Sports supplement

DT
VOL 1, ISSUe 16 | Saturday, May 20, 2017
Sports Tribune
End of an era
3
How Chelsea’s title
triumph unfolded
Younis and Misbah retirement –
5 When the greats move on
7
Courageous Conte
heals Chelsea rifts

2
Saturday, May 20, 2017
DT
Week in Review
Picture of the week
This week
7 titles in 4 years
Dhaka Tribune players and officials celebrate after winning the Marcel-BSJC Media Cup Football Tournament 2017 at M Mansur
Ali Handball Stadium on Saturday
MD MANIK
With the eight-team 2017
Champions Trophy knocking at
the door, Bangladesh will take on
New Zealand in their last match of
the tri-nation series in Ireland on
Wednesday. Following their Kiwi
clash, the Tigers will face sub-continent
rivals India and Pakistan before
beginning their first Champions Trophy
mission in 11 years against host
England. They will then lock horns
with trans-Tasman rivals Australia
and New Zealand.
The 10th edition of the Indian
Premier League Twenty20 meanwhile,
reaches its business stages
with the grand finale scheduled
to be held on Sunday in Hyderabad.
Rising Pune Supergiant have
already booked their final ticket and
one of Mumbai Indians or Kolkata
Knight Riders will join them.
As far as football is concerned,
all eyes will be on Spain this weekend
as Real Madrid eye their first
league title in five years when they
take on Malaga. On the same day,
Barcelona will face Las Palmas.
May 15
Feyenoord,
Kuyt on top
Dirk Kuyt remembers being
ridiculed when he returned to an
ordinary Feyenoord side two years
ago and said they could win the
Dutch title.
But the veteran forward, who
will turn 37 in July, had the last
laugh on Sunday when he scored
a hat-trick in a 3-1 home win over
Heracles Almelo that clinched the
championship on the last day of
the season.
In a career full of highlights,
Kuyt said this title topped the lot.
“I knew when I came back
two years ago that we could win
the championship. And everyone
laughed at me when I said so,”
Kuyt told reporters as Feyenoord
celebrated their first title success
since 1999.
“I’ve played in a Champions
League final and in a World Cup
final and at very popular clubs.
But this is the best moment of my
career,” added Kuyt, who started
out at Feyenoord before signing for
Liverpool in 2006 and also played
at Fenerbahce.
May 18
Monaco claim first French title in 17 years
Teenage star Kylian Mbappe helped
Monaco secure their first Ligue 1 title in
17 years with his 15th goal of the season
in Wednesday’s 2-0 victory at home to
Saint-Etienne.
The 18-year-old raced clear of the
visiting defence to nervelessly roll in
the opening goal after 19 minutes at
the Stade Louis II as Paris Saint-Germain’s
four-year reign as French
champion came to an end.
Valere Germain added a second
with the final kick of the match.
“We can finally say we are champions.
I’m very proud of this team, of
May 16
India duo set 320-run stand
these players. It’s a dream for me, I’m
very happy,” Monaco captain Radamel
Falcao told Canal+.
Leonardo Jardim’s side were
effectively guaranteed the title after
Sunday’s 4-0 win over Lille due to their
vastly superior goal difference and
needed just a point to secure an eighth
league crown.
Monaco’s 11th straight victory
bumped them up to 92 points, six
ahead of PSG, and they can match the
capital club’s single-season record of
30 wins in Saturday’s final game at
Rennes.
India’s Deepti Sharma and Punam
Raut smashed centuries against Ireland
and combined in a stand of 320
runs to record the highest partnership
in a women’s one-day international on
Monday.
It also marked the first 300-run
stand in women’s cricket, eclipsing
the 268-run partnership between
England openers Caroline Atkins and
Sarah Taylor against South Africa in
2008.
The 19-year-old Sharma hammered
24 boundaries and two sixes in her
160-ball innings to score 188, the second-highest
individual score behind
Australian Belinda Clark’s unbeaten
229 against Denmark 10 years ago.
Raut, 27, scored 109 before retiring
hurt shortly after the dismissal of
Sharma.
MAY 17
No Sharapova at French Open
Two-time champion Maria Sharapova
of Russia will miss Roland Garros
this year after the French tennis
federation denied her a wild card, FFT
president Bernard Guidicelli said on
Tuesday.
The former world number one,
who only returned from a 15-month
doping ban last month, will sit out the
French Open, which she won in 2012
and 2014, for the second year in a row.
The five-time Grand Slam champion
was banned for two years for using
meldonium, with the penalty later
reduced by the Court of Arbitration
for Sport which ruled she was not an
intentional doper.
After the ban expired on April 26,
the Russian returned to competition
at the Stuttgart Open, reaching the
semi-finals, and progressed to the
last 32 of the Madrid Open, too late to
earn herself a qualifying spot for Paris.

