Sports Highlights: Pakistan Square Series Against New Zealand With 9-Run Victory

Sports World Updates: Liverpool drew their PL match against West Ham United and in turn, lost race in the Title bid. In Cricket, DC beat MI followed by, LSG defeat to RR. On the international stage, Pakistan levelled the series against New Zealand in the 5th T20I. In tennis, Rafael Nadal defeated Alex de Minaur. For more sporting coverage and sports updates, catch it right here

Arda Guler scores in the first half to earn a depleted Real Madrid side a 1-0 win at Real Sociedad, moving the La Liga leaders a step closer to a record-extending 36th Spanish league title. With five games remaining, Madrid climb to 84 points and extend their lead to 14 points over second-placed Barcelona, who have a game in hand and host Valencia early next week.

Kevin Stoger scores twice as Bochum win for the first time in nine Bundesliga games by a nervy 3-2 margin over a leaky Hoffenheim. The latter have not kept a clean sheet for 26 games, a record run for the Bundesliga club. Hoffenheim remain in ninth place after missing a chance to leapfrog Augsburg and Freiburg and move into seventh.

A double-header awaits us in Indian Premier League 2024 tonight, with the afternoon game featuring Delhi Capitals and Mumbai Indians. The story of both teams has been somewhat similar so far this season. The Rishabh Pant-led Delhi Capitals have won four out of the nine games played and currently stand at number six in the IPL points table. The Hardik Pandya-led Mumbai Indians are in the eighth position with three victories in eight games.

Before the match begins, check out three key player battles in our report here.

The Indian men's and women's compound teams have both struck gold at the Archery World Cup Stage 1 in Shanghai. The top-seeded team of Jyothi Surekha Vennam, Aditi Swami and Parneet Kaur first defeat sixth-seeded Italy 236-226. Their male counterparts Abhishek Verma, Priyansh and Prathamesh Fuge follow it up with a 238-231 trouncing of Netherlands.

QPR have blanked Leeds United 4-0 in the EFL Championship, which means Leicester City book their promotion back to the English Premier League. Ilias Chair is the star for the Hoops as he scores the opener and assists two more goals to ensure that QPR will stay in the Championship for another season.

Leeds' heaviest defeat of the season is a huge blow in the race for an automatic promotion spot, with Ipswich Town just one point behind them in third place with two games in hand going into their away clash against Hull City.

The second Indian Premier League game of the day will see Lucknow Super Giants welcoming Rajasthan Royals at the Ekana Cricket Stadium in the evening. LSG are fourth in the IPL 2024 points table with five victories from eight games as against RR, who are sitting pretty at the top with seven wins in eight matches.

Before the match begins, check out three key player battles in our report here.

Salernitana have been relegated from Serie A after losing 0-3 to Frosinone. The Salerno club has only two wins in 35 Italian league games and is at the bottom of the table. The win comes as a vital boost for Frosinone, one of at least seven teams fighting not to be one of the two other clubs that joins Salernitana in the second tier next season.

Frosinone are three points above third-to-last Udinese and five ahead of second-to-last Sassuolo. Both teams have a game in hand.

Tyrese Haliburton caps his first career playoff triple-double with a three-point play with 1.6 seconds left in overtime that gives the Indiana Pacers a 121-118 win over the Milwaukee Bucks in Game 3 of NBA's Eastern Conference quarter-finals series. Haliburton's winning shot and 18-point, 10-rebound, 16-assist performance lifts the sixth-seeded Pacers to a 2-1 lead in this best-of-seven series, which resumes in Indianapolis with Monday's Game 4.

Bowlers need to find innovative ways to execute deliveries with a touch of "anti-skill" to challenge the range-hitting batsmen in the ongoing Indian Premier League, Kolkata Knight Riders assistant coach Ryan ten Doeschate reckons. "You want to bowl with anti-skill. I think, you know, short and wide really works, dragging guys wide and then going straight," he said at the post-match press conference.

Citing the example of Sam Curran dismissing Phil Salt in the Kolkata Knight Riders vs Punjab Kings game, ten Doeschate added: "You almost need to catch guys off-guard a little bit like Sam Curran caught Phil Salt off-guard. Set off-side field, he dragged him across and then fire one at leg stump."

Nepal are playing hosts to a West Indies 'A' squad for a five-match T20 series, starting today. The series is historic, as it is the first tour of a West Indian cricket outfit to Nepal. It is also crucial preparation for both sides, in the run-up to the ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2024 in June.

The first game has kicked off in Kirtipur and West Indies 'A', led by Roston Chase, are batting at 135/3 after 13 overs.

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has confirmed that its national side will tour New Zealand next year to play three ODIs and five T20 Internationals, PTI reports. The series, sixth between the two nations since 2023, has been finalised during a meeting between PCB Chairman Mohsin Naqvi and New Zealand Cricket chief executive officer Scott Weenink in Lahore on the sidelines of the on-going five-match T20I rubber.

National men's singles squash champion Velavan Senthilkumar has stormed into the semi-finals of the Batch Open tournament, beating Jakub Solnicky of the Czech Republic in Paris. Top seed Senthilkumar, ranked 58th in the world, defeats the fifth-seeded Czech 11-5, 11-6, 11-2 in 37 minutes in the quarter-finals of the USD 12,000 PSA Challenger Tour event.

He will face Hong Kong's Andes Ling in the semi-finals.

