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Endrick has made a decision on his Real Madrid future after suffering yet another injury setback. The Brazilian youngster was linked with a move away from Santiago Bernabeu this summer due to lack of game time in his maiden season, however, his transfer plans have hit a snag. Under Carlo Ancelotti, Endrick started in only eight matches across all competitions but managed to score seven goals.

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• Endrick makes decision on Madrid future
• Suffered fresh injury setback
• Unlikely to leave Real Madrid this summer

• WHAT HAPPENED?

  Earlier this week, reported that Endrick was on the verge of making it back to the Madrid first-team but has now suffered yet another injury setback after relapsing on the hamstring injury he sustained against Sevilla in La Liga. The latest injury is likely to keep him out of action upto two months and as a result, the youngster might fail to exit Santiago Bernabeu this summer.

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  With the rise of Gonzalo Garcia, who has impressed at the Club World Cup with four goals and started every game in the competition, Xabi Alonso now has multiple attacking options at his disposal. In such a situation, the Spanish would ideally want to offload one of the attacking players in this summer transfer window. Endrick could have secured a loan move elsewhere to get more first-team opportunities but his injury might force Los Blancos to part ways with Garcia, according to .

• DID YOU KNOW?

  Endrick wants to play regularly in the 2025-26 campaign as that would help him to secure a place in Carlo Ancelotti's Brazil squad for the World Cup next. He had earlier attracted interest from Ligue 1 giants Marseille and PSV Eindhoven.

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  WHAT NEXT FOR REAL MADRID?

  The Spanish giants are currently on break following their elimination from the Club World Cup semi-final after losing against Paris Saint-Germain. They will begin their La Liga journey on August 19 against Osasuna.

Wicketkeeper says future looks bright after ODI debuts for Mahika Gaur, Lauren Filer and Maia Bouchier

Valkerie Baynes11-Sep-2023

Amy Jones has credited an injection of energy brought by England’s three debutants in their opening ODI against Sri Lanka with turning the hosts’ results around after their disappointing T20I series defeat.Mahika Gaur, the 17-year-old left-armer who played 19 T20Is for UAE before making her England debut during the T20 leg of Sri Lanka’s visit, claimed three wickets upon being handed her maiden ODI cap in Durham on Saturday.Fellow seamer Lauren Filer, meanwhile, had the visitors just as flummoxed by her searing pace as the Australians were during the Ashes Test earlier in the summer. Playing her first ODI at the weekend, 22-year-old Filer also took three wickets, including two in two balls, as England romped home by seven wickets to go 1-0 up in the series.”It feels like youth often brings energy and we’ve seen that with the girls that have come in,” Jones said. “They’ve really brought a buzz around them and just a real excitement to play for England, which we all have, but it just looks a bit different when you’re a bit younger.”They really pick people up around them as well. I think English cricket’s in a great place and to see all this competition for places is only a good thing.”As a player, when you are given opportunities like this, it can put a bit of extra pressure on you, especially as a young player, thinking, ‘when other people come back, am I still going to have a place?’ and it can be very easy to put a lot of pressure on yourself. So it’s been so pleasing how they don’t seem to be feeling the pressure. Whether they are or not, they seem really cool. They’re just enjoying it and it’s reflected in their performances.”Related

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Amy Jones completes Perth Scorchers' overseas signings

