Vijay Hazare Trophy 2015

Parthiv Patel produced his first century in Style to give Gujarat their maiden title. A collapse after Parthiv wicket had left the issue open in giving Delhi a manageable target of 274, but Veteran RP Singh, playing his first match in the knockout stages, settled the matter with an opening burst of 4 for 23, which includes a first ball wicket of Rishabh Pant and later those of Shikhar Dhawan and Gautam Gambhir.

Parthiv and Bhatt added 149 runs for the third wicket, the highest for the third wicket in his tournament. Parthiv hit 10 fours, mainly through cuts and flicks off the hips. Bhatt hit four fours and a six in his 60 off 74 balls, which took his tournament tally to 338, which is the highest for Gujarat and ninth highest overall. They were helped along by two sets of four overthrows, various fumbles and a few clumsy dives.

Delhi came back into the chase with some hope, but RP squashed it immediately. With a generous sprinkling of grey in this beard, RP might look older than his 30, but the ball is still coming out all right from his hand. The only blip on Gujarat night arrived when Bhatt dropped Unmukt Chand off the bowling of Kalaria, but he made up for it soon enough when he accepted a low offering from Gambhir at first slip.

As wickets continued to fall, the only man capable of a miraculous comeback was Chand. He played attractive shots in his 33 off 48, but once he placed Jasprit Bumrah on the contest was officially over. Negi half century managed to push the score past 100. This was Gujarat Maiden Vijay Hazare Trophy title. Parthiv and RP Singh were awarded Player of the match awards.

Mumbai Garuda wins Pro Wrestling League Title

Putting up a sparkling show in the final showdown, Mumbai Garuda outclassed Haryana Hammers 7-2 to clinch the inaugural Pro Wrestling League title. High on confidence after winning all their previous matches in the tournament, Mumbai started as the favorites in the grand finale and successfully lived up the expectations with a comfortable win.

In the final, none of the categories were blocked as all nine bouts were fought and Mumbai ended up unbeaten in the event. Down 1-2, Mumbai Garuda won their next four bouts on the trot to claim the trophy after the seventh match itself, making the last two ties inconsequential. Mumbai won back to back bouts through Captain Adeline Gray, Giorgi Sakandelidze, Odunayo Adekuoroye and Odikadze Elizbar.

Mumbai Amit Dhankar had an easy outing against Haryana Vishal Rana, who was the replacement for injured Yogeshwar Dutt, bagging the first bout 12-0 by technical superiority and giving favorites Garuda an early lead in Men’s 65 kg. But World Championship Gold Medalist Oksana Herhel of Haryana tied the scores by posting a 4-4 by fall win against Sakshi Malik of Mumbai in Women 58 Kg.

Mumbai icon player Adeline Gray then predictably scored the equalizer for her team by beating Geetika Jakhar of Haryana Hammers in Women +69kg. Odikadze Elizbar sealed the title for Mumbai with his stunning 6-4 win over Andriitesey Valerii in Men 97 kg category. The next two bouts were also won by Mumbai with Ritu Phogat eking out a narrow win over Nirmal Devi, while Rahul Aware defeated Nitin 6-3. 

Singapore Slammers is new IPTL Champion

In an anticlimactic result for the Indian Aces, who had topped the table coming into the final, the Indian team lost the champions crowns to hosts Singapore Slammers, who prevailed 26-21 in the final. Indian Aces were easily the most dominant side this season, losing only three matches and winning 54.1% of the games they played in their campaign.

Carlos Moya handed slammers a two point lead with his 6-4 win over Fabrice Santoro in the Legend Singles. Belinda Bencic extended her team’s lead after she beat Kuznetsova 6-4 in a grueling women singles that lasted 42 minutes. The Indian aces roared back with a 6-2 win in the mixed doubles as Sania Mirza and Rohan Bopanna teamed up for an impressive win over Dustin Brown and Karolina Pliskova.

Two-time grand slam champion Stan Wawrinka then beat Bernard Tomic 6-3 in the men’s singles to help Slammers maintain slight edge. The men’s doubles, this season last set, turned into a title deciding contest and it was Slammers pair of Wawrinka and Marcelo Melo that prevailed 6-3 against Bopanna and Ivan Dodig to give Singapore a 26-21 win. The Slammers, coached by India’s double specialist Purav Raja, claimed a prize pursed of $1 Million while Indian Aces got $500,000.

