Sports this weekend: Australia vs Pakistan 3rd Test, FA Cup third round and more to watch in first weekend of 2024

It’s the first weekend of 2024. The first weekend for you to sit back and enjoy some thrilling sporting action with your family. For the teams and athletes, it’s time again to focus on glory with renewed hopes. There are plenty of competitions lined up for 2024 across all sports, including the 2024 Paris Olympics, the T20 World Cup, European football Championships as well as the Copa America. However, all those tournaments are still a few months away, so for now, we take a look a sporting events lined up for the upcoming weekend:

Cricket

India women vs Australia women T20I series: Following a disappointing outing in the ODI series where they lost 0-3 to Australia, Harmanpreet Kaur-led Team India will now switch focus to the T20I format. The T20I format is important this year with the Women’s T20 World Cup slated to be held in Bangladesh later this year. The first and second T20Is will be played at the DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai on Friday and Sunday.

Australia vs Pakistan 3^rd Test: The Australia vs Pakistan Test series reaches its conclusion this weekend. The Aussies have already won the series following victories in Perth and Melbourne, and look favourites to complete a clean sweep in Sydney. Pakistan will resume Day 4 on Saturday from their overnight score of 68/7, with a second innings lead of 82 runs.

Sri Lanka vs Zimbabwe 1^st ODI: Sri Lanka play their first international match since the 2023 Cricket World Cup as they host Zimbabwe for a three-match ODI series. The first ODI will take place in Colombo on Saturday.

Big Bash League: BBL action continues with Adelaide Strikers hosting Perth Scorchers on Friday. On Saturday, Melbourne Stars will take on Sydney Sixers in a battle between third and fourth places. Brisbane Heat will host Hobart Hurricanes at the Gabba on Sunday.

Football

European domestic football resumes this weekend, with the FA Cup third round and Copa de Rey round of 32 getting underway. There’s Serie A action as well

Serie A (Sports18/JioCinema)

Inter Milan vs Verona (Saturday, 5 pm)

Torino vs Napoli (Sunday, 7.30 pm)

Roma vs Atalanta (Monday, 1.15 am)

FA Cup (Sony Sports/Sony LIV)

Chelsea vs Preston North End (Saturday, 11 pm)

Manchester City vs Huddersfield Town (Sunday, 7.30 pm)

Arsenal vs Liverpool (Sunday, 10 pm)

Copa del Rey (FanCode)

Elche vs Girona (Saturday, 10.30 pm)

Arandina CF vs Real Madrid (Sunday, 2 am)

Barbastro vs FC Barcelona (Monday, 1.30 am

Tennis

Auckland Tennis Classic: The Auckland Tennis Classic that got underway on 29 December continues over the weekend, with the likes of Coco Gauff and Emma Navarro having made the semi-finals. The qualifiers for the men’s event will take place on Saturday, with Jiri Vesely and Denis Shapovalov among the stars in action.

Brisbane International (Tennistv.com): Brisbane International also began last week and continues with the quarter-final and semi-final stages of the tournament. The likes of Elena Rybakina and Victoria Azarenka have made the semis in the women’s singles, whereas Holger Rune and Grigor Dimitrov are a couple of big names in the men’s singles semis.

United Cup (Tennistv.com): The United Cup tennis tournament approaches its final weekend in Australia. The semi-finals and the final in Sydney will be held on Saturday and Sunday respectively. Poland will take on France in the first semi-final, whereas hosts Australia welcome the winner of the quarter-final between Greece and Germany.