Sports World: SL Thrash BAN By 328 Runs In 1st Test, BCCI Announces Full IPL 2024 Schedule - As It Happened

Here are the highlights of the sports world news and events for 25 March 2024. In the Indian Premier League 2024 clash between Royal Challengers Bengaluru and Punjab Kings at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru, RCB beat PBKS by four wickets thanks to Virat Kohli's 77-run knock and Dinesh Karthik's cameo in the end. BCCI also announced the full schedule of the IPL 2024 and the good news is that all matches are going to be held in India. Get all the highlights of the sports news and events from 24 March 2024, here. Cricket News | Football News)

Andy Murray was frustrated with umpire Carlos Bernardes as he bowed out of the Miami Open after a dramatic three-set defeat to Tomas Machac in the round of 32.

Murray appeared to be furious with Bernardes for failing to control the movement of spectators around the Butch Buchholz court as he lost his serve at the end of the second set.

Machac then raced into a 3-0 lead in the decider and eventually closed out a 5-7, 7-5, 7-6 (7/5) victory in three hours and 27 minutes, but only after Murray  had survived an injury scare and saved a match point to force the tie-break.

Elsewhere, Australian Open champion Jannik Sinner recovered from a set down to beat Tallon Griekspoor 5-7, 7-5, 6-1, but Hungary’s Fabian Marozsan caused a major upset as he knocked out world number seven Holger Rune 6-1 6-1.

Jamaica beat Panama 1-0 in the third-place match of CONCACAF Nations League, courtesy Dexter Lembikisa's winning goal in the 41st minute. The final is currently underway between Mexico and USA, with the Americans leading 2-0 in the second half.

Defending champions USA have won their third CONCACAF Nations League title in a row, beating Mexico 2-0 in the final. Tyler Adams and Giovanni Reyna scored for the hosts to complete the '3-Peat'.

Third-ranked Coco Gauff came from behind in the first set to beat Oceane Dodin 6-4, 6-0 and advance to the fourth round of the Miami Open for the second time in her career, Associated Press reports. Gauff won 10 straight games after Dodin took a 4-2 lead in the opening set, thanks partly to nine double-faults by Dodin at critical moments.

Gauff has just one loss in her past 23 matches in the United States. That defeat came against Maria Sakkari at Indian Wells earlier this month.

Padraig Harrington won the Hoag Classic at windy Newport Beach Country Club for his seventh PGA Tour Champions victory, rebounding from a double bogey with birdies on the final two holes, Associated Press reports. After driving left into trouble and dropping two strokes on the par-4 16th, Harrington made a downhill 15-footer on the par-3 17th and got an 8-footer to fall on the par-5 18th for a one-stroke victory over Thongchai Jaidee.

Harrington closed with a 2-under 69 to finish at 14-under 199. The 52-year-old Irishman will be inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in June. He won British Open in 2007 and 2008 and the PGA Championship in 2008.

Mumbai Indians' batting coach Kieron Pollard has supported Hardik Pandya's decision to open the bowling instead of Jasprit Bumrah, and said that the captain batting at number seven in their Indian Premier League 2024 opener against Gujarat Titans was a "collective decision".

"You have to plan and decide what you want to do as a team. Hardik (Pandya) has also bowled with the new ball for Gujarat over the last couple of years. He swung the new ball and bowled it well, which was nothing new to us.

"We tried to use the advantage of the new ball swinging along. When I look at the decision made, there is nothing wrong with it, and we move on," Pollard said at the post-match press conference. Mumbai lost the match by six runs.

Rising Indian paddler Sreeja Akula claimed the women's singles title, while Manav Thakkar and Manush Shah took home the men's doubles title at the WTT Feeder Beirut II in Beirut, Lebanon.

The world no 47 Akula came from behind to pull off a 6-11, 12-10, 11-5, 11-9 win over the lower-ranked Sarah D Nutte of Luxembourg at the Al Kawthar Secondary School.

The 25-year-old, Commonwealth Games mixed doubles gold medallist had defeated top seed world no 36 Suh Hyo Won of South Korea earlier.

It is Sreeja's second WTT singles career title. She had won the Feeder Corpus Christi in January.

Gujarat Titans spinner R Sai Kishore has said that new captain Shubman Gill did not look like he was leading the team for the first time. "Shubman led the team very well. It did not look like he was leading for the first time. Even to me as a spinner, the inputs that he gave were fantastic," Kishore said in the post-match press conference.

The left-arm spinner starred with a brilliant four-over spell in GT's six-run win over Mumbai Indians in their Indian Premier League 2024 opener at Ahmedabad on Sunday.

Tobias Harris and Tyrese Maxey each had 24 points as the Philadelphia 76ers got back on track with a 121-107 win in NBA over the Los Angeles Clippers in the teams' first meeting since November's James Harden trade.

Harden's tumultuous 21-month tenure with the 76ers came to an end when Philadelphia shipped the disgruntled star guard to Los Angeles shortly after the start of this season. The 10-time All-Star dished out 14 assists against his former team, but was held to 12 points on 5-of-13 shooting.

The 2024-25 edition of the marquee Border-Gavaskar Trophy has been extended by a match, with India and Australia set to play five Tests later this year for the first time since the 1991-92 season, Cricket Australia has announced.

Kasun Rajitha picked up a fifer as Sri Lanka bowled Bangladesh out for 182 in their second innings to clinch a 328-run victory in the first Test in Sylhet. Rajitha, who returned 3-56 in the first innings, finished with career-best match figures of 8-112 in a Test match.

