Carlo Ancelotti Sends Neymar Massive 'World Cup' Warning, Breaks Silence On Brazil Future
New Brazil coach Carlo Ancelotti considers Neymar "a very important player" and has urged the injury-prone star "to prepare well" for the 2026 World Cup. "He must prepare well and he has the time to do that," the Italian said in an interview with the South American football federation on Thursday. "He's a very important player for us regarding the World Cup," Ancelotti added. Neymar, 33, extended his contract with Brazilian side Santos to the end of the year this week. Neymar's career has been dogged by injury, and he has only played 12 matches in five months for Santos, scoring three goals.
Brazil's top scorer with 79 goals was missing from Ancelotti's first squad at the end of May.
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With Neymar absent five-time world champions Brazil qualified for next year's World Cup with a 1-0 win over Paraguay this month.
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Hans India
an hour ago
- Hans India
Wiser, sharper and hungrier: Shafali Verma's next chapter as India player set to begin in England
New Delhi: In September 2019, a teenager with a jaw-dropping bat swing and a fearless attitude lit up Indian cricket. Shafali Verma, then just 15, exploded onto the international scene with a power game that left many opposition bowlers rattled. But in sports, evolution is inevitable, and in Shafali's case, it became essential. As India kick off its five-match T20I series against England in Nottingham, Shafali, now 21, returns to the national fold with the same aggression, but now layered with wisdom, sharpness in the game and a desire to get bigger scores at the international level. Dropped from the national set-up for almost eight months after last year's T20 World Cup and lean scores in subsequent ODI series against New Zealand, Shafali's tough times deepened as her father Sanjeev suffered a heart attack and was in the hospital. With the domestic season looming and Sanjeev pushing her through practice despite his own recovery needs, Shafali rigorously trained, improving fitness and honing her skills to now be back in national reckoning. The results have been there to see: Shafali was the leading run-scorer in the 2024/25 Senior Women's One-Day Trophy via 527 runs coming at an average of 75.29 and strike rate of 152.31. The Senior Women's One-Day Challenger Trophy was the next tournament to bring up big runs - 414 runs, at an average of 82.8 and strike rate of 145.26. A steady showing for Delhi Capitals in the 2025 Women's Premier League (WPL) - Shafali amassed 304 runs from nine innings with a strike rate of 152.76 – to be the side's leading run-getter. All of this was enough for Shafali to get back into the Indian team, albeit for the T20I tour. 'Everyone here is feeling good with her return to the Indian team and hopefully, she will do well. Our HCA camps, trainers, coaches - all of us had a role to play. Whenever she came to the academy, she spent time working on her game with us.' 'As they say in Bollywood terms, the superb first show on a film's release day, her entry in the Indian team was very much in that way. But as compared to the explosion she made suddenly in 2019, she is now back in the team with maturity and is keen on taking full responsibility in terms of how a senior player should play, and this is kind of hope everyone has from her now,' said Ashwani Kumar, Shafali's coach at the Shri Ram Narain Cricket Club in Rohtak, to IANS. Expanding on Shafali's development, Ashwani, a former Ranji Trophy player, highlighted her focus on shot selection. 'It happens many times that early shot selection wouldn't let her carry forward in the innings. But if you are against good bowling which is more aggressive all of a sudden, then how would you tackle that mentally - we chatted around these things and she took it very seriously.' Though Shafali continued to play her swashbuckling big hits, there was a visible restraint - an effort to value her wicket and bat deeper into the innings. According to Milap Mewada, fielding coach at Delhi Capitals in WPL 2025, this is precisely the next step in her evolution as an opening batter. 'No doubt in T20, you look to hit almost every ball and if you play 50 T20 games, there are 2-3 opportunities where you will bat for at least 20 overs as an opener. So I would love to see if she plays 65 balls at least in these T20 games. I want to see her play long first, and put a tag on her wicket, and don't give her wicket easily.' 'When a player gets dropped once or twice, then they realise the value of the India comeback. So I feel whatever happened was good, and I always believe that she will take learnings of last few months very far in her career. So the India T20I comeback has been very timely.' 'I feel her return to Indian team has happened at the right time because in WPL, she was scoring high. No doubt, 2-3 times she got out on 40s, but if she understands how to pass through that event, where she would often lost her wicket, then she can go for another 40-50 runs,' Mewada told IANS. Another important factor Mewada, who came off a stint with Afghanistan senior and emerging teams as their batting coach, noticed about Shafali was her putting in hard yards to counter her issues against short balls. 'While at DC, she was working on facing short balls and the ones going above abdomen height, as facing them was a little difficult for her previously.' 'But at the same time, she didn't get out that much of it. In T20s, even the bowler has limited overs and balls to bowl. So she was trying to elevate herself and optimise this situation - so that was a good sign.' That ability to play a longer innings - along with the importance of strike rotation to build her innings - could be Shafali's ticket to India's ODI team, especially in a World Cup year. Though Pratika Rawal and Harleen Deol are in India's top order alongside Smriti Mandhana, Ashwani agrees the T20I series against England could shape Shafali's path for coming back into ODIs. 