Jones took five catches in the match, becoming the first England wicketkeeper to do so in a women’s ODI, including three off Filer, as Sri Lanka were bundled out for 106 in 30.2 overs.In reply, Tammy Beaumont and Emma Lamb broke the back of the paltry run chase with an opening stand worth 61 runs and 24-year-old batter Maia Bouchier, England’s third ODI debutant for the match having previously played 22 T20Is, struck the winning runs with a boundary off Sri Lanka captain Chamari Athapaththu in a run-a-ball 17 not out.”She’s great fun to keep to with that extra pace,” Jones said of Filer. “It was quite a slow wicket, I thought, a bit of bounce but not particularly fast up in Durham, so I was really excited when she came on to bowl and still found the carry and pushed me back a bit further.”With a bowler like Lauren, you just feel like you’re getting a catch every ball. I really enjoy keeping to her and was impressed. She’s got something that not many people have in the pace that she has, so she’s definitely an impact player.Gaur claimed the prize wicket of in-form Athapaththu in her third over and then bowled opener Anushka Sanjeewani with an excellent inswinger to reduce Sri Lanka to 26 for 2 before claiming the final wicket of the innings.”I thought they were great,” Jones said. “Mahika, until this series, I’ve never faced her or kept to her or anything, so it feels like she’s just shot up out of nowhere. But I’ve been so impressed, as has everybody. Something different being a left-hander and her height, but she swings the ball so well and she’s really consistent for a young player too. I’m really excited to see where she can get to in her career.”Jones was also backing her side to maintain their momentum heading into Tuesday’s second ODI in Northampton, followed by the last match in Leicester on Thursday.”There was a big ask for energy going into the 50-over games, having not played the longer format in a while and at the end of the season,” she said. “There was a real focus from Lewy [head coach Jon Lewis] making sure that when we’re in the field, we’re fizzing the ball back to me and we are just showing so much energy and I think that really helped as a focus.”As a group we were really disappointed with how the T20s went. Going into any series, when you go in as favourites especially, you want to get the job done and convincingly as well. So to lose those two games definitely it was disappointing. It was really key for us to put in a good performance in Durham and stamp our authority onto the ODI series.”

Nat Sciver-Brunt’s 271 runs at an average of 135.50 in the three women’s Ashes ODIs has pushed her up to No. 1 – from the second spot – in the ICC rankings.That makes it a double for Sciver-Brunt, who is also the top-ranked ODI allrounder in the world. With Sciver-Brunt moving up, Beth Mooney – 130 runs in three innings – has dropped to No. 3, with Chamari Athapaththu, who hit two centuries in the three-match home ODI series against New Zealand in late June/early July, moving to second place.Sciver-Brunt, who hit 31, 111* and 129 in the three ODIs against Australia as the women’s Ashes ended all square, has now achieved a career-high of 803 rating points. Meg Lanning (878 points) is the only other active woman player to have held a higher batting rating.

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Following the women’s Ashes, Heather Knight rose two spots to 12th, Danni Wyatt three spots to 18th, and Ashleigh Gardner four spots to 21st on the batter rankings. Gardner also rose three spots on the bowlers’ table to fifth place and two spots among allrounders to third.Sophie Ecclestone continued to top the rankings for ODI bowlers.

Fargana and Nahida prosper after heroics against India

The ODI series between Bangladesh and India ended in a tied decider amid high drama. The key number, though, was 1-1, the scoreline, which most observers might not have expected.Fargana Hoque was one of Bangladesh’s star performers, her sequence of 27, 47 and 107 – the first ODI century by a Bangladesh woman – giving her the Player-of-the-Series award. She jumped 11 spots on the ODI batters’ table as a result, getting to No. 19. She is the first woman from her country to get in the top 20 on the list.Nahida Akter was the big mover among the bowlers, the left-arm spinner going from No. 24 to No. 19 – also the best for a Bangladesh woman cricketer. Nahida picked up six wickets in the three ODIs.

Australia beat Saudi Arabia to confirm their qualification for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, consigning their opponents to the AFC play-offs.

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Australia reach 2026 World CupSocceroos beat Saudi Arabia 2-1Join Japan as automatic AFC qualifiersFollow GOAL on WhatsApp! 🟢📱WHAT HAPPENED?

Australia secured the result they needed to reach the 2026 World Cup and end Saudi Arabia's hopes of a top-two finish in AFC qualifying. The Socceroos only had to avoid a heavy defeat to book their place but strikes from Connor Metcalfe and Mitchell Duke ensured they bagged a 2-1 win at King Abdullah Sports City Stadium.

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Australia finished six points ahead of Saudi Arabia in Group C in the third round of AFC qualifying and the Middle Eastern nation will now have to navigate a fourth round, with the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Iraq, Oman and Indonesia also suffering the same fate.

DID YOU KNOW?

On top of co-hosts the United States, Canada and Mexico, eight teams have now qualified for next year's World Cup. Australia, Iran, Japan, Jordan, South Korea and Uzbekistan are confirmed representatives from the AFC, while Argentina and New Zealand have also rubber-stamped their seats on the plane to the US.

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Some teams around Europe are still at the start of their World Cup qualification campaigns. The likes of Spain, Germany, France and Portugal are yet to play a game due to their Nations League commitments, though England have played three qualifiers, winning each of them.

