Category: Sports

Cricket Sports

IPL 2020 Begins On March 29 And Final On May 24 With No-Double Headers

HT News

The start date of IPL 2020 is fixed on March 29 and the final would be played on May 24. This time, IPL got an extended window for more entertainment. It would be 57 days of cricket with no double-headers this time.

IPL 2020 edition

Starting from March 24 to May 24, this season of the IPL is going to be lengthier by 12 days. Earlier IPL tournaments used to be up to 45 days but this time, the tournament is extended to 57 days.

IPL 2020 match timings

During previous seasons, it was noticed that matches started at 8 pm and went well past midnight. But this time, the games would start at 7:30 pm. The hosts felt that going back home a midnight was quite an issue for the audiences. But hosts have another issue with an early start. It is difficult for audiences living in metro cities to reach stadiums after leaving from office at 6 pm.

No-double headers in IPL 2020

Another important thing about IPL 2020 is that there would be no double-headers this time. The hosts received a lukewarm response today matches last season. This time, they want to make sure that the audiences enjoy cricket to the full and the TRP remains on top.

The extended window provided to IPL 2020 is to accommodate single matches. With 57 days of cricket, the hosts can easily plan the game. Last year, franchises had a problem with empty stands. Outdoing with double-headers would solve that problem.

Source: https://bit.ly/2R54E06

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Sports

Player Ratings Of Manchester United VS Manchester City

HT News

Bernardo Silva put fabulous efforts with Riyad Mahrez for City’s second to take lead over United. City scored 3 goals and United managed to score only one in return. Let’s have a look at the star players of this match.

Manchester United

Aaron Wan-Bissaka – 6

As expected, he provided excellent defense and efficiently tackled the front foot to bolster United’s attacking output.

Phil Jones – 5

Still in the recovery phase after suffering a torrid night, Phil Jones could do nothing other than watching Bernardo unleashing his unstoppable strike that open the scoring from the top corner. Soon Kevin De Bruyne turned him inside out for City’s third.

Victor Lindelof – 5

His casual retreat resulted in his failure to tackle Bernardo and like Jones, he was also a witness to the City’s attacking movement. He was simply unable to grip the football of City.

Brandon Williams – 6

This teenager has much potential but he felt helpless due to his style at times when City overloaded on his side. He tried in the 55th minute of the game but that was too late for this energetic player to do something.

Fred – 6

He put admirable efforts but failed to put a tab over City’s ever-changing midfield. There could be a debate whether he is good enough to play central midfield for United.

Andreas Pereira – 5

He kept running after the ball and tried his best until the misfortune stuck before the half-time. This footballer kicked the ball into his own net.

Daniel James – 4

He was in need of a break after losing some of the early season sparkle. His … Read the rest

Cricket Sports

India VS Sri Lanka First T20I Live Telecast On 07:00 PM IST From Guwahati

HT News

Team India will play the first T20 International (T20I) of the New Year with Sri Lanka on January 5 at the Barsapara Cricket Stadium in Guwahati. It would be the first match of the three-match series.

Stars of Team India

Fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah and opening batsman Shikhar Dhawan were out of the cricket due to their injuries. Bumrah suffered a stress fracture while Dhawan was continuously dogged by injuries throughout 2019. But now they are fit and fine and ready to take on Sri Lanka in the first T20I on Sunday.

Rohit Sharma is back after taking complete rest for the series. Also, KL Rahul is ready to surprise the Sri Lankans with his batting skills. He had been a star player in India’s last T20I series against West Indies.

The team India would want to start the first match of the series with a happy note. The team wants to continue its winning streak in 2020.

About India vs Sri Lanka T20I

January 5, Sunday at the Barsapara Cricket Stadium, Guwahati

The T20I begins at 07:00 PM IST

The match will be telecast on the Star Sports Network

T20I would also be available on Hotstar

Cricket fans can catch live updates of T20I

Source: https://bit.ly/2QNWauo

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Cricket Sports

Hardik Pandya Engaged To A Serbian Actress

HT News

Hardik Pandya took to Instagram to break the news of his engagement with Serbia actress Natasa Stankovic. He posted a picture of him and Natasa on his Instagram account and gave it the caption “Mai tera, Tu meri jaane, saara Hindustan. 01.01.2020 #engaged”.

Fans flooded the Instagram page of the 26-year old all-rounder as soon as the news of his engagement went public. His teammates were the first to send him best wishes for getting engaged with the beautiful model. Kuldeep Yadav was first to congratulate the cricketer for his engagement.

Cricket career of Hardik Pandya

Recuperating from a back injury, Hardik Pandya has to miss out on the T20I and ODI series against Bangladesh and West Indies. Also, he is kept out of the upcoming home series against Sri Lanka and Australia. But the Board of Control for Cricket is considering him for India A’s squad for the New Zealand tour.

