.
However, Madhevere joined Ervine and the pair put together an unbeaten 208-run partnership for the sixth wicket, the highest for that wicket in Zimbabwe’s Test history. Madhevere also registered his maiden Test century during the partnership.
The result leaves the two sides level heading into the second and final Test, which is scheduled to begin in Sharjah on November 13.
Sport
Portugal beat Afghanistan 2-0 in Dakar Youth Olympics futsal semi-finals
Afghanistan’s Under-18 futsal team missed out on a place in the gold medal match at the Dakar 2026 Youth Olympic Games after suffering a 2-0 defeat to Portugal in the semi-finals on Monday.
Portugal took the lead through Joao Carvalho, who capitalised on a goalkeeping error by Afghanistan’s Ahmad Esmaeili to score into an unguarded net from inside his own half.
Diego Ferreira doubled Portugal’s advantage before half-time, putting the European side firmly in control of the match.
Afghanistan pushed hard to get back into the game in the second half, creating several opportunities to reduce the deficit. However, they were unable to find the net, with Portugal goalkeeper Bernardo Borges making several important saves.
The victory sends Portugal into the gold medal match, while Afghanistan will now compete for the bronze medal at the Dakar 2026 Youth Olympic Games.
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