QPlay: Chris Gayle’s 48-Ball Hundred, Barca Beat Arsenal and More
All the latest sports news in The Quint’s morning wrap.
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1. Gayle-Storm Sweeps Mumbai, Takes Down England in WT20 Match
Swashbuckling West Indian batsman Chris Gayle blasted an unbeaten 100 in just 48 balls to steer his side to a comfortable six-wicket victory against England in their Group 1 World Twenty20 cricket clash at the Wankhede Stadium on Wednesday.
Batting first, England posted 183/6 in 20 overs, thanks to Joe Root’s 48.
In reply, the hard-hitting batsman from Caribbean unleashed his batting skills as he struck five boundaries and 11 massive sixes to take his team to victory as the team scored 183/4 in 18.1 overs.
2. Barcelona Beat Arsenal, Bayern Through to Quarters
Barcelona’s dynamic attacking trio of Neymar, Luis Suarez and Lionel Messi were too strong for Arsenal as all three found the back of the net in a 3-1 victory on Wednesday that sent the Spanish side into the Champions League quarter-finals 5-1 on aggregate.
Brazil’s Neymar opened the scoring in the first half as the home side dominated the early play, but Arsenal’s Mohamed Elneny scored an equaliser to spark life into the visitors after the break.
Suarez, however, launched himself into the air to meet a Dani Alves cross and send a superb volley into the top corner to deflate the English side, who have now been knocked out of the tournament in the last 16 for six successive seasons.
The mercurial Messi scored the winner with a trademark chipped finish two minutes from time as the defending champions extended their record-breaking unbeaten run to 38 matches in all competitions.
Bayern Munich scored twice in extra time to come back from two goals down and beat Juventus 4-2 on Wednesday to move into the Champions League last eight with a 6-4 aggregate victory.
Thiago Alcantara drilled in after 108 minutes and Kingsley Coman curled in their fourth goal two minutes later as Bayern, who needed a 90th-minute equaliser from Thomas Mueller to force extra time, finished stronger to keep up their treble hopes.
3. Afridi Leads From Front, Pakistan Thump Bangladesh
Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi led by example as his team put a tumultuous build-up behind them to launch their bid for a second World T20 title with a 55-run win against qualifiers Bangladesh on Wednesday.
It took a lot of cajoling from the organisers to convince Pakistan to shed their security apprehensions and once they landed for the tournament, Afridi’s comments about getting more love in India than in Pakistan riled up fans back home.
None of it, however, seemed to affect the team who put up a daunting total of 201-5 at Kolkata’s Eden Gardens after electing to bat first and restricted their opponents to 146-6 in a lopsided Super 10 Group Two contest.
Afridi blasted a 19-ball 49 and picked up figures of 2-27 in a personally satisfying outing for the flamboyant 36-year-old all-rounder.
4. Sehwag to be Felicitated Before India-Pakistan T20I at Kolkata
The legendary Virender Sehwag will be felicitated by the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) just before the high-profile India versus Pakistan ICC World T20 match on March 19.
Sehwag is likely to be joined at the Eden Gardens by greats like his former India teammate Sachin Tendulkar, Sunil Gavaskar, Kapil Dev and Pakistan’s Imran Khan, Waqar Younis, Wasim Akram and Intikhab Alam.
One of India’s greatest opening batsmen, Sehwag formally retired from international cricket last October. He would also not take part in the coming IPL.
5. FIFA Says Executive Committee Members Sold World Cup Votes on ‘Multiple Occasions’
Football’s governing body FIFA said on Wednesday that members of its executive committee had in the past sold their votes in World Cup hosting contests, including for the competition held in South Africa in 2010.
It said that former executive committee members Chuck Blazer, Jack Warner and other individuals engineered a $10 million payoff in exchange for executive committee votes regarding the hosting of the 2010 World Cup, which was eventually played in South Africa.
6. David Goffin Ousts Stan Wawrinka in BNP Paribas Open
Belgian David Goffin overcame a bout of nerves late in the second and third sets to claim the best win of his career. He knocked out third seed Stan Wawrinka in the round of 16 at the BNP Paribas Open in California on Wednesday.
Goffin sealed the 6-3,5-7, 7-6(5) victory when his Swiss opponent netted a forehand in a closely contested tiebreak after a wildly fluctuating match that lasted nearly two-and-a-half hours at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden.
It was only the second occasion during his career when Goffin had beaten a player who is ranked in the top 10, and it earned him a spot in the last eight of an ATP Masters 1000 event for just the second time.