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Olympic and World Championship silver medallist P V Sindhu has signed a whopping four-year sports sponsorship deal in the tune of Rs 50 crore with Chinese sports brand Li Ning. The record deal comes after compatriot Kidambi Srikanth was offered a cool Rs 35 crore over a period of four years by the Chinese company last month. "Sindhu's deal is one of the biggest in world badminton. It is close to Rs 50 crore for sponsorship and equipment," Mahender Kapoor, director, Sunlight Sports Pvt Ltd, the multi-national exclusive partner of Li-Ning in India, said.

India will have the luxury of having three stumpers for the three Twenty20 internationals to be played against New Zealand next February. The selection committee retained Rishabh Pant and Dinesh Karthik, and also recalled Mahendra Singh Dhoni - who played his last Twenty20 international against England at Bristol on July 8 - for the three matches to be played at Wellington, Auckland and Hamilton. Dhoni is the first choice nominated wicket-keeper though.

For the record, Gukesh reached the landmark at the age of 12 years, seven months and 17 days. After running out of time in his desperate bid to break the long-standing record of Sergey Karjakin of being the world’s youngest Grandmaster, D. Gukesh completed the formalities to be the sport’s youngest Grandmaster, at present.

India’s Prajnesh Gunneswaran’s maiden Grand Slam appearance ended in disappointment after American Frances Tiafoe defeated the Indian in straight sets in the opening round of the Australian Open. Tiafoe defeated Gunneswaran 7-6 (9-7) 6-3 6-3 in front of a sizeable crowd at Melbourne Park. The World No.39 American beat the Indian qualifier in a match that lasted an hour and 52 minutes.

Sydney’s wet weather helped Australia to escape with a draw at a sodden SCG, where India made history by completing a 2-1 series victory. Australia, asked to follow on after conceding a first innings lead of 322 runs on day four, finished 6-0 in their second innings when rain played its part denying a series victory of 3-1 to India. India, having not won a Test series in Australia in 11 previous attempts, ended a slump that dates back to when they lost to Don Bradman’s side in 1948.