Ivan Dodig was adjudged the most valuable player (male) while Slammers Belinda Bencic was adjudged the most valuable player (female) for their superlative performances through the season. They got $50,000 each for the dominant tennis they played all throughout the season. Bhupathi said they will continue with five teams in the next season.

Chennaiyin lift Indian Super League Title

Forced to shift base to another venue due to flood in their home city, Chennaiyin FC were crowned the Hero Indian Super League Champion after they beat FC Goa 3-2 in a drama filled summit clash, in which three goals were scored in the last four minutes.

In a befitting grand finale of the ISL second season which saw 186 goals scored in 60 matches as compared to 121 last year, the Chennaiyin vs Goa clash at Jawaharlal Nehru stadium saw as many as five goals, all of them coming in the second half of the edge of the seat match. Bruno Pelissari put Chennaiyin ahead in the 54^th minute but Goa equalized within four minutes with Haokip finding the target.

Gonzalez then put Goa ahead for the first time in the 87^th minute in what looked like to be the winning goal. But under dramatic circumstances Goa goalkeeper Laxmikant Kattimani conceded an own goal in the 90^th minute to level the score before Chennaiyin striker Mendoza found the target in the first minute of the injury time to stun the home supporters of Goa. For Chennaiyin, coached by Italian World Cup Winner Marco Materazzi, the triumph was all the more remarkable as they had to shift to Pune for their semi-final first leg after their home venue was devastated by flood.

They were also struggling in the early part of the league and needed four wins on the trot in their last four matches to qualify for the semi-finals. But it was heartbreak for Goa FC who looked the most attacking side in the season under Brazilian legend Zico, who is not expected to return for the next season. The winner got richer by Rs 8 crore while FC Goa got Rs 4 crore. The two semi-final losers got Rs 1.5 crore each.

2015 Bangladesh Premier League

Alok Kapali played a spectacular innings of 39 not out to give Comilla Victorians the BPL title off the last ball of the final. The Valiant Barisal Bulls were beaten by three wickets in the end, but it could so easily have been their trophy heading into the final overs of the match.

But it was Kapali, who made 39 off 28 balls with five fours, four of those off the last eight balls of the game. He struck two fours in the last two over, and ran the winning run off the last ball in front of a packed Shree Bangla National Stadium. Imrul Kayes 53 had earlier set Comilla up but the chase was almost derailed when their key player Ashar Zaidi was run out at a crucial stage.

Zaidi, Comilla best player in the tournament, was run out for 16 off 14 balls. His dismissal illustrated Barisal impressive fielding throughout this BPL, as Mahmudullah brilliant pick up and throw was well taken by the bowler Cooper who broke the stumps in time. Before that Mahmudullah and Nafees aggressiveness with the bat had earlier propelled Barisal to 156 for 4 after they were put in to bat. The pair added 81 runs for the fourth wicket.

Alok Kapali was awarded as Man of the match in Final and Ashar Zaidi was awarded as Man of the tournament. He scored 215 runs in 11 matches and took 17 wickets. After this third season of BPL, Mashrafe Mortaza became the only Bangladesh captain to pick up all three titles. 

FIH Hockey World League

A Spirited India broke their 33 year old medal jinx in a major International tournament as they came back from two goals down to stun defending champions Netherlands in the shootout after both the teams were tied at 5-5 at regulation time in a thrilling bronze medal play-off match of the Hockey World League Final in Raipur.

India last won a medal in an International tournament way back in 1982 when they beat Pakistan 5-4 in the Champions trophy in Amsterdam. In the shootout, the Indians prevailed over the Dutch 3-2 at the Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel Stadium and win avenged India’s 1-3 defeat against the Netherland in the pool stages in the tournament here. After starting the match on a slow note, India produced a fine show in the last two quarters to beat the world number two side with their relentless attacks in the second half.

Netherlands were quick to take a 2-0 lead in the first half. It was high intensity match which produced as many as six goals in the last 10 minutes, three each to India and Netherlands. The Indians got their acts together after the change of ends and Ramandeep Singh scored from a field strike before Rupinder Pal Singh converted a penalty corner in the 47^th minute to level the scores.

It was raining goals as India took the lead in the next minute when Akshdeep Singh found the back of the Dutch net to give India 5-3 lead. But the Dutchmen did not sit back and fought back valiantly to score two goals in the last two minutes to take the match into shoot-out. Final match was won by Australia beating Belgium by 2-1 in Raipur.