Last international match Hardik Pandya played was a T20I against South Africa in September 2019. After the series, he went to London for a surgery to cure his lower back problem in October.

Hardik Pandya’s interview

He revealed why he decided to take the surgery after the T20I match. He thought that he must get fit before the World T20 and he needed at least a couple of months to fully recover from the surgery. He wanted to play IPL and World T20 and for this reason he went for the treatment to become fit to join the team.

Source: https://bit.ly/2suiRf3

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Sports

The Reds Raced Ahead Burnley In The Battle Of Turf Moor

HT News

Manchester United returned against Burnley in a tight competition by 2-0 and returned home with all three-points. Played at Turf Moor, the Reds gave their best performance with Anthony Martial giving an exciting finish and Marcus Rashford’s injury time goal.

Matic Returns

The midfielder Nemanja Matic got an opportunity to play his first Premier League start since September. Turf Moor was his first litmus test and the midfielder did fairly well against the Clarets that were known for physical battle.

Wonderful Williams

Brandon Williams was out of the squad for quite some time but the full-back gave his best performance especially in the first half when he created difficulties for the opposition full-back Phil Bardsley. The former Red gave fantastic display of football at Turf Moor.

Martial’s Record At Burnley

Anthony Martial has already played three matches at Turf Moor. Also, he was an unused substitute in 2018. But on Saturday, he extended his record of scoring and winning in all his earlier clashes. The Burnley match was the striker’s well-placed finish.

Bowing Out On A High

The encounter was the final match of Reds in 2019. Also, it was the first full calendar year of Ole after taking charge of the Reds. Burnley exhausted all its arms including keeper Nick Pope but looked helpless before the Reds. With this win, the Manchester United rose to the fifth point in the table. The Reds are now only one point off fourth-placed Chelsea.

Source: https://bit.ly/39mXhJX

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Cricket Sports

Shoaib Akhtar Tactfully Supports Kaneria While Quoting Forer Pak Captain Wasim Akram

HT News

Shoaib Akhtar a.k.a. Rawalpindi Express in Pakistan cricket openly supported Danish Kaneria by quoting a leaked video of the former Pakistan captain Wasim Akram.

Content of the leaked video

The video has Wasim Akram saying that the Pakistanis keep using old ways; that they had crushed the cricketers. Pakistan needed to change its thought and try new things. The video is in Hindi and it is about the state of affairs of Pakistan cricket.

Shoaib Akhtar shared this video through his Twitter handle to. He also wrote an interesting caption “we need a change” for the video.

Akhtar supporting Kaneria

The former Pakistani pacer alleged that many players didn’t want Kaneria in the team because of his religion. Also, he was never given due credit for his performance because he was Hindu. On the contrary, the teammates constantly humiliated Kaneria. Some teammates even refused to partake of food with him.

Danish Kaneria on Pakistani cricket and Shoaib Akhtar

Kaneria urged Pakistan PM Imran Khan to get him out of this mess as his life was not in a good shape in Pakistan. Also, he thanked Shoaib Akhtar for telling the truth to the world. He said that he was grateful for the teammates who supported him as a cricketer.

Kaneria also thanked the media and genuine cricket administrators and the citizens of Pakistan who supported him regardless of his religious affiliation. It is well-known that Danish Kaneria recently revealed how he was humiliated by teammates and some even didn’t want him in the team.

Source: https://bit.ly/37iHnOV

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Cricket Sports

Jasprit Bumrah And Shikhar Dhawan Could Join Team India For T20 And ODI Series Against Sri Lanka And Australia

HT News

Jasprit Bumrahcould make a comeback to the India squad after recovering from stress fracture. A decision on his inclusion is likely to be taken in Monday meeting of the national selectors. Team India is going to play limited-overs series against Sri-Lanka and Australia.

Upcoming matches of team India

Indian cricket team will play three T20 international matches against Sri Lanka and as many ODIs against Australia. The Sri Lankan series would start from January 5 and Australian series would commence on January 14. Teams for both the series would be decided on Monday.

Jasprit Bumrah’s selection

Depending on his fitness status, the selectors would make the best decision about his inclusion in the team. He would have to produce a fitness certificate from where he did his rehabilitation. It is to be noted that he didn’t do his rehabilitation at BCCI’s National Cricket Academy (NCA).

Indian team physio Nitin Pateland trainer Nick Webb have already checked Bumrah in Visakhapatnam where he bowled full tilt before them. Also, he has an opportunity to play a Ranji to add more overs under his belt before Australian series starts. Another factor in his inclusion is the opinion of the captain. The selectors would ask Virat Kohli for make an opinion on Jasprit Bumrah.

Virat Kohil will join the meeting via video conference. The selectors will also discuss Deepak Chahar’s fitness as he was ruled out of the third ODI against the West Indies. Shikhar Dhawan can also make a comeback depending on his performance in domestic cricket.

