Neesham feels the bio-security lapses could be due to the fact that the teams were travelling across the country.

The remainder of the suspended Indian Premier League season will have to be played outside the country, Board of Control for Cricket in India said, though it is unclear whether a window can be found to play the outstanding 31 games.

Mary Kom, who is an Asian Games winner and Commonwealth Games gold medallist, will start the tournament as favourite in the women's category.

Australian pace spearhead Pat Cummins believes if hosting the ICC T20 World Cup amidst raging COVID-19 pandemic is a drain on Indian resources or is 'unsafe', it would be prudent to shift the event to the United Arab Emirates.

But the IPL management and the Indian cricket board are optimistic.

Several countries like the United Kingdom, the United Arab Emirates, Australia and Singapore have already banned travellers from India as well as other South Asian countries.

The Union health ministry on Tuesday said that aid received from other countries has been distributed in different states to help deal with the rising number of COVID-19 cases.

31 games (including the play-offs) in IPL 2021 are left to be played and October-November will be the only period when international players will be available since no country has any series scheduled in view of the T20 World Cup.

"They are extending support as they feel that this is the time we must help India. 'India has helped us and we must help India'. So I do not think we are looking at it in policy terms," the foreign secretary said.

The first Test will start on Thursday, with the second scheduled for May 7-11 at the same venue.

The move came after Union Home Minister Amit Shah reviewed the coronavirus situation in the country on Friday, a home ministry statement said.

The travel ban will come into effect from 11.59 pm on Saturday, April 24, and is subject to review after 10 days.

'Their deteriorating economic and international situation is also responsible for being more reasonable.'

So far, 14 Rafale jets are operating in the IAF and the number will go up to 18 after the arrival of the new batch.

The Russian vaccine has been registered in more than 55 countries and is gaining recognition in the virtual world -- being the only to have its own Facebook page, YouTube channel and a Twitter handle, reports Aneesh Phadnis

Former Sri Lankan all-rounder Dilhara Lokuhettige has been banned from cricket for eight years due to corruption, the International Cricket Council said on Monday.

'The Indian side has realised that not talking to Pakistan has not served any useful purpose.'

India and Pakistan in a surprise announcement said on February 25 that they have agreed to strictly observe all agreements on ceasefire along the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir and other sectors.

The Indian Premier League is not only one of the world's most lucrative annual sporting properties but also among the most durable, with not even the lengthening shadow of the COVID-19 pandemic apparently able to stop the Twenty20 juggernaut.

The complete schedule of the 14th edition of the Indian Premier League.

India is set to host the T20 World Cup later this year and Stokes feels it is the perfect opportunity for English players

With the arrival of the three jets, the size of the Rafale fleet has increased to 14.

India suffered an embarrassing 0-6 rout at the hands of formidable United Arab Emirates -- their heaviest defeat against the Gulf side -- in the second international football friendly in Dubai on Monday.

India captain Virat Kohli said confining players to 'bubbles' for months on end is not sustainable and the game has to consider scheduling changes to reduce the mental toll tours are taking during the COVID-19 pandemic.

India is believed to have challenged in a court in The Hague an arbitration tribunal verdict that overturned its demand for Rs 10,247 crore in back taxes from Cairn Energy Plc -- the second time in three months that it has refused to accept an international award against retrospective tax.

Lekhara put up a strong challenge in the R2 - women's 10m air rifle standing SH1 final but fell short in the end, losing to Ukraine's Iryna Shchetnik by just 0.3 points.

Pakistan's offer to normalise relations with India is an attempt to buy temporary peace due to its economic and politico-strategic compulsions, notes Brigadier Narender Kumar (retd).

The International Cricket Council slapped eight-year bans on United Arab Emirates (UAE) cricketers Mohammad Naveed and Shaiman Anwar Butt for their alleged role in trying to fix matches in the T20 World Cup qualifier in 2019.

The group stage draw of the continent's top-tier league involving 40 teams was held online in Margao.

British oil firm Cairn Energy Plc on Tuesday said it has identified Indian sovereign assets overseas, which it can seize in the event of New Delhi failing to return over USD 1.7 billion that an international arbitration tribunal has ordered after rescinding a retrospective tax demand.

Courts in five countries including the US and the UK have given recognition to an arbitration award that asked India to return $1.4 billion to Cairn Energy plc - a step that now opens the possibility of the British firm seizing Indian assets in those countries if New Delhi does not pay, sources said. Cairn Energy had moved courts in nine countries to enforce its $1.4 billion arbitral award against India, which the company won after a dispute with the country's revenue authority over a retroactively applied capital gains tax. Of these, the December 21 award from a three-member tribunal at the Permanent Court of Arbitration in the Netherlands has been recognised and confirmed by courts in the US, the UK, Netherlands, Canada and France, three people with knowledge of the matter said.

The 14th edition of the Indian Premier League will begin from April 9 and will be held at six venues in India including Chennai, Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Delhi, Bengaluru and Kolkata, the BCCI announced on Sunday.

Noting the urgency and desire on the part of India to extradite people accused of corruption, the UK on Friday said a "legal process" is on in Vijay Mallya's matter and it has to be followed through as there cannot be any shortcut. In May last year, the fugitive businessman lost his appeals in the British Supreme Court against his extradition to India to face money laundering and fraud charges. Asked when can Mallya be extradited to India and if some kind of legal issue is still pending in the matter, new British High Commissioner to India, Alex Ellis, without pointing to any particular case, said he recognises the urgency, importance and the desire to get back people who are accused of corruption to India.

Sheikha Latifa bint Mohammed Al Maktoum -- the daughter of United Arab Emirates Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum -- was last seen publicly in March 2018 aboard a yacht off the coast of India before a raid by Indian and Emirati forces took her back to Dubai, according to two people who had helped plan her escape.

Two dogs -- two-year-old cocker spaniel Casper and one-year-old Jaya, a 'chippiparai', which is an indigenous breed from Tamil Nadu -- have been trained to detect COVID-19 by sniffing samples of sweat and urine, senior Army officials said.

The rules affect UK residents and Irish nationals travelling from 33 countries on the so-called 'red list', which covers much of South America, southern Africa, the United Arab Emirates and Portugal as feared regions for new coronavirus mutations. Non-UK travellers from these locations are currently banned from entry anyway.

A third batch of three more Rafale fighter jets on Wednesday landed in India from France after a non-stop flight, in a further boost to the strike capability of the Indian Air Force.

World leaders said they were looking forward to working with Joe Biden, as they welcomed the 46th President of the United States with praise and took parting shots at his predecessor Donald Trump.

The second match of the four-game series was postponed on Tuesday when four more UAE players tested positive for the novel coronavirus, taking the total to seven COVID-19 cases.

Interacting with state chief ministers, Modi underscored the enormity of what he described as the world's biggest vaccination exercise, which begins from January 16, saying over 30 crore citizens will get the jabs in the next few months in India against only 2.5 crore people vaccinated so far in over 50 countries in around a month.