1) Virat Kohli became first Indian cricketer to score century against Pakistan in World Cup.
- Virat Kohli became the first Indian cricketer to score a century against Pakistan in the ICC World Cup.
- He scored 107-runs off 126-balls at the Adelaide Oval, Australia.
- India who scored 300 for seven after electing to bat first in the 2015 World Cup opener defeated Pakistan with 76 runs.
- The highest score by an Indian batsman before this match was Sachin Tendulkar’s 98 in Centurion, South Africa in 2003.
- With this century, Kohli also became the quickest batsman to score 22 centuries in ODIs. He had taken just 143 innings to reach the mark. Previous record of quickest 22 centuries was held by Sachin who took 206 innings to score it.
About:
- The 2015 Cricket World Cup is the 11th Cricket World Cup, jointly hosted by Australia and New Zealand from 14 February to 29 March 2015. 14 teams will play 49 matches in 14 venues.
Prize Money:
| Stage |
Prize money (US$) |
Total |
| Winner |
$3,975,000 |
$3,975,000 |
| Runner-up |
$1,750,000 |
$1,750,000
|
| Losing semi-finalists |
$600,000 |
$1,200,000 |
| Losing quarter-finalists |
$300,000 |
$1,200,000 |
| Winner of each group match |
$45,000 |
$1,890,000 |
| Teams eliminated in group stage |
$35,000 |
$210,000
|
| Total |
|
$10,225,000 |
2) IPL 8 Players` Auction - Yuvraj Singh sets new record.
- Yuvraj Singh was bought for Rs. 16 crore by Delhi Daredevils and a complete unknown called K.C. Cariappa struck Rs. 2.4 crore even as several vaunted players including Ross Taylor and Hashim Amla went unsold in the IPL 2015 player auction.
- The auction for IPL 2015, the eighth edition of the cricket league, turned out to be a largely sedate process. Franchises seemed to have their squads more or less established considering the number of players who went unsold.
- A total of 67 players, including 23 overseas players, were bought with a total purse of Rs. 87.6 crore. Players who have not been bought during the auction can be traded over the next two weeks.
Some of the notable Purchases were:
| PLAYERS |
TEAM NAME |
PRICE |
| Murali Vijay |
Kings XI Punjab |
3 crore |
| Angelo Mathews |
Delhi Daredevils |
7.5 crore |
| Kane Williamson |
Sunrisers Hyderabad |
60 lakh |
| Yuvraj Singh |
Delhi Daredevil |
16 crore |
| Kevin Pietersen |
Sunrisers Hyderabad |
2 crore |
| Dinesh Karthik |
Royal Challengers Bangalore |
10.5 crore |
| Aaron Finch |
Mumbai Indians |
3.2 crore |
| Amit Mishra |
Delhi Daredevils |
3.5 crore |
| Eoin Morgan |
Sunrisers Hyderabad |
1.5 crore |
| Michael Hussey |
Chennai Super Kings |
1.5 crore |
| S. Badrinath |
Royal Challengers Bangalore |
30 lakh |
| James Neesham |
Kolkata Knight Riders |
50 lakh |
| Chris Morris |
Rajasthan Royals |
1.4 crore |
| Darren Sammy |
Royal Challengers Bangalore |
2.8 crore |
| Laxmi Shukla |
Sunrisers Hyderabad |
30 lakh |
| Ravi Bopara |
Sunrisers Hyderabad |
1 crore |
| Praveen Kumar |
Sunrisers Hyderabad |
2.2. crore |
| Trent Boult |
Sunrisers Hyderabad |
3.8 crore |
| Jaydev Unadkat - |
Delhi Daredevils |
1.1 crore |
| Sean Abbott |
Royal Challengers Bangalore |
1 crore |
| Adam Milne |
Royal Challengers Bangalore |
70 lakh |
| Pragyan Ojha |
Royal Challengers Bangalore |
50 lakh |
| Rahul Sharma |
Chennai Super Kings |
30 lakh |
| Brad Hogg |
Kolkata Knight Riders |
50 lakh |
| David Wiese |
Royal Challengers Bangalore |
2.2 crore |
| Kyle Abbott |
Chennai Super Kings |
30 lakh |
| Mitch McClenaghan |
Mumbai Indians |
30 lakh |
| Gurinder Sandhu |
Delhi Daredevils |
1.5 crore |
3) Usain Bolt retire after 2017 World Championships in London.
- Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt announced that he will retire from athletics after the 2017 World Championships in London.
About Usain Bolt and his records:
- Usain Bolt is widely regarded as the fastest person ever. He is the first man to hold both the 100 metres and 200 metres world records since fully automatic time measurements became mandatory in 1977. His records and titles include.
Six Olympic Gold medals:
- These medals were won at Beijing Olympic 2008 and London Olympics in 2012 in three events and they are 100 metres, 200 metres and 4x100 metres.
Eight world championships Gold Medals:
- These medals were won at Berlin 2009 in events 200 metres and 4x100 metres and Moscow 2013 in events 100 metres, 200 metres and 4x100 metres.
- One gold medal at Commonwealth Games: Won at Glasgow 2014 in 4x100 metres event.
- He also hold the world records of covering 100 metres in 9.88 seconds and 200 metres in 19.19 seconds.
4) Saurav Ganguly awarded Honorary Life Membership of Marylebone Cricket Club (MEC).
- Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) awarded Honorary Life Membership to the former Indian cricket captain Saurav Ganguly. He has been a member of the MCC World Cricket committee since July 2014.
