CRICKET

IPL Auctions: Rising Pune Supergiant picked up England all-rounder Ben Stokes for a whopping Rs 14.5 Cr (Crores), becoming the most expensive buy of the season. English fast bowler Tymal Mills was taken by Royal Challengers Bangalore for Rs 12 Cr. Mohammad Nabi and Rashid Khan became first cricketers from Afghanistan to be picked by Sunrisers Hyderabad for Rs 30 lakh and Rs 4 Cr, respectively. Amongst Indian players, Karn Sharma was snapped up by Mumbai Indians for Rs 3.2 Cr, T Natarajan was picked by Kings X1 Punjab for Rs 3 Cr, Varun Aaron was taken by Kings X1 Punjab for Rs 2.8 Cr and Mohammed Siraj was taken again by Hyderabad for Rs 2.6 Cr.

Shreyas Iyer Smashes Double Ton As India ‘A’ Draw With Australia: India ‘A’ squad led by Hardik Pandya took on their Aussie counterparts in a practice match at the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai which ended in a draw as India ‘A’ star batsman Shreyas Iyer scored an unbeaten 202, smashing 27 fours and 7 mammoth sixes out of the park.

Bravish Shetty And Shivam Malhotra Help Parsee Gymkhana Clinch Victory: Bravish Shetty’s century and Shivam Malhotra’s 5-53 steered Parsee Gymkhana to victory by 83 runs against National Cricket Club in the Young Comrade Shield Cricket Tournament. Parsee Gym scored 214 in 55 overs. Along with Bravish, Ajinkya Patil contributed 42 and Ankit Revandkar scored 33. National Cricket Club were bundled out for a mere 131 in 32.3 overs courtesy Shivam Malhotra. Prathamesh Pawar top scored with 66*.

India Win A Thriller In The ICC Women’s World Cup Qualifier Final: The women in blue played excellent cricket as Harmanpreet Kaur smashed a six in the penultimate delivery to help the Indian Women win a nerve wrecking encounter of the ICC Women’s World Cup qualifier final by 1 wicket defeating arch rivals South Africa Women at P Sara Oval in Sri Lanka. The South African Women scored 244 in their 49.4 overs. Rajeshwari Gayakwad picked up 3-51 in her 9 overs. For the Indian Women, Mona Meshram and Deepti Sharma both scored half centuries. Harmanpreet Kaur made an unbeaten 41.

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FOOTBALL

On 18th February, Brighton and Hove Albion won against Barnsley 2-0, Queens Park Rangers defeated Birmingham City 4-1 and Burton Albion clinched a 2-1 victory V/s Norwich City. Cardiff City played exceptionally well to win 5-0 against Rotherham United. On 20th February Newcastle outplayed rivals Aston Villa 2-0. The next day Queens Park Rangers defeated Wigan Athletic 2-1.

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CHESS

Grandmaster Dronavalli Defeats Dzagnidze: 26 year old Indian chess player Harika Dronavalli who won the grandmaster title in 2011, recently defeated Georgia’s Nana Dzagnidze in the first game of the World Women’s Chess Championship. After winning first of the two game mini match, India now just requires a draw in the return game to qualify for the next round.