JANUARY

14: Gujarat defeats Mumbai by five wickets to win their maiden Ranji Trophy title.

19: Virat Kohli wins his first series as captain in limited- overs. India beat England by 15 runs in the second ODI to take an unassailable 2- 0 lead in the three-match series.

28: Serena Williams goes past Steffi Graf by winning her 23rd Grand Slam at the Australian Open, where she beats sister Venus 6- 4, 6- 4 in the final.

29: Roger Federer wins his first Grand Slam in four and a half years, beating Rafael Nadal 6- 4, 3- 6, 6- 1, 3- 6, 6- 3 in the final of the Australian Open.

30: Vinod Rai, former Comptroller and Auditor General of India, is appointed the head of the four-member Committee of Administrators to run the BCCI.

FEBRUARY

5: Cameroon wins Africa Cup of Nations title, beating Egypt 2- 1 in the final in Libreville.

6: Alastair Cook relinquishes England’s Test captaincy.

13: Pakistan Cricket Board suspends Nasir Jamshed from all forms of cricket for his alleged involvement in the match-fixing controversy.

19: Former Mohun Bagan and India goalkeeper Shibaji Banerjee die after suffering a massive heart attack.

20: England all-rounder Ben Stokes becomes the most expensive overseas player at an IPL auction, going for Rs 14.5 crore to Rising Pune Supergiant.

MARCH

12: SSP Chowrasia retains the Hero Indian Open title by a seven-shot victory over Gavin Green of Malaysia.

17: Wayne Rooney is dropped for the first time since his debut in 2003 from the England squad for the friendly against Germany and World Cup qualifier against Lithuania.

19: Bangladesh celebrates their 100th Test in style, beating Sri Lanka by four wickets in the second Test to draw the two-match series 1- 1, in Colombo.

24: Shamim Khan wins Kolkata Classic Golf Championship title by five strokes, at the RCGC. .. 26: Manvir Singh’s extra-time goal earns Bengal their 32nd Santosh Trophy title, defeating Goa 1- 0 in the final.

28: India finishes the cricket season with a 2- 1 victory over Australia in the Test series. India wins the fourth and final Test in Dharam sala by 8 wickets.

28: FIFA bans Lionel Messi for four competitive internationals for swearing at a match official during Argentina’s 1- 0 win over Chile the previous week.

APRIL

2: PV Sindhu wins her maiden India Open title, in New Delhi, beating Carolina Marin of Spain 21- 19, 21- 16. Following the win, she achieved a career-best world No. 2 ranking.

6: World No. 1 Dustin Johnson pulls out of the US Masters after sustaining a back injury in a freak fall.

9: Sergio Garcia beats Justin Rose in a dramatic playoff to clinch his first Major.

30: Aizawl FC wins their maiden I- League title in their second year in the competition, after holding Lajong FC to a 1- 1 draw.

MAY

12: Chelsea beat West Bromwich Albion 1- 0 to win their fifth Premier League title.

21: Novak Djokovic of Serbia confirms he will be coached by Andre Agassi at the French Open.

21: Mumbai Indians ( MI) win their third IPL title, beating Rising Pune Supergiant in the final by one run, in Hyderabad. Krunal Pandya of MI is adjudged Man of the Match while Rising Pune’s Ben Stokes is named Man of the Series.

21: Bengaluru FC wins the Federation Cup title with a 2- 0 win over Mohun Bagan in the final in Cuttack. CK Vineeth scores a brace.

29: Tiger Woods is arrested on the charge of driving under the influence ( DUI).

JUNE

3: Real Madrid retains Champions League title whipping Juventus 4- 1 in the final.

8: Rohan Bopanna wins his maiden Grand Slam title, winning the French Open mixed doubles with Canadian partner Gabriela Dabrowski.

10: Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia beats third seed Simona Halep 4- 6, 6- 4, 6- 3 in the French Open final to win her maiden Grand Slam singles title.

11: Rafael Nadal wins his 10th French Open and 15th Grand Slam singles title, beating Stan Wawrinka 6– 2, 6– 3, 6– 1.