'The performances in this series hold huge importance in terms of her coming back to the ODI team. When people are tasked with making a comeback to the national team, a lot of them will say that something wrong happened with them due to this or that. But she understood it well why she got dropped and credit goes to her.' 'Here, the biggest principle of coaching is when a child knows what mistake she is making, then she has a chance to improve. If the children or anyone else does not know what mistake was made or is not ready to accept it, then the scope of improvement and comeback ends there,' says Ashwani. Mewada too expressed a similar sentiment. 'For how long did all the in-form openers in IPL 2025 lasted in their innings? They played nearly till the end or few lasted till the 20th over. If Shafali plays 15 or 16 overs in T20Is, she can even score a hundred.' 'She can capitalise on the powerplay and then play for long, which in turn will get her a chance to play in ODIs. I believe if she gets a start, then she should take it forward. When at DC, I would see her batting and thank God for making a very good player like her,' he added. While Shafali's batting is outstanding, Mewada notes that her fitness and fielding remain areas of further improvement. 'Suppose if I want to improve my fitness, I have to sweat out. If someone else sweats out, I cannot improve my fitness, and so I will have to work hard for that.' 'In the next 2-3 years, if her fitness improves, then her fielding will improve. For that, she has to conceive a pro-level thought process. But at the same time, she has a very good pair of safe hands. No matter how fast a batter hits a shot, she catches it easily because she is not afraid of catching it. But the only thing is her movement part which depends on her fitness.' 'Like going from point A to point B, how much time does she take to go? So that time if she can minimise, through improved fitness and speed, she will be the number one fielder. Then her running between wickets will be good and speed of reaching the ball will increase in fielding.' 'She can be a wonderful fielder because her pair of hands are safe. But she has to push herself for a lot of fitness training and have that mentality of 'I should be the fittest in the Indian team'. Shafali is like a jet engine who needs jet fuel to run her plane – and then only she can soar higher in all aspects of the game,' he elaborated. Shafali's strong performances in the T20I series against England could lead to her return to the Indian ODI team, a decision the Neetu David-led selection committee will then have to make before the World Cup takes centrestage. It's because no other female cricketer in India can rival Shafali's extraordinary abilities with the bat. The fireworks with the bat are still there - but now, there's a spark of something steadier, as England might witness the start of a new and mature chapter of Shafali's career as an Indian cricketer.
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First Post
an hour ago
- First Post
Ravi Shastri defends India collecting lion's share of ICC revenue, says BCCI deserves even more: 'It's only fair'
Shastri explained that while the BCCI is collecting 40 per cent of the ICC's annual revenue, with none of the other boards getting a share in double digits, the current model is justified as India is the single biggest contributor towards the global body's income. read more Ravi Shastri feels that the BCCI is not only justified in receiving a share of nearly forty percent of the ICC's revenue, it deserves a bigger slice of the pie. Reuters The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is the richest board in cricket by a fair distance and receives the lion's share of the International Cricket Council's annual revenue. Former India all-rounder and head coach Ravi Shastri, however, not only has defended the current ICC revenue model, he has also urged the Indian board to dig deeper and secure an even bigger share for itself than the 38.5 per cent that it currently receives . STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD 'I absolutely agree (that India should get 38.5 per cent). I would want more for India,' cricketer-turned-commentator Shastri told Wisden. And when asked to explain his opinion, Shastri argued that India is the biggest contributor to the ICC's revenue , which some sources estimate stands in the range of 70 to 80 per cent. 'Most of the money that is generated comes from India. So it's only fair that they get their pound of flesh. 'And it's relative. It's economies. Tomorrow there might be another economy that's stronger, money might come from there like it did in the 1970s and 80s, and the chunk of the money goes somewhere else,' Shastri added. Shastri explains India's impact on the cricketing world The lion's share of the ICC revenue, combined with the sale of broadcast rights for the lucrative Indian Premier League that keeps smashing records cycle after cycle, have helped the BCCI not only become the richest board in the world but also the most powerful. That, in turn, has made India something of the first nation in the cricketing world, which is at the heart of every major cricketing event – whether it be the ICC World Test Championship cycle or the World Cup. The IPL also enjoys special status with a dedicated two-month window in the summer during which international cricket is kept at a bare minimum. The Indian cricket team also enjoys the biggest following in the sport and a visit by the Men in Blue can often prove to be a boon for other boards, thanks to the prospect of packed venues and greater interest from broadcasters. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD 'I think it's only fair. It shows in the revenues. When India travel, look at the television rights, look at the television income that comes for an India series. So it's only fair that they get whatever they're getting now, if not more,' Shastri added.
