India’s secure T20I series win with game to spare India made history in midweek when they cruised to a commanding six-wicket victory over England at Old Trafford, which saw them take an unassailable 3-1 series lead. The result confirmed their first-ever bilateral series win over the Lionesses in England and confirmed our cricket predictions. The home side failed to impress with the bat in the first innings and only managed to post a target of 166/7 in their 20-over allotment. Notably, they were unable to strike a single boundary between the 11th and 19th overs of the match.  Radha Yadav was the pick of the visitors’ bowlers, producing a disciplined spell of 2/15 in her four overs, which strangled England’s batters in the middle overs, while Shree Charani bounced back from an expensive opening over to end with 2/30. England only scored 42 runs in the final nine overs.  In response, India’s openers Shafali Verma and Smriti Mandhana gave their side a solid platform, posting 56 runs inside the first powerplay. Skipper Harmanpreet Kaur and Jemimah Rodrigues then recorded a 48-run partnership, with the captain not out at the end of the match. Following the victory, Yadav said:  “This time, this team, this atmosphere, it’s magical. We want to create something big going forward. We are going to dominate, no matter what.” England are still above India in the ICC T20 Women’s team standings, but there is a case to be made that the rankings are yet to catch up with the reality on the field. Australia currently lead the way with 299 rating points, while England and India are on 276 and 264 points, respectively.  Check out our sports predictions  England salvage pride in final T20I While India had already clinched the series win in game four, England were able to add some respectability to the series scoreline by securing a five-wicket victory in the final match at Edgbaston on Saturday afternoon.  Batting first, India’s openers Mandhana and Rodrigues were sent back to the pavilion with just 19 runs on the board, but Verma and Kaur steadied the ship with a 66-run third-wicket partnership before the latter was dismissed by Charlie Dean.  Notably, Kaur was featuring in her 334th international match for the Women in Blue, which saw her surpass Mithali Raj as the highest-capped Indian woman in cricket history. Shafali, on the other hand, scored the second-fastest half-century for India, doing so in just 23 balls.  More cricket news

South Africa score six tries in 42-24 victory in Pretoria After a stunning 54-7 victory over the Barbarians in Cape Town a couple of weeks ago, South Africa entered their second match of the summer as massive favourites last weekend, and they fully lived up to expectations, trouncing Italy 42-24 in front of a packed Loftus Versfeld.  With Siya Kolisi sidelined through injury, Jesse Kriel led the world champions into battle in Pretoria, and the stand-in skipper made an instant impact, crossing the whitewash in the 11th minute to give his side the lead, and they never looked back from then on.  Vincent Koch, Kurt-Lee Arendse and Marco Van Staden all got on the scoresheet for the Boks in the victory, while Morne van den Berg, who was making just his third appearance in the famous Green and Gold, bagged a brace and continued to make a case for the number nine jersey ahead of the Rugby Championship​​​​​​. Handre Pollard made a perfect six of six conversion attempts! While Rassie Erasmus has made wholesale changes for this weekend’s clash, bringing in the likes of Canan Moodie, Manie Libbok and Grant Williams, the Boks are firmly expected to dominate the match, and you can check out our South Africa vs Italy prediction for our expert’s insights.  Still, plenty of credit must go to the Italians, who, despite missing several first-team regulars, put up a proper fight in the second half last week and stood up to the Springboks’ usually formidable Bomb Squad, with Manuel Zuliani leading the charge, producing several turnovers through relentless tackling.  Check out our rugby predictions Le Roux set to join elite company this weekend  This weekend’s Test will be a landmark match for South African full-back Willie Le Roux, who will earn his 100th cap in the Green and Gold when he steps out on the field at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium on Saturday afternoon.  The 35-year-old will become only the eighth South African rugby player to reach triple digits for the Springboks, following in the footsteps of Percy Montgomery, Jean de Villiers, John Smit, Tendai “Beast” Mtwawarira, Bryan Habana, Victor Matfield, and Eben Etzebeth.  Le Roux first pulled on the Springbok jersey against Italy back in June 2013 in Durban and was part of the squad that won back-to-back World Cup titles in 2019 and 2023. Reaching the 100-match milestone is a testament to the player and team man that Le Roux is.  View the latest rugby odds Erasmus makes wholesale changes to Boks’ lineup  Erasmus has made as many as 10 changes for this weekend’s showdown in Gqeberha, with only Le Roux, Wilco Louw, Malcolm Marx, Marco van Staden and Jasper Wiese retaining their places from the run-on side at Loftus last week.  Stalwart Makazole Mapimpi and Edwill van der Merwe will take up their places on the wings this week, while the halves pairing features the dynamic duo of Manie Libbok and the rapid Grant Williams, while the colossus that is Pieter-Steph du ...

