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The pre-match training session was anything but quiet and routine, as hundreds of fans turned up for a glimpse of their king

Shashank Kishore15-May-20253:48

Pujara: ‘Under Kohli’s captaincy, everyone started believing we can win overseas’

By a quarter to five on Thursday afternoon, the gates of the M Chinnaswamy Stadium were throbbing. Hundreds of fans had pressed up against the barricades, their collective gaze fixated down Cubbon Road, awaiting the sound of the police siren that generally marks the arrival of the team bus that then turns left into Gate No. 10.For a fleeting moment, the energy dimmed. A bus did appear, but it wore purple and gold, not the one they’d come for. As it rolled past smoothly, the fans began counting down time. Perhaps the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) bus was on its way, they convinced themselves. That wait lasted more than an hour, not enough to dim their excitement. And when a bus painted in red and gold finally emerged amid a sea of vehicles, the frenzy reached fever pitch.”Virat! King! Kohli! Koeli! Boss!”Related

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The chants rose like a wave, only to be absorbed by the honking chaos of stalled traffic along Cubbon Park. If you expected a routine pre-match nets to be a quiet affair, you were wrong. The RCB faithful, who want to turn up in whites to pay tribute to their hero Virat Kohli, turned it into an event.Every Kohli appearance at the Chinnaswamy carries a hum of energy. This one felt different. It surely felt like the after-effects of the big announcement he’d made earlier in the week. But for all the hoopla outside, when Kohli arrived – AirPods in, unhurried, and slowly climbing the stairs to the dressing room – he looked utterly at ease with his surroundings.A quick change over into training gears later, Kohli emerged on the balcony amid a number of shutter bugs eager to get the best click. And quickly after, Kohli was all business. As he walked into the arena, padded up and bounding out with three bats in tow, he caught up with Ajinkya Rahane briefly, before they went in two different directions.Kohli was the first out to bat at the main net. For over 45 minutes, he stayed put, alternating with Phil Salt as they faced up to an army of net bowlers initially, until the rest of RCB’s pack joined in after their warm-ups. Out came the drives, cuts, short-arm jabs – routine Kohli territory. And when the spinners came on, Kohli danced down the track to replicate a mini-version of that now epic Melbourne flat-bat when Suyash Sharma thought he’d beaten him with a skiddy length ball.All eyes on me: Kohli is almost always at the centre of attention at the Chinnaswamy•BCCIFor all the while he batted, it seemed business as usual for Kohli. The unwavering focus towards his strokes, the grimace when he mistimed hits, the yelp of “come on!” when he was beaten. But as he finished his net session and packed his kit to walk off, all the net bowlers who were made to toil took turns to walk up and greet him. Kohli obliged all of them and turned to walk back. Until he received a pat on the back from Venkatesh Iyer.As Kohli walked back, with security personnel having to draw a cordon behind the advertising hoardings and sightscreen, the chaotic spectacle relented to a more routine evening. The cameras found another batter to train their focus on, and there were many who hit them big, perhaps none bigger than Andre Russell and Tim David, who batted simultaneously in two different corners, seemingly trying to outdo each other.But even as the big hitters took center stage, there was a quiet hum that remained, unlike the chaotic spectacle from an hour earlier – proof that the evening had already belonged to someone else.

Wolves now see Rob Edwards as a leading choice to replace Vitor Pereira as manager, having failed to bring Gary O’Neil back to the club.

Pereira was relieved of his duties over the weekend, following a dreadful start to the season that sees Wanderers sit bottom of the Premier League table, with Jeff Shi confirming the decision.

“Vitor and his team worked tirelessly for Wolves and helped guide us through a challenging period last season, for which we are grateful. Unfortunately, the start to this season has been a disappointment and, despite our strong desire to give the head coach time and matches to find an improvement, we have reached a point where we must make a change. We thank Vitor and his staff for their efforts and wish them the very best for the future.”

O’Neil had emerged as a front-runner to replace Pereira, but the former Wolves manager has now reportedly decided against a return to Molineux, feeling it isn’t the right time.

Meanwhile, former Wanderers striker Robbie Keane is another name who has been thrown into the mix, and now a key update has emerged regarding Middlesbrough manager Edwards taking charge.

Edwards speaks out about taking Wolves job

Speaking to BBC Radio Tees, Edwards didn’t rule out taking over as Wolves manager, but admitted his focus is on his current club at the moment.

“I can understand it with my links to the club but my full focus is on this job here, which is a brilliant job, and trying to turn things around for a really big game against Leicester. It’s hard for me to comment on speculation and anything other than Middlesbrough. We’ve done a decent job so far, and all I care about is trying to win tomorrow.”

Journalist Ben Jacobs has added that Edwards is high on Wolves’ wishlist after O’Neil’s snub and has a release clause in his Boro contract, with the Old Gold looking to ‘try and line up a replacement for Pereira before the Chelsea game’.

Edwards is an impressive young manager who already knows Wolves well, not only spending four years there as a player, but also having a brief spell in interim charge back in 2016.

The 42-year-old famously guided Luton Town into the Premier League from the Championship, which was a special achievement, and he has been hailed by journalist Mark Ogden for his “ultra-positive” approach.

While Edwards will clearly be focusing on guiding Middlesbrough into the top flight, the lure of Wolves could be great for him, both in terms of returning to the club and also getting another Premier League job.

He is still a relatively young manager, so there is some risk in Wanderers appointing him, at a time when a more experienced head who knows how to get out of trouble arguably makes more sense.

Better than O'Neil: Wolves looking to hire "insanely talented" English boss

Wolves are reportedly keen on a manager who would be a better option than Gary O’Neil.

