SPORTS

India will be looking to clinch a first series win of the Rohit Sharma-Rahul Dravid era when they face New Zealand in the second T20I in Ranchi on Friday. A five-wicket win in the first match helped India take a 1-0 lead in the three-match series.

The win also ended a seven-match losing streak for India across formats against the BlackCaps, who are being captained by fast bowler Tim Southee in the absence of Kane Williamson.

For Rohit, before he gets a much-needed two-and-half-week break from the game, he would like to close the deal at Ranchi and go for the jugular when the teams meet in Kolkata for the final game of the series.

The 55-year-old former professional boxer tripped out after taking the psychedelic drug - which is collected from the Bufo Alvarius amphibian species and then dried before being turned into a crystal that is able to be smoked - for the first time, and he credits the substance for teaching him that he isn't going to live "forever".

He said: "I ‘died’ during my first trip. In my trips I’ve seen that death is beautiful.

"Life and death both have to be beautiful, but death has a bad rep.

"The toad has taught me that I’m not going to be here forever. There’s an expiration date."

David Warner, former Sunrisers Hyderabad captain, has opened up on his difficult last few months with the Indian Premier League franchise, where he saw himself being stripped of the captaincy and dropped from the playing XI. In an interview with Economic Times, the experienced Australian revealed he was hurting after his treatment at SRH.

“When you are dropped from the team you have loved the most for years without any real fault of yours and stripped of captaincy without being given a reason, it hurts,” Warner told Economic Times.

Legends League Cricket, a professional league for retired cricketers, on Monday announced former India head coach Ravi Shastri has been roped in as Commissioner of the League.

Shastri completed his term with the Indian cricket team as head coach and he is starting a new inning with Legends League Cricket (LLC). The global league where former cricketers, legends of the game, will be playing competitive cricket is looking at emerging as a professional league, where the legends can relive old rivalries on the field. Shastri, with his successful career as an all-rounder cricketer and then a thriving coach of Team India, brings immense value to the league.

United States may emerge as a potential host for the 2024 T20 World Cup as a stepping stone to help cricket be included in the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.

As per a report in Sydney Morning Herald, the International Cricket Council (ICC) is expected to award a joint bid by USA Cricket and Cricket West Indies (CWI) to host the 2024 T20 World Cup.

If this indeed happens, then it would be the first global tournament that will not be hosted by either India, England, or Australia since the 2014 T20 World Cup in Bangladesh.

The decision to give the US a right to host the 2024 T20 World Cup will also help the game's efforts to be included in the Olympic Games, starting with Los Angeles in 2028 and following up with Brisbane in 2032.