From pain to pleasure: Novak Djokovic's rocky road to magnificent seven

• Djokovic is now just two behind Nadal's total of 17 Grand Slams and five shy of Roger Federer's record of 20
• Djokovic's ability to thrive among the greats has never been in doubt, but the size of his heart often led to questions

BCCI invites applications for national selectors

• While two positions each are open from the men's senior and junior selection committees, all five positions are open in the women's committee
• The criteria for senior men's selectors is that the candidate should have played 7 Test matches or 30 first-class matches or 10 ODIs and 20 first-class matches

The European stamp on tennis

Europe has maintained its hegemony in tennis as about 60% of the top 500 players—both men and women—still come from the continent

MS Dhoni no longer on BCCI’s central contracts list

• Plenty of discussion has revolved around the name of MS Dhoni, who last played for India at the semi final of the ICC Cricket World Cup in 2019
• Only three players, Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and Jasprit Bumrah are in the A+ category

Five-year-old Hyderabad boy achieves Guinness world record in Taekwondo

• Aashman is an incredible Taekwondo player and an athlete at a very young age
• He is a USA World Open Taekwondo Silver medalist and a proud Guinness World Record holder now

Shift in balance of bowling in Ranji

In the last 40 years, pace bowling in Ranji Trophy has moved from the fringes to the mainstream. There’s finally a balance between pacers and spinners

Not in favour of four-day Tests, says India captain Virat Kohli

• The ICC wants to try out the four-day Test matches during the next FTP cycle between 2023-2031 in order to get more free days for the commercially lucrative shorter formats
• India recently played Day/Night Tests and that's about the change Kohli would like in the five-day version for now

Four sporting questions for 2020

As another sporting year unfolds, there are four compelling narratives infused with history and drama to track.

In Europe, half done is well done

• Go into the Winter break with a lead, come out with a title. That’s the dominant narrative in European club football over the past decade
• About 71% of the time, those teams that were in the top four at Christmas also finished in the top four, shows data

Kumar Mangalam Birla's son takes break from cricket due to mental health issues

• Aryaman Birla has played age-group cricket for Madhya Pradesh before making it to the senior Ranji side in 2017
• Last year, he topped the CK Nayudu (Under-23) Trophy run charts with 602 at an average of 75.25, scoring three hundreds in nine innings

IPL 2020 auction: Aussies, pacers rake in the big bucks

• Australians were much sought after 13 players were bought across the eight franchises on Thursday
• Pat Cummins was the most expensive buy of the auction with Kolkata Knight Riders shelling out 15.5 cr for the New South Welshman

Aussie quick Pat Cummins most expensive pick at IPL auctions

• Other top bids for the Twenty20 tournament included Australian batsman Glenn Maxwell (Kings XI Punjab, ₹10.75 crore) and South African all-rounder Chris Morris
• A total of 332 cricketers went under the hammer for 73 available slots

Pat Cummins becomes most expensive overseas IPL player

• Kolkata Night Riders shelled out ₹15.5 crore ($2.2 million), nearly 43% of their purse, for the New South Welshman at the auction
• Pat Cummins has previously played for Delhi Daredevils (as they were known then) in the 2017 edition and Kolkata Knight Riders in the 2014 edition of IPL

Kuldeep Yadav becomes first Indian to bag two international hat-tricks

• Kuldeep Yadav achieved the feat during the second One-day International against the West Indies
• The 25-year-old from Uttar Pradesh, who had claimed his first ODI hat-trick against Australia in Kolkata in 2017

Magnus Carlsen becomes No. 1 in fantasy soccer

• The fantasy game involves picking a squad of 15 players from Premier League clubs who score points through goals
• Carlsen’s team is called Kjell Ankedal

332 players to go under hammer at IPL auction: Here are a few marquee players

• Seven overseas players — Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood, Chris Lynn, Mitchell Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Dale Steyn and Angelo Mathews — have been shortlisted at the highest base price of ₹2 cr
• Robin Uthappa, who was released by KKR earlier this year, is the only Indian player in the auction list with a base price of ₹1.5 cr

Do Manchester and Mumbai meet?

While Manchester City’s acquisition of Mumbai City FC seems to be a win-win for both parties, there is an unsuccessful precedent

When you have a goal, nothing will stand in your way: Michael Phelps

• Michael Phelps said that going into the 2008 Olympics, Ian Thorpe told him it would be impossible to win eight medals
• In 2014, Michael Phelps returned to the pool after a two-year gap with a fresh perspective

Triples and wins don’t sit well together

An individual 300+ score and a team win are virtues in conflict: of the 31 triples, only 13 led to a win

Federer to have Swiss coin minted in his honour

• A 50-franc gold coin with Federer’s image on it will be minted next year
• 55,000 of the coins featuring Federer delivering a backhand, will be produced and will be available for pre-order from Tuesday until 19 Dec