IPL resumes, Manchester faces a shock defeat, Italy emerges victorious, and more…6 min read
Reading Time: 4 minutesAdithya G
Here is the round-up of all the action from the world of sports last week. IPL returns as does the Champions League.
Scroll down for highlights.
Cricket
IPL Resumes
The eleventh season of the Indian Premier League that was suspended due to the Covid-19 pandemic, resumed this past Sunday. The remaining 31 games of the season will be played in the United Arab Emirates.
The restart kicked off with a humdinger of a game with defending champions Mumbai Indians taking on Chennai Super Kings.
MS Dhoni-led CSK defeated their arch-rivals by 20 runs.
Chennai Super Kings 156/6 (Gaikwad 88*, Jadeja 26, Milne 2-21)
Mumbai Indians 136/8 (Tiwary 50*, Bravo 3-25, D Chahar 2-19)
Chennai were 24 for 4 at the end of the powerplay and then recovered brilliantly to post a decent score. Their pacers bowled exceptionally to restrict Mumbai to 136 in 20 overs. CSK currently occupy the top spot in the IPL table.
New Zealand cancel Pakistan Tour
New Zealand called off their limited-overs tour of Pakistan citing security concerns. PCB chairman Ramiz Raja was critical of the New Zealand Cricket decision, saying, “Walking out of the tour by taking a unilateral approach on a security threat is very frustrating. Especially when it is not shared! Which world is NZ living in? NZ will hear us at ICC.”
The tour, comprising three ODIs and five T20Is, was called off on the eve of the first ODI in Rawalpindi with neither team leaving their hotel on the morning of the game.
Football
Champions League Roundup
Swiss team Young Boys handed Manchester United a shock 2-1 defeat in the opening group game. Manchester United took an early lead as Cristiano Ronaldo got on the end of an exquisite pass from Bruno Fernandes and finished with ease. However, a red card to Aaron Wan-Bissaka turned the game on its head. The hosts equalized in the second half with a header from Moumi Ngamaleu before Theoson Siebatcheu scored the winner in the dying moments of the match.
Liverpool came back from behind to beat AC Milan 3-2 in their opening fixture. Defending champions Chelsea secured a 1-0 victory over Zenit FC. Real Madrid claimed a crucial 1-0 win over Italian champions Inter Milan. Manchester City claimed a 6-3 home win over RB Salsburg. Bayern Munich handed a 3-0 thrashing to Barcelona in the heavyweight clash of the week. Belgian club Brugge held PSG to a 1-1 draw.
EPL
Liverpool and Chelsea mirrored their results for the fifth week in a row, winning 3-0 against Crystal Palace and Tottenham respectively. The two teams occupy the top spot over Manchester United and Brighton Albion.
Goals from Cristiano Ronaldo and Jesse Lingard secured a hard-fought win for Manchester United away at West Ham. David de Gea saved a penalty kick for the first time since 2014 to help his team stay on the lead, saving Mark Noble’s spot-kick.
Bundesliga
Bayern routs Bochum 7-0
Robert Lewandowski stretched his scoring run to 19 consecutive games across all competitions for Bayern as the Bundesliga Champions put seven goals past Bochum. He also became the first Bundesliga player to score in 13 consecutive home games. Leroy Sane, Joshua Kimmich (2), Serge Gnabry, Vasilis Lampropoulous (OG) and Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting were the other scorers.
Borussia Dortmund secured a convincing win over Union Berlin. Raphael Guerreiro’s opener, a brace from Erling Haaland and an own goal from Marvin Friedrich helped them race to a 4-0 lead before conceding two goals before the end of the ninety minutes.
La Liga
Real Madrid leapfrogged defending champions Atletico Madrid to take the top spot in the league at the end of the fifth week. Atletico were held to a nil-nil draw against Athletic Bilbao. Late goals from Karim Benzema and Vinicius Junior helped Real Madrid beat Valencia.
Serie A
Defending champions Inter Milan extended their unbeaten run in the league with a 6-1 win over Bologna. Laturo Martinez, Milan Skriniar, Nicolo Barelia, Matias Vecino and Edin Dzeko (2) found the back of the net. Jose Mourinho’s unbeaten run with Roma came to an end as they fell to a 3-2 defeat to Verona.
Italy win Volleyball Championship
Italy were crowned the new European champion of volleyball after the men’s team beat Slovenia 3-2 in Katowice. The Italian women’s team beat Serbia 3-1 in the finals in Belgrade a couple of weeks ago.
This is the first time that both the men’s and women’s teams of a European country win the volleyball championship title in the same year.
Out-Actioned is a weekly sports bulletin.
Author’s note: Adithya G is a freelance writer and sports enthusiast.
