Hyderabad, May 11
Venugopal Rao's unbeaten 42-ball 71 went in vain as Deccan Chargers slumped to their seventh successive defeat, going down to Kolkata Knight Riders by 23 runs in their Indian Premier League match here today.

Opting to bat first, the Knight Riders rode on captain Sourav Ganguly's stroke-filled 91 and David Hussey's late assault to amass 204 for the loss of four wickets in their quota of 20 overs.

In reply, the Chargers led by Rao's blitzkrieg — studded with four boundaries and a half a dozen sixes — could manage 181 for seven.

After their pathetic fielding allowed the Knight Riders to cross the 200-run mark, the Chargers lost wickets at regular intervals while trying to overhaul the massive target.

Openers Adam Gilchrist (24) and Herschelle Gibbs (4) fell to rookie pacer Ashoke Dinda, while Umar Gul claimed D Ravi Teja (10).

Ganguly then dealt another blow to the host side by scalping New Zealand all-rounder Scott Styris to reduce the Chargers to 63 for 4.

Rohit Sharma and Rao stabilised the innings to add 32 runs for the fifth wicket. But before the pair could take the hosts to the safety zone, Dinda struck again to effect the departure of Rohit (33 off 24 balls, 3x4s, 2x6s).

Ganguly then drew the life out of Chargers' challenge by scripting the dismissal of Sanjay Bangar (9).

However, an unperturbed Rao took the attack to the Knight Riders' camp and plundered the visiting bowlers all over the park.

But Rao ran out of partners and could only witness his side suffer another loss.

Earlier, Ganguly won the toss and decided to bat first but Salman Butt's exit in the first over pegged back the visitors.

Ganguly joined hands with Aakash Chopra (24) and forged a 69-run stand to steady the ship before he and Hussey tore apart the Deccan attack en route to a 102-run stand for the third wicket.

Ganguly's 91 came off 57 balls and was studded with 11 hits to the fence besides five sixes.

Hussey remained unbeaten after a 29-ball knock that included four boundaries, besides three sixes.

Laxmi Ratan Shukla was not out on 14 off just three balls as the Knight Riders went past the 200-run mark.

Playing his second match of the tournament, Butt (4) drove Chaminda Vaas for a four but perished soon edging him behind. The hosts, however, had to wait another 10 overs before another wicket fell and it was poor judgement that saw Chopra returning to the hut after being run out.

Scoreboard

Kolkata Knight Riders

Butt c Gilchrist b Vaas 4

A. Chopra run out 24

Ganguly c RP Singh

b Vijaykumar 91

Hussey not out 57

Taibu c Teja b RP Singh 9

LR Shukla not out 14

Extras (lb-1, w-3, nb-1) 5

Total (4 wkts, 20 overs) 204

Fall of wickets: 1-4, 2-73, 3-175, 4-190.

Bowling: Vaas 3-0-36-1, Vijaykumar 3-0-21-1, Styris 3-0-28-0, RP Singh 4-0-59-1, Venugopal Rao 4-0-24-0, Bangar 1-0-10-0, Ojha 2-0-25-0.

Deccan Chargers

Gilchrist c Ganguly b Dinda 24

Gibbs c S. Butt b Dinda 5

Ravi Teja c Saha b Umar Gul 10

Rohit Sharma c Ganguly b Dinda 33

Styris c Shukla b Ganguly 5

Venugopal Rao not out 71

Bangar c Chopra b Ganguly 2

Vaas b Shukla 9

RP Singh not out 6

Extras (lb-8, w-4, nb-4) 16

Total (7 wkts, 20 overs) 181

Fall of wickets: 1-12, 2-41, 3-41, 4-63, 5-95, 6-123, 7-161

Bowling: A Dinda 4-0-33-3, Ishant 3-0-27-0, Umar Gul 4-0-43-1, Ganguly 4-0-25-2, M Kartik 3-0-29-0, LR Shukla 2-0-16-1.

Player of the match: Ganguly (Kolkata Knight Riders) — PTI 

Mohali, May 11
Six defeats in eight games. It is with this dismal record that Bangalore Royal Challengers go into tomorrow’s match against a confident Kings XI Punjab in the DLF IPL T20 match at the PCA Stadium.

Languishing at the bottom of the heap, the Rahul Dravid-led team faces a tough task against Yuvraj Singh-led team which occupies the third spot in the points table.

"This defeat has made things difficult for us. But still we ought to remain positive and try to turn the tide in our favour," Dravid said after losing their last match against Kolkata Knight Riders in Kolkata.

It was the match in which Mark Boucher led a belated victory charge, scoring 40-ball 50 and all rounder Cameron White notched up whirlwind 16-ball 30.

The duo, though they brought the team to a sniffing distance of victory, failed to deliver the knock-out punch as the team lost the match by five runs.

“We have lost quite a few games close games. We seem to be getting good performances, but the execution is not happening,” Dravid summed it up after the demoralising defeat.

Bangalore Royal Challengers have a good sprinkling of international stars. Boucher, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Jacques Kallis, Misbah-ul Haq, Ross Taylor, White and Dravid himself constitute a batting line-up which can rip apart any bowling line-up.

