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Putting a spate of injuries and “freakish” bad luck behind him, Deepak Chahar is finally showing the world all of his abilities as a swing bowler

Deivarayan Muthu24-Apr-2018Manpreet Gony, Sudeep Tyagi, Mohit Sharma, Ishwar Pandey, Shadab Jakati… and Deepak Chahar. Chahar has become the latest uncapped Indian bowler to deliver for Chennai Super Kings. While Gony, Tyagi, Mohit, Pandey and Jakati were all unknown names before their stints with Super Kings, Chahar shot to prominence in 2010, after bagging 8 for 10 on Ranji Trophy debut to bundle out Hyderabad for 21 – the lowest total in Indian domestic cricket – at just 18 years of age. In his first Ranji season, he carried Rajasthan to their first title with 30 wickets at 19.63. He was subsequently signed by Rajasthan Royals in 2011, but a spate of injuries and illnesses saw him fade away.This doesn’t mean he was sloppy. On the contrary, even after the end of his training sessions with Rajasthan, he’d go and do sprints in the dark to keep himself fit. Chahar’s problem is that he is “freakishly unlucky.” Or at least, that’s how Hrishikesh Kanitkar, his first Ranji Trophy captain, puts it. Once, during a practice match, Kanitkar drove a ball back to him, Chahar stretched his hand out instinctively and earned a split webbing for his trouble.He reunited with Kanitkar in 2016 at Rising Pune Supergiant and was even developing a knuckle ball when injury ruled him out of contention. After being seen as a first-choice pick, he played only five matches for Rising Pune in 2016 and 2017 and took one solitary wicket.In October 2017, he was initially named in the Board President’s XI squad for the warm-up games against the visiting New Zealand side, only for the BCCI to fix the “inadvertent” error and pick his brother Rahul Chahar instead.After several false dawns, things are finally looking up for Chahar this season. He was the top wicket-taker in the 20-over Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy with 19 scalps in Rajasthan’s maiden run to the final. He showed he had added an extra yard of pace and grabbed 5 for 15 against Karnataka; twice he was on a hat-trick in that match. His performances caught the eyes of Chennai Super Kings in the auction.”When he came on to the domestic scene, Chahar used to bowl around 130kph, but now he has pushed his pace above 135kph because he wanted to play a higher level of cricket,” Kanitkar told ESPNcricinfo. “He did not rush into it and, like Bhuvneshwar, he has upped his pace gradually. In one of the IPL matches, I noticed he hit 140kph but swing will be his strength.”These are still early days in IPL 2018, but Chahar seems to have become MS Dhoni’s go-to bowler in the Powerplay. Dhoni’s preference for swing bowlers at CSK is well known – Gony, Tyagi, Mohit, Pandey all had good outswingers. Chahar can move the ball both ways and now he has the confidence to bowl the knuckle ball he had practiced at Rising Pune. Case in point: the variation that fooled Ajinkya Rahane and hit the top of off stump.CSK coach Stephen Fleming was thrilled to see how far Chahar has come along: “He’s been developing over the last two years. He had a very good domestic season. His skill set was something we were very impressed with since the first day. He’s actually a handy batsman as well. We think he’s a fine cricketer. The fact that he swings the ball is important. Lots of trends in the game, obviously wristspinners and swinging the ball are very effective at the moment. And he does that and he does it at good pace too. At the moment he’s around 140 kph, 143 tops. He’s gone really well. He’s got to find and maintain consistency and that will come with experience. “In his last two games, Chahar has bowled uninterrupted four and three-over spells with the new ball, opening up the middle order for the change bowlers. His spell against Sunrisers Hyderabad on Sunday was particularly delightful. He began with a wicket-maiden, and the wicket itself was a perfect set up. Outswinger first. Inswinger next. Outswinger again. Batsman caught at slip for 0. In his next over, he dismissed Manish Pandey with one that move away again before getting Deepak Hooda with a change-up. At that point, Chahar had delivered 13 dots in 14 balls. Eventually, he finished with 3 for 15 in four overs to pave the way for another last-over CSK win.Most teams would have figured out by now that all of Chahar’s seven IPL wickets, including six this season, have come in the Powerplay at an economy rate of 8.6. How can he adapt to that and Royal Challengers Bangalore’s rollicking top four on an easy-paced, hit-through-the line, Chinnaswamy pitch?

