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The 2015 NBA Finals was the championship series of the National Basketball Association's (NBA) 2014–15 season and the conclusion of the season's playoffs. The Western Conference champion Golden State Warriors defeated the Eastern Conference champion Cleveland Cavaliers in six games (4–2) for the Warriors' first title in 40 years and their fourth in franchise history, becoming the first team since the 1990–91 Chicago Bulls to win a championship without any prior Finals experience from any player on their roster. 2015 also marked the first Finals since 1998 without either the Los Angeles Lakers, the San Antonio Spurs, or the Miami Heat (the latter two teams are in the previous Finals). Golden State's Andre Iguodala was named the Finals Most Valuable Player (MVP).

Both teams entered the series with title droughts of four decades, with the Cavaliers having never won a title since their 1970–71 inception and the Warriors' last title having been in 1975. This was also the first time that both participating teams had first-year head coaches since the inaugural league finals in 1947, when the NBA was known as the Basketball Association of America (BAA).

James also became the first player in NBA Finals history to lead both teams in points, assists, and rebounds for the entire series. He averaged 35.8 points, 13.3 rebounds, and 8.8 assists for the series, although he shot 39.8% throughout the series. Kevin Love missed the entire series due to an injury, and Kyrie Irving missed the final five games of the series due to an injury in Game 1. For the second straight year, the Finals was played in the 2–2–1–1–1 format (Games 1, 2, and 5 were at Golden State, games 3, 4, and 6 were at Cleveland. Had it been necessary, Game 7 would have been held at Golden State). The series began on June 4, 2015, ending on June 16. In the United States, it was televised on ABC and in Canada on TSN.

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The 2014–15 Golden State Warriors season was the 69th season of the franchise in the National Basketball Association (NBA), and their 53rd in the San Francisco Bay Area. The Warriors finished the season 67–15, a new franchise record for wins in a season, beating their previous best record of winning 59 games in the 1975–76 season. They are the tenth NBA team to win 67 games in a season. Golden State reached the 2015 NBA Finals and defeated the Cleveland Cavaliers 4–2, to win their first title in 40 years, and the fourth in franchise history. Their 83 total wins for the season was the third most for a team in NBA history, they went 83–20 combining regular season and playoff games.

Numerous Warriors set individual records over the course of the season. Stephen Curry won the NBA Most Valuable Player Award, the first Warriors player to win since Wilt Chamberlain in the 1959–60 NBA season, when the franchise was still located in Philadelphia. He also broke his own NBA record for made three-pointers in a season of 272, finishing with 286. On January 23, 2015, Klay Thompson broke the NBA record for most points scored in a quarter with 37, finishing the game with a career high 52 points. On April 15, head coach Steve Kerr won his 63rd game with the Warriors and broke the NBA record for most wins by a rookie head coach. Curry and Thompson, dubbed the "Splash Brothers", broke the single-season record for most three-pointers made by a pair of teammates. Both also made the All-Star team, Curry as a starter and Thompson as a reserve. Together, they sank 525 three-pointers over the course of the season, smashing the prior NBA record of 484 (set by themselves in 2013–14).

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Shardul Thakur joined some elite company by scoring the second-fastest recorded half-century by an Indian in Test cricket.

Shardul Thakur scored his half-century in just 31 balls in the first innings of the fourth Test against England at The Oval, London. His 36-ball 57 included seven fours and three sixes and is the fastest-recorded half-century in Test matches played in England. The previous best was lan Botham's 32-ball fifty against New Zealand in 1986.

Kapil Dev 30-ball fifty against Pakistan in Karachi in 1982

Kapil's 53-ball 73, which included the fastest recorded Test fifty by an Indian, was the only only bright spot in the match. Despite Kapil's heroics, India were bundled out for 169 in the first innings. Pakistan scored 452 and won the match by an innings and 86 runs as they dismissed India for 197 the second time around.

Shardul Thakur 31-ball fifty against England in London in 2021

Shardul Thakur followed up his 36-ball 57 in the first innings with a 72-ball 60 in the second innings of the fourth Test against England at The Oval, London.

Apart from his fifties in both innings, Thakur also picked up three important wickets in the match to set up India's victory. Thakur not only dismissed England's first innings top-scorer Ollie Pope, but also accounted for the, crucial blows of Rory Burns and Joe Root in the second innings.

