Champions League: Arsenal, Chelsea crash as Bayern Munich cruise

September 30, 2015

Paris, Sep 30: Arsenal and Chelsea had a Champion League night to forget on Tuesday as a Robert Lewandowski hat-trick helped Bayern Munich crush Dinamo Zagreb.

Bayern

Champions Barcelona, missing injured icon Lionel Messi, followed up their opening Group E draw at Roma with a stirring come-from-behind 2-1 win at Bayer Leverkusen.

The Germans appeared to have the three points in the bag after Kyriakos Papadopoulos`s header before the break.

But Luis Suarez turned the game around in the final 10 minutes as Sergi Roberto tapped home the rebound after the Uruguayan`s initial effort had been saved.

And the former Liverpool striker thumped home a stunning effort to hand Barca a hard-fought three points, two minutes later.

With Roma sent on their way 3-2 by BATE Borisov it left Barca shading Group E.

Jose Mourinho`s return to Porto, the team who the Portuguese guided to the 2004 title, proved an unhappy affair.

Andre Andre`s opener for Porto late in the first half was quickly cancelled out by a superb Willian free-kick, but Maicon`s 52nd-minute header proved to be the difference in this Group G clash played at a rip-roaring pace.

Dynamo Kiev, 2-0 winners over Maccabi Tel Aviv, top the table on goal difference with Chelsea in third.

Arguably the most stunning result of the evening emerged from the Emirates Stadium, where Greek champions Olympiakos shocked Arsenal 3-2 to leave the Gunners stone last in Group F.

The Greeks, ending a 12-match losing run in England, left Arsenal and their coach Arsene Wenger ashen-faced, and the team`s fans jeering at the final whistle.

After falling behind to Felipe Pardo`s deflected opener, Arsenal equalised through Theo Walcott.

But then a horrendous mistake from goalkeeper David Ospina, selected over regular first choice Petr Cech, allowed a Kostas Fortounis corner to slip through his grasp for an embarrassing own goal.

Alexis Sanchez dragged Arsenal back into it with a second half equaliser, but incredibly the north Londoners imploded again with more slack defending gifting Iceland striker Alfred Finnbogason the winner.

Beaten in the group curtain raiser in Zagreb Arsenal are now up against it to extricate themselves from the pool stages.

To compound their plight free-shooting Bayern Munich await, the German giants flexing their muscles in Zagreb.

Bayern top the table, Pep Guardiola`s side cruising towards the knockout stage after Lewandowski`s treble, and goals from Douglas Costa and Mario Goetze steamrollered Dinamo Zagreb 5-0.

"We played in a very concentrated fashion from the start and when you take your goal chances, the game was over after 30 minutes," said Bayern captain Philipp Lahm.

Poland hot-shot Lewandowski has now scored 10 goals in his last three games after netting five in just nine spectacular minutes of Bayern`s 5-1 hammering of Wolfsburg last Tuesday before claiming two more in Saturday`s 3-0 win at Mainz.

"He`s had an unbelievable week behind him," admitted Lahm.

Elsewhere, Zenit St Petersburg remained unbeaten with a 2-1 home win over Belgian outfit Gent to top Group H from Valencia, 1-0 winners at Lyon.

Wednesday`s menu features the two Manchester clubs, United and City, against Vfl Wolfsburg and Borussia Moenchengladbach, while Real Madrid are in Malmo and Paris Saint-Germain have a tricky assignment away to Shakhtar Donetsk.

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Agencies
January 19,2020

Bengaluru, Jan 19: Opening batsman Rohit Sharma on Sunday became the third-fastest batsman to register 9,000 runs in the 50-over format.

He achieved the feat in the ongoing third ODI against Australia here at the M.Chinnaswamy Stadium.

Only Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers have achieved the feat faster than Rohit.

Sharma brought up the milestone in the first over of the Indian innings as he clipped Mitchell Starc away for a single.

With this, the right-handed batsman has become just the sixth Indian to achieve the milestone.

