Sport
Messi claims record-extending seventh Ballon d’Or

Argentina’s Lionel Messi won the Ballon d’Or award for the best player in the world for a record-stretching seventh time on Monday, beating Robert Lewandowski and Jorginho to lift soccer’s most prestigious trophy yet again, Reuters reported.
The forward added to his 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2015 and 2019 trophies after winning the Copa America for the first time with his country last July.
“It’s incredible to be here again. Two years ago I thought it was the last time. Winning the Copa America was key,” Messi said at Paris’s Theatre du Chatelet.
“It is a special year for me with this Copa America title. It meant a lot to win at the Maracana stadium and I was so happy to celebrate with the people from Argentina.
“I don’t know if it’s the best year of my life, I’ve had a long career, but it was a special one with the title with Argentina after the tough times and the criticism.”
Messi, who joined Paris St Germain on a free transfer from Barcelona during the close season after finishing as La Liga’s top scorer with the Spanish club, collected 613 points, with Bayern Munich’s Lewandowski, named best striker on Monday, getting 580.
Jorginho, who won the Champions League with Chelsea and the European championship with Italy, ended up third on 460, ahead of France’s Karim Benzema and Ngolo Kante in fourth and fifth places respectively.
Chelsea, named club of the year, also had keeper Edouard Mendy finishing second in the Yashin trophy behind Italy’s Gianluigi Donnarumma, read the report.
According to the women’s Ballon d’Or went to Alexia Putellas after the Spain midfielder guided Barcelona to Champions League glory.
“The key moment was the Champions League final against Olympique Lyonnais,” she said.
Putellas is the third winner of the Ballon d’Or Feminin after Ada Hegerberg in 2018 and Megan Rapinoe in 2019. There was no ceremony last year due to the coronavirus pandemic.
On a good night for Barcelona, the 19-year-old Pedri was awarded the Kopa trophy for the best Under-21 player, Reuters reported.
“The best way to celebrate turning 19 is receiving this award. I’d like to thank everyone at Barcelona for helping me here,” he said.
Sport
Afghanistan U-19 cricket team defeats UAE

Afghanistan’s national under-19 cricket team defeated the United Arab Emirates by 180 runs on Wednesday, maintaining their unbeaten streak in the group stage at the ICC Men’s U19 CWC Asia Qualifiers.
In this match, Afghanistan scored 359 runs for the loss of only 4 wickets at the end of 50 overs.
This marks Afghanistan’s third consecutive victory in the regional group stage.
Previously, they had defeated Hong Kong and Oman by 8 wickets each.
Afghanistan is set to face the host nation, Nepal, on Saturday (April 19) in what will be their final group-stage match.
The winner of that game is likely to secure a spot in the 2026 ICC Men’s U19 World Cup.
Sport
IPL 2025 Orange and Purple Cap leaderboards: Kuldeep moves up to No. 3
Here’s how things look on the run-scorers’ and wicket-takers’ tables after Sunday’s matches

Following Sunday’s double-header in this year’s Indian Premier League, a few batters have gained places in the Purple Cap leaderboard. No change was made in the Orange Cap leaderboard.
Orange Cap leaderboard
There is no change in the top three on the run-scorers’ table but a few batters have gained places. Nicholas Pooran is still the No. 1, having accumulated 349 runs in six innings.
This is followed by Gujarat Titans’ B Sai Sudharsan, who has 329 runs, and Mitchell Marsh, at No. 3 with 265 runs despite missing LSG’s last game.
Beyond the top three, 11 other batters have crossed the 200-mark.
Notably, Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s (RCB) Virat Kohli who has advanced places to be fifth behind Shreyas Iyer (250 runs) after his 62 not out off 45 balls against Rajasthan Royals (RR) in Sunday’s afternoon game.
He is two runs shy of Shreyas.
Meanwhile, Suryakumar Yadav’s 28-ball 40 in Mumbai Indians’ 12-run win over Delhi Capitals (DC) has taken his tally to 239.
Purple Cap leaderboard
Noor Ahmad and Shardul Thakur remain the top two in the list but there’s a new bowler at No. 3: Kuldeep Yadav.
Kuldeep was DC’s best bowler on Sunday, picking up two wickets and leaking just 5.75 an over as MI posted 205 for 5. He now has ten wickets and an overall economy rate of 5.60, better than the other bowlers with same number of wickets in the list.
Hardik Pandya, Prasidh Krishna, R Sai Kishore, Mohammed Siraj and Khaleel Ahmed also stay on ten wickets.
Hardik couldn’t move up after going wicketless for the first time in this IPL, against DC.
Monday’s match
Today’s match, Monday April 14, will see Lucknow Super Giants take on Chennai Super Kings in Lucknow. This match is expected to deliver a thrilling battle for fans as MS Dhoni will lead the Chennai Super Kings team – much to the fans’ pleasure.
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Dhoni is however poised to hit a batting milestone, which could be reached today. Dhoni needs only 39 runs to reach a 4,000 T20 run tally in India. Commentators expect thunderous celebrations by Dhoni’s fans in the stadium if he hits the mark.
For fans across Afghanistan, this exciting match will be broadcast live and exclusively in the country by Ariana Television. Fans can tune in from 5:30 pm.
Sport
Afghanistan A registers massive win over Ireland A in 4-day match

Afghanistan A cricket team defeated Ireland A by an innings and 194 runs in a four-day Test match that ended on Thursday.
Choosing to bat first after winning the toss in Abu Dhabi, Afghanistan A team scored 612 runs in their first innings for the loss of seven wickets.
Bahir Shah (187), Riaz Hassan (94), Imran (85), Shams-ur-Rahman (84), Afsar Zazai (55) and Darwish Rasooli (53) were the major contributors for the total.
The Irish team scored 309 runs in their first innings, before being asked by Afghanistan to follow on.
Ireland A were bowled out for only 109 runs in their second innings.
Arab Gul was the pick of the bowlers for Afghanistan A as he took 10 wickets. Zia-ur-Rehman followed with five wickets.
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