Feature
3
Saturday, May 20, 2017
DT
Five key players in
Chelsea’s title win
David Luiz
The news that
Chelsea had agreed
to pay £30m to
re-sign David Luiz
from PSG was met
with mockery by
fans. But the Brazil international has
proved to be an extremely shrewd
acquisition by Antonio Conte, slotting
neatly into the centre of Chelsea’s
back three and spreading reassurance
with his aggressiveness in the duel
and calmness on the ball.
Chelsea celebrate winning the Premier League title following their clash against West Brom at the Hawthorns on Friday night
Fact-file
Name: Chelsea Football Club
Founded: 1905
Stadium: Stamford Bridge, London
(capacity: 41,837)
Nickname: The Blues
Colours: Blue shirts, blue shorts,
white socks
Estimated value: $1.66bn (1.52bn
euros; Forbes magazine, April
2016)
Owner: Roman Abramovich (RUS)
Chairman: Bruce Buck (USA)
Manager: Antonio Conte (ITA)
Assistant first-team coaches:
Steve Holland (ENG), Angelo Alessio
(ITA), Gianluca Conte (ITA)
Club captain: John Terry (ENG)
Honours
English First Division/Premier
League (6): 1954-55, 2004-05,
2005-06, 2009-10, 2014-15,
2016-17
FA Cup (7): 1969-70, 1996-97,
1999-00, 2006-07, 2008-09,
2009-10, 2011-12
League Cup (5): 1964-65, 1997-
98, 2004-05, 2006-07, 2014-15
FA Community Shield (4): 1955,
2000, 2005, 2009
Champions League (1): 2011-12
Europa League (1): 2012-13
European Cup Winners’ Cup (2):
1970-71, 1997-98
Uefa Super Cup (1): 1998
Most appearances
Ron Harris (ENG): 795
Most goals
Frank Lampard (ENG): 211
Record transfer fee paid
Fernando Torres (ESP) - £50m
($64.7m, 59.2m euros), to Liverpool/
ENG, January 2011
Record transfer fee received
Oscar (BRA) - £60m ($77.6m, 71.1m
euros), from Shanghai SIPG/CHN,
January 2017
How Chelsea’s title triumph unfolded
August
A title race that would finish at a
canter began with a sprint. Antonio
Conte marked his first match
as Chelsea manager with a jubilant
run down the Stamford Bridge
touchline to celebrate Diego Costa’s
last-minute goal in a 2-1 win
over West Ham United. Victories
over Watford and Burnley followed
as Conte made a flying start. There
was no sign of Tottenham Hotspur’s
impending emergence as
they won just once in three matches.
September
Early optimism gave way to fears
Conte might be out of his depth
during a chastening period for
the Italian that included a 2-1 loss
against Liverpool and a woeful 3-0
defeat at Arsenal. In contrast, Pep
Guardiola, Manchester City’s new
manager, had his table-toppers
firing on all cylinders as they won
their first six matches, including
a 2-1 success at Jose Mourinho’s
Manchester United.
October
Chelsea were revitalised by Conte’s
switch to his preferred three-man
defensive system. They hammered
out a statement of intent by
crushing champions Leicester
City 3-0 and then routed United
4-0 in a miserable return to the
Bridge for former boss Mourinho.
Tottenham served notice of their
title credential with a 2-0 victory
over City, while Arsenal went jointtop
after their best spell of what
would prove a troubled campaign.
November
Coming from behind to inflict Tottenham’s
first league defeat of the
season, Chelsea’s 2-1 home win -
secured by goals from Pedro and
Victor Moses - sent them back to
the top with a seventh consecutive
victory. City and Liverpool were
only one point behind, but Guardiola’s
men were about to get their
first taste of the Chelsea revolution.
December
Chelsea’s swaggering 3-1 win at
City sparked a spiteful response
from the hosts, who had Sergio
Aguero and Fernandinho sent off
amid an ugly bench-clearing brawl.
The Blues maintained their momentum
with a series of gritty 1-0
wins heading into Christmas before
closing out 2016 with goal sprees
against Bournemouth and Stoke
City to equal the top-flight record
of 13 successive victories in a single
season.
January
Chelsea suffered a new year hangover
as Dele Alli’s brace gave Tottenham
a 2-0 win at White Hart
Lane and ended the Blues’ bid to
set a new record winning streak. It
was a dominant display that paved
the way for Tottenham to become
Chelsea’s only serious challengers,
but Conte’s team recovered, beating
Leicester and Hull City, and
held a nine-point lead at the end of
the month.
REUTERS
February
By the time Arsenal were put to
the sword in a swashbuckling 3-1
Chelsea victory, Conte’s men had
opened up what looked an insurmountable
12-point advantage.
When Tottenham were beaten 2-0
at Liverpool, it was hard to envisage
a challenge from across London,
but Mauricio Pochettino’s
side were about to hit top gear.
Stoke were their first victims, demolished
4-0 after conceding four
times in the first half.
March
Grinding out hard-fought 2-1
wins at both West Ham and Stoke
showed Chelsea were not taking
their eyes off the prize as they approached
the final furlong. Tottenham
responded by beating Everton
and Southampton to keep the gap
at 10 points.
