The big story: Azhar Ali steps down from captaincy duties

Pakistan’s Azhar Ali relinquished captaincy duties in One-Day International cricket in the wake of his country still reeling from the after-effects of a miserable tour of Australia, where they were comprehensively beaten across formats.

After Ali took over the reins in 2015, Pakistan slipped to an all-time low of ninth in the ODI rankings, losing 18 of the 30 matches they played under him. Apart from the recent 1-4 loss to Australia, there were also crushing defeats for Pakistan in England (1-4) and Bangladesh (0-3). The team also managed to only scrape through to the ICC Champions Trophy 2017 narrowly.

The pressure on the 31-year-old Ali mounted ever since they were routed in England, but he stayed on and masterminded a 3-0 win against lowly West Indies in the United Arab Emirates. Sarfraz Ahmed, Pakistan’s Twenty20 International skipper, is expected to be handed the ODI captaincy too.

Other top stories

Cricket

  • Despite the cleanup drive in the Board of Control for Cricket in India, only Tripura and Vidarbha have adopted the recommended reforms by the Supreme Court. “The state associations are playing the wait and watch game,” an offician close to the court-appointed Committee of Administrators was quoted as saying by PTI. “The resistance is still very much there despite the ouster of the some senior BCCI office-bearers.” 
  • India U-19 coach Rahul Dravid heaped praise on youngster Shubman Gill for his displays against England in the recently concluded five-match ODI bilateral series, which India won 3-1. The Indian batting great called Gill “terrific” and praised the manner in which the 17-year-old stood up to “challenges” thrown at him to get two big hundreds.
  • A report in the Times of India stated that Supreme Court may question veterans Dravid and Sourav Ganguly playing multiple roles. Apart from coaching the U-19 side, Dravid is also the mentor of Indian Premier League franchise Delhi Daredevils. Ganguly holds multiple administrative positions, apart from being the president of the Cricket Association of Bengal. The COA reportedly wants to have talks over this.
  • Big Bash League run-machine Ben Dunk has replaced injured Chris Lynn for the upcoming T20I series against Sri Lanka.
  • Australia youngster Matt Renshaw has revealed his plans for his side’s tour against India later in the month, stating that the sweep will be a key weapon. Renshaw said the shot comes naturally to him and cited former great Matthew Hayden using it to great effect during the historic 2001 series.
  • There were a few surprises in the Sri Lanka squad for the T20s against Australia with pace ace Lasith Malinga making a comeback. Batting mainstay Dinesh Chandimal has been left out.

Football

  • The All India Football Federation announced that Stephen Constantine’s side will face Cambodia at Phnom Penh on March 22nd in a friendly. India will begin their Asian Cup qualifiers against Myanmar on March 28th away from home. 
  • Bayern Munich stated that they were “surprised” by skipper Phillip Lahm’s announcement to retire at the end of the season.
  • Juventus boss Massimiliano Allegri has added fuel to fire of speculation linking him to Arsenal at the end of the season to succeed Arsene Wenger. Allegri said he can “neither confirm or deny” the rumours, which stated that the Italian was in advanced talks at the North London club.

Tennis

  • Former world No. 1 Maria Sharapova has been invited to play at the Madrid Open in May. The Russian is scheduled to make a comeback after serving a 15-month ban in April.

Golf

  • Former world No. 1 Tiger Woods lamented that he will never end up feeling great again after suffering a series of injuries in recent time. “It was tough, it was more than brutal. There were times I needed help just to get out of bed. I feel good, not great. I don’t think I will ever feel great because it’s three back surgeries, four knee operations,” the 41-year-old said.  

Cycling

  • Cycling Federation of India secretary general Onkar Singh opined that the sport can flourish in India if the international medals come in, according to a PTI report.