Sports World On December 14, 2023: India Beat South Africa By 106 Runs In 3rd T20I; Rajasthan March Into Vijay Hazare Trophy Final - As It Happened

11:50pm: IND Beat RSA!
Kuldeep Yadav bags a magnificent fifer on his birthday to help India beat South Africa by a whopping 106 runs in the third T20I and level the series 1-1 in Johannesburg. Read more about Kuldeep's performance here.

10:20pm: IND Vs RSA, Innings Update
India have posted a strong 201 runs on the board in the first innings against South Africa in the third T20I in Johannesburg. Skipper Suryakumar Yadav smashed a 55-ball century to power the visitors past 200. Read more about Surya's knock here.

9:50pm: Rajasthan March Into VHT Final
Rajasthan have scripted an incredible turnaround in the second innings to march into the final of Vijay Hazare Trophy 2023, where they will meet Haryana. Captain Deepak Hooda smashed a fabulous 128-ball 180 to guide his team home. Read the match report here.

8:05pm: IND Vs RSA Toss Update
India have lost the toss and been asked to bat first by South Africa in the third T20I. The visitors must win this match if they are to salvage the series, since the Proteas are leading 1-0. Follow the match live here. 

6:40pm: Vijay Hazare Update
In the second semi-final of Vijay Hazare Trophy 2023, Rajasthan are tottering at 28/3 in reply to Karnataka's total of 282/8 in the first innings. The winner of this match will meet Haryana in the final.

5pm: IND Lose To GER 1-4 
India colts have lost to Germany 1-4 in the semi-finals of the FIH Men's Junior Hockey World Cup and with that, their hopes of advancing in the tournament end.

4:30pm: IND-W Rack Up 410/7 On Day 1
Powered by a string of good partnerships and half-centuries from Jemimah Rodrigues, Sateesh Shubha, Yastika Bhatia and Deepti Sharma (unbeaten on 60), India have ended the first day with an imposing 410 runs on the board for the loss of seven wickets.

4:10pm: Shreyas Iyer To Captain KKR In IPL 2024
Indian middle-order batter Shreyas Iyer will lead Kolkata Knight Riders in the IPL 2024, the management announced on Thursday. The 29-year-old had missed the entire IPL 2023 season because of a back injury that required surgery in London in April, forcing KKR to give captaincy to Nitish Rana.

4:00 PM: Cricket Update
A David Warner-led Australia finished at 346/5 at the end of Day 1 of their first Test match with Pakistan. Warner scored 164 runs in 211 balls before being removed by Aamer Jamal. Australia will resume their innings at the start of Day 2 with Mitchell Marsh and Alex Carey on the crease. 

3:30 PM: IPL Races To 10 Bil Value
Indian Premier League is now a decacorn with a valuation of 10.7 billion USD, making it one of the most prominent sporting leagues in the world - and one that has become a beacon for other similar models in the game.  

Read more about it here. 

2:30 PM: Cricket Update 

David Warner, whom we left at 100 and leisurely hitting the Pakistan bowlers for boundaries, has crossed the 150-run mark in Perth! The Aussie opener is in blistering form and has helped his team cross the 300-run threshold en-route to a massive first-innings target. What a show by the veteran!

2:00 PM: What's More To Come? 

Much, much more sporting action remains in the day, not least India's third T20I against South Africa. 

Karnataka face Rajasthan in the Vijay Hazare Trophy 2023 Semi-finals, with the winner moving on to play Haryana in the Final. Karnataka won the toss earlier in the day and chose to bat first. 

A little while later, India will face Germany in the FIH Men's Hockey Junior World Cup 2023 Semi-finals. India beat the Netherlands in dramatic circumstances in the Quarters and have a chance of contesting for the title!

1:00 PM: Happy Birthday Kuldeep Yadav! 

The Indian spinner turns 29 today! He is the only individual in the history of the Indian Men's Cricket Team to take TWO international hattricks. Those six wickets mean that Kuldeep is 254 in 142 games at the time of writing.

12:00 PM: Cricket Update

Fireworks in Perth! David Warner was at his brilliant best this morning as Australia took on Pakistan in the first Test match of their bilateral series at the Optus Stadium. Batting positively, Warner sent balls flying all over the pitch as he raced to his ton, including one from Shaheen Shah Afridi. 

Watch the shot here. 

11:00 AM: Cricket Update

The Indian Women's National Cricket Team has handed Test debuts to Jemimah Rodrigues, Shubha Satheesh, and Renuka Thakur for the England bout in Navi Mumbai! The Harmanpreet Kaur-led side is playing its first home Test since 2014. 

Read more here. 

10:30 AM: Shami Up For National Honour!

India National Cricket Team pacer Mohammed Shami is up for the prestigious Arjuna Award as per the nominations list released by the organizers. Shami was key to India's run to the ODI World Cup final and finished as the tournament's top wicket-taker. 

Meanwhile, Badminton's Men's Doubles pairing of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty is among the nominees for the Khel Ratna. 

Read the full list of nominations here. 

9:30 AM: Cricket Update 

The Indian Women's National Cricket Team will bat first against England in the pair's one-off Test in Mumbai; IND-W lost two of the three T20Is they competed in against ENG-W in the bygone week. 

Elsewhere, David Warner has coasted to a half-century in Australia's first Test match against Pakistan at the Optus Stadium. Warner and Usman Khwaja's opening partnership has steered the hosts toward 100 without the loss of a wicket in a bitter blow to the visiting Pakistan team. 

9:00 AM: Champions League Night Recap 

There was drama aplenty in the UEFA Champions League 2023/24 as the group stage screeched to a halt with several passengers hurtling, devastatingly, outside the carriage and into the cold, uncertain night. Newcastle United were prime among those; pitched in the 'Group of Death', the Magpies came in dead last to exit European competitions in their entirety. Manchester City, meanwhile, registered their sixth win in six group games en route to their title defence in the knockouts. Barcelona, though, suffered a shock defeat to Royal Antwerp, one that had no ultimate bearing on either side's final standing in their group. 

Here are the results from the night before: 

RB Leipzig 2-1 Young Boys

Crvena Zvezda 2-3 Manchester City 

Royal Antwerp 3-2 FC Barcelona

FC Porto 5-3 Shakhtar Donetsk

Borussia Dortmund 1-1 Paris Saint-Germain 

Newcastle United 1-2 AC Milan 

Celtic 2-1 Feyenoord

Atletico Madrid 2-0 Lazio