18: Kidambi Srikanth clinches his third Super Series title, lifting the Indonesia Open men’s singles trophy with a 21- 11, 21- 19 victory over Japanese Kazumasa Sakai.

18: India loses by a whopping 180 runs to Pakistan in the final of the Champions Trophy at The Oval.

21: Boris Becker is declared bankrupt over money he owed to the London- based private bankers Arbuthnot Latham & Co, since 2015.

25: Srikanth clinched his fourth Super Series title with an incredible 22- 20, 21- 16 triumph over Chen Long in the Australian Open final in Sydney.

JULY

1: Lionel Messi and his childhood girlfriend Antonella Roccuzzo marry in hometown, Rosario.

6: Riding captain Virat Kohli’s 111 not out, India defeat West Indies by eight wickets in the fifth and final ODI at the Sabina Park Stadium to clinch the five-match series 3- 1.

9: India wins the Asian Athletics Championships, held in Bhubaneswar, with 12 gold, five silver, and 12 bronze medals.

15: Spain’s Garbine Muguruza wins her first Wimbledon title, defeating Venus Williams 7- 5, 6- 0.

16: Roger Federer of Switzerland becomes the first man to win Wimbledon eight times and extends his record to 19 Grand Slam titles with a 6- 3, 6- 1, 6- 4 victory over Croatia’s Marin Cilic.

23: American golfer Jordan Spieth wins the British Open to claim his third Major title.

23: In a heartbreaking end to a fantastic run, India loses the Women’s World Cup final to England by nine runs at Lord’s. India is well on course for a memorable triumph, sitting pretty at 191/ 3 in 42.5 overs before a batting collapse saw them bowled out for 219 in 48.4 overs.

Needing just 38 runs off 43 balls, India loses seven wickets for 28 runs in 6.5 overs. Later, Mithali Raj was named the captain of the ICC Women’s World Cup 2017 team. Harmanpreet Kaur and Deepti Sharma were the other two Indians included.

AUGUST

3: Neymar completes his record-shattering transfer from Barcelona to Paris Saint- Germain, signing a five- year deal with the French club after they triggered his $ 263 million release clause.

5: Vijender Singh defeats China’s Zulfikar Maimaitiali to win the unified WBO Asia Pacific and Oriental Super Middleweight title.

6: India thrashes Sri Lanka by an innings and 53 runs in the second Test in Colombo, taking an unassailable 2- 0 lead in the series. They later swept the series 3- 0 in Pallekele on August 14, winning by an innings and 171 runs.

19: England registers an innings and 209- run win over the West Indies in the landmark day-night Test match at Edgbaston.

27: Striker Ahmed Khan ( 91), who was a member of the India football team that won the gold in the first Asian Games in 1951, passes away in Bangalore after a prolonged illness.

27: Rohit Sharma scores an unbeaten 124 in Pallekele, as India defeat Sri Lanka by six wickets in the third ODI, to take an unassailable 3- 0 lead in the five-match series. The match, however, is marred by unruly crowd behavior.

SEPTEMBER

3: In Colombo, India thrashed Sri Lanka by six wickets to sweep the ODI series. Mahendra Singh Dhoni scripts history when he stumped Akila Dananjaya ( 4) in the 43rd over off Yuzvendra Chahal.

He becomes the first wicketkeeper to notch up 100 stumpings in ODIs.

9: Unseeded Sloane Stephens beats fellow American Madison Keys to win the US Open singles title. Stephens, ranked 83rd, beat 15th seed Keys 6- 3, 6- 0.

10: Rafael Nadal wins his third US Open and 16th Grand Slam title with a 6- 3, 6- 3, 6- 4 victory over South Africa’s Kevin Anderson.

17: PV Sindhu wins her third Super Series singles title beating Nozomi Okuhara 22- 20, 11- 21, 21- 18 in the Korea Open in Seoul.

24: India registers a five-wicket win over Australia in the third ODI in Indore, to take a series-winning 3- 0 lead. They also regained the No. 1 spot in ODIs.

24: East Bengal clinch their eighth successive Calcutta Football League title, a record 39 times overall, after holding archrivals Mohun Bagan 2- 2.

