Category: Sports

News & Politics Sports

Mason Mount Led Chelsea To Victory In First Leg Champions League Quarters With Porto

HT News

Chelsea won its first leg match in the Champions League quarter-final. The Blues were playing with Porta and they won by a 2-0 score. Mason Mount and Ben Chilwell scored the goals in 32nd and 85th minutes respectively. While Porto had more of the half-chances but their players failed to make any breakthrough.

Here’s is the rating of individual players

Chelsea Ratings

Edouard Mendy (Goalkeeper) 7 Rating: He saved two goals, one from Otavio and the second from Pepe. He was quick to get across to deny Porto any opportunity.

Mason Mount (Forward) 8 Rating: He scored his first Championship League goal with an amazing flick with his left heel before shooting the ball in the right spot. At 22, he’s the man Chelsea can rely upon.

Ben Chilwell (Defender/Midfielder) 7 Rating: He scored the second and the winning goal for Chelsea with a brilliant header that took the ball into a near-empty net.

Porto Ratings

Agustin Marchesin (Goalkeeper) 5 Rating: His ratings were marred by poor positioning at the backline leading to goals. Also, his decision-making was questionable.

Pepe (Defender) 6 Rating: He was thoroughly involved in the midfield but he made a superb attempt at the goal that Mendy saved meticulously. His efforts could bear fruits but he was heavily busy connecting the team.

Otavio (Midfielder) 6 Rating: He played well in the midfield but was substituted at the 83rd minute when Chelsea started chasing the game. He also made a nice attempt at goal

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Cricket IPL News & Politics Sports

Prithvi Shaw Game A Heroic Welcome To DC Coach Ricky Ponting

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Prithvi Shaw welcomed the Delhi Capitals coach Ricky Ponting in the team on after he completed his mandatory quarantine. Shaw said that Ricky Ponting was their boss on field and a friend off the field. He even compared their coach with Shar Rukh Khan’s character in “Chak De! India” movie.

How Prithvi Shaw welcomed Ricky Ponting?

The Delhi Capital batsman said that when Ponting spoke to the team, it looked like the movie scene of “Chak De! India.” He even said that should Chak De! India should be played in the background when coach Ponting speaks to the team.

How is Prithvi Shaw’s performance so far?

Prithvi Shaw made 827 runs from just eight matches in Vijay Hazare Trophy prior to joining the IPL. But his performance in the last season IPL 2020 was unsatisfactory and he was removed from DC XI during the tournament. The poor performance also cost him a place in Indian Test team ahead of Australian tour just after the IPL season.

What was Ricky Ponting’s opinion on Prithvi Shaw?

Ricky Ponting said that he had some interesting chat with Prithvi Shaw and that he was in the process to break Shaw down to know what went wrong in the last IPL season. He said that he wanted to bring the best of Shaw.

Ponting further said that the 21-year-old batsman had an interesting theory on batting. Ponting asked Prithvi Shaw to come to nets for practice but Shaw denied. He said no he wasn’t batting that day.

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Cricket IPL News & Politics Sports

IPL 2021: KKR’s Shubham Gill Batted For Himself On Social Media

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Shubham Gill of Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) reacted strongly to a comment posted by a social media user about his selection in IPL 2021. Gill has been batting for KKR for three seasons and has scored more than 200 runs in each season.

What was the comment?

A social media user referred to Gill’s performance as “tuk tuk” which is used by cricket fans to refer to players with slow strike rates. But Shubham Gill felt offended by the comment and couldn’t prevent him from replying to that post.

How did Shubham Gill reply to that comment?

Shubham Gill was quick to take note of that stinging comment and post a fitting reply to that social media user. He commented, “i am right where i want to be Mr. NOBODY.”

What is the overall performance of Shubham Gill?

Shubham Gill has been a good player throughout his cricket career. He has played 51 T20s and has scored 1217 runs including nine half-centuries with a strike rate of 33.80. Also, he was a member of the India U-19 that won the world cup in 2018.

Let’s look at the achievements of Shubham Gill

• Shubham Gill made his Test debut for India during the 2020-21 Australian tour where he played seven Tests and made 378 runs including three-half centuries.

• He made three half-centuries in the first 10 Tests innings including the top score of 91 he made in the crucial Brisbane Test against Australia earlier this year.

• Gill has played 41 IPL matches including 14 for KKR and scored 440 runs at a strike rate of 125.20.

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Cricket News & Politics Sports

Controversial Run Out Of Pakistani Batsman Fakhar Zaman By South Africa Wicket Keeper Quinton de Kock

HT News

Pakistan lost the 2nd ODI to South Africa in Johannesburg on Sunday when its start batsman Fakhar Zaman was run out controversially. How Fakhar Zaman was out is a breach of fair play rule 41.