Thierry Henry has criticised Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta for failing to sign a number nine, while suggesting Julian Alvarez could fill that role.

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Arsenal didn't sign No.9 last summerHenry criticises ArtetaSuggests Alvarez signingFollow GOAL on WhatsApp! 🟢📱Getty ImagesWHAT HAPPENED?

The Gunners legend has hit out at manager Arteta for not bringing in an out-and-out centre-forward last summer, something he had "time" to do. The Frenchman also thinks Atletico Madrid's Alvarez would be a good option to solve that issue.

AdvertisementGetty Images SportWHAT HENRY SAID

He said on the Stick to Football podcast, brought to you by Sky Bet: "When you look at the injuries and you look at the players that came, he brought players. He got [Raheem] Sterling when everyone wanted a nine. He had time to get a nine. I'm not the coach, I don't know how the discussion (went)… everyone has been screaming for a nine – apart from when we win, by the way. When we beat Real Madrid, we didn't need a nine.

"One of my favourite nines out there at the minute is Julian Alvarez. We've been talking about it, putting pressure, playing alone, low, whatever you want to do. Did you see the free-kick he scored the other day? He can hold the ball alone, he played at the Olympic Games, he played in the Copa America. I don't hear him saying, 'I'm tired' or not tired. Hopefully nothing bad is going to happen to him. He's played everything and the way he plays, I just like him."

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Arsenal have come second in the Premier League for three seasons running and haven't won a trophy since 2020. The missing piece may be signing a new clinical striker, with RB Leipzig's Benjamin Sesko and Sporting CP's Viktor Gyokeres among the list of their top targets. Next season could be make or break for Arteta.

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Getty/GOALWHAT NEXT?

With the transfer window just days away from opening, all eyes will be on if Arsenal finally sign a striker. Before that possibility, it looks like they will recruit Real Sociedad midfielder Martin Zubimendi.

A big-name attacker is seemingly open to the idea of signing for Tottenham Hotspur, with there being a willingness on his side to make the move to north London behind-the-scenes.

Tottenham targeting new forward for Ange this summer

Spurs secured a dramatic, deadline-busting deal for Bayern Munich sensation Mathys Tel near the very end of the winter transfer window – which includes an option to buy the Frenchman for around £45 million – but it is far from a foregone conclusion that he’ll stay beyond this season.

Tottenham make out-of-window offer to sign £144k-per-week ex-Chelsea star

The Lilywhites are moving ahead of this summer.

By
Emilio Galantini

Feb 18, 2025

The Lilywhites keeping hold of Tel will depend on the teenager’s final decision, even if he has already agreed terms on a six-year contract if he is to remain (The Athletic), so it is perhaps wise for Spurs to identify attacking alternatives ahead of next campaign.

Tottenham are among the clubs displaying interest in Lille star Jonathan David, who has been a consistently prolific marksman in France and is set to be available on a free transfer this summer when his contract expires.

However, given the Canada international will be one of the bargains of the summer window, following a record of 104 goals across 218 appearances for Lille in all competitions, the competition for his signature will be fierce.

It is already believed that Barcelona are out in pole position to sign David from Lille, with the 25-year-old making no secret of the fact he’s a boyhood fan of the La Liga heavyweights.

“(Barcelona) was always the team I grew up supporting,” he told The Athletic. “When you grow up supporting a team, it’s your dream to play for them.”

Bearing this in mind, Spurs do have other options, albeit potentially much more expensive. Tottenham’s all-time top goalscorer and England legend Harry Kane has been linked with a sensational return to N17, with The Telegraph reporting that they have a first-option agreement in potential talks for the £400,000-per-week Bayern Munich superstar.

However, there is no fixed fee in this arrangement, meaning they’d have to negotiate a price or trigger his release clause (The Telegraph). They’d also have to convince Kane himself, but reliable journalist Ben Jacobs has some encouraging news on that front.

Harry Kane privately refusing to rule out returning to Tottenham

Speaking to GiveMeSport, Jacobs says that Kane is privately refusing to rule out re-joining Tottenham, in what could be a boost for Ange Postecoglou.

“I think if Kane returns to the Premier League, there is a willingness to go back to Spurs. That’s not been ruled out by the player,” said Jacobs.

“We have to wait and see if there’s an appetite for Tottenham to do that deal, especially with Dominic Solanke.”

