Top sports news: Sania Mirza retires mid-game during AUS Open, Kohli confirms IND's first-choice keeper and more

In Thursday's top Sports News (January 23, 2020), we have Sania Mirza crashing out of the Australian Open in the opening round of the tournament.

Team India skipper Virat Kohli named the Men In Blue's preferred first-choice keeper ahead of the series opener.

Auckland's Eden Park is set to host the first T20 International between India and New Zealand on Friday (January 24) of the five-match series.

Let's take a look at the top five Sports news in detail below:

1. Australia Open: Calf injury forces Sania Mirza to pull out in first-round

India's tennis star Sania Mirza suffered a calf strain and was forced to retire from the women's doubles first-round match in the Australian Open on Thursday. Sania and her partner, Nadiia Kichenok from Ukraine, were trailing 2-6, 0-1 against the Chinese duo of Xinyun Han and Lin Zhu during which Sania picked up an unfortunate calf injury and decided not to take further part in the game.

2. NZ vs IND: Virat Kohli confirms India's first-choice keeper in white-ball cricket between KL Rahul and Rishabh Pant

Team India skipper Virat Kohli has confirmed that KL Rahul will be keeping the stumps for the 'Men In Blue' in limited over cricket. Speaking at the pre-match press conference ahead of India's first T20I clash against New Zealand in Auckland, Kohli lauded Rahul's dual ability to keep and bat and claimed that this provides a great balance to the national side.

During the Rajkot ODI on January 17 against Australia, Rahul came in at no.5 to bat and played a serging innings of 80 runs off 52 balls.

3. 'I have more maal than you have baal': Shoaib Akhtar fires shots at Virendra Sehwag in his lastest post - Watch

Former Pakistan speedster Shoaib Akhtar has made some controversial comments in the past on his Youtube channel and this time it's the same again. Akhtar responded to ex-India cricketer Virender Sehwag's comments on him in his own typical fashion by claiming he has more money than Sehwag has hair on his head. 'Viru', back in 2016, had claimed that the sole reason why Shoaib has always spoken in favor of India because it helps him earn more money.

4. WATCH: Virat Kohli reveals why Team India is not looking for 'revenge' against New Zealand for World Cup exit

Virat Kohli has expressed his thoughts on how his side won't be looking for any sort of revenge over New Zealand during Friday's opener in Auckland. This will be the first time that the 'Men In Blue' will be facing the Kiwis since the two teams' encounter in the semi-final of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019, back in August.

However, during the pre-match press conference of the series opener, Kohli said that it is quite impossible to be in any revenge mood simply because of how nice the New Zealanders are in person.

5. Coaches day out! Ravi Shastri and Co. enjoy fun outing in Auckland ahead of NZ vs IND series opener

Team India are set to take on New Zealand in their home turf after successfully beating Australia in a three-match ODI series earlier this month. The 'Men In Blue' landed in Auckland on Tuesday (January 21) with a mostly unchanged squad except for Shikhar Dhawan, who is missing from the lineup due to his shoulder injury.

Indian head coach Ravi Shastri took to social media to share a group-self with batting coach Vikram Rathour, bowling coach Bharat Arun and fielding coach R Sridhar. The coaching crew looked like they had a fun day out in the streets of Auckland just before the series opener.