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James Michael Anderson, OBE (born 30 July 1982), is an English international cricketer who plays for Lancashire County Cricket Club and the England cricket team. Anderson is the all-time leading wicket-taker among fast bowlers and holds the record of most wickets for England in both Test and One-Day International (ODI) cricket. He is the first fast bowler as well as the first English bowler, and the fourth overall, to pass 600 Test wickets.

Anderson was the first English bowler to reach 400, 500 and 600 wickets in Test matches. As of August 2020 he is ranked 8th in the ICC Test Bowling Rankings, having previously reached the top position at various times between 2016 and 2018.

James Anderson was a pupil at St Mary's and St Theodore's RC High School, Burnley. He played cricket at Burnley Cricket Club from a young age. His childhood dream was to be a cricketer, and at the age of 17, after a growth spurt, Anderson was one of the fastest bowlers in the Lancashire League. He stated that "I've always bowled seam, but when I was about 17 I don't know what it was but I just started bowling fast all of a sudden".

 

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You must be knowing that Bhuvneshwar Kumar is an Indian pacer who bowls right-arm medium-fast, working his magic mainly with swing. But did you know that he is the owner of a particular record? By having hit the timber to get his first wicket in all three formats of the game, Bhuvneshwar became the first player in cricket history to have his first wickets in all formats!

You would have seen him walk off the field injured in the Indian Premier League that just concluded, ending his campaign with Sunrisers Hyderabad rather early. Injuries have blighted Bhuvneshwar’s career in the recent years, forcing him in and out of the Indian Squad.

While in his element, however, Bhuvneshwar has played all three formats of the game for the country, making the ball do the talking and contributing with the bat as well. That was how he made his international debut in all formats late in 2012 and early 2013, impressing one and all with his line and length.

Buvneshwar first played for India in a T20 against Pakistan on December 25, 2012. He didn’t have to wait for long for his first international wicket as he had Nasir Jamshed bowled off the last ball of his very first over!

When he made his ODI debut few days later against the same opposition on December 30, his first wicket in the format came even quicker. For off his very first delivery, and the first in the match, Bhuvneshwar cleaned up Mohammad Hafeez.

His Test debut came in February 2013 against Australia, but he went wicketless in the format in the next Test match, he hit the stumps once again after David Warner got an inside edge.

With that, he became the first bowler ever to have bowled as his first dismissal in T20s, ODIs and Tests!

 

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Italy won the World Cup after beating France 5–3 in a penalty shoot-out following a 1–1 draw at the conclusion of extra time. The match had been surrounded mostly around France's Zinedine Zidane and Italy's Marco Materazzi: this was the last-ever game of the former for France, both were scorers in the final, and also embroiled in an incident at extra times that led to Zidane's headbutt on Materazzi. The incident was the subject of much analysis following the match. Italy's Andrea Pirlo was awarded the Man of the Match, and Zidane was awarded the Golden Ball as the player of the tournament.

The final served as a key match in the France–Italy football rivalry, coming after Italy were defeated by France in the UEFA Euro 2000 Final. Italy's victory was their first world title in 24 years, and their fourth overall, putting them one ahead of Germany and only one behind Brazil. The victory also led to Italy topping the FIFA World Rankings in February 2007 for the first time since November 1993.

It was an incident which followed both players ever since - both were fined by FIFA at the time and have not discussed it until only recently. In an interview this week, Materazzi spoke in detail for the first time about what happened: "Zidane's headbutt? I wasn't expecting it in that moment. I was lucky enough that the whole episode took me by suprise because if I had expected something like that to happen and had been ready for it, I'm sure both of us would have ended up being sent off," the former Inter Milan defender explained. 

That was the final straw for Zidane, who turned and headbutted Materrazi in the chest. After reviewing the incident, the ref sent him off. Zizou spoke about it for the first time in an interview for Téléfoot in 2017: ""I'm not proud of what I did. One of the first things I did was to apologise to all of the young players in front of everyone, to all of the coaches who try to ensure that football is not about something else, not that. But it forms part of my career, it is part of my life and part of things which may not be that serious but it's something which I have to accept that happened and take it on board".

 

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France playmaker Zinedine Zidane won the adidas Golden Ball voted for by journalists at the 2006 FIFA World Cup Germany™.

Although his team ultimately failed in their bid to lift the Trophy, Les Bleus' No.10 won the vote for the best player to grace the world stage in Germany. Behind ‘Zizou' came Italy's defensive rock Fabio Cannavaro, with the Juventus defender's Azzurri team-mate Andrea Pirlo completing the podium.

