Deepti Sharma (Photo credit: ANI)

Kahaan baithoon? Yahaan? Yahaan? Ya wahaan (Where do I sit? Here? Here or there)?” Women’s Cricket World Cup Player of the Tournament Deepti Sharma is in a mild tizzy, a picture of confused, mock irritation, all of it in good humour. She can’t decide which chair to occupy, with her room in an upscale city hotel having been taken over by us— armed with camera, tripod, recorder, the works. Yes, the day’s newspaper too, for she is our Guest Sports Editor.As she is still figuring out her best position for the cameras, she decides it’s best to look at the options as fielding positions. “That’s silly point, this one’s short leg,” she mutters to herself, immediately narrowing down the field.

“Which one would you prefer?”“Silly point, any time,” says the allrounder. “Short leg pey ball bahut aati hai, aur bahut tez aati hai (the ball comes a lot to you at short leg, and at great pace too),” she says with eyebrow-raised, wide-eyed wonder, as if letting you in on a state secret.Time is short, the deadline’s looming and despite Deepti stealing a glance at her watch every now and then, she has broken the ice and set the tone for an interesting chat. It’s not every day that we have a women’s World Cup winner in our midst. Excerpts…Life is hectic for you these days, after India’s World Cup win…Yes. (But) it feels good. I’m enjoying this a lot because I haven’t experienced this kind of life before. Now, we’re busy with events and shows. It feels like life abhi shuru hui hai (my actual life has begun now).You made it to the World Cup final in 2017 but lost, so this kind of public adulation has taken a while to arrive…As a team, we’ve been patient. That’s been our hallmark. We believe that things happen only when they are meant to happen. I keep reminding myself about that.We made sure we didn’t let our hard work go waste. We always had one goal—to win the Cup. It has come after so long. It was scripted that it had to happen in India. We just supported each other, didn’t think about the big things that could follow.How different is your public life after the World Cup win?It’s very different now. Now, they recognize me very easily. From the time I board a flight to the time I get off and make it to the car outside, people are crazy about clicking selfies with me. After the 2017 World Cup, people started to get to know the names of India’s women cricketers. Now, life has gone to the next level.Recently in Mumbai, we had gone to have tea and vada pav . I was wearing a mask but the shopkeeper recognized me. He refused to take money when I was about to pay. He said the tea and food were a gift from him. I insisted on paying but he said, “You are doing good things for the country and you have recently won the World Cup. We don’t want your money.” This made me very happy.If you had to choose only one thing that makes this team special, what would it be and why?We never give up. We learn from every match. For instance, we couldn’t win the 2017 World Cup final but we learned a lot from it. We learned how to perform well as a team and handle pressure situations. We learnt where we are behind and how far we have to go. We told ourselves we have to be one of the best teams. We focus on what we have to achieve as a team. We always think that we have to fight till the very last ball.How did the dressing-room atmosphere change as this tournament progressed?We knew we were playing on home soil. That has its own pressures, playing in front of friends and families and fans. (But) we were not nervous. We started the tournament well. The dressingroom atmosphere was a bit up and down after the defeats to South Africa and England. We learned a lot from that. We sat down in the dressing room and had discussions. We talked about where we were making mistakes. We learnt how to come back. We did not want to beat ourselves up thinking we had lost. Everyone had good morale even after those two defeats.You performed in crunch situations, so hopefully you’ve banished the demons of 2017 and that infamous no-ball against South Africa in 2022…I think God sends you to this world for tough situations. When I initially started playing for Uttar Pradesh, I played one tough innings where wickets were tumbling at the other end and I had to hold on to mine. That match changed my mindset forever. I understood how to play with my partner in any given situation. This time, it was my dream to qualify for the semifinals after the struggle in the group games. I wanted to contribute to the team. I was carrying the learning from previous memories, be it the no-ball or the 2017 World Cup final. It’s easy to sulk about bad things. I choose to see how I can emerge better from them.You are always handed the ball in the toughest of situations…I feel building trust with the captain is important. I always want to maintain that trust. Harry di (captain Harmanpreet Kaur) always supports