NEW DELHI: India cricket captain Virat Kohli is set to marry long-time girlfriend and Bollywood actress Anushka Sharma in a much-anticipated wedding in Italy this week, according to media reports on Sunday.
Rumors started swirling when Kohli pulled out of India’s limited-overs matches against Sri Lanka and Sharma also ducked out of her busy acting schedule in December.
Indian TV channels have gone into overdrive over what they have billed as the “wedding of the year.”
“A heritage property within a resort in Tuscany is being decked up for the wedding,” the Hindustan Times said on Sunday.
“Arrangements for a typically Punjabi wedding are reportedly being made by the wedding planner,” the newspaper added, citing unnamed sources.
The celebrity couple and their families have reportedly flown out of India for the week-long celebrations.
A grand reception is also planned in Mumbai on December 26.
There has been no confirmation from the couple.
The Indian captain has said he needed to rest because of his “massive workload,” ahead of the national side’s tour of South Africa in January.
Kohli and Sharma, both 29, started dating in 2013 after they met during the filming of a shampoo advert.
The high-profile couple made their first public appearance a year later during a football match.
Kohli is one of the world’s highest-paid athletes and a huge star in cricket-crazy India, and Sharma is one of the top actresses in the multi-billion-dollar Indian film industry.
If the two stars do get hitched, theirs will be the latest in a list of Bollywood-cricket weddings.
From former India captain Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi and actress Sharmila Tagore to the recent Zaheer Khan-Sagarika Ghatge union, India has a long history of marriages between cricket players and movie stars.
Indian cricket captain Kohli to marry Bollywood star Sharma in Italy
Indian cricket captain Kohli to marry Bollywood star Sharma in Italy
Christmas Eve winner in Arkansas lands a $1.817 billion Powerball lottery jackpot
- The winning numbers were 04, 25, 31, 52 and 59, with the Powerball number being 19
- The last time someone won a Powerball jackpot on Christmas Eve was in 2011, Powerball said
ARKANSAS, USA: A Powerball ticket purchased at a gas station outside Little Rock, Arkansas, won a $1.817 billion jackpot in Wednesday’s Christmas Eve drawing, ending the lottery game’s three-month stretch without a top-prize winner.
The winning numbers were 04, 25, 31, 52 and 59, with the Powerball number being 19. The winning ticket was sold at a Murphy USA in Cabot, lottery officials in Arkansas said Thursday. No one answered the phone Thursday at the location, which was closed for Christmas. The community of roughly 27,000 people is 26 miles (42 kilometers) northeast of Little Rock.
Final ticket sales pushed the jackpot higher than previous expected, making it the second-largest in US history and the largest Powerball prize of 2025, according to www.powerball.com. The jackpot had a lump sum cash payment option of $834.9 million.
“Congratulations to the newest Powerball jackpot winner! This is truly an extraordinary, life-changing prize,” Matt Strawn, Powerball Product Group Chair and Iowa Lottery CEO, was quoted as saying by the website. “We also want to thank all the players who joined in this jackpot streak — every ticket purchased helps support public programs and services across the country.”
The prize followed 46 consecutive drawings in which no one matched all six numbers.
The last drawing with a jackpot winner was Sept. 6, when players in Missouri and Texas won $1.787 billion.
Organizers said it is the second time the Powerball jackpot has been won by a ticket sold in Arkansas. It first happened in 2010.
The last time someone won a Powerball jackpot on Christmas Eve was in 2011, Powerball said. The company added that the sweepstakes also has been won on Christmas Day four times, most recently in 2013.
Powerball’s odds of 1 in 292.2 million are designed to generate big jackpots, with prizes growing as they roll over when no one wins. Lottery officials note that the odds are far better for the game’s many smaller prizes.
“With the prize so high, I just bought one kind of impulsively. Why not?” Indianapolis glass artist Chris Winters said Wednesday.
Tickets cost $2, and the game is offered in 45 states plus Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands.
