Novak Djokovic who is making his long-awaited return to action this week at the Paris Masters, has set his eye on the year-end No. 1 finish in the ATP Rankings.The five-time champion in Paris/Bercy will play his first tournament since falling to Daniil Medvedev in the final of the US Open. Djokovic has also signed up to play doubles for just the third time this season (ATP Cup, Mallorca) and will team with countryman Filip Krajinovic. The Serbian superstar has an opportunity to clinch his seventh year-end No. 1 finish in the ATP Rankings, which would break his tie with Pete Sampras for the most year-end No. 1 finishes in history.

“The year-end No. 1 is on the line between Medvedev and myself, and I’m in a pretty good position,” atptour.com quoted Djokovic as a saying. “That’s obviously the goal for the end of the season other than trying to do well in the Davis Cup with the national team. So hopefully I can have a strong finish of the season and clinch that year-end No. 1.”

Djokovic will take confidence knowing he is a five-time Paris Masters champion. In his past six appearances, the Serbian has lifted the trophy four times, made another final and advanced to the quarter-finals.

“I’m pleased to be back. I have been training really well [the] past couple of weeks. And I have had plenty of success in Paris-Bercy over the years, so that gives me enough reason to believe that I can do well, and I can go far in the tournament,” Djokovic said.

The 36-time ATP Masters 1000 winner will begin his run against Italian Fabio Fognini (8-0) or Hungarian Marton Fucsovics (3-0). But Djokovic knows that he will not just have to deal with tough opponents. This is his first event since his disappointing defeat at Flushing Meadows in New York.

India pacer Jasprit Bumrah on Sunday said star spinner Ravichandran Ashwin adds a lot of value to the team but whether his presence had made a difference against New Zealand is difficult to judge following the team’s defeat. Trent Boult and Ish Sodhi starred with the ball before Daryl Mitchell smashed 49 off 35 to help New Zealand defeat India by eight wickets on Sunday in the ongoing T20 World Cup. Bumrah said in hindsight numerous questions can be answered but during the game, there was dew in the second innings which made things a little tough for India.

“In hindsight, we can say a lot of things. In hindsight we could have wished to score a lot more runs or got, lost more wickets. Obviously, he is an experienced bowler, he adds a lot of value in our bowling attack whenever he comes.

“But in hindsight, it is very difficult as I told you there is dew in second innings and when the balls don’t grip the options becomes very rare and very little. In hindsight you may say he might have made a difference but it is too difficult to judge right now,” Bumrah said while replying to a query from ANI in the post-match press conference. New Zealand produced a stunning bowling display as India batsmen struggled on the crease. Bumrah said India wanted to have extra runs which made the side go on the field with an attacking mindset.

“I think as a batting unit what we were trying to do is we know in the second innings dew does play a massive role so we tried to give us a cushion to have some extra runs,” said Bumrah.

“In doing that, we played a lot of attacking shots and that didn’t come off today as we know that in second innings batting does get easier,” he added. Both India and New Zealand had lost their opening Super 12s matches to Pakistan and came into this one knowing that defeat would leave their hopes of reaching the semi-final hanging by a thread.

“In sports, there are good days and there are bad days. I try not to get very high when good days happen and not very low when low (bad) days happen. Try to stay strong and move forward. That’s what I can say,” Bumrah signed off.

Legendary cricketer Sachin Tendulkar has explained the “critical” point where Team India went wrong on Sunday against New Zealand in the ongoing T20 World Cup.

New Zealand produced a stunning bowling display to beat India by eight wickets and get their campaign up and running. “From the ball one, the bowling changes of Williamson were top notch. The planning was good and in the first six overs we were 35/2 and from those 35 runs the 20 came in five overs,” said Tendulkar in his Facebook video.

“After six overs till 10th over we only scored 13 runs, so according to me that was a critical point where we missed out on capitalising. Those easy singles were not available and that forced our batters to play the big shot,” he added.Both India and New Zealand had lost their opening Super 12s matches to Pakistan and came into this one knowing that defeat would leave their hopes of reaching the semi-final hanging by a thread.

But New Zealand got off to a great start and picked early wickets to put India on the back foot. At 48 for four, India were in all sorts of trouble and while Rishabh Pant and Hardik Pandya consolidated, they did so at the expense of the scoring rate as India went 71 balls without a boundary.

“When Pant came into bat, immediately spinners end was changed by Williamson. Again a smart move. All in all, I felt India was playing a catching of game because how New Zealand dominated the game it was a tough time for India batsmen which forced them to play the big shot,” said the former Indian batsman.

