An internal investigation into “media reports concerning discipline and conduct” has been launched by Pakistan amid their crisis tour of England.

It follows an unprecedented move last week in which seven players were sent home and seven replacements called up after heavy defeats at Headingley and Lord’s left the touring side 2-0 down in the three-match series.

Head coach Sarfaraz Ahmed and assistant Umar Gul have also been replaced, with Mike Hesson, in charge of Pakistan’s white-ball sides, and former Australia seamer Ashley Noffke supervising the final Test at Edgbaston this week.

A statement read: “The Pakistan Cricket Board has initiated an internal disciplinary inquiry following media reports concerning discipline and conduct, which are currently being reviewed internally.

“The PCB handles such matters in accordance with its standard procedures. The process is being conducted under PCB regulations, ensuring that all concerned individuals are given due consideration.

“At this stage, any speculative reports or unverified claims circulating on certain platforms, particularly those originating from hostile external sources, should not be regarded as credible.”

The dismissed senior players include Salman Ali Agha – who served as captain for Pakistan in the opening Test prior to being dropped for the second – wicketkeeper Mohammad Rizwan and Imam-ul-Haq, who did not bat in either innings because of a low-grade calf strain.

Former captain Shahid Afridi called the decision by the PCB to make such extensive squad alterations the “most shocking decision ever by a selection committee”.

Among the seven replacement players called up, only batters Saim Ayub and Abdullah Fazal have Test experience.

Monday’s statement from the PCB added: “The PCB will not comment further at this time. The board advises stakeholders and the public to rely on official PCB communications.”

Speaking to reporters in Birmingham on Monday, Noffke admitted he was unaware of the details regarding the probe.

“I can be really honest in that I don’t know too much,” he said. “I sit outside of that decision-making model, (which is) above us as coaches. We try and keep the players focused on what they need to worry about.

“One thing that I’ve learned about being in Pakistan and coaching for a period of time, nearly 15 months now with the white-ball team, is there’s always something going on in the background.

“I think most of the time it’s out of the players’ control. They need to focus on the cricket that they have in front of them and the opportunity they have in front of them.

“We’re not really in the position to even know the outer workings of what’s happening at PCB in that context.”

Sugar Ray Leonard mixed it with the very best, including each of his fellow Four Kings, but admits he should have retired after encountering the ferocious fists of one man.

The American officially called time on his Hall of Fame career in 1997, having returned from a six-year absence and suffered a fifth-round stoppage defeat to Hector Camacho.

Prior to that, Leonard lost a unanimous decision to Terry Norris, but was evidently competing at a time when he no longer possessed his physical attributes of old.

Instead, his prime years lasted between 1979 and 1981, when he established himself as the top dog at 147lbs with iconic wins over Wilfred Benitez, Roberto Duran and Tommy Hearns.

After losing his first encounter with Duran, Leonard won their rematch by eighth-round stoppage, before defending his WBC title with a 14th-round finish over Hearns.

Sugar then entered a rematch with ‘The Hitman’ in 1989, only to suffer two knockdowns and come away with a highly controversial draw.

Speaking with Sky Sports, he admitted this was the night he should have hung up his gloves.

“Tommy should’ve won the decision. Everyone said Tommy [was] shot; even my camp said, ‘One punch, he’s gone’.”

“I said to myself: When Tommy fights me, he’s gonna rise to the occasion. And Tommy did that, and he hurt me so many times.”

“I knew I should’ve retired after the Hearns fight, [or] even after the [Marvin] Hagler fight. Tommy [is] a sweetheart but, when he’s in the ring, he is a killer.”

Leonard’s middleweight clash with Hagler resulted in a controversial split decision, with many believing he was fortunate to emerge victorious in 1987.

Ian Poulter on the golf course while speaking on Golf Channel? Thoughtful. After son Luke’s Great Britain and Ireland team had rallied on Sunday to defeat the U.S. at the Walker Cup, he reflected on the scene at Lahinch Golf Club in Ireland. 

But Poulter a little while later in an Irish pub?

He said he had just one thing to say. 

Sunday was something for Poulter, one of the European Ryder Cup team’s best-ever players and now a LIV Golf pro. Luke won his Sunday singles match. GB&I won the Cup. Afterward, Golf Channel’s Steve Burkowski wondered what Poulter made of it all. There were four questions.

How would Poulter describe what those at Lahinch saw?

“Absolutely thrilling,” Poulter said. “As a dad, as a fan, as somebody who loves golf and has been part of golf, that was truly special. To see the boys come up 17 and 18 and for Josh [Hill] to literally have that last putt on the last hole to literally clinch it was epic. All the guys that had to come up 18, that had to get something out of the hole, Eliot [Baker] and all of the boys and Connor [Graham], they did such a special job. It was great to observe and watch the lads really get that special moment. Dean [Robertson] has done an amazing job the last couple of years.”

