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New Delhi:

Dipika Kakar, battling stage 2 liver cancer, underwent a 14-hour-long surgery on June 3. Now, the actress has returned home and is on the road to recovery.

Amid this, Dipika Kakar and her husband, actor Shoaib Ibrahim, celebrated their son Ruhaan’s 2nd birthday. On Monday, June 23, Shoaib dropped a vlog on his YouTube channel offering fans a glimpse into the intimate bash.

In the video, Shoaib revealed that since Ruhaan was down with viral fever, they kept the celebrations low-key. The actor shared, “After my birthday gets over, we bring in Ruhaan’s birthday. But this time he was not keeping well. We kept the decorations on and whenever he feels better, we’ll do the cake-cutting.”

The little munchkin was born on June 21, just a day after his father’s birthday. 

The clip showed the rooms decorated with colourful balloons, streamers and giant animal cut-outs. The words “Ruhaan Turns 2” were written on a banner on the walls. Ruhaan held a plastic knife and cut a train-themed cake as his family members clapped for him.

New Delhi:

Actress Shefali Jariwala, best known for her appearance on Bigg Boss 13 and the hit remix of the song Kaanta Laga, died late Friday. The news of her sudden demise left the entertainment industry in shock.

What’s Happening

Shefali Jariwala reportedly suffered a cardiac arrest at her Mumbai residence late Friday. Parag Tyagi rushed her to the hospital, where doctors declared her dead on arrival. Her body has been sent for a post-mortem, and the results are expected by 11 AM today (Saturday).

Visuals from outside the hospital showed Parag in tears. The family has not released an official statement yet.

Shefali first rose to fame with the 2002 music video Kaanta Laga, which became a massive hit. She later appeared in the film Mujhse Shaadi Karogi, alongside Akshay Kumar and Salman Khan.

Written with candour and sincerity, ‘The One’ offers an unprecedented glimpse into Shikhar Dhawan’s inner monologue and all the vulnerabilities that have shaped him into the champion cricketer and sensitive human being he is today,” publishers HarperCollins India said.

According to Sachin Sharma, publisher at HarperCollins India, “Shikhar Dhawan has lived an incredible life both on and off the field. In this unputdownable memoir, Shikhar has opened up about his life, cricket, relationships, and every curveball that he faced and emerged stronger.” Growing up in the intensely competitive cricketing scene of Delhi, Dhawan started out as a wicketkeeper but later transitioned to an opening batsman. He played 34 Tests for India scoring 2315 runs, 167 ODIs (6793 runs) and 68 T20 matches (1759 runs).

“When I was trying to break into the Indian side, social media was still nascent and cricketers were under a lot less scrutiny. But other media platforms – print and broadcast – were thriving,” he writes in the book.

“Team selections and individual cricket performances were discussed threadbare and had gained sufficient audience in the country. However, unlike the current times in which social media can transform cricketers from ‘hero’ to ‘zero’ almost overnight, narratives took a lot longer to change back in those days,” he says.

Talking about his entry into the Indian dressing room, he said when Australia came to India for a short tour in October 2010, “that’s when I received my long-awaited call to join the big boys”.

Dhawan also writes that when he first saw Mahendra Singh Dhoni, “I wanted to cast him in a Bollywood movie; he looked like a film star with that long hair and easy smile”.

He added: “We were having a chat about my motivation when I suddenly blurted out, ‘I want to play for India and I want to make you a Bollywood hero!’ He threw back his head and laughed.” Though he was chosen for the three ODIs, the first and third matches in Kochi and Margao were washed out.

“Before the first match in Kochi, there was so much nervous energy bubbling inside me that I could not sleep the whole night… But when I got up in the morning, it was raining heavily, and all my hopes turned to nought. No action was possible that day,” Dhawan writes.

“Then, just ahead of the second ODI at Vizag, I took a sleeping pill to soothe my nerves. I thought it was important to sleep well, and I was worried that my performance would suffer if I went through another round of insomnia as I had done on the eve of the first match,” he recalls.

India won the toss and invited Australia to field. Dhawan’s debut game had begun.

