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• Motie's heroics lead West Indies A to victory over Nepal in T20 thriller: Series level at 1-1

  In a thrilling encounter at Kirtipur, Gudakesh Motie emerged as the standout performer for West Indies A, propelling his team to a crucial victory over Nepal in the second T20 International to level the five-match series at 1-1. Motie's exceptional all-round display, featuring an unbeaten 33 off just eight balls and impactful bowling, played a pivotal role in securing the win.

  Batting first, West Indies A faced early setbacks but rallied behind Andre Fletcher's resilient 43 and Captain Roston Chase's 23. However, wickets fell at regular intervals, leaving the team in a precarious position at 115 for 7. When Fletcher departed, the onus fell on Motie to provide a late surge. With only 13 balls remaining, Motie unleashed a blitz, smashing two fours and four sixes to power his team to a competitive total of 160 for 7. Matthew Forde contributed with an unbeaten 11 as Sagar Dhakal and Kushal Bhurtel each picked up crucial wickets for Nepal.

  In response, Nepal's captain Rohit Paudel led the charge with a magnificent 71 off 48 balls, keeping his team in contention. However, Nepal's batting struggled against the West Indies A bowling attack, with only Gulsan Jha offering notable support with 26 runs. Motie continued to make an impact with the ball, claiming 2 crucial wickets for 244 runs alongside Obed McCoy, who showed signs of returning to form with his 2 for 24.

  Despite Paudel's heroics, Nepal fell short in their chase, ultimately conceding victory to West Indies A by 10 runs. Motie's exceptional performance earned him the Player of the Match award.

  The third match in the series is set for Wednesday, May 1, 2024.

   

• Kane gunning for Lewandowski's single-season Bundesliga goal record

  Harry Kane has his eyes set on Robert Lewandowski's single-season Bundesliga goal record after scoring twice in Bayern Munich's 2-1 win over Eintracht Frankfurt, though he knows he needs "to get a move on".

  Kane scored in both halves on Saturday to take his tally to 42 goals this season across all competitions, also reaching the 400-goal mark at senior level for clubs and country.

  The striker scored 280 of those goals for Tottenham, holding the honour of being the club's all-time leading scorer, while he is also the most prolific player in England history with 62 goals for the Three Lions.

  With 35 goals in 31 Bundesliga appearances this season, Kane now has his eyes set on another piece of history.

  Former Bayern striker Robert Lewandowski holds the record for the most goals scored in a single Bundesliga campaign, netting 41 times in 2020-21.

  Asked about the possibility of breaking that record with just three games remaining in Bayern's league campaign, Kane said: "It's possible, but obviously I have to get a move on!

  "I've got to maybe score a few goals next week. It's there, it's in touching distance. 

  "It depends on the last few games of course, but it was nice to add to it today and score a couple of goals to help the team."

  Bayern next host Real Madrid in the first leg of a Champions League semi-final tie on Tuesday, before travelling to face Stuttgart on Saturday.

• Pochettino says VAR 'damaging' English football as Chelsea denied Villa win

  Mauricio Pochettino claimed VAR is "damaging" English football after Chelsea saw a potential winning goal chalked off at the end of their 2-2 Premier League draw with Aston Villa. 

  Despite a bright performance, Chelsea found themselves 2-0 down at half-time on Saturday with Marc Cucurella putting through his own net before Morgan Rogers added Villa's second.

  Goals from Noni Madueke and Conor Gallagher dragged Chelsea level as they penned Villa back after the break, but the Blues were enraged in stoppage time when Axel Disasi saw a potential winner ruled out.

  Disasi headed home in the fifth minute of stoppage time to spark wild celebrations among the visiting Chelsea fans, only for referee Craig Pawson to disallow the goal following a pitchside VAR review, ruling Benoit Badiashile pushed Diego Carlos in the build-up.

  With that incident coming just one week after Chelsea were denied a penalty in their FA Cup semi-final loss to Manchester City despite Jack Grealish appearing to handle Cole Palmer's free-kick, Pochettino has had enough.

  "Everyone that was watching the game will feel disappointed. The referee said it was a foul and disallowed the goal after going to the VAR to confirm," he told TNT Sports.

  "The referee is unbelievable and it's ridiculous. It is difficult to accept these types of things. In the semi-final it was handball and it was no penalty, the referee didn't check it.

  "It is painful as it has damaged English football and I think Villa players and their fans didn't understand why the goal was disallowed.

  "They said it was a foul and if you see the challenge… if we go into every single challenge like this and it is going to be a foul, we wouldn't finish the game with 11 players.

  "We can talk about the performance or the decision – it is damaging the game."

  Pochettino had no complaints about Chelsea's performance, though, as they avoided defeat for just the fourth time in 51 Premier League games when trailing by two or more goals at half-time.

  The Blues previously achieved that feat in a 3-3 draw with Sheffield Wednesday in 1992, a memorable 2-2 draw with Tottenham in 2016 and another 3-3 draw with West Brom in 2020.

  Chelsea racked up 21 shots to Villa's nine and put up 1.57 expected goals (xG) to the hosts' 1.1, with Nicolas Jackson and Palmer spurning glorious chances in either half. 

  "The performance was very good," Pochettino said. "We played really well and it is true in the first half we conceded too easily.

  "To play Villa, who are fighting for the top four, I am pleased with the team. Now, we have to move on and the headlines will be about the disallowed goal."