Author: Charles

The Indian women’s team has kicked off their ICC ODI World Cup campaign with a 99-run victory over Sri Lanka.

The margin of victory might suggest a facile win, but it was not easy going for Harmanpreet Kaur and her team as the underrated Lankans showed fine skills and abundant spirit through the match.

At one stage, batting first, India were reduced to a precarious 124-6, the strong top order back in the pavilion in an ungratifying sequence of unforced errors, with an unexpected setback looming over the stadium in Guwahati city.

It took a brave, stroke-filled partnership of 103 for the seventh wicket between all-rounders Deepti Sharma and Amanjot Kaur that helped India reach 269, which proved beyond the Lankans.

The win ensured important points but raised some searching questions about the top order batting, widely considered as the strongest aspect of the team as India seek their maiden world title having finished runners up twice in World Cups in the last decade.

In the 2017 ODI World Cup, after a string of impressive wins, including a stirring one over Australia in the semi-final, India fizzled out against England in the final.

In the 2020 T20 World Cup final at Melbourne in front of a record crowd of more than 85,000 India fell apart against home team Australia.

Despite not winning the title, reaching the final in the 2017 and 2020 editions put India in the upper echelons of women’s cricket. The Indian team has since been a force to reckon with.

Women’s cricket in India goes back more than half a century. The Women’s Cricket Association of India came into existence in 1973. The national team played its first Test in 1976 against West Indies.

But the next three decades and more were defined by an utter lack of support for women’s cricket from the cricket establishment, sponsors and fans.

While the country threw up some high quality players like Shantha Rangaswamy, Diana Eduljee, Shubhangi Kulkarni and Fouzia Khaleeli, women’s cricket in India wallowed in penury and a lack of playing opportunities.

The turning point came in 2006-2007 when the BCCI, heeding the ICC’s programme to develop women’s cricket, integrated it into the Board.

This opened up access to resources – financial and infrastructure facilities, providing security and opportunity, which not only made the players feel wanted, but also triggered off the desire to excel. Most importantly, this meant they could play overseas matches, which was earlier rare.

The prowess of Indian women cricket has started coming through clearly ever since. The exploits of ace batter Mithali Raj, who holds the record for most runs in a sterling 20-year career, and pace bowler Jhulan Goswami who has sundry milestones to her credit too, earned Indian women’s cricket global encomiums.

In the past decade, stellar performances by the likes of Harmanpreet Kaur, Smriti Mandhana, Jemima Rodrigues, Richa Ghosh, Deepti Sharma and others saw Indian women’s cricket’s stock rise rapidly and higher.

The BCCI’s decision to introduce pay parity between male and female players for all formats went a long way in boosting the self-esteem of women cricketers. The launch of the Women’s Premier League, a sister version of the IPL although with fewer teams and considerably lower fiscal muscle, has seen an explosion in fan interest. These factors have triggered a massive interest in young girls to play the sport, opening up a robust pipeline for talent from across the country.

Women’s cricket in India is blooming, but will reach stratospheric heights if Harmanpreet Kaur and her team can win the ODI World Cup, says former captain Diana Eduljee.

“It can have an impact similar to what happened when Kapil Dev’s team won the 1983 Prudential Cup,” she says.

But can India break the jinx this time and win the World Cup?

Much of the discussion so far has focused on the team’s upcoming match against Pakistan on Sunday in Colombo – it comes at a time when conversation around the melodrama surrounding the recent India-Pakistan men’s match during Asia Cup final is dominating headlines.

But in women’s cricket, India’s record against Pakistan is overwhelmingly superior. The real threat for India in the World Cup comes from other teams.

ICC rankings have Australia at number one. India were number three, but have edged ahead of England after the victory against Sri Lanka. But England, New Zealand and South Africa can’t be taken lightly.

Experts say that India has the talent and experience to take on all of them and playing at home gives them an extra advantage.

Also, India’s lead-in form has been impressive. In June, India beat England in a T20 series there for the first time. Though the format was different, the result should give some psychological advantage in the ODIs too.

In a World Cup warm-up series against old nemesis Australia, India lost 1-2, but matched the Aussies blow-for-blow right through.