West Indies 'A' have begun their Nepal tour strongly, posting a 204-run total in the first T20 at Kirtipur. In reply, Nepal are currently batting at 81/2 after 9.4 overs, and need 124 more runs in 62 balls to win.

The second and deciding leg of the UEFA Women's Champions League is coming up, later in the weekend. Chelsea will welcome current champions Barcelona to Stamford Bridge and try to end their reign. Lyon will travel to the Parc des Princes to face Paris Saint-Germain looking to secure their 11th appearance in the final.

Nepal skipper Rohit Paudel smashes a match-winning century - 112 runs off just 54 balls - as the hosts defeat West Indies 'A' by four wickets in the first T20 at Kirtipur. Nepal chased down the 205-run target with two balls to spare, and Gulsan Jha (9 not out off four balls) hit the winning runs. With that, the home team takes a 1-0 lead in the five-match series. The next game will be played at the same venue tomorrow.

Asian Games champion Jyothi Surekha Vennam has secured rare hat-trick of gold medals as India's compound archers lap up five medals at the ongoing Archery World Cup Stage 1 in Shanghai. After striking gold in the women's and mixed team categories, Jyothi finished on top in the individual category. She is the second Indian after Deepika Kumari to secure triple gold medals in an Archery World Cup.

Former India all-rounder Irfan Pathan has said that Indian cricket must stop obsessing over Hardik Pandya's worth as an all-rounder at the international level, saying he has failed to create an impact in ICC tournaments. "What I feel about Hardik Pandya is that Indian cricket needs to make it clear that they should not give him that much priority as they have given him so far, because we still haven't won the World Cup," Pathan said on a Star Sports show.

"If you think you are a primary all-rounder, you need to make that kind of an impact at the international level. As far as the all-rounder is concerned he hasn't made that impact at the international level, we are only thinking about the potential," he added.

In the opening over, he concedes just one run in three balls. His third delivery angles away from Azam at the last moment, finding the keeper's gloves.

Pakistan 14-1

SIX! in the slot and hit away! Pitched up on middle, angling in. Azam plays with the angle over long on and it goes all the way.

Pakistan 30-1

Usman showcases his class with a decent drive over the covers, finding the boundary.

Pakistan 46-1

Hits Another Four.

Pakistan 60-1

Usman catching the rhythm.

Usman aiming for a boundary in the over ends up hitting it straight to the New Zealand captain, who takes the catch comfortably.

The Gaddafi crowd falls silent as Usman walks out after playing a lovely innings of 31 off 24 balls. His fearless approach cost him his wicket.

Pakistan at 86-2

Babar Azam delivers a six.

Pakistan 109-2

A six over cow corner off the final ball ends a 31-ball boundary drought. This spoils Sodhi’s final figures, as he finishes with 1 for 30.

No run for Pakistan, Sears flummoxes him completely with a cunning slower one, was through the hoick very early

Sears Sushhs' the crowd, stumps shattered, what a sight for Sears! Brings out a terrific yorker and under the bat, smashing the middle stump.

Pakistan 126-3

Shadab opens his account in style with a hefty blow down the wicket right into the sightscreen for a maximum, 85 meters six, fielder lands awkwardly outside the rope and has hurt himself a bit, Neesham grimaces

Mark Chapman catches at deep backward square, he went outside, tossed the ball in air, came back inside the ground and complete the catch with nifty footwork, very well-judged! It was a full-toss on middle.

Pakistan 178-5 (20)

Pakistan have put up a competitive total on the board on a surface which is holding up a bit.

Pakistan 178-5

Pakistan fought their way to 178/5, falling around 10-20 runs short of what Babar Azam had in mind at the toss. Babar Azam's intent was refreshing as he played his strokes with freedom, but Saim Ayub once again fell early in the powerplay. New Zealand performed well in the middle overs and managed to keep the scoring rate in check.

While it's still a decent total on this wicket, a couple of batters, including Fakhar and Iftikhar, struggled to find their tempo on this slowish surface. Pakistan will be determined to level the series, but New Zealand will not make it easy. Stay tuned for the second innings.

Shaheen Shah takes 50th wicket of his T20 career as her shows out to Tom Blundell. And he did that in the first over itself.

NZ 54-1

The ball drifted in slightly towards middle and leg. Trying to slog it over the stands, he lost control, and his bottom hand came off, dragging the ball back onto the stumps. Pakistan celebrates as they get the big wicket!

New Zealand 84-2

First Neesham and then Zakary Foulkes, Shah is roaring loud.

NZ 128-7

Amir brought back into the attack. He does well to just allow the one run off his first three balls, which is appreciated generously by the partisan crowd.

Amir delivers a slower one across Clarkson, who struggles to get it away.

However, Clarkson manages to find the gap through mid-on for a single off the next ball. Seeking to retain the strike, Clarkson calls for a risky run, but O'Rourke is nowhere near his end when Amir dislodges the bails.

Pakistan wins by 10 runs, setting the Gaddafi crowd alight with joy!

Pakistan square series against New Zealand with 9-run victory. It all seemed improbable when New Zealand started strongly in the first half of their innings.

At one point, New Zealand was comfortably placed at 97 for 2.

However, Pakistan's spinners and Shaheen Afridi turned the game around, taking wickets at regular intervals as New Zealand's innings began to crumble.

That's all from us. We'll see you tomorrow with more exciting news from the sports world.