Author: WebDesk

RevSportz Comment Three weeks before Arsenal arrived at the Etihad Stadium, Liverpool and Manchester City locked horns in what was likely to have been the last league meeting between Jurgen Klopp and Pep Guardiola. It was a game for the ages, showcasing the cut and thrust of English football at its very best. Liverpool shaded possession, thanks to a hugely impressive second half, but both teams had six shots on target. And for all of Liverpool’s swashbuckling second-half play, the moment of the match was undoubtedly the corner routine from which John Stones gave City the lead. That was a…

The more you think about it, the term ‘team sport’ is the ultimate oxymoron. In no sphere of human endeavour does individual adulation reach the levels that it does in sportlike football and cricket. In that sense, Muhammad Ali was an anomaly, a sportsperson in an individual pursuit who became a global icon. But in Ali’s case, much of that popularity was down to the politics and popular culture of the day, rather than anything he did within the confines of the boxing ring. Otherwise, your Usain Bolts and Roger Federers trail way, way behind the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo…

World history is full of ‘what-ifs.’ What if Adolf Hitler hadn’t launched Operation Barbarossa which led to the disastrous winter war in Russia? What if Japan hadn’t bombed Pearl Harbour? Sport is no different. Who knows where Indian cricket would be now if not for Kapil Dev’s marvellous running catch at Lord’s on June 25, 1983 – the key moment in a famous upset win over the mighty West Indies. And would India football have plumbed such depths but for SA Rahim’s untimely death battling cancer in 1963? For Indian cricket, another flutter-of-butterfly-wings-causing-a-tsunami moment came 30 years ago today, at…

Eric ten Hag’s next game as Manchester United manager will be his 103rd. For Louis van Gaal, his countryman and predecessor, that was the fatal number. Within minutes of winning the FA Cup final in 2016, van Gaal was given his ‘Dear John’ letter, with Jose Mourinho eventually taking his place. But whatever happens in the future, ten Hag will always have March 17, 2024, and a victory that United fans will recall for generations. Since Sir Jim Ratcliffe and his team took charge of football operations at Old Trafford, there have been no unequivocal or emphatic statements in support…

RevSportz Comment When Virat Kohli left the tour of Australia after the first Test in 2020-21, in order to be present for the birth of his first child, there wasn’t really a groundswell of opinion either way. To begin with, the world was dealing with the invisible destroyer that was Covid-19. With millions dying and words like ‘quarantine’ and ‘bio bubble’ becoming part of everyday vocabulary, even diehard fans considered a Test series too trivial a matter to get agitated about. Of course, there were a few murmurs about a captain leaving a sinking ship — India were embarrassingly bowled…

Web Desk The Riyadh-based Al-Hilal are already the most successful side in AFC Champions League history, with four continental titles and five other appearances in the final. That’s alongside 18 domestic league championships, twice as many as their nearest rivals. Now, as they stand on the threshold of title No. 19 and a fifth Champions League, Al-Hilal have also played themselves into football’s history books with a 28th straight win. They eclipsed the previous record, set by The New Saints in Wales in 2016, by thumping Al-Ittihad, one of their biggest rivals, 4-0 on aggregate in the AFC Champions League…

RevSportz Comment It’s difficult to imagine that two decades have flown by. For a younger generation, in an age when bilateral ODI series mean top players being rested and lukewarm interest, it’s next to impossible to understand just how much attention there was on India’s tour to Pakistan in 2004. The Sunday Times in London had an entire page of the sports section previewing the series. The following Sunday, another full page contained a match report from Karachi and a colour copy taking in the mood in India. Things were no different during the Test series that followed. One full…

RevSportz Comment There was a time when Phil Foden’s nickname, “Stockport Messi”, was used to mock him and Manchester City’s delusions of grandeur. Not any more. City are champions of Europe, and the world, and on course for an unprecedented fourth English title in succession. After the manner in which Manchester United were taken apart, despite Marcus Rashford giving them an early lead with an Exocet, you would find few arguments against City pulling that off, or Pep Guardiola’s assertion that Foden sets the standard for the rest of the league. “Absolutely not,” said Eric ten Hag, United’s manager, when…

RevSportz Comment This has been a long time coming, which seems a funny thing to say about a team that only played its first Test in May 2018, and which clinched its first win in the eighth match it played. India, for example, took 25 games to break their duck, while it took New Zealand 45 Tests. Compared to them, Ireland have got there at Usain Bolt pace. Yet, the feeling is of a team that international cricket has left behind. Afghanistan, and even the Netherlands, have won plenty of plaudits in recent years, and both pulled off noteworthy upsets…

You ask any Indian above the age of 35 which was the greatest Test series of all time, and the chances are that they won’t even need to think twice. England and Australia may point, with some justification, to the epic 2005 Ashes, but for those that follow Indian cricket, no experience will come close to Australia’s visit in 2000-01. Steve Waugh’s side were called The Invincibles for a reason, having racked up 15 Test wins on the bounce. That became 16 inside three days in Mumbai, despite Sachin Tendulkar playing two of the best knocks of his illustrious career.…