Wrestler Virender Singh was on Tuesday honoured with Padma Shri at the civilian awards ceremony at Rashtrapati Bhavan.

He received the award from President Ram Nath Kovind. The President presented Padma Vibhushan, Padma Bhushan and Padma Shri Awards for 2021.

Veteran Indian table tennis player Mouma Das was also honoured with the Padma Shri on Tuesday.

On Monday, Olympian badminton player PV Sindhu was awarded the Padma Bhushan, India’s third-highest civilian award while women’s hockey team skipper Rani Rampal was honoured with the Padma Shri award.

Rani Rampal had led the women’s hockey team in Tokyo Olympics 2020 held earlier this year.

Padma Shri is the country’s fourth-highest civilian award. The Padma awards are the country’s highest civilian honours and are given in three categories: Padma Vibhushan (for exceptional and distinguished service), Padma Bhushan (distinguished service of higher-order) and Padma Shri (distinguished service).

England skipper Eoin Morgan on Tuesday said that his side isn’t strong favourites for the Men’s T20 World Cup semi-final clash against New Zealand.

England and New Zealand will be locking horns in the first semi-final of the ongoing ICC Men’s T20 World Cup at the Zayed Cricket Stadium on Wednesday. “It is a really good compliment for the changing room to all of the players more so to the head coach and support staff who have created an environment where all the players come in and they thrive in it. We have always thought about having great depth within our squad and as a whole, there have been some instances where we have to put out replacement teams but I think in doing so, you can have 30-40 players in domestic setup who can play international cricket but if the right environment is not there, it does not matter which eleven you pick, they would not be able to perform,” said Morgan while replying to an ANI query during a virtual pre-match press conference.

When asked whether England is favourites for the semi-final, Morgan said: “I would not say strong favourites. New Zealand has a full-strength squad. Our guys are extremely excited about the challenge of facing New Zealand. We need to play good cricket to beat them.”

“We cannot wait, it is a big achievement that we came out of our group and topping the table in the way we did, now it is all about producing the best game. We know how good and consistent New Zealand has been. They have always been extremely competitive, they are always around the semi-finals,” he added.

Opening batter Jason Roy was ruled out of the World Cup due to an injury he suffered against South Africa, but Morgan said that the mood within the camp is alright and the team is buzzing to go ahead.

NZ MOVED ON FROM 2019 WC

NZ skipper Kane Williamson on Tuesday recalled the “amazing” 2019 ODI World Cup final and said the Kiwis have “moved on” from the defeat.

England and New Zealand will lock horns on Wednesday for the first time in an ICC knockout game since the 2019 ODI World Cup final. In the final, the tournament witnessed a first-ever Super Over in which England defeated New Zealand to lift their maiden title on the basis of boundary countback rule at Lords. Williamson, while saying that the result was not in the hands of New Zealand, expressed relief that the game will not be decided by the boundary countback rule now.

“I mean it was an amazing game of cricket and obviously and in the latest stages it was highly competitive. Few things didn’t quite go our way and that’s how it was,” said Williamson in a virtual press conference.

“It was an amazing game to be a part of and the aftermath of the game was very difficult to understand. You sign up and play by rules and you move on and look forward to next challenges and our focus is on that only,” said Williamson.

There was an exciting fight between England and New Zealand in the last ODI World Cup final.

A match that anyone could have won. Now these two teams will face each other in the semi-finals of T20 World Cup. The players of both the teams are mature enough and I don’t think there will be any pressure on any team in that match. Both the teams will enter this match with a new mindset.

Although New Zealand players are part of in many leagues, England players have more experience playing in this format.

New Zealand’s team is the underdog in almost every ICC tournament. Their players play more freely. On many occasions, these players have been seen performing beyond their abilities. Their bowling is strong. Fast bowlers like Boult, Southee, Adam Milne, all-rounders like Neesham and superb spinners like Santner and Sodhi.

In fact it is a contest between New Zealand’s bowling and England’s batting. England has the advantage of more power-hitters in the team. The biggest challenge for New Zealand will be to restrict these power-hitters.

The truth is that even New Zealand bowlers solve their captain’s problems a lot. By the way, Kane Williamson is also a very settled captain. He proves to be a big weapon of the team on the basis of captaincy and batting. He has the ability to make good use of his resources in whatever conditions are there.

