Five-star Liverpool thrash Arsenal, Spurs stunned by Wolves

Agencies
December 30, 2018

Liverpool, Dec 30: Liverpool extended their Premier League lead to nine points as Roberto Firmino’s hat-trick hammered Arsenal 5-1 at Anfield, while Tottenham’s title challenge crumbled in a 3-1 home defeat to Wolves.

Manchester City could cut Liverpool’s lead to seven points when they look to stop a recent slump at Southampton on Sunday, but ahead of their trip to the Etihad on January 3, Jurgen Klopp’s men currently look well on course to deliver a first league title since 1989/90.

“For sure Tottenham’s result people out there reacted, but not inside the dressing room where they were completely concentrated on the match and not allowed to have that influence on our game,” said Klopp.

“That is how I want the team to stay which is to be concentrated, nothing else.”

Liverpool even overcame a rare deficit on home soil as for the first time this season after they trailed in the league at Anfield when Ainsley Maitland-Niles swept Arsenal into an 11th minute lead.

However, the hosts were level within three minutes and 4-1 up by half-time as Firmino struck twice in two minutes before Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah’s penalty made the points safe before the break.

Salah then passed up the chance to move out in front as the league’s top scorer after drawing level with Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Harry Kane on 13 as he allowed Firmino to take Liverpool’s second penalty of the evening 25 minutes from time to complete the Brazilian’s hat-trick.

Spurs stumble

Tottenham had surged ahead of City into second place after smashing 11 goals past Everton and Bournemouth in the previous six days, but ran out of steam at Wembley as Wolves scored three times in the final 18 minutes.

A wonderful moment of individual skill from Kane put Spurs on course for a sixth straight league when he cut inside onto his weaker left foot, but still produced a powerful drive from 20 yards that beat Rui Patricio midway through the first half.

However, much has been made of Tottenham coach Mauricio Pochettino’s ability to extract the most from a stretched squad and Spurs finally looked like a side jaded by competing on four fronts in the final stages.

“We have had a very good run in the last few weeks and to keep that level is difficult,” said Pochettino. “I think we started to pay for the effort in the other games. We are not machines.”

The comeback began when Willy Boly rose highest to meet Joao Moutinho’s corner to equalise.

As the hosts pressed for a winner, Wolves broke in numbers and Raul Jimenez put the visitors in front six minutes from time before Helder Costa raced clear to score his first Premier League goal.

“I want to kill him”

Fulham are now just a point away from safety after Aleksandar Mitrovic saved Aboubakar Kamara’s blushes, but not the wrath of manager Claudio Ranieri.

The Frenchman ignored Ranieri’s orders to let Mitrovic take a late penalty with the scores still tied a 0-0 and saw his effort saved by Jonas Lossl.

“I said to Aboubakar Kamara to leave the ball to Mitrovic, he is the man who shoots the penalties,” said Ranieri. “It is unbelievable, he did not respect me, the club, the team and crowd. I spoke with him, it is not right.

“I want to kill him, that is normal when one man takes a ball, only because he scored the last penalty (against Manchester United). It should be Mitrovic, that is it.”

A missed penalty was also the turning point at the King Power where Cardiff goalkeeper Neil Etheridge saved James Maddison’s spot-kick for Leicester.

And Cardiff snatched a first away win of the season in stoppage time when Victor Camarasa unleashed a rocket to move the Welsh side four points clear of the relegation zone with a 1-0 victory.

Brighton also boosted their survival chances by beating Everton 1-0 thanks to Jurgen Locadia’s solitary goal.

Newcastle are also four points above the drop zone after they were denied a vital three points by Abdoulaye Doucoure’s late equaliser for Watford in a 1-1 draw at Vicarage Road after Salomon Rondon had opened the scoring.

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News Network
June 2,2020

Bengaluru, Jun 2: Bangladesh opening batsman Tamim Iqbal has said that he was ashamed on seeing the training regime of Indian skipper Virat Kohli.