The 31-year-old may be approaching his twilight years, but Kane’s exceptional goalscoring record has not faltered in the slightest. This season, the prolific marksman boasts 29 goals and 10 assists across all competitions, adding to his total Bayern tally of 73 strikes in 76 outings.

The fast bowler has warned batters in the past and admitted he may eventually run someone out

ESPNcricinfo staff29-Dec-2022Mitchell Starc has conceded he could eventually be drawn into running out a batter backing up after he warned Theunis de Bruyn on the fourth day at the MCG.In the 17th over of South Africa’s second innings, Starc pulled out of his delivery stride when he saw de Bruyn was backing up well out of his crease. “Stay in the crease, it’s not that hard,” he was heard saying over the stump microphone.During the drinks break he spoke to Fox Cricket. “He’s halfway down Punt Rd, wasn’t he? It’s bad enough in white-ball cricket, I don’t know what the need is in red-ball cricket,” he said.”I was just letting him know that if I have to keep my foot behind the line, he can at least keep the bat behind the line.”Speaking after the match, Starc indicated there would be a point where if a batter kept doing it he would take the bails off.

<p lang="und" dir="ltr" #AUSvSA pic.twitter.com/xkb0CRj1T1

— 7Cricket (@7Cricket) December 28, 2022

“That’s just absolutely taking the mickey,” he said. “That’s not just taking off before a bowl, that’s a metre down the wicket. I gave him a couple of warnings, but if he wants to keep doing it, I’ll take them.”I had a word with him last night actually because he was doing yesterday. I said it again to him and he said ‘I’m not doing it on purpose.’ There’s no need for it…I keep saying I’m not going to take the stumps but you at least keep your bat behind the line.”Earlier this season, Starc gave England’s Jos Buttler a similar warning during a T20 in Canberra. Shortly after that he proposed a new method of managing the situation by using a run penalty, although that was more with a focus on T20 where small margins are much more likely.”Why not take it out of the hands of interpretation, and make it black-and-white?” Starc told The and The . “Every time the batter leaves the crease before the front foot lands, dock them a run. There’s no grey area then.”I’ve warned batters plenty of times, [Buttler] is not the first occasion,” Starc added at the time. “I warned probably seven Kiwi batters in those ODI games in the top end – some were two metres outside their crease. As I said to Jos, I could never see myself doing it [running a non-striker out], but it doesn’t mean that you should then feel free to leave your crease early.”The ball after the warning to de Bruyn in Melbourne, Starc pinned Sarel Erwee lbw with a searing yorker and three overs later Scott Boland removed de Bruyn with a lifting delivery that was edged to slip.

Right near the top of Jon Lewis’ to-do list as new England Women’s head coach is to check in with Nat Sciver as she makes her comeback from a mental health break.Sciver has opted not to resume her vice-captaincy for the upcoming tour of West Indies as she concentrates first on being a player before returning to any leadership role, which she is keen to do in the future. Sciver, who led England at the Commonwealth Games in place of the injured Heather Knight before missing India’s white-ball tour of England in September citing emotional fatigue after a jam-packed nine months of cricket, is understood to be feeling well and excited to be back with England’s ODI and T20I squads due to fly to Antigua next week.Two days into the job he took over from Lisa Keightley, Lewis has already had a two-hour conversation strolling round the Loughborough University campus which houses the ECB’s National Cricket Performance Centre with Knight – who is fit again after undergoing hip surgery. The pair will consult further before her deputy is named for the Caribbean tour.Lewis is keen to develop a core leadership group, which may well include one or more of the younger members of the England squad, after the absence of Knight, Sciver and senior seam bowler Katherine Brunt – rested throughout India’s visit – left Amy Jones as a somewhat reluctant skipper with no designs on holding the post longer term.Nat Sciver captained England Women in the Commonwealth Games•Getty Images

For now, Lewis is thrilled to have Sciver back in the fold in a playing capacity.”I’m absolutely delighted that she’s up for coming on tour and up to the challenge that’s ahead of her,” he told ESPNcricinfo. “She’s a fantastic cricketer, someone who’s one of the best cricketers in the world, and to have that sort of quality in your team as far as a head coach is something that is paramount.”As much as I can get her out on the field and playing her best cricket – and enjoying her cricket as much as anything – I think that will keep her out in the field more often than not, but there is now becoming the question of balance in women’s cricket because there is a continual amount of cricket to be able to play if you choose to.”Part of my job will be around managing schedules and understanding the individual needs of each player, and Nat in particular will be in high demand across every single competition because of the quality that she brings.”Related

