QPlay: India v Zim Today, Serena In Final & Pallikal Takes a Stand

All the latest sports news in The Quint’s morning wrap.

1. Captain Rahane Expecting a Tough Fight From Zimbabwe

Acknowledging the progress Zimbabwe has made in One-dayers, India’s stand-in skipper Ajinkya Rahane says they respect the hosts and will not take them lightly in the three-match series that begins on Friday.

Rahane also added that the team has moved on from the debacle in Bangladesh and is “here to win games” in the short tour comprising three ODIs and a couple of Twenty20 Internationals.

“Bangladesh is in the past now for us. We are thinking about the present series and our plan will be to back our strengths and back our games, rather than looking at Zimbabwe’s strengths. We are here to win games,” said Rahane.

India won all their games when they toured Zimbabwe in 2013

2. England’s Lead Cut to 166 But Aussies 5 Down

England started and finished day two of the Ashes series opener admirably on Thursday, with Australia still trying to find an edge at Sophia Gardens.

In the morning, the last three England wickets netted an invaluable 87 runs to lift the total to 430 all out. England then dug out Australia’s top order in less than two sessions on the passive pitch, and slowed down the visitors to 264-5 at stumps, trailing by 166 runs.

Moeen Ali was the pick of the bowlers for the home team, claiming two wickets for 67 runs in his 14 overs. At stumps, Shane Watson on 29, and nightwatchman Nathan Lyon on 6 were at the crease.

3. Serena Thrashes Sharapova To Reach Wimbledon Final

Serena Williams feasted on familiar prey as she reached an eighth Wimbledon final with a superb 6-2 6-4 victory over Maria Sharapova on Thursday, her 17th win in a row over the Russian.

The five time champion is now just one match away from holding all four grand slam titles at the same time, a feat she will achieve for the second time if she beats 20th-seeded surprise package Garbine Muguruza of Spain in Saturday’s final.

Muguruza, the first Spanish woman to reach a Wimbledon final since Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario in 1996, beat Poland‘s Agnieszka Radwanska 6-2 3-6 6-3 in her first grand slam semi-final.

4. Bopanna Loses Marathon Thriller on Mixed Day for Indians

Rohan Bopanna’s bid to enter his maiden Wimbledon doubles final came to a disappointing end as he along with his Romanian partner Florin Mergea lost a marathon five-setter against fifth seeds Jean Julien-Rojer and Horia Tecau.

Julien-Rojer and Tecau won 4-6, 6-2, 6-3, 4-6, 13-11 in a contest that went on for three hours and 23 minutes.

Meanwhile, in the mixed doubles draw, seventh seeded Leander Paes and Martina Hingis took little time to brush aside the challenge of unseeded Polish-Russian combination of Marcin Matkowski and Elina Vesnina 6-2 6-1 in just 44 minutes. The Indo-Swiss pair are now through to the semifinals.

Second seeds Sania Mirza and Bruno Soares of Brazil were stunned 6-3 6-7(8) 7-9 by fifth seeds Alexander Peya of Austria and Timea Babos of Hungary in two hours and 21 minutes.

5. Dipika Pallikal Boycotts Squash Nationals For Equal Prize Money

India’s top-ranked women’s squash player Dipika Pallikal is boycotting the ongoing National Squash Championships until equal prize money is offered to male and female participants.

I don’t see why there should be a difference between men and women. I feel we deserve equal pay like most of the tournaments which are becoming equal prize money on the PSA professional circuit.
– Dipika Pallikal, World number 18

Anish Mathew, secretary of Squash Rackets Federation of Kerala, said the total prize money of the tournament is Rs 6.7 lakh but winners’ purse in either category has not been decided yet. However, it has been learnt that men’s champion will pocket Rs 1,20,000 and their women’s counterpart will get Rs 50,000.

6. Kolkata to Start Player Draft Selection In ISL Auction

Defending champions Atletico de Kolkata have won the rights to be the first club to pick their choice of player in the domestic draft of the first ever Hero Indian Super League Player Auction and Draft on Friday.

The Domestic Player Draft features 112 players. Clubs will be making the most of the best available players in the Domestic Player Draft to complete their respective 13 player signing in this category.

Each club has a purse of Rs 21 crore. A club can spend maximum of Rs 5.50 crore on domestic players’ signing so as to complete its requirement of 13 domestic players, while for international and marquee player signing they can spend upto a maximum of Rs 15.50 crore.