Firstpost Spodcast Episode 139: Emiliano Sala confirmed dead; Vidarbha win 2018-19 Ranji Trophy and more

Thursday brought some closure to the tragic news surrounding Argentinian football player Emiliano Sala. The 28-year-old had been missing since 21 January when a plane carrying him to England disappeared over the Channel. After weeks of searching, the plane’s wreckage was found at the bottom of the English Channel. Yesterday, investigators recovered a body from the wreckage and transported it to Britain for identification. The BCC reported that Dorset Police had confirmed the body as that of Sala. Even as this tragedy heads towards a conclusion, there were reports this week that Sala’s former club, Nantes, had made demands that Cardiff City pay his £15m transfer fee. Vidarbha defeated Saurashtra by 78 runs to win the Ranji Trophy for 2018-19. Saurashtra resumed play on the fifth day of the final at 58/5 but were dismissed for just 127, well short of the target of 206. Vidarbha’s spinners Aditya Sarwate and Akshay Wakhare kept things tight and Saurashtra’s batsmen caved due to the pressure. The two spinners claimed nine of the ten wickets in the second innings as Vidarbha won with two sessions of play to spare. Ajinkya Rahane, India’s vice-captain in Test cricket, will lead the Rest of India side against newly crowned Ranji Trophy champions Vidarbha in the Irani Cup match that will be played from 12-16 February. India’s previous Test opener KL Rahul will lead the India A side in the second unofficial ‘Test’ against the England Lions at Wayanad. AITA secretary general Hironmoy Chatterjee says he is confident that the national team will travel to Pakistan for the Davis Cup away tie because forfeiture could lead to a two-year suspension from the global governing body ITF. Following the loss to Italy in the qualifiers, India were relegated to the zone group and were drawn against Pakistan for an Asia-Oceania Zone Group 1 away fixture. Though the cricket team has not been allowed by the Ministry of External Affairs to travel to Pakistan for any bilateral contest since the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks, Chatterjee is confident that would not be a problem in case of tennis. He said, “We are affiliated to the International Olympic Council (IOC). Tennis is an Olympic sport. According to the Olympics solidarity programme, any body, which is under IOC is supposed to participate in all the events. This is the World Cup of tennis.” Yesterday was 20 years to the day that Indian cricket’s leading wicket-taker, Anil Kumble, etched his name in cricketing annals by becoming only the second man to claim all ten wickets in a Test innings. The achievement was made sweeter by the presence of arch-rivals Pakistan in the opposition camp. The historic figures of 10/74 are an integral part of cricketing lore, especially in India, and also occupy a special place in the storied India-Pak rivalry. The only other man to claim 10 wickets in an innings was Jim Laker of England way back in 1956. Recalling that day’s play at Feroz Shah Kotla in Delhi, Kumble told CricketNext, “I can remember every wicket. The way it happened, it unfolded. I mean it is something that is very very special. So you don’t tend to forget that. If you do there are lots of people who are around it who will talk about the ten wickets.”