Dukes ball at centre of attention at Lord’s Test India’s new Test captain Shubman Gill was unable to hide his frustration on Day 2 of the ongoing third Test against England at the Home of Cricket, though his anger was not related to his team or his opponents, but rather over the Dukes ball being used in the match. The Dukes ball has been used in Test matches in England for over a century, and has stood the test of time due to its ability to retain its shape and character for a longer period of time than others, such as the Kookaburra Turf White cricket balls used in the Indian Premier League. However, the Dukes ball being used during the current series between the Three Lions and the Men in Blue has been surrounded by controversy since the first match at Headingley, with both teams criticising that it has been losing shape and becoming soft far too quickly.  Ben Stokes and co were vocal in their criticism of the ball in the first two matches, while it was the visiting side that was displeased on Friday at Lord’s, with Gill requesting that the umpires change the ball after just 10.4 overs of use.  Match official Paul Reiffel confirmed that the ball was unsuitable to use after an inspection and called for the box of replacements, but despite a “new” ball being handed to the visitors, the Indian skipper was still unsatisfied and was seen in a fairly heated debate with Sharfuddoula Saikat shortly after.  It was later revealed that Gill and pace bowler Mohammed Siraj did not feel that the replacement ball felt or looked like the one that was withdrawn from the match, but the umpires were unwilling to entertain any further arguments and asked them to get on with the match.  However, it did not take long before conversations between players and officials restarted, in fact, just eight overs later, Gill requested another change of ball, which was granted after the one in use failed the ring test.  Check out our cricket predictions  Owner of British Cricket Balls Ltd arrives at Lord’s  Amid the ongoing controversy surrounding the Dukes ball, Dilip Jajodia, the owner of British Cricket Balls Ltd, the company that manufactures the Dukes, decided to visit Lord’s on Friday to discuss the concerns of the players and match officials regarding the state of the match balls.  However, Jajodia defended the Dukes ball, stating that several factors can influence any ball’s performance. The 81-year-old carried with him a box of Dukes balls of varying conditions to illustrate his point. He said:  “Obviously, we listen to comments and observations. But this (the ball going out of shape and getting softer) is not something unusual, it’s been happening ever since cricket has been played. Not everything is static, it’s not an engineered product in that sense.” Jajodia went on to elaborate several factors that he feels need to be taken into consideration, including the leather used, the human ...

How have India performed at Lord’s over the years?  The first-ever Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy is set to reach the halfway point on Saturday, and the series is even-steven, with England having secured a remarkable victory at Headingley before India levelled matters at Edgbaston and confirmed our cricket predictions.  The third Test is delicately poised, with the Three Lions posting a first innings target of 387, while India have responded with 145/3 at stumps on Day 2, setting us up for what should be a captivating second half of the match over the weekend.  While there is still plenty of cricket to be played over the next three days, India will be hoping to secure a victory at the iconic Lord’s, where they have typically struggled to produce their best performances since first stepping onto the famous hallowed ground in England’s capital in 1932. Across their history, India have played a total of 19 Test matches at the Home of Cricket, but have only managed to win three times, while losing 12 games, with the remaining four encounters ending in drawn results.  However, the last decade has seen a significant turnaround in India’s fortunes, with two of their previous three visits to the venue ending in victory. The most recent was a memorable 151-run triumph in 2021 under the guidance of Virat Kohli, while the other came in 2018.  India’s first Test win at the Home of Cricket was led by none other than MS Dhoni in 2014, when paceman Ishant Sharma etched his name in the history books with a sensational spell of 7/74, which got his side to a 95-run victory.   View the best cricket betting sites Joe Root adds two more records to glittering career Joe Root revealed that he endured a sleepless night after Day 1 of the Lord’s Test, when the umpires called stumps with the England batter unbeaten on 99 runs. However, he held his nerve on Friday morning and brought up his century, albeit that he was dismissed four runs later. Still, the 34-year-old’s ton has taken him into an elite group of cricketers, as he is now in the list of the top five players with the most Test centuries, surpassing former India batter Rahul Dravid and Australian opener David Warner.  Root now has an incredible 37 Test tons to his name, while his knock in the first innings also saw him record his third consecutive three-digit haul at Lord’s, which makes him only the third batsman in history to post three tons in a row at the venue after Jack Hobbs and Michael Vaughan.  However, he was not done there. When the Three Lions took the field on Day 2, Root pulled off a sensational one-handed catch to dismiss Karun Nair off the bowling of skipper Ben Stokes, marking his 211th catch in Test cricket, which now stands as the most by any player.  More cricket news 

