'Outrageous' Cristiano Ronaldo has Lionel Messi in his sights

Agencies
March 20, 2018

After an uncharacteristically slow start to the season which provoked questions about his longevity, Cristiano Ronaldo has roared back to life with a torrent of goals and now has La Liga`s top scorer award in his sights.

On a weekend to savour for strikers around Europe, Ronaldo followed the lead of Liverpool`s Mohamed Salah and Inter Milan`s Mauro Icardi by plundering four goals in his side`s thrilling 6-3 win over Girona on Sunday.

His goal-fest against Girona lifted Ronaldo above Barcelona`s Luis Suarez as second top scorer in La Liga and he moved within three of Lionel Messi, his eternal rival for goal records and individual awards over the last decade.

"Cristiano is three goals from Messi and I hope he can become the top scorer because it’s very important to him," Real coach Zinedine Zidane said.

Ronaldo leads the way in Europe in current form, blasting in 21 goals in his last 11 games in all competitions. With 18 goals this year, Ronaldo has scored more times in the league in 2018 than Arsenal, Manchester

United and Chelsea and is only one shy of Serie A leaders Juventus.

The 33-year-old Portuguese also moved up to ninth in the list of top scorers in Europe, trailing front-runner Salah by six goals.

Ronaldo`s insatiable recent form is unrecognisable from his mediocre record in the first five months of the campaign.

Banned for pushing a referee in the Spanish Super Cup in August, Ronaldo missed Real`s first four Liga games and struggled to get up to speed on his return, ending 2017 with only four league goals to his name for the season.

"His form is outrageous," Real defender Nacho said.

"It`s true that at the start of the season, given the amount of games he missed, he wasn`t very sharp. But that was strange. Right now he is helping the team a lot and we can all see the effect he is having on us."

Ronaldo`s resurgence mirrors how he hit his peak at the back end of last season when, with the help of sitting out the occasional away game, he fired Real to a double of La Liga and the Champions League.

Their title hopes are long gone but they have every chance of winning a third consecutive European Cup. Real meet Juventus in the quarter-finals after dispatching Paris St Germain 5-2 on aggregate in the last 16 with three goals from Ronaldo.

"He knows himself very well and knows when he has to take small breaks and when the final stretch of the season he arrives he is in top shape," added Zidane, who rested his forward for recent games at Espanyol and Leganes.

"When Cristiano plays well the team plays well."

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News Network
March 2,2020

Mar 2: Indian captain Virat Kohli was left frustrated and deflated as New Zealand won the second Test inside three days in Christchurch on Monday to sweep the series.

India started the day at 90 for six and were all out for 124, before New Zealand chased down the required 132 to win for the loss of three wickets in 36 overs.

It ended a disappointing tour for India and Kohli as New Zealand, who won the first Test by 10 wickets early on day four, wrapped up the series with ease.

New Zealand are now unbeaten in their last 13 home Tests, winning nine of them, and in the past decade their record as hosts is played 39, won 20, drawn 13 and lost five.

In the latest series, on traditional New Zealand green wickets, India managed scores of 165, 191, 242 and 124, reflecting the low contributions from Kohli of 2, 19, 3 and 14.

Kohli came to New Zealand as the world's top Test batsman and oozing charm as he described New Zealand as the “nice guys” of cricket.

But during the series he lost his top ranking to Australian Steve Smith and when Kane Williamson went for three in the first innings of the second Test the pressure showed when he gave the New Zealand skipper a very animated send-off.

There was further evidence of frustration when he was caught on camera yelling an obscenity at a group of New Zealand supporters on Sunday.

The end came quickly for India on day three as Tim Southee and Trent Boult tormented the batsmen with their variety of inswing and outswing deliveries targeting both sides of the stumps.

Hanuma Vihari was the first to fall, in Southee's second over, when he turned a legside delivery too fine and was caught by BJ Watling diving to his left.

Five balls later and with no addition to the score, India's other overnight batsman Rishabh Pant was caught behind off a Boult delivery that swung away.

Mohammed Shami was caught for five by Tom Blundell at deep mid-wicket and Jasprit Bumrah was run out when trying to give the strike to Ravindra Jadeja, who was unbeaten on 16.

Boult and Southee signed for most of the dismissals with Boult taking four for 28 and Southee three for 36. The swing pair accounted for 25 of the 40 Indian wickets in the series.

There was enough seam and swing available for India to keep the New Zealand batsmen guessing but Bumrah and Umesh Yadav were unable to apply consistent pressure and Mohammed Shami was troubled by a sore shoulder.

New Zealand coasted through a century opening stand by Tom Latham and Blundell before losing three quick wickets.

Latham notched his 18th half-century and second of the Test before he was caught behind off Yadav for 52, Kane Williamson had a short stay for five, and Blundell went for 55.

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Agencies
January 11,2020

Dubai, Jan 11: India opener KL Rahul has retained the sixth position while skipper Virat Kohli and left-hander Shikhar Dhawan have advanced one place each in the latest ICC Men's T20I player rankings after the conclusion of the series against Sri Lanka.

India won the T20I series 2-0 with one match getting washed out. Rahul, the highest-ranked Indian batsman, has gained 26 points and is now at the sixth spot with 760 rating points.

Rahul is just six points behind Australia's Glenn Maxwell after scores of 45 and 54 in his two innings against Sri Lanka.

Kohli, top-ranked in Tests and ODIs, is in the ninth position while Dhawan is on 15th. Manish Pandey has advanced four places and is ranked at the 70th.

India's fast bowlers have made notable gains in the first T20I update of the year and would be encouraged as they prepare for the ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2020 in Australia.

Player of the series Navdeep Saini has rocketed from 146 places to 98th while Shardul Thakur has re-entered in 92nd position after both finished with five wickets in the series. Jaspreet Bumrah has gained eight places to reach the 39th position.

For Sri Lanka, Dhananjaya de Silva has gained 72 places to reach 115th among batsmen after aggregating 74 runs while spinner Lakshan Sandakan has moved up 10 places to reach 29th position after grabbing three wickets in the series.

In the ICC Men's team rankings, India have gained two points but remain at fifth position with 260 points, while Sri Lanka have lost two points and now have 236 points and are at the eighth spot.

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News Network
April 8,2020

London, Apr 8: England wicketkeeper Jos Buttler has raised more than 65,000 pound (USD 80,000) to help fight the coronavirus by auctioning off his World Cup final shirt.

Buttler's shirt, which he wore when completing the last-ball run-out that saw England beat New Zealand at Lord's last year, was sold to raise money for specialist heart and lung centres provided by the Royal Brompton and Harefield hospitals in London.

Buttler, who earlier in the showpiece match had hit a fifty and batted in the Super Over, put his long-sleeve keeping jersey up for sale on eBay a week ago.

By the time the auction closed on Tuesday, the shirt had attracted 82 bids with the winner paying 65,100 pound.

Buttler, speaking on Monday, said: "It's a very special shirt but I think it takes on extra meaning with it being able to hopefully go to the emergency cause.

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