Bayern edge past Benfica

Arturo Vidal gave Bayern Munich a slender 1-0 lead for their Champions League quarter-final return leg at Benfica next week, after hitting the winner just 109 seconds into Tuesday’s first leg.

Bayern produced an off-key display at Munich’s Allianz Arena and their fifth straight appearance in the Champions League semi-finals is far from assured.
Rui Vitoria’s Benfica can take plenty of heart before the second leg at the Estadio da Luz on Wednesday April 13, after subjecting Bayern to a frustrating second half in Munich.
However, the Portuguese league leaders will be without top-scorer Jonas after the 32-year-old picked up a second-half booking, his third of the tournament.
In the build-up, Bayern coach Pep Guardiola had described Benfica as having “perhaps the best back four” in Europe, after leaking just 19 goals in the Portuguese league this season.
But it took less then two minutes for Bayern to break the Benfica defence.
Franck Ribery crossed from the left and Juan Bernat, untroubled by the Benfica defenders, found Vidal in space to nod comfortably past Ederson.

Benfica failed to cope with Vidal’s late runs from midfield as he again got on the end of a cross with half-time approaching, but the ball bounced harmlessly onto the roof of the net.
Having scored Bayern’s winner with a spectacular bicycle kick last Saturday against Eintracht Frankfurt, Franck Ribery tried the trick again, but without the same success.
Vidal took a painful blow for the Bayern team just before the break when he blocked a shot from Benfica captain Nicolas Gaitan with his nether regions.
But as the game wore on, Benfica’s back four began to back up Guardiola’s compliment by frustrating Bayern’s attack, especially Robert Lewandowski and Thomas Mueller.
Vitoria’s men will be without their Brazilian hot-shot Jonas, who has scored 30 goals in the Portuguese league, for the return leg after a 58th-minute foul on Vidal.
In a bid to shut Benfica’s attacking game down, Bayern coach Pep Guardiola switched Joshua Kimmich for Spain international Javi Martinez with an hour gone.
Bayern started to live dangerously.
There was pandemonium in the Bavarians’ penalty area on 65 minutes when only desperate defending denied Jonas, who got off three shots.
With 20 minutes to go, both coaches threw on game changers as Guardiola introduced fleet-footed France winger Kingsley Coman, then Mario Goetze for the final five.
Vitoria brought on Mexico forward Raul Jimenez for Kostas Mitroglou.
Bayern have only themselves to blame for not doubling their tally in the dying stages.
Lewandowski got in behind the defence and drew Ederson, but his pass to an unmarked Philipp Lahm was too long, just a minute from the whistle.

আইপিএল খেলতে গেলেন মুস্তাফিজ

আজ বিকেল পাঁচটায় সানরাইজার্স হায়দরাবাদের হয়ে আইপিএল খেলতে ভারতে উড়াল দিয়েছেন মুস্তাফিজুর রহমান। কদিন আগেই ভারত থেকে ফিরেছেন টি-টোয়েন্টি বিশ্বকাপ খেলে। কন্ডিশন, মাঠ তাঁর অজানা নয়। তবে আইপিএল খেলবেন এবারই প্রথম, নিঃসন্দেহে নতুন এক অভিজ্ঞতাই হতে যাচ্ছে তাঁর। 
আসলে মুস্তাফিজ দেশের বাইরেই এই প্রথম একা খেলতে যাচ্ছেন। স্নায়ুচাপ থাকাটাই স্বাভাবিক। তবে সেটার চেয়েও মুস্তাফিজের কাছে বড় হয়ে উঠেছে রোমাঞ্চ, ‘ভয় পাচ্ছি না। ক্যারিয়ারের প্রথমবারের মতো আইপিএল খেলতে যাচ্ছি, খুবই ভালো লাগছে। আমার জন্য সবাই দোয়া করবেন, যেন ভালো করতে পারি। শুধু আমার জন্য না, সাকিব ভাইয়ের জন্যও দোয়া করবেন।’ 
২০১১ সাল থেকে কলকাতা নাইট রাইডার্সের হয়ে খেলা সাকিব এখন আইপিএলে নিয়মিত মুখ। তাঁর সঙ্গে একই দলে খেলতে না পারার খানিকটা আফসোসও আছে মুস্তাফিজের, ‘সাকিব ভাইয়ের দলে খেলতে পারলে তো খুবই ভালো হতো। এক সঙ্গে থাকতে পারতাম, খেলতে পারতাম...।’ 
আবদুর রাজ্জাক, মোহাম্মদ আশরাফুল, মাশরাফি বিন মুর্তজা, সাকিব আল হাসান, তামিম ইকবালের পর ষষ্ঠ বাংলাদেশি খেলোয়াড় হিসেবে মুস্তাফিজ যাচ্ছেন আইপিএল খেলতে। ১ কোটি ৪০ লাখ রুপিতে তাঁকে নিয়েছে হায়দরাবাদ।

West Indies into semis

The West Indies clinched a spot in the World Twenty20 semi-finals with a thrilling three-wicket win over South Africa at the Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium in Nagpur on Friday.