April
Lowly Crystal Palace gave renewed
hope to Tottenham with
a stunning 2-1 win at Chelsea and
the leaders’ second defeat in 23
league games was gleefully seized
upon by Pochettino’s troops. Spurs
scored three goals in the closing
minutes to win at Swansea City,
then battered both Watford and
Bournemouth to move to within
four points of Chelsea. When the
leaders slumped to a limp 2-0 loss
at United, the title race was back
on. But Chelsea were not to be denied
and wins over Southampton
and Everton kept Tottenham at bay
despite their victory in the north
London derby.
May
Tottenham’s nine-match winning
streak and their bid for a first English
title since 1961 came to a shattering
end in a 1-0 defeat at West
Ham. Relentless Chelsea walloped
Middlesbrough 3-0 and their second
title in three seasons was
sealed with a 1-0 win at West Bromwich
Albion.
Victor Moses
The Nigeria winger
has been one of
the chief beneficiaries
of Conte’s
3-4-2-1 system,
adopted during
September’s 3-0 defeat at Arsenal.
Though a winger by trade, Moses
has adapted enthusiastically to life
as a wing-back and his flying raids
down the right flank have become a
key component of Chelsea’s counter-attacking
strategy.
N’Golo Kante
The unassuming
France international
picked up where
he had left off at
Leicester City, suffocating
opposition
midfields with his relentless activity
and uncanny knack for recovering
possession. He has been voted Player
of the Year by both the Professional
Footballers’ Association and the Football
Writers’ Association. “It’s amazing
to see him play,” said former Chelsea
striker Didier Drogba.
Eden Hazard
His 15-goal tally is
his best in a league
campaign since
he joined Chelsea
from Lille in 2012
and includes
a stunning solo goal in a 3-1 win
against Arsenal that saw him leave
three players in his wake. He finished
runner-up behind Kante in the
voting for both the PFA and FWA
awards. “He is a great player, a great
talent,” said Conte. “And he must
understand that he is a great player
and never forget this.”
Diego Costa
Costa experienced
a dip in form under
Jose Mourinho
last season and
often seemed more
interested in seeking
trouble with opposition defenders than
finding the back of the net. The Spain
international has managed to keep his
eye on the ball nevertheless, giving
Conte a rugged attacking spearhead
and scoring 20 league goals for only the
third time in his career.

4
Saturday, May 20, 2017
DT
#MisYou
ICC
The ICC sends its congratulations
to Younis Khan and Misbah-ul-Haq
on their successful international
careers #MisYou http://bit.ly/
ICCMisYou
PCB official
Guard of honour for Younis Khan
#MisYou
Yuvraj Singh
Good bye two greats of Pakistan
cricket @captainmisbahpk and younis
khan your contribution towards
the game was inspiring to all of us
Sanjay Manjrekar
Two very likeable people & highly
accomplished batsmen. Thank you
Misbah & Younis for all the memories.
#MisYou
Michael Vaughan
Huge respect ... Younis Khan & @
captainmisbahpk ... Great players &
more importantly Great people ...
#Pakistan
Kumar Sangakkara
Wonderful careers for @captainmisbahpk
and Younis. They will be
missed. Together they raised @
TheRealPCB to greater heights. All
the best
Aakash Chopra
End of an era in Pakistan cricket...
Misbah and Younis leaving a void
that can’t be filled for a long time.
Warm wishes for the 2nd innings!!
Mushtaq Ahmed
What a beautiful sight it is! Two
warriors, two friends, two men who
stood for Pakistan through thick
and thin. #Respect #MisYou
Mohammad Irfan
Have not changed my header for
the last two years because of this
man - Younis Khan. No words can
describe your class, Sir. #Legend
#MisYou
Saeed Ajmal
Congratulations Captain Misbah &
Younis Khan, you have inspired the
whole generation.Great Ambassadors
of the game. You will be
missed.
Harsha Bhogle
Well played @captainmisbahpk and
Younis Khan. You can look back at
your career with pride. Can still win
last Test.
Mohammad Rizwan
Younis bhai and @captainmisbahpk
- an era of determination and
hardwork. Great leaders and even
greater human beings. #MisYou
#Respect
• Cricbuzz
It’s funny how after 118 Tests, 10,099
runs and 34 hundreds, Younis Khan
still finds a way to disappoint.
Try stepping into the shoes of a
nineties kid. With bragging rights to
pre-digital life in this era of gadget
fetish, it must really hurt to miss
out on Younis - arguably Pakistan’s
greatest batsman who makes for a
desirable, modern-day throwback to
the good ol’ days.
It’s only natural to feel nostalgic
around Younis’ retirement, until it
dawns upon you that he’s someone
who debuted as late as 2000, and is retiring
after a fulfilling career spanning
seventeen long years.
Brick in the wall
You can be forgiven for misconstruing
Younis as a nineties player; he is
as close as it gets. Armed with perhaps
the greatest on-drive that sits
at par with a Tendulkar punch or a
Ponting pull, Younis bears a reassuring
presence at the crease, which is
an overbearing requisite for any No.