Apart from Sharma, Virat Kohli, MS Dhoni, Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid, and Sachin Tendulkar have more than 9,000 runs in the 50-over format.

Overall, 20 batsmen have more than 9,000 ODI runs to their name.

In the match between India and Australia, the former won the toss and elected to bat first.

Steve Smith played a knock of 131 runs to propel Australia to 286/9 in the allotted fifty overs.

 

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News Network
March 5,2020

Mar 5: India reached a maiden women's Twenty20 World Cup final Thursday after their last four clash against England was washed out, sparking calls for the International Cricket Council to include reserve days in future events.

Harmanpreet Kaur's unbeaten side were due to face the 2009 champions at the Sydney Cricket Ground, but the rain began pouring early in the day with barely any let-up.

With a minimum 10 overs per side needed for a result and no break in the weather, the umpires called it off without a ball being bowled.

Normally, five overs per side are needed to constitute a Twenty20 match, but the rules are different for ICC tournaments.

Four-time champions Australia are scheduled to take on South Africa later in the second semi-final, with that match also under threat.

With no reserve day, the highest-ranked teams from the two groups move into the final if play is not possible

That would pit India against South Africa at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Sunday, where organisers are hoping to attract 90,000 plus fans, denying Australia a chance to defend their crown.

A reserve day is allowed for the final and the lack of one for the semis has been criticised by some players, with England captain Heather Knight among those calling for change.

"If both semi-finals are lost it would be a sad time for the tournament," she told reporters ahead of the match. "It's obviously going to be a shame if it does happen and I'm sure there will be a lot of pressure on the ICC to change that."

Cricket Australia chief Kevin Roberts said he sought clarification from the ICC about adding a reserve day with the Sydney weather looking ominous, but the request was denied.

"We've asked the question and it's not part of the playing conditions and we respect that," he told Melbourne's SEN radio.

"It gives you cause to reflect and think about how you might improve things in the future, but going into a tournament with a given set of playing conditions and rules, I don't think it's time to tinker with the rules."

It is not the way India would have wanted to make the final, but they are deserving of being there having gone through the group phase as the only unbeaten team.

After opening their campaign by upsetting Australia, they beat Bangladesh, New Zealand and then Sri Lanka.

While the entire team played well, teenage batting prodigy Shafali Verma excelled, which saw her elevated to the top of the ICC T20 batting rankings this week aged just 16.

She is only the second Indian after Mithali Raj to reach number one, pushing New Zealand veteran Suzie Bates down to second.

Ranked four in the world, India had made three semi-finals before this year and lost every time, including against England at the last World Cup.

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News Network
April 27,2020

Mumbai, Apr 27: The pressure to replace iconic Mahendra Singh Dhoni behind the stumps was "immense" due to high expectations from fans says K L Rahul, who has been doing the wicket-keeping duty for India in the limited overs format for some time now.

Dhoni quit Test cricket in 2014 and has not played for India in the limited overs format since last year's ODI World Cup in England.

Rahul kept the wickets in the limited overs series against Australia in January this year and also during the team's tour to New Zealand.

"I was nervous when I was doing it for India because of the crowd pressure. If you fumble, people feel that you cannot replace MS Dhoni. The pressure of replacing a legendary wicket-keeper like MSD was immense as it involved people accepting someone else behind the stumps," Rahul told Star Sports on its show 'Cricket Connected'.

Rahul, who has played 32 ODIs and 42 T20Is, said keeping the wickets is not alien to him since he dons the gloves during the Indian Premier League (IPL) and also when he plays for his Ranji side Karnataka.

"People who follow cricket know that I haven't been away from wicket-keeping for too long as I donned the gloves in the IPL and every time I played for Karnataka," the 28-year-old said.

"I am always in touch with wicket-keeping but am also somebody who is more than willing to take up the role if the team needs me to," he stressed.

Dhoni's career is a matter of intense speculation. Many former players feel that it won't be easy for Dhoni to make it to the national squad for the upcoming T20 World Cup, scheduled to be held in Australia. 

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