Virender Sehwag 32-ball fifty against England in Chennai in 2008

Sehwag's 32-ball half-century was the turning point of this Test match between India and England and he was named player of the match for this knock. Batting first, England had scored 316 in the first innings before dismissing India for 241 and taking a lead of 75. England then declared their second innings at 311 for nine, setting a near impossible target of 387 for India to win. That was when Sehwag dominated proceedings, his 68-ball 83 on day four paving the way for India's unlikely victory on the final day as they won the match by six wickets.

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The 2014-15 season saw the Golden State Warriors winning the NBA title for the first time since 1975 and their fourth time overall. They did this in style as they had also topped the regular season comfortably.

With 67 wins in 82 regular season games, Warriors emerged as the top seed overall in the play-offs. They got rid of New Orleans Pelicans 4-0, Memphis Grizzlies 4-2 and the Houston Rockets 4-1 to emerge victorious in the Western Conference. This set up an NBA Final with the Cleveland Cavaliers, who were led by LeBron James. The Finals needed six matches, but Warriors eventually finished on top, winning four games to Cavs two.

Did you know?

Golden State Warriors won the Western Conference for five years in a row, starting from 2015. This means that they were involved in the NBA Finals every year from 2015-2019, and they won on three occasions-2015, 2017 and 2018.

The NBA Finals from 2015-2018 comprised the same set of teams, Golden State Warriors and Cleveland Cavaliers. While Warriors won in the three occasions mentioned. Cavs took the title after one of the greatest comebacks in NBA Finals history in 2016.

Warriors Stephen Curry was named the Most Valuable Player (MVP) of the season, while, teammate Andre Iguodala won the Finals MVP honour.

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The 2015 ICC Cricket World Cup was a One Day International cricket tournament to decide the 11th Cricket World Cup. It was jointly hosted by Australia and New Zealand from 14 February to 29 March 2015, and was won by Australia. This was the second time the tournament was held in Australia and New Zealand, the first having been the 1992 Cricket World Cup.

The ICC announced the hosts for the previous World Cup, the 2011 competition, on 30 April 2006. Australia and New Zealand had also bid for the tournament and a successful Australasian bid for the 2011 World Cup would have seen a 50–50 split in games, with the final still up for negotiation. The Trans-Tasman bid, Beyond Boundaries, was the only bid for 2011 delivered to the ICC headquarters at Dubai before 1 March deadline. Considerable merits of the bid included the superior venues and infrastructure, and the total support of the Australian and New Zealand governments on tax and custom issues during the tournament, according to Cricket Australia chief executive James Sutherland.[9] The New Zealand government had also assured that the Zimbabwean team would be allowed to take part in the tournament after political discussions about whether their team would be allowed to tour Zimbabwe in 2005.

The tournament featured 14 teams, the same number as the 2011 World Cup, giving associate and affiliate member nations a chance to participate.

The format was the same as the 2011 edition: 14 teams take part in the initial stages, divided into two groups of seven; the seven teams play each other once before the top four teams from each group qualify for the quarter-finals.

On 29 January 2015, ICC reinstated the use of the Super Over for Cricket World Cup Final match if the match finished as a tie.

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The Cricket World Cup (officially known as ICC Men's Cricket World Cup)[2] is the international championship of One Day International (ODI) cricket. The event is organised by the sport's governing body, the International Cricket Council (ICC), every four years, with preliminary qualification rounds leading up to a finals tournament. The tournament is one of the world's most viewed sporting events and is considered the "flagship event of the international cricket calendar" by the ICC.

The current format involves a qualification phase, which takes place over the preceding three years, to determine which teams qualify for the tournament phase. In the tournament phase, 10 teams, including the automatically qualifying host nation, compete for the title at venues within the host nation over about a month. In the 2027 edition, the format will be changed to accommodate an expanded 14-team final competition.

A total of twenty teams have competed in the eleven editions of the tournament, with ten teams competing in the recent 2019 tournament. Australia has won the tournament five times, India and West Indies twice each, while Pakistan, Sri Lanka and England have won it once each.

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In the five-match Test series between hosts England and India, a number of records were broken and created throughout.

In the third Test that England won handsomely, their lead bowler James Anderson became just the second bowler in Test history after Sri Lanka's Muttiah Muralitharan to claim 400 or more Test wickets in one country. In the fourth Test match, Anderson broke Sachin Tendulkar's record for most Test matches played in a single country.