me at every point. She also gives me the freedom to bowl with any plan I have. No matter what situation you bowl in, you just have to know which areas you want to bowl in. I bowl in all three phases, with both the new ball and the old. I know how to get the batter out.What was your favourite wicket in this whole World Cup campaign?It’s difficult to choose one. I’ll pick two. One is dismissing Laura Wolvaardt in the final. The second is the last wicket (Nadine de Klerk) to win the World Cup. I have already seen that last-wicket video many times on loop. I haven’t seen any of my own videos so many times in my life (Laughs)!Is there any particular process that you follow to handle pressure?When we practice before the match, we practice the role we are going to play in the middle. If I have to bat at a particular number, I have a plan in mind to make it easy for me. If I have any doubts on the process to handle pressure, I discuss it with my brother. He always tells me to focus on the present and not think about what happened in the past or what is going to happen in the future.Jemimah Rodrigues spoke openly about battling stress and mental pressure after her great innings in the semifinal. Is there anybody in the team set-up you go to when you feel you are under pressure?When I feel I need to talk to someone, say, if I don’t understand certain things or if I’m not getting results despite my best effort, I seek out Amol (Muzumdar, head coach) sir. He is always there. He is very close to us all.When you started playing, women’s matches weren’t shown live on TV. Who were your idols?When I began watching cricket, I was a fan of Sachin (Tendulkar) and in particular, Suresh Raina. People say my batting style is similar to Raina’s. I like watching his batting videos. He was an outstanding fielder too, so that inspired me. Our idols came from men’s cricket. Now, youngsters will hopefully consider us their idols or favourites. It feels amazing.Your batting strike rates have improved a lot in recent times. How have you been training towards that?It’s simple — power-hitting with a heavy ball during training. You get an idea of how far you can hit when you play afterwards with a leather ball, which is a lot lighter. You can see the difference. Always work on your power hitting.You are a DSP (in the UP Police). What do you want to tell youngsters about maintaining balance in life beyond the cricket field?You’ve to take one step at a time. If I’m a good human being, only then will I be able to do well at cricket. Even after playing for so many years, there has to be a commitment towards wearing the India jersey. You have to stay committed to not only playing for your country, but also to win big ones like the World Cup. The same works for life too.Tell us more about the dressing room. At the World Cup, it looked more like a sisterhood than a team…It’s a fun, relaxed place. Anyone can make fun of the other person. Whether it is Jemimah (Rodrigues), Harleen (Deol) or Radha (Yadav), they can mimic anyone in the dressing room. It keeps the dressing room in a good mood. We are very serious most of the time, but we enjoy the girls pulling each others’ legs.How do you destress? Do you have any favourite hobbies?I like to listen to Hanuman bhajans before every match. In fact, I start the day with them. I also listen to Arijit Singh’s songs. I like them a lot. I like all types of music. I save bhajans in my browsing history, they keep playing on the loop.Why did you move to Bengal from UP in domestic cricket?Jhulu di (Jhulan Goswami) and Sourav Ganguly requested me. They said they wanted me for Bengal, that was the only reason. It was a good experience playing under the legends of Indian cricket. I speak Bangla well now too.Is it time to treat women’s cricket in isolation, and not always compare it with the men’s team?Earlier, only women cricket players supported the men’s team. This time, the men’s players were supporting us! Both (teams) are different and both should get the same importance. There have been a lot of changes, like in terms of pay parity. Thanks to BCCI, they have given women’s cricket the same importance as men’s cricket. WPL has also started. It has been a long wait for this. You are from Agra, which tends to produce so many quality women cricketers…The special thing is that there is a lot of talent in Agra. When I started playing, there were two senior players who represented India for so many years. It was good learning experience for us.In Agra, young women and senior players always had the passion to play cricket and go to academies. There used to be very few academies earlier.I started playing at Ekalavya stadium. I have seen a lot of girls coming up from there. If you look at the domestic circuit, there are a lot of girls who are selected from Agra. It’s a good sign. There are so many girls and they get strong support from their families too.

