The transfer of the title of European Player of the Year effectively took place in the Champions League final last May when Lionel Messi eclipsed the 2008 winner Cristiano Ronaldo.
Coach Misbah-ul-Haq and his fellow selectors have been criticised by Pakistan media for placing too much expectation on such young shoulders, particularly against an ascendant team that thrives on home pitches.
Do you think Rashid Khan, Kagiso Rabada, Jasprit Bumrah and Jofra Archer can do the job for my team?
India captain Virat Kohli's stoic batting helped India eke out a draw on the fifth and final day in the opening Test against England in Rajkot on Sunday. But it was his English counterpart Alastair Cook, who stole the show and the records on the day!
Tailored luxury experiences with the most minute of details charted out for discerning travellers is the way forward, says Nikita Puri.
Noting that it was his government that had recommended a CBI probe into the actor's death, Kumar said the incident saddened both the state and the country.
Barcelona and Argentina forward Lionel Messi was awarded the 2009 Ballon D'Or, French magazine France Football said on its website on Tuesday. The 22-year-old became the first Ballon D'Or winner from Argentina, eclipsing runner-up and last year's winner Cristiano Ronaldo by a record 240-point margin.
Five acid attack survivors walked for designer Agnimitra Paul's show in Kolkata.
Statistical highlights of day three in the second cricket Test between India and Sri Lanka at Green Park in Kanpur.
District Magistrate Ajay Kumar Upadhaya said an 80-year-old woman collapsed due to the heavy rush of devotees at the ghat while another woman fainted following which people panicked and started running helter-skelter.
In the bid to make IPL a global sporting brand, is Indian cricket the casualty? Aabhas Sharma and Akshay Manwani try to find some answers
Here's a glimpse of all that happened around the world last week, in 9 images.
Australia on Thursday broke a 28-year old World Cup record with a crushing 12-0 win over South Africa but neither coach Ric Charlesworth nor the players were aware about their achievement till the end of the match.
Master batsman Sachin Tendulkar said records are meant to be broken and he would be glad to see an Indian eclipsing his epic unbeaten 200 that he smashed against South Africa in Gwalior on Wednesday.
The second wicket partnership of 64 runs between Shane Watson and Ricky Ponting is Australia's highest for the second wicket at the venue against any opponent, eclipsing the previous best of 50 runs against India, registered by the same pair on 29-10-2006.
Statistical highlights of the first India-Australia ODI in Vadodara.
# Harbhajan Singh, with his three for 60, has surpassed Anil Kumble's record at Eden Gardens. Harbhajan's wicket-aggregate of 41 wickets at an average of 22.87 in just seven Tests has eclipsed Kumble's tally of 40 wickets (avg 30.82) in eight Tests.
The prolific striker became the first Indian footballer to score 50 international goals, in his 87th match, when he reduced the margin in the dying minutes as India went down 1-2 to Guam in the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifier.
Sachin Tendulkar scored his 42nd Test hundred. This is his fourth ton against New Zealand, equalling Rahul Dravid's Indian record. Tendulkar's brilliant innings of 160 is his highest ever in New Zealand, eclipsing the 113 at Wellington in 1998.
Where the super-rich, like Gates, Buffett and Jobs, rest their heads.
Pakistan pulled off a thrilling three-wicket victory over hosts Bangladesh to storm into the finals of the Asia Cup cricket tournament, knocking India out of the title race. Shahid Afridi's blistering 59 off 25 balls helped Pakistan set up a summit clash against Sri Lanka. Here are the statistical highlights from the Asia Cup One-dayer played between Pakistan and Bangladesh in Dhaka on Tuesday.
England captain Alastair Cook will be eyeing a place in history when his side's three-Test series with Sri Lanka begins in Leeds on May 19. Cook boasts 9,964 runs and is just 36 runs short of completing 10,000 runs in Test cricket. More notably, the 31-year old can eclipse master blaster Sachin Tendulkar's record of being the youngest to reach the 10,000-run feat. Tendulkar's 10,000th Test run came against Pakistan in Kolkata in March 2005, a little more than a month before his 32nd birthday. Cook meanwhile, turned 31 on Christmas Day last year, meaning if he scores the 36 runs required in the opening Test against the visiting Sri Lankans at Headingley, he would have reached the 10,000 barrier five months younger than India's batting legend. While Cook looks likely to become the youngest man to 10,000 Test runs, he won't be the fastest to reach the milestone in terms of innings played.
Romania's Marian Dragulescu outclassed Olympic champion Zou Kai to pick up his fourth floor exercise title at the world gymnastics championships on Saturday.
France midfielder Paul Pogba is to undergo a medical at Manchester United ahead of a transfer from Serie A champions Juventus, the English Premier League club said on Sunday. United have been widely reported as being prepared to pay a world record fee of 120 million euros (101.78 million) for the 23-year-old who joined Juventus on a free transfer from the Old Trafford club in 2012. "Paul Pogba has been granted permission to have a medical in order to finalise his transfer from Juventus to Manchester United," said the statement.
Brown is transforming ideas about what the next generation is capable of
Sri Lankan spin wizard Muttiah Muralitharan created history on Thursday, becoming the highest wicket-taker in one-day cricket. He eclipsed Pakistani pace legend Wasim Akram's world record of 502 one-day scalps.
Manchester United striker Wayne Rooney rose to second place on the all-time Premier League scoring list with a clever winner against Swansea City on Saturday.
The United States has launched a separate and secret drone campaign managed jointly by the CIA and Special Operation Forces in Syria to target the leaders of the dreaded ISIS in Syria, a media report has said.
Images from the IPL match played between Sunrisers Hyderabad and Royal Challengers Bangalore on Sunday
Rohit Sharma became the first batsman in the history of cricket to hit a world record second double century in One-Day Internationals. He got to the coveted landmark off 151 balls in grand style, having hit 26 fours and five sixes, in the 46th over of India's innings in the fourth ODI against Sri Lanka in Kolkata on Thursday.
Consumption was the major driver, contributing 58.8 per cent to GDP growth
Gandhi is scheduled to visit Amethi from October 4-6.
Statistical highlights of the ICC Champions Trophy's Group A match between England and Australia in Birmingham.
The country of around 4 million people came to a standstill as Croatians watched the game on screens in squares and cafes.
The following factbox details five times a Video Assistant Referee (VAR) made an impact at the World Cup.
Statistical highlights of the ICC Champions Trophy match between India and Pakistan, at Edgbaston in Birmingham on Sunday.
Leicester City striker Jamie Vardy was officially presented with Guinness World Records certificate in honour of his 11 game record goal-scoring run in the English Premier League.
Swashbuckling opener Virender Sehwag hammered a 60-ball ton to eclipse Mohammad Azharuddin and register the fastest hundred in One-Day Internationals by an Indian in the fourth match against New Zealand in Hamilton, on Wednesday. Batting on 97, Sehwag danced down the pitch and hit a Daniel Vettori delivery over the bowler's head to bring up his hundred with a big six in the 18th over of the rain-truncated match to better Azharuddin's 20-year-old mark by two balls.
One down in the four-Test series, Australia captain Ricky Ponting will be under pressue to deliver in the third Test at the Ferozshah Kotla in Delhi.
India's most successful One-Day International captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni has beaten football superstars Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi to secure ninth place in the list of the world's 'most marketable athletes', compiled by the London School of Marketing.