Match summary

South Africa batted first and set a target of 342 runs for Pakistan that could make only 324 runs at 9 wickets when Fakhar Zaman was run out in the last over. At that time, Pakistan was only 31 runs short of winning the match.

How was Fakhar Zaman run out?

Fakhar Zaman was batting on 193 and it was the last over of the match. He was at the striker’s end to face the ball. He played the ball towards the off-side and ran for a single but asked the runner to come for a second. He started running towards the striker’s end when the Australian wicketkeeper Quinton de Kock distracted his attention by asking the fielder who took the ball to throw it to the non-striker’s end. Fakhar Zaman looked back in distraction when the fielder threw the ball at the striker’s end. The ball hit the stumps when Fakhar Zama was short of his ground.

What does international cricket rule 41 say about the fair game?

The rule deters players from distracting batsmen. And here Quinton de Kock distracted Fakhar Zaman by pretending that the ball would hit the non-striker’s end but in reality, he wanted the ball at the striker’s end.

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Football News & Politics Sports

Watch Barcelona VS Valladolid La Liga Match Live From Camp Nou At 3 PM ET

HT News

FC Barcelona will host Valladolid at Camp Nou in a La Liga match today. The match starts at 3 p.m. ET and can be enjoyed on beIN Sports. Also, you can watch it for free in a live stream on fuboTV.

Match summary

FC Barcelona stands in the third position with 62 points after Real Madrid won the match with Eibra on Saturday. But Valladolid is on the bottom of the table in 16th place. With only 10 matches remaining, the La Liga season has also come to an end. The Blaugrana are chasing Atletico Madrid that is at the top of the league with 64 points but the chasing window is fast closing for FC Barcelona.

FC Barcelona

The Blaugrana are on a five-game winning streak with the recent 6-1 win against Real Sociedad. Lionel Messi has proved to be the most successful player for them as he has assisted in building attacks in all the matches. Their American wingback Sergino Dest also scored well. Gerard Pique’s return also bodes well for FC Barcelona but is unlikely to play Pique for today’s match but will save him for Catalonians.

Valladolid

While it stands at the bottom of the table, it has remained undefeated in the last four matches. And it recently drew a match with 1-1 against Sevilla. Just two points away from relegation, the club will put their best efforts to escape relegation in the remaining 10 matches.

Match prediction

FC Barcelona will continue with its winning streak and win the match against this bottom-table team. Pick: Barcelona 3 and Valladolid 0.

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Cricket IPL News & Politics Sports

Why Players Are Pulling Out Of IPL 2021 Ahead Of Season?

HT News

Chennai Super Kings (CSK) will play without Josh Hazlewood this season as the Australian pacer has decided to pull off from IPL 2021 to spend time with his family. He has a very busy season ahead and he wants to spend the coming winter months with his family.

What excuses did Josh Hazlewood give for missing IPL 2021?

He said that it had been a long 10 months into bubbles and quarantine at different times, so he decided to take a rest from cricket and spent some time at home for the next two months. Cricket.com.au quoted Hazlewood as saying that he wanted time to prepare for the upcoming tournaments. Australia will play with the West Indies and Bangladesh T20 tour at the end of the winter season in Australia.

MS Dhoni led CSK has won IPL title in 2010, 2011, and 2018, but it finished seventh in the 2020 season. This year, CSK was quite hopeful of winning the title this year as it has all the top bowlers including Moeen Ali, Sam Curran, Lungi Ngidi, Dwayne Bravo, and Josh Hazlewood. But Hazlewood has withdrawn from the IPL 2021.

Other players that pulled out of IPL 2021

Sunrisers Hyderabad announced that it is replacing Mitchell Marsh with Jason Ray as the all-rounder has pulled out of IPL 2021

Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) also has to find a replacement for batsman Joshua Philippe that decided to pull out of the season citing personal reasons.

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Football News & Politics Sports

Underperforming England Defeats Poland With 2-1

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England won its World Cup qualifying match with Poland 2-1 but it was a very closely contested match as England could score the winning goal only in the last minutes of the game.

How were the three goals of the match scored?

The first goal came early in the 19th minute when England got a first-half penalty that Harry Kane turned into a goal for England. The second goal was scored in the 58th minute by Jakub Moder. It was an equalizer for Poland. The third goal was the winning stroke at the 85th minute. Harry Maguire played the ball towards the goalpost of Poland.

Here’re the players’ ratings

Nick Pope – 6

The English goalkeeper had three clean sheets before Jordan Moder shot the only goal for Poland but it was more an error of John Stones than Pope.

