Former Pakistan batter Mohammad Yousuf has questioned the major changes made to the Test squad and coaching staff during the ongoing England tour, saying the decisions appear to be linked to the wider instability that has affected Pakistan cricket for years.

Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), led by Mohsin Naqvi, made sweeping changes after the team went 2-0 down in the three-Test series. Seven players and two coaching staff members were sent home ahead of the third Test.

Yousuf questions PCB decisions

Yousuf suggested the changes were not based solely on performances and said Pakistan cricket has repeatedly been caught up in internal disagreements and controversies.

“The recent decision by the authorities to recall players and coaching staff from the ongoing tour does not appear to be only performance related,” Yousuf wrote on X.

The former Manchester United star is due to undergo heart surgery in the coming days and faces a short spell on the sidelines

Scott McTominay has confirmed he has not held talks with Napoli over a new contract, while also stressing that his minor heart procedure is not a major concern. The former Manchester United midfielder is set to undergo heart surgery after doctors discovered ‘a mild benign arrhythmia.’

Napoli outlined the situation in a statement on Tuesday, saying: “Following the onset of a mild benign arrhythmia, McTominay will undergo corrective surgery using a cardiac arrhythmia ablation (PFA) in the coming days. He will be available again after the international break.”

According to the NHS, an arrhythmia occurs when the heart beats too fast, too slowly or irregularly. The decision to proceed with the procedure had been agreed with the club for a while and McTominay is not expected to return to action until early October.

Speaking on Wednesday, he told reporters: “I’m fine, the procedure was something I’d planned to do with the club for quite a while. We’d already talked about it in pre-season, I’ll be out for a few weeks.”

He also posted on Instagram: “See you soon Napoli. I won’t take long.”

McTominay’s final appearance before his spell on the sidelines came in the 2‑1 defeat to Como, where he was substituted in the second half.

Speculation around his future has also continued, with the midfielder now a key figure in Napoli’s engine room. Asked about contract talks, he confessed: “There haven’t been any new talks.

“The important thing is what happens on the pitch, not the contract extension. I don’t know when it will happen, it’s not the time to be thinking about that.”

McTominay was named Serie A Player of the Year for 2025 after a standout debut season and is expected to play a major role in Napoli’s push to reclaim the title following Inter Milan’s triumph last year.

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Napoli opened the campaign with a 2‑0 win over Genoa before losing 2‑1 to Cesc Fabregas’ Como at the weekend. Former United striker Rasmus Hojlund scored Napoli’s goal in that match, while ex‑Manchester City midfielder Kevin De Bruyne netted on the opening weekend.

New head coach Max Allegri also revealed that McTominay had been dealing with another issue.

“McTominay had some problems with blisters, so he’s been training on a limited basis,” Allegri said. “Hopefully, we can get him into the best possible condition as soon as possible.”

The 29-year-old is set to miss Napoli’s next four fixtures – a significant absence as they prepare to face Inter Milan on Saturday. This will be followed by a Champions League meeting with Premier League champions Arsenal.

In arguably the hardest division in the NFL, two teams have emerged as not just potential winners of the NFC West, but as potential candidates to lift the Lombardi trophy In February.  However, the question remains: Can the Seahawks go back-to-back or will the Rams take back the NFC West?

The Rams won the offseason with their defensive additions in defensive end Myles Garrett and safety Trent McDuffie. But the biggest win came from the return of four-time Pro Bowler Aaron Donald, who came out of retirement to play alongside Garrett in Los Angeles. 

However, the reigning Super Bowl champions make a strong case to win a second consecutive NFC West title. Returning quarterback Sam Darnold and wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba make a strong case to keep the hardware for a second year in a row. 

Here’s how all three First Things First co-hosts’ predictions for the NFC West this season.

Nick Wright’s NFC West Predictions:

Nick Wright elected for a repeat NFC West title for the Seattle Seahawks, followed by the Los Angeles Rams, the San Francisco 49ers and the Arizona Cardinals in last. 

Even with the loss of Super Bowl MVP Kenneth Walker, Wright says the Seahawks are still in position to be a 14-win team led by quarterback Sam Darnold.

“They’re going to go 14-3. Aside from losing Super Bowl MVP Kenneth Walker, which is a massive loss, I don’t know why they wouldn’t be awesome again,” Wright said on Tuesday’s edition of First Things First. “They were dominant all of last year…Do we see post-Super Bowl win, a free Sam Darnold where he’s actually better than we’ve ever seen him before? It’s certainly on the board.”

As the Seahawks rebuild at running back, the Rams are a team whose additions make them one of the most intriguing teams in the NFL. However, Wright said LA is due for an 11-6 record and won’t be ‘quite as good as everyone expects them to be.’

Wright placed the 49ers in third because of last season’s injury overhaul, the overuse of running back Christian McCaffrey and the departure of their former defensive coordinator.