3 batsman around the world. And he
partly credits his long-term success
at the position to the most Younis of
them all: Rahul Dravid.
“The tips and advice I got from
Dravid at the early stages of my career
helped me develop into a top
batsman, who was comfortable at
the No.3 position,” Younis told the
Press Trust of India in ‘15.
As coy as his fans
Regardless of his many achievements,
a majority of which were
considered far-fetched for a Mardan
simpleton, most notably that of having
at least one Test century in 11
different countries, Younis can still
afford to leave you in utter disarray.
Cricket
Younis: The disappointment you need
They were unassuming, self-effacing,
modest. They preferred playing
the role of the bulwark rather
than the façade. Their presence
in the team was ubiquitous rather
than charismatic. They preferred to
construct the “firm” in Pakistan’s
cricketing firmament, rather than
dazzling as stars. Even while chorusing
their synchronised swansong,
they did so unobtrusively,
thousands of miles away from the
cricketing limelight, far from the
sound and fury, dazzle and decibels
of the IPL extravaganza.
On one side we have total aggregate,
magnificent average, overseas
runs, scores against quality opposition,
the number of hundreds, frequency
of hundreds — every parametre
speaking eloquently about
Younis Khan’s greatness. There is
Doesn’t know how to celebrate
All Younis has is runs - here, there,
everywhere, one after another,
century by century, swallowing
fans back into his fandom every
time his mundanity threatens to
drift them away.
“When I came to Karachi, (I
lived) in the premises of the steel
mill, (and) I still live there. I lived
among my people and tried not to
change myself.”
All social lines are busy
The fact that Younis is unreachable
off the field, too, doesn’t help. He
is missing from every social media
platform there is, elevating the task
of knowing him to something more
arduous. And he does this savagely
at a time when other potential role
models splash their personal lives
around, unwittingly making fans
out of public apathy.
A World Cup-winning outlier
It was this sense of privacy that
conspired many turbulent stints
for Younis Khan inside, and
outside, the dressing room. He
joined a team that was known as
much for cricket as for its religious
pageantry.
Consequential or not, Pakistan
were knocked out first-round in
the ‘03 World Cup, and the manager
on that tour, Shaharyar Khan,
reveals a great deal about the religiofication
of the Pakistan team
in his book: The Cricket Cauldron.
He recounts how the training sessions
were planned around prayer
timings, how adherence to faith
evolved into a selection parameter,
and how he felt guilty about allowing
it to happen, mistaking overt
displays of religion for something
the teammates can bond over.
Younis Khan (2000-2017)
Inns Runs HS Ave 100/50
Tests 213 10099 313 52.05 34/33
ODIs 255 7249 144 31.24 7/48
T20Is 25 442 51 22.1 0/2
Younis and Misbah retirement –
• Agencies
hardly a Pakistani batting record
that he does not hold.
On the other hand, we have the
most successful captain in terms of
Test match victories, a man who
could graft for hours while at the
same time blast the (then) fastest
Test century, one who defied age,
his legend eked out in the hundred
at Lord’s at 42 followed by the push
ups. Most remarkable is that Misbah-ul-Haq
accomplished all that
while his entire career witnessed
just five Test matches at home.
The modern maestro
Younis made runs everywhere,
against every major opposition, in
every country. Other than in the
difficult conditions of South Africa,
he flourished in every land of note.
True, his batting was not the
sort to delight spectators as a Zaheer
Abbas or a Majid Khan would.
Neither has there yet been enough
number of intervening years to
perpetuate his persona into immortality.
Nor have his deeds been
magnified, as in the days of yore,
through the hyperboles and imagination
that used to compensate
for the lack of live telecasts and information
from around the world.
Thus, Younis has not yet enjoyed
those elements that combine to
create the overstated myths and
legends associated with a cricketer
of the past.
When one watched Younis, the
predominance of the bottom hand,
the inelegant forward prod, and the
occasional crudeness of the downswing
of his bat were difficult to appreciate.
Especially in a part of the
world that lays rather more store
to the attractiveness of stroke-play
than the bottom-line of the efforts.
His mastery over the spinners was

Misbah-ul Haq (2001-2017)
Inns Runs HS Ave 100/50
Tests 132 5222 161* 46.62 10/39
ODIs 149 5122 96* 43.4 0/42
T20Is 34 788 87* 37.52 0/3
Cricket 5
Misbah’s farewell speech
well known and his flick often did
carry a degree of flamboyance, but
when placed side by side with the
other Asian maestros his style of
run-making fell short on the scale
of aesthetic delight. It is difficult
for the spectator to comprehend
that style and substance are, more
often than not, uncorrelated. More
so for the fan. Yet, the tally of runs
at an incredible average is difficult
to ignore. The aggregate was
achieved at a rate superior to Zaheer,
Majid and many other visually
pleasing batsmen.