Stats highlights from the third day of the second Test between West Indies and India in Jamaica

Bharath Seervi02-Aug-20168 Consecutive Test series in which Ajinkya Rahane has made at least one score of 90 or more, starting from the 2013-14 tour of South Africa. He has scored centuries in six of those series, while scoring 96 in South Africa 2013-14 and 98 in Bangladesh in 2015. He is the only India player to do this in each of the last eight series. Monday’s century was Rahane’s third in four innings, after twin centuries against South Africa in Delhi and 22 in the previous Test.444 India’s previous highest total in Tests at Sabina Park, which had come way back in 1952-53. India’s 500 for 9 is the sixth-highest total for any visiting team at this venue and only the second total of 500 or more in the last 20 years. This was India’s fifth total of 500 or more runs in the West Indies, all of them having come since 2000.2 Number of times India have taken a first-innings lead of 300 or more in consecutive Tests. They had a lead of 323 in the previous Test, and 304 in this Test. The only previous such instance came in 2009-10 against Sri Lanka at home: lead of 413 in Kanpur, and 333 at Brabourne Stadium. This is only the fifth time India have had a lead in excess of 300 outside Asia.2008 The last time India made two or more totals of 500 or more in an away Test series – during 2007-08 Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Australia. India have never made more than two 500-plus totals in any Test series.70.28 India’s average partnership for wickets one to seven in this series – their best in an away series where they had ten or more partnerships. In two innings in this series so far, India have had ten 50-plus stands from the 14 partnerships for wickets one to seven.3 Centuries for Rahane in Tests outside Asia at No. 5 – joint-most by an India batsman. Mohammad Azharuddin, Sourav Ganguly, Sachin Tendulkar and Polly Umrigar also have three such centuries. Rahane is India’s first No. 5 to score a century in the West Indies since Rahul Dravid’s unbeaten 144 in Georgetown in 2002.1976 The last time a West Indies spinner took a five-wicket haul at home against India – 5 for 23 by David Holford in Bridgetown. Roston Chase, who took 5 for 121 in this innings, had gone wicketless in the previous match, his Test debut. In his four first-class innings at Sabina Park previously, he had taken just 2 for 84 in 24 overs.3 Number of higher totals for India, than their 500 for 9 in this match, with two or fewer centuries by batsmen. They had made 657 at Eden Gardens in 2000-01, 523 at Adelaide Oval in 2003-04 and 503 in Hyderabad in 2012-13 – all against Australia. In all three instances, there were two centuries, one of them being a double-century, unlike in this game where KL Rahul’s 158 was the highest.17 Sixes hit in this Test, at the end of India’s innings – already the most in a Test at Sabina Park. On two previous occasions, 16 sixes were hit. The most sixes in any Test in the West Indies is 22. India’s eight sixes in their first innings is their joint-highest against West Indies.3 Tests in the West Indies in which spinners from both sides took five-wicket hauls in the first innings. R Ashwin took 5 for 52, while Chase took 5 for 121. The first two occasions were: between the same teams at the same venue in 1952-53, and between Bangladesh and the hosts in Kingstown in 2014.2010 The last time three or more India batsmen were out for scores between 40 and 49 – versus Sri Lanka at Premadasa. In the first innings of this match, Cheteshwar Pujara (46), Virat Kohli (44) and Wriddhiman Saha (47) were all dismissed in the 40s. This was only their third such instance since 2000.

Stats highlights from the World Cup semi-final between Australia and India in Sydney

