MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Two Minnesota Twins greats are recovering from strokes suffered days apart, the team confirmed Wednesday.
Former right fielder and designated hitter Tony Oliva had what the team called “a series of mini strokes” over the past month but is expected to make a full recovery. Former first baseman Kent Hrbek also suffered a minor stroke following knee surgery in early April and is recovering at home.
The 86-year-old Oliva spent his entire 15-year career with the Twins. He was the American League Rookie of the Year in 1964 and won the batting title three times. He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2022 by the Golden Days Era Committee.
Hrbek, 64, who grew up in the area in Bloomington and played his entire 14-year career with his hometown team. He was an integral part of the Twins teams that won the World Series in 1987 and 1991.
Both Oliva and Hrbek have remained around the team and have been regular fixtures at Target Field since the stadium opened in 2010. Their numbers have been retired by the Twins — Oliva's No. 6 and Hrbek's No. 14 — and the former players are represented by bronze statues outside the venue.
The team hopes to see both of them back at the ballpark soon.
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FILE - Former Minnesota Twins' Kent Hrbek, left, listens as former Twins' Tony Oliva recalles memories of his teamamte, Twins Hall of Fame baseball player Harmon Killebrew during a news conference at Target Field on May 17, 2011 in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Jim Mone, File)
MUMBAI, India (AP) — Shreyas Iyer was provisionally named in India’s squad on Saturday for the home one-day international series against New Zealand starting Jan. 11.
India will host the Black Caps in a white-ball engagement — three ODIs and five T20s — in the build-up to the 2026 T20 World Cup.
Iyer returns to the international fold after sustaining a spleen injury during an ODI against Australia in Sydney last October.
His selection is subject to fitness clearance from BCCI’s medical team and he will return as India’s vice-captain for the three-match series.
Skipper Shubman Gill also returns, after he missed the ODI series against South Africa in December. He had a neck spasm in the test series earlier, and subsequently played in the T20s against the Proteas.
Ruturaj Gaikwad and Tilak Verma missed out. Gaikwad had scored a maiden ODI hundred against South Africa in Visakhapatnam.
Rishabh Pant is retained as second keeper-batter behind Lokesh Rahul, who had stood in as captain against the Proteas.
Star batters Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma had both participated in the domestic List A tournament — Vijay Hazare Trophy — and return to the international stage for the ODIs.
All-rounder Hardik Pandya is fit, but not sufficiently enough to bowl 10 overs in an ODI. Thus, he has been rested further ahead of the 2026 T20 World Cup (in India and Sri Lanka) starting Feb. 7. Nitish Kumar Reddy is included in the squad.
Pacer Mohammed Siraj returns to lead the bowling lineup with Jasprit Bumrah rested again. Siraj had missed the South Africa series because of workload management.
The three ODIs will be played in Vadodara (Jan. 11), Rajkot (Jan. 14) and Indore (Jan. 18), with the five-match T20 series starting Jan. 21.
Squad: Shubman Gill (captain), Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, Shreyas Iyer, Washington Sundar, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Siraj, Harshit Rana, Prasidh Krishna, Kuldeep Yadav, Rishabh Pant, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Arshdeep Singh, Yashasvi Jaiswal.
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FILE - Captain of Punjab Kings Shreyas Iyer addresses a news conference on the eve of the final match of Indian Premier League at Narendra Modi stadium in Ahmedabad, India, Monday, June 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Ajit Solanki, File)