The Aussies batted first and scored 289. Dhawan opened the batting with Murali Vijay. But in the very first over, he was bowled for a duck off the second ball by Clint McKay.

“I walked off from the crease with a smile pasted on my face, but inside, I was kicking myself hard. I had visualized myself playing dazzling shots and piling up a huge amount of runs for India for so long that I found it difficult to wrap the reality around my head,” he writes.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) receive by far the largest share of the International Cricket Council (ICC) among all the cricket boards, a matter which has been largely debated in recent years. As per the most recent regulation model, the BCCI receives 38.5 per cent of ICC’s total revenue, with Team India widely being the most followed and most watched team. Former India cricketer and head coach Ravi Shastri has defended this, stating that, if anything, India should get an even larger share of the pie.

I absolutely agree (that India should get 38.5 per cent). I would want more for India,” Shastri said, speaking to Wisden.

Shastri was then asked to explain his thought process, and proceeded to state that India deserve the largest share because they generate the most revenue.

“Most of the money that is generated comes from India. So it’s only fair that they get their pound of flesh,” Shastri stated.

“And it’s relative. It’s economies. Tomorrow there might be another economy that’s stronger, money might come from there like it did in the 1970s and 80s, and the chunk of the money goes somewhere else,” Shastri reasoned.

The BCCI have grown into the richest cricket board in the world, with India an indispensable outfit of cricket broadcast. Owing to the nation’s nearly 1.5-billion strong population, and the popularity of cricket within the country, cricket viewership is drastically impacted by the presence of India, Indian cricket teams and players.

“I think it’s only fair. It shows in the revenues. When India travel, look at the television rights, look at the television income that comes for an India series. So it’s only fair that they get whatever they’re getting now, if not more,” Shastri added.

Currently, India are involved in a highly-anticipated five-match Test series against England on English soil.

The ICC on Friday announced new playing conditions across formats including a minimum seven-day stand-down period for players diagnosed with concussion, trialling a new wide-ball rule in limited-overs cricket, besides changes with regards to boundary catches. Cricket’s global governing body said on its website that the new playing conditions for Tests were implemented with the start of the new World Test Championship cycle for 2025-2027 with Sri Lanka taking on Bangladesh in first Test at Galle from June 17-21.

The upcoming limited-overs series between the two countries will mark the start dates for new playing conditions for ODIs and T20Is.

Sri Lanka and Bangladesh will play a three-match ODI series from July 2 and then move on to a three-match T20I rubber from July 10.

In context of concussion protocols, the ICC said there are two changes.

Teams will now have to nominate designated concussion replacements for every match, which is being brought in to curb the home team’s advantage of being able to select from a larger group of players.

The ICC also announced a “minimum seven-day stand-down” period for any player diagnosed with concussion.

“A player diagnosed with a concussion during a match must observe a minimum stand-down period of a minimum of seven days before returning to play. This change has been recommended by the ICC Medical Advisory Committee to support players’ safety and well-being,” the ICC said.

The ICC said two new rules will be trialled by full members for a period of six months starting from October 2025. It includes a new wide-ball rule for ODIs and T20Is, and is being brought in to offer a degree of leniency to a bowler who sees batter moving around “prior or during” a delivery.

“The position of the batter’s legs at the point of delivery will now be used as the reference point for a wide, even if the batter subsequently moves across to the off side,” the ICC said.

“The trial will see a ball that passes the popping crease between the leg stump and the protected area marker not being called a wide. To help with this, the protected area marker line will be extended to the popping crease and act as a guide for the umpires.” Former South Africa captain Shaun Pollock, the media representative of ICC’s cricket committee, had told PTI in January this year that the governing body is “working on something” to give bowlers “a bit more leeway on wides.” “Any leg side delivery that passes behind the batter’s legs and outside of the line at the time the ball reaches the popping crease may still be called a wide. Previously, a wide had been called for a delivery that would not have been called wide if the batter had retained their normal batting position,” the ICC said.