- Ganguly, affectionately called Dada and the Prince of Calcutta, retired from all forms of international cricket in 2012 after playing for India for 16 long years.
- He debuted for India in 1996 at the Lord’s against England and went on to score 131 run in first innings of his test debut. The knock at the Lord’s helped him to etch his name on the famous Lord’s Honors Board in process.
About Saurav Ganguly:
- Ganguly in his 16 years of play made 7,212 runs at an average of 42.17 in Tests and 11,363 runs at an average of 41.02 in One Day Internationals (ODI).
- He also took 132 wickets across 424 matches in both Tests and ODIs.
- He captain Indian cricket team in 195 international matches between 2000 and 2006 and led India into the 2003 World Cup final, where India was defeated by Australia.
- He retired from ODIs in 2007, Tests in 2008 and from all formats of International Cricket in 2012.
- He was awarded with the Padma Shri in 2004 and Banga Bibhushan Award of West Bengal government in 2013.
- Other Indian cricketers to receive Honorary Life Membership of MCC
- There are now more than 300 Honorary Life Members of MCC out of a total Full Membership of 180000. Other Indian cricketers who have received the Honorary Life Membership include.
(1) N.J. Contractor (1969).
(2) R.F. Surti (1978).
(3) M.V. Chandgadkar (1978).
(4) A.L. Wadekar (1978).
(5) C.G. Borde (1981).
(6) F.M. Engineer (1981).
(7) R.G. Nadkarni (1981).
(8) B.S. Bedi (1982).
(9) B.S. Chandrasekhar (1982).
(10) E.A.S. Prasanna (1984).
(11) S. Venkataraghavan (1988).
(12) G.R. Viswanath (1990).
(13) M. Amarnath (1993).
(14) S.M. Gavaskar (1993).
(15) D.B. Vengsarkar (1993).
(16) Kapil Dev (1995).
(17) S.M.H. Kirmani (1995).
(18) R.J. Shastri (1995).
(19) J. Dalmiya (1997).
(20) K.S. More (1999).
(21) Rahul Dravid (2008).
(22) Anil Kumble (2008).
(23) Sachin Tendulkar (2010).
(24) Saurav Ganguly (2015).
5) Veteran Spinner Anil Kumble inducted in ICC Cricket Hall of Fame.
- Former India Captain and ace spinner Anil Kumble has been chosen to be inducted into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame. He will be 77th inductee into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame.
- He will be felicitated and inducted during the ICC Cricket World Cup match between India and South Africa in Melbourne.
- Anil Kumble had played 132 Tests and 271 One Day Internationals (ODIs) from 1990 to 2008.
- In his cricket career he had taken 619 Test wickets and is the 3rd highest wicket-taker in Test cricket after Muttiah Muralidaran (800) and Shane Warne (708 wickets).
- He also had claimed 337 wickets in ODIs making him the 9th most successful all-time great bowlers in this format.
- Kumble is one of only two bowlers in history of cricket after England’s Jim Laker who had taken all 10 wickets in an innings.
- He was captain of Indian Team and led it in 14 Tests between 2007 and 2008.
- Kumble also has scored 2,506 runs in Tests and 938 runs in ODIs.
- He is the 4th Indian cricketer to be inducted into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame. Others are Bishen Singh Bedi, Kapil Dev and Sunil Gavaskar who were inducted into Hall of Fame in 2009.
- About ICC Cricket Hall of Fame
- The ICC Cricket Hall of Fame recognizes the achievements of the legends from the game of cricket.
- It was launched in January 2009 by the International Cricket (ICC) as part of its centenary celebrations in associations with the Federation of International Cricketer’s Associations (FICA).
6) Rohit Sharma awarded with best ODI batsman performance award.
- Rohit Sharma bags best ODI batsman performance award by ESPN Cricinfo awards.
- His record breaking 264 against Sri Lanka has been named as the best ODI batting performance in 2014 by ESPN Cricinfo awards.
- Rohit Sharma is the first cricketer who has scored two double centuries in ODI. He is also the third Indian batsman after Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag to slash a double ton.
7) ICC World Cup 2015: India breaks the hoodoo, beat South Africa by 130 runs.
- India defeated South Africa by 130 runs in a Pool - B match played in Melbourne.
- Shikhar Dhawan`s dazzling century 137 runs off 146 balls and Ajinkya Rahane`s 79 runs off 60 balls set the target of 308 to the Proteas.
- South Africa couldn`t reach to the total and all its batsmen was bowled out at the 177 in 40.2 overs.
- This was India`s maiden World Cup win against South Africa after having lost the clashes in 1992, 1999 and 2011.
- Shikhar Dhawan has awarded with Man of the match for his brilliant performance.
8) Simona Halep lifted WTA championship title.
- Simona Halep lifted WTA championship title after defeating Karolina Pliskova in the final in Dubai.
- She defeated Pliskova in a straight sets 6-4, 7-6 to win the 10th trophy of her career.
About WTA Champion title:
- The WTA Tour Championships, currently known as the WTA Finals, is a tennis tournament played annually at the end of the season for the top-ranked players on the Women`s Tennis Association (WTA) tour.
- The month, city and number of players has changed since the first edition in 1972. Since 2003 there have been eight singles players divided into two round robin groups, and four doubles teams.
- The WTA Tour Championships is generally considered to be the fifth most prestigious event on the women`s tour after the four Grand Slam tournaments. It also has the largest prize money and ranking points after the Grand Slams.
- The most successful player is Martina Navratilova who won 8 singles titles and 12 doubles titles overall.