SPORTS FEBRUARY 2015

SPORTS FEBRUARY 2015

• India defeated South Africa first time in World Cup Matches
  India has defeated South Africa in the World Cup. South Africa was defeated with 130 runs. Shikhar Dhawan who made a spectacular century has got Man of the match award. This is the first time that India has won match against South Africa in World cup matches
  
• Gayle hits first double ton in WC
  Chris Gayle bludgeoned his way into the history books by becoming the first player to score a double century in the cricket World Cup as the West Indies rode on his record-equalling 16 sixes to notch up a massive 73-run win via D/L method against Zimbabwe, in Canberra on 24th February.
  
  Gayle, who became the only non-Indian batsman after Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag and Rohit Sharma to score a double ton, smashed 215 off just 147 balls with the help of a staggering 16 sixes and 10 fours to help West Indies amass 373 for two after electing to bat first.
  
  The destructive batsman was also involved in a record 372-run second-wicket partnership with centurion Marlon Samuels (133) before West Indies bowled out the Africans for 289 in 44.3 overs during their revised chase of 363 in 48 overs post a brief spell of rain.
  
  Former South Africa opener Gary Kirsten held the previous individual record with a score of 188 against the same opponents at the 1996 edition in Rawalpindi, while the Indian duo of Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid held the partnership record, which they scripted against New Zealand in 1999.
  
  Gayle thus became the only player in world cricket to hit a triple hundred in Tests, double hundred in ODIs and a hundred in Twenty20 Internationals.
  
  Gayle fell short of the highest number of sixes by only one, tying it with Rohit and South African captain AB de Villiers. Gayle was ably supported by Samuels, who scored 133 off 156 balls with the help of 11 fours and three sixes.
  
  Gayle's effort was also the highest ever individual score by a West Indian batsman, bettering Vivian Richards' 189 against England way back in 1984.
  
  Sachin Tendulkar and Chris Gayle chose the same day -- Feb 24 -- to score their respective One-Day International (ODI) double-centuries.
  
  The coincidence does not end only with the day, both batsmen ended up playing exactly the same number of deliveries -- 147.
  
  The others in the ODI double-ton club are swashbuckling opener Virender Sehwag and Rohit Sharma, who besides achieving the feat twice also holds the record for the highest individual score with an incredible 264 against Sri Lanka last year.
  
• AB de Villiers created record
  
  • South Africa’s captain AB De Villiers has created a few records in the match against Westindies on 27th February, in which South Africa won by 257 runs
  • In the match De villiers made 162 runs in 66 balls, and remained not out
  • He made 150 in 64 balls, and broke Shane Watson’s record of 150 in 83 balls
  • He made century in 52 balls, which is second fastest in World cup history, the first one was made by Kevin O’Brien’s century in 50 balls against England in 2011 World cup match. Kevin O’Brien is Ireland cricketer.
  
  
• India win against Pakistan
  In the first match, in this world cup, India won against Pakistan. Virat Kohli made century. It is a record. He is the first Indian batsman to make century against Pakistan in World Cup. Virat Kohli also created another record, he made 22 centuries in 143 innings, it is best ever. The second best record is with Sachin Tendulkar who made 22 centuries in 206 innings.
  
• Yuvraj sold for record Rs 16 crore in IPL 8 auction
  Flamboyant all-rounder Yuvraj Singh emerged as the costliest cricketer in the IPL 8 players' auction, bought for a record Rs 16 crore (USD 2.57 million approx) by Delhi Daredevils in Bangalore.
  
  Yuvraj, who carried a base price of Rs 2 crore, was sold for the highest ever price in IPL history after a fierce tug of war for his services between Delhi Daredevils and Royal Challengers Bangalore
  
  Delhi Daredevils, who have the largest purse of Rs 39.75 crore among all the eight franchises taking part in the auction, also bought Sri Lankan captain and all-rounder Angelo Mathews for Rs 7.5 crore, the third highest price in the first two rounds of auction.
  