Vivek Ramaswamy (File photo)

The TOI Correspondent from Washington: In a manic weekend of mutual MAGA bloodletting at a conservative conference where Trump devotees knifed each other verbally, Vivek Ramaswamy was just another collateral casualty. The biotech bro-turned-GOP gadfly, who thought being the party’s voice of reason was a viable career move in a mob that embraces bigotry for breakfast, delivered a stern lecture on the surging anti-Indian hate in the movement, scolding MAGA minions for their fixation on “heritage Americans,” calling it “loony as anything the woke left has actually put up.“Defending Usha Vance, vice-president JD Vance’s wife, against slurs like “jeet” (short form of “pajeet,” the new slur for Indian-Americans) from MAGA extremists, he told them that American identity is about ideals like merit and free speech, not ancestry. Taking a not-so-veiled swipe at the vice-president himself, accused of not defending his wife from nativist attacks, Ramaswamy declared that “There is no American who is more American than somebody else... It is binary. Either you’re an American or you’re not.”It did not go down well. The MAGA backlash was as swift as it was savage—because nothing says “America first” like telling an immigrant’s kid to pack his bags. “Deport him!” snarled one nativist keyboard warrior, while another told him, “You know nothing about this country… You and the rest of your tech bros can f— right off,” Tarred as an outsider by the very base he courts, Ramaswamy, running for governor of Ohio, retired hurt. But that was just an appetiser in the feast of fratricide, as the Turning Point Conference, billed as a solemn homage to founder Charlie Kirk—assassinated in September 2025 —degenerated into a reality TV implosion, with conspiracy theories and character assassination.What followed was less a conference than a cage fight, with leading MAGA influencers turning the memorial into a rolling audition for who could land the sharpest blow. Ben Shapiro, the movement’s self-appointed headmaster, unloaded on Tucker Carlson for interviewing white nationalist Nick Fuentes, branding him a “Hitler apologist” and “Nazi-loving piece of refuse.” Shapiro then pivoted to Candace Owens, his former Daily Wire colleague turned chaos agent, accusing her of “conspiracism and dishonesty” for amplifying lurid theories about Kirk’s killing, ranging from TPUSA cover-ups to foreign plots, with Israel lurking as an implied villain.Enter Fox News diva Megyn Kelly, who, accusing Shapiro’s “ardent pro-Israel” camp of policing opinions and pressuring allies to publicly denounce Owens, declared with high-school pique that she’s not friends with Shapiro anymore, and reminding listeners that she had “helped make him a star.” Then came Steve Bannon, disheveled and defiant, looking as if he had wandered straight out of a car he had slept in, dismissing Shapiro as “a cancer” eating away at the movement, accusing him of plotting a hostile takeover of Turning Point USA and of putting “Israel first” over America as part of a 2028 power grab.Amid all this bloodletting, Candace Owens loomed large in absentia, her messy fallout with TPUSA turning what was meant to be a tribute into a mud-wrestling spectacle.From all accounts, the vocabulary—parasite, cancer, coward, antisemite—once aimed at Democrats is now standard issue within the MAGA tent. Even loyal attendees appeared exhausted, lamenting the “distraction” and “infighting” that was less policy debate and more of “autoimmune apocalypse.” A movement long fueled by outrage and the thrill of “owning the libs” has finally run out of external enemies and begun devouring its own.

NEW DELHI: India announced its squad for the T20 World Cup 2026 on Saturday, and the selection created a lot of discussion among fans and experts. The biggest surprise was the exclusion of Shubman Gill. Gill was India’s vice-captain in T20 cricket, but he did not find a place in the final squad. Many people expected him to be selected, so the news shocked everyone.