The willow and the sceptre
Misbah is perhaps not comparable
in terms of batting accomplishments,
but neither are his deeds
with the willow insignificant. The
healthy statistics of 5222 runs at
46.62 may not read remarkable in
this modern day and age, but when
• Agencies
The following is the address that
Pakistan captain Misbah-ul-Haq
gave to the audience at Windsor
Park before leaving the field for the
last time upon Pakistan’s victory
over West Indies in the third Test in
Dominica:
“I would like to thank Almightly
Allah, whatever I had, whatever
success I got throughout my career,
to end like that, I couldn’t ask for
anything better. Then I would like
to thank my family: my mother, my
I’m happy with
what I’ve had in this
career. What a finish,
I couldn’t have asked
more than that.
Really happy for this
team, all the guys
here, the way they
gave me and Younis
send-offs
sisters, and especially to my wife
Uzma who supported me and was
always there. This series was only
for her because I could have finished
in Australia. She just convinced me
and the fans that I have to come.
And this team, too, most of these
players [said], ‘You don’t have to end
like that. You have to go winning and
performing well.’
Thanks to everybody. My son
is not here. He’s watching on TV,
so I’m missing him. But obviously
he has his exams and could
not travel with us. A lot of others,
too. Throughout my career, all the
coaching staff, managers, trainers,
When the greats move on
we consider that he had played just
five Tests before his 33rd birthday,
the figures take on a new significance.
True, in contrast to Younis he
was ordinary in most of the lands
where run making becomes a backbreaking
task. But we should balance
that feature with the extraordinary
fact that due to the turmoil
in Pakistan only five of Misbah’s
75 Tests were played at home. We
should also remember his consistency,
that after his second coming
in 2007, for nearly a decade, his
longest run without a fifty had
been four innings. This largely unobserved
yet startlingly significant
sequence carried on till his loss of
form down under in October, 2016.
The duo
Through the last decade, Pakistan
have chartered the usual erratic
doctors, and especially the colleagues,
teammates, class fellows,
teachers, who really supported me
throughout my career, throughout
my life and would be praying
for me. Thanks a lot. And fans all
throughout the world. Not just Pakistan.
Even in West Indies, all the
guys they’ve been coming to me,
wishing me all the best for the rest
of life. But it’s life, everything except
the Almighty Allah has to end,
whether it’s bad or good.
I’m happy with what I’ve had in
this career. What a finish, I couldn’t
have asked more than that. Really
happy for this team, all the guys
here, the way they gave me and Younis
send-offs. And special thanks to
Younis, very best of luck in his future
life. It was a very fine journey with
him in the middle, sharing a lot of
partnerships, and I loved every moment
of that. In the history books,
my name will come with him and
he’s a legend. He’s a top performer
for Pakistan: 34 centuries, 10,000
runs, broke a lot of records. I had 15
hundred-partnerships with him and
that’s something special to me that
my name will come with his and be
remembered in history.
It was the first ever [series] win
for a Pakistan team in the West
Indies, so everybody was so motivated
and they were working hard
for me and Younis. A lot of frustrations,
no-ball wickets, a couple of
chances here and there, but I think
you enjoy wins like that much
more than straightforward wins.
I might have just forgotten
names but whoever worked with
me, whoever played with me, I
enjoyed that and I think they have
made a contribution in my life and
career. Thank you all, thank you
very much.”
course, oscillating between brilliance
and mediocrity as has been
their virtual signature. But, their
fortunes have been built on the
solid presence of these two men.
The two batted together often,
managing to accumulate 3213 runs
in their associations, with 15 century-stands.
No Pakistani pair has
added more runs or been involved
in nearly as many hundred-run
partnerships. This very statistic
captures the worth of these two
noble cricketers in the context of
Pakistan cricket.
The Pakistan fans might not
have placed them in the lofty pedestals
as they did an Imran Khan or
a Javed Miandad or a Zaheer, but in
a strife-ridden nation the presence
of these two in the middle allowed
them a moment of serenity, perhaps
the most elusive component
in the last few years in cricket.
DT
Saturday, May 20, 2017
Double departure
hands Pakistan a
testing transition
• Reuters
As Younis Khan and Misbah-ul-Haq
head off into the sunset after long
and illustrious careers, Pakistan
begins a tricky period of transition
looking for a new wave of players
ready to fill a huge void left by the
retired batting greats.
In a fitting finale, Younis, Pakistan’s
most prolific Test run-scorer,
and Misbah, the country’s most successful
captain, bowed out together
in a blaze of glory on Sunday with
the team celebrating a first-ever
series triumph in the Caribbean.
The thrilling 101-run victory
in Dominica sealed a 2-1 win over
West Indies and was Pakistan’s 26th
under the 42-year-old Misbah, who
also led the side to the top of the
International Cricket Council world
Test ranking last year.
Since his 2001 Test debut in
New Zealand, Misbah accumulated
5,222 runs in 75 matches at an
average higher than 46.