Mominul Haque played a lonely defiant innings for the hosts, stranded on 87 from 148 deliveries when the final wicket fell in the middle session on Day 4. His innings contained 12 boundaries and a six.

After a frustrating 0-0 draw in the away leg, Indian football team defender Anwar Ali said the Blue Tigers are better prepared for their home leg match against Afghanistan in the 2026 FIFA World Cup Qualifiers.

The match will be played in Guwahati on Tuesday, and India will eye full points after being held by their lower-ranked opponents in Abha, Saudi Arabia last week.

"No game is simple. Last game we played well, only scoring was lacking. This game we are better prepared," said the Indian centre back.

Wales and Poland fans have been warned not to bring pyrotechnic devices to Tuesday’s Euro 2024 play-off final at Cardiff City Stadium. Seven Poland fans were arrested following a Nations League game between the two countries in Cardiff 18 months ago, including four for possession of pyrotechnics.

The Europa Conference League match between Aston Villa and Legia Warsaw in November was also marred by crowd trouble, with 46 Polish fans charged after violent clashes with police.

The Indian Premier League 2024 final will be played at the MA Chidambaram Stadium on May 26, according to a Cricbuzz report. The Qualifier 1 and Eliminator will be held at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Motera on May 21 and 22, and the Qualifier 2 and the final will be played at the Chepauk in Chennai on May 24 and 26, the report adds. 

BCCI on Monday released the remaining schedule of the Indian Premier League with the final of the tournament set to take place in Chennai on May 26. The entire tournament will be held in India, as per the schedule announced by BCCI.

Head coach Igor Stimac on Monday said he will resign from the post if the Indian football team fails to reach the third round of the 2026 FIFA World Cup Qualifiers, according to PTI reports.

Stimac has prioritised qualification to the third round and secured a direct entry into the 2027 AFC Asian Cup.

Two-time Olympic medallist PV Sindhu and ace men's shuttler Kidambi Srikanth will continue their European grind at the Madrid Spain Masters tournament, beginning in Madrid on Tuesday, according to PTI reports.

Last year's finalist Sindhu, seeded second here, will square off against Wen Yu Zhang of Canada in the round-of-32 contest, while seventh seed Srikanth will take on a qualifier.

Harendra Singh is the frontrunner to replace Janneke Schopman as the Indian women's hockey team coach after he recently appeared for an interview, with the national body suggesting that he is the best person to lift the side following its failure to qualify for the Paris Olympics, according to the PTI reports.

Harendra has served in the same position in the past before being appointed as the United States men's team coach in 2021.

Ishan Kishan, who was recently dropped from BCCI's central contract list, had secretary Jay Shah chatting up with him on Sunday evening after Mumbai Indians' IPL game, a gesture which could be viewed as a silver lining for the maverick wicketkeeper-batter, according to reports from PTI.

The 25-year-old from Jharkhand, who returned to India in the middle of the South Africa tour last year, citing travel fatigue, has been reluctant to play first-class cricket.

Chennai Super Kings head coach Stephen Fleming said on Monday that there was no clear-cut role defined that new skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad will have to do much of the scoring at the top of the order, adding that he believes in collective effort, according to PTI reports.

Gaikwad contributed 15 runs, while his opening partner Rachin Ravindra made a 15-ball 37 as the five-time champions defeated Royal Challengers Bengaluru by six wickets on Friday.

Defending champion Pankaj Advani will be aiming to maintain his winning streak at the upcoming CCI Billiards Classic starting in Mumbai on Tuesday, according to PTI reports.

Winner of 27 World Championship titles, Advani has displayed far superior skills compared to his rivals as he secured three back-to-back titles at various CCI events in the past year and a half.

England batter Harry Brook is set to be available for the beginning of Yorkshire’s Vitality County Championship campaign, according to White Rose head coach Ottis Gibson.

Brook withdrew from England’s Test tour of India in January due to personal reasons and, following the death of his grandmother Pauline last month, he pulled out of a stint with Delhi Capitals in the Indian Premier League to be close to his family.

Vinícius Júnior broke down in tears on Monday while talking about the racist insults that he has been subjected to in Spain, saying that he is losing his desire to keep playing because of what he has been going through, according to AP reports.

Indian midfielder Lalengmawia Ralte doesn't want to think too much about the paucity of goals in the past five games as it can happen to even best of teams like South Korea, which failed to get past Thailand, according to reports from PTI.

Declan Rice will enjoy a “pinch me” moment when he captains England on his 50th appearance for his country in Tuesday night’s friendly against Belgium.

The 25-year-old is set to start in midfield at Wembley to reach the milestone for his country.

Harpreet Brar's incisive bowling came to nought as Virat Kohli's splendid half-century and Dinesh Karthik's power-hitting at the back end helped Royal Challengers Bengaluru defeat Punjab Kings by four wickets in an Indian Premier League match in Bengaluru on Monday.

Chasing 177 for victory, RCB, thanks to Kohli's 77 (49 balls) and Karthik's unbeaten 28 (10 balls), won the match with four balls to spare.

The 2025 European gymnastics championships will not be staged in Tel Aviv as scheduled because of Israel's war with Hamas, according to AP reports.

The governing body of gymnastics in Europe announced the decision on Monday “due to the current situation in Israel” and said it was reopening the bidding process for a host. Member federations have a month to submit their bids.

We will be taking your leave now. That's all from our side. Happy Holi and Goodnight!