Saba Karim is a former cricketer who has played 34 ODIs as a wicketkeeper batsman for Team India. Views expressed are his own.

The All-India Senior Selection Committee has picked a 16-member squad for the upcoming T20I series against New Zealand. India is set to play three T20Is starting from November 17, 2021.

Rohit Sharma will be leading the side after Virat Kohli stepped down as the skipper of the T20I side. Kohli had the T20 World Cup as his last assignment as skipper in the shortest format of the game.

KL Rahul has been named as vice-captain. Ruturaj Gaikwad, Harshal Patel, Venkatesh Iyer, Avesh Khan, Axar Patel have also been named in the squad.

New Zealand will play a T20I series and then follow it up with two Test matches. The T20Is will be played on November 17 in Jaipur, November 19 in Ranchi and November 21 in Kolkata. The two Tests will be played in Kanpur (November 25-29) and a test match in Mumbai (December 3-7).

Meanwhile, From the T20 World Cup squad, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ishan Kishan, Bhuvneshwar Kumar have been retained and they will be seen in action.

Hardik Pandya has not been named in the squad and it is not known whether he has been rested or he has been dropped from the squad. The allrounder did not bowl against Pakistan in the T20 World Cup, and he returned to bowling action in the second game against New Zealand.

Kohli had stepped down as the skipper of the T20I side. Kohli had the T20 World Cup as his last assignment as skipper in the shortest format of the game.

India’s T20I squad: Rohit Sharma (Captain), KL Rahul (Vice-Captain), Ruturaj Gaikwad, Shreyas Iyer, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant (wicket-keeper), Ishan Kishan (wicket-keeper), Venkatesh Iyer, Yuzvendra Chahal, R Ashwin, Axar Patel, Avesh Khan, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Deepak Chahar, Harshal Patel and Mohd. Siraj.

Daniil Medvedev was all praise for Novak Djokovic on Sunday, after he lost to the Serbian 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 in the Paris Masters final. World No. 1 held his nerve on Sunday to capture his sixth Paris Masters title by defeating the defending champion. This victory in Paris also marked his record-breaking 37th ATP Masters 1000 crown. “I have the feeling that people [are] starting more and more to… respect what he has done in tennis more and more, because he continues to beat the records,” said Medvedev as per atptour.com.

“Only this year he beat the records for being No. 1 for most weeks, 310 it was, and now it’s much more [345]. He got to 20 [Grand] Slams [and] almost [completed] a calendar Slam.”

“There are going to be new people coming to tennis [in the future] who are just going to read in Wikipedia, or whatever, what were the results, who was the World No. 1 for most weeks, for most times in the end, and they are going to see Novak everywhere. That’s when people are going to start to understand, ‘Okay, that’s amazing what he has done,” he added.

This was also the 48th match win of a standout season (48-6) for Djokovic as he broke a tie with Rafael Nadal for most Masters 1000 titles. Notably, the Serbian secured year-end No. 1 in the ATP Rankings for a record seventh time on Saturday by reaching the Paris final. It was the first Paris final to feature the top two players in the ATP Rankings since Stefan Edberg played Boris Becker in 1990 final.

Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) on Monday announced details of Australia’s first tour of Pakistan since 1998, which will take place in March and April 2022, and comprise three Tests, three ODIs and one T20I.

The Tests will take place in Karachi (March 3-7), Rawalpindi (March 12-16) and Lahore (March 21-25), while Lahore will be the venue for the four white-ball matches to be played from March 29 to April 5. The Tests will be played as part of the ICC World Test Championship, while the ODIs will be connected to the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup Super League – a 13-team event from which the seven highest-placed sides and the hosts, India, will qualify directly for the event proper in 2023.

PCB Chairman Ramiz Raja, who played eight Tests and 18 ODIs against Australia: “I am delighted to welcome Australia to Pakistan. From a personal point of view, it pleases me no end that we’ll be engaged in a three-Test match series, connoisseurs delight.”

“Australia is one of the high-performing sides and them playing in our backyard for the first time after a gap of 24 years will be a special treat for the fans. Likewise, it will be a great opportunity for the Australia cricketers to not only play at our iconic venues but also feel and enjoy the respect, love and hospitality that this great country offers, something which most of their previous generation of cricketers missed out by playing offshore,” he added.