Yet another week passes by and the world of Sports saw many highs and lows. The Indian Premier League’s (IPL) popularity has dwindled slightly after the initial craze. While the shift in tectonic plates saw Nepal being ripped to shreds, there was tragedy in the sporting circuit too. After Phillip Hughes earlier in the year, the deadly Cricket ball took out the life of Bengal Ankit Kesari. As for the world of football, Chelsea edged closer to the Barclays Premier League title and Rafael Nadal yet again crashed out early in the build up to the French Open.
Cricket
Indian Premier League (IPL)
The IPL kicked off with a lot of pomp and fanfare and the teams have now settled in and a lot of fascinating duels have exited fans during the week that went by. Kings XI Punjab and Rajasthan Royals played out a superb contest, taking it to the super over. The heart-stopping encounter eventually saw Punjab get over the finish line. Rajasthan Royals Though finished the weekend as the table toppers. In what was a spectacular comeback into the scheme of things, veteran pacer Ashish Nehra yet again turned back the clock with a virtuoso display against Royal Challengers Bangalore. Virat Kohli’s side though, bounced back in style in the last IPL game of the week, defeating Delhi Daredevils by a whopping 10 wickets.
Bangladesh continue to dominate Pakistan
Pakistan Cricket team’s woes ran deep as they yet again came up short against the ‘Tigers’. Mashrafe Mortaza’s men made history in the One-Day Internationals (ODIs) and then beat the 1992 World Champions in the lone T20 International (T20I) too. The Pakistani side, who are in the process of rebuilding have come for stinging criticism from former players. Ramiz Raja summed up his nation’s struggles, calling it the lowest point in the Pakistan’s cricketing history.
Jimmy Anderson creates record; England pull off stunning win against West Indies
James Anderson had a strange sequence of events in the 2nd Test match, played at St. George’s against West Indies. Steaming into the wicket with pace and venom, the English pacer broke Ian Botham’s long-standing record of 383 wickets. The legendary all-rounder, Botham was sitting in the commentary box when this happened and celebrated it like a 10-year-old fan. Disaster happened later in the match as Anderson was on the other end of the crease with a Joe Root, who was going strong and in sight of a maiden double hundred. He was run out, quite irresponsibly at that. Going into the last day, Kriagg Brathwaite’s century had put the ball back into West Indies’ court and the match was heading for a certain draw. This time, Anderson was a man on a mission; desperate to make amends. He ran through the top order in what was a spectacular display of guile and pace. There was also the brilliant catch and run out that he effected.
Sachin Tendulkar turns 42
India’s batting icon, Sachin Tendulkar turned 42 in a rather low-key fashion but news broke out later in the day that the Master Blaster had joined the photo sharing site, Instagram. Even amongst fans, Sachin’s birthday was celebrated quietly unlike last year, where his presence was severely missed by fans of the game. Read Also: Sachin Tendulkar debuts on Instagram: Master blaster thanks fans for birthday wishes!
R.I.P Ankit Kesari
After the death of Phillip Hughes earlier in the year, there was another tragic death on a Cricket field as former Under-19 Bengal captain Ankit Kesari passed away after being hit by the ball. Tributes kept pouring in from across the country. Former Indian captain Sourav Ganguly promised his pension to help Kesari’s family while Kolkata Knight Riders marked his name in an IPL match as the 16th member of the side.
Football:
English Premier League:
Chelsea yet again banked on their brick-wall defense to see out a draw against Arsenal at the Emirates. With that scoreless stalemate, Chelsea is narrowing in on the English Premier League title, which they richly deserve. The other teams have not been good enough or are in the process of rebuilding a la Manchester United. In other results, Manchester City earned a last-gasp winner while United slumped to a big defeat against Everton at Goodison Park.
Bundesliga
Bastian Schweinsteiger’s comeback coincided with him masterminding a 1-0 win against Cologne. Bayern Munich’s hour came on Sunday when their closest challengers, Wolfsburg were defeated by Borussia Monchengladbach. With this, Pep Guardiola’s side has won three titles on the trot and as gulf in class grows between Munich and the rest.
Spanish La Liga
The La Liga title is destined to go down to the wire as Real Madrid and Barcelona are matching each other, blow for blow. Barca have a measure over their opponents with a slender two-point lead. Madrid didn’t lag behind as they raced to a comprehensive win despite some scary moments handed out by Celta Vigo. After their spectacular win against rivals Atletico Madrid in the Champions League midweek, Javier ‘Chicharito’ Hernandez was yet again in the thick of things, finding the back of the net when it mattered.
Champions League
The UEFA Champions League is also reaching its final stages and they the semi-final draws have been announced. Bayern Munich will be facing Barcelona while Juventus will be hoping that they can come up with an improved display as they prepare to face Real Madrid.
Tennis
The Barcelona Open is a crowdpuller, given that top players just begin to find their feet before a slew of Grand Slams kicks off. Kei Nishikori, the tenacious Japanese cruised to a win in straight sets 6-4, 6-4 in the final against Pablo Andujar. All eyes though were on Rafael Nadal and the Spanish ace disappointed yet again and his opponent this time was Fabio Fognini. The contest was tense and the Italian narrowly made it.
Batminton
Saina Nehwal, PV Sindhu bow out in Badminton Asia Championships
World No. 1 Saina could not get across fifth seed Tzu Ying Tai of Chinese Taipei, going down 21-16 13-21 18-21 in a 55-minute women’s singles match. Eighth seed Sindhu, who is playing her first tournament after missing action last month, too ran out of steam against top seed Li Xuerui of China, losing 21-11 19-21 8-21 in a match that lasted 52 minutes. (With inputs from PTI)