Bishen Jeswant26-Mar-20155:00

Insights: Spinners in the World Cup

328 Australia’s score at the SCG today, the first 300-plus total and the most any team has made in a World Cup semi-final. No team has chased a 300-plus score in a World Cup knockout game.95 Australia’s margin of victory in this game, the highest for any team in the semi-final of a World Cup. The previous biggest margin of victory was 91 for India versus Kenya during the 2003 World Cup.3 Number of players who have scored 6000 ODI runs when captaining their respective sides; MS Dhoni (6022) is the third. The other players to achieve this feat are Ricky Ponting (8497) and Stephen Fleming (6295).10 Fifty-plus scores for Steven Smith in ODIs. Australia have won each of the ten ODIs when Smith has gone past this mark. This is Smith’s fourth hundred, but today’s 105 is his career-best score.1 Indian bowler who has taken a four-wicket haul in a World Cup knockout match – Umesh Yadav, who has achieved this twice, in the quarter- final and semi-final of the 2015 tournament.18 Wickets taken by Umesh in this World Cup, the third-highest for any bowler. He went past his team-mate Mohammed Shami, who has taken 17. Mitchell Starc picked up two wickets to retain second spot (20 wickets) while New Zealand’s Trent Boult leads the pack with 21.4 Indian batsmen who have scored 400-plus runs in a single World Cup. Shikhar Dhawan, with 412 runs is the latest and joins Sachin Tendulkar (1996, 2003 and 2011), Saurav Ganguly (2003) and Rahul Dravid (1999).2 Times R Ashwin has dismissed Glenn Maxwell in seven ODI innings. Maxwell has scored 77 runs off 55 balls, a strike rate of 140, against Ashwin. Maxwell has also scored 71 runs off 27 balls, at a strike rate of 262, against Ashwin in the Indian Premier League, where he has been dismissed by Ashwin only once.4 Wickets lost by Australia between the 34th and 44th overs. They only scored 61 runs in this period. Australia scored 197 in the 33 overs before and 70 in the six overs after that phase.

India A’s tour to South Africa offers many India hopefuls a good chance to stake a claim for batting and bowling slots in the senior side

Abhishek Purohit08-Aug-2013The LC de Villiers Oval in Pretoria is about an hour’s drive from the Wanderers in Johannesburg. Most of the 16 India A players will be hoping they can perform impressively enough at the former over the next three weeks, so that they can make it to the latter for a Test match three months later. The hopes will be highest for a bunch of middle-order batsmen, all of whom have played international cricket, but for whom a Test spot remains an uncertainty, despite at least two vacancies.Leading this bunch will be a man who, just over a year ago, was part of a similar group of hopefuls on a plane to West Indies, and was looking to restart his international career that began with a lot of promise but had been halted by injury. Cheteshwar Pujara had won a Test debut for India in 2010, impressing the selectors enough to make India’s previous trip to South Africa but had required surgery after a knee injury in the following IPL.There were ten home Tests lined up in 2012-13. That was as good an opportunity as he would ever get to establish himself, but Pujara had missed over a year, his debut now only a memory. The A tour to West Indies in June 2012 was his chance, just like it was for many others. A superlative effort arrived in the first unofficial Test – 50 followed by an unbeaten 96 in a chase of 186, after India A were 77 for 6 and 115 for 8.The Test recall came, and Pujara has averaged 82.53 since, with two double centuries, and two big hundreds. While the Caribbean experience may not have helped much in tackling the attacks of England, Australia and New Zealand, West Indies was where Pujara began his comeback. He’s now India’s first choice as Test No 3, and surely has to be the leading example and motivation for those still on the fringe. The man who has been rested for this A tour, Virat Kohli, is first choice as Test No 5. The No 6 position is still open, as it has been since Sourav Ganguly’s retirement in 2008. If no one has claimed No 6 as yet, it also leaves the reserve middle-order batsman’s slot open.India A squad

Cheteshwar Pujara (capt), Shikhar Dhawan, M Vijay, Rohit Sharma, Suresh Raina, Ambati Rayudu, Dinesh Karthik, Ajinkya Rahane, Wriddhiman Saha, Parvez Rasool, Shahbaz Nadeem, Shami Ahmed, Stuart Binny, Ishwar Pandey, Jaydev Unadkat, Siddarth Kaul