Anderson's 400th wicket in England

James Anderson became just the second player in Test history to take 400 or more wickets in a single country when he dismissed India's Ajinkya Rahane in the second innings of the third Test.

It was Anderson's only wicket in the second innings of the Test match at Leeds, England that the hosts won by an innings and 76 runs.

Drawn into a defensive response to a good length ball, Rahane nicked it and wicketkeeper Jos Buttler did the rest, pouching it safely to help his compatriot reach a milestone.

In terms of most wickets taken in a single country, India's Anil Kumble, England's Stuart Broad and Australia's Shane Warne round up the top five behind Muralitharan and Anderson.

Kumble has taken 350 wickets in India in 63 matches, Broad has 341 dismissals in England in 85 games, and Warne has 319 wickets from 69 matches in Australia.

Among the top five, Anderson and Broad are the only active players currently.

After drawing level with Sachin Tendulkar in terms of most Test matches played in a single country during the third Test, James Anderson made the record his own in the fourth Test of the series. Unsurprisingly, the country in which players play most of their Test matches is the country they play for.

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The 2015 ODI World Cup was the 11th edition of the tournament and it was held in Australia and New Zealand.

Australia finished second in the group stage behind New Zealand and the co-hosts progressed to the final after making their way through the quarters and the semis.

New Zealand were undefeated entering the final, but the final was the first match they were playing in Australia, having won all eight previous encounters in New Zealand.

They managed just 186 in the final, a target the Aussies chased down with ease, losing just three wickets in the process.

While Australia had won the ODI World Cup on four occasions before this, this was the first time they were lifting the trophy on home soil.

Did you know?

No team apart from Australia has won the ODI World Cup more than two times. Australia has won it on five of the 12 occasions the tournament has been held so far- in 1987, 1999, 2003, 2007 and 2015.

Home teams (where the final was held) have won the ODI World Cup on the last three occasions - in 2011 (India), 2015 (Australia) and 2019 (England).

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Colombia forward James Rodriguez won the Golden Boot for finishing as the top scorer at the 2014 Fifa World Cup.

On 2 June 2014, James was named in Colombia's 23-man squad for the 2014 FIFA World Cup and assigned the number 10 shirt. In the team's opening match of the tournament, James set up the first two goals, scored a last-minute goal with a low shot to seal a 3–0 victory over Greece and was named man of the match by FIFA. In the second match, James continued his form by scoring with a header and setting up a second goal for Juan Fernando Quintero in a 2–1 victory over Ivory Coast and was once again elected as man of the match. In the final group stage match against Japan, James came on as a second-half substitute and assisted two Jackson Martínez goals before scoring the final goal in a 4–1 victory. At the end of the group stage, James was ranked as the best performing player at the tournament by FIFA.

On 28 June, James scored both goals to defeat Uruguay 2–0 at the Maracanã in the round of 16, taking Colombia to its first ever World Cup quarter-finals. These goals made him the first player to score in all of his team's opening matches since Ronaldo and Rivaldo in 2002. His volleyed opening goal was described as "one of the greatest goals the World Cup has ever seen" by opposing manager Óscar Tabárez, who also called James "the best player in the World Cup." Because of his performance against the Uruguayans, James was named by FIFA as man of the match for the third time in four matches. The volley was later voted as the best goal in the tournament by more than four million people on FIFA's website and won the FIFA Puskás Award for the best goal of the year. In the quarter-final against Brazil, he scored his sixth goal of the tournament, a penalty in Colombia's 2–1 defeat.

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The 2014 FIFA World Cup Final was a football match that took place on 13 July 2014 at the Maracanã Stadium in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil to determine the 2014 FIFA World Cup champion. Germany defeated Argentina 1–0 in extra time, with the only goal being scored by Mario Götze, who collected André Schürrle's cross from the left on his chest before volleying a high left-footed shot into the net. The match was the third final between the two countries, a World Cup record, after their 1986 and 1990 matches, and billed as the world's best player (Lionel Messi) versus the world's best team (Germany).

The result marked Germany's fourth World Cup title and their first World championship as a unified nation. The victory meant that three consecutive World Cups have been won by teams from the same continent, following Italy and Spain in 2006 and 2010 respectively, the first time this has happened in World Cup history. It was also the first time that three consecutive World Cup finals were still tied after 90 minutes. The final marked the first time a World Cup hosted in the Americas was not won by a team from the continent.

