When Xavi cracked the coconut code

Fifa 2010 World Cup winner Xavi was in the city this week as part of his ambassadorial role for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. The star playmaker, who also won two European Championships with Spain and four Uefa Champions League titles with Barcelona, spent some time with children from an NGO, trying to give them a few tips

on how to become a better footballer.

While the kids basked in the opportunity to take part in a brief football session with the midfield maestro — who showed off his amazing passing skills — Xavi saved his best for last. The 39-year-old was asked to break a coconut as part of a groundbreaking ceremony for the laying of a new turf at a ground in Colaba. For someone who broke down the world’s best defences at ease, breaking a coconut might have seemed a fairly straightforward task. Xavi appeared amused at first but then he’s not one to shy away from challenges. The only problem however, was that he was alien to the process. He was all set to throw it from shoulder height onto the stone when an organiser, luckily, stopped him and explained how it was to be done.

Xavi finally succeeded on the third try but continued banging the coconut a couple more times, much to the amusement of everyone around. Be it with a football or a coconut, trust Xavi to entertain!

‘Zak the ripper’ is back

Here’s something exciting that IPL-12 may offer: More than three years after he retired, ‘Zak the ripper’ Zaheer Khan, who mesmerised batsmen with his lethal swing bowling, is set to roll his famous left arm over again.

Answering a query by a fan about whether he’s likely to bowl to the Mumbai Indians batsmen at the nets, the former India seamer, who’s joined the franchise as the director of cricket operations, said in the team’s pre-tournament presser: “Towards the second half of the tournament, when everybody is tired, when everybody needs a little bit of time off! I am warming up for that and that time you will see me contribute by bowling in the nets to provide that extra practice for the batsmen.”

At 40, Zaheer may not offer the same challenge in the nets as he did in his heyday, but it’s clear that MI are set to gain a lot from the brains of this wily bowler, as was evident when he spoke about monitoring allrounder Hardik Pandya’s fragile lower back.

(CONTRIBUTED BY ANIL DIAS & GAURAV GUPTA)


2010 World Cup winner Xavi found it rather tricky to break a coconut as part of a ground-breaking ceremony for the laying of a new turf