Barcelona beat PSG, cruise into Champions League semis

April 22, 2015

Barcelona, Apr 22: Spanish football club Barcelona booked their place in the semifinals of the Champions League for the seventh time in eight years as they defeated Paris Saint Germain (PSG) 2-0 to secure a 5-1 win on aggregate.

Barcelona beat

Neymar was the hero of the Tuesday night with two first half goals as Barcelona enjoyed a relatively tranquil night at Camp Nou here, reports Xinhua.

Despite the 3-1 win in the first leg and a difficult game next weekend, Barcelona coach Luis Enrique made no concessions to try and conserve tired legs and played what is probably his strongest side with Lionel Messi, Neymar, Luis Suarez and Ivan Rakitic.

Zlatan Ibrahimovoch was back for PSG to face his former club while Marco Verratti was also able to provide more control to the French side's midfield.

One player who didn't show control was PSG central defender David Luiz, who was booked for challenging with his foot up in the first foul of the game.

Barcelona opened the scoring in the 14th minute, virtually their first attack. Andres Iniesta collected the ball in his own half, ghosted past two players in midfield and threaded the ball for Neymar to round the keeper and slide the ball into the net.

The goal clearly hurt the French side and it was also soon clear that it was going to be a good night for Barcelona. The passes found their target, the pressing was aggressive and movements were fluid as their rivals suffered.

It was no surprise when Neymar doubled the lead with a header five minutes from the break after good work from Dani Alves down the right wing.

With his side up 5-1 on aggregate at the break, Enrique decided to rest Iniesta for Xavi Hernandez and with the PSG needing to score four goals to qualify, 10 minutes later Sergi Roberto replaced Busquets.

The game opened up, although there were few clear chances as Barcelona remained in control, although he forced a good save from Ter Stegen with 18 minutes left. That was virtually all that Barcelona suffered and Messi almost made it 3-0 with the last kick of the game but his shot slipped wide of the post.

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News Network
April 7,2020

London, Apr 7: Bowling coach Waqar Younis feels that it was the absence of pacers Wahab Riaz and Mohammad Amir which saw Pakistan getting whitewashed during Australia tour last year.

Amir and Riaz had quit the red-ball format ahead of the matches against Australia in 2019.

"Just before the Australia series, they ditched us and we had the only choice to pick youngsters.

We were the new management and decided to go on with taking in the younger lot and groom them. ESPNcricinfo quoted Younis as saying.

Pakistan was not able to win a single match in Australia as they got defeated both in T20Is and Test series.

"It's not like we have lost a lot, but yes they left us at the wrong time. But anyway, we don't have any grudge against them," Younis added.

"We cannot control players' choice on what they want to play, but then there should be a mechanism so we all are on board. "It's not like I am saying we could have won in Australia but we could have done better than what we have done," he opined.

Amir gave up the red ball format in July in order to manage his workload and extend his white-ball career for Pakistan as well as in T20 leagues around the world, while Riaz took an "indefinite break" from Test cricket in September last year.

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News Network
January 30,2020

Hamilton, Jan 30: Caught unaware about the Super Over scenario, Rohit Sharma took five minutes to “find” his abdomen guard after the third T20 International against New Zealand had ended in a tie on Wednesday.

The India vice-captain said the team had almost given up with New Zealand going great guns at one point.

“Everything was packed. All my stuff was inside my bag. I had to get it out. It literally took me five minutes to find my abdomen guard because I didn’t know where it was,” Rohit said.

“I mean we never thought it would go to the Super Over, the way they were batting at one point. It looked like they could easily win the game,” he added.

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May 5,2020

May 5: Former Pakistan speedster Shoaib Akhtar says he is interested in becoming India's bowling coach if there is an offer, asserting that he is capable of grooming "more aggressive, fast and talkative" pacers.

Akhtar expressed his willingness in an interview on social networking app 'Helo'.

Asked if he would like to be associated with the Indian bowling unit in future, he responded in the positive. India's current bowling is Bharat Arun.

"I will definitely. My job is to spread knowledge. What I have learned is knowledge and I will spread it," Akhtar said.

One of the fastest bowlers to have played the game, he added, "I will produce more aggressive, fast and more talkative bowlers than the current ones who will tell-off the batsmen in a way that you will enjoy a lot."

He said he has always wanted to share his knowledge among budding cricketers and that he is looking to produce more aggressive bowlers.

He also added that he would like to "coach" IPL franchise Kolkata Knight Riders, for whom he has played in the cash-rich T20 league's inaugural edition.

The former pacer also spoke about his early interactions with Indian batting great Sachin Tendulkar in the 1998 series.

"I had seen him but didn't know how big a name he was in India. In Chennai, I got to know that he was known as a god in India.

"Mind you, he is a very good friend of mine. In 1998, when I bowled as fast as I could, Indian public celebrated with me. I have a big fan following in India," Akhtar said.

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