Firstpost Spodcast Episode 45: India's easy win over Pakistan, Cristiano Ronaldo's dismissal and more on our daily podcast

Welcome to Spodcast, where we look at the big sports headlines of the day. In this episode we discuss India’s win over Pakistan in the Asia Cup, Cristiano Ronaldo breaking down after being red carded in Juventus’ win over Valencia and more. We start with the Asia Cup where India defeated Pakistan in their second match on Wednesday. India had looked scratchy in their opening match against Hong Kong, but on Wednesday handed a heavy defeat to Pakistan. India’s bowlers skittled out Pakistan’s batting line-up for an under-par score of 162. Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who was the Player of the Match, took three wickets and gave away just 15 runs in his seven overs. His three wickets included both Pakistani opening batsmen, Imam-ul-Haq and Fakhar Zaman. Kedar Jadhav took three wickets as well, including that of Pakistan captain Sarfraz Ahmed. Shoaib Malik, who scored 43, and Babar Azam, who made 47 runs, resurrected the Pakistani innings, but eventually fell to disciplined fielding and bowling. Tailenders Faheem Ashraf and Mohammad Amir contributed 21 and 18 respectively. Elsewhere, India’s mixed doubles pairing of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Ashwini Ponnappa defeated Commonwealth Games silver medallists Marcus Ellis and Lauren Smith to qualify for the pre-quarter-finals of the China Open. World No 25 Satwiksairaj and Ashwini had lost twice to the English duo in the past. But on Wednesday, they turned the tables, registering a 21-13, 20-22, 21-17 win in 63 minutes. Satwik said, “It was a good match. We were pretty confident today at crucial moments. We stuck to our plans so it became a little easy in the end.” Meanwhile, Kidambi Srikanth defeated Rasmus Gemke of Denmark 21-9, 21-19 in the men’s singles event. He will meet Suppanyu Avihingsanon of Thailand in the pre-quarter-finals. In tennis, World No 1 Rafael Nadal has pulled out of upcoming tournaments in China because of a knee injury. Nadal had to retire hurt in the US Open semi-final against Juan Martin del Potro because of the same injury. With Nadal missing both tournaments, Novak Djokovic now has a chance to finish 2018 atop the ATP rankings. In football news, Cristiano Ronaldo was sent off following a red card during a Champions League match between Juventus and Valencia. Ronaldo was red carded in the 29th minute by German official Felix Brych. Ronaldo aimed a seemingly harmless kick at Valencia defender Jeison Murillo, then made contact with Murillo’s head while urging him to get up. The Portuguese star dropped to his knees and left the football pitch in tears. In any case, Juventus went on to win the match 2-0, with Miralem Pjanic scoring twice from the penalty spot. In other matches, Manchester City were stunned at home by French side Lyon 2-1 while Real Madrid beat Roma 3-0. Manchester United started slow but managed to beat Swiss team Young Boys 3-0.