Iqbal said that the incident happened two-three years back as he thought to himself that why he cannot do the same even when he is the same age as Kohli.

"I must say this, it is not because I am talking to an Indian commentator, India is our neighbour so whatever things they do, it affects Bangladesh as well. We follow what is happening in India, when India changed its approach towards fitness, it impacted Bangladesh the most," Iqbal told Sanjay Manjrekar in a videocast hosted by ESPNCricinfo.

"I have no shame in admitting this, when I saw Virat Kohli running around two-three years ago, I was ashamed of myself, I thought this is a guy who is probably my age, but he is training so much and I have not doing even half of it. We have a great example in our team as well, Mushfiqur Rahim manages himself well regarding fitness," he added.

During his initial days of international cricket, Kohli was fond of chicken which he has admitted several times during media interaction.

But in 2013, the 31-year-old batsman intentionally shifted his focus to fitness, diet, and training.

Now he has become punctual about his diet which has given him a different character on and off the field.

The comparisons between Kohli and Sachin Tendulkar have also kept on growing and many have picked the current Indian skipper to break the records set by Tendulkar.

Tendulkar managed to call time on his career after registering 100 international centuries, while Kohli currently has 70 centuries across all formats.

Currently, Kohli is ranked at the top spot in the ICC ODI rankings while he is in the second place in Tests rankings.

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News Network
January 10,2020

Jan 10: Australian cricketer Shane Warne’s prized 'baggy green' cap raised more than A$1 million ($686,000) on Friday for bushfire relief efforts after the former leg-spinner donated it for auction.

Twenty-seven people have been killed and thousands made homeless in recent months as huge fires scorched through more than 25.5 million acres of land, an area the size of South Korea.

The baggy green is presented to Australian players when they make their Test debut and they receive just one for their entire career. The Aussie cricketer donated the cap to an online auction site on Monday. The auction closed at 10 a.m. on Friday (2300 GMT Thursday) with a final public bid of A$1,007,500.

"Unbelievable … so generous from everyone. Totally blown away," Warne said on Twitter shortly before the auction closed.

The auction attracted global interest and the price eclipsed the A$425,000 achieved by the late Don Bradman's baggy green when it was sold in 2003.

"We have been overwhelmed and it is a fantastic result," Marc Cheah, head of marketing for auctioneers Pickles, said.

"Other baggy greens have been auctioned and Don Bradman’s got $425,000 about 15 years ago, but the Don is the Don. He’s the greatest cricketer that ever lived," Cheah said in relation to the widely held recognition Bradman was the best batsman the game has produced.

"But Shane is also right up there and that drove a lot of traffic and momentum, while the cause is also very worthwhile."

Warne, 50, is one of many local and international athletes to support the fundraising for bushfire victims with several cricketers promising to donate a sum based on the number of sixes they hit in Australia’s Big Bash Twenty20 competition.

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News Network
March 29,2020

New Delhi, Mar 29: Former Indian batsman Wasim Jaffer on Sunday picked his all-time IPL team and appointed wicket-keeper batsman MS Dhoni as its captain.

Jaffer's team's feature opener Rohit Sharma, current Indian skipper Virat Kohli, all-rounder Hardik Pandya, spinner R Ashwin, and pacer Jasprit Bumrah as seven domestic players.
While the foreign players spot have been occupied by West Indies' swashbuckling batsman Chris Gayle, all-rounder Andre Russell, Afghanistan's spinner Rashid Khan, and Sri Lanka's veteran pacer Lasith Malinga.
Indian all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja has been picked as 12th man by Jaffer.

Earlier this month, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) decided to postpone the IPL to April 15, 2020, as a precautionary measure against COVID-19 outbreak.
The board also assured that it will work in unison with the Sports Ministry and will adhere to the guidelines issued.

The 13th edition of IPL was scheduled to commence from March 29. 

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