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Five-year ban on Shoaib Akhtar stays
Pressure mounts on
Laxman, Afridi
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McGrath chokes Challengers
Depleted Riders face in-form Royals
Mohammed Kaif (L), Kamran Akmal (R) and Shane Watson of Rajasthan Royals during a practice session on the eve of their IPL T20 match against Kolkata Knight Riders in Sawai Mansingh stadium on Wednesday. — PTI photo
ManU set up 1st all-English final
Manchester United’s Portuguese midfielder Cristiano Ronaldo (R) fouls Barcelona’s Italian defender Gianluca Zambrotta during their UEFA Champions League second leg football match on Tuesday at Old Trafford. — AFP photo
India aim to make it four in a row
Eves secure Olympic berth in weightlifting
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Five-year ban on Shoaib Akhtar stays
Karachi, April 30 BCCI sources, however, informed that the fast bowler can not play in the IPL if he has not been cleared to play for Pakistan. The appellate tribunal, in its interim ruling, said Akhtar could not play any match in or for Pakistan but gave him the liberty to play anywhere else in the world. Justice (retd) Aftab Farrukh, heading the appellate tribunal, said the ban stayed because Shoaib did not try to reform himself. "Basically he has not tried to reform himself and has continued to violate discipline. That is the view of the tribunal so the ban stays," told reporters in Lahore. "This is also the order of the disciplinary committee of the Board that he can't play for or anywhere in Pakistan domestically or internationally. But there is no bar on him playing anywhere else in the world," Farrukh added. Farrukh said the tribunal had taken this decision in view of the unconditional apology submitted by Shoaib on Monday to the nation, his team and the Board for his actions and deeds. Farrukh said the tribunal would resume proceedings against the overall ban in June. Akhtar had appealed against the five-year ban imposed on him by the Pakistan Cricket Board for breaching players code of conduct by criticising the Board in media when he was already in the probation period. The interim order basically appears to be a move to allow Shoaib to play in the Indian Premier League. Farrukh also criticised Shoaib for the irreparable harm he had done to Pakistan cricket, his teammates and the trust of the nation.
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Pressure mounts on
Laxman, Afridi
Hyderabad, April 30 The Chargers notched their first victory in the tournament against Mumbai Indians on April 27 after losing three consecutive matches against Kolkata Knight Riders, Delhi Daredevils and Rajasthan Royals. Captain VVS Laxman would be under considerable pressure as the fans in his native city expect some fireworks from him. His highest score in the series so far has been 37. The team will be at a disadvantage as Australian all-rounder Andrew Symonds has left for home to join his team for a training camp ahead of the tour of the West Indies. South African opener Herschelle Gibbs is likely to replace him. In the absence of Symonds, retired Aussie star Adam Gilchrist, Laxman, Pakistani swashbuckler Shahid Afridi and Gibbs will shoulder the responsibility of making big scores for the team. Gilchrist hit a scintillating century in the match against Mumbai Indians and the team banks heavily on him. Though Afridi is the highest wicket taker for the team so far, his batting has remained lacklustre. Afridi's highest score in the series has been 10 and will be expected to hit some lusty blows in tomorrow's match. The Kings XI Punjab, meanwhile, has won two of the four matches it has played so far and looks strong with Kumar Sangakkara, Yuvraj Singh, Simon Katich and James Hopes doing well with the bat. Irfan Pathan is the highest wicket taker for the team but Brett Lee's departure will add to the pressure on Pathan and new-ball bowler S Sreesanth. The pitch at the Rajiv Gandhi stadium is ideal for batting and the team chasing a target is expected to have an edge. Teams (from): Deccan Chargers: VVS Laxman (Captain), Sanjay Bangar, Haldhar Das (wk), H Gibbs, Scott Styris, Adam Gilchrist (wk), D Kalyan Krishna, Pragyan Ojha, D Ravi Teja, PM Sarvesh Kumar, Shahid Afridi, Rohit Sharma, RP Singh, Chamara Silva, Chaminda Vaas, Y Venugopal Rao, P Vijay Kumar, Arjun Yadav, Nuwan Zoysa. Kings XI Punjab: Yuvraj Singh (Captain), Ajitesh Argal, Piyush Chawla, Pankaj Dharmani, Rishi Dhawan, Irfan Pathan, Nitin Saini, VRV Singh, Tanmay Srivastava, Karan Goel, James Hopes, M Jayawardene, Simon Katich, Uday Kaul, Luke Pomersbach, Kumar Sangakkara, Sunny Sohal, Sahil Kukreja, Brett Lee, Shaun Marsh, Kyle Mills, Wilkin Mota, Ramesh Powar, Ramnaresh Sarwan and S Sreesanth. — PTI |