• Sciver pulls out of India series to 'focus on mental health and wellbeing'

• Captaincy takes Amy Jones right out of her comfort zone

• Heather Knight ready for England comeback after successful hip surgery

• Jon Lewis named England Women head coach

• Lauren Winfield-Hill earns recall as England Women name Caribbean squads

Lewis also had a long talk, and walk, with Brunt – he finds the best form of communication is to “get on my feet rather than sit face to face”. Brunt is not in the ODI squad for three matches against West Indies but is expected to play a part in the five T20Is that follow and form an important part of England’s preparation for the T20 World Cup in South Africa early next year.”In the immediate future, which is the West Indies tour, we’re working to manage Katherine back into cricket,” Lewis said. “Then we have a T20 World Cup after that and Katherine is an absolute legend of the sport, she’s incredibly well respected and, watching her bowl across the summer, still bowling incredibly well.”For me as the head coach, that’s someone I want around and I want her to be playing as much cricket for England as possible. So that’s one of the things we had a conversation about on a walk, her plans for the future.”At the moment she’s very much looking in the near future around this tour of the West Indies and then once we get through that, then we’ll go again and we’ll see where she’s at. But at the moment she seems in a really good space and she’s been training incredibly hard here… I’m looking forward to seeing her perform at her best in the Caribbean.”Katherine Brunt has been England’s spearhead for a very long time•Getty Images

It is anticipated that England will also play a three-match T20I series with New Zealand in South Africa before two official ICC warm-up games ahead of the tournament starting on February 10, leaving Lewis with a total of 10 games in the format to get to know his team before attempting to topple defending champions Australia. To that end, he can call on a precious resource in the form of Matthew Mott, who is making his way back from his native Australia having helped England Men to the T20 world title in the same year he also took Australia Women to the ODI crown.”It’d be pretty dumb not to,” Lewis said. “He’s had an incredibly successful period with the Australian team. I will definitely go and speak to Motty about what he did with the Australian team and the journey they went on and also the areas that they felt they could pinpoint in our group to win games of cricket.”Having welcomed back four players with vast experience ahead of the trip to the Caribbean – 32-year-old top-order batter Lauren Winfield-Hill is in the T20I squad after being dropped during the 50-over World Cup at the start of the year – Lewis also has an exciting bunch of youngsters to nurture.They include fast bowlers Issy Wong and Lauren Bell and allrounders Alice Capsey and Freya Kemp, who all seized the opportunities they were handed when making their international debuts under Keightley’s reign during the English summer.Lewis said the chance to mentor a group with such a mix of youth and experience was a big lure when applying for the job, which meant leaving his post as England Men’s pace bowling coach. He told Jonathan Finch, Director of England Women’s cricket, and the ECB’s interim CEO, Clare Connor, as much in his final interview for the role.”There’s a really lovely balance of not only age range and experiences but skill level, and different types of skills, and exciting young cricketers who… the world’s their oyster,” he said. “My job is to is to help those players release their potential and I think that there’s nothing that this group cannot achieve.”My pitch was literally I’m so excited about the ceiling that the players have got, or the lack of ceiling the players have got, and that the team is ready to fly. My job is to almost take the handbrake off and free the players up and get them to play to their full potential.”