Source: https://bit.ly/2QbVcrA

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International Sports

Top 5 Fixtures To Watch In UEFA Champions League Matches

HT News

In the first time of Champions League history, all the 16 participating teams belong to top-five leagues of Europe. It is a knock out round with no minnows taking part in the tournament.

This season, every match of the 16 will have double-doze of excitement but some fixtures stand above the rest and enthusiasts won’t want to miss those games. Here’re the top-five must watch fixtures of 2019-20 Champions League.

Atlético Madrid vs. Liverpool

Liverpool would start the knockout round from where it was last season and it could bring light in the eyes of its supporters. The squad is also suffering from poor performance in English Premier League but still better than last year. On the other hand, Atletico is in the midst of a rebuild. Its manager Diego Simeone is capable of making any tie tough on an opponent.

Borussia Dortmund vs. Paris Saint-Germain

After winning six-consecutive Ligue 1 titles and getting seven-point lead in the table this season, Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) is excited about the knockout round. Also, they have the advantage of having a manager that was earlier with Dortmund.But Borussia Dortmund shouldn’t be underestimated especially after its survival in the Group of Death over Inter Milan.

Chelsea vs. Bayern Munich

Chelsea surprised everyone by winning the 2012 title of Champions League with the help of interim manager Roberto Di Matteo. It was a glorious win over Bayern Munich in Munich. But Bayern is also doing well under its interim manager Hansi Flick and they’re likely to find his replacement by February. Also, the squad has the firepower to break Chelsea’s defense.

Napoli vs. Barcelona

Barcelona is still on top of … Read the rest

Cricket Sports

India vs West Indies: India Loses 1st ODI By 8 Wickets And 13 Balls Remaining

HT News

West Indies took a lead of 1-0 in the three-match ODI series with India. It beat India by 8-wickets and 13 balls to spare in the first One-Day International on Sunday.

West Indies won the toss and choose batting

Hetmyer with Shai Hope put an intimidating 218-run partnership for the record ODI stand by West Indies for any match against India. He hit 7-sixes and 11-fours and smashed 139-runs in 106 balls. Hope scored 102 and remained not out. West Indies reached 291/2 in 47.5 overs.

In fielding, West Indies conceded only 24 extras but managed to stop India at 287/8 in 50 overs.Sheldon Cottrell two wickets –LokeshRahul (6) and Virat Kohli (4) – by giving 46 runs.

India batting and fielding

Rishabh Pant and Shreyas Iyer were the most successful batsmen from the Indian side. They both make half centuries and added 114-runs for India. Pant made 71-runs off 69 balls. It was his first ODI half-century. Iyer scored 70 off 88 balls and made his firth ODI half-century.

India was reduced to 25-2 after losing Rahul and Kohli. Rohit Sharma tried taking a stand but was out on 36. After Sharma’s ouster, Pant and Iyer batted well and took India to a defending position. Pant hit 7-fours and 1-six and took the score to 200 in 29 overs.

But both the batsmen fell in the seventies and with them fell the hope of winning the match.Indian bowlers looked sluggish on the batting pitch but the biggest drawback was dropping catches.

Source: https://bit.ly/2ElTv5p

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International Sports

La Liga 2019: Real Madrid vs Valencia: Team Info, Match Timing, Where To Watch

HT News

The upcoming La Liga fixture on Monday 16th December is going to be very interesting because of involvement of Real Madrid and Valencia. Buoyed with the recent winnings, the Real Madrid looks more confidant but Valencia is also preparing to give a tough fight.

Real Madrid

The squad is on a winning spree with eight wins in the last 10 matches in all competitions. If they can, the La Liga would be their fifth consecutive win across competitions. The Real coach Zinedine Zidane also doesn’t want to take chances with his winning squad and for this reason, he isn’t certain whether or not to rest midfield general Casemiro.

Courtois; Carvajal, Varane, Ramos, Nacho; Kroos, Modric, Valverde; Bale, Benzema, Rodrygo will feature in the Sunday fixture.

Valencia

Their victory over Ajax Amsterdam was the only one out of the last 16 matches of the Champions League managed them secure a birth and now they are aiming high by repeating their success in their home game. But Valencia has a disadvantage that is most of its players are injured.

Jasper Cillessen has picked a calf injury last weekend. Cristiano Piccini, Goncalo Guedes, Denis Cheryshev, Geoffrey Kondogbia and Maxi Gomez won’t feature against Real Madrid.

Domenech; Wass, Garay, Gabriel, Gaya; Soler, Coquelin, Parejo; Vallejo, Rodrigo, Torres are likely to feature in the crucial match.

Real vs Valencia details

The match will commence at 1:30 AM on Monday, December 16 at the Mestalla Stadium. Live streaming of the match would be available on the Facebook app and Facebook India website.

Source: https://bit.ly/2YQb1Ik

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