There are as many as five batsmen who would want to stake claims for both vacancies in Pretoria, with an eye also on the No. 4 spot that will fall vacant, after decades, in the near future. Ajinkya Rahane and Rohit Sharma were among the hopefuls along with Pujara last year in West Indies. Both remain hopefuls as far as Tests are concerned, and in Rahane’s case, limited-overs as well. Ambati Rayudu has finally discovered there are no easy international runs, even if the opposition is Zimbabwe. The first ball to Suresh Raina is still invariably short, but somehow he still finds himself in contention for a Test berth.MS Dhoni’s leviathan presence has left Dinesh Karthik with no choice but to compete as a specialist batsman, but with Wriddhiman Saha also in the squad, it is to be seen who will be preferred for the two unofficial Tests.The openers may appear to have much less at stake in Pretoria. M Vijay had two centuries in his previous Test series. Shikhar Dhawan’s form has continued unabated ever since his unforgettable Test debut in March. However, Vijay’s record in Tests outside the subcontinent is a highest of 45 in eight innings. Dhawan has played one Test, at home, and his run in limited-overs has been aided by missed chances in several innings. Gautam Gambhir was recalled for the final Test against Australia before being ruled out due to jaundice, and there will ideally be space for three openers on the tour to South Africa in November, but Vijay and Dhawan could not have asked for a better chance to seal the first two spots.India know it is the batsmen who need the reconnaissance sojourn more than the bowlers, and that is why three frontline fast bowlers and spinners are not part of this squad. The selectors may or may not go back to a reportedly rejuvenated Zaheer Khan. Moreover, given how frequently someone like Umesh Yadav breaks down, this might even mean two spots opening up in November for Jaydev Unadkat, Mohammed Shami, Ishwar Pandey and Siddarth Kaul.After South Africa, the senior India side tours New Zealand, England and Australia in 2014. Who knows who might do a Pujara in Pretoria, push his way into the Test side and go on to establish himself over those four overseas contests? It could be a batsman who has been as overdue for runs as Rohit is, or someone as raw as Pandey and Kaul are. Therein lies the beauty of these A tours.

Twenty years after Peter Roebuck’s last first-class game he was still struggling and often despairing, searching for something to fulfill him

Peter English13-Nov-2011Scatty and focused, brilliant and fallible, muscular yet incredibly fragile, Peter Roebuck was too many men rolled into an irreplaceable one. Individuals like him often sit on the outside, making choices and then fretting over the consequences.Minor ones, like weighing up describing Shane Watson as a banana-bender, willow-wielder, or leather-flinger. Or see-sawing over whether he really wished he’d played for England or had been right to feel relief that he never faced international scrutiny or expectation. Or life-ending ones like in the moments before his fatal decision in South Africa.In the end it was a wonder he lasted so long, dealing with demons and demonising which shadowed him during his playing days and forever after. Deep down, I think, he knew he would determine his end. A modern-day Harold Gimblett.Two weeks ago he wrote that in retirement Simon Katich would enter the most challenging phase of his life. Twenty years after Roebuck’s last first-class game he was still struggling and often despairing, searching for something to fulfill him.He had tried funding orphans in Africa, sending them on to university and successful careers. He’d been a de facto grandfather and cricket coach. Of course there was his prolific writing and his never-to-be-replicated style. There’d been properties a few minutes from Bondi Beach in Sydney and Straw Hat Farm in South Africa, along with intermittent dreams of a shift to India.Roebuck was full of flaws and imperfections, but this is not an apology for him. Nobody agrees with all the decisions a person makes. Roebuck didn’t really do friendship, but he was a cherished one of mine.As a young man I stayed at his house for a summer. He’d call me ‘Master English’ and at times it sure felt like boarding school: chores, informal lessons while watching the cricket, and gardening. I’d met him years before at my first Adelaide Test. A friendly hello was followed with tips on writing and a crash-course into the Tale of the Many Roebucks. A letter followed filled with, I presume, more advice – but it was illegible. In those early days of resisting laptops he had developed a style of shorthand for copytaking that only one person could decipher. Eventually emails made written conversation possible and became a popular medium for advice and lecturing which, when you knew him, dripped with Roebuckian care.”No idea about babies,” he typed from Sri Lanka in September, “except don’t read books and just respond as a human – no one is perfect!” He was great at delivering advice, but rarely took it. Not from others or himself.Roebuck occasionally reflected that he shouldn’t have criticised Richard Hadlee in the lead-up to Somerset’s County Championship match against Nottinghamshire in 1986. As a new newspaper writer he felt compelled to tell the truth and pointed out some weaknesses of a fast man presumed by most to be at his peak. Somerset batted, Roebuck opened and the angry Hadlee’s first ball should have bowled him – or hurt him. Somehow it didn’t and almost two days later Roebuck’s obduracy – the perfect word for him, especially in a three-day game – had taken him to an unbeaten 221, his highest first-class score.He was one of only two English county players to register hundreds against the Australians in 1989 and it always made him chuckle that the other was Mark Nicholas, another media- and hemisphere-hopping ex-pro. That summer pushed him closer to an England cap, but then he captained the A team in a one-day loss to the Netherlands and that was that. The flashbacks made him smile and he was always surprised to hear stories about himself that were always true.My favourite Roebuck anecdote has him batting in a county game and calling his partner, wicketkeeper Neil Burns, for a mid-pitch conference, seemingly to discuss the state of the game. Maybe it was 20 for 5, or 30 for 6 (you never relied on Roebuck for a genuine fact or stat) and there was lots to discuss. It was also six days into an away trip for Somerset and Roebuck’s brain was scrambling amid the carnage. “Neil, I think I’ve left the key in the front door of my house.”Doubtless, Roebuck will still be made fun of. Moreover, he will be missed. For his mix of rambling and astute monologues, his engaging company and writing, and being the subject of so many intriguing stories. For always losing his straw hat and complaining about his laptop. For insisting he was more Australian than everyone else in the press box. For so often exiting mysteriously before play, a dinner or a tour had ended.