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First Post
an hour ago
- First Post
Abhishek Nayar reveals how Rohit Sharma helped KL Rahul make a comeback: 'I told him, listen, we've got 15 days'
KL Rahul's recent turnaround in form is linked to the mentorship of Abhishek Nayar, who worked with him on Rohit Sharma's request. Nayar revealed why Rohit approached him to work with Rahul and how he convinced the current India opener to change certain things. read more KL Rahul 's recent turnaround with the bat hasn't gone unnoticed. Rahul himself spoke about it after he scored a brilliant century in the second innings of the first Test match against England at Headingley. He credited former India assistant coach Abhishek Nayar for his improvement in form across formats. Abhishek Nayar has now revealed that he worked with KL Rahul after a request from former India captain Rohit Sharma . Nayar said Rohit felt that Rahul had more to offer, especially with his batting mindset. So he reached out to him and asked to help bring out a more aggressive version of Rahul. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Nayar worked with the Indian cricket team for eight months under head coach Gautam Gambhir. However, after India performed poorly in the Test series against New Zealand and Australia, Nayar was released from the team by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). 'When I first picked up that role, I remember I had a conversation with Rohit, and he said that one of the things he was really keen on me doing was working with KL and bringing out a more aggressive outlook to how KL played the game, and bringing the best out of him. Because he believed strongly that KL would play a major role in the Champions Trophy, World Cup and everything going forward including the BGT [Border-Gavaskar Trophy] and the Tests in England,' Nayar told ESPNcricinfo. Also Read: 'He has been losing and losing': Former India opener warns Gautam Gambhir ahead of 2nd Test Nayar reveals how he convinced Rahul Rahul was under a lot of pressure at the time. He had already been dropped from the T20 side, and his place in the Test team was not confirmed either. Rahul started the BGT 2024-25 with a fine century even though he continued to bat at a low average of 30 after that one knock. However, he finished as one of the leading run scorers for his position at the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 and helped India win the title after 12 years. He scored the winning runs in the final against New Zealand. 'I think that was sort of the inception [of our relationship. Australia was going to be critical for him because it was almost like what if you didn't get runs there, then where is his career going? Because he was out of the T20 [squad]. Then this could also very well have been his last series,' Nayar added. 'I told him, 'listen, we've got 15 days to prepare before we go to Australia, and take those ten days there, we have got almost month to prepare - what do you want to do? How do you want to approach this? What is your mindset?',' he added. 'He spoke about what he's been doing and what worked for him in the past. And then I had a certain thought process, which was very different from his. Over hours and hours of conversation and trying to make him understand where I came from, eventually I got him to a place where he sort of trusted me to do certain things with him in regards to how he practises, in regards to trusting certain changes in his tactics, in regards to his stance, where he stands in the crease, what guard he takes,' Nayar said. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD 'A coach has to be lucky,' Nayar says. 'How lucky that in his first game in Australia he got runs in the second innings and in the first also he got a start. That gave him a bit of believability. There are times when the glue just sticks. That was the moment the glue stuck. He really enjoyed that knock. He told me, listen, I feel like I am just watching and playing. It's music to me now, playing the sport.' Also Read: Ravi Shastri defends India collecting lion's share of ICC revenue, says BCCI deserves even more: 'It's only fair' However, Rahul is still struggling to shake off the 'inconsistent' tag in Test cricket. Despite his talent and experience, he averages only 34 in red-ball matches, a modest figure for a player of his calibre. Even though he impressed in the first Test against England, all eyes will be on him again in the second match to see if he can carry forward his good form. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD
