It was the biggest sporting day for the entire nation this Sunday when Team India went against its arch-rival Pakistan in its first league match of 2015 World Cup. This was the 6th occasion when these two teams were facing each other in a world cup match. India has dominated the world cup contests again Pakistan before this match winning all five matches starting from1992. On Sunday, India chose to bat first at the Melbourne Cricket Ground and put on 300 runs on board with the help of Virat Kohli’s century and a quick 74 by Suresh Raina. In the 2nd innings Pakistan batting collapsed for just 224 runs against a fantastic bowling performance by India led by Mohammad Sami taking 4 wickets. India will see South Africa in its next match on Sunday, 22nd Feb.
Let’s have a look at the other sporting action which happened around the world.
Football
Lionel Messi in his 300th appearance in La Liga against 19th seed Levante scored a sensational hat-trick helping Barcelona win the match 5-0. Bacra brutally dominated the match leaving no chance of scoring a goal. Messi completed his 23rd La Liga hat-trick from the penalty spot in the 65th minute of the game. Now he shares the record of most no. of hat-tricks with his rival Cristiano Ronaldo of Real Madrid. Barcelona edged over Real Madrid in the La Liga standings with this win and now sits at the top with 57 points. In the English Premier League, Chelsea beat Everton 1-0 with the maiden goal by Willian in 89th minute of the game. With this win, Chelsea strengthened its position at the top of the points table with 59 points.
Chess
Five-time world champion Viswanathan Anand played a draw with Fabiano Caruana of Italy in the Zurich Chess Challenge. As a result, Anand has slipped to the 2nd position after the end of the third round. Earlier Anand played a draw against his 2008 challenger Vladimir Kramnik of Russia in the first round. On Sunday when India beat Pakistan in the cricket world cup, Anand joined the celebrations by beating Levon Aronian of Armenia in the 2nd round of Zurich Chess Challenge. Hikaru Nakamura of United States regained the lead in the chmapionship defeating Russian Sergey Karjakin. Nakamura became the first player from America and 10th overall to sail past the 2800 rating barrier in live world rankings.