Part of our weekly series on 5 standout sporting performances from the week:
Axar Patel
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His team, the Kings XI Punjab, took a rousing win against the Gujarat Lions in Rajkot last week, and 22-year-old Axar Patel was instrumental in that victory. After the Kings set a 155-run target for the home side, Patel was a significant part of his team's rousing defence.
With the Lions already struggling after losing both their openers, Axar Patel came in to remove a dangerous-looking Dwayne Smith to begin his attack.
He would follow that up later in his spell with two consecutive wickets – Dinesh Karthik and Dwayne Bravo, both of whom were dismissed cheaply – the West Indian for a duck. Patel would then come back in his third over to remove a potentially troublesome Ravindra Jadeja with his first ball of that spell, thereby completing a hat-trick.
That hattrick saw the home team fall well short of their target, with the Lions eventually losing by 24 runs.
Lewis Hamilton
The reigning Formula One double World Champion has now gone six races without a win. Plagued by reliability issues uncharacteristic of team Mercedes, the Briton has seen repeated engine issues that have marred his race.
At the Russian Grand Prix in Sochi this weekend, Hamilton saw problems with his MGU-H, similar to those he faced in Shanghai. His issues at the Chinese Grand Prix had been so serious he was unable to set a time in qualifying at all, leading to him starting at the back of the grid. At that race, Hamilton came up with a solid performance to manage a P7 finish.
This weekend in Sochi, Hamilton managed to progress until the end of Q2, and was going second fastest in the session until problems saw him unable to progress to Q3, meaning he began the race in 10th.
He capitalized on an eventful first lap, which saw Sebastian Vettel eliminated and several other cars damaged, to move quickly up the grid. Also gaining on other teams’ pit strategy, Hamilton eventually went up to second. Attempting to improve on that, he slashed race leader and teammate Rosberg’s 12.9 second lead to 7 seconds fairly quickly; it was revealed that he was dealing with serious water pressure issues.
The Briton was not eventually able to chase Rosberg’s increasingly insurmountable lead, but put in a solid race despite multiple reliability problems in a single race session to win a podium from the middle of the grid.
Saul Niguez
In a week marked by big matches with some fairly lackluster football, Atletico Madrid midfielder Saul Niguez played a starring in his team’s Champions League semi-final against Bayern Munich last week.
Eleven minutes into the match, 21-year-old Saul scored the only goal of the game – and it was an absolute blinder, one that saw the youngster weave through the likes of Xabi Alonso with precise handling of the ball to get past experienced Germany and Bayern keeper Manuel Neuer. It would be the only goal of the game, and one that gave Atletico a 1-0 win over Bayern.
Paul George
The Indiana Pacers may have lost to the Toronto Raptors on their home ground in Canada, but Paul George put in a rousing performance in his team's playoff series games. After taking the Raptors to seven games, the Pacers will likely have been happy given the teams’ relative seeding.
George starred in the team’s performance today, top scoring for the sixth consecutive game. He scored 26 points and 12 rebounds to not only take his team to a good position in the playoffs but also within fighting distance of the much-stronger Toronto Raptors today.
He also displayed some brilliant athletics on the court, all of which contributed to him being one of our players of the week.
Gareth Bale
His team, Real Madrid, taking on Real Sociedad last week at La Liga, and it was Gareth Bale who in the absence of the team’s starring players – Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema stepped up to take responsibility.
With 10 minutes to go and a so-far goalless match progressing, Bale, assisted ably by right winger Lucas Vazquez, got a strong header into the goal to give Madrid a 1-0 lead. That goal meant the team took their 10th win in a row in the league.
The win also means that Madrid will remain in contention for the La Liga title, although they currently trail FC Barcelona and Atletico Madrid by a single point.
