Sports - Current Affairs for March, 2015

The team was chosen by a select group of experts who were given the task of picking a balanced side on the basis of performances in the tournament. In addition to McCullum, the side includes four others from New Zealand -- Corey Anderson, Trent Boult, Martin Guptill, Daniel Vettori; three Australians -- Glenn Maxwell, Steven Smith and Mitchell Starc; two South Africans -- AB de Villiers and Morne Morkel, with Sri Lanka's Kumar Sangakkara as wicketkeeper-batsman. Zimbabwe's Brendan Taylor who finished with 433 runs in six matches, was named as the 12th man. ICC General Manager, Geoff Allardice who chaired the panel, said Indian pacers Umesh Yadav and Mohammad Shami along with off-spinner R Ashwin were in the running.

Sebastian Vettel paid tribute to his childhood hero Michael Schumacher after taking a "dream" first victory for Ferrari in the Malaysian Grand Prix.

It is second Super Series title of his career. World Number Four and second seed Kidambi Srikanth overpowered Viktor Axelsen of Denmark.

Saina Nehwal clinched her maiden India Open Super Series title after notching up a dominating straight game victory against former world champion Ratchanok Intanon of Thailand.

James Faulkner was adjudged man of the match, while the man of the series award went to Mitchell Starc. He finished the tournament with 22 wickets.

Michael Clarke has now joined Allan Border, Ricky Ponting and Steve Waugh in the elite group of Australia's World Cup winning captains.

In the final played at the iconic Melbourne Cricket Ground, retiring captain Michael Clarke and his Men defeated neighbors and co-hosts of the tournament, New Zealand by 7 wickets to dash their hopes of a maiden World title.

The qualifying rounds were played on 24th March and the main games will begin from 25th March.

He scored 237 not out against the West Indies at Wellington in the 4th quarter-final of the ICC World Cup 2015 to make highest runs in a World Cup innings. Chris Gayle scored 215 runs against Zimbabwe in World Cup 2015.

The third seeded pair defeated Anvit Bendre-Akash Wagh.

The 40-year-old Misbah served Pakistan cricket for long, but failed to register a single ODI century in 162 matches, since making his international debut in 2001 in a Test match against New Zealand.

M.S. Dhoni joined the Australian Captain Ricky Ponting and Allan Border to become the third player to captain his team to 100 ODI victories.

France will also stage the Under-20 women's tournament in 2018.

Mahela Jayawardene retired after playing 448 ODIs and accumulating 12,650 runs while Kumar Sangakkara scored 14,234 runs in 404 ODIs.

JP Duminy, South Africa's right-arm off-break bowler, claimed the hat-trick against Sri Lankan batsmen in the first quarter-final clash in World Cup 2015. In the Reliance World Cup 1987, Chetan Sharma took the first hat-trick in the history of tournament when he clean bowled Ken Rutherford, Ian Smith and Ewen Chatfield of New Zealand off consecutive balls.

Young Indian shuttler Kidambi Srikanth has clinched the Swiss Grand Prix Gold championship title. In a thrilling final at Basel, Switzerland on 15thMar-15, the World No.4 overcame a strong challenge from Viktor Alexson of Denmark, who is ranked sixth in the world.

The Executive Committee, during its meeting in Manama, Bahrain, awarded the hosting rights following a transparent, detailed and highly competitive bidding process, which began with 11 competing Member Associations.

Saina had become the first Indian women to reach All England Final, which she eventually lost to World champion Carolina Marin of Spain in three sets. Before All England championship, Saina was ranked no.4 in the World.

Karnataka defeated Tamil Nadu by an innings and 217 runs on the last day of the final match at the Wankhede stadium in Mumbai.

With a century in match against Scotland on 11th Mar’15, Sangakkara became the first batsman in history of ODI to score 4 consecutive centuries.

Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) dominated the first race of the campaign. He was followed by the Nico Roseberg (Mercedes) and Sebastian Vettel (Ferrari).

The 37-year-old, who has been in prime form in the ongoing World Cup has already announced his retirement from One-Day International (ODI) and Twenty-20 cricket. He became only the second batsman to complete 14,000 runs in the 50-over format.

A no-confidence motion was passed against him by office bearers of the rival Amin Pathan group in an Extraordinary General Body Meeting in Jaipur.

He scored his century against Australia on 8th Mar’15 in the ICC World Cup.

World champion Chen Long of China beat Jan Jorgensen in the final of the All England Championship in Birmingham.

In the women's final, world champion Carolina Marin of Spain fought back from a set down to beat India's Saina Nehwal.

Under his leadership, India won the 2007 World T20 and the 2011 World Cup at home, besides the Champions Trophy in England two years ago. Dhoni record his 59th ODI victory away from home as captain, beating Sourav Ganguly's record of 58 wins in 110 matches.

South Africa was the only contender to host the CWG 2022.