In the Final against Italy, he opened the scoring with an audacious spot-kick. Despite his tireless prompting, however, Zidane was unable to pick up the second FIFA World Cup winner's medal of a glittering career and was sent from the field in extra time for butting Marco Materazzi in the chest.

The Golden Ball award is presented to the best player at each FIFA World Cup finals, with a shortlist drawn up by the FIFA technical committee and the winner voted for by representatives of the media. Those who finish as runners-up in the vote receive the Silver Ball and Bronze Ball awards as the second and third most outstanding players in the tournament respectively. The current award was introduced in the 1982 FIFA World Cup, sponsored by Adidas and France Football, though fifa.com also lists in their player articles as "golden ball winners" Kempes, Cruyff, Pelé, Bobby Charlton, Garrincha and Didi for 1978, 1974, 1970, 1966, 1962 and 1958 respectively. Barcelona is the only club whose players have won the Golden Ball a record 3 times (Johan Cruyff in 1974, Romário in 1994, Lionel Messi in 2014).

 

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Zinedine Zidane, byname Zizou, (born June 23, 1972, Marseille, France), French football (soccer) player who led his country to victories in the 1998 World Cup and the 2000 European Championship.

Zidane joined Real Madrid in 2001, and the following year the team won the Champions League title and the European Super Cup. The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) named Zidane World Player of the Year three times (1998, 2000, and 2003).

Zidane was also a success in international competition. He had an eventful 1998 World Cup, which was held in France for the first time. Zidane stomped on an opponent in the second game of the first round and was suspended for two contests. There was speculation that he would be kicked off the team, but he returned in the quarterfinal round. Zidane scored two goals in the final against Brazil, and France took the World Cup with a 3–0 victory. In 2000 Zidane was named player of the tournament after leading France to the European Championship.

 

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Zinedine Yazid Zidane, popularly known as “Zizou”, is a former professional French football who played as an attacking midfielder in the juniors teams of the France and eventually in the core national team for a very long period. He also played for the clubs like Cannes, Bordeaux, Juventus and Real Madrid, and brought laurels for each of them.

His elegance, swiftness and exceptional ball control made him probably the best of his time.

He is decorated with Legion of Honour bestowed by French Government and National Order of Merit by Algerian Government for his remarkable career.

In 1989, Zizou earned his first professional contract by Cannes and made his debut in the French first division game against Nantes. In his first full season with Cannes, the club secured its first ever European football berth by qualifying for the UEFA Cup after finishing fourth in the league. He made 61 appearances in his first three seasons for the club and scored six goals.

In 2004, he was declared as the best European footballer in the history of UEFA. In 2006, he scored his maiden hat-trick, against Sevilla, and ended the season as the second highest goal scorer, only after Ronaldo.

In 2016, he was bestowed with more intense duty- managing Real Madrid. Under his regime, Madrid set a new record of 16 consecutive La-Liga victory. He also led the team in the 2016 and 2017 UEFA Championship, 2016 FIFA Club World Cup and 2017 UEFA Super Cup victory. He was awarded as the Best FIFA Men’s Coach in 2017.

 

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The UEFA Champions League is the premier club competition in Europe. Played every year, there is a scramble for places in this tournament in domestic leagues across different countries. When qualification in itself is a matter of pride, it isn’t difficult to imagine how prestigious winning this tournament would be.

Spanish giants Real Madrid however, have made it a habit to win this event and have dominated the tournament. In fact, they have won the European Cup. UEFA Champions League 13 times – a record in the competition.

The last three times they have won this tournament, they have had the same manager in charge – Frenchman Zinedine Zidane. Zidane, who is also Real Madrid’s current manager, became just the third manager to win the competition on three occasions.

By winning this title for a third time in 2018, Zidane joined Bob Paisley and Carlo Ancelotti as the only managers to win it thrice. What makes zidane’s feat even more incredible is the manner in which he achieved it. Zidane’s Real Madrid won the Champions League in 2016, 2017 and 2018, making it a hat-trick of titles. That makes Zidane the only manager to have won the competition three times in a row!

 

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On November 10, 2020, Mumbai Indians defeated Delhi Capitals for the fourth time in the 2020 edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) to win the tournament a record-extending fifth time.