Two contentious television umpiring decisions contributed to the West Indies dismissal for 190 at tea on the second day of the first Test against Australia in Barbados on Thursday. Australia will start their second innings after the break, trailing by just 10 runs after they were bundled out for 180 on day one. Captain Roston Chase and wicketkeeper Shai Hope held the home side’s innings together with a 67-run stand after they had slipped to 72 for five early on the second morning when debutant Brandon King was bowled for 26 offering no shot to seamer Josh Hazlewood.

However Chase, in his 50th Test and playing his first match in the traditional format for more than two years, was ruled leg-before to Australian counterpart Pat Cummins for 44 just after lunch by television official Adrian Holdstock even though the available television replays suggested the tall right-hander had edged the ball onto his pads.

Holdstock was again the focus of attention when Hope, on 48, appeared have been cleanly caught down the leg-side by a diving wicketkeeper Alex Carey to give medium-pacer Beau Webster his second wicket.

Hope seemed equally convinced as he was almost in the players’ pavilion as repeated replays of the dismissal gave a strong indication that the ball had touched the ground as Carey attempted to complete the catch. Holdstock nevertheless upheld the dismissal.

Mitchell Starc finished as the leading wicket-taker in the innings with three for 65, bowling tailender Shamar Joseph off his pads to add to the wickets of openers Kraigg Brathwaite and John Campbell in the final session of day one.

If the loss against England in the first Test in Leeds was not enough, the Indian cricket team were dealt another blow as news came that Jasprit Bumrah would be rested for the second Test starting on July 2. BCCI sources confirmed the development to NDTV. Even before India departed for the long Tour of England, it had been declared that Bumrah would play only three of the five Tests due to workload management. Bumrah had been out of team for a lengthy period after a back issue during the Border Gavaskar Trophy.    

However, now question are being raised on the future of Bumrah’s Test career, considering he is not available for all the matches despite significant gap between them. The first Test ran from June 20-24, while the second match in Birmingham will start from July 2. That’s a week’s gap. The third Test at Lord’s will start from July 10, before the the action shifts to Manchester for the fourth Test starting on July 23. The fifth Test starts on July 31. 

“Jasprit Bumrah will not be available. It’s not official, but maybe it’s official, for all we know. He will be rested for the second match and will directly play the third match, and you wonder, as there was a seven-day gap between the two matches, and he is not playing,” Aakash Chopra, former India star, said on his YouTube channel.

“Then there will be a five-day Test and a three-day gap. He will be available on the 10th of July now. That is a serious concern. If you need such big gaps, Bumrah’s future as a Test cricketer, it is going to be an issue. Gautam  Gambhir must find himself in a tricky position now. There was an old interview, ‘I do not believe in workload management’ that was Gautam’s stand back then.  That makes it a little different. He is an important player.”

Akash Deep and Arshdeep Singh are the two other specialist pacers in the squad. Medium pace allrounder Nitish Kumar Reddy is another option. Most indications point towards left-arm pacer Arshdeep Singh replacing Bumrah in the XI. But again, no one could confirm the development. While Arshdeep has not played any Test, he has ODI and T20I experience. In T20Is, he is India’s all-time highest wicket-taker with 99 scalps in 63 games.

New Delhi:

Actor and model Shefali Jariwala died late Friday, and her last rites were performed in Mumbai on Saturday evening, with close family members and friends in attendance. Several key details have emerged in the ongoing investigation into the sudden death of actress Shefali Jariwala. 

According to sources, police have gathered important information based on witness statements, seized evidence and preliminary forensic inputs.

“Shefali was regularly consuming anti-ageing medicines for the last seven-eight years. There was a puja at home on June 27, due to which Shefali was fasting. Despite this, she took an injection of anti-ageing medicine in the afternoon of the same day. These medicines were advised to her by a doctor years ago, and since then she has been taking this treatment every month. So far in the police investigation, it has come to light that these medicines could be a major reason for cardiac arrest,” the source told NDTV.

The timeline of events suggests that Shefali’s health deteriorated between 10 and 11 PM on June 27.