Darren Sammy's side successfully chased down a target of 123 with just two balls to spare for a third consecutive Group One victory, becoming the second team to qualify for the last four after New Zealand.

It was South Africa's second defeat of the tournament and means England can secure a berth in the semis at their expense with a win against Sri Lanka on Saturday.

The Windies rode on a gritty 44 from Marlon Samuels to prevail in a tense finish.

They had earlier restricted South Africa to 122 for eight after Sammy opted to field first.

It looked like the Windies would canter home but Imran Tahir grabbed two wickets in the 17th over and the Caribbean side ended up going into the final over requiring nine to win.

Carlos Brathwaite hit a massive six before precocious fast bowler Kagiso Rabada bowled a wide. Brathwaite then grabbed a quick run before Denesh Ramdin carried the Windies over the line with a single.

Samuels' 32-run partnership for the third wicket with Johnson Charles (32) set up the chase only for the team to lose their way in the middle overs.

Andre Fletcher made 11 while Chris Gayle surprisingly shone with the ball rather than the bat.

The big-hitting left hander smashed a four off his first ball but was clean bowled by Rabada off his second.

Gayle had earlier claimed two wickets as South Africa suffered from lack of partnerships in a crucial game for their survival in the tournament.

Left-hander Quinton de Kock top-scored for the Proteas with 47 while David Wiese, batting at number seven, notched 28.

Hashim Amla was run out for one on just the third ball of the innings.

Captain Faf du Plessis came in and didn't last long, scoring nine off seven balls before being caught by Sulieman Benn off paceman Andre Russell.

It quickly got worse for the Proteas when Gayle, who has barely turned his arm over in recent years, grabbed the wicket of Rilee Rossouw.

Rossouw's dismissal, which the dreadlocked Gayle celebrated with a little jig, left South Africa reeling on 20 for three after three overs.

South Africa needed AB de Villiers to put a big score on the board but the classy stroke-player could only manage 10 before being cleaned up by Dwayne Bravo.

David Miller then came in but lasted only four balls, bowled by Gayle. Chris Morris made 16.

Taskin returns home

Last year, Taskin Ahmed got a heroic welcome after a successful ODI World Cup in Australia and New Zealand, but this time he was only received by his parents on his return from India this morning (Friday).

It could have been another joyous moment, but one incident changed the whole scenario. Taskin was reported for illegal bowling action after the match against Holland on 9 March. He went to Chennai six days later to appear in a test. He also played the match against Pakistan on the 16th and was the best bowler on that day.

The test went good and he was thinking of getting a positive result, but that was not to happen. The ICC in its report said they found some of the deliveries of Taskin 'illegal'. Following a review hearing, a Judicial Commissioner upheld the decision of ICC.

Talking over his suspension, Taskin said, “I experienced many bad phases of my career, but nothing was like this. I faced injuries, faced many bad times, but never something like this.”

Asked what he will do now, Taskin replied, “I will sleep now.”
We hope Taskin wakes up to a new start.S

Filming of 'Lal Moroger Jhuti' begins

The shooting of the government funded movie Lal Moroger Jhuti started at Kusthia’s Bani cinema hall on Tuesday.

Nurul Alam Atiq, director of the movie, informed the correspondent that two scenes have been shot on the first day. Later, the shooting continued in different areas of Kusthia.

Popular actress Joya Ahsan will play the character of Padma in Lal Moroger Jhuti.

She is expected to return from Kolkata and start shooting for the movie in the beginning of this April.

Laila Hasan, Jyotika Jyoti, Mamunur Rashid, Joy Raj and Doel will also star in the movie as well.

Actress Doel said, “This is indeed an exciting moment for me. I got to shoot a dance sequence on the first day. It was quite difficult for me as I am not a trained dancer.”

Rest of the movie will be filmed in different areas of Dinajpur and Thakurgaon.

Khloe Kardashian wanted baby to ‘fix’ her marriage

Reality TV personality Khloe Kardashian tried a fertility treatment so that she gets pregnant in order to “fix” her marriage with former basketball star Lamar Odom. But she is now relieved it did not work.

On her show “Kocktails With Khloe”, she said: “I do want to have a baby in life. I tried IVF and all that. At the time, I was like, ‘Oh, I’ve got to have a baby!’

