Firstpost Spodcast Episode 57: Sandeep Chaudhary's record-breaking gold, Cricket West Indies' squad and more

Welcome to Spodcast, where we cover the big sports headlines for the day. Cricket West Indies announced a new squad for the upcoming limited-overs series against India. Chris Gayle, Dwayne Bravo and Sunil Narine have been left out of the ODI and T20 teams. Kieron Pollard and Darren Bravo have been included in the T20 squad. Pollard’s last international match for the Windies was in September last year while Darren Bravo last played for the West Indies back in November of 2016. Chairman of the selection panel Courtney Browne said Chris Gayle was omitted after he made himself unavailable for the tour. Browne said, “The upcoming tour of India provides a great opportunity to expose some of our young talent." An update on the Australia-Pakistan series underway in the UAE. Pakistani batsman Haris Sohail scored his maiden Test century on Monday as Pakistan made 482 in the first innings of the first Test. Pakistan began day two at 255/3. Sohail’s century and Asad Shafiq’s 80 runs pushed the total to 482. Pakistan were sitting pretty at 410/4 on day two, but lost the last six wickets for just 72 runs. In reply, Australia finished day two with 30 runs on the board and all 10 wickets intact. Usman Khawaja was on 17, and debutant Aaron Finch on 13 runs, as Australia negotiated a spell of tight spin bowling on a pitch that started to show some turn. Some news from the 2018 Youth Olympic Games. Shooter Mehuli Ghosh finished second in the women’s 10m air-rifle shooting event on Monday. She came within striking distance of the gold, finishing 0.7 points behind winner Stephanie Grundsoee of Denmark. Ghosh scored 9.1 on her last shot, finishing with 248 points. Grundsoee shot a 10.6, finishing with 248.7 to take the gold. Ghosh’s silver medal is the second for India at the Youth Olympics. Shahu Mane won a silver in the men’s air rifle event on Sunday. Javelin thrower Sandeep Chaudhary set a world record at the Asian Para Games on Monday in Jakarta. India had a successful day at the games, winning 11 medals, including three gold. Chaudhary won India’s first gold of the Games in the men’s F42-44/61-64 category. His best throw of 60.01m on his third attempt shattered the 37-year-old world record of 59.82m by Mingjie Gao of China. Chaudhary said, “I’m not going to stop…with that performance, I will try my best at the next World Championships in Dubai." Ramya Shanmugam and Radha Venkatesh won silver medals in women’s F46 javelin throw and women’s T12/13 1500m race respectively. India also won a gold medal and three bronze medals in swimming as well as a silver medal in para powerlifting. PV Sindhu and Carolina Marin were the most sought after Icon Players at the players’ auction for the fourth season of the Premier Badminton League. Sindhu was picked by Hyderabad Hunters while Marin was picked by Pune 7 Aces. Marin and Sindhu were obvious choices for nearly every team. Four teams raised the prize purse to 80 lakhs, the maximum a team can bid for any player. The players were then assigned to teams by a draw of lots. A bidding war between Ahmedabad Smash Masters and the Hyderabad Hunters for rising doubles star Satwiksairaj Rankireddy ensured that he made 52 lakh rupees, a huge jump from the base price of 15 lakhs. Saina Nehwal will be a part of the North-Eastern Warriors in the next season. The fourth season begins on 22 December and will conclude on 13 January. With inputs from Agencies.