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McGrath chokes Challengers New Delhi, April 30 Put into bat, Delhi Daredevils rode on the strength of the blistering knocks by Gautam Gambhir and Shikhar Dhawan, to make 191 for 5 in their allotted overs. Royal Challengers Bangalore, led by former Indian captain Rahul Dravid, needed to score 9.6 runs per over to overhaul the Daredevils’ total, but in the end, they fell short by 10 runs. Royal Challengers could compile only 181 for 5 in 20 overs, despite an unbeaten knock of 31 (1x4, 2x6) by Mark Boucher, and a costly last-over spell by Sehwag. With 30 runs required off the last six balls, Sehwag put himself on the line, but he was in for a rude shock, when he was hit for 19 runs, with a sequence of 6-1-1-6-4-1 runs. It was surprising that the Delhi Daredevils captain preserved himself to bowl this crucial over after he was punished for 11 runs in his first over. If Daredevils could eventually pip Royal Challengers Bangalore, it was due to the brilliant bowling spells of Glenn McGrath, who had figures of 4-0-29-4, and Daniel Vettori with figures of 4-0-19-1. Vettori conceded just five runs in his final over, which was the penultimate of the match. The Delhi Daredevils also owe a great debt to their opener Gautam Gambhir, who once again displayed amazing consistency to thrive on his home ground with a strokeful 86 off 54 balls with 11 fours and one six to put a decent score on the board after Rahul Dravid won the toss and asked Daredevils to bat. It was a better-paced knock than his 58 not out struck against Rajasthan Royals in Daredevils’ opening match on April 19. Shikhar Dhawan played a perfect foil to Gambhir and cracked a half century which was two runs short of his knock against Rajasthan Royals. In fact, Gambhir and Sehwag gave Daredevils a blistering start when they put on 53 runs in five overs before Sehwag fell a run out victim for 24 (12b, 2x4, 2x6). Only South African pacer Dale Steyn, Praveen Kumar and Jaques Kallis could contain the marauding Delhi batsmen. But for their restrictive spells, the Royal Challengers would have been in a worse plight as Virat Kholi and Sunil Joshi had proved costly too. And in the batting department too, Royal Challengers did not have much option as they were forced to send Praveen Kumar along with Wasim Jaffar to open. Though Praveen hit a boundary off McGrath, the Australian speedster had the last laugh when Praveen was caught by Shikhar Dhawan at mid wicket. With Praveen back in the room with only six runs on the board, and Ross Taylor and Jaffer also back in the pavilion in the space of two runs, both falling to McGrath’s third over, the match was effectively over for the Bangalore team. Though Jack Kallis (54, 44b, 6x4, 1x6) and Dravid (38, 30b, 4x4, 1x6) tried to make a fight of it, the exit of Dravid first and later Kallis blew away whatever little hopes the Royal Challengers had nursed of avoiding their fourth defeat in five matches. The run-rate shot up to 16 by the 18th over and but for Sehwag's blundering last over, Delhi could have cruised home with much more ease. Scoreboard Delhi Daredevils Sehwag run out 24 S Dhawan c Dravid b Kallis 50 Shoaib Malik b Steyn 6 Karthik b Kallis 2 M Tiwary not out 11 R Bhatia not out 8 Extras (lb-2, w-1, nb-1) 4 Total: (5 wkts, 20 overs) 191 Fall of
wickets: 1-53, 2-151, 3-159, 4-167, 5-179 Bowling: Steyn 4-0-29-1, Zaheer 4-0-42-1, P. Kumar 4-0-24-0, Vinay Kumar 2-0-25-0, Kallis 4-0-39-2, Kohli 1-0-11-0, Joshi 1-0-19-0. Bangalore Royal Challengers Jaffer c Mahesh b McGrath 10 Taylor c Dhawan b McGrath 29 Kallis b Vettori 54 Dravid c Sehwag b McGrath 38 MV Boucher not out 30 V Kohli not out 1 Extras (b-1, lb-10, nb-1) 12 Total (5 wkts, 20 overs) 181 Fall of
wickets: 1-6, 2-46, 3-48, 4-135, 5-162 Bowling: McGrath 4-0-29-4, Asif 4-0-42-0, VY Mahesh 4-0-28-0, Vettori 4-0-19-1, R Bhatia 1-0-14-0, Shoaib Malik 1-0-8-0, Sehwag 2-0-30-0.
