• Kohli to play for Surrey to prepare for England tests
• Rohit, Kumar and Bumrah also missing from test squad

India’s Ajinkya Rahane watches his shot during the third day of their second test cricket match against Australia in Bangalore, India, Monday, March 6, 2017. Photo: AP

MUMBAI: Ajinkya Rahane will lead India against Afghanistan, who play their maiden test in Bengaluru in June, in the absence of regular captain Virat Kohli, the country’s cricket board (BCCI) said on Tuesday.

Kohli will represent Surrey in June after signing a one-month contract with the English county side to prepare for the test series against England later this year.

He will return to lead India in the limited-overs series in Ireland in June before they head to England for three T20 internationals, three ODIs and a five-test series starting in August.

Afghanistan will play their inaugural test match from June 14 in Bengaluru’s M Chinnaswamy Stadium.

The South Asian country and Ireland joined the ranks of full member nations of the International Cricket Council last year, taking the total number of test-playing countries to 12.

India also decided to manage the workloads of other test regulars, opting to rest batsman Rohit Sharma and pace duo Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Jasprit Bumrah for the Afghanistan test.

Batsman Karun Nair, seamer Shardul Thakur and left-arm wrist-spinner Kuldeep Yadav were drafted in. Thakur is yet to play in the five-day format for India.

The world’s top-ranked test side last played the longest format in January in South Africa, where they lost a hard-fought three-test series 2-1.

Uncapped medium-pacer Siddarth Kaul made it into both India’s T20 and 50-over sides for the tour of Ireland and England after impressive performances for Sunrisers Hyderabad in the Indian Premier League.

Batsmen Lokesh Rahul and Ambati Rayudu were also rewarded with spots in the ODI side after strong showings in the IPL.

India test squad against Afghanistan: Ajinkya Rahane (captain), Shikhar Dhawan, Murali Vijay, Lokesh Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara, Karun Nair, Wriddhiman Saha, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Umesh Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Hardik Pandya, Ishant Sharma, Shardul Thakur

India T20 squad against Ireland and England: Virat Kohli (captain), Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, Lokesh Rahul, Suresh Raina, Manish Pandey, MS Dhoni, Dinesh Karthik, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Washington Sundar, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah, Hardik Pandya, Siddarth Kaul, Umesh Yadav

India ODI squad against England: Virat Kohli (captain), Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, Lokesh Rahul, Shreyas Iyer, Ambati Rayudu, MS Dhoni, Dinesh Karthik, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Washington Sundar, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah, Hardik Pandya, Siddarth Kaul, Umesh Yadav.

The post Rahane to lead India against Afghanistan in Kohli’s absence appeared first on The Himalayan Times.

Barnardo’s, Britain’s largest children’s charity, has been brought in by Chelsea to oversee an independent investigation into the allegations of racism that have left the club facing the possibility of widespread legal action.

Chelsea have commissioned the inquiry after receiving legal claims, initially from three former youth-team footballers from the 1990s, alleging that Gwyn Williams and Graham Rix, subjected young black players to explicit racial abuse.

Darren Lehmann has a new job at Cricket Australia’s national performance programme – only six weeks after resigning as his country’s head coach and saying he was “ultimately responsible for the culture of the team” after the side’s ball-tampering scandal.

Lehmann left his position as national coach on 29 March after the incident in South Africa which resulted in David Warner, Steve Smith and Cameron Bancroft being suspended. He said then: “This will allow Cricket Australia to complete a full review into the culture of the team and allow them to implement changes to regain the trust of the Australian public.”

It is testimony to Andy Murray’s enduring hold on our imaginations that mere informed rumours he is thinking about postponing his comeback until after Wimbledon have sent the media – mainstream and social – into a minor frenzy.

There is an outside possibility the triple-slam champion, who is 31 next week and aware that his time is dwindling away, could even delay his return until 2019. That is unlikely. It would be the longest absence from the Tour of any of his peers, even Rafael Nadal, who has suffered serial problems with his ankles, knees and hip for more than an decade.

From the Cruyff turn to early 20th century acrobatics, half a dozen stylistic flourishes named after their exponents

The bulky 6ft 3in former Honduras striker (and one-time Birmingham City loanee) Carlo Costly is not an obvious skill merchant, but he carries in his locker one of the most delightful tricks in the modern game. It’s typically implemented when Costly is on the left side of the pitch with a defender alongside him on his inside. He will drop his pace to a jog and then languidly swing his left foot up and backwards in a fake backheel. At this point the defender invariably takes a step forwards, seeking to cut out the backheel, only for Costly to hit the gas and surge away. The trick is known as the costlyña in his homeland and, as video footage demonstrates, its capacity for rendering opposing defenders flatfooted is uncanny. Costly used his trick to memorable effect in a 2013 friendly against Ecuador in Houston. After cantering on to a pass down the inside-right channel, he dropped a costlyña to ease the defender Jorge Guagua out of his way before curling a magnificent shot into the top-left corner.

In the wake of a nasty fight at Goodwood, Chester’s chief executive discusses how his team tackles antisocial behaviour

The encouraging news, for those of us worried about antisocial behaviour at the racecourse in the wake of what happened at Goodwood, is that such issues are evidently taken very seriously by officials at Chester, which will be a very busy venue for the next three days. Richard Thomas, Chester’s chief executive, tells me they will have 16 police officers on site as well as “very visible, very obvious security”, involving 350 security guards by his estimate.

William Riley Gaul, who played one season at Maryville College in Tennessee, was convicted of shooting Emma Jane Walker as she slept.

Ingram will be permitted to participate in all of the team’s offseason work and training camp as well as the preseason.

Here is the daily NBA playoff schedule with times and TV channels for every first-round game.

Live updates, scores and schedule for today’s NBA playoff games.