On pitches where the bowlers can do very little, such as at the Asia Cup, the little they manage to do is priceless

Sidharth Monga in Karachi03-Jul-2008

On pitches where the bowlers can do very little, such as at the Asia Cup, the little they manage to do is priceless. The Indian medium-pacers put in just such a performance on a heartless pitch to restrict Sri Lanka to 308.To start off with, Mahendra Singh Dhoni made an aggressive move by playing an extra bowler. “We wanted to think a bit differently, to do things a bit differently,” Dhoni said, after the comprehensive win took them into the final. “If you keep doing the same thing, you will get the same result. We wanted to go with a 4-1 combination, because we have struggled in the middle overs. Since there is not much help in the middle overs, we wanted to have an option there.”
One other thing they did differently – and more importantly – was they opened the innings with RP Singh and Ishant Sharma. Praveen Kumar has, in his short career, been a superb new-ball bowler for India, but that is when he can get the ball to move. In Karachi, however, the pitch has not aided Praveen, and the move worked for India.What favoured Ishant and RP was that the pitch, for the first time in eight matches, had a hint of variable bounce, and as Mahela Jayawardene reckoned, was a bit a slower. And on such pitches bowlers like Ishant, who can hit that length consistently, can be difficult to handle. With RP bowling a tight opening spell of four overs for 11, Ishant was the one Kumar Sangakkara and Sanath Jayasuriya had to go after. A less humble man might claim to have chalked out a strategy to bowl in the blind spot around the left-hand batsmen’s hips – Ishant got edges down the legs off both Sangakkara and Jayasuriya just before they could explode. Those, in fact, were not the best balls he bowled, but he had an interesting battle going on with Jayasuriya building up to that dismissal.RP, who really should have been the Man of the Match, returned for a second spell within the Powerplays to bowl a maiden over to Jayawardene. In his last three overs, bowled at the death, he went for 20 runs and took Kaushal Weeraratne’s wicket, making sure the final charge never arrived.”I am pretty happy with the way they did today,” Dhoni said. “Ishant, RP and Pragyan [Ojha] bowled really well, it doesn’t mean that the other bowlers didn’t. You have to see they had the opportunity with the new ball, the rest of the seamers had to bowl with a fairly old ball.”The old ball has been a problem for India for some time now. They haven’t been great exponents of reverse-swing, and the yorker has been conspicuous in its absence. India did manage to restrict Sri Lanka to 77 in the last 10 overs, but that had a lot to do with the fact that they had got wickets at fairly regular intervals. It was mainly length bowling at the death, with a slower ball here and there; better batsmen than Sri Lanka’s last five would have cherished those dish-outs.Once again, when India came in to bat, Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir gave them an explosive start, which proved to be a blessing for the middle order that usually has a lot more running between the wickets to do than Sehwag or Gambhir. Out of the last 36 hours, India have been involved in cricket-related activities for about 24 hours, so the ease with which they reached the target in 46.5 overs doesn’t begin to reflect the magnitude of the effort. “These bikes are running on reserve energy,” Dhoni joked.Dhoni, Suresh Raina, and Rohit Sharma looked visibly tired by the end of it; the bowlers will be feeling it even more. In the two days that they have between today and the final, they will have to recover physically, and also work out how to put in the other half of the precious little they managed today.

Per MLS rules, any player who does not participate in the All-Star Game without prior approval is ineligible for the next match

MLS sanctions Messi and Alba for skipping ASGDuo not available for selection Saturday All-Star absences were not approvedGet the MLS Season Pass today!Stream games nowWHAT HAPPENED?