Tendulkar also praised Williamson and termed him a “rock” which has protected the Kiwis. “Then Daryl Mitchell and Williamson stitched an important stand. Williamson is like a rock for the New Zealand team if he is on a wicket he controls the game well. Mitchell played some decent shots and rotated the strikes,” said Tendulkar.

India, meanwhile, are now relying on other results if they are to make the semi-finals, with a clash against Afghanistan next up in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday.

These days the toss has become very important in the ongoing T20 World Cup in UAE. The teams winning the toss are deciding to field first and that is going in their favour.

Actually it is a bit easier to bowl first in UAE conditions. Later, due to dew, bowlers are finding it difficult to catch the ball. Not only the finger spinners but also the wrist spinners are facing more problems. In such a situation, it is interesting to see how the captain who loses the toss can avoid defeat.

I think the team batting first should score 175 plus. Losing least wickets in the power-play and scoring around 55 on the scoreboard during this time will help the team to score big. After that the period of tough examination will start. For bowlers, bowling later is no less than a litmus test. For this it is necessary that the fielders give good support to their bowlers by doing excellent fielding. This problem can be solved only with their cooperation.

It is surprising that Yuzvendra Chahal was not selected for this World Cup. The team has invested a lot in him. He could have used his experience in such situations. Wrist spinners can face more problems in these conditions. Spinners using fingers find it difficult to grip the ball.

This trouble cannot be avoided. Except that the fielders make presence on the field with outstanding work. Those who are fast bowlers, they can use slowers and cutters along with speed. The spinner can diversify his bowling by making more use of the crease. Plus he can make a big difference by changing the speed and changing the flight.

(The author is Virat Kohli’s coach and also a Dronacharya Awardee)

Jos Buttler smashed his maiden ton before England displayed an all-round performance to defeat Sri Lanka by 26 runs in the Super 12 match of the T20 World Cup here at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium on Monday. England scored 163 in 20 overs and then restricted Sri Lanka to 137 to register their fourth win in four games in the tournament. Chasing 164, Sri Lanka got off to a worst possible start as they lost opener Pathum Nissanka in the first over. Charith Asalanka and Kusal Perera also departed in the powerplay reducing Sri Lanka to 34/3 in 5.1 overs.

Adil Rashid dimissed both batsmen as Sri Lanka looked clueless during the chase. Avishka Fernando and Bhanuka Rajapaksa tried to score some runs but soon departed leaving Sri Lanka reeling at 76/5.

Wanindu Hasaranga and skipper Dasun Shanaka then stitched a 53-run stand for Sri Lanka but tight fielding and super bowling in the death overs saw the Asian side falling 27-run short.

Earlier, put into bat first, England got off to a bad start but Jos Buttler masterclass helped the side reach 163/4 in the 20 overs. Buttler slammed a blistering ton as England scored 163 after a bad start. The Eoin Morgan-led side scored 116 runs in the final 10 overs courtesy of Buttler’s first hundred in the T20Is. England were reduced to 35/3 but Buttler and Morgan stitched a 112-run stand for the fourth wicket to revive the innings.

Scores: England 163/4 (Jos Buttler 101, Morgan 40; Hasaranga 3-21) vs Sri Lanka 137/10 (Hasaranga 34, Rajapaksa 26; Moeen Ali 2-15)

India’s Akash Kumar stormed into the quarter-finals at the 2021 AIBA Men’s Boxing Championships with a comprehensive victory against Puerto Rico’s Caleb Tirado in Belgrade, Serbia on Sunday.

Both the boxers, playing their first match in the competition, started with an aggressive note and traded punches continuously in a highly busy first two rounds of the 54kg Last-16 bout. The 21-year-old Indian had received a walkover in his opening match while Tirade was given a bye in the first round. The tallest among the two pugilists, Akash made good use of his height and landed some sharp punches to tilt the momentum in his favour. Having taken a comfortable lead after the first two rounds, Akash showed tactical brilliance and started maintaining distance in the final round which denied his opponent any chance to make a comeback into the match.

With this dominating 5-0 triumph, Akash is now a win away from confirming a medal for the country at the ongoing Championships.

Later tonight, three more Indian pugilists will play their respective pre-quarterfinal bouts. In the +92kg category, Narender will be up against experienced campaigner and 2006 Asian Games champion Tajikistan’s Jakhon Qurbonov. While current Asian champion Sanjeet (92kg) and debutant Nishant Dev (71kg) will play against Georgia’s Giorgi Tchigladze and Mexico’s Alvarez Verde respectively.

Earlier, in the matches played late on Saturday, seasoned boxer Shiva Thapa made his way into the Last-16 stage with an easy 5-0 victory against John Brown in the 63.5kg round-of-32 contest. The five-time Asian champion put up a dominating show against his opponent from Sierra Leone to continue his winning run at the tournament.