Sports World, December 15, 2023: IND-W Lead By 478 Runs Against ENG-W After Day 2 In Mumbai; India Colts Lose To BAN In U-19 Asia Cup SF - As It Happened

Friday saw a cocktail of sports action across arenas. The Indian women's cricket team strengthened their grip over the one-off Test against England in Mumbai. Elsewhere, in football, NorthEast United lost 1-3 to Mohun Bagan in the Indian Super League. Meanwhile, the India also lost to Bangladesh in the semi-finals of the Under-19 ACC Asia Cup cricket tournament. Catch the highlights of all the action on Friday, December 15, 2023 here. (Cricket News | Football News | AUS vs PAK Scorecard | IND-W vs ENG-W Scorecard | December 14 Highlights)

10:20pm: New Tork To Host IND Vs PAK Clash In T20 WC - Report
The marquee India vs Pakistan match of the ICC T20 World Cup 2024 will reportedly be hosted by New York. The match will be played in a pop-up stadium on the outskirts of New York. A 34,000-seater temporary stadium will be constructed for the tournament. Read all about it here.

9:35pm: Jenson Button Back In Action At Age Of 44
Former Formula 1 world champion Jenson Button will return to top-level motorsport at the age of 44 in 2024. Button will drive the Jota Porsche 963 in the top hypercar class in the World Endurance Championship, which includes the famous 24 Hours of Le Mans race. The Englishman retired from Formula 1 in 2016 but is returning for a full season 15 years after winning his F1 title in 2009.

9:25pm: Antim Panghal Earns UWW Honour
In a fresh laurel for the talented grappler, two-time World Under-20 champion and senior Worlds bronze medallist Antim Panghal (53kg) has been named United World Wrestling's (UWW) Rising Star of the Year 2023 in the women’s section. Antim won a silver in her senior Asian championships debut, defended her U-20 World title and then won bronze at the World championships.

8:30pm: IRE Beat ZIM
Ireland lead the ODI series against Zimbabwe 1-0 after registering a comfortable win in the second ODI in Harare. The visitors easily chased down their 167-run target, getting there with 59 balls and four wickets to spare.

6:15pm: U-19 Asia Cup Update
The Bangladesh Under-19 team has beaten India by four wickets in the ACC U-19 Asia Cup semi-final. Bangladesh colts chased down the target of 189 with 43 balls to spare, knocking India out of the tournament.

5:05pm: IND-W Vs ENG-W: Stumps In Mumbai
The Indian women are in complete control in the one-off Test against England in Mumbai. At stumps, the home team were batting at 186/6, extending their lead to 478 runs. With two full days to go, they are well placed to register a memorable win.

4:38pm: Racewalker Priyanka To Train In Australia
Indian sports ministry's Mission Olympic Cell has approved racewalker Priyanka Goswami's proposal to train in Australia under coach Brent Vallance. Priyanka, who has qualified for the Paris Olympics, will be training in a high-altitude training centre near Canberra, Australia and will also compete in a few local competitions to prepare for next year's continental showpiece.  

4:33pm: ESP-W Climb To Top Of FIFA Rankings
Women's World Cup winner Spain rose atop the FIFA rankings published Friday after advancing to the final four of the UEFA Nations League. Spain finished top of a Nations League group this month that included Sweden, which had led the most recent FIFA rankings published in August after the Women's World Cup.

4:30pm: U-19 Asia Cup Update
The semi-final between India colts and Bangladesh in the Under-19 Asia Cup is interestingly poised. The Indian team set a 189-run target for Bangladesh, who have lost three wickets and scored 69 runs in the first 20 overs. The required run-rate is four, but going has been slow and the game can swing wither way.

4:24pm: IND-W Vs ENG-W Update
India are losing wickets in regular intervals, but are still sitting pretty in the one-off Test against England in Mumbai. The hosts have lost six wickets for the loss of 140 runs in 33 overs, but thanks to the humongous 292-run lead in the first innings, are in a commanding position. They lead by 432 runs, with over two days still to play.

4:15pm: ZIM All Out For 166
Ireland have skittled out Zimbabwe for 166 runs in the second ODI in Harare. Josh Little was the wrecker-in-chief for the bowling side, as he scalped six wickets for just 36 runs in his quota of 10 overs.

4pm: PAK Vs AUS - Stumps In Perth
Pakistan are two wickets down for the loss of 132 runs at the end of Day 2 in the first Test against Australia in Perth. They trail by 355 runs and have a mountain to climb, if they are to minimize the first-innings deficit. Imam-ul-Haq is unbeaten on 38 for the Men In Green, while Khurram Shahzad is batting on 7.  

3:45pm: Messi's Shirts Fetch Big Bucks!
A collection of Lionel Messi's match-worn Argentina shirts from the FIFA World Cup 2022 has been sold for 7.8 million USD at a Sotheby's Auction in New York City. The memorabilia were bought by an anonymous bidder and became the most-expensive Messi-related artefacts in history. 

Read more here. 

2:00pm: Cricket Update 
A sensational outing by the Indian Women's Cricket Team has seen them establish a near-300-run lead over England on Day 2 of their One-off Test match in Navi Mumbai. Deepti Sharma has been India's star with the ball, claiming five wickets in just 5.3 overs to help India limit their opponents to a low score. 

1:00pm: Australia End First Innings On A High
Led by brilliant innings from David Warner and Mitchell Marsh, Australia set a 487-run total against Pakistan on Day 2, sending Pakistan to bat for the first time in an attempt to seal an early win. 

11:00am: BCCI To Retire '7'?
As per reports, BCCI has decided to retire the number seven from the pool available to new and existing players as an homage to the legendary MS Dhoni! Players will no longer be able to don the number 7 jersey if that is the case - along with the number 10 that was taken out of the pile following Sachin Tendulkar's retirement. 

Read more here. 

10:00am: Cricket Update 
State of play, AUS vs PAK: Australia racked up a 476-run total for the loss of seven wickets pre-lunch on Day 2 of their home Test series against Pakistan. After David Warner's brilliant 211-ball-164 on Day 1, Mitchell Marsh took over the duties and raced to 90 off 106 - he will be looking to convert that into a ton when play resumes after lunch. 

Vijay Hazare Trophy, ICYMI: Rajasthan beat Karnataka to join Haryana in the Vijay Hazare Trophy 2023 Final, after the latter had secured their ticket by defeating Tamil Nadu. The pair will contest the trophy bout on December 16. 

9:00am: Late-night Football 
Liverpool, Brighton, and West Ham United all topped their respective groups in the UEFA Europa League 2023-24 - the former in spite of losing their final group game to Union Saint-Gilloise. Bayer Leverkusen, meanwhile, registered their sixth win in six games to enter the UEL Round-of-16 as group winners. Jose Mourinho's AS Roma, however, will need to contest the playoff first with the third-ranked teams from the UEFA Champions League 2023-24 groups after they finished second. 

Here are select results from the UEFA Europa League and the UEFA Europa Conference League(*): 

Union Saint-Gilloise 2-1 Liverpool

Brighton 1-0 Marseille

West Ham United 2-0 SC Freiburg 

Bayer Leverkusen 5-1 FK Molde 

AS Roma 3-0 Sheriff 

Real Betis 2-3 Rangers 

Rennes 2-3 Villarreal 

Aberdeen 2-0 Eintracht Frankfurt*

Zrinjski 1-1 Aston Villa*

Ferencvaros 1-1 Fiorentina*