  RCB, who lost to DD in their bid to get Yuvraj and Mathews, bought wicketkeeper batsman Dinesh Karthik for Rs 10.5 crore, the second highest price, even though it was Rs 1.5 crore lower than the amount he was bought for by DD last year.
  
• Ireland shock West Indies by 4 wickets
  Ireland justified their giant-killer tag by creating the first major upset of the cricket World Cup, shocking West Indies by four wickets in their opening encounter at Saxton Oval, in Nelson, New Zealand on 16th February
  
  Chasing 305 for a win, Ireland rode on brilliant half-centuries from Paul Stirling (92), Ed Joyce (84) and Niall O'Brian (79 not out) to canter home in 45.5 overs.
  
• Anand triumph
  Five-time world champion Viswanathan Anand of India played out an easy draw with Sergey Karjakin of Russia in the fifth and final round to win the Classical section of Zurich Chess Classic, in Zurich
  
• ESPN cric info awards
  Brendon McCullum's match-saving 302 against India inWellington has been voted the top Test batting performance of 2014 at the eighth annual ESPNcricinfo Awards, announced on 19th February. The Test bowling award went to Australia's Mitchell Johnson, for his 7 for 68 against South Africa in Centurion.
  
  Rohit Sharma, who broke a world record with his monumental 264 against Sri Lanka at Eden Gardens, took the award for the best ODI batting performance. The top ODI bowling performance was Lasith Malinga's 5 for 56, which helped Sri Lanka beat Pakistan in the Asia Cup final in Mirpur.
  
  The ESPN cricinfo Awards honour the best batting and bowling performances across the international formats of the game for the calendar year. They were decided by a jury of former players - among them, Ricky Ponting, Ian Chappell, Martin Crowe, Michael Holding, Graeme Smith, Daryll Cullinan and Mark Butcher - and ESPN cricinfo's senior writers and editors.
  
  McCullum became the first New Zealander to score a triple-century in Tests, which came when New Zealand looked in danger of surrendering their 1-0 lead in the two-Test series. McCullum, in partnership with BJ Watling (124) and Jimmy Neesham (137) ensured the series stayed with the hosts, following a high-scoring draw.
  
  Johnson's spell against South Africa came straight after the Ashes in Australia, the series in which he rediscovered himself as a fast bowler. His savagery in Centurion bundled out South Africa for 206 in the first Test and set Australia on the path to a Test and series win. It was his second ESPN cricinfo Award in the category in consecutive years.
  
  In the T20 category, England's Alex Hales took the award for the best batting performance with his unbeaten 116 against Sri Lanka in the World T20 in Bangladesh. In the same tournament, Rangana Herath's 5 for 3 against New Zealand was the jury's choice for the best bowling performance.
  
  Sri Lankan players have figured prominently across award categories in 2014, including the Statsguru Awards, which recognises consistency in performances. Sri Lanka captain Angelo Mathews swept three awards - Batsman of the Year, Best Test Batsman and Most Consistent Test Batsman. It was reward for aggregating more than 1200 runs each in Tests and ODIs. Herath was named the Best Test Bowler.
  
• ICC Hall of fame Anil Kumble
  Former India Captain and ace Leg Spinner Anil Kumble has been chosen to be inducted into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame with all times greatest cricketers. He will be felicitated and inducted into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame during the ICC Cricket World Cup match between India and South Africa in Melbourne on February 22.
  
• Ganguly gets MCC life membership
  Former Indian captain Sourav Ganguly has been awarded the honorary life membership of the prestigious Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC). Ganguly, who has also been a member of the MCC World Cricket committee since July 2014, averaged over 40 in Tests and One Day Internationals for India and took 132 wickets across 424 matches.
  
• Lahiri victory
  India's Anirban Lahiri has his sights set on the US Masters after winning the Malaysian Open, he won defeating Bernd Wiesberger
  
  Ranked 73rd heading into event at the Kuala Lumpur Golf and Country Club, Lahiri will now move into the world's top 40.
  
