Sportswire: from Messi's dominance to Shami's injury, the top 5 sports stories of the day

Photo: PTI

Fast Bowler Mohammad Shami pulled his hamstring before a practice match in Australia on his comeback to the Indian team after a nine-month layoff, as the side faces a big blow before the start of the series.

According to reports, Shami pulled his hamstring ahead of the side's practice match against Western Australia XI which the visitors won comfortably. Shami was unable to bowl as a result of his injury.

A BCCI source revealed that a final decision on Shami's availability will be taken on Saturday.

Shami who starred in the ICC 2015 World Cup in March 2015, played the latter half of the tournament through pain, thus aggravating his knee injury. He underwent a knee surgery which sidelined him for more than eight months.

Photo: PTI

British number two Aljaz Bedene made his way into the Chennai Open semi-finals after a 6-7 6-4 6-3 win over India's Ramkumar Ramanathan.

Slovenia-born Bedene defeated the world number 248 in two hours and 18 minutes.

He will face Croatia's Borna Coric in the last four of the 2,90,000 pound tournament.

The 26-year-old, ranked a career-high 45th in the world, lost to Switzerland's Stanislas Wawrinka in the final last year.

The gritty Indian youngster gave a terrific fight to a top-50 player and saved four match points before finally losing after battling for more than two hours.

Photo: AFP/PAU BARRENA

Lionel Messi is expected to win the FIFA Ballon d'Or on Monday, ending Cristiano Ronaldo's two-year reign over football's most coveted individual prize.

Messi already has a 4-3 lead in their career duel for the annual FIFA prize but was eclipsed by Ronaldo for the last two years.

However, that changed in 2015 when Messi inspired Barcelona to regain the Champions League title among five major trophies to none for Real Madrid, despite Ronaldo's relentless goal-scoring pace.

Barcelona's dominance has also helped Brazil star Neymar to earn a place on the three-man shortlist for the first time in his career.

Photo: File Photo

The All-India Women Selection Committee announced the Indian women's team for their Australia Tour after a meeting on Friday. The teams will play three One-Day Internationals (ODIs) and three Twent20 International (T20I) matches.

The squad in full:

ODI women's team: Mithali Raj (capt), Jhulan Goswamy (vice capt), Smriti Mandhana, MD Thirushkamini, Harmanpreet Kaur, Veda Krishnamurthy, Shikha Pandey, Niranjana Nagarajan, Sushma Verma, Kalpana R, Ekta Bisht, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Poonam Raut, Poonam Yadav, Sneh Rana

T20I women's team: Mithali Raj (capt), Jhulan Goswamy (vice capt), Smriti Mandhana, MD Thirushkamini, Harmanpreet Kaur, Veda Krishnamurthy, Shikha Pandey, Niranjana Nagarajan, Sushma Verma, Ekta Bisht, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Poonam Yadav, VR Vanitha, Anuja Patil, Deepti Sharma.

Liverpool's reserve team came back from behind twice to avoid an FA Cup embarrassment at League side Two Exeter City.

Brad Smith was on hand to turn home a loose ball 17 minutes from time as Jurgen Klopp's side escaped with a 2-2 draw in their third round tie at St. James' Park

Tom Nichols gave the hosts the lead after nine minutes but Jerome Sinclair responded three minutes later with his first goal for the club.

Exeter regained the lead on the stroke of half-time when Adam Bogdan somehow allowed a Lee Holmes corner to drift over his head into the far corner.

But Smith's debut strike means the Reds have to cram another fixture into an already packed January schedule with an Anfield replay.