but flit mun, iifii‘fi but mun, ii‘ui‘fi mph—u england but better than northern ireland. you can reach me on social media. now on bbc news, sport today. hello. welcome to sport today, live from the bbc sport centre. i'm ben croucher. coming up: $2.2 million — pat cummins becomes the most expensive overseas player in the indian premier league. russia will appeal against their doping ban — that will prevent athletes competing under their flag at tokyo 2020. and arteta to arsenal? the new manager at the emirates looks set to be confirmed on friday. cricket‘s most lucrative league in the world has been redistributing some of its rupees into the pockets of the players at the indian premier

league auction. australia's pat cummins will take home the largest ever salary for an overseas player, as the spending on new recruits for the 2020 competition stretched into the millions. austin halewood has been crunching the numbers. 338 players went in with millions of dollars spent by the teams. who were the standout buys? the kolkata buyers made the biggest purchase of all, pat cummins, the number one test builder in the world for a massive $2.2 million —— bowler, that makes him the most expensive overseas player in the league does make history. but that still doesn't make history. but that still doesn't make the most expensive player in the history of the rbl, it was just short of the $2.3 million paid for yuvraj. read and was delighted to have his man.

—— in the ipl. -- in the ipl. iwas -- in the ipl. i was delighted to have him, the development of his cricket in the last couple of years, he's grown into his body and become very robust in terms of injuries. i think he is now vice captain of the australian cricket team and that's a remark of his development as a player in the last couple of years. i've spoken to him just now, he's delighted be back with kolkata, delighted be back with kolkata, delighted to know he will be joining the team we have put together. kings 11 the team we have put together. kings ii punjab picked up glenn maxwell for $1.5 million us. 11 punjab picked up glenn maxwell for $1.5 million us. he's a veteran of the g20 format with 5000 runs, gotten of the g20 format with 5000 runs, gotte n over of the g20 format with 5000 runs, gotten over 5030 times and 85 wickets. we are now going to bangalore, where another australian international was picked up. the destructive opening batsman aaron

finch himself, $620,000. this will now be his eight different ipl franchise, would you believe. and going back to the kolkata knight riders, they have added the world cup winning captain himself, eoin morgan bought for $735,000, and he is expected to lead the team this season. is expected to lead the team this season. that is just a snapshot of the huge sums of money involved. the league itself last year was valued at almost $7 billion, making it one of the most lucrative sports leagues in the world. now, asad shafiq admitted he'd never seen spin like it on a day—0ne pitch in karachi after pakistan's batsmen were skittled out for under 200 on the opening day of the second test against sri lanka. in about three hours from now, the tourists will resume on 64 for three in theirfirst innings — still trailing by 127 runs — and hoping few wickets fall on day two.

adam wild has more on test cricket's return to the city. while security of course is still tight, this remains a series built on hope, hope that the pakistani cricket can have a new era. with the tea m cricket can have a new era. with the team finally back playing where they belong, what they need is some positive news on the field, without a win in 2019, this could be the first calendar year without one for a generation. so against shellac, chance for chains. the first test was largely washed out in danger of not going the five day distance. azza m, not going the five day distance. azzam, one of three to reach double figures with the bout. so if you've made it past 50, but was quickly out of support —— shafiq. 191 all out. what good shellac are managed in

reply? fernando didn't think he would hit this. the wave on the line said otherwise and pakistan were waving him off. with stumps approaching, playing on 611—3. adam wild, bbc news. the russian anti—doping agency will appeal against their four—year ban from all major global sporting events, handed out to them by the world anti—doping agency. after state sponsored doping back in 2015, rusada were found to have manipulated lab data and punished further. as our sports news correspondent alex capstick explains the appeal is no surprise. this ruling, russia would indicate this, leading figures from the sporting government have been highly critical, calling it unfair and part ofa critical, calling it unfair and part of a western conspiracy to damage the reputation of russia today. the most bubble manning the country, they admitted and said it was

unjustified and he was against collective punishment —— powerful man in the country. the flag, its colours and anthem can't be part of any international event for the next four years, that includes the 0lympics four years, that includes the olympics and world cup. athletes will be allowed to compete as long as they are shown to not be part of the dipping conspiracy. they will do so the dipping conspiracy. they will do so under a neutral banner. while they fully expected russia to launch an appeal, that was part of their thinking when they reached the conclusion to make russia non—compliant. the case now goes to the court of arbitration for sport. the fear is a good take months and that means we could have the build—up to yet another 0lympics, that means we could have the build—up to yet another olympics, in this case, tokyo 2020, dominated by the russia doping scandal. mikel arteta is set to be named as arsenal's new manager on friday. nearly three weeks after unai emery was sacked, they look to have agreed terms with their former captain. however, manchester city, where arteta is currently assistant to pep guardiola, are believed to be less than impressed with how arsenal have pursued the spaniard. patrick

