World Sports: Ireland Secure First Test Win, Beat Afghanistan By 6 Wickets; Fortune Barishal Clinch Maiden BPL Title - As It Happened

Another fun-filled day is unfolding across disciplines. Australia have bowled out New Zealand for a modest total of 179, but the Kiwis have struck two early blows to keep things interesting at stumps on Day 2 of the 1st Test in Wellington. Elsewhere, Ireland chased down a 111-run target to for their maiden Test win in Abu Dhabi. Fortune Barishal also claimed their first Bangladesh Premier League title, thanks to a six-wicket win over Comilla Victorians in the final. In India, UP Warriorz beat Gujarat Giants for their second win in the Women's Premier League. In football, Monaco will face Paris Saint-Germain in Ligue 1 and AC Milan will clash with Lazio in Serie A. Follow the live scores and updates of all the sporting action on Friday, March 1 here. (Cricket News | Football News)

The familiar Aussie fightback continues on Day 2 of the first Test at the Basin Reserve. After piling up a massive 96-run partnership for the 10th wicket, Australia have sent back half of hosts New Zealand's batting order. The BlackCaps are tottering at 42/5 at tea. The game has entirely swung the visitors' way for now. Will the Kiwis claw their way back in? We'll find out soon.

Defending champion Alex de Minaur has battled past Stefanos Tsitsipas 1-6, 6-3, 6-3 to book a second consecutive spot in the semi-finals of the Mexican Open. De Minaur, the ATP's ninth-ranked player, struggled in the first set and lost it in 28 minutes but rallied in the next two to get the win in 2 hours, 6 minutes.

Australia lose two early wickets in the third innings, but still end the day well and truly on top. They lead by 217 runs and with eight wickets in hand, will be eyeing a target big enough that shuts out New Zealand in the first Test at the Basin Reserve.

First it was Cameron Green (174 not out off 275 balls) and Josh Hazlewood's record 10th-wicket stand, and then Nathan Lyon's four-wicket haul that made it Australia's day. The hosts now need a special performance in the field on Day 3 to stay in contention.

Women's red-ball cricket will return to India's domestic calendar after six years when the BCCI conducts a Senior Inter-Zonal Multi-Day Trophy in Pune from March 28, PTI reports. The move comes after the Indian women's team's return to Test cricket. The side has played Tests against Australia and England in the recent years. Domestic red-ball cricket for women was last held in 2018.

The 10th season of the Pro Kabaddi League will draw to a close tonight, but not before a grand finale between first-time finalists Haryana Steelers and the in-form Puneri Paltan.

The match begins at 8pm IST at the Gachibowli Stadium in Hyderabad. Everything you need to know about the clash is on our report here.

The match is taking an interesting turn. At the time of writing, Afghanistan have scored 201 runs for the loss of seven wickets on Day 3 in Abu Dhabi. The Afghans lead by 93 runs against Ireland and will be aiming to stretch the fourth-innings target beyond 150 to make it a proper contest. Zia-ur-Rehman and Naveen Zadran at the crease, batting on 13 and 14 runs, respectively.

Prodigious Indian Grandmaster Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa has blundered for the second day in a row and lost to Richard Rapport of Romania in the third round of the Prague Masters Chess tournament. After briefly going ahead of the legendary Viswanathan Anand and attaining the top Indian status in the live FIDE rating list, this double blow has cost the 18-year-old Chennai boy dearly, and now a lot of hard-work remains in the last six rounds of the 10-player round-robin contest.

In another thrilling contest in the tri-nation T20I series underway in Kirtipur, Nepal have edged out Namibia by three runs in match 4. The hosts put a 180-run total on board after losing the toss and being invited to bat first. Kushal Malla stayed unbeaten on 55 (37 balls; 1x4, 4x6) to lead the effort.

In reply, Namibia had a strong 83-run partnership for the fourth wicket but despite captain JJ Smit's half century, the visitors fell just short and could only muster 177/7 in their allotted 20 overs.

Renowned Indian golfer and former champion Anirban Lahiri is set to return at the Indian Open, the country's national open event, which will be held from March 28 to 31 at the DLF Golf & Country Club in Gurugram. The tourney will have an enhanced prize money of $2.25 million this year and features 144 players, including 33 Indians, competing for the top prize.

Tonight's fixture of the Women's Premier League 2024 involves Alyssa Healy's UP Warriorz and the Beth Mooney-led Gujarat Giants. While the Warriorz have won one game out of three - their previous match against Mumbai Indians - the Giants are still searching for their first win of the season.

Want to know the key player battles to watch out for? Head over to our report here.

Toss Update:

Fortune Barishal have won the toss and have opted to field first against Comilla Victorians. The Victorians have won eight out of 12 matches in the group stage and comfortably sealed the spot in the final whereas Barishal had to play qualifier and eliminator to reach here. The Tamim Iqbal & Co. have won four out of five last encounters to reach the final of BPL 2024. Comilla Victorians have won the last two titles of the BPL and can they secure a hat-trick of titles, stay tuned to know.

Teams:

Comilla Victorians (Playing XI): Litton Das(w/c), Mahidul Islam Ankon, Towhid Hridoy, Jaker Ali, Johnson Charles, Moeen Ali, Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Tanvir Islam, Mustafizur Rahman, Rohanat Doullah Borson

Fortune Barishal (Playing XI): Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Tamim Iqbal(c), Soumya Sarkar, Mushfiqur Rahim(w), Kyle Mayers, David Miller, Mahmudullah, James Fuller, Obed McCoy, Mohammad Saifuddin, Taijul Islam

Comilla Victorians opened the batting with Sunil Narine and Litton Das. Kyle Mayers opened the bowling attack and dismissed Narine in the first over. Towhid Hridoy came after him and started on a promising note with two boundaries in Saifuddin's over but James Fuller got rid of him in his first over. Taijul Islam was introduced in the fifth over and he conceded seven runs. Captain Das and Johnson Charles are at the crease.

