NAGPUR, India: India’s captain and star batsman Virat Kohli will be rested for the one-day matches against Sri Lanka after the ongoing Test series ends, selectors said Monday.
Kohli has stepped up calls in recent weeks for a break from cricket because of the workload. India, the world’s top Test nation, start a demanding tour of South Africa in January.
“I’m not a robot, you can slice my skin and check if I still bleed,” Kohli said before the Sri Lanka series started.
He has played more international cricket in 2017 than any other Indian player — nine Tests, 26 one-day internationals and 10 T20s.
India will go into the third and final Test against Sri Lanka in New Delhi on Saturday with Kohli leading the squad that hammered the visitors in the second Test.
The return of batsman Shikhar Dhawan, who opted out of the second Test due to personal reasons, is the only change.
The squad for the South Africa tour is to be named before the game starts.
Kohli will be replaced as captain by batsman Rohit Sharma for the three-match one day series after the Tests.
Sharma, who hit 102 not out in the Nagpur Test, is expected to remain captain for the T20 games too, as Kohli rests and prepares for the South Africa tour.
Allrounder Hardik Pandya and fast bowler Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who pulled out of the second and third Sri Lanka Test to get married, return to the 15-man squad.
Uncapped fast bowler Siddarth Kaul and young batsmen Shreyas Iyer, who has represented India in three T20 games, are also part of the one-day team.
Senior spinners Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja continue to stay out of India’s limited-overs plans despite their superb run in the five-day format.
Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal remain the team’s three spinners in the 50-over matches against Sri Lanka.
The first of the three ODIs will be played in Dharamsala on December 10.
India squad for third Test against Sri Lanka:
Virat Kohli (capt), Murali Vijay, Lokesh Rahul, Shikhar Dhawan, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Rohit Sharma, Wriddhiman Saha, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Umesh Yadav, Ishant Sharma, Vijay Shankar
India squad for one day series against Sri Lanka:
Rohit Sharma (capt), Shikhar Dhawan, Ajinkya Rahane, Shreyas Iyer, Manish Pandey, Kedar Jadhav, Dinesh Karthik, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Siddarth Kaul.
India to rest star Kohli before South Africa tour
India to rest star Kohli before South Africa tour
Guler enhances burgeoning reputation with goal for Turkiye in win over debutant Georgia at Euro 2024
Guler enhances burgeoning reputation with goal for Turkiye in win over debutant Georgia at Euro 2024
Georgia’s players dealt well with an intimidating atmosphere created by Türkiye’s fans
DORTMUND: Arda Guler enhanced his reputation as one of Europe’s brightest young stars by curling home a brilliant second-half goal to help Türkiye to a 3-1 win over tournament debutant Georgia at the European Championship on Tuesday.
The 19-year-old forward brought a strong end to his first season at Real Madrid to the Euros by cutting in from the right and bending a fierce shot into the top corner in the 65th minute, regaining the lead for Turkiye at 2-1 in a Group F match played in a febrile and intense atmosphere in Dortmund.
Substitute Kerem Aktürkoğlu scored a breakaway goal in the final seconds of stoppage time for Turkiye’s third.
This was a nation-stopping moment for Georgia, a South Caucasus country of 3.7 million people that are making their debut in an international soccer tournament since independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, amid protests and political turmoil back home.
Georgia’s players dealt well with an intimidating atmosphere created by Turkiye’s fans and responded to Mert Muldur’s volleyed finish for the Turks in the 25th with an equalizer by Georges Mikautadze in the 32nd.
Guler’s intervention was crucial, though, and it was the latest in a string of outside-of-the-area strikes at these Euros. It also was another demonstration of his talent that was on display when he scored five goals in five games to finish a Spanish league season that he mostly missed because of injury. He was an unused substitute in the Champions League final that Madrid won.
He’ll likely find game time even harder to come by next season following the arrival of Kylian Mbappé and Endrick, even if Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti is aware he has a gem on his hands in Guler.
Georgia, at No. 75 the lowest-ranked nation at Euro 2024, could easily have snatched a point from a game played at a frenetic pace.
In stoppage time and with their goalkeeper Giorgi Mamardashvili upfield in search of a goal, Georgia whipped in a free kick that struck the post before a shot from the rebound was cleared off the line.
The resulting corner — sent in with Mamardashvili still up in the box — was cleared and Aktürkoğlu had the freedom of Westfalenstadion to run through unchallenged to sidefoot the ball into an empty net.
Germany’s Turks give ‘host nation’ welcome to Turkiye
- Ozcan has said the team needs to capitalize on the large Turkish population and passionate support in Germany
- “Our hearts beat for Turkiye, for home. Of course, Germany is also home for us, but we are Turks,” said fan Cengiz Catalpinar
DORTMUND/MUNICH: Tens of thousands of Turkiye fans draped in the country’s red flag celebrated ahead of the country’s first match of Euro 2024 against neighbor Georgia in Dortmund on Tuesday, creating a festival atmosphere akin to a host nation to welcome the team.
Almost 3 million people with Turkish roots live in Germany, following a wave of official migration that began in the 1960s. The close ties are reflected in both the German and Turkish football teams. Germany captain Ilkay Gundogan has Turkish roots, while Turkiye’s midfielder Salih Ozcan, was born in Cologne and plays for Borussia Dortmund.
Ozcan has said the team needs to capitalize on the large Turkish population and passionate support in Germany.
Heavy rain and forecasts of thunderstorms closed Dortmund’s 25,000 capacity fan zone and other giant viewing spots in the cities of North Rhine Westphalia, Germany’s most populous state, but fans en route to the stadium made good on their promise to make some noise. Berlin’s two fan zones were also closed due to bad weather.
“Our hearts beat for Turkiye, for home. Of course, Germany is also home for us, but we are Turks,” said fan Cengiz Catalpinar.