Major League Soccer confirmed on Friday that both Lionel Messi and Jordi Alba have been suspended one match each for skipping the 2025 MLS All-Star game, and neither will be available when Inter Miami host FC Cincinnati Saturday night.

In a statement, the league said the two players were sanctioned "due to their absence at this week’s Major League Soccer All-Star Game. Per league rules, any player who does not participate in the All-Star Game without prior approval from the league is ineligible to compete in their club’s next match."

Earlier Friday, Miami coach Javier Mascherano had said both players would be able to play against Cincinnati, adding that Messi was dealing with fatigue and Alba sustatined a minor injury against the New York Red Bulls last weekend.

"Look, players always have discomfort, especially when they play every three days,” Mascherano told reporters on Friday. “But luckily, he is returning today. Let's hope he can train alongside the group so we can count on both of them for tomorrow's game. We haven't received any [sanction.]"

In 2018, then-LA Galaxy forward Zlatan Ibrahimovic was suspended one match for skipping the All-Star Game without approval.

Just hours before the ASG on Wednesday, MLS Commissioner Don Garber declined to say whether Messi or Alba would be disciplined, but admitted the league should have been more proactive in confirming the players' status ahead of its marquee summer event.

MLS didn't publicly announce that Messi and Alba would not play in the All-Star game until the roster was confirmed Wednesday morning, and offered no specifics behind the absences. Garber said at the time that MLS and Inter Miami were communicating on the issue, but pointed to Miami's heavy schedule – playing nine matches in just more than a month – spread across the Club World Cup and MLS play.

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Neither Messi nor Alba trained until Friday this week, according to Mascherano, who added that "Messi showed normal fatigue from the number of games and minutes he's been playing."

The Miami manager said that, while he supports the All-Star Game, it needs to be scheduled in a different window.

"What I think is that if they want to do this type of event, it's great to do it, and the truth is that it's great for the league," he said. "There shouldn't be a date in the schedule. It's crazy. We've been playing four of the last five games away. We've been playing four away. We've been playing practically every three days."

Mascherano suggested that the annual event be held on the weekend, and that the league should not return to regular-season games so quickly after the contest. The ASG was Wednesday, and the league has games scheduled Friday and Saturday.

"Stop for the weekend, the All-Star Games is played on the weekend, and we come back," he said. "Because after Wednesday, today, 48 hours after having played, there are teams that are going to play today, and it's not enough rest for the players either. So, the first thing we have to think about is that football belongs to the players. And if football belongs to the players. Without players, it doesn't exist."

Inter Miami will be without three key starters on Saturday – Messi, Alba and defender Maxi Falcon, who is suspended for one match due to yellow card accumulation.

DID YOU KNOW?

Since the start of the season in February, Miami has competed in the CONCACAF Champions Cup, MLS regular season, the FIFA Club World Cup, and has one match left before participation in the 2025 Leagues Cup.

Since the start of the season, they have played in 33 matches across all competitions. The Vancouver Whitecaps, 2025 Champions Cup finalists, meanwhile, have played in 34 across all competitions this season.

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Miami and FCC kick off at 7:15 p.m. ET Saturday in a meeting between two Eastern Conference contenders. FCC sit atop the Supporters' Shield standings, and last week defeated Miami 3-0 at home.

The shock Carabao Cup elimination at Blundell Park was the latest of many painful defeats the Red Devils have had to endure in the last 25 years

They say that when you hit rock bottom, the only way is up. But Manchester United fans have learned that that is simply not true; even when you think that things couldn't possibly get any worse, they can and often do.

Ruben Amorim had promised Red Devils' fans after their worst season in 52 years that the good time were coming, but three matches into the new campaign and the club appear to be sinking even further into the abyss, especially after Wednesday's shock elimination from the Carabao Cup at the hands of Grimsby Town of League Two.

It marked only the second time that United had been knocked out of the League Cup in the second round in 30 years, and it was arguably the worst defeat of Amorim's dismal nine-month spell in charge. And yet it was just one of many abysmal results inflicted on the club in the last 25 years.