By
Dan Emery

Nov 3, 2025

But if those high up at the club feel that the 3-4-2-1-playing Edwards is the right man to get Wolves out of this current mess, they need to be trusted, with age only a number and the Englishman already impressing so much in his managerial career.

Robbie Keane in talks with Wolves as Steven Gerrard gives clarity on future

By no means was Friday a banner day for the Detroit Tigers, who emerged from their series opener against the Seattle Mariners on the wrong side of a blowout 12–3 loss.

However, it was a banner day on a smaller scale for one man: Tigers catcher—or should one say —Jake Rogers.

With his team in a nine-run hole in the ninth inning, Rogers took the mound for the third pitching outing of his career. After inducing a groundout from first baseman Donovan Solano and hitting right fielder Luke Raley with a 73 mph fastball, Rogers coaxed third baseman Ben Williamson into a lineout to end the inning.

Fired up, Rogers inquisitively gestured toward an umpire with his glove, implying that he wanted to be checked for foreign substances after his mound success.

Rogers, in addition to his pitching heroics, owns eight RBIs this year. Can you say two-way player?

Sven-Goran Eriksson's family has been forced to sell his lakeside mansion in a cut-price deal to help pay off the late England manager's massive debts. Eriksson, who was in charge of England for five years and took the team to two World Cups and a European Championship, bought the mansion in 2001 for a whopping £4.5 million, but his family has now accepted a total loss on the property of around £3m.

• Eriksson's lakeside mansion sold off

  Former England boss Eriksson, who passed away at the age of 76 in August 2024 after a battle against pancreatic cancer, left behind a huge amount of debt, which his family is struggling to pay off. In March this year, Eriksson's partner Yaniseth Alcides and children Lina and Johan organised an auction of his collection of memorabilia. They sold off several valuable collectables, including his Armani suit from the Three Lions’ round of 16 match at the 2006 World Cup, with hand-written team notes still in the pocket. The family raised a total of £140,000 to help settle the debts.

  According to , Eriksson owed the UK taxman £7.4 million and an additional £1m in other debts. Now, his luxurious lakeside mansion in Torsby, Varmland, in his native Sweden, has been sold for £1.3m. The family had initially put the property on the market with a valuation of £2m, but later slashed the price by £400,000 to attract bidders. Eventually, an anonymous e-commerce businesswoman bought the house. 

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• AFP
  

  'Of course I thought it was fantastic'

  The anonymous buyer visited the mansion as a child when her father renovated it for the late Swede. She told : "Of course I thought it was fantastic. But it was still far from obvious to me to buy it when it came up for sale. It felt like a big project and a big responsibility. However, the opportunity to manage a small part of Värmland’s cultural heritage, and at the same time enjoy the fantastic environment, was ultimately irresistible. 

  "We live and work in Stockholm but my soul is always somewhere in northern Värmland. We will spend as much time as we can there. I come from Torsby myself, my whole family is in Värmland, and we are always in Torsby on all holidays. Our dream with Bjorkefors is to make it an obvious gathering place for the family for generations to come."

• How did Eriksson fall into the debt trap?

  Eriksson earned tens of millions in salary during his 42-year coaching career, during which he managed 12 clubs and four national teams. He made around £22.5m in his five-year stint in charge of England. However, by 2007, he fell into massive debt after being duped out of £10m by financial advisor Samir Khan, to whom he entrusted his fortune. The former coach later took Khan to court and even won the legal battle, but he never got back any of that lost money for unknown reasons.

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  Eriksson's glorious managerial journey

  Eriksson enjoyed a glittering managerial career that spanned over four decades across several countries and continents. He managed 12 different clubs across the globe, including Lazio, Roma, Manchester City, Leicester City and Benfica. Eriksson also managed the Ivory Coast, Mexico and the Philippines in international football. 

  He won league titles in Italy and Portugal with Lazio and Benfica and guided England to back-to-back quarter-finals at the 2002 and 2006 World Cups, as their first non-British manager. At 76, Eriksson was finally able to live out his dream of managing Liverpool in March 2024, as he took charge of a legends match against Ajax and guided the Reds to a 4-2 win.

Australia have now recorded 33 ODI series sweeps, 21 ahead of second-placed England

Namooh Shah11-Dec-202433 – Whitewashes in women’s ODI bilateral series (of three or more matches) by Australia , which is the highest by any team. The next best is 12 for England.50 and 5 – Ashleigh Gardner’s 50 and 5 for 30 in the third ODI, played at WACA in Perth on Wednesday is only the fourth such instance in women’s ODIs. The others to achieve it are Heather Knight, Sune Luus and Amelia Kerr.91 – Innings taken by Smriti Mandhana to score nine ODI centuries, making her the third-fastest to reach the mark. She also has the most hundreds for India in the format, and is only behind Meg Lanning (15), Suzie Bates (13) and Tammy Beaumont (10) in the overall list.During her innings of 105 on Wednesday, Mandhana also became the youngest (28y, 146d) to complete 8000 international runs.4 – Number of ODI centuries for Mandhana in 2024 – the most in women’s ODIs in a calendar year.ESPNcricinfo Ltd1 – Annabel Sutherland became the first Australia batter to score a century in women’s ODIs from No. 5 or lower. Only eighth players have done it in the format overall.220 – Runs added by Australia’s batters after the fall of the fourth wicket, which is the second-highest in women’s ODIs. The 223 Australia scored against India in Mackay in 2021 is the highest.3 – Sutherland (110), Gardner (50) and Tahlia McGrath (56) hit half-centuries in the third ODI, which is the first instance of three batters scoring at least 50 runs from No. 5 or lower in a women’s ODI.4 – Arundhati Reddy’s 4 for 26 is the third-best by a visiting bowler in Australia against Australia. The top two are by Katrina Keenan (4 for 11) in 1996 and Helen Davies (4 for 23) in 1999.