Sportswire: From Messi's Ballon d'Or to #IndvsAus, the top 5 sports stories of the day

Barcelona forward Lionel Messi ended Real Madrid rival Cristiano Ronaldo's two-year winning streak by bagging the FIFA Ballon d'Or award - the fifth time he has won the prestigious award.

A year after Barcelona re-established itself as the world's top football team, the 28-year-old reclaimed his crown as the best player on the planet.

The Argentine had 41.33 per cent of the vote, followed by Ronaldo with 27.76 per cent Barca's Neymar with 7.86 per cent.

He received the award from 2007 Ballon d'Or winner, Kaka. Messi said that it was a very special moment for him to be back there on the stage, winning again another Ballon d'Or after being there in the audience watching Ronaldo win last year.

Photo: PTI

India has won the toss and opted to bat first in the first One Day International (ODI) of the five-match series against Australia at the WACA cricket ground today.

Left-arm medium pacer from Punjab, Barinder Sran will be making his international debut, while Steven Smith's Australian side has two debutants in Joel Paris and Scott Boland.

Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni, before the start of the series, had said the series will be a 'learning curve' for the youngsters in the side, adding that it would test the senior players of the team as well.

India Playing XI: Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, Manish Pandey, MS Dhoni(w/c), Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Umesh Yadav, Barinder Sran.

Australia playing XI: David Warner, Aaron Finch, Steve Smith (c), George Bailey, Glenn Maxwell, Mitchell Marsh, Mathew Wade (wk), James Faulkner, Joel Paris, Scott Boland, Josh Hazlewood.

Photo: ANI

Star Indian shuttler PV Sindhu clinched a comfortable win as Chennai Smashers recorded a 3-2 win over Awadhe Warriors in a Premier Badminton League clash in Hyderabad on Monday.

Local girl Sindhu beat Andhra Pradesh player Vrushali 15-7, 15-3 to seal the tie in favour of Chennai.

After registering the win Sindhu said,

"It was a comfortable win I would say as we look forward to the all important final game which is a trump match for both the teams."

"It's going to be an exciting end for sure. We hope to win the final match and end on a high note," she added.

Photo: File Photo

Sanjiv Goenka owned IPL franchise New Rising Pune is all set to make New Zealand legend Stephen Fleming their head coach, and re-uniting the partnership of MS Dhoni and Stephen Fleming from their Chennai Super Kings days.

Although now defunct, the Chennai Super Kings vastly benefited from the partnership of Dhoni and Fleming, and it is learnt Goenka now wants to see the same at his new franchise.

"Fleming has been remarkably successful as a player in the international arena and I firmly believe his technical knowhow, perseverance and organisation skills will work wonders for our team. I've tremendous faith in his leadership ability and believe it would have a positive impact on our team members," Goenka said.

Photo: PTI

Gemini Arabians, a team participating in the upcoming Masters Champions League named Virender Sehwag as its captain and team director.

Players and management descended into Dubai from various parts of the world to reveal the team logo and team jersey.

Team owner and CEO Nalin Khaitan said they wanted to attempt something totally out-of-the-box to present the team.

"All the cricketers have shown great enthusiasm and excitement in order to make this event a success. We look forward to translate this passion on to the field and produce exciting cricket at the upcoming MCL," he said.