Portuguese star draws larger audience than World Cup 2022 final
Fans rush for Ronaldo's Al Nassr debut video
Doha: Ever since Lionel Messi's team won the soccer World Cup, the viewership for the video on Cristiano Ronaldo joining the Al Nassr soccer club has shot up.
As per the figures provided by Spanish reporter Redro Sepueda, matches featuring Ronaldo are being shown on more than 40 television channels across the world, with more than 300 crore viewers. This, the reporter says, is higher than the viewership for the recent Argentina-France final in the World Cup.
Ronaldo attended the opening match of Al Nassr, which the Saudi Arabian soccer club won 2-0 against Al Ta'ee at Mrsool Park. Ironically, however, he could not participate in what was to be his debut match for Al Nassr in Riyadh and only watched it from a VIP box seat.
Ronaldo, facing disciplinary action for smashing a teenage fan's phone after Manchester United's defeat against Everton in April 2022, had been banned by FA from playing two games.
Since Ronaldo's contract with Manchester United was terminated, the Portuguese soccer star had to serve the ban when he joined a new club.
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Rickelton's ton in vain as SRH beat MI by 6 wickets
Mumbai (PTI): Ryan Rickelton's whirlwind unbeaten ton was overshadowed by Heinrich Klaasen's unbeaten 65 as Sunrisers Hyderabad defeated Mumbai Indians by six wickets in an IPL match here on Wednesday.
Chasing an imposing 244-run target, Travis Head (76 off 30) and Abhishek Sharma (45 off 24) shared 129 runs for the opening wicket to set the platform for SRH.
Klaasen (65 not out off 30 balls) then displayed his all-round hitting abilities to guide SRH home with the help of Nitish Kumar Reddy (21) and Salil Arora (30 not out off 10) in 18.4 overs.
Earlier, Rickelton's knock powered MI to 243 for five.
MI rode on a 93-run stand between Rickelton (123 not out off 55 balls) and Will Jacks (46 off 22) in 7.1 overs for the opening stand to power the side.
MI skipper Hardik Pandya scored a valuable 31 off 15 balls before being dismissed.
Praful Hinge (2/54), Eshan Malinga (1/29), Sakib Hasan (1/39) and Nitish Kumar Reddy (1/31) were the wicket-takers for SRH.
Brief Scores:
Mumbai Indian: 243 for 5 in 20 overs (Ryan Rickelton 123 not out; Praful Hinge 2/54).
Sunrisers Hyderabad: 249 for 4 in 18.4 overs (Travis Head 76, Heinrich Klaasen 65 not out; AM Ghazanfar 2/51).
