The Sports Express – January

Cricket

• India defeated Australia on their home turf for the second consecutive series after winning the 4 match test series 2-1. The series was poised at 1-1 going into the Sydney Test where India batted out the last day to seal an unlikely draw with heroic knocks by Hanuma Vihari and Ravichandran Ashwin, both of whom were battling injuries. The final test match took place at the Gabba, a ground where Australia had not lost since 1988 and with India going into the match with an injury-depleted lineup little was expected. However, substantial contributions by Shardul Thakur, T Natarajan, Mohammed Siraj and Washington Sundar, as well as contrasting final day innings by Cheteshwar Pujara and Rishabh Pant, helped seal the deal for India, in what was undoubtedly one of the greatest test match victories of all time. Despite ending up on the losing side, Pat Cummins was awarded the Man of the Series for his outstanding bowling while Ajinkya Rahane lifted the Border-Gavaskar trophy for the second time.
• Sri Lanka got off to a dismal start in their first test series of the year, succumbing 2-0 to England. Both test matches were played at Galle, with Sri Lanka collapsing in the first innings to hand England a huge advantage with Joe Root capitalized on with a double century. Despite a hundred by Lahiru Thirimanne and a fighting effort by Angelo Mathews in the second innings, Sri Lanka ended up losing the match by 7 wickets. The second match saw a better fight in the first innings with Angelo Mathews scoring a century for Sri Lanka and the evergreen James Anderson picking up 6-40. In reply, Joe Root kept up his unbelievable form with 188 while Lasith Embuldeniya picked up 7 wickets. However, the match was decided by yet another Sri Lankan collapse, this time in the second innings leaving England a small target to chase which they achieved with 6 wickets in the bag. Joe Root was named Man of the Series for his outstanding batting in both matches
• The Big Bash League title went to the Sydney Sixers who defeated the Perth Scorchers in the tournament final. James Vince was in outstanding form in the final scoring 95, while Josh Philippe, another Sydney Sixers star who had an outstanding tournament.

• The Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, India’s Domestic T20I tournament title went to Tamil Nadu who defeated Baroda in the final. This was an important tournament for Indian domestic players with the IPL auction coming up soon on the 18th of February
• South Africa toured Pakistan for the first time since 2007, where they lost the first test thanks to an outstanding hundred by Fawad Alam and solid bowling performances by debutant Nauman Ali who picked up a 5-wicket haul and Yasir Shah. This was the first test for Pakistan under their new captain, Babar Azam
• The ICC ODI Super League saw 3 series being completed in the month of January. Initially, Afghanistan whitewashed Ireland 3-0 which was followed up by another 3-0 victory for Bangladesh against a depleted West Indies team. The Bangladesh vs West Indies series was notable for the return of Shakib Al Hasan to international cricket, following a one year ban for failing to report a corrupt approach

Football

• Liverpool faltered badly in their defence of the Premier League title losing at Anfield for the first time since 2017 against Burnley, which they followed up with another loss against Brighton and Hove Albion. This allowed first Leicester City and then Manchester United to move to the top spot in the table. However, their reign at the top was short-lived as a rampant Manchester City side who have won 13 matches in a row moved to the top of the table and current. The month of January was also notable for the sacking of Frank Lampard from the Chelsea manager’s spot to be replaced by former Borussia Dortmund and PSG manager, Thomas Tuchel.

• Atletico Madrid maintained their lead at the top of the La Liga table and look strong favourites to win the title. Barcelona rediscovered some of their form after struggling in the initial stages and currently occupy the second spot while Real Madrid have also had a similarly inconsistent season. 

• Bayern Munich remained at the familiar position at the top of the Bundesliga table followed in second by RB Leipzig. Borussia Dortmund continued to struggle under caretaker manager Edin Terzic and currently occupy 6th place while Wolfsburg and Eintracht Frankfurt with a rejuvenated Luka Jovic occupy the Champions League spots. BVB’s archrivals Schalke 04 remain rooted at the foot of the table and narrowly avoided breaking the record for the longest interval between league victories in the Bundesliga, winning for the first time in 358 days when they defeated Hoffenheim 4-0.
• Serie A still sees the lead in the hands of AC Milan with Inter Milan following closely in second. However, Juventus seem to have rediscovered some of their old form and remain closely behind in 3rd with Roma, Lazio, Napoli and Atalanta following not too close behind. AC Milan, despite losing to Juventus were buoyed by the return of talismanic striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic from injury.
• Ligue 1 remains an unexpectedly close battle between Lille, Lyon and PSG with Lille being the surprise leaders going into the month of February. Monaco are also on a strong run of form with an outside chance of challenging for the title. In the last week of January, PSG lost 3-2 to a struggling Lorient side and they might not seal the deal as easily as they have tended to do in the last few seasons. Meanwhile, Marseille appears to be in turmoil with fans attacking the clubs training session, resulting in injuries to security staff and a player, their manager Andre Villas-Boas tendering his resignation to the board over a disagreement over the transfer of Oliver Ntcham. His request was rejected by the board who opted to suspend him pending further disciplinary action.
• Rangers seem set to end Celtic’s dominance in the Scottish Premier League under the stewardship of Steven Gerrard. The championship had been won for the last 9 consecutive seasons by Celtic
• The January Transfer window while not being proliferated by huge deals still saw many significant moves. Here is a list of some of the moves you might have missed (currency in pounds)

1. Dominik Szobszlai- Midfielder, Red Bull Salzburg to RB Leipzig, 22.9 million

2. Amad Diallo- Winger, Atalanta to Manchester United, 18.7 million

3. Sebastian Haller- Forward, West Ham to Ajax, 20 million

4. Moussa Dembele- Forward, Lyon to Atletico Madrid, loan

5. Luka Jovic- Forward, Real Madrid to Eintracht Frankfurt, loan

6. Mario Mandzukic- Forward, free agent signed by AC Milan

7. Arkaduiz Milik- Forward, Napoli to Marseille, loan

8. Fiyako Tomori- Defender, Chelsea to Milan, loan

9. Willian Jose- Forward, Real Sociedad to Wolves, loan

10. Mesut Ozil- Midfielder, Arsenal to Fenerbahce, free transfer

11. Papu Gomez- Midfielder, Atalanta to Sevilla, 5.5 million

12. Morgan Sanson- Midfielder, Marseille to Aston Villa, 16 million

13. Martin Odergaard- Midfielder, Real Madrid to Arsenal, loan

14. Jesse Lingard- Midfielder, Manchester United to West Ham, loan

15. Sami Khedira- Midfielder, Juventus to Hertha Berlin, free transfer

16. Jean Clair Todibo- Defender, Barcelona to Nice, loan

17. Ozan Kabak- Defender, Schalke to Liverpool, loan

18. Shkodran Mustafi- Defender, Arsenal to Schalke, released

19. Takumi Minamino- Winger, Liverpool to Southampton, loan

20. Ainsely Maitland-Niles- Midfielder, Arsenal to West Brom, loan

21. Josh King- Striker, Bournemouth to Everton, undisclosed fee