A few hours after the squad announcement, India’s head coach Gautam Gambhir was seen at the Delhi airport. Many media persons tried to ask him questions, especially about Shubman Gill’s exclusion.However, Gambhir chose not to answer any questions. He walked past the reporters and got into his car without making any comments.A video of this moment quickly spread on social media.Watch:Gill recently played a T20 series against South Africa, but his performance was poor. He scored only 32 runs in three matches, with scores of 4, 0, and 28. In modern T20 cricket, teams look for fast scoring and strong starts. Gill’s slow strike rate in the powerplay overs has become a concern. Because of this, selectors felt he was not fitting well into their current plans.Another major talking point was the return of Ishan Kishan. The wicketkeeper-batter has been out of the national side for some time due to fitness and availability issues. However, with him making a strong comeback in domestic cricket, selectors couldn’t keep their eyes off the southpaw. Kishan scored a brilliant century in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy and helped Jharkhand win the title.During the press conference, chief selector Ajit Agarkar spoke about Gill’s omission. He said Gill is currently short of runs and also missed the last T20 World Cup. Captain Suryakumar Yadav added that the decision was not only about Gill’s form. He explained that the team wanted a wicketkeeper who could open the innings and play aggressively.

Mumbai: Thanking the people of Maharashtra for BJP’s resounding victory in the municipal council and nagar panchayat elections on Sunday, chief minister Devendra Fadanvis said: “I had predicted that 75% of the nagar [council] presidents will be from the Mahayuti and the results endorse it. Nearly 3,300 corporators are from the Mahayuti. Once again, BJP is the number one party with 48% of the nagar presidents,” he said, pointing out that the Mahayuti alliance has repeated the state assembly results.“We shall do much better in the upcoming municipal corporation elections,” Fadnavis predicted, while speaking with the media in Nagpur.Hailing the Mahayuti alliance’s performance as a “landslide victory”, deputy chief minister and Shiv Sena chief Shinde said the results were a clear signal that BJP would “score a century” while Shiv Sena would notch up a “half-century with a strong strike rate” in the upcoming municipal corporation polls. Addressing the media in Thane, Shinde described the civic poll outcome as a “trailer” for the larger municipal battles ahead.Shinde said the mandate proved that Shiv Sena was no longer confined to Thane or Mumbai but expanded its footprint across Maharashtra, including smaller towns and regions like Konkan and Raigad. “Konkan is the bastion of Sena. Sena has reached every household in the state,” he added.In an apparent swipe at Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray, Shinde said voters preferred leaders who work on the ground. “People want on-field leaders, not those who sit at home. Elections are won by karyakartas and candidates connected with the grassroots,” he said, adding that tickets were given to candidates with strong local engagement. He further said that “those sitting at home met the same fate” as the total number of seats won by the opposition was even less than the tally secured by Shiv Sena alone in the recent local body elections.Deputy chief minister and NCP chief Ajit Pawar said one must see behind whom the (Pune) district is standing with. In a post on X, he stated: “In this journey of democracy, we are forever indebted for every vote cast by the king of voters. The trust you have shown, the support you have given, and your resolute stance on the path of development—these are our true strengths. It is only because of your blessings that we gain the hope and fresh energy to work with responsibility. In this election process, we sincerely thank from the bottom of our hearts all the senior leaders of the NCP, former and present office-bearers, workers, and all well-wishers for the hard work they put in, the unity they demonstrated, and the coordination they showed.”Crediting Fadnavis’s transparent governance and people-oriented decisions as having played a decisive role in BJP’s resounding victory, state party president Ravindra Chavan said the opposition was visibly missing on the ground during the election campaign. It was only BJP, Shiv Sena, and NCP.Speaking to the media, Chavan pointed out that BJP won more than 125 of the 213 local bodies it contested, winning over 1,100 corporator seats. He said the quick compensation paid by the government to farmers was acknowledged, as they ensured Mahayuti’s victory.“Fadnavis is the only leader capable of taking the state towards a trillion-dollar economy. The Marathwada grid has provided water to many places, Vidarbha’s backlog is being filled, and Konkan is developing prosperously. The people voted for the BJP-led alliance because every region is being developed,” Chavan said, adding that Fadnavis addressed 50 public meetings, and while there were huge demands for his rallies, he held online meetings due to a lack of time.Expressing confidence that the people will not fall prey to deception in the upcoming BMC elections, he said Mumbaikars will remain with the Mahayuti to create the Maharashtra of their dreams.BJP minister Ashish Shelar said Union home minister Amit Shah had exhorted party workers to wipe out the opposition, and they did just that. “Those who abandoned Hindutva and left with the sinking Congress have now sunk. A bigger defeat awaits them,” he said.Fadnavis said the entire election campaign was focused on development, where there was no personal criticism and the results are a receipt to the work being done by the state government. The CM said the opposition had realised the victory of the Mahayuti and so hardly stepped out, as failure would have resulted in their party workers’ morale being affected. “This is the election of party workers and not to campaign for them is not correct,” he said.Analysing the results, Fadnavis said Mahayuti did well in Konkan and Gadchiroli. In Chandrapur, he admitted the party won seats, though lost a number of municipal council president’s posts. He said they will ensure BJP wins the Chandrapur municipal corporation.