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Depleted Riders face in-form Royals
Jaipur, April 30 Warne has transformed his team from underdogs to front-runners and hopes to continue the winning streak against the Knight Riders who have performed well below expectations in their losses to Bangalore Royal Challengers and Mumbai indians. With little time in hand to get used to scorching heat and ground conditions, the visitors may find the going tough in a day match. They are also hit by the loss of overseas players like New Zealand's Brendon McCullum and Australian skipper Ricky Ponting, who are leaving for their national assignments. The form of Knight Riders' skipper Saurav Ganguly has also been a worrying factor and he has failed to make any impression so far. West Indian Chris Gayle apparently has not recovered from his injury. However, the visitors can take heart from the fact that local players like Lakshmi Ratan Shukla, Ajit Agarkar and DB Das have done reasonably well. On the other hand Rajasthan Royals are on a roll. Playing like a well-gelled unit, they have executed their strategies to perfection. "We chose to bat or bowl according to the strength of the bowling attack of the opposition," Warne has said. The tweaker has so far proven to be a smart captain. Leading from the front he has been able to extract the best from his players. With South African Graeme Smith and Australian Shane Watson in good form and other batsmen like Mohammad Kaif, Yousuf Pathan and Ravindra Jadeja giving useful contributions, the hosts have been further bolstered by England all rounder Dimitri Mascarenhas. The bowling department also has a healthy look. Munaf Patel, Watson and Sohail Tanvir have done well with the new ball while the captain himself is a seasoned customer. With so many options in hand, Warne has worked out plans and assigned roles to his players to perfection. "We are hoping a bounce back and are prepared accordingly," Warne said. — PTI
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ManU set up 1st all-English final
Manchester, April 30 After winning the two-leg semifinal 1-0 on aggregate, Manchester will meet Chelsea or Liverpool in the final on May 21 at Moscow. Chelsea hosts Liverpool today at Stamford Bridge after gaining a 1-1 draw at Anfield last week when Liverpool's John Arne Riise accidentally headed the ball into his own net in injury time. Manchester United and Chelsea won their home games against each other in the English Premier League this season and drew 1-1 at Wembley in the Community Shield. United swept its two league matches against Liverpool. The final will be just the third involving clubs from the same nation in the 52-year history of the competition. Real Madrid defeated Valencia in 2000's all-Spanish match-up, and AC Milan beat Juventus in 2003's all-Italian final. A 33-year-old midfielder easily visible because of his red hair, Scholes beat goalkeeper Victor Valdes on a 25 m shot after a giveaway by Gianluca Zambrotta. That put Manchester United in its first Champions League final since 1999. Scholes missed that 1999 final, a victory over Bayern Munich, because of a suspension. His second goal of the season followed the first on August 15 in a Premier League match against Portsmouth. After last night's match, he exited through a side door and did not speak with reporters. "I don't think we can expect Paul Scholes to score 10-15 goals a season like he used to do when he was younger, but he certainly delivered one tonight for us," Ferguson said. "It makes up for all the goals that he can't score because of his age now." United, which also won the title in 1968, extended its home winning streak in Champions League play to 12 games. United also is closing in on its second straight Premier League title. With two matches left, it is tied with Chelsea at 81 points but ahead on goal difference. Barcelona, struggling in recent weeks, has been held scoreless in four straight matches in all competitions. Wayne Rooney was missing from Man United's lineup after aggravating a hip injury during Saturday's 2-1 league loss at Chelsea, leaving Cristiano Ronaldo and Carlos Tevez up front.— AP
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Women’s Asia Cup
