There's never been more hype around a singular player in the women’s division than the Caitlin Clark spectacle. It seemed that the basketball world was waiting, stirring in anticipation of a new star who could bring excitement to and for the game - with a playing style and a disbelief factor built to dominate defences. Enter Caitlin Clark. Not to hype up Clark beyond reason, but there’s undeniably a Women’s Basketball before and after her.

The World Cup began and ended with a bang, but amid the fireworks, it left a smokescreen of whispers in its wake—those of an unfortunate future. Restrictions on the movement of entire teams, strict policing and immigration checks of professional athletes, entire nations barred from even travelling.

India are coming off a dominant T20I World Cup campaign, but their new squad selection shows that they are doubling down on their winning formula: evolution. The intent is clear — eye a hat-trick of World Cup trophies, and reward merit over legacy. It is a reset based on form, role clarity and long-term planning. In today’s era of fast-paced T20 cricket, the best teams evolve before they are forced to, and India are showcasing that exact champion mentality.

The T20 World Cup is the most coveted prize in women’s cricket. For India, it has been its most persistent tormentor. Near-misses and heartbreaks have proved the pattern of India’s long pursuit of T20I glory. Despite coming painfully close on multiple occasions, the Women in Blue have never won the competition. But if there is any year in which they arrive with better odds, it is this one...

It’s that time of the quadrennial again. Not the Olympics, not the Commonwealth Games, not the ICC Cricket World Cup. It is the biggest of them all. Born in Paris. Forged in the favelas of Brazil. Held in Buenos Aires currently. The FIFA World Cup returns to North America, 32 years on from 1994, when the famous yellow of Brazil flew highest on a day Robert Baggio famously skied his decisive penalty and ‘died standing’.