Admired for his unflappable
temperament in a dressing room
replete with mercurial talent, Misbah
was handed the Test captaincy
after a 2010 spot-fixing scandal in
England led to the expulsion of his
predecessor Salman Butt. ICC chief
executive David Richardson was
among those to pay a glowing tribute
to the consistent right-hander.
“Misbah has been the bedrock of
many a Pakistan innings, time and
time again extricating his team from
difficult situations with a terrific
temperament,” the former South
Africa wicket-keeper said.
“He knew how to graft for his
runs but could also be inventive
and score at a brisk pace, as was evident
during his impressive 56-ball
century against Australia in 2014
in Abu Dhabi, which equalled Viv
Richards’s world record.
“He was a leader who took
charge at a difficult time...He was a
true sportsman and role model.”
If Misbah represented the voice
of reason in both the dressing room
and out on the field, Younis let his
bat do the talking and is currently
the only Pakistani to have joined the
coveted 10,000 Test-run club.
The former captain, who led
Pakistan to the World Twenty20
title in 2009, tallied 10,099 runs in
118 Tests, embellishing his legacy
with 34 hundreds at an average of
more than 52.
Together they were the pillars
of Pakistan’s batting lineup for over
a decade and it could take many
years for the country to find anyone
capable of matching their feats.
Pakistan’s situation mirrors the
dilemma south Asian rival Sri Lanka
faced when batting mainstays
Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene
ended their international
careers two years ago.

6
Saturday, May 20, 2017
DT
Football
Liverpool. Arsenal, City brace for UCL spot
• Reuters
With the title and relegation issues
decided, three teams will scrap for
the two remaining Champions League
places on the final day of the Premier
League season on Sunday.
Three points separate Manchester
City, Liverpool and Arsenal, with each
hoping to join champion Chelsea and
Tottenham Hotspur in next season’s
premier European club competition. A
Europa League place awaits whoever
finishes fifth.
City travel to Watford knowing a
win would guarantee them third spot
and automatic qualification. Should
fourth-placed Liverpool beat Middlesbrough,
they would at least secure
entry into the Champions League qualifying
round.
But if either team fail to win, and
Arsenal beat Everton, a playoff on a
neutral ground could yet decide positions
because goal difference and goals
scored - the deciding factors if teams
finish level - are very tight.
City (75 points, 36 goal difference,
75 goals scored) have the edge over
Liverpool (73, 33, 75) and Arsenal (72,
31, 74). Put simply, Liverpool must
equal Arsenal’s result and could even
afford to lose to Middlesbrough by a
single goal and still finish fourth if the
Gunners draw. Last season Arsenal
pipped rival Spurs to an unlikely second
place on the final day.
KEY FIXTURES
Liverpool v Middlesbrough
8:00pm, Sunday
Star Sports HD 1
Watford v Man City
8:00pm, Sunday
TOP goal SCORERS
26 Harry Kane (Tottenham)
24 Romelu Lukaku (Everton)
23 Alexis Sanchez (Arsenal)
20 Diego Costa (Chelsea)
18 Sergio Aguero (Manchester City)
17 Ibrahimovic (Manchester United)
POINTS TABLE
Team P W D L GD Pts
Chelsea 37 29 3 5 48 90
Tottenham 37 25 8 4 54 83
Man City 37 22 9 6 36 75
Liverpool 37 21 10 6 33 73
Arsenal 37 22 6 9 31 72
Man Utd 37 17 15 5 23 66
Everton 37 17 10 10 20 61
Southampton 37 12 10 15 -6 46
West Brom 37 12 9 16 -7 45
Bournemouth 37 12 9 16 -12 45
Leicester 37 12 7 18 -15 43
West Ham 37 11 9 17 -18 42
Crystal Palace 37 12 5 20 -9 41
Stoke 37 10 11 16 -16 41
Burnley 37 11 7 19 -15 40
Watford 37 11 7 19 -23 40
Swansea 37 11 5 21 -16 38
Hull 37 9 7 21 -37 34
Middlesbrough 37 5 13 19 -23 28
Sunderland 37 6 6 25 -36 24
Real on cusp of title
• Reuters
Real Madrid can almost touch the La
Liga title after a five year wait, needing
only to avoid defeat to Malaga on Sunday
to grab the trophy from the hands
of Barcelona.
Real lead the standing on 90 points,
three above Barca. Standing in the way
of a first title since 2012 is a Malaga side
with little at stake and who are coached
by Michel, who spent 14 trophy laden
seasons at the Bernabeu.
Madrid famously squandered two
consecutive titles in 1992 and 1993
away to Tenerife, then coached by another
Real great, Jorge Valdano, handing
the trophy to Barca on the final day.
Michel stirred controversy in a radio
interview last month when he declared
“I’m a much bigger Madrid fan than
Valdano”.
However, Michel, who oversaw a
surprise 2-0 win over Barca in April,
has promised to treat the game like any
other: “It’s my Madrid but also my Malaga.
I have to respect the competition
and always go out to win.”