GOAL ranks the worst defeats United have endured in all competitions in the 21st century…

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  15Manchester United 1-2 Manchester City | February 10, 2008

  Despite the presence of Cristiano Ronaldo, Carlos Tevez, Nani and Ryan Giggs, Sir Alex Ferguson's Red Devils were unable to overpower Manchester City. Sven-Goran Eriksson's team beat United on home soil in the second week of the campaign, but the defeat at Old Trafford the following February was particularly painful.

  The match came just days after the 50th anniversary of the Munich air disaster, but Ferguson's team fell behind through goals from Darius Vassell and Benjani. Michael Carrick scored late on for United, but they were unable to rescue a point.

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  14Brighton 4-0 Manchester United | May 7, 2022

  The wheels had well and truly fallen off under Ralf Rangnick by the time United made the trip to Brighton near the end of the 2021-22 season. Moises Caicedo, Marc Cucurella, Pascal Gross and Leandro Trossard all scored in the first hour at the Amex Stadium as the Red Devils were crushed by Graham Potter's team.

  They went on to draw with Chelsea and lose to Crystal Palace in the final two games of the season as they scraped to a sixth-placed finish in the top-flight.

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  13Manchester United 0-3 Manchester City | March 25, 2014

  If losing 4-1 away to City in the third week of the Premier League season wasn't bad enough, David Moyes' spell in charge got even worse when the Red Devils were hammered by their noisy neighbours on home soil. Edin Dzeko opened the scoring in the first minute before adding a second just before the hour mark while Yaya Toure then completed the destruction towards the end.

  City went on to win the title while United finished in seventh place, and Moyes went on to say that his team must aspire to be at their cross-city rivals' level, an assertion that did not go down well with United's fans.

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  12Manchester United 1-4 Liverpool | March 14, 2009

  It was all going so well when Cristiano Ronaldo put United ahead after 22 minutes at Old Trafford. The fun did not last long, though, as Fernando Torres equalised before the half-hour mark. Steven Gerrard, Fabio Aurelio and Andrea Dossena then completed the turnaround and the humiliation, as Liverpool claimed a 4-1 win at Old Trafford.

  The Reds beat United twice in the league that season as they kept them under pressure in the title race, but in the end the Red Devils finished four points clear and lifted the Premier League trophy yet again.

Spinners Felix Organ and Liam Dawson tore through Surrey to hand the champions their largest-ever Vitality County Championship innings defeat and open up the title race.Off-spinner Organ claimed his third career five-for with leg-armer Dawson picking up 4 for 45 to give Hampshire an innings and 277 run victory, their first home win of the campaign, and their largest-ever victory.Surrey’s only heavier defeats in first-class cricket came in 1866 against England – a match in which WG Grace scored a double century – and in 1948 versus Don Bradman’s Australians – both an innings and 296 runs.It was Surrey’s fourth defeat since the start of 2022 – with two of those coming after they had already secured their back-to-back crowns – with Essex and Somerset hot on their heels at the summit of Division One.Surrey were given a minimum of 172 overs to avoid an innings defeat, and got through to the 17th over unscathed but from then on wickets fell regularly.For the spin-fest that followed, the first man to fall, Rory Burns, departed to pace as Keith Barker found the Surrey captain edging to first slip. From then on, it was Dawson piling in the pressure and Organ celebrating with his usual exuberance.Serial blocker Dom Sibley had navigated 85 deliveries before an inside edge onto his pad ballooned to silly mid-off, before Organ produced a wicked off-spinner to pin back Ollie Pope’s middle stump.Organ has history with Surrey. In 2019, on his fifth first-class appearance, he was forced into the attack due to unsuitable conditions for fast bowlers. The then-predominantly batter claimed 5 for 25 to secure a three-day victory.It began his mythologised bowling strike-rate for Hampshire, which currently stands at 46 and is the best of any other spinner in the club’s history – Shane Warne included.Jamie Smith was his next victim as a change-up delivery slid into middle and off stumps. Dan Lawrence took a different approach from his defence-minded team-mates as he reverse swept his first ball to the boundary before switching to the opposite rope with a conventional sweep next delivery.His attacking got him up to 42, but saw his downfall when he chopped Organ onto his stumps. Having spent the best part of two days laying on the physio’s table with back spasms, Ben Foakes’ innings was heroic in his resolve. The England wicket-keeper faced 107 balls for his unbeaten 19.But wickets continued to clatter, with Dawson now taking the limelight. Cam Steel was brilliantly caught at first slip by Vince after a deflection off Ben Brown’s gloves before Jordan Clark was yorked.Organ got his five-for when Sean Abbott chipped to mid on, before Dawson closed out Hampshire’s second win in a row by bowling Gus Atkinson around his legs and, after some slapping around, Dan Worrall skied for 48 – Surrey’s highest score of the match. The visitors bowled out for 127 and 203.Earlier, Ben Brown, on 99 overnight, carted the first ball of the day to the boundary to reach his 24th first-class century, and second since arriving from Sussex.It meant that Hampshire had three centurions in a single innings for the 14th time in their history, and first and Utilita Bowl.Hampshire were all-out attack to send their lead sky-high but it meant Liam Dawson tickled a ramp behind to end a 183-run stand with Brown – a county record for the fifth wicket against Surrey, to go alongside a record second wicket partnership earlier in the innings.Michael Neser hoicked to deep square but James Fuller joined up with Brown to put on 66 – the fifth 50-plus stand of the innings – with the pair dragging weary boundary riders at their will.Brown – who had played a number of outrageous short-arm jabs on the off and on sides, to and over the boundary – passed his highest first-class score to end 165 not out before James Vince declared with his side 481 runs ahead.Hampshire’s 608 for 6 declared was their 13th-largest total of all-time and the third-highest Championship score at the ground.