Club stalwart and establishment fixture had long and varied career in cricket

ESPNcricinfo staff30-Sep-2022Robin Marlar, the former Sussex captain, MCC president, and long-time cricket correspondent for the Sunday Times, has died at the age of 91.As an offspinner who claimed 970 wickets in an 18-season first-class career, Marlar came close to England selection on a number of occasions in the 1950s, but was kept out of the side by the great Jim Laker, not to mention Fred Titmus and David Allen, both of whom offered more with the bat than his average of 9.72.He did, however, play for the Rest of England against Surrey in the Champion County match in 1955, in which – as a nightwatchman – he achieved the rare distinction of being stumped second-ball for six, ostensibly as a protest after his captain Doug Insole asked him to change back out of his evening wear.”As I was saying,” he is said to have remarked to Insole on his return to the dressing room, “I am not a nightwatchman.”For Sussex, however, he was a stalwart, including a five-season stint as captain from 1955 to 1959, in which time Wisden declared his leadership “shrewd and skilful”. His finest hour with the ball came against Lancashire at Hove in 1955, when his match haul of 15 for 119 included 9 for 46 in the second innings, en route to a season’s best return of 139 wickets at 21.55.Educated at Harrow, Marlar was also a three-times Cambridge Blue from 1951 to 1953, and his establishment credentials were cemented when he served as MCC’s president in 2005-06, during which time he was instrumental in forging cricketing links with Afghanistan that would ultimately lead to the country attaining Test status.After retiring from cricket, his stint as Sunday Times correspondent spanned both Kerry Packer’s World Series Cricket breakaway, and the emergence in the early 1990s of Shane Warne, of whom Marlar was the first to dub his dismissal of Mike Gatting at Old Trafford in 1993 “the ball of the century”.Marlar was born in Eastbourne in January 1931 and made his debut for Sussex in July 1951 against Kent at Hastings. Away from cricket, he established a successful headhunting business, headquartered in Sloane Square and with clients around the world.He was Sussex’s chairman in 1996 and 1997, a period which helped lay the groundwork for the outstanding side that won the club’s first County Championship in 2003, and two further titles in 2006 and 2007.In a statement, Sussex confirmed that Marlar had died at Epsom General Hospital on September 30, surrounded by his family, and recalled him as “one of the most important figures in the history of Sussex Cricket”. He had attended a memorial for his fellow club legend Ted Dexter in the Long Room at Lord’s earlier this month, in which the statement added, he had been “in magnificent form, upbraiding Sir Andrew Strauss about the High Performance Review and holding court in the style as only he could.”He took a passionate and lifelong interest in the county club of his birth and visited the ground in August this year for a memorable day, in the boardroom, with Mike Griffith and Johnny Barclay, all three MCC presidents and Sussex captains,” the statement added.”Robin Marlar was a great man of cricket and will be deeply missed by all at Sussex Cricket and especially by his friends at the Sussex Cricket Museum which he supported passionately. Our thoughts are with his daughters Sarah, AJ, Kate and Tammy and his sons Algy and James.”

The South African was part of India’s support staff between 2008 and 2011, a stint that culminated in the World Cup victory

Nagraj Gollapudi and Shashank Kishore26-Jul-2022

India have roped in South African mental conditioning expert Paddy Upton to work with the players ahead of the T20 World Cup in Australia this year. ESPNcricinfo learned that Upton joined the India squad on Monday and will begin his role ahead of the third ODI against West Indies in Trinidad on Wednesday.Upton, 53, comes with extensive experience of working with the Indian team and players. Between 2008 and 2011, he was an assistant to India coach Gary Kirsten, a stint that culminated in the World Cup victory under MS Dhoni. Upton then teamed up with Kirsten once again and helped South Africa become the No. 1 Test team in 2013.It is understood that Upton was approached by India’s head coach Rahul Dravid with the specific brief of helping the players stay mentally charged for the T20 World Cup in October and November. Upton’s appointment had the support of India captain Rohit Sharma, who arrived in the Caribbean on Monday for the five-match T20I series starting on July 29.Another key reason for the swiftness of Upton’s appointment is that Dravid was keen to have an expert who could immediately work with players – especially the younger ones – on mental conditioning, having played in biosecure environments for over two years during the Covid-19 pandemic. With the relentless schedule of international cricket, Dravid wants his players in the best frame of mind ahead of the T20 World Cup, after India had failed qualify for the semi-finals of the 2021 tournament in the UAE.Upton has been on the T20 coaching circuit for several years now, most recently as the team catalyst for Rajasthan Royals in IPL 2022. He also worked with Dravid at the Rajasthan and Delhi franchises, and was part of Sydney Thunder’s support staff when they won the BBL title in 2015-16.Upton is known for his unique methods as a mental-conditioning expert. He has used activities such as extreme sports, mountain climbing and canoeing, improvisation theatre, and breath-holding techniques to test the endurance of players when put under stress and help them realise that “fear on the cricket field is very small as compared to these activities.”In the past, India have also used the services of other mental-conditioning experts such as Rudi Webster prior to the 2007 World Cup, and Sandy Gordon in the 2003 World Cup. More recently, sports psychologist Mugdha Bavare was part of the India women’s support staff for the 2022 World Cup.