African teams’ underperformance in the ongoing World Cup in Russia has been a talking point among the football fans, but unexpectedly, Senegal pulled off a historic 2-1 victory over Poland, which was the first and only African win in the first round of matches, after Egypt, Morocco, Nigeria and Tunisia all lost their opening games. After the historic victory, the fans present in the stadium could be forgiven for celebrating their heart out after the game, but they had something else in their mind and that was what captured our attention. After the game ended, some fans methodically cleaned up the stands and assembled the rubbish in a single pile. The act won the hearts of millions on the internet for their sense of social responsibility and even prompted Japanese fans to carry the same act in the aftermath of the Japan-Colombia match. The footage showed that some Japanese fans armed with plastic bin bags were clearing their portion of the stadium. While at a time, watching a live match at a stadium has become a painful experience due to the fans’ lack of responsibility towards the hygiene, the fans from Senegal and Japan have given an example for others to follow suit. 

While the above one is a feel-good story, the second point under this section came from a man widely regarded as one of the greatest that the game of cricket has ever seen. Sachin Tendulkar, quite vocal about various changes to the game, opened up about how the usage of two new balls in a match has made the game very one-sided. The asymmetry of the flow between two hemispheres of the cricket ball results in an effective side force, which caused swing and it can be generated by making use of seam of the ball and roughness of the ball surface. But in case of an old ball, bowlers can make use of both the seam and surface roughness bias to flow opposite to conventional swing, which we call reverse swing. However, since 2011, when ICC decided to stop using one ball per innings formula in ODI cricket, the format has become very lopsided for batsmen and the ensuing England-Australia series is a perfect example. There was hardly any incentive for the pacers and Tendulkar’s comments came at a perfect time. Given the cult status that the Master Blaster enjoys, hope the ICC will take stock of the same in their future meetings.

If you ever need a picture to sum up the high pressure of a nation on one shoulder, go and search for Lionel Messi’s picture after Argentina’s shocking loss to Croatia. It was devastating to see one of the greatest footballers of all-time in such a condition and perhaps because of that weight that he is struggling to carry with any felicity. In his final World Cup appearance, Messi was expected to script the kind of fairytale for Argentina that he has done on a regular basis for Barcelona. However, after an underwhelming two matches in which Messi has been in the news for all the wrong reasons, Argentina are hanging on by the thread with just one point against their name. A victory in their final group game against Nigeria next week will help them qualify for the next round, but none would have expected a performance like the one against Croatia from the 2014 runners-up. Donning Barcelona jersey, Messi has as many as nine La Liga crowns and four Champions League titles. But he is yet to walk into the Diego Maradona territory, as the one major World Cup Trophy is missing from the cabinet. But, if the current performance is anything to go by, they will be really lucky to sniff through the group stage. 

One of the ugliest sides of any physical sports is the usage of prohibited materials for performance enhancement and every now and then, every sport has come to become a victim of it. And when it was learnt that Pakistan opener Ahmed Shehzad failed a dope test and may face a minimum three-month-long suspension on Thursday, it brought a sense of sadness for all cricket fans. As reported, the 26-year-old batsman was tested during the Pakistan Cup, the country's domestic five-team one-day tournament, held from April 19 to May 1 and was found positive for a prohibited substance. Shehzad, who has been out of favour in ODIs and Tests, made it to the playing XI in the recently-concluded series against Scotland as Babar Azam had a wrist fracture. However, his place in the national side is now sure to go and it may hit him hard as far as his cricket career is concerned.