“That’s all I wanted at the time, and I thought it would maybe fix the situation (with Lamar), so I’m also happy it didn’t happen because I was young. I was 27, and I thought, ‘A baby will fix this,’ and it’s not going to fix that.”

Despite the 31-year-old currently focusing on her career, she said that when the time is right, she does intend to have a family, but not yet, reports femalefirst.co.uk.

“But I’m also, right now in my life, I don’t just want to have a baby. I still want to have my family,” she added.

Khloe and Lamar split amongst allegations of his infidelity and drug use and she said that she never wanted to get divorced, a process she has put on hold after the 36-year-old sportsman was left fighting for his life in October following a collapse in a brothel here.

“I never wanted a divorce to begin with, I never wanted him to spiral out of control,” she said.

Conspiracy on to make Bangladesh a vassal state

The Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) chairperson, Khaleda Zia, on Friday urged all to remain alert as a ‘serious conspiracy’ is on to turn Bangladesh into a ‘vassal state’, reports UNB news agency.

“A deep-rooted conspiracy is on to make Bangladesh into a subservient country. 
Local and foreign identified vested quarters are making evil efforts to put at stake our independence and sovereignty earned through the sacrifices of lakhs of martyrs,” she said in a message issued greeting people on the occasion Independence Day.

Khaleda further said, “We all must remain alert to protect the independence of the motherland and uphold the flag of democracy foiling all plots.”

The BNP chief also renewed her call for a national unity to protect the country’s independence and sovereignty.

Mentioning that the country’s people had taken part in the Liberation War in 1971 with a vow to build a democratic

Bangladesh free from deprivation and exploitation, Khaleda said, “But, the goal couldn’t be attained for various reasons, and fascist and autocratic forces repeatedly put obstacles towards reaching it.”

The BNP chief also said the country’s march towards democracy and efforts to attain economic progress have got hindered time and again.

“Our sovereignty has also weakened.”
The nation will celebrate its 46th Independence and National Day on Saturday, paying homage to the martyrs who had sacrificed their lives for the freedom of their motherland from the Pakistani colonial rule and for the economic emancipation of the Bengalees.

Nation celebrates 46th Independence Day today

The nation celebrates the 46th Independence and National Day today, Saturday, with due respect.

According to UNB news agency, Bangladesh’s independence was declared on 26 March 1971 following the crackdown on unarmed Banglalees on the midnight of March 25 by the Pakistani occupation forces.

After the nine-month War of Liberation with the supreme sacrifices of three million people, Bangladesh achieved its cherished independence on 16 December 1971.

The day is a public holiday.
President Abdul Hamid, prime minister Sheikh Hasina and BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia have issued messages on the occasion.

Both the president and the prime minister greeted the countrymen living at home and abroad on the occasion.

In his message, the president underscored the need for maintaining patience, self-restraint and forbearance along with showing respect to others’ opinion in a democratic pluralism.

He also urged all to take united efforts to accelerate overall development and democratic advancement of the country.

In her message, the prime minister expressed the hope that all would engage themselves with their utmost sincerity, honesty and dedication to build Bangladesh as a peaceful, non-communal, developed and prosperous country and help place it on a prestigious position in the comity of nations.

The national flag will be hoisted atop government and private buildings while the government and semi-government buildings and other public places will be illuminated on the auspicious occasion.

President Abdul Hamid and prime minister Sheikh Hasina will place wreaths at the National Mausoleum at Savar at 5:57am.

The president will host a reception at 4:45pm at Bangabhaban on occasion of the Independence and National Day. Prime minister Sheikh Hasina will attend the reception.

The prime minister will place wreath at the portrait of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman at Dhanmondi at 7:00am and she will attend a rally of children and juveniles at Bangabandhu National Stadium at 8:00am.

She will also release stamps at 4:00pm at Ganabhaban.
As part of Awami League’s programmes to celebrate the National Day, the national and party flags will be hoisted at Bangabandhu Bhaban at Dhanmondi, party’s central office on Bangabandhu Avenue as well as offices across the country at sunrise. The party will place wreath at the portrait of Bangabandhu at 7:00am.

Besides, another team of AL central leader will attend programmess taken at Tungipara to observe the day.

AL will arrange a discussion at Krishibid Institution Bangladesh in the city’s Framgate at 3:30pm on Sunday. AL president and prime minister Sheikh Hasina will attend the programme as the chief guest.

In observance of the day, BNP will hoist its flag and national flag at its Naya Paltan central office.

BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia along with the party leaders will place wreaths at Savar National Mausoleum at 7:00am to pay homage to the Liberation War martyrs.

Later, she together with her party’s leaders and activists will place wreaths at the grave of BNP founder and late president Ziaur Rahman at 8:30am on the occasion.