The two teams had met in 20 previous matches, with nine wins for Argentina, six wins for Germany and five draws. In these games, both teams had scored a total of 28 goals. Six of these matches were at a World Cup, two of them in the final. The 2014 final was the seventh World Cup match between them, equalling a tournament record for meetings between two teams (along with Brazil vs Sweden, and Germany vs Yugoslavia). The last three meetings were in three consecutive World Cups, having met in quarter-finals of 2006 and 2010 campaigns.

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The Lord's cricket ground in London, England is often called the home of cricket. It is a dream for any cricketer to play at the venue and if it is Test cricket, the players value it even more.

In the ongoing series between England and India, the second Test was played at Lord's. India won the match in incredible fashion to take a 1-0 lead in the five-match series.

First Test of 1986 tour from June 5-10 (June 8 was a rest day) India won by five wickets

India played its first ever Test match at Lord's in 1932, a game that India lost by 158 runs. After eight defeats and two drawn games, India finally managed its first victory at the venue during the 1986 tour. Winning the toss and electing to bowl, India kept England to 294. Dilip Vengsarkars unbeaten 126 was crucial for India posting 341 in their first innings. Indian skipper Kapil Dev picked up four wickets in the second innings to bowl England out for 180. Kapil, in fact, was also at the crease when the winning runs were scored along with current Indian coach Ravi Shastri.

Second Test of 2014 tour from July 17-21 India won by 95 runs

Following India's triumph in 1986, England won thrice and two games were drawn before India won again at Lord's in 2014. Put into bat by England, India scored 295 as Ajinkya Rahane top-scored with 103. England took the lead, posting 319 in their first innings. Murali Vijay's 95 along with fifties for Ravindra Jadeja and Bhuvneshwar Kumar helped India to 342. Ishant Sharma ensured the target of 319 was beyond England's reach as he finished with figures of 7 for 74 in the second innings.

Second test of 2021 tour from august 12-16

 India won by 151 runs After India's victory in 2014. England again had their way during the 2018 tour winning handsomely by an innings and 159 runs. India, however, didn't have to wait too long for their next win this time around, claiming their third victory at Lord's in their next tour in 2021 itself

Batting first on a difficult day one track after being put into bat, indian openers KL Rahul and Rohit Shamna put on 126 for the opening wicket. Rahul top-scored in India’s 364 with 129, but England skipper Joe Root's unbeaten 180 meant that they took a lead of 27 in the first innings with a score of 391.

The match ebbed and flowed both sides in the first four days, but England sniffed victory early on day five when they had India on the mat. An unbeaten 89-nun stand between Mohammed Shami and Jasprit Bumrah, however, allowed India to declare at 298 for eight and set a target of 272 for England. With time running out the Indian quicks then ran through the England side and bowled out for just 120, as the hosts were unable to survive less than two sessions.

With four wickets in each of the innings, Mohammed Siraj finished with match figures of 8 for 126.

A collective team effort resulted in a famous win when Siraj cleaned up England's last man James Anderson in the final hour’s play of the match.

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Germany lifted the World Cup for the fourth time in 2014, to add to their victories in 1954, 1974 and 1990. The 20th edition of the tournament was held in Brazil from June 12, 2014, with the final between Germany and Argentina played on July 13, 2014.

Germany topped Group G after they followed up their dominant 4-0 win against Portugal in their opening game with a 2-2 draw against Ghana and a 1-0 victory over the U.S.

They took on Algeria in the Round of 16 and came out on top 2-1 after extra time to progress to the quarters. They defeated France 1-0 in the quarter-finals and then thumped hosts and one of the favourites Brazil 7-1 in the semi-final.

Just when it seemed like the final against Argentina would finish goalless even after extra time and head to penalties. Mario Goetze scored the winner in the 113th minute. Germany won 1-0 and lifted the World Cup trophy.

Honours and awards

Germany had the best goalkeeper as Manuel Neuer won the Golden Glove.

The losing finalists produced the best player as Argentina's Lionel Messi won the Golden Ball.

Colombia's James Rodriguez won the Golden Boot for scoring six goals in the competition. With that, he became the first from his country to win the honour. Colombia also won the FIFA Fair Play Trophy in this World Cup.

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The recently concluded Olympics was India's most successful in terms of medals won as we finished with seven medals.

