Daily Sports Catch-Up: Pune & Rajkot in IPL 2016, Anand beats Topalov, Ashwin the No. 1 all-rounder

#IPTL 2015

In a nerve racking match, with both the teams tied at 24-24, Raonic edged out Nadal 7-6 in the tie-breaker to win the set 6-5, and help Philippine Mavericks defeat Indian Aces 25-24. Despite the loss, Indian Aces still remain at the top of the table.

Earlier, Indian pair of Bopanna/Mirza dominated their mixed doubles match against Huey/Williams to win 6-3 – #MakingIndiaProud; Is this our best mixed doubles combination for Olympics?

#Badminton

The prestigious year-ender Dubai Super Series Finals is starting today in Dubai (of-course!) – Saina & Srikanth are the two Indians in the fray. Tournament format: League followed by SFs & Finals; Srikanth is more likely to qualify for the semis, considering he is in a relatively easier group than Saina.

#IPL

Pune & Rajkot are the two new IPL teams! Sanjiv Goenka & Intex (that low-cost desi smartphone player!) are the two new owners respectively.

Star of the day: BCCI, who got the two new owners to bid to pay BCCI instead of BCCI paying them, as was originally intended in the auctions.

Quick Byte:

• #Chess Anand beat ex-World No. 1 Topalov to lift himself to 0.5 point behind the leader at the half-way stage of the London Chess Classic
• #Cricket India, as expected, have become World No. 2 while Ashwin is now the No. 1 all-rounder in the latest ICC Test rankings
• #Cricket ICC unveils logo for the upcoming T20 WC in India
• #Boxing “I will send Vijender back home to India beaten and broken,” Hyuseinov said on of his up-coming bout against India’s ace on Dec 19

Key matches today

• #Badminton #SuperSeriesFinals Srikanth vs Momota, Saina vs Okuhara

Stat of the day: Amla SR of 10.2 during SA’s ‘block’athon in Kotla - lowest ever for a player who has faced more than 200 balls in Test cricket history!