What did he think of the job done by Robertson, the GB&I captain?

“They bonded extremely well,” Poulter said. “They had a number of lads come back from last year to this year. Dean had a great atmosphere in the team room this week. I was only in there for a short period of time, but the buzz between the boys was very special. They took on the course — it was a hard morning in tough conditions, but to come out early in the singles this afternoon and put some blue on the board and then to watch the boys finish it off, amazing.”

What was the atmosphere like when Hill clinched the Cup with a putt on the 18th hole?

“It was emotional,” Poulter said. “As a dad, as a golf fan, I feel for all of them. I’ve kind of been on the other side of that and now to enjoy that and to watch them enjoy it themselves, it means a lot to the whole team and all of the lads. That was a hard-fought win today.”

Finally, did Poulter get more nervous watching or playing? He laughed. 

“It’s not easy at all,” he said. “It’s not easy. Just a lot of pride, and proud of each and every one of them. They’ve done an amazing job this week.”

Everyone then made their way to the pub. 

Where Poulter found a mic.  

He said he had just one thing to say. 

He sang. If you’ve watched celebrations of Ryder Cup wins, you know the words. 

“O-le, o-le, o-le, o-le, o-le, o-le.”

The Toledo Rockets visit the Michigan State Spartans on Friday, September 4, 2026 at 8:00 p.m. ET from Spartan Stadium, East Lansing, MI.

Michigan State and Toledo both enter Friday night’s opener at 0-0. Toledo averaged 30.8 points per game in 2025, well ahead of Michigan State’s 24.6, a track record the Rockets bring into Spartan Stadium. Michigan State is a 9.5-point favorite at DraftKings, with the total set at 47.5.

Below, we’ll give you all the details you need to know about how to watch this game.

How to Watch Toledo vs. Michigan State

Players to Watch

Zock is the marquee addition in new coach Mike Jacobs’ haul of 21 small-school transfers, and he arrives with a real track record. He picked up 20 tackles for loss and 11.5 sacks last season as the Southern Conference’s Defensive Player of the Year, numbers that would have led most Group of Five defenses outright. Toledo is chasing its third Mid-American Conference title game in five years, and Jacobs is 33-8 combining his last three seasons at Mercer and Lenoir-Rhyne. None of that translates automatically to the MAC, but a pass rusher who racked up that kind of production against lesser competition gives Toledo’s front seven a proven disruptor from the jump. Michigan State’s rebuilt offensive line will be the first real measuring stick.

Michigan State overhauled its roster hoping transfers could speed up a rebuild, and Edwards gives the offense a proven workhorse. He rushed for 1,240 yards at UConn last year and enters this season as the fourth-leading returning rusher in the nation with 2,690 career rushing yards over 36 games. New coach Pat Fitzgerald inherited a senior class heavy with new names, and Edwards is the one piece opposing defenses already have to prepare for. Toledo enters with a defense built around transfer additions of its own, led by edge rusher Andrew Zock, so neither team is hiding from how much roster turnover shaped this opener. If Edwards can run against a defense that new, Michigan State’s offense has a real foundation to build on.

Every new face at Michigan State arrived through the transfer portal this off-season, except Milivojevic, who remains the same quarterback who threw 10 touchdowns against just three interceptions a season ago. That continuity matters against a Toledo defense that will lean on newcomers of its own to slow down the Spartans. Fitzgerald’s rebuild depends on Milivojevic protecting the ball while Edwards and a retooled defense find their footing, and his low interception rate a year ago suggests he can do exactly that. Toledo’s own quarterback situation is far less settled, which puts extra pressure on Milivojevic to be the steady half of this matchup rather than the swing factor.

Toledo vs. Michigan State Odds

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Hardik Pandya and Shubman Gill (BCCI/IPL Photo)

NEW DELHI: Shubman Gill is still learning the art of captaincy and will improve with experience, Gujarat Titans head coach Ashish Nehra said on Monday.Gill took over as Gujarat Titans captain after Hardik Pandya left the franchise. He led the team to the IPL final in 2026, after Pandya and Nehra had guided GT to the title in their first season in 2022 and another final in 2023.Nehra said Gill and Pandya are very different personalities and leaders, but both have the ability to keep learning.“They are very, very different. You are talking about north pole and south pole. Both of them were like me, not somebody who has done much coaching,” Nehra said, comparing Pandya and Gill.“Both of them were not somebody who has done much captaincy, but you learn on your way forward, and suddenly somebody is pretty much doing captaincy for India in two formats. He is only going to get better.”

