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DOHA: Four of the top-seeded players of the Qatar Open advanced on Wednesday to the quarterfinals of the tournament. Alex de Minaur, Andrey Rublev, Daniil Medvedev, and Jack Draper won their matches in straight sets. Top-seeded player Carlos Alcaraz can join them among the last eight later if he beats Italy’s Luca Nardi. Second-seeded De Minaur beat Botic van de Zandschulp by a double 6-4.
DUBAI: World number one Aryna Sabalenka slumped to a 6-3, 6-2 loss against Denmark’s Clara Tauson in the last 16 of the Dubai Championships on Wednesday, as Jasmine Paolini’s title defense came to a painful end. Sabalenka, who beat the 38th-ranked Tauson on her way to last month’s Australian Open final, suffered a second straight premature exit after losing in her opening match in Qatar a week ago. Tauson broke Sabalenka’s serve six times and the Dane will go on to play Czech youngster Linda Noskova, who knocked out fifth seed Jessica Pegula in straight sets to reach the quarter-finals. The 22-year-old Tauson beat Noskova in the first round of the Australian Open.
MADRID: Real Madrid’s Jude Bellingham was hit with a two-match La Liga ban on Wednesday by the Spanish football federation’s disciplinary committee after he was sent off for dissent. The England international was dismissed during the champions’ 1-1 draw at Osasuna on Saturday by referee Jose Munuera Montero. Bellingham, who insisted he had been expressing his frustration and not insulting the referee, will miss league matches against Girona and Real Betis on February 23 and March 2 respectively. The disciplinary committee said Madrid’s attempts to show that Bellingham had not insulted the official were “insufficient” to remove “the presumption of veracity of the referee’s report.” Bellingham had said his dismissal was due to a misunderstanding.
New Zealand batter Kane Williamson broke his six-year streak of not registering a single-digit score in ODIs on Wednesday. The ace batter broke this record during the ICC Champions Trophy opener against Pakistan on Wednesday. Coming to bat at 39/1, Williamson could not put down the anchor, being caught behind on a Naseem Shah delivery by wicketkeeper Mohammed Rizwan for just one run in two balls. This is Kane's first single-digit score in ODIs since January 5, 2019, against Sri Lanka, where he scored just one run in nine balls.
The Indian cricket team's preparations for the ICC Champions Trophy began with a few net sessions after the team landed in Dubai. The likes of Virat Kohli, Rohit Shara, Shubman Gill, Rishabh Pant, Hardik Pandya, etc. all put in the hard yards to get accustomed to the conditions ahead of the start of the tournament. India captain Rohit faced a local left-arm pacer Awais Ahmad in the nets as he looked to prepare himself for pacers like Shaheen Shah Afridi and Trent Boult in the marquee ICC event.
The 2025 ICC Champions Trophy is just around the corner, with every team hoping to hit the ground running when the eight-team tournament begins from February 19. One such team that would be the cynosure of everyone's eyes will be host Pakistan, captained by Mohammad Rizwan. They enter the competition as defending champions, after winning the last edition held in 2017 in England. But do they shape up as one of the strong contenders to win the title? Here's a SWOT analysis from IANS of the Pakistan team that is set to begin their campaign with the tournament opener against New Zealand.
They say batters win matches but bowlers win series and tournaments! It is the biggest cricketing event of the year and the best eight teams in ODI cricket in the world will compete with one another at the 2025 Champions Trophy which gets underway at Karachi from the 19th of February. While all the attention will be on the batters, it will be the teams with the more effective bowling units that may come out triumphant in the tournament. We look at five bowlers who are likely to make a big impact at the 2025 Champions Trophy.
Pakistan cricket was at its unpredictable best during the tri-nation series against New Zealand and South Africa, just ahead of the Champions Trophy 2025. After being thumped by New Zealand in the first game of the tri-series, Pakistan pulled off the incredible, chasing down 353 against South Africa and booking their spot in the final. But in the final, Pakistan flattered to deceive, being well-beaten by New Zealand again. To add to it, they committed a fair few errors as well.