The Committee of Administrators confirmed that that the 10th edition of the Indian Premier League season will get under way on April 5th, 2017, as per the original schedule, a PTI report stated, “The IPL 2017 season will commence as scheduled from 5th April 2017. The IPL operational timelines for 2017 season will be communicated shortly by the BCCI/IPL management team,” a media release said.

The four-member panel also had assurance for franchises and the appointment of vendors for the upcoming season, “The Committee of Administrators (COA) met the concerned BCCI officials today to take stock of the urgent and important matters mainly concerning the successful conduct of IPL 2017”

“The COA further assures the Franchisees and all the stakeholders that all the IPL preparations will be promptly dealt with under the supervision and directions of the COA by the BCCI/IPL management team,” the release added.

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Cricket

  • Gautam Gambhir led from the front with a 44-ball 61 as Delhi beat Haryana by five wickets in a Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy T20 tournament. Jammu and Kashmir beat Himachal Pradesh by 18 runs while Punjab beat Services by a slender margin of six runs. Widdhiman Saha starred in Bengal’s 10-wicket thrashing of Assam.  
  • Veteran batsman and U-19 skipper Rahul Dravid categorically stated that apart from Bombay, none of the state associations monitor the progress of their youth players, “Nobody else calls. You think that being a former India player and being a coach you find lot of associations wanted to call you up and ask you about the players, but I had only conversations with the Bombay guys,” Dravid said.
  • Delhi U-19 captain Jonty Sidhu will be leading out India in the two ‘Youth Tests’ against England in Nagpur, later this month. 
  • The BCCI joint secretary Amitabh Chaudhary sent an e-mail on the decisions taken by the Committee of Administrators (COA) to the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association (TNCA), which had moved the Supreme Court on one of the issues concerning the Board, reported PTI.
  • The Pakistan Cricket Board has decided to convene a round table conference with a select group of current and former players to discuss the problems affecting Pakistan cricket, “A selected member of Test players will be invited to attend the conference which will be co-chaired by Inzamam ul Haq, Chief selector and Mudassar Nazar, Director Academies, Mushtaq Ahmed Head coach, NCA will be the Coordinator of the conference,” the PCB said.
  • India U-19 bounced back from their defeat in the first youth One-day International with a facile 129-run win against England in the second on Wednesday at the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai.  
  • The Pakistani blind cricket team stunned arch-rivals India by seven wickets in New Delhi  to post their third straight win of the Blind T20 World Cup.  
  • The Supreme Court turned down a plea from the Board of Control for Cricket in India seeking only one BCCI representative to the International Cricket Council’s meeting in Dubai from February 2 to 5.

Budget 2017

The Sports Ministry got a significant budget hike for the year 2017-’18 in the wake of India’s paltry return in the Rio Olympics. Finance minister Arun Jaitley allocated the Sports Ministry a total of Rs 1,943 crore, which is Rs 351 crore more than the Rs 1,592 crore that it received last year.

Football

  • India coach Stephen Constantine opined that India have a legitimate chance to qualify from Group A in the in the 2019 AFC Asian Cup Qualifiers but warned his side that there won’t be any easy games, “I need to take you back to the draw of the World Cup Qualifiers where we were drawn with Guam and Turkmenistan and there was a generic feeling all around - ‘no problem, we will have it easy.’,” the 54-year-old was quoted as saying by PTI.
  • East Bengal wrestled back their three-point lead at the top of the table with a comfortable 2-0 win against Mumbai at the Barasat Stadium in Kolkata.  
  • Aizawl smarted from a surprise 0-2 loss to newcomers Chennai City in their last game to get three points on the board at home to DSK Shivajians. The Mizoram-based side won 1-0.    
  • Minerva Punjab and Churchill Brothers got a share of the spoils in a gritty 0-0 draw in a bottom-of-the-table I-League match at Ludhiana.  
  • Liverpool forward Roberto Firmino was fined £20,000 and barred from driving for a year after admitting to drink-driving at Liverpool Magistrates’ Court.
  • One of the mainstays over the last decade for Chelsea in defence, Branislav Ivanovic, pulled down the curtains on a nine-year spell with the Blues by sealing a move to Russian club Zenit St Petersburg on transfer deadline day.

Tennis

  • Veteran Leander Paes brushed aside retirement rumours by stating that the “opinion” of otgher people didn’t matter to him, “Whether I get another chance to play for the country in Davis Cup [does not matter]. Whatever people have to say it is their opinion. Whenever I am called for national duty, I will be ready,” Paes said.

Golf

  • Shubhankar Sharma ended with a superb seven-under-par 64 that gave him a share of the first round lead with Jazz Janewattananond of Thailand at the Bangladesh Open.

Hockey

  • Jaypee Punjab Warriors kicked off their campaign in the Hockey India League with an incredible 7-0 thrashing of Ranchi Rays in Ranchi. India’s SV Sunil grabbed a brace.
  • Canada’s became the latest international team to refuse to travel to Bangladesh over security worries, pulling out of an eight-nation tournament slated to be held in Dhaka next month, reported PTI.