CRICKET

Dhoni, Pandya, Bumrah and other stars invest in ‘eCricket’ gaming app

M.S. Dhoni, Jasprit Bumrah, Hardik Pandya, along with Shreyas Iyer, Ravindra Jadeja, Tilak Varma and Sai Sudharsan, have come on board as investors in ‘eCricket’, a AAA title from India with global ambitions, slated for release on mobile in 2026.

With cricket commanding a global audience estimated to be over 2.5 billion, LightFury—the publisher of eCricket—aims to address a significant gap in the sports gaming category by delivering a technically advanced, competitive, and live-service-driven cricket gaming franchise from India.

The 100-strong studio combines creative vision with technical innovation to create globally competitive games.

“I’ve seen a lot of cricket games over the years, and there’s always been something missing. When LightFury showed me what they were working on, I felt they were trying to close that gap. It’s a big undertaking, building something like this out of India for a global audience,” Dhoni was quoted in a release.

Founded in 2024 by Karan Shroff, Anurag Banerjee, and Tina Balachandran, LightFury Games is an India-based AAA-focused game-tech studio dedicated to building high-quality, cutting-edge gaming experiences. The leadership team has worked on more than 40 AAA titles.

Hardik Pandya said, “Cricket is pressure, skill, and entertainment all at once. Fans want to feel that energy. What excites me about eCricket is that it is not trying to make cricket smaller for gaming. It is trying to make gaming rise to the scale of cricket.”

Earlier this year, LightFury Games also announced securing a global player roster licence of over 600 professional cricketers, featuring stars like Chris Gayle, Joe Root, Ben Stokes, Kane Williamson, Pat Cummins, Jos Buttler, Travis Head, and Andre Russell—marking one of the largest rosters in cricket gaming.

– PTI

GOLF

Shubhankar and Yuvraj have slow starts in China

Indian golfers Shubhankar Sharma and Yuvraj Sandhu endured slow starts at the Volvo China Open in Shanghai, finishing T-48 and 153rd respectively after the opening round.

Sharma, who won on his home tour in India a week earlier, carded 1-under 70 to be placed at T-48 while Sandhu carded 9-over 80 to be placed 153rd on the standings.

– PTI

SQUASH

Abhay Singh enters maiden PSA Gold-level quarters in Zurich

India’s Abhay Singh stunned Egyptian world No 13 Aly Abou Eleinen to enter his maiden PSA Gold-level event quarterfinals at the Grasshopper Cup squash in Zurich.

World No 24 Abhay trailed 5-8 in the opening game before recovering to beat the seventh seed 12-10, 11-9 in the second round.

Singh had beaten Eleinen earlier this month at the El Gouna Open in Egypt.

“I stuck to my game plan. Still a few things I can work on. We will go back to the drawing board tonight,” said Singh, who will meet Egyptian world No 4 Karim Gawad next.

In the opening round, Singh beat Swiss David Bernet 11-9, 9-11, 11-8, while compatriot Ramit Tandon lost to Egypt’s Fares Dessouky 6-11, 9-11.

– Team Sportstar

Published on Apr 24, 2026