Welcome to the live coverage of the news and updates related to world sports for today, 23 March 2024. On a power-packed schedule for cricket matches, we also have some international-friendly football matches. France will play Germany and England take on Brazil in the international friendlies today. Follow the live scores and updates of the world sports for 23 March 2024, here.

Aryna Sabalenka claimed a straight-sets victory over Paula Badosa to progress into the last 32 of the Miami Open, days after the death of her former boyfriend Konstantin Koltsov.

Two-time Australian Open champion Sabalenka returned to the tennis court after Koltsov died at the age of 42 on Monday in what police described as an “apparent suicide” in Miami.

Koltsov’s death led Sabalenka to reveal her “heart is broken”, but she was able to show incredible composure and poise to beat good friend Badosa by a 6-4 6-3 score after an emotional few days.

Argentina comfortably defeated El Salvador 3-0 in their first match of 2024, an international friendly, courtesy goals from Cristian Romero, Enzo Fernandez and Giovani Lo Celso. The world champion side will next take on Costa Rica in Los Angeles.

The Netherlands recovered from a shaky first half to give Scotland a masterclass in clinical football and win their friendly by 4-0 in Amsterdam, Associated Press reports. The Dutch took the lead after 40 minutes when Tijjani Reijnders scored from 25 metres out. Georginio Wijnaldum doubled their advantage in the 72nd minute when he headed in a cross from Cody Gakpo.

Substitute Wout Weghorst made it 3-0 with a header in the 84th, and Donyell Malen fought his way through the defense to score a fourth two minutes later.

In an eye-catching result from the international friendlies, Colombia edged out Spain 1-0, with Daniel Munoz scoring the only goal after 61 minutes. Elsewhere, Hungary extended their unbeaten run to 13 games with a 1-0 win over fellow Euro 2024 qualifier Turkey.

The Czech Republic beat Norway 2-1 in Oslo. Romania, who will meet Belgium, Slovakia and Ukraine or Iceland in Group E, came from behind to draw with Northern Ireland 1-1 in Bucharest.

The World Figure Skating Championships now have a back-to-back-to-back women's singles champion for the first time since 1968. Kaori Sakamoto of Japan has captured gold for the third consecutive year, climbing from fourth place after the short program to the top of the podium with a near-flawless performance. She is the first women's figure skater to 'three-peat' as world champion since American Peggy Fleming from 1966 to 1968.

England coach Gareth Southgate has said that speculation linking him with the manager's position at Manchester United currently occupied by Erik ten Hag was “completely disrespectful” and insisted he wouldn't begin talks over another job while in charge of the national team, Associated Press reported.

“There are two things,” he said. "I am the England manager. I have got one job basically, to try and deliver a European Championship. Clearly, before that, two important games this week (against Brazil and then Belgium on Tuesday).

“The second thing is Manchester United have a manager, and I think it is always completely disrespectful when there is any speculation about a manager that is in place. I am president of the League Managers' Association. I don't have any time for that sort of thing.”

The bowling consultant of Chennai Super Kings Eric Simons lauded the Bangladeshi pacer Mustafizur Rahman for curating the plans perfectly to set up the team's comfortable six-wicket win over Royal Challengers Bengaluru in the opening match of the 2024 Indian Premier League.

Mustafizur (4/29) dismissed the RCB top-order, bringing down Virat Kohli (21), skipper Faf du Plessis (35) and Rajat Patidar (0) -- besides also getting rid of Cameron Green (18), to return with his best ever IPL figures as CSK restricted RCB to 173 for six.

Red Bull driver Max Verstappen is en route to take a record-equalling 10 consecutive wins after finishing the qualifying race of the Australian Grand Prix in pole position. However, Ferrari's Carlos Sainz has posed a threat to Red Bull's one-two victory in Melbourne as he secured the P2 ahead of Verstappen's teammate, Sergio Perez (P3).

Boston Celtics is currently leading the NBA standings with Jaylen Brown's 33 that led the team to its eighth straight victory, 129-102 over the short-handed Detroit Pistons. The other noteworthy names in the match win are Payton Pritchard who had 20 points and Derrick White who added 19 with 11 assists for Boston, which has won 18 of 20 games to continue cruising toward the top seed in the Eastern Conference.

The Bhopal-born Shaharyar Khan, a career diplomat and former Pakistan Cricket Board chairman died on Saturday at age 89. He played a crucial role in restoring cricket ties with India in the early 2000s. Shaharyar was the cousin of India's former captain Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi.