‘Gill observes more and to the point’

Nehra said Pandya was very open with him and trusted him completely during their successful partnership at Gujarat Titans.Gill, on the other hand, is quieter and more reserved but remains eager to learn.“One thing is for sure: he (Pandya) completely trusted me, which was the perfect, perfect thing. He will always be keen to learn. He will always ask if something doesn’t go right or doesn’t go well. He is somebody you can have lots of conversations with,” Nehra said.“The other way around, Shubman is a little reserved, a little shy, but that’s okay. Everyone is different. There is no right or wrong. He (Gill) is someone who will not talk or have as many conversations as Hardik Pandya, but he is to the point. He is somebody who is very keen to learn and keen to observe. Of course, he is a work in progress. He is only 26-27, and it is not that he has been doing captaincy for so many years. It is only 1-2 seasons, and you learn things and you will get better,” he said.

Real Madrid striker Kylian Mbappé said Monday it was natural for people to consider him as a potential Ballon d’Or winner this year after his World Cup exploits.

The France captain scored 10 goals at the tournament this summer to win the Golden Boot, with his country finishing fourth, and has netted 22 in the competition during his career, making him the World Cup’s all-time top scorer.

Mbappé, 27, has not yet won the prestigious trophy given to the world’s best player.

Read moreFrance’s Mbappé becomes all-time leading World Cup goalscorer

“I think that when you play for Real Madrid, which is the best club in the world, naturally people associate you with that kind of award, they associate you with collective awards, individual awards,” Mbappé told reporters.

“A lot of people, when they see me in the street, talk to me about the Ballon d’Or, a lot of people talk about me as a possible Ballon d’Or winner…

“Of course I made a lot of history this summer in the most important competition in sport, but we’ll see.

“I have the feeling that it’s a good year for that, but there’s still a long time to go and people are free to vote for whoever they think is the best player in the world.”

Since joining Real Madrid in 2024 Mbappé has scored huge quantities of goals but the club has failed to win a major trophy.

On Tuesday the record 15-time European champions host Inter Milan in the Champions League in the first match of the league phase.

During Mbappé’s first two years at Madrid the team has appeared unbalanced, with too many star names, including the Frenchman and Brazilian winger Vinicius Junior, widely considered not to be contributing enough to the team effort – in contrast to Ousmane Dembélé at Paris Saint-Germain and Raphinha at Barcelona.

“We have to improve,” admitted Mbappé. “But I could play dumb and tell you that I score more goals than (Dembelé and Raphinha), and that they need to score more goals to be like me.

“Everyone is different, but I want to do things intelligently and say that of course I have to improve and all that, but I don’t like comparisons because I think I do a lot of things that others don’t do.”

Real Madrid coach José Mourinho recently said he would prefer if Mbappé scored fewer goals but also worked hard to help the team win titles.

Mbappé said he would accept lower numbers if it led to trophies, but noted they were not mutually exclusive.

“I’d take 30 goals with titles, yes, but… for me it’s an absurd debate,” said Mbappé.

“I always want to score goals and win titles… you don’t have to choose, you can do both things.”

Mourinho faces old friends

Veteran Portuguese coach Mourinho led Inter to Champions League glory in 2010 at the Santiago Bernabeu before he departed to take over at Real Madrid.

Despite his history with the Italian side, whom he steered to the treble that year, the coach said that only mattered before and after, but not during the match.

“There aren’t many (people) left from my time, but it’ll always be a pleasure to see people, even if I don’t know them, but people who defend Inter, before and after,” said Mourinho.

“During the game I want to win, they want to win, and there won’t be time to think about things from a wonderful past.”

Mourinho wants his Madrid players to bounce back from their first defeat of the season, 1-0 at Real Betis on Friday in La Liga.

“I want to win. I could tell you I want to play well, but I don’t want to play well like we did against Betis and lose,” said Mourinho.

“Obviously we’re in a phase where we play eight games and the objective in these eight games is to qualify, and I think we’re going to do that. But I want to think about this match in isolation from that context.

“I want to think about this match as a one-off game. I don’t want to think that we still have seven more matches to play, and I want to win.”

(FRANCE 24 with AFP)

India’s Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty made history by becoming the first Indian men’s doubles pair to win the China Masters, producing a stirring comeback against China’s He Ji Ting and Ren Xiang Yu in Shenzhen on Sunday. The 11-21, 21-13, 21-17 victory ended their wait for the Super 750 title and gave the Indians timely momentum ahead of their Asian Games title defence.

