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Lionel Messi says golden ball award means 'nothing' after Germany kill his World Cup dream

July 15, 2014

Lionel Messi

Buenos Aires, Jul 15: Lionel Messi on Monday night revealed the full depth of his anger and devastation at failing to crown his career by winning Sunday’s World Cup final amid a bizarre row about him being awarded the tournament’s ‘golden ball’.

Just minutes after Germany had beaten Argentina to become the first European nation to lift the World Cup on South American soil, a clearly distraught Messi was obliged to collect the individual Fifa award for the best player of the competition.

The ‘golden ball’ decision was made by Fifa’s supposedly expert Technical Study Group but there was still general shock that it did not go to either Colombia’s James Rodriguez or one of Germany’s new team of world champions. Messi said that the award meant “nothing” as he digested the cost of missing a clear chance to win the World Cup for Argentina in the second half of Sunday’s final. There is a theory that Messi can never reach the same elevated status in football as Pele or Maradona without winning the World Cup and, given that he will be in his thirties by the time of the tournament in Russia in 2018, his best chance may now have passed.

“I’m very hurt at not being able to bring the Cup to Argentina,” Messi said. “I am very angry at the way we lost, so close to the penalties, especially as we had the best chances. I do not care about the ‘golden ball’. I am just upset by the wasted chances.

“We had the best chances, with [Gonzalo] Higuain, mine and [Rodrigo] Palacios. We knew we could not dominate the game but we knew what we wanted to do.

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News Network
February 14,2020

Hamilton, Feb 14: Batting first, India finished at 263 for nine on the opening day of the three-day warm-up game against New Zealand XI here on Friday.

Hanuma Vihari made 101 off 182 balls before retiring, while Cheteshwar Pujara scored 93.

Besides, Ajinkya Rahane (18) was the only other Indian batsmen to register double digit score.

The likes of Prithvi Shaw (0), Mayank Agarwal (1) and Shubman Gill (0) failed to cash in on the opportunity.

Scott Kuggeleijn (3/40) and Ish Sodhi (3/72) shared six wickets between them for New Zealand.

Brief Scores:

India: 263 for 9 in 78.5 overs (Hanuma Vihari 101, Cheteshwar Pujara 93; Scott Kuggeleijn 3/40, Ish Sodhi 3/72).

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News Network
April 24,2020

New Delhi, Apr 24: The International Cricket Council (ICC) on Friday extended wishes to the "most prolific batsman of all time" Sachin Tendulkar on his 47th birthday.

ICC took to Twitter and wrote: "Happy birthday to Sachin Tendulkar, the most prolific batsman of all time! To celebrate, we will give you the opportunity to vote for his top ODI innings in a bracket challenge! Stay tuned to join the celebrations."

The Maharashtra-born player had an illustrious career in the game, creating several records.
Tendulkar made his debut in Test cricket on November 15, 1989. In the same year on December 18, he played his first ODI match.

The legendary cricketer has the most number of runs in the longest format of the game, amassing 15,921 runs. Along the way, Tendulkar scored 51 Test centuries, most by any player.

Things are no different in ODI cricket as Tendulkar atop the list of most runs in this format as well. He has accumulated 18,426 runs in ODI which includes 49 tons.

Tendulkar represented the country in six World Cups during his career that lasted for 24 years. He was the part of the 2011 World Cup-winning squad.

This year, Master Blaster decided not to celebrate his birthday due to the ongoing coronavirus crisis in the country.

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News Network
June 23,2020

Karachi, Jun 23: Pakistan cricketers Shadab Khan, Haris Rauf and rookie Haider Ali on Monday tested positive for the novel coronavirus.

"The Pakistan Cricket Board has confirmed three players - Haider Ali, Haris Rauf and Shadab Khan - have tested positive for Covid-19," said the PCB in a statement.

"The players had shown no symptoms until they were tested in Rawalpindi on Sunday ahead of the Pakistan men's national cricket team's tour to England."

The infected players will go into self-isolation.

"The PCB medical panel is in contact with the three who have been advised to immediately go into self-isolation," the statement said.

Earlier this month, former Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi was tested positive for the deadly virus.

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