Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s Chennai Super Kings set themselves up as the team to beat in the Champions League Twenty20 tournament with a second successive crushing win on Wednesday.
After winning their opening Group A match against the Central Stags by 57 runs, Chennai outplayed Sri Lanka’s Wayamba Elevens, winning by 97 runs in the second game of a double-header at SuperSport Park. In the earlier match, Australia’s Victoria Bushrangers beat the Stags by seven wickets with two balls to spare to turn Group A into a three-team contest for two semi-final places.
Chennai and South African champions the Warriors have both won two out of two, while it was the first win for Victoria, who lost their opening match against the Warriors.
Suresh Raina and Murali Vijay set up Wednesday’s win for Chennai, putting on 137 in 12 overs for the second wicket as Chennai piled up a tournament-best 200 for three. Wayamba could only manage 103 all out in reply.
Dhoni said his team wanted to win every match they played, but added: “We always talk about not thinking too much about the result, but about the process and preparing well.”
Victoria’s win was less easy. The Stags made a challenging 165 for five and the Bushrangers needed 48 to win off the last four overs before Aaron Finch finally saw them home with a six.
Barcelona’s Ferran Torres scored twice on Sunday to help secure a late 4-2 comeback win at Atletico Madrid in a pulsating La Liga clash that took the Catalan side back to the top of the table. Barca have 60 points and a game in hand after last week’s postponement of their home game with CA Osasuna. They are level on points with Real Madrid, who won 2-1 at Villarreal on Saturday. “I am happy and proud of this team,” Barcelona head coach Hansi Flick told a news conference. “They never give up... It’s a great three points and we are happy to
Paolo Banchero on Sunday scored 24 points as the Orlando Magic overturned a 13-point deficit to end the Cleveland Cavaliers’ 16-game unbeaten streak with a gutsy 108-103 road victory. Cleveland, the runaway Eastern Conference leaders, had looked poised to extend their franchise-record winning run after surging clear of Orlando early in the third quarter, but after a season where they have staged hefty winning comebacks of their own, the tables turned on Cleveland in the face of a furious burst of Orlando scoring. The Magic outscored Cleveland 35-23 in the third quarter, with Franz Wagner leading the charge with nine points and
‘AWFUL PERFORMANCE’: Golden State were always chasing the game after failing to threaten from long range, making just eight of 33 three-point attempts Aaron Gordon on Monday scored 38 points as the Denver Nuggets shrugged off the absence of Nikola Jokic to halt the Golden State Warriors’ seven-game winning streak with a 114-105 victory over their Western Conference rivals. A dazzling display from Gordon inspired what was ultimately a comfortable win for Denver, who were missing regular starters Jokic and Jamal Murray from their lineup. The absentees were barely felt by Denver, who startled the Warriors early at San Francisco’s Chase Center and led for most of the game. The Warriors threatened to stage a late rally after slashing the Nuggets’ fourth-quarter lead from 15 points
Paris Saint-Germain on Tuesday held their nerve to beat Liverpool 4-1 on penalties and reach the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals after their tie finished one-apiece on aggregate, while Bayern Munich saw off Bayer 04 Leverkusen to complete a 5-0 win over both legs. Lamine Yamal and Raphinha fired Barcelona into the next round as the Catalans bested SL Benfica 3-1, and Inter booked a last-eight meeting with Bayern by seeing off Feyenoord 2-1. At Anfield, Ousmane Dembele netted the only goal of the night as PSG bounced back from Liverpool’s late winner last week to force the tie to extra-time and penalties. Maligned
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