Sports Highlights

The following are the top stories at 2110 hours: SPO-CRI-KANERIA-AFRIDI Kaneria breaks his silence, says Afridi was always against him and ruined his ODI career By Bharat Sharma New Delhi, May 16 (PTI) Former Pakistan spinner Danish Kaneria on Saturday accused Shahid Afridi of treating him unfairly all through his career and blamed him for a rather short limited overs outing. SPO-CRI-PIETERSEN-KOHLI Smith comes nowhere close to Kohli; Indian skipper even better than Sachin: Pietersen London, May 16 (PTI) Steve Smith's accomplishments pale in comparison to Virat Kohli's "unreal numbers" and the Indian captain has outstripped even the great Sachin Tendulkar with his mastery of chases, feels former England star Kevin Pietersen.

SPO-BALBIR-LD HEALTH Balbir Sr's condition 'stabilising' but still on ventilator support: grandson (Eds: Adding an input) Chandigarh, May 16 (PTI) Hockey legend Balbir Singh Sr didn't suffer any more "cardiac events" in the past few days and his condition "is stabilising" though he remains on ventilator support, his maternal grandson Kabir said on Saturday. SPO-CRI-FAF-DUSSEN Not captain anymore, Faf now has more time to help young batters: Van der Dussen Johannesburg, May 16 (PTI) South African batsman Rassie Van der Dussen feels senior teammate Faf du Plessis will now have more time to share his "wealth of wisdom" with the youngsters, having stepped down from captaincy.

SPO-HOCK-COURSE Players praise Hockey India's online coaching course, say it was insightful Bengaluru, May 16 (PTI) National senior team players on Saturday said that Hockey India's 'Basic' level coaching course provided a lot of perspective about the game which will help them in making better decisions on the field. SPO-CRI-GAYLE Gayle "stands by" his comments against Sarwan but CPL decides to close controversial issue Kingston, May 16 (PTI) Maverick batsman Chris Gayle has said he "stands by his comments" against former teammate Ramnaresh Sarwan but conceded that his actions were damaging to West Indies cricket, prompting the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) organisers to close the controversial issue.

SPO-VIRUS-MUSHFIQUR-AFRIDI Afridi buys Mushfiqur's bat for USD 20,000 New Delhi, May 16 (PTI) Former Pakistan all-rounder Shahid Afridi has bought the bat put up for auction by Bangladesh wicketkeeper batsman Mushfiqur Rahim for USD 20,000. SPO-FOOT-PATEL Bala is an inspiration to all women footballers: Praful Patel New Delhi, May 16 (PTI) All India Football Federation president Praful Patel has asked the country's women footballers to take inspiration from Bala Devi, who excelled at Scottish Premier League club Rangers. SPO-CRI-WI-CWI West Indies cricket in 'ICU' due to COVID-19 pandemic, says its chief Kingston, May 16 (PTI) Cricket West Indies (CWI) chief Ricky Skerritt has said that the COVID-19 pandemic has put the region's already ailing cricket body into "Intensive Care Unit" and it will have to go for cost cutting measures to ride out the financial crisis. SPO-CRI-ICA Boosted by handsome donations, ICA to extend help to more needy cricketers than originally planned New Delhi, May 16 (PTI) Boosted by significant contributions from its members, the Indian Cricketers Association (ICA) has decided to extend its financial help to 35 to 40 needy cricketers instead of the 25-30 number planned earlier. SPO-CHESS-LEAGUE Superkids, Chess Gurukul to meet in Superfinal of chess meet Chennai, May 16 (PTI) Superkids will meet Team Chess Gurukul in the 'Superfinal' of the Indian chess.com League on Sunday as they took the top two spots in the nine-round round-robin phase.