The Impact Player rule has given him “nightmares”, but Ricky Ponting, Delhi Capitals’ head coach, is happy for the IPL to retain it if it is making the tournament a “better spectacle.””I can answer it in two ways,” Ponting told ESPNcricinfo in a conversation on April 16, a day after Sunrisers Hyderabad plundered 287 against Royal Challengers Bengaluru to break their own record, established earlier this season, for the highest IPL total. “It’d be really interesting to hear what the public think about it. If the everyday viewer really likes it and thinks it’s good, then it can continue.Related

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• Shah on Impact Player rule: 'Not permanent, but not saying that it will go'

• Ponting: 'Attacking batting and not defensive bowling will win this IPL'

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“If the average person gets a bit confused by it and doesn’t know what’s going on – an Impact Player here, someone goes in, someone comes out – if they are confused by it [then you have a rethink]. At the end of the day, we’ve got to think about the product that’s going there and what everyone’s watching as well.”From his perspective as a coach, Ponting admitted he wasn’t too keen on the Impact Player rule, which was introduced by the IPL in the 2023 season, allowing a team to bring in a 12th player as a tactical substitute. While the move was welcomed by captains, coaches and players in its inaugural run last season, there have been voices of opposition this year. Among them is India captain Rohit Sharma, who led Mumbai Indians to five IPL titles.In a conversation this week with the podcast co-hosted by Adam Gilchrist and Michael Vaughan, Rohit said he was “not a big fan” of the Impact Player primarily because it was detrimental for the development of allrounders especially in India.Ricky Ponting with Rishabh Pant at a Delhi Capitals training session•Delhi Capitals

Ponting agreed with Rohit, and said it would be a simpler job for a coach if he only had to pick the best XI.”From a player’s point and a coach’s point of view, the game would be much easier if you just pick 11, just pick your best 11 and put the 11 on the park and go and play,” Ponting said. “Because I’ll tell you now, we’ll sit back after training tonight and select our teams and you’ve got to pick two teams and you’ve got to have your five impact guys.”There’s so many different ways you can go around doing that, looking at different combinations. It actually can be a bit of a nightmare.”The Impact Player has helped teams, especially those stacked with power hitters such as Sunrisers and Kolkata Knight Riders, to bat explosively across the three phases this season and set totals in excess of 250 more than once. A total of 549 runs were scored in what was a batting gala in Bengaluru where RCB lost to Sunrisers by 25 runs.Ponting, who was busy overseeing Capitals’ training on Monday evening in Motera, was informed by his son Fletcher about Sunrisers making 287 in Bengaluru on the back of a blistering Travis Head century.Later in the evening Ponting received several messages from friends who were astonished by the slew of records broken in Bengaluru including that for the most sixes in a team innings. “It looks to me like [the Impact Player is] having an impact on the game,” Ponting said. “More runs are being scored. So you’d think people that were sitting back and watching that game last night would be mesmerised by the cricket. I was getting messages last night saying what a crazy game of cricket, what an unbelievable game of cricket.”So if the Impact Player is making it a better spectacle, then it should stay.”