“So many injuries. I don’t trust the wide receivers. I think they will miss Robert Saleh. They pressed the CMC button so many times last year,” Wright said. 

Which leaves Arizona in last place, according to Wright. The Cardinals closed out their 2025 campaign with a 3-14 record, and could be set up to repeat the record this season. 

“They’re going 3-14. They might be the worst team in the league, and they definitely have the toughest schedule in the league,” Wright said. 

Chris Broussard’s NFC West Predictions:

Chris Broussard went a different direction and chose the Rams as his NFC West favorites. The Rams have had an eventful offseason with the addition of star defensive linemen Aaron Donald and Myles Garrett. 

When it came to putting the Super Bowl champions in second, Broussard made his point about where they could be after the big win. 

“I still have them making the playoffs. I just think they’re not going to be quite as good as last year. I think it’s kind of natural. Macdonald is great. They just won a Super Bowl,” Broussard said. 

When talking about the 49ers, who came in third on Broussard’s list, the amount of injuries and the departure of former defensive coordinator Robert Saleh is a big reason Broussard did not make them a playoff team. 

“Half the team is hurt. And I don’t have them in the postseason. I would be pleasantly surprised if Brock (Purdy) went out there and cooked…I agree with Nick, they’re going to miss Saleh. He kept that defense together last year,” Broussard said. 

While Broussard placed the Arizona Cardinals last, he tabbed rookie Jeremiyah Love as someone to watch on Arizona’s roster this fall. 

“We all know who’s finishing last, the Arizona Cardinals. I do want to see what Jeremiyah Love does,” Broussard said. 

Danny Parkins’ NFC West Predictions:

Danny Parkins followed similar suit of Wright’s picks, placing the Seahawks first. Parkins’ reasoning for Seattle’s first place prediction comes from being overlooked because they won a Super Bowl. 

“I think everyone is continuing to overlook a Super Bowl team that blew out the 49ers in their playoff game. Blew out the Patriots in the Super Bowl,” Parkins said. “I have the Seahawks being the forgotten champion and running it back.”

The Rams were labeled as Parkins’ “super team,” which was only reinforced after Los Angeles traded for Myles Garrett, which led to Aaron Donald returning along with a returning Matthew Stafford. 

As the 49ers also come in third place on Parkins’ list, the difference he made is his prediction that San Francisco will make the playoffs. 

“The San Francisco 49ers, I have them making the playoffs,” Parkins said. “They won 12 games, and basically everything went wrong…it’s been a weird offseason, but they also added Mike Evans. They were the third most injured team last year, and they won 12 games.”

San Francisco was without star defensive linemen Nick Bosa and Fred Warner, tight end George Kittle, and wide receiver Ricky Pearsall. However, the 49ers managed to make their way to an NFC Divisional win over the Philadelphia Eagles. 

As the Cardinals, once again, fell last place in the predictions, Parkins did not count out offensive stars like Marvin Harrison Jr, Jeremiyah Love and Trey McBride. However, it’s not enough. 

“I like a few of the players on the Cardinals. I do think Marvin Harrison is in line for a good year. I think McBride is excellent. Jeremiyah Love is excellent. The problem is, everything else.”

With the NFL season about a week away from kickoff, Minnesota Vikings general manager Nolan Teasley isn’t slowing down constructing the roster. 

On Tuesday night, the Vikings signed veteran edge rusher Kyle Van Noy, first reported by The Ringer. The 35-year-old veteran reunites with defensive coordinator Brian Flores, with whom he won two Super Bowls on the New England Patriots.

Van Noy has bounced around the league over his career. After being drafted in the second round by the Detroit Lions in 2014, he went on to play for the Patriots, the Miami Dolphins under Flores, the Los Angeles Chargers, and most recently, the Baltimore Ravens.

ESPN reported early Tuesday morning that Van Noy was visiting Minnesota, and with the visit now wrapped up, the signing is officially done.

His 2024 season with the Ravens was highly productive, highlighted by a career-high 12.5 sacks. Van Noy has built a career on leadership and mentorship inside winning organizations, which are qualities head coach Kevin O’Connell could be looking to add in Minnesota.

After trading away Pro Bowl edge rusher Jonathan Greenard during the draft, the Vikings were left needing depth and experience upfront. Pairing Van Noy with first-year starter Dallas Turner and Andrew Van Ginkel instantly stabilizes their pass-rush rotation.

The Vikings also added raw Cincinnati hybrid linebacker Jake Golday in the second round of this year’s draft. Adding Van Noy to the fold gives O’Connell and Flores a well-balanced group featuring proven veteran leadership and high-upside depth to start the season.

Flores’ defense was top-tier last season, ranking third in total yards allowed (282.6) and seventh in points against (19.6). Adding Van Noy as a rotational pass rusher could give the Vikings the extra edge they need for a fast start when they host the Green Bay Packers in Week 1.