Losing finalist Delhi Capitals had the Purple Cap winner as Kagiso Rabada finished with 30 wickets in the tournament. Mumbai Indians Jasprit Bumrah and Trent Boult, however, came in second and third in the highest wicket-takers list with 27 and 25 wickets respectively. They surely did bowl well in tandem!

Mumbai Indians have now won five IPL titles - 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019 and 2020, Having already become the most successful franchise in IPL history in 2019 (Chennai Super Kings are second with three titles). MI further extended their record by winning the tournament this season.

Rohit Sharma, their captain, has been part of all five of these victories. He scored a 51 ball 68 in the final against Delhi Capitals to ensure that their chase of 157 went without incident.

Rohit, in fact has won the IPL six times. This is because he was also part of the title-winning Deccan Chargers when they lifted the trophy in 2009!

 

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By winning the French Open for a record 13th time in 2020, Spaniard Rafael Nadal equalled Swiss Roger Federer’s record of winning 20 Grand Slam singles titles - the most among men.

The two men have been at the forefront of men's tennis for years now and it will be interesting to see who breaks the tie and when.

A look at some numbers after Nadal's latest French Open triumph...

NADAL'S NUMBERS

20 - Both Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer now have 20 Grand Slam singles titles, the most in men's tennis While Nadal has 13 French Open titles, four US Open titles two Wimbledon titles and one Australian Open title. Federer has won eight Wimbledon titles, six Australian Open titles, five US Open titles and one French Open title.

13- Nadals 2020 French Open victory was his 13th at the day courts of Roland Garros. With that he became the first player in the Open Era (1968 onwards), male or female to win any tour level event 13 times - And he did it at a Grand Slam tournament! Nadal was previously tied with Martina Navratilova, who had won the WTA event at Chicago 12 times

100-2 - Nadal's win-loss record at the French Open Currently reads 100 wins and two losses. The victory over Novak Djokovic in the final this time around was his 100th victory at Roland Garros. That makes him the first player, male or female to win 100 matches at French Open. With the feat already achieved at Australian Open (Federer). Wimbledon (Navratilova and Federer) and the US Open (Chris Evert and Serena Williams), all four Grand Slam events now have at least one player who has registered 100 victories.

4- Nadal didn't drop a single set in the 2020 French Open, winning each of his seven matches in straight sets. Having also won the French Open in 2008, 2010 and 2017 this way, Nadal became the first man in the Open Era to win four Grand Slam titles without dropping a set. He was previously tied with Bjom Borg, who has won three Grand Slam titles without dropping a set.

1- Polish teenager Iga Swiatek won the 2020 French Open women's singles without dropping a set tool, That makes the 2020 French Open the first Grand Slam tournament in the Open Era where both the men's and women's champions claimed the title without dropping a single set.

 

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On Saturday, October 10, 2020, Polish teenager Iga Swiatek defeated American Sofia Kenin in the women's singles final of the French Open to lift the title.

She did it in style, creating a number of records.

Teenage triumph

At 19 years and 132 days, Swiatek is the youngest woman to win the French Open since 1992. Monica Seles was 18 years and 187 days old when she won the women's single title at the 1992 French Open.

Among male and female players, Swiatek is the youngest to win at Roland Garros since 2005. Rafael Nadal picked up the first of his 13 French Open men's singles titles as a 19-year old in 2005.

A first for poland

By winning the 2020 French Open women's singles title, Swiatek became the first Polish player, female or male, to win a singles major title in tennis history, if we take doubles into consideration as well, she has some company from her compatriots. Following Wojtek Fibak (men's doubles at 1978 Australian Open) and Lukasz Kubot (men's doubles at 2014 Australian Open and 2017 Wimbledon), she is the third Polish player to win a Grand Slam event in the Open Era (1968 onwards), singles or doubles.

Unseeded starter, title winner

Swiatek is only the second unseeded woman to win the French Open in the Open Era, Jelena Ostapenko was the first - a feat she achieved at the 2017 French Open.

Winning without dropping a set

Following in the footsteps of Evonne Goolagong (1971), Chris Evert (1974) and Steffi Graf (1988). Swiatek became just the fourth teenager in the Open Era to win the French Open women's singles title without dropping a single set! If we are to look at records irrespective of age. Swiatek is the first such winner at Roland Garros since Justine Henin won the title in 2007 without dropping a set.

In the last 30 years, only two other players have managed to win women's singles Grand Slam titles as a teenager without dropping a set Monica Seles won the 1992 US Open that way, while Martina Hingis claimed the Australian Open and US Open in 1997 that way.

 

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