Sports News: Gautam Gambhir Appointed as Head Coach; Vastrakar, Mandhana Shine; Bumrah Wins ICC Player of the Month

Gautam Gambhir is the new head coach of the Indian Cricket Team following the departure of Rahul Dravid. Secretary of the BCCI, Jay Shah, welcomed Gambhir for his vast experience and winning mindset saying he was the one who led India to victory in the ICC T20 World Cup; Gautam Gambhir expressed gratitude, looking forward to continuing this good coaching stint by guiding the Kolkata Knight Riders to glory in the IPL.

India squared the series against South Africa as it thrashed the visitors by 10 wickets in the final women's T20 International. While Pooja Vastrakar returned career-best figures of 4/13 and Radha Yadav returned 3/6, the Proteas were all out for 84. Smriti Mandhana's unbeaten half-century—aided by Shafali Verma's 27 not out—made light work of the target, as it was chased down with 55 balls to spare to seal India's win by wickets and balls against South Africa in T20Is.

With Gautam Gambhir coming on board as the new Head Coach of India, a lot of speculation is rife over his support staff. Paras Mhambrey, T Dilip, and Vikram Rathour are going to leave their jobs to make way for probable new inclusions like Abhishek Nayar and Vinay Kumar. Very soon, the BCCI is going to come out with an official announcement as Gambhir gets ready to take up the reins prior to India's upcoming series against Sri Lanka.

The victory in T20 World Cup 2024 thus drew a curtain on India's cricketing legends Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, and Ravindra Jadeja's careers in the shortest format of the game, while their coach was Rahul Dravid. Rohit Sharma took to Instagram, writing a heartfelt tribute in which he praised coach Dravid's humility and his coaching acumen. The victory consummated the ICC trophy dream that had been waiting for so long for Rahul Dravid, creating a legacy for Indian cricket.

Jasprit Bumrah has been the ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2024 standout performer, and he went on to win the ICC Player of the Month award for June. That star performance by Bumrah came with a haul of 15 wickets, which has propelled India to wins, and left people such as Rohit Sharma and Rahmanullah Gurbaz out of the running. He credited the high performance to the team for its support and he had added his memorable moments of the occasion of lifting the trophy, such as remarkable performance against Ireland, Pakistan, and Afghanistan.

Lucknow Super Giants' fast bowler Mayank Yadav is now fully fit from his injury set-back during the start of IPL 2024, but he will continue his rehabilitation process for the next three to four weeks at the National Cricket Academy. His prolonged stay might rule him out from contention for India's upcoming series against Sri Lanka starting in July for which key players like Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, and Jasprit Bumrah are expected to be rested.

Lionel Messi confirmed that he is enjoying, in his words, the "last battles" with Argentina. He scored in the 2-0 win over Canada to take La Albiceleste to the Copa America final. As for what happens in the future, the Barça player asks for nothing more than satisfaction at this present time. Coach Lionel Scaloni asked for time and patience in these moments of decisions for Lionel Messi. Having missed an opportunity to win a third consecutive major title, Messi turned to his senior players by acknowledging the same and later reflected on the journey back to the final after fierce competition.

Argentina did defeat Canada 2-0 to advance to the Copa final. Alvarez opened the scoring in the 22nd minute before doubling by Lionel Messi in the 51st minute. Messi's 109th international goal continued his great form with records being eyed in the Copa. Unbeaten in ten games, Argentina chases their 16th Copa title. The victory now pits them against either Uruguay or Colombia for the final encounter in Miami Gardens, Florida, for a shot at back-to-back Copa Americas after their 2022 World Cup triumph.