The legendary Sunil Gavaskar lauded Chennai Super Kings new captain Ruturaj Gaikwad for his strategy of manoeuvring his bowlers during the IPL opener against Royal Challengers Bengaluru.

"Absolutely! Your debut as a captain becomes very important. You want to begin your captaincy career well with a win and that's exactly what happened. What was impressive was his bowling changes," the former India skipper told Star Sports.

Bangladesh was in trouble at 132 for 6, trailing Sri Lanka by 148 in the first innings. Fast bowler Lahiru Kumara took three wickets as Sri Lanka reduced Bangladesh to 132 for six at lunch. Nightwatchman Taijul Islam resisted for the entire morning session, reaching lunch at a career-best 41 not out.

India all-rounder Shivam Dube believes that the two-time World Cup-winning captain MS Dhoni is one of the best finishers cricket has seen. And, Dube who relishes finishing the crunch games has learnt the art of doing so from "Mahi Bhai".

"It was amazing. Finishing the game for Chennai is always something that amazes me. That's what I have learnt from Mahi bhai, and I try to do it every game," Dube told IPLT20.com

In the second match of the 2024 Indian Premier League, Punjab Kings won the toss and opted to bowl first against Delhi Capitals.

Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz has gone from a hospital bed a few weeks ago to the front row of the grid for the Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix on Sunday. Sainz had to miss the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix after a podium finish in the initial race of the season due to appendicitis. However, the two weeks break has recovered the 28-year-old and he is back for the third race in Melbourne with even more energy securing P2 in the qualifying race.

Lewis Hamilton holds a record of eight pole positions at the Australian Grand Prix and will start the race on Sunday from P11, which is the worst qualifying position he had in 14 years at Melbourne's Albert Park circuit. “The inconsistency in the car really messes with the mind,” said Hamilton,

Los Angeles Lakers won 101-94 over the Philadelphia 76ers with D'Angelo Russell setting a new Lakers record for the most 3-pointers in a single season as his team snapped a seven-game losing streak against the Philadelphia. It is the first victory of the Los Angeles Lakers over Philadelphia since March 2020.

The returning of captain Rishabh Pant after two years of injury failed to meet expectations in the opening match of the 2024 IPL of Delhi Capitals against Punjab Kings. The latter rallied to stop DC at 174 for nine. Batting at number nine, Abhishek Porel top-scored with an unbeaten 32 off only 10 balls and lifted DC to a competitive total after an early batting collapse.

Opener Dimuth Karunaratne hit a half-century to extend Sri Lanka's lead by 211 after reaching 119 for five at stumps on Day 2 of the 1st Test against Bangladesh. Pacer Vishwa Fernando claimed 4-48 in helping the visitors take a 92-run lead in the first innings when Bangladesh was bowled out for 188 in reply to Sri Lanka's 280 all out.

India's star shuttler Kidambi Srikanth is the nation's only hope alive at the Swiss Open Super 300 badminton tournament. He progressed to the semifinals with a straight-game win over Chinese Taipei's Chia Hao Lee, playing his eighth tournament of 2024.

Naheed Divecha of Maharashtra shone brightly at the Indian Masters National Badminton Championship 2024 winning two gold medals defeating Haryana's Sunita Singh Panwar 21-14, 21-11 within 23 minutes and clinching the Women's 50 singles final.

In their opening match of the 2024 IPL, Punjab Kings Eleven defeated Delhi Capitals by 4 wickets with 4 balls to spare chasing the target of 175 runs, showcasing the spectacular batting of Sam Curran (63 off 47 balls) and unbeaten 38 off 21 balls of Liam Livingstone.

All eyes were on Rishabh Pant in Delhi Capitals' opening match against Punjab Kings for he returned to the fields after 15 months of gap suffering a horrific car accident. He scored 18 runs off 13 runs, and was "pretty nervous" but satisfied with how his first competitive game panned out.

I was pretty nervous (while batting) but you have to go through this when you enter the field. This isn't the first time being nervous, but happy about that (return overall)," Pant said at the post-match press conference about his return. (PTI)

Maverick Vinales has won the sprint race at the Portuguese MotoGP on Saturday leading a Spanish sweep of the podium. Marc Marquez came in second with Jorge Martin, on a Pramac Ducati, on the last lap.

The Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 final will be held at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai tentatively on May 26, the BCCI sources revealed.

We hope you have enjoyed our daily sports coverage. Till then, good night!