Weekly Digest: Of Vidarbha's maiden Ranji Trophy win and Coutinho's big move

Read upon the biggest sporting events from the past week.

Published : Jan 08, 2018 01:29 IST

Philippe Coutinho joined Barcelona on a five-and-a-half-year contract.
Philippe Coutinho joined Barcelona on a five-and-a-half-year contract.
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Philippe Coutinho joined Barcelona on a five-and-a-half-year contract.

CRICKET

Vidarbha defeated Delhi to clinch its first-ever Ranji Trophy title. At the Holkar Stadium in Indore, the Faiz Fazal-led side thrashed Delhi by nine wickets. ( REPORT )

Three-time IPL winner, Mumbai Indians, the two-time winner, Chennai Super Kings (CSK), Delhi Daredevils (DD) and Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) retained three players at the Vivo-IPL player retention event on Thursday. ( REPORT )

Delhi Daredevils has appointed former Australian captain Ricky Ponting as its new head coach for the 2018 season, the franchise said. Ponting replaces South African coach Paddy Upton, with whom the franchise parted ways last year at the end of his two-year contract. ( REPORT )

Dale Steyn made his comeback to Test cricket during the ongoing match against India after being out of action for more than a year after shoulder injury. But his comeback was short-lived as the pace star was ruled out of the series with bruised heel. ( REPORT )

Dawid Malan has been added to England's squad for its one-day international series against Australia, with Ben Stokes set to miss. ( REPORT )

Makhaya Ntini has resigned from his role as Zimbabwe’s bowling coach. The Zimbabwe Cricket (ZC), in an official statement, confirmed the news. ( REPORT )

Delhi is set to have a new captain in its North Zone T20 League campaign when Pradeep Sangwan replaces Rishabh Pant. ( REPORT )

Michael Hussey has been appointed as the batting coach for Chennai Super Kings (CSK) ahead of the 11th edition of the Indian Premier League. The former Australia left-hander is no stranger to CSK, having played for the side in seven out of the first eight seasons and was part of the title-winning squad on both the occasions. ( REPORT )

Bangladesh dropped opening batsman Soumya Sarkar and paceman Taskin Ahmed from its 16- man squad for the opening two matches of the forthcoming tri- nation one-day international tournament. ( REPORT )

Bihar will open its first innings in national level cricket after a gap of 17 years, with the  Supreme Court  allowing the Bihar Cricket Association (BCA) to participate in the  Ranji Trophy  and other championships this year. ( REPORT )

Proving the speculations wrong, erstwhile India captain  Mahendra Singh Dhoni  has decided to give Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 tournament a miss. Dhoni, who is presently in Ranchi with his family, on Wednesday informed the  Jharkhand  State Cricket Association (JSCA) that he would not represent Jharkhand in the tournament. (REPORT)

Colin Munro helped himself to a stunning hundred as New Zealand posted its highest T20 total to smash West Indies in Tauranga. (REPORT)

Former India coach  Gary Kirsten  and recently-retired pacer  Ashish Nehra  have been named the Royal Challengers Bangalore’s batting and bowling coach respectively for the 11th edition of the  Indian Premier League.(REPORT)

FOOTBALL

Philippe Coutinho finally made his dream switch from Liverpool to Barcelona. (REPORT)

Barcelona's unbeaten league season continued as Lionel Messi equalled Gerd Muller's record. (REPORT)

FA Cup holder Arsenal shown the door by Nottingham Forest in the biggest shock of the third round. (REPORT)

There is no love lost between Anotnio Conte and Jose Mourinho and they traded barbs at one another. (REPORT)

Usain Bolt is not giving up on his dream to become a professional footballer. (REPORT)

At the twilight of his career, Bayern Munich's Franck Ribery is urged to make an move by a Barcelona legend. (REPORT)

Meanwhile, Juventus midfielder Blaise Matuidi allegedly faced racist abuse at Cagliari (REPORT)

Stoke City parted ways with Mark Hughes. (REPORT)

Sunil Chhetri scored a stunner as Bengaluru FC climbed to top of ISL standings. (REPORT)

Chennaiyin FC manager John Gregory in trouble for referee outburst. (REPORT)

Flight delays caused an embarassing situation as ATK-Goa was played late at night. (REPORT)

TENNIS

The 89th ranked Frenchman, Gilles Simon, who was yet to taste a win against Anderson (being 3-0 down on head-to-head), broke the jinx as he beat the South African 7-6, 6-2 to claim the ATP 250 singles title here at the Balewadi Stadium in front of a packed crowd. (REPORT)

Nick Kyrgios  produced an outstanding display of serving to beat  Ryan Harrison  6-4 6-2 and win the  Brisbane International.(REPORT)

France's Gael Monfils won the Qatar Open final in straight sets on Saturday, brushing aside Russia's Andrey Rublev in a one-sided final, 6-2, 6-3. (REPORT)

Aliaksandra Sasnovich performed admirably to reach the Brisbane International final, but proved no match for Elina Svitolina. (REPORT)

Former Fed Cup player,  Ankita Bhambri  has been appointed as the Captain and coach of the Indian team for the Fed Cup Asia-Oceania tennis tournament to be staged at the DLTA Complex here from February 7 to 10. (REPORT)

Andy Murray  has withdrawn from the  Australian Open  due to a hip injury. The Briton, a five-time runner-up at Melbourne Park, was in doubt for the year's first Grand Slam after pulling out of the Brisbane International. (REPORT)

Injured Japanese star  Kei Nishikori  pulled out of the  Australian Open  on Thursday, while  Novak Djokovic  says he will test his problem elbow at an exhibition before deciding whether to play. (REPORT)

BADMINTON

Hyderabad Hunters registered the joint biggest win by a team in the ongoing PBL season three. The trump matches turned out to be one-sided affairs in favour of the Hunters. (REPORT)

Playing in front of a delirious home crowd at the JN Indoor Stadium for the first time ever, Chennai Smashers edged Ahmedabad Smash Masters 2-1 in a thrilling tie. (REPORT)

SQUASH

Neel Joshi put in his best effort but the top seed Sam Todd of England was even better to carve out a 3-1 win and take the gold in the U-15 boys' section of the British Junior Open squash here on Sunday. Joshi had to be content with the silver medal. (REPORT)

HOCKEY

Hockey India  finally made its decision on goalkeeper  P. R. Sreejesh  public, imposing a 15-day ban on the India captain for participating in a celebrity football match way back in October last year without seeking official permission from the federation. (REPORT)

ATHLETICS

Procam International announced Olympic gold medallist and former world record holder for men’s pole vault, Sergey Bubka as the international event ambassador for the 15th Tata Mumbai Marathon on January 21, 2018. (REPORT)

CHESS

Six-time world champion,  Viswanathan Anand  on Friday confirmed he will represent India in the  Chess  Olympiad to be held in Georgia later this year, 12 years after his last participation in 2006. (REPORT)

FORMULA ONE

Italian  Formula One  team  Ferrari  paid tribute to  Michael Schumacher  on Wednesday as the former seven-time world champion turned 49. (REPORT)

NBA

The Pistons and  Houston Rockets  were both short-handed Saturday in a match-up between potential playoff teams, but they provided an entertaining contest in Detroit. (REPORT)

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