Smriti Mandhana ready to take over India Women’s captaincy, spells ou…

India women’s cricket team star Smriti Mandhana is ready take over the reins from Harmanpreet Kaur as the captain across formats of the game. The highest run-getter among the current lot, the batter from Maharashtra currently serves as the vice-captain. It has been ten years since Harmanpreet became the captain of the Indian team, and it is about time she paves way for a new leader.

Smriti Mandhana ready to become India captain

In an interview with the Times of India, Mandhana responded to a question on her willingness to accept captaincy amid talks of leadership change with an optimistic, “Yes, of course. I’m ready.” The batter has captained India Women in 4 ODIs and 18 T20Is. Her most commendable run as captain came in the Women’s Premier League as she led Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) to two WPL titles (2024 and 2026).

Meanwhile, Kaur led India to their maiden ODI World Cup title last year. The T20 World Cup earlier in June was a golden opportunity for India Women to add another trophy to their cabinet. However, that was not to be as they were knocked out of the tournament in the group stage after losing to Australia and South Africa. argolida.life

On being asked about India’s failed T20 WC campaign, Smriti Mandhana pointed out that the team had repeated mistakes made in the past and had failed to make corrections, leading to their campgain being derailed. She stated that there was a need to have a clear roadmap leading to the next T20 World Cup in 2028.

“It’s important to introspect and learn from mistakes. Unfortunately, we haven’t learnt enough from our past errors and have continued to repeat them. Going forward, there needs to be a clear roadmap until the 2028 T20 World Cup on how we want to approach the format and what we need to do as a team,” Mandhana pointed out.

Mandhana also spoke about her philosophy as a captain and stated that she believes in creating a positive team culture.

“For me, creating a positive team culture is most important. Every player should feel comfortable expressing themselves and being who they are. When people feel valued and trusted, they tend to perform better,” Mandhana added.

The post Smriti Mandhana ready to take over India Women’s captaincy, spells out her roadmap as leader appeared first on Inside Sport India.

The Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA), following its Apex Council meeting, announced pension support for spouses of deceased first-class cricketers on Tuesday.

MCA also acknowledged efforts of its ground staff while announcing a special bonus of Rs 25 lakh for their work during the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup, IPL and T20 Mumbai League matches.

“The Apex Council’s decisions are guided by three key principles — respect for our cricketing heritage, welfare of our cricketing family and readiness for the future. Supporting the spouses of deceased first-class cricketers, modernising our competitions, embracing AI-led innovation and recognising the contribution of our ground staff are all steps in that direction,” MCA president Ajinkya Naik said.

Mumbai’s spin-bowling great Padmakar Shivalkar, who claimed 589 first-class wickets in 124 matches, passed away in March last year. Shivalkar’s wife Padmaja welcomed MCA’s decision. “It’s a good decision. By this, MCA is not just providing support to the spouses of their former players, but also keeping the memories of these players alive. This [pension] will be a big support for us [families],” Padmaja told mid-day on Tuesday.

“The idea is to honour some of our late cricketers like Shivalkar, Milind Rege, Abdul Ismail, Sharad Hazare and others for their services to Mumbai cricket. The monthly pension amount will be between Rs 15,000 and Rs 30,000 according to the criteria decided by the association,” MCA secretary Dr Unmesh Khanvilkar told mid-day.

The 2026 season of The Hundred is upon us right in the middle of the cricketing season in the United Kingdom. Today, we will be looking at the schedule for The Hundred Men’s 2026.

There have been five seasons of this competition, which offers a unique twist to limited-overs cricket. Instead of a 20-over game, common for franchise cricket, each team plays only 100 balls, in five or 10-ball spells.

For the past three seasons, the Oval Invincibles have been The Hundred Men’s champions, which brings us to the major change we will see this year.

With IPL franchises investing in the league, the Invincibles are now primarily owned by Reliance Industries, the Mumbai Indians’ owners. The team has thus been renamed MI London

Another team that has gone through a brand shift is the side formerly known as Manchester Originals. Sanjiv Goenka, the owner of the IPL franchise Lucknow Super Giants, bought this team. So the Manchester side will now be called the Manchester Super Giants.

The third and final team change with IPL investments comes from the owners of Sunrisers Hyderabad, who bought out the Northern Superchargers and named them Sunrisers Leeds.

Men’s The Hundred 2026 Schedule

With all that addressed, we will now look at The Hundred 2026 schedule. Which team will play which, on what day, in what stadium, and at what time? Here is The Hundred Men’s Schedule for the 2026 season.

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Arlington (Texas) [US], July 15 (ANI): France captain Kylian Mbappe admitted his side fell well short of the standards required in a FIFA World Cup semi-final after a 2-0 defeat to Spain ended Les Bleus’ hopes of reaching a third successive final, reported Reuters.

Spain produced a disciplined display at AT&T Stadium to book their place in the World Cup final for only the second time in their history, with Mikel Oyarzabal’s first-half penalty and Pedro Porro’s second-half strike sealing victory. The result also marked the first World Cup final since 2018 that will not feature France.

Reflecting on the defeat, Mbappe said France failed both tactically and technically against a Spanish side that controlled the midfield through Rodri and Fabian Ruiz.

“We were three against two in midfield, and against Spain, that’s hard," Mbappe said, as per Reuters. “Fabian and Rodri had plenty of time to play. There was a lack of communication in the press. I think we should have done a man-to-man press and forced them to run with us."

France entered the contest on the back of six consecutive wins and 16 goals in the tournament, but struggled to impose themselves as Spain dominated possession and dictated the tempo.

Mbappe revealed France had intended to press high and disrupt Spain’s build-up, but the plan failed to materialise.

“We didn’t play the game we wanted, technically, tactically. When you don’t do what you have to do in a World Cup semifinal, you don’t win," said the France skipper.

The Real Madrid forward was also critical of his team’s execution in possession, saying careless play prevented France from taking advantage of the few opportunities they created.

“We were too sloppy technically. We could not hurt them when we could have," he said.

Spain took the lead in the 22nd minute after Lamine Yamal won a penalty, which Mikel Oyarzabal calmly converted. Didier Deschamps’ problems worsened when defender William Saliba was forced off through injury before the break.

The France coach introduced Manu Kone, Desire Doue and Rayan Cherki in search of a response after halftime, but Spain doubled their advantage just after the hour mark when Pedro Porro exchanged passes with Dani Olmo before beating Mike Maignan with a composed finish.

France threatened briefly through Aurelien Tchouameni and Mbappe, but Spain’s defence held firm to register its sixth clean sheet in seven matches at the tournament.

Mbappe, who entered the semi-final with eight goals, was unable to add to his tally and remains level with Argentina captain Lionel Messi in the race for the Golden Boot.

Accepting responsibility as captain, the 27-year-old said the defeat was a collective disappointment.

“As the captain, I have to take all the responsibility, and I have no problem with that. We wanted to go to the final. We didn’t go," he concluded.

France will now face the loser of the second semi-final between Argentina and England in Saturday’s third-place playoff, while Spain awaits the winner as they chase their second FIFA World Cup title. (ANI)

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