Cristiano Ronaldo scores brilliant backheel goal, earns Real Madrid late draw

Agencies
April 19, 2018

Cristiano Ronaldo's superb backheel late in the game earned Real Madrid a point in a 1-1 La Liga draw with Athletic Bilbao at the Bernabeu stadium on Wednesday.

The Portuguese forward flicked Luka Modric's low drive into the back of the net in the 87th minute with a deft touch, his 24th league goal of the season cancelling out a first-half chipped goal from Inaki Williams for the visitors.

Real were set for defeat until Ronaldo, who also hit the bar with a header early on, struck with his 24th league goal of the season to snatch the draw that left them third on 68 points after 33 games.

They are three points behind cross-city rivals Atletico, who play their game in hand at Real Sociedad on Thursday. Barcelona lead the way on 83 points, 12 clear of Atletico. "I'm not happy with the result, it's not positive for us. We played well, above all in the first half," Real coach Zinedine Zidane said.

Raul Garcia wasted an excellent chance to double Bilbao's lead before Ronaldo's goal, striking the crossbar with Keylor Navas out of position after a scramble in the box.

Bilbao came close to earning their first victory at the Bernabeu since 2005 but Ronaldo denied them, finally netting for Real after the hosts wasted a string of chances.

Athletic goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga made superb saves to deny Raphael Varane and Marco Asensio, but stood no chance with Ronaldo's equaliser.

While Real were on top during the game, it seemed hearts and minds may have been drifting towards next Wednesday's Champions League semi-final first leg against Bayern Munich in Germany.

Zidane picked a strong side, with his team not due to play their league match against Sevilla at the weekend because the Andalusians are playing in the King's Cup final against Barcelona.

"It's true that we are thinking about Bayern Munich, but not when we were playing. We have a week to work on that, we're doing well. We're confident and we are playing well," Real winger Lucas Vazquez said.

Earlier on Wednesday, fourth-placed Valencia lost 2-1 at home to Getafe and had Dani Parejo sent off for an elbow on Jorge Molina.

The defeat left Valencia three points behind Real Madrid.

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News Network
May 8,2020

Karachi, May 8: A cricket museum based in India has bought a bat auctioned by Pakistan Test captain Azhar Ali to raise funds for the needy during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Azhar had put two of his precious belongings -- the bat he used to score 302 runs against the West Indies in a Test in 2016 and the jersey he wore during the 2017 Champions Trophy final win over India -- on an online auction to raise funds for the people affected by the deadly disease.

Both the bat and jersey were signed by members of the Pakistan team.

Azhar announced on social media that he had kept a base price of one million each for the bat and jersey and they had sold for 2.2 million.

He confirmed that Blades of Glory Cricket Museum based in Pune bought the bat by making a winning offer of Rs. 1 million for the bat.

Azhar said that the auction of the shirt also generated a lot of interest and Kash Villani, a Pakistani based in California, came up with the highest bid of Rs. 1.1 million for the shirt before the conclusion of the auction.

Another Pakistani based in New Jersey, Jamal Khan also donated Rs. 100,000 for the cause.

"I put two of my closest belongings on auction with base price of 1 million PKR each to support people suffering due to ongoing crisis. Auction starts now and will close on 11:59 PM 05 May, 2020," Azhar had tweeted.

Ali became the first international player to score a test triple century in Day/Night Test when he scored an unbeaten 302 against the West Indies team in UAE in 2016.

"The shirt is from 2017 Champions Trophy which we won, it has the signature of all the players which were present in the squad," Ali said in a video posted on Twitter.

"Both these things are close to my heart but if it can be used in the difficult times for the benefit of the people I will more than happy."

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News Network
July 25,2020

New Delhi, Jul 25: Former India spinner Anil Kumble said that he has never understood why people compared him with Australia's Shane Warne.

Kumble was doing an Instagram live session with former Zimbabwe pacer Pommie Mbangwa and it was then that the spinner also talked about being the third-highest wicket-taker in Test cricket.

"It feels really wonderful to finish with these many wickets. I never bothered about statistics or what my average should be, I wanted to bowl the whole day and be the one to take wickets. To finish as the third-highest wicket-taker in Tests alongside Murali and Warne is very special. All three of us played in the same era, there were a lot of comparisons, I do not know why people compared me with Warne. Warne was someone really different and he was on a different plane," Kumble told Mbangwa during the interaction.
"These two guys could spin the ball on any surface so it became really difficult for me when they started comparing me with Warne and Murali. I learnt a lot by watching them both bowl," he added.

The Indian spinner announced his retirement from international cricket in 2008. He finished with 619 wickets in the longest format of the game.

He has the third-highest number of wickets in Tests, only behind Sri Lanka's Muttiah Muralitharan (800) and Australia's Shane Warne (708).

Kumble is the second bowler in the history of international cricket after England's Jim Laker to take all ten wickets in an innings of a Test match.

He had achieved the feat against Pakistan in 1999 at the Feroz Shah Kotla Stadium in Delhi. Kumble had bowling figures of 10-74 from 26.3 overs in the second innings of the Test match.
Kumble will be coaching Kings XI Punjab in the Indian Premier League (IPL). 

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Agencies
January 23,2020

Aurangabad, Jan 23: An FIR has been registered against three people including former cricketer Mohammed Azharuddin for allegedly duping a travel agent, Mohammad Shadab, of more than Rs 20 lakh.

However, Mohammad Azharuddin has refuted allegations and said: "I strongly rubbish the false FIR filed against me in Aurangabad. I am consulting my legal team and would be taking action as necessary."

Azharuddin's personal assistant Mujeeb lives in Augurangabad and has good relations with the travel agency of Shadab.

The travel agent alleged that Mujeeb asked him to book some flight tickets but did not pay the amount.

The police have booked the three under Section 406, 420 and 34 of the Indian Penal Code.

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