Matching the Aussies on talent alone may not be enough to win the title though. India will need to show steely nerves, sustained form, fitness and mental toughness and deep ambition to make this campaign path-breaking.

Beating Sri Lanka on Tuesday was a great start but the road to the title is strewn with many stiff challenges.

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Jazz Chisholm raced from first base to score the go-ahead run as the New York Yankees beat the Boston Celtics 4-3 on Wednesday to force a decisive game three in their Major League Baseball playoff series.

The Yankees, who fell to the Los Angeles Dodgers in last year’s World Series, were facing elimination after dropping game one of their American League wild card showdown to bitter rivals Boston.

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But Chisholm’s dash from first, on an eighth-inning single by Austin Wells, means they will host game three at Yankee Stadium on Thursday.

The second day of playoff action saw the Dodgers aiming to complete a sweep of the Cincinnati Reds, while the Cleveland Guardians and San Diego Padres also staved off elimination in their best-of-three series.

The Guardians beat the Detroit Tigers 6-1 and the Padres downed the Chicago Cubs 3-0.

Chisholm, who was clearly irked that he didn’t get a starting nod from manager Aaron Boone on Tuesday, also came up with a run-saving catch at second base.

Ben Rice — who also watched game one from the bench — delivered a two-run home run in the first inning for the Yankees.

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Boston’s Trevor Story belted a two-run single and homered in the sixth inning.

But New York, who also had a run-scoring single from star slugger Aaron Judge, are still alive.

“It was a lot of fun,” Chisholm said. “It came down to the wire, last pitch, last battle — but we just kept on fighting and we prevailed.”

In Cleveland, the Guardians put up five runs in the eighth inning against the Tigers.

Brayan Rocchio ignited Cleveland’s surge with a 379-foot go-ahead home run to right field off rookie pitcher Troy Melton.

Steven Kwan and Daniel Schneemann followed with back-to-back doubles, and with two outs in the eighth catcher Bo Naylor belted a three-run homer.

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The Tigers were left to regret missed chances. They stranded 15 runners on base and were just one for 15 at the plate with runners in scoring position.

In Chicago, Manny Machado’s monster two-run homer off Cubs left-hander Shota Imanaga in the fifth was the big difference-maker for the Padres in the win that leveled their National League series.

Padres starter Dylan Cease pitched three-plus shut-out innings and reliever Mason Miller dazzled again.

Miller struck out five of six batters he faced — including retiring Carson Kelly with a 104.5 mph fastball.

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Welcome to the latest episode of Bears Over Beers! This week, join our hosts Ryan Droste and Bryan Orenchuk as they discuss the state of the Chicago Bears heading into the bye week!

Grab a cold beverage and join Ryan and Bryan as they give their final thoughts on the Bears’ big win over the Las Vegas Raiders. Then, they look ahead to the what lay ahead following the bye week. How many wins can the Bears realistically stack over the new few weeks?

Come hang out with us on YouTube or watch in the embed here:

You can also listen to the podcast version here or wherever podcasts are found:

Coming after the show goes off the air.

Penn State will be without star linebacker Tony Rojas for an extended period of time. First reported by On3, Rojas was absent from the media practice window on Wednesday. Head coach James Franklin confirmed the report that Rojas is out with a long-term injury during his media availability after practice.

The Los Angeles Rams are listing two offensive starters as doubtful to play against the San Francisco 49ers on Thursday Night Football, possibly opening the door for some others to prove worthy of more opportunities in the future. The Rams are probably going to be without tight end Tyler Higbee and right tackle Rob Havenstein, as players listed as doubtful have a 95% chance of not being active. That’s all but guaranteeing that Matthew Stafford won’t have his top tight end or right side protector on Thursday against the 49ers.

With Higbee most likely out of the game, rookie tight end Terrance Ferguson will probably be active and this could be his chance to get in on the offense. The Rams have made Ferguson a healthy scratch over the past two weeks and he’s only played four offensive snaps all season.

Havenstein has taken some bumps this season and the Rams can turn to their depth to see if anyone might do a better job at right tackle moving forward. Warren McClendon could be the next man up.

On the other side, the 49ers are extremely banged up this season and that continues on Thursday with Brock Purdy, Ricky Pearsall, and Jauan Jennings are listed as OUT this week. That means Mac Jones will be throwing to Demarcus Robinson and Marquez Valdes-Scantling.