gearey explains. this week started as it may well have finished, with mackellar debtor back at arsenal, but his journey from pep guardiola's and man to the opposing dog has been fraught. after a 3—0 defeat to man city, their ca reta ker, a 3—0 defeat to man city, their caretaker, freddie ljungberg took on the side to decide who will take charge. so began a strange sotho dance around arteta was that executives were voted —— shadow dance. people were spotted around arteta house taking photos. we will do the best thing possible, but sometimes it is hard to handle these situations. all of the clubs around the world make behind—the—scenes first contact. the club you are in charge, they realise it and the media don't realise

it, so that is a possibility only as normal. while arteta saw the warm—up at the same stadium, a cold war between city and arsenal turned more hostile. city won the match 3—1 and set up a semifinal against manchester united. yesterday you are not in my press conference, 48 questions, 35 were about him. i don't have anything more to say until there is more news. in my next conference, when you ask me something i will answer. it's enough. at the emirates, rim is a deal was moving forward. at

that he had they are not impressed at how this has been handled. in a week when the nights are longest, this is a deal that seems to have been done in the dark. patrick geary, bbc news. as liverpool's players are preparing for saturday's club world cup final againt flamengo in qatar — back in england — they've completed the signing ofjapan international takumi minamino. the salzburg winger is moving to anfield for $9.5 million. he impressed whilst playing against liverpool in the european champions league group stages — actually scoring at anfield in october. he said it was a dream to bejoining the european champions when the transfer window opens in a couple of weeks and we know the off season for tennis players can involve a lot of running, a lot of weights and gruelling hours honing the technique. it's not all hard grind, though. sometimes working on your fitness can look a little different. here's serena williams and coco gauff showing

off their moves to a trendy track from blackbear, i'm reliably informed. tennis is a lot about timing and footwork. and they've got it! don't forget to check out all those stories and more on the app or via bbc.com/sport. for now — from all of us at sport today. thank for watching — we'll see you next time. hello there. for many parts of the uk on thursday, the rainjust kept on coming. some places have already had some flooding. low pressure was to the west of the british isles — see that swirl of cloud on the satellite picture,

the low pulling various pulses of rain up from the south. it means the ground is now very wet indeed. there is a bit more rain in the forecast through the hours ahead, so especially across parts of england, but also some areas of wales, there is likely to be some further flooding. all the latest weather warnings and flood warnings always updated, of course, on the bbc weather website. so, starting off the morning with some showers across western scotland and northern ireland. there could be some dense fog across parts of northern ireland, as well. but a really poor rush hour across central and eastern england. heavy bursts of rain, which will only slowly pull out into the north sea, and even then, some rain likely to be left behind for parts of the midlands, south—east wales and the west country. but, generally speaking, it turns into a day of sunny spells and showers, cooler than it has been, and particularly chilly across northern ireland, if any areas of fog or low cloud linger for a good part of the day. we'll see some more fog forming here, ithink, for a time on friday night. elsewhere, plenty of showers moving from the south—west towards the

north—east. some clear spells, as well, and what will be a somewhat chillier night than we've been used to lately. across the northern half of the uk, if you do see clear skies overhead and winds fall light, but you could just get a pinch of frost. so low pressure still with us on saturday. quite a complex weather chart, actually, this little front here bringing some showers north—eastwards, a more active frontal system down towards the south—west. so we see these lines of showers pushing north—eastwards through the day, some good sunny spells as well. and then this persistent rain pushes in for the channel islands, the south of england, clipping into the south of wales through the afternoon. brisk winds developing here, as well, and top temperatures between about seven and ten degrees. now, that very wet weather will slide across southern counties as we go through saturday night. this little area of low pressure moving its way eastwards. should mostly be clear by sunday, but low pressure is still fairly close by, so sunday is shaping up to be a day of sunny spells and showers. now, i think the showers willjoin together into lines which will push from

the west towards the east. there will be some good spells of sunshine around as well. quite a breezy day, particularly for western and southern coastal areas, and those top temperatures between seven and ten degrees for most of us. and then, into next week, christmas week, of course, well, it's going to get off to a showery start. it will eventually turn drier and colder, but with that, we could have some frost and some fog. and then, into next week, christmas week, of course.

welcome to bbc news, i'm mike embley. our top stories: a state of emergency

in new south wales, where australia's highest recorded temperatures are fuelling more than a hundred bushfires. another day of bitter division in us politics as republicans and democrats continue to argue over the impeachment of president trump. at least three people are killed in india during protests against the government's new citizenship law, we have a special report from delhi. and, it might be one of the most successful stage shows of all time — but the critics aren't so sure about the movie version of cats. with more than a hundred bushfires burning, record—breaking temperatures and extreme winds, new south wales, australia's most heavily—populated state, has declared a 7—day