• Anand trumps in Grenke Chess
  Five-time world champion Viswanathan Anand defeated David Baramidze of Germany in the sixth and penultimate round of Grenke Chess Classic at Baden- Baden, Germany, on 9th February.
  
• 35th National Games concluded
  35th National Games were concluded on 13th February. The games were held from 31st January to 13th February. The games were held in Kerala. The home team, placed second to Services in the final medals tally, had a haul of 54 gold, 48 silver, and 60 bronze medals as it improved its previous best tally of 52 gold, 34 silver, 22 bronze when it finished second to Manipur in Imphal in 1999.
  
  Kerala had topped the medals tally when it hosted the Games for the first time in 1987. In subsequent Games, Kerala had slumped to the eighth position at Pune in 1994.
  
  The 35th National Games (Jan 31-Feb 14) was held at 30 venues across seven districts of the state and had cost Rs.611 crore. Services SCB is the topper bagging 91 gold, 33 silver, 35 bronze’
  
  Mizoram triumph: Mizoram has won in the foot ball in the national games. In the final on 9th January, Mizoram has defeated Punjab. Punjab, for the second National Games in a row, had to settle for silver.
  
  TS women and Kerala men won in Tennis @ National games:Telangana women shuttlers won the team gold in the 35th National Games on 10th February. In the final Telangana defeated Kerala. Kerala won the men's team gold medal by downing Haryana
  
  Rajinder nails javelin record:Rajinder Singh, Javelin throw player created a new National record in the men’s javelin throw with a massive throw of 82.23m.
  
  Rajinder Singh started off with a new meet record throw of 75.62 and then bettered Anil Kumar Singh’s National record of 80.72m, set in 2008, with his second attempt. Rajinder, whose previous best was 79.32m achieved at the 2014 Federation Cup
  
  36th NATIONAL GAMES
  35th National games were concluded in Goa, the 36th National Games will be held in Goa in 2019.
  
• ICC world cup commences
  Criket World Cup was declared open at Christchurch, Australia on 12th February.
  
  The 2015 Cricket World Cup will be the 11th Cricket World Cup, scheduled to be jointly hosted by Australia and New Zealand from 14 February to 29 March 2015.
  
  14 teams will play 49 matches in 14 venues, with Australia staging 26 games at grounds, while New Zealand hosts 23 games
  
  This is the second time that the tournament will be held in Australia and New Zealand, with the first being the 1992 Cricket World Cup. Sachin Tendulkar has been named as the 2015 Cricket World Cup Ambassador by the ICC for the second time, after 2011 Cricket World Cup where he was the ambassador.
  
• World Cup Cricket
  On the first Day i.e. on 14-02-2015:
  Match between New Zealand and Srilanka- New Zealand won
  Match between Australia and England- Australia won
  • Steven Finn, England cricketer became the first England bowler to take a World Cup hat-trick by dismissing Brad Haddin, Maxwell and Mitchell Johnson in the last three balls of Australia’s innings.
  
  
• Djokovic victory
  Novak Djokovic defeated Andy Murray on 1st February to win a record fifth Australian Open title in the professional era and consign the Scot to further grand slam pain Down Under.
  
• Paes pair won in mixed doubles
  Australia -- Martina Hingis won her first Grand Slam title since returning from retirement, combining with Leander Paes of India to win the Australian Open mixed doubles title with victory over Kristina Mladenovic of France and Daniel Nestor of Canada.
  
• Excellence in Cricket launched
  Excellence in Cricket, an institution that will promote International Corporate Cricket League (ICCL), Centre of Excellence and Cricket academies guided by reputed coaches and Cricket Heritage of India was launched by Dilip Vengsarkar, former India captain and brand ambassador of EIC at the MIG Cricket Club in Bandra, West Mumbai.
  
  
• Ojha suspension withdrawn
  The Board of Control for Cricket in India has cleared the suspended left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha's action. Ojha's action came under scanner a few months back and last December, he was banned from bowling in competitive cricket and sent for action correction.