The world No. 5 pair will now turn their attention to Aichi-Nagoya, where they will attempt to retain the men’s doubles gold medal they won at the 2022 Asian Games in Hangzhou. With the continental showpiece beginning later this month, the China Masters triumph has provided the pair with more than another trophy — it has given them confidence that their bodies and game are ready for another demanding campaign.

China Masters provides timely confidence boost

Satwik said the China Masters victory had come at an ideal time, particularly after the difficult few months the pair had endured away from competition. He felt the title and the matches they played in Shenzhen offered confirmation that their preparations were working while also giving them valuable match practice before the Asian Games.

The victory was their second title of the season after the Singapore Open Super 750, while they had also reached the final of the Thailand Open Super 500.

Five matches offer crucial physical test

The China Masters proved to be a demanding examination of their fitness. Satwik and Chirag played five matches during the tournament and, apart from their opening-round encounter, were pushed to three games in almost every match.

Chirag said the workload was particularly encouraging because their bodies coped much better than they had at the World Championships. After returning to competition following a lengthy break, the pair had struggled physically during their quarterfinal defeat against a Chinese combination.

In Shenzhen, the situation was markedly different. The Indians grew in confidence with every match as they realised their bodies were handling the intensity and repeated three-game battles. Even after the final, they felt physically good, which they regarded as a major positive ahead of the Asian Games.

Satwik also viewed the tournament as an important test because the Asian Games badminton competition will demand sustained physical effort, with the team and individual events spread across several days.

Lessons from World Championships paying off

The Indians also used the China Masters to implement changes they had identified after the World Championships.

Chirag said one of the biggest lessons was to become more patient while attacking and place greater trust in their defence. Rather than rushing to finish rallies whenever they earned an attacking opportunity, the pair worked on staying composed and trusting the patterns they had practised.

That approach was evident in their run to the China Masters title, particularly when they found themselves behind. The Indians were able to remain patient, stick with their plans and gradually turn matches around.

Satwik took a different but equally important confidence boost from the World Championships. Even when he was not physically capable of producing his biggest smashes at full power, the pair were still able to compete against the world’s best. That experience strengthened his belief that they can remain competitive even when their biggest weapon is not functioning at its maximum.

Defending champions refuse to carry added pressure

Despite entering the Asian Games as defending champions, Chirag does not believe the pair should automatically be labelled the team to beat.

He pointed out that several other men’s doubles combinations are capable of challenging for the gold medal and insisted that the pair do not want to burden themselves by thinking about their status or the result.

Instead, their approach will be to enjoy their badminton, focus on one match at a time and try to reproduce the mindset that helped them succeed in Hangzhou.

Chirag recalled that even during their victorious campaign three years ago, the pair went into each day focused on giving their best rather than worrying about the final outcome. He believes the same approach will be important in Japan.

Ten days to prepare before Japan

The China Masters victory has left the Indians with around 10 days to prepare before travelling to Japan.

After returning from Shenzhen, they have planned a brief period of recovery before returning to intensive training. Chirag said the focus during the remaining days would be on staying physically fit while addressing the technical and tactical shortcomings they have identified.

The pair will also analyse their opponents and continue working on the details that helped them overcome different styles in Shenzhen.

For now, though, the biggest positive is that their bodies have survived a demanding tournament without any major concerns.

No Plan B, but plenty of tactical adjustments

Satwik insists the pair do not think in terms of having a Plan B when their trademark attacking game is not working. Instead, their tactics evolve depending on the opponents and the conditions of each match.

Against pairs with strong attacking games, they may look to challenge in the front court and prevent opponents from gaining control. Against combinations that are less powerful from the back, they can use defence to open up the rally and create their own attacking opportunities.

Satwik also credited Chirag’s ability to create opportunities at the front of the court, making it easier for him to finish rallies from the back.

That tactical flexibility could prove important at the Asian Games, where the pair will face a variety of playing styles.

Shenzhen redemption takes a back seat

The China Masters title also completed a journey that had seen the Indians finish runners-up at the tournament in both 2023 and 2025.

But Satwik said those defeats were never a motivating factor this time. Instead, Shenzhen has gradually become a venue that gives the pair confidence, having also reached the semifinals there in 2024 after returning from the Olympics with very little preparation.

The latest victory, therefore, was less about avenging previous final defeats and more about making the most of another opportunity.

Now, with their first China Masters crown secured, Satwik and Chirag can turn their attention completely towards the Asian Games.

The defending champions will arrive in Aichi-Nagoya with a Super 750 title, valuable match practice and renewed belief in their physical condition. Their message, however, remains simple: prepare well, stay fit, take the tournament one match at a time and give themselves another chance to finish on top.