Aryna Sabalenka was involved in a tense exchange with a reporter after it was suggested to the two-time defending champion that her activities around the US Open involved “parties and fun”.

Sabalenka had too much for Polina Iatcenko, strolling to a straight-sets win (6-1 6-1) on Wednesday.

But the Belarusian was left irritated by questions surrounding her off-court appearances and rejected that it jeopardised her preparation for the grand slam.

“You guys are, like, a joke. Parties, fun… like, why would ⁠you even say that? Why would ​you ⁠even think about that? What kind of question is that?” the world No 1 said.

“Just because I posted, like, some `activities with brands, and you think that I’ve been partying, not training?” she added, cutting the exchange short. Turning ‌to her performance on Wednesday, the four-times Grand Slam winner said she was pleased with both her level and her focus after another ‌dominant performance at Arthur Ashe Stadium.

“I’ve been working really hard, but I feel like I’m kind of moving away from trying to be perfect on court,” Sabalenka said. “I know that you cannot be perfect, and `I’m just trying to work with what I have right now.”

Sabalenka will continue her search for a third straight title in New York and avoid ending the year without a major, as she tries to recover her best form after not winning a title since claiming the Miami Open in March.

“I think I struggled a little bit in the middle of the season. Once again, I’m not going to defend myself or explain why, what happened, but I’m happy with my level,” the 28-year-old said.

“I can definitely say that mentally I’m way stronger than ⁠I was in the middle of the season, and physically I also feel stronger. I ‌feel like I’m ​on my level of play, and ‌I just want to bring the ​right focus on the match every time.”

Reuters contributed to this report

The NBA handed down one of the biggest punishments in league history Wednesday when it fined the Los Angeles Clippers $30 million, suspended owner Steve Ballmer for a year and stripped the team of five future first-round picks in 2029, 2030, 2031, 2032 and 2033 for “violating the salary cap circumvention rules.” 

“The investigation found a pattern of misconduct and multiple significant rules violations by the Clippers organization, a prior offender of the salary cap circumvention rules,” the league said in a press release. Additionally, NBA commissioner Adam Silver said he was “deeply disappointed by the flagrant violations” of NBA rules. 

In addition to the aforementioned penalties, the league also suspended Clippers president of business operations Gillian Zucker without pay for one year and suspended Clippers president of basketball operations Lawrence Frank without pay for six months, ordered Kawhi Leonard to pay $700,000 “in connection with his violations” and banned Leonard’s uncle and business manager, Dennis Robertson from “conducting business or otherwise engaging with NBA teams and their affiliates on behalf of or with respect to any player, employee, or other league or team personnel” for five years. 

The Clippers subsequently released a scathing statement saying they “vehemently reject” the NBA’s findings and will “vigorously challenge these findings and penalties through every avenue available to us.” The Clippers characterized the investigation, conducted by a law firm at the NBA’s behest, as “heavily biased” and “seeking to justify a predetermined narrative rather than facts and evidence.”

Now that the investigation is complete, let’s take a look at some interesting aspects you may have missed:

Aspiration wasn’t the only company involved

By now, everyone who has followed this story is familiar with the now-bankrupt company Aspiration, which was at the center of this scandal. However, that was not the only company involved. The investigation found that the Clippers “initiated, facilitated and induced Boingo, Daktronics and Lockton to enter into agreements with Mr. Leonard.”

Boingo is a provider of wireless and other communications networks, Daktronics is a manufacturer of scoreboards and video displays and Lockton is an insurance brokerage. Here’s more from the summary report prepared by Wachtell Lipton:

“In early July 2020, within a month of Ms. Zucker connecting Mr. Robertson with Boingo, Daktronics, and Lockton, Mr. Leonard signed (on the same day) multi-year, multi-million dollar endorsement agreements with two of the companies. By the end of August 2020, he had signed a similar endorsement agreement with the third company. By early September 2020, Mr. Leonard had received payments under each of these three endorsement agreements. 

“The total due to Mr. Leonard under the Boingo, Daktronics, and Lockton agreements was $18 million. All $18 million was paid to Mr. Leonard by August 2021.”

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And more from Wachtell Lipton:

“The highly unusual nature of these three endorsement agreements with Mr. Leonard caused investigators to question why each company entered into them. The investigative record supplies the answer: because the Clippers initiated, facilitated, and induced these companies to enter into agreements with Mr. Leonard through the prospect of lucrative business arrangements with the Clippers.”

Clippers acquiesced to Robertson’s demands

Just months after Leonard signed with the Clippers in 2019, Robertson began pressuring the organization to help his nephew generate additional off-court income. In fact, Robertson stated that he wanted at least $10 million per year for Leonard, and he made the demands to Ballmer, Frank and Zucker. 

