Sports Highlights

The following are the top/expected stories at 2130 hours: EXPECTED STORIES: *Reports of U-19 World Cup matches in the West Indies.

*ISL match between NorthEast United and Odisha FC in Margao.

STORIES ON THE WIRE: SPO-CRI-IND-SA-LD PREVIEW For first time in seven years, all eyes on Kohli the batter as India take on SA in ODIs Paarl (South Africa), Jan 18 (PTI) The mighty Virat Kohli's presence in the Indian playing eleven as a mere player for the first time in seven years will be keenly followed while his potential successor in red-ball cricket, K L Rahul, will be judged for his captaincy in the three-match ODI series against South Africa beginning here on Wednesday.

SPO-CRI-IND-RAHUL-KOHLI Virat has already set a standard for all of us and team India: Rahul Paarl (South Africa), Jan 18 (PTI) Stand-in skipper KL Rahul on Tuesday said India did ''some phenomenal things'' under Virat Kohli, who has raised the bar for everyone in the team during his seven-year tenure at the helm.

SPO-CRI-IPL-LUCKNOW-RAHUL K L Rahul set to lead Lucknow IPL franchise New Delhi, Jan 18 (PTI) K L Rahul will captain the yet-to-be-named Lucknow franchise in the upcoming IPL, a league source told PTI on Tuesday.

SPO-CRI-IND-SA-LD RAHUL Not looking for anything but if it happens, will try my best to take team forward: KL Rahul on Test captaincy Paarl (South Africa), Jan 18 (PTI) He hasn't given a serious thought to the idea of being India's full-time Test captain but KL Rahul on Tuesday said if chosen for the coveted job, he would try to take the ''team forward'' as best as he can.

SPO-CRI-IND-RAHUL-COMBINATIONS 'KL Cues': Skipper will open, try Venkatesh as 6th bowling option, Dhawan likely to be preferred over Ruturaj Paarl (South Africa), Jan 18 (PTI) India skipper KL Rahul on Tuesday hinted that all-rounder Venkatesh Iyer is likely to be groomed as the additional pace bowling option that the team has lacked ever since Hardik Pandya's back injury while declaring that he will open alongside veteran Shikhar Dhawan in the first ODI against South Africa here.

SPO-CRI-IND-SA-BAVUMA Good to have Quinton back in team, he will have a point to prove: Bavuma Paarl (South Africa), Jan 18 (PTI) South Africa's white-ball captain Temba Bavuma on Tuesday said Quinton de Kock, after his sudden retirement from Test cricket, will have a point to prove in the three-match ODI series against India.

SPO-BAD-RANKINGS-LD IND Lakshya reaches career-high 13th, Satwiksairaj-Chirag pair too rises in BWF rankings (Eds: Rephrases intro to add Lakshya Sen's ranking) New Delhi, Jan 18 (PTI) Young Lakshya Sen reached a career-high 13th in the latest badminton world rankings after winning the men's singles crown in the India Open, a title triumph in which also lifted the men's doubles duo of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty to eighth place.

SPO-CRI-U19-WC-IND-PREVIEW U-19 World Cup: India eye improved batting performance against Ireland Tarouba (Trinidad and Tobago), Jan 18 (PTI) In-form batter and captain Yash Dhull will be expecting a much improved batting effort from his team when record four-time champions India take on Ireland in their second Group B match of the ICC U-19 World Cup here on Wednesday.

SPO-CRI-IND-SA-RABADA Rabada released from South Africa squad on eve of India ODI series Cape Town, Jan 18 (PTI) South Africa's lead pacer Kagiso Rabada was on Tuesday released from the team for the three-match One-Day International series against India as part of its workload management.

SPO-CRI-UMPIRE-ERASMUS-MILESTONE First India-South Africa ODI is Earsmus' 100th, 3rd South African to achieve milestone Paarl, Jan 18 (PTI) Marais Erasmus will become only the third South African umpire to stand in 100 ODIs when he officiates in the first match between the Proteas and visiting India here on Wednesday.

SPO-CRI-LLC-SEHWAG Sehwag to lead 'Indian Maharaja' in Legends League Muscat, Jan 18 (PTI) All eyes would be on swashbuckling former India opener Virender Sehwag when he leads 'Indian Maharaja' in the opening edition of the Howzat Legends League Cricket T20 tournament beginning here on Thursday.

SPO-BAD-LD IND Prannoy enters second round of Syed Modi badminton, Sourabh stunned (Eds: Adds more results) Lucknow, Jan 18 (PTI) India's HS Prannoy entered the second round of the men's singles competition at the Syed Modi International badminton tournament after registering a straight-game win over Ukraine's Danylo Bosniuk but seventh seed Sourabh Verma was stunned by Azerbaijan's Ade Resky Dwicahyo here on Tuesday.

SPO-CHESS-TATA-IND Tata Steel Chess Masters: Indian GM Vidit Gujrathi shoots into lead Wijk Aan Zee (The Netherlands), Jan 18 (PTI) Indian Grandmaster Vidit Santhosh Gujrathi prevailed over Russia's Daniil Dubov in the third round to become the sole leader with 2.5 points in the prestigious Tata Steel Masters chess tournament here.

SPO-CRI-U19-WC-SL-AUS Skipper Wellalage's all-round show hands SL 4-wicket victory over Aus; WI, Pakistan also win Basseterre (St Kitts and Nevis), Jan 18 (PTI) Dunith Wellalage led from the front with an all-round show as Sri Lanka defeated Australia by four wickets to register their second consecutive win in Group D of the ICC U-19 World Cup here.

SPO-CRI-KOHLI-SIRAJ To my superhero, you'll always be my captain: Siraj pays tribute to ex-captain Kohli Paarl (South Africa), Jan 18 (PTI) Fast-rising India pacer Mohammed Siraj considers Virat Kohli his ''superhero'' and says the batting ace will always remain his skipper despite his captaincy tenure ending in all formats of the game.

SPO-FOOT-AFC-WOM-IND-LD COACH We hope to break down Iran defence to start with a win: Dennerby Mumbai, Jan 18 (PTI) India head coach Thomas Dennerby on Tuesday said the hosts would aim to break down a strong Iranian defence with an attacking game to eke out a win in their women's AFC Asian Cup opener here on Thursday.

SPO-BAD-RANKINGS-IND Satwiksairaj and Chirag rise to eighth in BWF rankings after India Open triumph New Delhi, Jan 18 (PTI) Two-time Olympic medallist PV Sindhu and former world number one Kidambi Srikanth remained static in the latest badminton world rankings but the men's doubles duo of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty moved two places up to eighth after their triumph in the Indian Open.

SPO-FOOT-ISL-SCEB-FCGOA-PREVIEW FC Goa eyeing nothing less than victory against winless SCEB Bambolim, Jan 18 (PTI) Unbeaten in their last three games, FC Goa will look to climb up the ladder with a victory against winless SC East Bengal in an Indian Super League match here on Wednesday.

SPO-CRI-TNPL Former IPL cricketer R Sathish claims ''fixing approach'' during TNPL 2021 New Delhi, Jan 18 (PTI) Former first-class and IPL cricketer Rajagopal Sathish was allegedly offered Rs 40 lakh to fix matches during the Tamil Nadu Premier League.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)