The source added, “Between 10 and 11 pm, Shefali’s health suddenly deteriorated. The body started trembling and she fell unconscious. She was immediately taken to the hospital. At that time, Shefali, her husband Parag, mother and some other people were present at home.The forensic team has collected various items from the residence as part of the probe.

They continued, “The forensic team has seized a variety of medicines from the house, including anti-ageing vials, vitamin supplements and gastric pills.”

As part of the ongoing investigation, statements from multiple people have been recorded.

“So far, the police have recorded the statements of 8 people in this case, including family members, domestic servants and doctors from Bellevue Hospital. The investigation has not found any signs of dispute or quarrel so far. The police and forensic team will now take further action based on the postmortem report and lab tests of the medicines,” the source concluded.

The official cause of death is still awaited, and further action will depend on the postmortem findings and chemical analysis of the seized substances.

Punjabi singer Guru Randhawa is the latest artiste from the Indian film industry to weigh in on the ongoing controversy around Diljit Dosanjh’s new movie, Sardaar Ji 3. The film sparked outrage in the country after Pakistani star Hania Aamir’s casting in the film came to light earlier this week.

On Thursday, June 26, Guru Randhawa shared a cryptic post on X about being Indian and how India has produced great artistes, which many on social media believe was a jibe at Diljit Dosanjh.Lakh pardesi hoyieee
Apna desh nhi bhandi daa

Jehre mulk da khayie
us da bura nhi mangi da

Even if now your citizenship is not indian but you were born here pls remember this.

This country made great artists and we all are proud of it.
Pls be proud of where you were born.…— Guru Randhawa (@GuruOfficial) June 26, 2025

In his post, the Patola singer also alleged that Diljit Dosanjh is no longer an Indian citizen.

“Lakh pardesi hoyieee. Apna desh nhi bhandi daa. Jehre mulk da khayie us da bura nhi mangi da. Even if now your citizenship is not Indian but you were born here pls remember this. This country made great artists and we all are proud of it. Pls be proud of where you were born. Just an advice. Now don’t start controversy again and manipulate indians LOL. PR bigger thn artist (sic)” Guru Randhawa wrote on the microblogging site.

The comments section of his post was flooded with reactions from social media users.

An X user said, “Diljit fake indian.”

Another tagged Diljit Dosanjh in Guru Randhawa’s post and said, “Sun le (pay heed to this).”

A user praised the singer for having the guts to express themselves openly. “Well done. Time to shut the diplomacy and start calling them out,” the post read.

New Delhi:

Diljit Dosanjh’s upcoming release Sardaar Ji 3 has been embroiled in a controversy after Pakistani actor Hania Aamir was cast in the film. Diljit, who happens to be one of the producers of the film, released the trailer of the film featuring Hania Aamir on June 22. The makers have skipped the film’s India release amid the India-Pakistan tensions, propelled by the Pahalgam terror attack (April 22) and the Operation Sindoor (May 7). After Diljit announced the release date of the film (June 27), authorities like the Federation of Western India Cine Employees (FWICE) and the All Indian Cine Workers Association (AICWA) have decided to ban Diljit Dosanjh in India.

What’s Happening 

• The Federation of Western India Cine Employees (FWICE) President, BN Tiwari told NDTV that they have decided to issue a directive to ban Diljit Dosanjh and other producers of the film in India.
• BN Tiwari told NDTV, “There will be complete non co-operation. If the film releases anywhere, we will issue a directive of non co-operation. We will ensure that Diljit Dosanjh won’t get work (films or concerts) in any part of India.”
• “If he doesn’t withdraw the release of the film, he won’t get work in India,” BN Tiwari added.
• Along with the FWICE, the All Indian Cine Workers Association also decided to ban Diljit Dosanjh working in India.
• In an X post, the body wrote, “We hereby announce a complete boycott of singer and producer Diljit Dosanjh from the Indian film industry.We urge all Indian producers, production houses, music companies, event organizers, and film workers to stand united and not associate with Diljit Dosanjh in any professional capacity.
• We will approach various industry unions, workers’ bodies, and stakeholders to uphold this patriotic call.”
• FWICE has also written a letter to CBFC to stall the Diljit and Hania film from getting its censor certificate.