Who do you expect to see come out ahead with both teams short-handed on offense on Thursday?

Brock Purdy won’t be able to take the field on Thursday night after all.

The San Francisco 49ers ruled Purdy out of their matchup with the Los Angeles Rams officially on Wednesday afternoon due to a toe injury. He was hopeful this week that he could return in time for the contest, but he has not yet practiced this week due to toe soreness.

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Purdy was one of several offensive stars that was ruled out of the contest on Wednesday. Wide receivers Jauan Jennings, Ricky Pearsall and Jordan Watkins were all ruled out due to various injuries, too.

With Purdy out, Mac Jones will get the start on Thursday night at SoFi Stadium. Jones, who was dealing with a sprained knee himself, has been cleared to practice normally.

This post will be updated with more information shortly.

The Cleveland Browns are turning the keys over to a rookie quarterback who won his conference’s Offensive Player of the Year award and ranked top 10 in Heisman Trophy voting in 2024: Dillon Gabriel, not Shedeur Sanders, although both 2025 draftees fit that criteria.

Joe Flacco was benched after Cleveland’s 1-3 start, but the 40-year-old former Super Bowl MVP will remain the team’s backup for Sunday’s game in London against the Minnesota Vikings.

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Sanders, meanwhile, is still the Browns’ third-string quarterback.

When he was asked about it Wednesday in the locker room, Sanders mouthed his answers, taking an unorthodox approach to handling media.

A clip of the former Colorado star silently expressing himself is making its rounds on social media. It begins with him being asked about his role as QB3 on the Browns’ roster.

After Sanders mouthed a brief answer with his signature smile and then shrugged, the reporter followed up, asking if Sanders could express what he was feeling vocally.

Sanders mouthed another answer.

Another reporter asked, “What do you think you have to show to coaches just for them to have that belief in you that you can now be ready?”

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Before the reporter even finished that question, Sanders started mouthing his next answer, which he finished with a smile again.

Then a reporter asked, “What can you say?”

That didn’t get Sanders to speak out loud, either.

Even a question about Flacco and how the veteran’s helped both Sanders and Gabriel develop to this point of their young careers didn’t seem to change Sanders’ tune.

Sanders mouthed another answer.

Gabriel backed up Flacco the first four weeks of the season. He also was taken by the Browns out of Oregon in the third round, whereas Sanders was scooped up by Cleveland in the fifth round following his unexpected draft slide this past April.

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Gabriel replaced Flacco in garbage time of Week 2 and Week 4 blowout defeats, the first of which he finished with his first-career touchdown pass against the Baltimore Ravens. The second perhaps signaled a changing of the guard after the Browns crashed back down to Earth from their Week 3 upset of the Green Bay Packers with a humbling 34-10 road setback to the Detroit Lions.

Sanders has yet to take a regular-season snap, although he said last week that could perform better than some of the starters in the league right now.

“If you see the quarterback play in the league right now, I know I’m capable of doing better than that,” Sanders said on Sept. 25, via ESPN Cleveland.

Sanders added at the time, via ESPN Cleveland: “I don’t think playing [or] not playing is in my hands. Based on the situation … I’ll be out there and I’ll be ready to play. I’m ready to play right now.”

As part of a four-quarterback competition this summer — the Browns traded Kenny Pickett to the Las Vegas Raiders in late August — Sanders notably began the preseason with an impressive debut. But an oblique injury sidelined him for the second exhibition, and he struggled in the preseason finale, during which Gabriel excelled.

Pro Football Hall of Famer and Colorado head coach Deion Sanders said last week during an appearance on the “New Heights” podcast that his son turned down the Philadelphia Eagles and Baltimore Ravens during the draft.

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Landing with the Browns appeared to give Shedeur Sanders a quicker path to starting, considering the Eagles and Ravens have franchise quarterbacks. That said, Ravens’ two-time MVP Lamar Jackson is currently nursing a hamstring injury, and his status is in doubt in Week 5.

Sanders is still waiting for his first on-field opportunity in Cleveland this season. His stay with the Browns has come with plenty of attention, though. He dealt with it Wednesday without words.

The Washington Commanders are looking to get back in the win column in Week 5.