Mehmet Guelcicek had driven for two days from Zurich in Switzerland to reach Dortmund and watch the match.
“We are Turks and always there with the team.”
Many Turks were also celebrating the Muslim festival of Eid Al-Adha, when typically, animals such as sheep are sacrificed.
Ugur Aydin walked with an inflatable sheep.
“We saved him from the Eid sacrifice festival and are celebrating our own festival today with a 3 point win over Georgia. And hopefully the same again for the next two games, against Portugal and the Czech Republic,” he said.
Turkiye begin their Euro 2024 campaign against newcomers Georgia knowing a winning start in one of the tournament’s weaker groups would give them a great chance of making the knockout stages after disappointing last time around.
In hot sunshine in Munich in southern Germany fans began to stream into the city’s fan zone.
“This is a big deal for us and it is great to be in Germany for the tournament, to join with the Turkish community here. We are the second hosts,” said Erdem Sakinc, a 21-year-old student from Ankara studying in Germany.
Georgia, meanwhile, are playing in their first ever major tournament and are the clear underdogs
Georgia fan Veronika Gogokhia said, “This is a historical moment for our country and our team. This is a debut and the whole of Georgia, all Georgians all over the world are really excited,” she said.
Later on Tuesday at the stadium around 40 fans from each set of supporters were involved in brief scuffles and police moved in between them, a Reuters reporter inside the stadium said.
Mainoo happy to build with Ten Hag at Man Utd
- Mainoo’s breakthrough season with the Red Devils earned him a call-up to Gareth Southgate’s squad for Euro 2024
- “Happy to be building with him, he’s already got two trophies and hopefully there is more to come,” he said
BLANKENHAIN, Germany: England midfielder Kobbie Mainoo is happy speculation about Manchester United boss Erik ten Hag’s future is over after he was given his first-team chance by the Dutchman.
Mainoo’s breakthrough season with the Red Devils, which included scoring the winning goal in a FA Cup final win over English champions Manchester City, earned him a call-up to Gareth Southgate’s squad for Euro 2024.
Despite winning a second trophy in two seasons at Old Trafford, Ten Hag’s future remained in doubt after United finished eighth in the Premier League.
However, Ten Hag confirmed on Sunday he has been told by the club he will remain in charge next season.
“Happy to be building with him, he’s already got two trophies and hopefully there is more to come,” Mainoo told reporters at England’s training camp on Tuesday.
“It’s nice to have that piece of mind. We know what manager we are going back to.
“He put so much trust in me and belief in me. I can’t thank him enough.”
Mainoo came off the bench late on in England’s 1-0 win over Serbia on Sunday to make his competitive debut for Southgate’s team.
England next face Denmark in Frankfurt on Thursday and Mainoo is looking forward to facing two of his Manchester United team-mates, Rasmus Hojlund and Christian Eriksen.
Eriksen scored in the Danes’ 1-1 draw with Slovenia in their opening game, three years on from suffering a cardiac arrest on the field during Euro 2020.
“Me and Ramsus are both young and we are quite close,” added Mainoo.
“Christian, I’ve learned a lot from him. The journey he’s been on since the last Euros has been amazing.
“If I am to play on Thursday I’ll need to put all that aside.”
FIFA offers tools to fight social media abuse to all 211 member countries
- FIFA said a number of teams competing at the ongoing European Championship and the upcoming Copa America have joined the SMPS
- “We have already seen how effective the service has been in FIFA tournaments and it is only logical that we make it available to all 211 FIFA Member Associations,” Infantino said
GENEVA: FIFA’s social media tools designed to protect players from online abuse will now be available to all 211 member associations and their teams, world soccer’s governing body said on Tuesday, coinciding with the International Day for Countering Hate Speech.
The Social Media Protection Service (SMPS), which was developed by FIFA and the players’ union FIFPRO, was first offered to all teams at the 2023 women’s World Cup to help moderate hate speech on social media and hide harmful content.
FIFA said a number of teams competing at the ongoing European Championship and the upcoming Copa America have joined the SMPS.
“We have already seen how effective the service has been in FIFA tournaments and it is only logical that we make it available to all 211 FIFA Member Associations, wherever and whenever they play,” FIFA President Gianni Infantino said.
“We need to protect all players, coaches, officials and teams from abuse, as well as their followers.”
The tool was launched at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar and since then FIFA said the service had hidden 2.6 million abusive comments from public view.
Nearly 31,000 cases of “abusive content” were reported to social media platforms — such as Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter and YouTube — which led to consequences such as account suspensions.
Meanwhile, one in five players were the target of online abuse during the 2023 Women’s World Cup.
FIFA said the SMPS will also be used at upcoming events such as the Olympic Games in Paris, the Under-20 women’s World Cup in Colombia, the Futsal World Cup in Uzbekistan and the Under-17 women’s World Cup in the Dominican Republic.
England fan seen waking up in empty stadium at Euro 2024
- “I’ve just woken up. It’s four o’clock in the morning,” the unidentified fan says in the video
GELSENKIRCHEN, Germany: A worse-for-wear England fan woke up cold and confused in an empty stadium hours after the end of his team’s Euro 2024 clash with Serbia, according to a video on social media.
“I’ve just woken up. It’s four o’clock in the morning,” the unidentified fan says in the video showing rows of empty seats behind him at the stadium in Gelsenkirchen where England won 1-0 in their opening game on Sunday night.
The video, viewed hundreds of thousands of times, prompted laughter among fellow England supporters, though some questioned how security had missed the snoozing fan and also why the lights were still on in the early hours at the stadium.
“This is what happens when you watch Sleepy Southgate ball!” quipped one poster, referring to coach Gareth Southgate’s team’s less than scintillating second half performance.