With a gold, two silvers and four bronze medals, India finished 48th overall in the medals tally this time around - among its best performance in recent decades. While India has finished higher in the overall table in a number of past editions, this was the country's best performance in terms of total number of medals won. The seven medals were won across six different sporting categories.

1. Mirabai Chanu Silver in women's 49 kg weightlifting

India won a medal on day one of an Olympic Games for the first time ever thanks to Mirabai Chanu. Having failed in Rio on her Olympic debut, Chanu scripted a remarkable comeback by winning silver at Tokyo.

Entering the event as one of the top weightlifters in the category and a genuine medal contender, Chanu didn't disappoint. With an 87 kg lift in snatch and a 115 kg lift in the clean and jerk section, Chanu finished with a total of 202 kg, only behind China's Hou Zhihui, who went on an Olympic record-smashing spree in the final.

2. Bronze in women's singles badminton

While Sindhu couldn't better her silver from Rio, she did become the first Indian woman to win multiple Olympic medals with her bronze at Tokyo. This also makes her just the second Indian, male or female, to medal twice at the Olympics in individual events.

3. Lovlina Borgohain Bronze in women's welterweight boxing

Making her Olympics debut at Tokyo, the 23-year-old Borgohain won bronze in the women's welterweight category. She ensured bronze by defeating Chen Nien-Chin in the quarter-finals, but couldn't progress to the final as she lost to eventual gold medallist Busenaz Surmeneli of Turkey in the semis.

4. Men's hockey team Bronze

India might have the best record in Olympics in men's hockey, but we had gone without a medal for four decades since winning gold in 1980. That wait finally came to an end at Tokyo as the men's team played some remarkable hockey. Even though India went down 5-2 against eventual champions Belgium in the semis, they produced a thrilling 5-4 win against Germany in the bronze medal play-off.

5. Ravi Kumar Dahiya silver in men's 57 kg wrestling

Trailing 2-9 with 90 seconds left in his semi-final against Kazakhstan's Nurislam Sanayev, Ravi Kumar Dahiya did the unthinkable by scripting a remarkable turnaround. He first closed the gap before going on to pin Sanayev to ensure his passage to the final of the men's 57 kg wrestling. Dahiya went down against ROC's (Russia) Zavur Uguev in the final, but his performance was still good enough to clinch silver on his Olympic debut.

6. Bronze in men's 65 kg wrestling

Bajrang was a genuine medal contender at Tokyo in his weight category as he has three world championship medals under his belt. Bajrang, however, lost in the semi-finals against Azerbaijan's Haji Aliyev. He was at his dominant best during the bronze medal play-off in the second day of his competition, defeating Kazakhstan's Daulet Niyazbekov 8-0.

7. Gold in men's javelin throw

India saved its best for the last as Neeraj Chopra, who had also topped qualification, won a coveted athletics gold medal with a best of 87.58 m in his second throw. The 23-year-old, in fact, led throughout the finals as his first throw of 87.03 m was better than the 86.67 m that fetched silver for Czech Republic's Jakub Vadlejch. With that, Chopra became just the second individual gold medallist for India after Abhinav Bindra (2008).

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India achieved a historic first in the four Test series against Australia in 2018-19. Touring the country for the 12th time since gaining independence, it was the first time India emerged on top.

India took a 1-0 lead in the series after winning the closely-contested first Test match at Adelaide by 31 runs. Australia drew level in the very next match, winning the second Test at Perth by a margin of 146 runs.

India registered a comprehensive victory in the third Test at Melbourne, winning by 137 runs to take a 2-1 lead into the final match of the series. That game in Sydney in January 2019 ended in a rainy draw, with India on top after having enforced a follow-on on the hosts. The draw didn't change the result of the series, however, as India completed their first-ever Test series victory Down Under.

Did you know?

Since India began touring Australia in 1947-48, no Indian team ever managed to win a series until Kohli's men finally did it. 71 years on. India repeated the feat in 202-21. On the 11 occasions India had toured before the 2018-19 series, they had managed to draw the series three times, while losing it in the remaining eight occasions.

Cheteshwar Pujara was the rock in India's batting line-up. He top-scored in the series with 521 nuns and was followed by wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant (350 runs) and captain Kohli (282 runs).

Jasprit Bumrah led the wicket-takers chart with 21 dismissals at an average of 17 through the series. Australia's Nathan Lyon came in second, also with 21 dismissals at an average of 30.42, and India's Mohammed Shami came in third with 16 wickets.

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