Mumbai: Having clinched just a handful of wins, the opposition raised questions about the credibility of the poll process. State Congress president Harshvardhan Sapkal alleged “fixing” between BJP and the state election commission (SEC), while Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut claimed that EVMs that were tampered with during the assembly elections were used once again, and that no one could have survived the “hailstorm” of money that was pumped into the governing parties’ campaigns. NCP (SP) MLA Rohit Pawar, who suffered a setback in his constituency’s Jamkhed Nagar panchayat, too said money power had crushed clean politics based on principles and development.Sapkal said the party which has “seen many victories and defeats” was willing to accept the people’s verdict, but added that the elections were not conducted in a transparent manner. “There was a mess created about the election dates, from voting to counting of votes by the SEC. Our objections regarding the voter lists still remain… Mercenary voters were brought from many parts of Maharashtra,” he alleged. “Inflation and unemployment have increased drastically in the state and corruption is rampant day by day. In such a situation, if the election results are like these, then the whole of Maharashtra, including opposition parties, has questions about how to trust SEC. Therefore, first of all, I congratulate the SEC. It helped the ruling party a lot… The biggest credit for Mahayuti’s victory belongs to the SEC…” He also claimed that BJP would soon show the way out to NCP and Shiv Sena. “BJP is working to swallow the parties with which it has formed an alliance… After the municipal elections, it will first work to eliminate its allies.” Alleging EVM tampering, Raut said, “BJP has set the machines in the same way as it happened in the assembly polls… If you see Vidhan Sabha numbers of BJP, Shiv Sena and NCP, and now in the civic body polls, they are the same. The [fixed] machines that were used during Vidhan Sabha are the same. The setting [of the machines] is the same and [the way] money was used is also the same.” Alleging that BJP and deputy CM Eknath Shinde spent Rs 150 crore on municipal whose budgets are Rs 30 crore, he said, “So far, no one had used a chartered plane for campaigning in a municipal election. We had left the elections to the workers. But here, the competition was between the three parties in power. Due to this, a huge amount of money was splurged.” Rohit called the results extremely disappointing and disheartening, adding that he had no grievance with the people’s verdict. “But if money rules everywhere, then when will the group leaders, farmers, shopkeepers, and other such candidates who are neglected from a political perspective and come from ordinary families—whom we were trying to bring into the stream of power—get justice? That is the question,” he said in a post on X.

Pakistan ended a 13-year wait for the U19 Asia Cup 2025 title in emphatic fashion, thrashing India by 191 runs in a one-sided final at the ICC Academy on Sunday, December 21. The victory delivered Pakistan only their second U19 Asia Cup crown and their first outright triumph since 2012, when they shared the trophy with India.

Sameer Minhas’ record-breaking century sets the tone for Pakistan

The final belonged to opener Sameer Minhas, who produced a sensational 172 off 113 balls, peppered with 17 fours and 9 sixes. It was Minhas’ second century of the tournament and one of the highest individual scores in U19 Asia Cup history.

After a watchful opening phase, Minhas shifted gears decisively, dismantling India’s bowling – particularly the spinners – with clean hitting and smart placement. His innings provided the foundation for a total that quickly moved beyond India’s reach.

Minhas found valuable support from Ahmed Hussain and skipper Farhan Yousaf, as Pakistan’s top order steadily increased the tempo through the middle overs and finished strongly at the death.

Pakistan’s batting approach was measured early before turning ruthless. Once settled, the batters targeted match-ups aggressively, ensuring India never regained control. The ability to rotate strike and then launch boundaries at will kept the scoreboard racing, leaving India facing a daunting chase from the outset.