CV - 38/2 (5)

Litton Das lost his wicket to James Fuller after trying to hit a big shot. Johnson Charles played some beautiful shots and kept the scorecard moving but Obed McCoy was brought back into the attack in the ninth over and he dismissed Charles on the first delivery. Tamim took a simple catch but the celebrations started in Barishal camp. Moeen Ali joined Mahidul Islam Ankon at the crease.

CV - 67/4 (10)

SAFF U16: Anuksha's Hat-Trick Leads India To 7-0 Win Over Bhutan

According to PTI reports, Anuksha Kumari's hat-trick headlined India's commanding 7-0 win over Bhutan in the SAFF U16 Women's Championship in Kathmandu at the ANFA Complex on Friday.

Anuksha, the 13-year-old from Hazaribagh who scored 22 goals in the sub-junior tier 1, tore into the Bhutan defence with Pearl Fernandes (two goals), Shveta Rani and substitute Anwita Raghuraman being the other goal-scorers for India.

After Moeen Ali was dismissed due to a horrible mix-up, Jaker Ali provided support to Mahidul Islam Ankon and helped take the score close to 100 runs. Although Ankon's strike rate was less than 100, the situation demanded that someone spend some time at the crease and accelerate the scoring in the death overs.

CV - 99/5 (15)

Andre Russell's four sixes in the death overs helped Comilla Victorians post 154 runs on the board. He hit three sixes off James Fullel's 19th over and the scorecard took a hike. Now, Fortune Barishal need 155 runs to win the match.

CV - 154/6 (20)

Captain Tamim Iqbal and youngster Mehidy Hasan Miraz have taken the score past 50 runs in under five overs. The powerplay is till going on and the duo has completed their 50-run stand for the first wicket. Tamim opened his arms whenever there was a bad ball and Miraz also worked as a catalyst in the innings.

BRSAL - 50/0 (5)

Moeen Ali has dismissed both the openers - Tamim Iqbal first then Mehidy Hasan Miraz in two back-to-back overs. Kyle Mayers was joined by new batter Mushfiqur Rahim. Now, Fortune Barishal need 70 runs in 60 balls to win this match with eight wickets still in hand.

BRSAL - 82/2 (10)

Kyle Mayers slammed Andre Russell for two fours and as many sixes in his third over to almost seal the match for Fortune Barishal. He extracted 21 runs from the Russell's over. Now Barishal need 22 runs in 30 balls. The duo also completed their 50-run stand in 33 deliveries.

BRSAL - 133/2 (15)

David Miller hit the winning runs against Mustafizur Rehman as Fortune Barishal won by six wickets against Comilla Victorians. With this win, Barishal broke the winning streak of Victorians and clinched the title for the first time.

BRSAL - 157/4 (19)

Nearly seven years after they were granted Test status, Ireland secured their maiden win in the longest format, defeating Afghanistan by six wickets in a one-off Test in Abu Dhabi on Friday, as per PTI reports.

Ireland skipper Andrew Balbirne anchored the 111-run chase in their second essay with an unbeaten 58 off 96 balls after pacer Mark Adair's eight-wicket match haul (5/39 and 3/56) to secure their first-ever win in eight Tests.

According to PTI reports, Lucknow Super Giants on Friday signed former South African all-rounder Lance Klusener as their assistant coach for the upcoming season of the Indian Premier League.

He will be teaming up with head coach Justin Langer and fellow assistant coach S. Sriram.

LSG have reached the IPL playoffs in both the seasons they have featured in since their inception in 2022. However, on both occasions, they have been ousted in the Eliminator.

Defending champions Mohun Bagan Super Giant blanked Jamshedpur FC 3-0 to jump to second place in the Indian Super League (ISL) in Kolkata on Friday, as per PTI reports. Dimitri Petratos struck with a right-footed shot from the centre of the box to the bottom left corner from a Manvir Singh assist to give them a seventh-minute lead. The Kolkata heavyweights maintained their slender lead at half-time.

Saudi Arabia launched its formal bid campaign Friday to host the 2034 World Cup, in a race that basically became a formality last October when the oil-rich kingdom was the only candidate to enter the contest, as per AP reports. The Saudi Arabian soccer federation revealed the bid slogan “Growing. Together” and a campaign logo of two multi-coloured ribbons forming the number 34.

Asian Athletics Championship silver medal-winning javelin thrower Manu DP will train in South Africa for more than a month after his proposal was cleared by the Sports Ministry on Friday, as per PTI reports. Manu, who is currently training in Pune, will head to the North West University High Performance Centre in Potchefstroom soon for a 32-day stint, where he will also compete in a few local competitions to prepare for the upcoming season.

Fortune Barishal became the new Bangladesh Premier League champions defeating the Comilla Victorians ending their successive winning streak in the Dhaka final. In WPL 2024, Gujarat Giants remained winless this season so far as UP Warriorz beat them by six wickets in match 8. In football, Mohun Bagan beat Jamshedpur 3-0 in ISL 2023-24 whereas the European domestic action saw Monaco vs PSG in French Ligue 1, Lazio vs AC Milan in Italian Serie A. That's all from our side, we will be taking your leave. Goodnight and take care!