27: England beat West Indies by six runs via the D/ L method to take an unassailable 3- 0 series lead in the fourth ODI at The Oval on Wednesday.

England went on to win the series 4-0.

OCTOBER

1: India outplay Australia by seven wickets in the fifth ODI to seal the series 4- 1 and cement their No. 1 spot in the ICC rankings.

11: India qualifies for the 2019 AFC Asian Cup, crushing Macau 4- 1in a qualifying round football match in Bangalore.

12: Ashish Nehra, 38, announces his retirement from all forms of cricket.

22: India end their 10- year wait for continental triumph when they beat Malaysia 2- 1 in the final in Dhaka to clinch their third Asia Cup hockey title.

22: Kidmabi Srikanth clinch his third Super Series Premier title with a 21- 10, 21- 5 victory over Korean Lee Hyun II in the final of the Denmark Open.

23: Cristiano Ronaldo collects his fifth Fifa Men’s Player of the Year award in London.

28: England triumph in the final of the Fifa U- 17 World Cup, defeating Spain 5- 2, at the Salt Lake Stadium.

Three-time champions Brazil beat Mali 2- 0 to claim the bronze.

29: India beat New Zealand in the third ODI in Kanpur by six runs and clinch their seventh successive bilateral series 2- 1.

29: Lewis Hamilton is crowned the 2017 Formula One world champion — his fourth title.

29: Caroline Wozniacki beats Venus Williams 6- 4, 6- 4 to claim the biggest title of her career at the WTA Finals in Singapore.

NOVEMBER

5: India women’s hockey team win the Asia Cup after 13 years to secure qualification for the 2018 World Cup. They beat China 5- 4 via the shootout.

5: Golfer Shiv Kapur marches to a three-shot victory to win the Panasonic Open India.

7: India beat New Zealand by six runs in the rain-hit third T20I ( curtailed to eight- overs per side) to claim the series 2- 1.

8: MC Mary Kom ( 48kg) clinches an unprecedented fifth gold medal at the Asian Championships, defeating Kim Hyang Mi.

14: Four-time champions Italy fail to qualify for 2018 World Cup. A goalless draw with Sweden in Milan ensures that the Azzurri will not be in the World Cup for the first time in 60 years.

15: Peru defeats New Zealand to qualify for the Fifa World Cup finals after 35 years. Their last appearance was in 1982.

27: Pankaj Advani clinches his 18th world title, defeating Iran’s Amir Sarkhosh 8- 2 in the final of the IBSF World Snooker Championship in Doha.

30: Mirabai Chanu wins the women’s 48kg gold at the World Championship in Anaheim, USA, becoming the first Indian in 22 years after Karman Malleswari to win gold.

DECEMBER

7: Cristiano Ronaldo wins the Ballon d’Or for a fifth time, equalling Lionel Messi.

17: Sushil Kumar returns to the international arena by clinching a gold in the Commonwealth Wrestling Championships in Johannesburg. Sakshi Malik too wins a gold.

18: Australia regains the Ashes, beating England by an innings and 41 runs in the third Test in Perth to take an unassailable 3- 0 lead in the five-match series. Steve Smith was Man of the Match.

21: Mithali Raj is in the ICC Women’s ODI Team of the Year 2017.

Harmanpreet Kaur is on the T20I Team while Ekta Bisht is in both.

23: Vijender Singh defends his WBO Oriental and Asia Pacific Super middleweight titles, defeating African champion Ernest Amuzu.

This is his 10th pro bout victory on the trot.

24: India sweeps the T20I series against Sri Lanka 3- 0. India had won the Test ( 1- 0) and ODI ( 2- 1) series too against the visitors.

24: Shubhankar Sharma clinches the McLeod Russel Tour Championships at the RCGC. Pankaj Advani Mithali Raj Kidambi Srikanth Vijender Singh P V Sindhu HITCHED: India captain Virat Kohli got married to Bollywood star Anushka Sharma in a lavish destination wedding on December 11

26: Harry Kane scores a record number of EPL goals ( 37) and hat- tricks ( six) in a calendar year, also toppling Messi as top scorer in Europe.