Firstpost Spodcast Episode 164: Bengaluru FC lift maiden ISL title; Valterri Bottas upstages Lewis Hamilton at Australian GP and more

Welcome to Episode 164 of Firstpost Spodcast. The sports update on Firstpost. We begin with football news. In ISL, Bengaluru FC won their first Indian Super League title in Mumbai on Sunday after defeating FC Goa 1-0 in a closely contested match. Both teams failed to make any breakthroughs during either half, and were locked 0-0 after 90 minutes. Even the first extra time saw no goals. Eventually, Bengaluru got the better of Goa four minutes from the end of the second half of the extra time. Rahul Bheke scored the championship-winning goal to ensure Bengaluru lifted the trophy. Updates from the Premier League now. Liverpool reclaimed the top spot from Manchester City after a 2-1 win over Fulham on Sunday. But the win came only in the closing minutes, after a James Milner penalty just nine minutes from time. Meanwhile, Everton dented Chelsea’s Champions League qualification hopes after beating them 2-0 in a comfortable win at Goodison Park. It was a frustrating afternoon for Maurizio Sarri who watched on as Chelsea suffered a second-half collapse A Formula One update now. Valtteri Bottas upstaged his Mercedes world champion teammate Lewis Hamilton to blitz the field and win the season-opening Australian Grand Prix in a sizzling performance. The Finnish driver started second on the grid but got a jump on the Hamilton, who was on pole, at the first corner and never looked back, scorching round the Albert Park circuit to take the chequered flag a massive 20.9 seconds ahead of the 2018 champion. India’s Irfan KT has qualified for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics after finishing fourth at the Asian Race Walking Championship on Sunday. Irfan clocked 1:20.57 in the 20km walk to attain the standard qualifying mark for the quadrennial extravaganza in Tokyo. Indian cricket captain Virat Kohli stated that Team India’s World Cup-bound players should managing their workloads responsibly, adding that there is no cap on matches. Kohli, who captains Royal Challengers Bangalore in the IPL, believes it would not be feasible to enforce caps on the players and added that the fitness levels of cricketers varies. He said, “You cannot put a cap on anything…If I’m able to play 10, 12 or 15 games, it doesn’t necessarily mean that the other guy can only play that many. My body might demand I play a certain number of games and I need to be smart about that and rest. Someone else’s body might be more capable than mine or less, that is a very individual thing. And everyone wants to play the World Cup, so people will be smart about it because you don’t want to miss out on such a big event.”