India crumble in steep chase

Chasing 348, India never found momentum. Early wickets inside the powerplay exposed the middle order, and any hopes of a recovery were dashed by regular breakthroughs. Despite brief resistance, none of India’s batters converted starts into substantial scores against Pakistan’s disciplined pace-and-spin combination.

The contrast with the group stage was stark. India, led by Ayush Mhatre, had earlier beaten Pakistan by 90 runs, but the final told a different story as Pakistan’s bowlers exploited pressure and conditions to perfection.

Pakistan’s bowlers backed up the batters with accuracy and intensity, squeezing India for runs and forcing errors. The fielding effort complemented the bowling, turning half-chances into wickets and accelerating India’s collapse to 156 all out.

Congratulations to Pakistan U19 on a memorable Asia Cup victory. Credit to the coaches, selectors, and the entire squad for building a unit that delivered on the big stage 🇵🇰 pic.twitter.com/s7jt0SSRNO

— Fawad Alam (@iamfawadalam25) December 21, 2025

Also READ: Shubman Gill vs Sanju Samson T20I stats ahead of T20 World Cup 2026

The result handed Pakistan their first outright U19 Asia Cup title since 2012, sparking celebrations among fans and the team’s support staff, including head coach Sarfaraz Ahmed. Minhas was named Player of the Match and Player of the Tournament, finishing as the competition’s leading run-scorer and delivering the defining innings of the final.

Sameer Minhas, remember the name 🙌

– 172 off 113 balls against India in the U19 Asia Cup 2025 final in Dubai 🔥#SameerMinhas #PakistanCricket #U19AsiaCup pic.twitter.com/IIgNOQCAw7

— CricketTimes.com (@CricketTimesHQ) December 21, 2025

Also READ: Key reasons why Shubman Gill was dropped from India’s T20 World Cup 2026 squad at the last moment

Sunil Gavaskar and Shubman Gill (Photos by Getty Images and PTI)

NEW DELHI: Indian cricket legend Sunil Gavaskar shared some important advice for batter Shubman Gill after he was left out of India’s T20 World Cup 2026 squad. The decision came as a surprise to many fans, especially since Gill was also removed from the role of vice-captain.

With Gill out, Axar Patel has been named India’s vice-captain for the T20 World Cup 2026.Sunil Gavaskar believes that Gill should accept this setback with maturity. Speaking on Star Sports, Gavaskar said, “I hope Shubman takes this in the right spirit. I wish him the best. Some of his injuries have been strange.” Gavaskar felt that Gill still has a bright future, and this decision does not mean the end of his chances.Gavaskar also feels that chief selector Ajit Agarkar would have personally spoken to Gill to explain the reason behind the call. He said, “Knowing Ajit Agarkar, I’m pretty sure he’ll be on the phone to Shubman, trying to explain to him why they took the call that they did.”According to Gavaskar, the team management is trying to correct its earlier decisions. When Gill returned to the T20 squad, Sanju Samson was pushed down the batting order. Earlier, Samson and Abhishek Sharma had formed a strong opening pair, using a left-right combination and attacking from the very first ball.Gavaskar explained this by saying, “And I think it’s a course correction. In the sense that when Shubman came into the T20 squad, Sanju Samson went down the order. Sanju Samson and Abhishek Sharma had formed a very good opening pair – a left-hand, right-hand combination – looking to hit the first ball of the game for a six and getting India off to fabulous starts.”“I think that is something Ajit will definitely speak to Shubman about, assuring him that he’s always going to be in the discussion. But for this particular tournament, considering the fact that he’s had some injuries and hasn’t been in the best of touch, they’ve left him out. That doesn’t mean he won’t be part of future teams,” Gavaskar said.Shubman Gill has not been in great form in T20 cricket recently. Since returning to the T20I side during the Asia Cup 2025, he has played 15 matches but failed to score even one half-century. Injuries have also affected his rhythm and consistency. Because of these reasons, the selectors decided to drop him from the squad for the upcoming World Cup.