With 33 medals (8 gold, 12 silver, 13 bronze), India currently ranks 4th in the medal tally at the ongoing Asian Games. Day 7 has India vs. Pakistan clashes in squash and hockey alongside multiple medal prospects in athletics. India will fight for gold in mixed doubles tennis and men's team squash finals. The hockey team takes on arch-rivals Pakistan as Mirabai Chanu starts her campaign. Long jumpers Aldrin, Sreeshankar and 2018 heptathlon winner Swapna Barman also feature. After a haul of 33 already, India aims higher on Saturday across various disciplines.

England's Jonny Bairstow shared on Instagram about the team's 38+ hour economy class flight to Guwahati for their World Cup warmup match against India. He posted a picture of a player surrounded by co-passengers on the flight and captioned it "utter chaos". Bairstow mentioned the long journey saying "last leg incoming...been some trip" and "38 hours and counting". The England squad reached Guwahati along with the Indian players. England have two warmup games scheduled before the World Cup - against India and then Bangladesh in Guwahati. Bairstow's post highlighted the grueling travel facing teams for the tournament across distant Indian venues.

Indian athlete Kiran Baliyan clinched the bronze medal in the women's shot put event at the Hangzhou Asian Games 2023 on Friday. The 24-year-old produced a throw of 17.36m in her third attempt, which remained her best and fetched her the bronze. This was India's first athletics medal at the ongoing Asian Games. Baliyan achieved her personal best of 17.92m earlier this month at the Indian GP 5. The last time India won a medal in women's shot put at the Asian Games was in 1951 when Barbara Webster clinched bronze. Baliyan's podium finish ends India's long wait for an athletics medal at Asia's biggest sports competition.

Indian shooter Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar bagged the silver medal in the men's 50m rifle 3 positions event at the 2023 Asian Games on Friday. Tomar finished second behind China's Linshu Du with a score of 459.7 after making a remarkable comeback in the standing position. Earlier in the day, Tomar had won gold along with Swapnil Kusale and Akhil Sheoran in the 3 positions rifle team event. With Tomar's silver, India's total medal tally in shooting has now gone up to 18 medals at the ongoing Asian Games in Hangzhou, China.

The Indian women's squash team bagged the bronze medal after losing 1-2 to Hong Kong, China in the semifinals on Friday at the 2023 Asian Games in Hangzhou. Joshna Chinappa's win in the second match leveled the tie at 1-1 but Anahat Singh could not get past Ka Yi Lee of Hong Kong in the decider. With this bronze, India now has a total of 31 medals including 8 golds and sits fourth in the overall medal tally.

Indian tennis players Saketh Myneni and Ramkumar Ramanathan secured the silver medal in the men's doubles event at the 2023 Hangzhou Asian Games on Friday. The Indian duo lost the final 4-6, 4-6 to Chinese Taipei's Jason Jung and Hsu Yu-hsiou in a match lasting 1 hour and 12 minutes. Ramanathan showed visible frustration with the raucous Chinese fans during the match. The defeat ended India's hopes of improving on Myneni's previous doubles silver medal from the 2014 Asian Games. With the silver, India's overall medal count rose to 28, including 7 golds. Despite the loss, Myneni and Ramanathan added another medal for India in tennis. (Image Courtesy: Narendra Modi on X)

17-year-old Palak Gulia won gold while 18-year-old Esha Singh clinched silver in the women's 10m air pistol event at the Hangzhou Asian Games on Friday. Gulia, in her debut at a major competition, led from the 12th shot onwards and finished with a games record score of 242.1. Singh held her nerve to edge out the bronze medalist and secure a second individual medal after her 25m pistol silver the previous day. Earlier, India also won the team silver medal in the event. The sensational one-two finish took India's shooting medal tally to 17, their best ever at Asian Games. Gulia and Singh hugged after a touching moment at the end.

India ranks 5th on the medals tally with 6 gold, 8 silver, and 11 bronze medals at the end of Day 5. Indian shooters Sarabjot Singh, Arjun Cheema, and Shiva Narwal clinched gold in the men's 10m air pistol team event, extending the gold rush for India on Thursday. Roshibina Devi added a silver in wushu, while Anush Agarwalla won a historic dressage bronze. The medal spree is likely to continue on Friday as the men's doubles tennis duo of Ramkumar Ramanathan and Saketh Myneni feature in the finals. Squash teams also eye finals while India's athletics contingent finally begins its Asian Games 2023 campaign. 

India enters the ICC Men's Cricket World Cup 2023 as the number one ranked ODI team, closely followed by arch-rivals Pakistan at number two. Since 1999, the World Cup has been won by the top two ranked teams, boosting India and Pakistan's prospects. Their high-voltage clash on October 14th will be their eighth World Cup meeting, with India having won all previous seven. Though Pakistan broke India's dominance at the 2021 T20 World Cup, India regained the upper hand in 2022. As the top two teams lock horns, India will look to sustain their World Cup record over Pakistan and clinch cricket's ultimate prize.

The Pakistan cricket team arrived in Hyderabad for their participation in the ODI World Cup. The team received a warm welcome, and Babar Azam, the captain, expressed his delight at the 'overwhelming' welcome on social media. Though visa-related issues have caused a slight delay, this marks Pakistan's first visit to India in nearly a decade, with many players unfamiliar with Indian conditions. Babar addressed the lack of familiarity, stating that they are not feeling excessive pressure and have researched the conditions. He also acknowledged the absence of home crowd support but expected social media love from fans.