Dubai, April 30 The tournament - also featuring Sri Lanka, Pakistan and debutants Bangladesh - will be played till May 11 and India will take on Bangladesh in their lung-opener. Skipper Mithali Raj is hoping to put up some good batting displays which will help her rise in the all-time leading ODI run-scorers' list. Mithali currently lies seventh with 2,776 runs with England's Claire Taylor (2,995) and New Zealand's Emily Drumm (2,844) above her in fifth and sixth places respectively. Australia's Belinda Clark with 4,844 runs is the all-time leading run-scorer. Meanwhile, Jhulan, who won the Women's Player of the Year at the ICC Awards last year, is set to become the second Indian after Neetu David and fourth overall in the history of the game to take 100 ODI wickets. The 24-year-old sits on 96 wickets from 79 ODIs. The tournament will be played on a double-league format with the top two teams qualifying for the final. Mithali said the Asia Cup will be the start of a tough season for her team in the run-up to the World Cup. "It's definitely part of our preparations for the World Cup and is the start of the season for us," she said. India won the Asia Cup in Sri Lanka in April 2004, in Pakistan in 2005-06 and in India in 2006-07. It has shown incredible consistency while winning all its 15 matches whereas Sri Lanka has won four of the 15 matches and Pakistan is winless from eight games. — PTI
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Ronaldo in soup after run-in with transvestites
Rio De Janeiro (Brazil), April 30
The AC Milan striker, in Brazil recovering from a knee surgery, cancelled two TV appearances, and local media said he will continue physiotherapy at his home. Police said Ronaldo committed no crime, but he was accused by one prostitute of using drugs and not wanting to pay. Prostitution is legal in Brazil. "It is necessary to clarify that no formal accusations were made against Ronaldo," read a statement on the player's Web site. "An advocate of social causes, Ronaldo has never used drugs and has always been admired by children in Brazil and around the world. There are indications of an extortion attempt in which the Milan striker is the only victim." Ronaldo acknowledged to police he knew they were prostitutes but did not realize they were cross-dressers until getting to a motel in the early hours Monday morning, when one allegedly tried to extort money from him to hide the story from the media, according to police. Police released more details Tuesday, and the AP reviewed witnesses' accounts to authorities. The motel manager, identified only as Luisa, said Ronaldo, who was dressed and appeared to be sober, tried to get rid of the prostitutes after realizing they were men. She told police Ronaldo offered the prostitutes USD 600 to end the incident but they would not accept dollars. The manager then converted the money into reals for Ronaldo, but before he made the payment one prostitute asked for 50,000 reals ($ 30,000) to keep the story from the media, according to the police document. A motel waiter, who was not identified in the police documents, told police the prostitute went to the street and yelled "the Phenomenon didn't want to pay." Witnesses also said the prostitute who asked for 50,000 reals ripped out the phone wires to keep Ronaldo from calling for help, and broke into his car to steal his belongings, according to police documents. That prostitute later showed local media a vehicle document belonging to Ronaldo. — AP
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Eves secure Olympic berth in weightlifting
New Delhi, April 30 In the women's 69 kg event, Laishram Monika Devi bagged three medals for India in the final Olympic qualifying event which will conclude tomorrow. Team's assistant manager Parminder Singh confirmed from Kanazawa that the Indian eves have secured an Olympic berth. ''We bagged one silver and two bronze and our women have booked one quota place for Olympics. We will have a clearer picture whether we can get more berths after the competition is over, but one quota place is secured,'' he said. The Indian contingent comprising seven women lifters and four men have completed their engagements. With a total lift of 218 kgs (95 in snatch and 123 in clean and jerk), India's Shailaja Pujari finished fifth overall in the women's 75 kg category today. Meanwhile, in the same category Kavita Devi withdrew from the competition. In the women's +75 kg category, Geeta Rani finished overall sixth with a lift of 224 kg (99+125) while K Tulsi ended at the bottom of the list in the 11-lifter field with a total lift of 177 (80+97). — UNI
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Mumbai: Though the Pakistan Cricket Board has cleared Shoaib Akhtar to play in the Indian Premier League for Kolkata Knight Riders, the controversial fast bowler still cannot play in the Twenty20 League as per the Cricket Board's recent decision.