Here, via Wachtell Lipton’s summary, are some of the notes that Frank took in March of 2020:

“Mr. Robertson complained to Mr. Ballmer that Ms. Zucker was making “introductions” for “bull**** deals,” and that ‘I [Mr. Robertson] cant [sic] wait on [Ms. Zucker] – I have to get paid.’”

“Mr. Ballmer responded by telling Mr. Robertson that he and Clippers’ personnel were all ‘collective workers to try to help [Mr. Leonard] achieve his financial goals,’ and Ms. Zucker assured Mr. Robertson that Mr. Ballmer would ‘follow through on his promise.’”

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Mr. Robertson requested a ‘3-6 month[] plan’ for more lucrative introductions from the Clippers, a list of ‘5-6 companies’ in the ‘pipeline’ for ‘potential introductions,’ and more frequent and consistent communication from Ms. Zucker.”

Furthermore, Wachtell Lipton found “hundreds of instances in which the team paid for personal air and ground travel, accommodations, gifts, and tickets” for Robertson and other members of Leonard’s family “without then properly deducting the amounts of these expenditures from Mr. Leonard’s pay (as it was required to do by CBA rules).”

While the investigation found that the “aggregate financial value of these expense payments was only a fraction of the amounts” Leonard received from his endorsement agreements with Aspiration, Boingo, Daktronics and Lockton, “it was nonetheless substantial.”

Why Zucker got a more severe punishment than Frank

Gillian Zucker, the Clippers’ president of business operations, was suspended without pay for one year, while Lawrence Frank, the Clippers’ president of basketball operations, was suspended without pay for six months. Why?

Wachtell Lipton’s summary report stated that, “Ms. Zucker made several statements that proved inconsistent with contemporaneous documents, other witness statements, and the broader chronology of events, professed a lack of recollection on important issues, placed responsibility on subordinates, and offered inconsistent renditions of facts in separate interviews.”

Conversely, Frank “openly discussed with investigators his conduct from the relevant time period, recalled details of key events, took responsibility for the actions of subordinates, and was generally consistent across his interviews.” 

In other words, Zucker lied and Frank did not. Additionally, the investigation found that Zucker had personal relationships with two of the companies that signed Leonard to endorsement deals at the Clippers’ behest

“Ms. Zucker had personal relationships at two of the companies. At one, her husband was chair of the board of directors during the relevant time period, and she also had a 30-year working relationship with that company’s CEO. At another, Ms. Zucker had a longstanding relationship with the company’s president (the person who signed the company’s endorsement deal with Mr. Leonard), and she recommended him as “really good people” in an email to an internal colleague charged with the process of securing services for the Clippers in this area.”

Finally, Zucker was the one who “initiated and facilitated Mr. Leonard’s endorsement agreement with Aspiration.” 

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay on Thursday announced the establishment of a world-class Tamil Nadu Olympic City in Chennai under Rule 110 in the State Assembly. According to the Tamil Nadu CMO, the Olympic City will be developed by the Tamil Nadu Sports Development Authority and will feature world-class sports arenas, state-of-the-art sporting equipment, a High Performance Training Centre, and dedicated Sports Science and Sports Medicine centres. The facility will also have modern infrastructure, including accommodation for sportspersons and coaches, according to the announcement made by the Chief Minister Vijay.

The Olympic City is aimed at creating an integrated sports hub to provide athletes with advanced training and support facilities, to help sportspersons from Tamil Nadu win more medals at the Olympic Games and other international sporting events.

The Chief Minister also announced that a dedicated motorsports city will be established in Chennai to host Formula 1-4 races in the city. 

In June, the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports (MYAS) created a task force which monitors motor sports with a vision to bring back Formula 1 racing in the country by the end of 2028.

“We will try to bring back F1 in India by 2028. For this, we created a task force which monitors motor sports in the country and submits its report to the Ministry,” an MYAS source told ANI on Saturday.

Earlier this year, Federation of Motor Sports Clubs of India (FMSCI) President Arindam Ghosh attended a meeting with the Sports Ministry in New Delhi and said that efforts are underway to bring Formula 1 back to India by 2030, a round of the World Rally Championship (WRC) and MotoGP by 2028.

Later, at the FMSCI Annual Awards function, Ghosh said, “The meeting with Union Sports Minister Mansukh Mandaviya, Minister of State Raksha Khadse, senior officials and potential stakeholders in New Delhi, focused primarily on bringing F1, MotoGP and a round of the WRC to India.” 

“The Federation stressed the need to develop Indian drivers and the overall development of motorsports in India, and the FMSCI’s inputs were well received,” he added.

At the Awards Night in Bengaluru, all the Motorsports National champions for 2025 were honoured, and 137 trophies across 17 disciplines, both two-wheelers and four-wheelers, were presented. Awards were also given to the winning teams, promoters and sponsors of the 17 National championships.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

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