Barca host Eibar and coach Luis Enrique
said his side’s hope of stealing the
league in the final match were as likely
as pigs flying.
KEY FIXTURES
Sevilla v Osasuna
1:00am, Sunday
Malaga v Real Madrid
12:00am, Monday
Ten 1 HD
Barcelona v Eibar
12:00am, Monday
Ten 1
POINTS TABLE
Teams P W D L GD Pts
Real Madrid 37 28 6 3 63 90
Barcelona 37 27 6 4 82 87
Atletico 37 22 9 6 41 75
Sevilla 37 20 9 8 15 69
Villarreal 37 18 10 9 21 64
TOP goal SCORERS
35: Lionel Messi (Barcelona)
28: Luis Suárez (Barcelona)
24: Cristiano Ronaldo (Real)
18: Iago Aspas (Celta)
16: Aritz Aduriz (Bilbao) and Antoine
Griezmann (Atletico)
Crotone hope to spoil Juve party
• Reuters
Treble-chasing Juventus will try for
the second time to wrap up the Serie A
title at the weekend, this time against
a Crotone team attempting to pull
off one of the greatest escapes in the
competition’s recent history.
Playing in the top flight for the first
time, the team from the southern region
of Calabria looked odds on to
go straight back down in mid-March
when they found themselves eight
points adrift of safety.
However, run of five wins and two
draws in their last seven games have
left Crotone just one point behind Empoli
and two behind Genoa, the two
teams immediately above them in the
relegation zone.
Their last-but-one fixture takes
them to Juve, who had won 33 home
league games in a row until their 2-2
with Torino two weeks ago.
Crotone coach Davide Nicola is under
no illusions about the task.
“Juventus are Juventus; they are
a world class team,” he said after Crotone’s
win over Udinese on Sunday.
“We are working really hard and not
thinking so much about our opponent.
KEY FIXTURES
Chievo v Roma
10:00pm, Saturday
Ten 1
Juventus v Crotone
7:00pm, Sunday
POINTS TABLE
Teams P W D L GD Pts
Juventus 36 27 4 5 46 85
Roma 36 26 3 7 49 81
Napoli 36 24 8 4 50 80
Lazio 36 21 7 8 27 70
Atalanta 36 19 9 8 19 66
TOP goal SCORERS
27: Edin Dzeko (Roma)
25: Andrea Belotti (Torino) and
Dries Mertens (Napoli)
24: Gonzalo Higuain (Juventus)
and Mauro Icardi (Inter Milan)
22: Ciro Immobile (Lazio)
Alexis Sanchez (Arsenal)
The Chilean
scored
against
Stoke City on
Saturday and
followed it up
with a brace
against the relegated Sunderland on
Tuesday to keep alive the Gunners’
fading European hope.
EPL
Michy Batshuayi’s goal clinched the
title for Chelsea as they beat West
Bromwich Albion 1-0. John Terry led
Chelsea to a 4-3 victory over Watford.
Liverpool are on the brink of the Champions
League after a 4-0 rout of West
Ham United, while Tottenham Hotspur
said farewell to the Lane with a 2-1 win
against Manchester United. Arsenal
maintained their pursuit of a top-four
finish with a 4-1 victory at Stoke City.
Manchester City squeezed out a 2-1 win
League Round-Ups
cristiano Ronaldo (Real)
CR7 enjoyed
a stellar
week, netting
twice against
Sevilla before
scoring twice
more against
Celta Vigo on Wednesday to take
Real on the verge of their first La
Liga title in five years.
against Leicester City that lifted them
to third place. Arsenal’s 2-0 win over
Sunderland meant that City, 3-1 winner
at home against West Brom, will need
a point to be certain of a top four spot.
LA LIGA
Real Madrid started the weekend with
a 4-1 win over Sevilla on Sunday but
Barcelona followed suit, repeating
the scoreline away to Las Palmas on
the same day. In midweek, Real again
thrashed Celta Vigo 4-1, to take a step
closer to their 33rd La Liga title.
Jose Callejon (Napoli)
The Spanish
attacker
bagged a
brace against
Torino on
Sunday as
Napoli took
one more step towards automatic
Champions League qualification.

Feature
Courageous, compassionate
Conte heals Chelsea rifts
• AFP, London
Just 10 months after arriving at
a club ripped apart by feuds and
rampant egos, Antonio Conte
has healed the rifts so masterfully
that Chelsea are the Premier
League champion.
Conte and his players were
wreathed in smiles and soaked
in champagne after clinching the
title with a 1-0 win at West Bromwich
Albion on Friday.
Yet when the Italian drove into
Chelsea’s palatial training base in
the leafy village of Cobham for
the first time last July, he was in
no mood to soak up the tranquil
surroundings.
“At the start of the season it
wasn’t easy. We had to solve a lot
of problems,” he said.
Conte knew the
depth of the problems
lying in wait for him
with a squad still
in turmoil after the
mutiny that cost
Jose Mourinho his
job and prompted a shocking slide
down the table.