Suryavanshi becomes youngest centurion in youth ODIs Vaibhav Suryavanshi continued to prove that his remarkable feat at the 2025 Indian Premier League was no fluke, as he has now taken the international Under-19 cricketing scene by storm for India Under-19s against England.  The 14-year-old batsman smashed 10 sixes and 13 fours en route to a 52-ball century in Worcester last weekend, leading his side to a total of 363/9. He finished on 143 in just 78 deliveries at a stunning strike rate of 183.  In response, India restricted their opponents to 308 in 45.3 overs to clinch the series 3-2, confirming our cricket prediction, with Suryavanshi proving to be the star performer, accumulating a total of 355 runs in the five matches at an average of 71.  The teenager’s tally now stands as the fifth-highest in a bilateral youth ODI ever and the second-best by an opening batsman. Additionally, he became the first player to record over 300 runs in the history of ODI cricket at the Under-19s level.  Suryavanshi burst onto the scene for the Rajasthan Royals at IPL 18 this year, where he became the youngest debutant and scored the second-fastest ton in the tournament’s history, doing so in just 35 balls, only two more than Chris Gayle’s legendary knock for RCB.  Last year, the youngster from Bihar recorded the second-quickest century in men’s youth Tests against Australia Under-19s, bringing up his three-digit haul in 58 balls, only behind England legend Moeen Ali, who struck a 56-ball hundred two decades ago.  View the latest cricket odds Indian starlet tipped to break into national team  Suryavanshi’s incredible performances for the Indian youth team, combined with his remarkable feat for the Rajasthan Royals, have propelled him to stardom, with many already drawing comparisons between him and some of India’s greatest ever cricketers, such as Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag.  With several records already to his name, there are now talks around how long it would take before the 14-year-old left-hander is given the opportunity to feature for the Indian men’s senior team if he can continue on his current trajectory.  The teenager has already shown that his ability defies his age, having dispatched bowlers more than twice his age during the IPL. Tendulkar currently holds the title as the youngest-ever Indian cricketer, having debuted for the Men in Blue at 16 years and 205 days.  However, given that youth cricket is now much more widely followed and teams play much higher profile competitions than 20+ years ago, it’s difficult to argue that Suryavanshi will likely break the “Little Master’s” record in the coming years if he can continue to perform at this level.  More cricket news

Pakistan cleared to participate in 2025 Asia Cup Following the recent escalation in tensions between India and Pakistan stemming from the Pahalgam attacks in April, sporting events between the two nations were thrust into major doubt, with many Indians calling for all future matches between the countries to be called off.  However, in a major turn of events, the Pakistan national hockey team is now set to travel to India next month to participate in the 2025 Asia Cup as well as the Junior Hockey World Cup, for which India is among the favourites, according to many of the best betting sites.  The news broke last week after the Indian Ministry of Home Affairs, the Ministry of External Affairs and the Sports Ministry jointly agreed to provide the Pakistan national team clearance to attend the competition, which is scheduled to take place in Bihar from August 27 to September 7. A source from the India Sports Ministry said:  « We are not against any team competing in India in a multi-national competition. But bilateral is different. We are accommodating as many as possible in the state sports academy and a few in hotels and Nalanda University guesthouses – all in and around the vicinity of the field of play.” India and Pakistan are expected to face off against each other at the Asia Cup next month, which promises to be a high-stakes battle, and if Pakistan are able to return to the FIH Pro League circuit, the two nations could cross paths again at the Asian Games and the World Cup.  Aside from Pakistan and host nation India, a total of six other teams will be arriving in Bihar over the coming days to begin preparation for the 12th edition of the tournament, including the likes of Japan, Korea, China, Chinese Taipei, Oman and Malaysia. While Pakistan’s clearance to participate in the Asia Cup is promising for the future of sports between the nations, it remains to be seen if this will continue when the cricket Asia Cup closes in later this year. Check out our sports predictions Pakistan Asia Cup clearance receives mixed response While the majority of Indian sports fans seem to be on board with allowing Pakistan to participate in the Asia Cup, there is still a large faction that is completely against the idea, including Indian news anchor, Arnab Goswami, who slammed the Indian government’s decision. He said:  « Why, if we don’t play cricket with them, do we want to play hockey? We refused to play the Champions Trophy in Pakistan and forced a shift to Dubai. Why should we welcome their hockey team here? They should not allowed to raise thier flag on Indian soil. » However, it wasn’t long before Pakistani journalist Faizan Lakhani fired back, labelling Goswami’s response as a “hate-mongering” approach to sports. Still, the Pakistan Hockey Federation has stated that they intend to participate in the competition despite the tensions, but added that they are awaiting their own government’s approval.  More sports news