Kyle Walker – 6

He is the most competent and reliable player for the right-back slot in the English squad. According to experts, Walker is less adventurous at his position but he is relatively untroubled.

John Stones – 5

He is back in the squad after a roller-coaster World Cup career. It seems that his good time has started but his mistake that became an opportunity for Poland reminded his peers about his old failings.

Harry Maguire – 7

A dependable player, Maguire is a certainty in defense and is able to play the ball high up and towards the goal as he displayed in the Wednesday match. Harry Maguire played the winning shot for England.

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Cricket News & Politics Sports

Former Australian Skipper Steve Smith Wants To Lead Australian Team Again

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Steve Smith said he was willing to lead the national cricket team of Australia if he was given an opportunity. He made this announcement after almost two years after Cricket Australia banned him for one year for his involvement in the Sandpaper Gate incident.

What was the Sandpaper Gate incident?

It as ball-tempering incident happened the Cape Town Test against South Africa in March 2018. Steve Smith was the skipper of Australian cricket at that time and he confirmed his involvement in the incident. The Cricket Australia board took cognizance of the matter and banned Steve from international cricket for one year. The opening batsman David Warner also received a similar punishment but Cameron Bancroft was let off with a nine-month suspension.

Would Steve Smith join the national cricket team of Australia?

While Smith has completed his suspension but the Australian coach Justin Langer isn’t willing to take him back. Langer replied to Steve’s call for an opportunity to lead the Australian team again by saying that there was no captaincy position available in the team.

He said that Australia had two very good captains – Tim Paine (Test captain) and Aaron Finch (white-ball captain). He further said that the Australian team was preparing for two important tournaments – an Ashes and a T20 World Cup.

What is the future of Steve Smith?

While his entry into the national cricket team of Australia looks delayed, the right-handed batsman will be seen batting for Delhi Capitals in the upcoming Indian Premier League (IPL) beginning April 9.

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Football News & Politics Sports

Portugal’s 3-1 Win Over Luxemburg Made Portuguese Coach Fernando Santos Furious

HT News

Portugal’s 3-1 win over Luxemburg lifted catapulted it to the top of Group A in its World Cup qualifying campaign. With seven points in hand, Portugal now stands at level with Serbia, but Luxemburg has to contend at third position with three points.

But Fernando Santos wasn’t satisfied with his team’s performance….

While the Portuguese team was celebrating their victory, their coach Santos was chiding his boys in the media. He said that they wasted the first 30-minutes playing at a walking pace with no intensity on either pitch. And that he had to ask the players that they won’t win the game on quality alone and they had to add intensity to their game.

Santos warned his boys that if they rely on their quality, any opponent could cause them difficulties. He said that in the second half they won every ball. They played with intensity and suddenly found that Luxemburg was a different team.

What made Fernando Santos furious?

Luxemburg was full of confidence after winning 1-0 at Ireland and it soon took lead over the European Champions when Gerson Rodrigues glanced a header at Portugal on the half-hour mark. But Portugal took more time in even equalizing the score.

The first goal for Portugal came in the second minute of the added time of the first half when Diogo Jota sent the ball into Luxemburg’s goalpost. Cristiano Ronaldo came running with Joao Cancelo to score the second goal in the 50th minute of the game. And the final goal was scored by substitute Joao Palhinha in the 80th minute.

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Football News & Politics Sports

Germany Won Its First World Cup Qualifying Match With Iceland By 3-0

HT News

In an outstanding start to FIFFA World Cup Qualifiers, Germany won its first match with Iceland with 3-0 goals. It was the first match of Germany in 2021 and they made their mark at the beginning of the year. Germans will now play with Romania on March 29.

What does this victory mean for Joachim Low?

Joachim Low has announced that he would step down as head coach of Germany after summer’s Euros and as head coach, he had overseen 189 matches including 31 matches across three World Cup qualifying campaigns. And Germany wanted to give a memorable farewell to their world cup winning coach.

How the three goals were scored?

The first goal was quick within three minutes into the game when Joshua Kimmich jumped the ball over the Iceland defense to Serge Gnabry who played it back for Goretzka to score the first goal.

Kimmich again chipped in to pass the ball to Leroy Sane who was down the left and a fine shot by Sane was turned into the second goal in the seventh minute by Kai Havertz.

Germans scored their third and the last goal of the match in the 56th minute when Ilkay Gundogan turned an opportunity into a goal with the help of Serge Gnabry who plays as a winger in the team.

Did Iceland get an opportunity to score a goal?

The only opportunity Iceland had when their midfielder Runar Sigurjonsson had a wide shot to the German goal but the shot was blocked wide off the German center back Antonio Rüdiger.

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