When club owner Roman
Abramovich asked Conte to leave
his role as Italy coach to sort out
Chelsea’s sulking stars, many felt
he was on a hiding to nothing.
But the 47-year-old jumped
at the chance to see if the philosophy
he had honed during a
stellar managerial career, which
included three Serie A titles with
Juventus, could work outside his
homeland.
Aware that the unhappiness
of players like Diego Costa, Eden
Hazard and Cesc Fabregas had
sowed the seeds of discontent at
Chelsea, Conte hatched a plan to
win over his collection of multi-millionaire
millennials.
Instead of treating them like
naughty schoolboys, Conte - a former
altar boy and devout Catholic
- promised they would find
him honest and compassionate,
as long as they followed his demanding
regime to the letter.
Crucially, the absence of European
fixtures from Chelsea’s schedule
afforded Conte time to drill his
philosophy into his players, with
double training sessions including
long pattern-of-play exercises.
The revolution really gathered
pace once Conte responded to
lacklustre defeats against Liverpool
and Arsenal in September by
switching to his preferred threeman
defensive system.
Conte’s players were tuned in
to such an extent that they seized
control of the title race by equalling
a single-season top-flight record
with 13 successive victories.
“My biggest achievement was
that the players gave me availability
to work hard on the physical,
tactical and video analysis
aspects,” Conte said.
“When you have these types
of changes it’s not easy. First, you
must find men and then good
players. I found great men and
then really good players.”
Even then, Conte could not rest
easy and his wild touchline celebrations
were the perfect window into
the soul of a ferocious competitor
who thinks nothing of waking in the
middle of the night to plot another
tactical masterstroke.
How could it be any other way
for a man who named his daughter
Vittoria, Italian for “victory”,
and admits he finds it impossible
to sleep before and after matches
because he is so pumped up with
adrenaline?
No longer bombarded by text
messages, a favourite motivational
method of Mourinho’s, Chelsea’s
stars lapped up Conte’s more
considered approach.
Keeping a lid on the volatile
Costa’s emotions is a full-time
job, but Conte managed to rein in
the Spain striker well enough to
ensure his goals kept Chelsea on
top.
He deftly eased club legend
John Terry out of the first team.
7
Saturday, May 20, 2017
Supporter
By Shahnoor Rabbani
Are we the most
hypocritical
cricket fans in
the world?
Have you been watching this tri-nation
series between Ireland, New Zealand and
Bangladesh? Have you seen how awful
the camerawork has been? Have you
noticed the forced endorsements of movies,
products and video portals as they
have been sponsors during this series?
Well, that’s what happens when you let
Bangladeshis produce cricket.
I’m sorry, you don’t like what I’m saying?
What, the Indians started this (over
the top commercialisation of cricket) and
the rest of the sub continent followed.
But at least they can have cameras
covering the cricket and tracking the ball
properly, right? Why can’t we?
We have fans on cricket groups in
social media that talk about our players
like they’re the greatest ever, that troll our
neighbours’ players whenever they do
something remotely embarrassing, that
speak of the ICC and the BCCI as if they’re
against cricket and the goodwill of it, and
the umpires are solely against us in games.
We fail to see the problems within the
board, the problems within the cricketing
system, the level of corruption and the
standards of umpiring in our local cricket,
the fact that some of our players are not
as good as we’d like to make them out
to be, and most importantly, the fact
that we need to respect the opposition
players when they do play well.
Yes, I’m all for banter. I’m all for us
supporting our team through thick and
thin. I’m all for us believing we are THAT
good that we can win against any team in
ODIs. But I am not a fan of us living under
a bubble that we are all that’s great about
cricket. Are we the worst fans out there?
Maybe not, but we’re definitely among
the most biased and deluded. We’re
growing up as a cricketing team perhaps
it’s time the board and most importantly,
the fans started too.
DT
Hero
CRISTIANO RONALDO
Just like fine wine, it seems Ronaldo too
is getting better with age. Every week,
the Madeira lad comes up with brilliant
performances and it was no different
in the last few days as he bagged four
goals – two against Sevilla and as many
against Celta Vigo – to take Los Blancos
on the verge of their first league title
since 2012.
Quote of the Week
We won’t buckle at all, we are standing together
and very strong, and as you can see from all the
people that have spoken so far, we are all on the
same wavelength. We want a fair share and the
revenue-sharing model is what we want, so we are
going to stick together until we get that. It was quite
laughable when I heard about it. It is fantastic with
the security but you can’t just try and stop people
from playing other tournaments. (The IPL) gives us a
great window to get the T20 format in.
- Australia cricketer David Warner on the ongoing pay dispute
that might leave the Aussies without their top players in the
home Ashes series against England later this year.
Tweets
Mitchell Starc
Australia cricketer
May 13
Makes for an interesting
men’s and
women’s ashes...
#fairshare
Shane Watson
Australia cricketer
May 13
Well said @
mstarc56. It will be
an interesting game
of cricket without
any players. #fairshare