But abject failure of these batting stars to come good has led Royal Challengers into a position that retrieving lost ground from there now looks almost impossible.

In bowling, Zaheer Khan has been on fire and the most successful bowler in the competition. Along with Zaheer, Dale Steyn has been no less effective. In Praveen Kumar, Kallis and Vinay, the leading pace duo has good back-up support.

If Royal Challengers have to come good, the onus will be on its celebrated batting line-up to click and arrest the slide.

Though they suffered a reverse in the last match against Chennai Super Kings, Kings XI Punjab are on a sound footing. With 10 points from five victories in eight matches, they are placed behind Rajasthan Royals and Chennai Super Kings on the points table.

The reverse they suffered yesterday could be attributed to the brilliance of comeback seamer L. Balaji, who claimed the maiden hat-trick in IPL.

The increasing consistency being shown by bowlers like S. Sreesanth, Irfan Pathan and Piyush Chawla has served Punjab well.

It was the twin strikes by Sreesanth in yesterday’s match which pegged Chennai back right at the start of the game. Though he took some time, Sreesanth has now slipped into the role of bowling spearhead nicely.

Besides his good bowling, the impressive batting by Irfan Pathan and the competence being shown by Chawla with the bat must be heartening for Punjab.

Batting upfront, Shaun Marsh has been rock solid. In fact, Marsh has been the only steadying influence in the Punjab batting, which has failed to click as a unit so far. With scores of 84 n.o., 40, 39 and 58 in the four games that he has played, it is Marsh who has kept Punjab going.

Though he has got starts, Ramnaresh Sarwan has failed to convert these into big scores. With Kumara Sangakkara under a fitness cloud, Punjab need its batting to click as a unit if the team has to maintain its impressive run.

Start of play: 8 pm

Mohali, May 11
Rahul Dravid attributed his team’s lacklustre run in the IPL to the batting which had remained below par. “We have not batted as well as we would liked. Our batting has been below par, which cost us quite a few close games,” he said.

“The score of 129 (vs Kolkata) was gettable. We came so close to winning the game, but eventually lost,” he said. “There were other games as well where we would have achieved the target but failed to do so.”

“Injury suffered by opener Wasim Jaffer was a big blow. We tried out different combinations in the opening slot. We sent out Chipli, Kohli, J. Arunkumar and then Chandrapaul as he had opened the innings for the West Indies. Unfortunately, nothing worked for us. We are trying to work out what works best for us.”

“I have full faith in my batsmen as they are all quality players. Maybe, we could not forge a right combination. Players (who have performed over a long period of time) cannot become bad overnight. But still a lot of cricket is to played in the competition and still six more games are to be played. Hopefully, things will turn better for us.”

Asked whether was any miscalculation which was hampering the team performance, Dravid said there were so many variables at work in a T20 game. Games could change in the space of even an over.

“Sometimes, a score of 20-odd runs could be more useful than 40 or 50 scored by some other batsman. It is challenge to cope up with the situation. But we are working to see how it goes for us,” he remarked.

About the sterling performance of some youngsters, he said they deserved credit for doing so well. “But skills required for a T20 game may not necessarily be transferred to the longer version of the game. Definitely, there are some positives and they have done well. But scoring in the longer version, even scoring 1000 runs in the Ranji Trophy, was not easy,” he explained.

Hailing the performance of Kings XI Punjab, Dravid said they were a strong team and had a long batting line-up. Even Piyush Chawla, who batted so late in the batting order, was a handy batsman and contributed on a couple of occasions.

“Tomorrow will be a new game. Both teams will start afresh and we will fancy our chances,” he said.

Meanwhile, cloud of uncertainty still hangs over Kings XI Punjab’s Kumara Sangakkara. Mahela Jayawardene, speaking for Punjab, said the key batsman had yet to recover fully and a final decision about his participation will be taken before the start of the game.

Though the team was doing well there was still room for improvement in certain areas, the Sri Lanka captain said.

About his role, the diminutive but solid middle-order batsman said he was not satisfied with his performance. “My job was to finish the games for my team and I am not satisfied by the way I have performed so far,” he said.

Jaipur, May 11
Shane Watson made full use of two dropped chances to score a blazing half-century which sealed a thrilling three-wicket win for Rajasthan Royals against Delhi Daredevils in their IPL Twenty20 match here today.

Chasing, 157 to win, the hosts overcame early jolts to post a convincing victory with five balls to spare.

The Delhi team, invited to bat, could put just 156 runs on the board, largely with the help of Farveez Maharoof's blistering knock of 39 down the order.

Watson's strokeful 74-run-knock came off just 40-balls with the help of five boundaries and five sixes.

His eventful innings came to an end when he was run out in the penultimate over.

Square leg umpire did not refer the decision to the third umpire but rival skipper Virender Sehwag pushed for it and eventually got rid of Watson as TV replays clearly showed he was short of his ground.

This opened the match again for the Delhi team but Mahesh Rawat (5) and Niraj Patel (4) did not lose their nerve and won the match on the first ball of the last over.

The visitors have to blame themselves for the defeat as first their star batsmen let them down and then they dropped catches, earned by their bowlers.

Graeme Smith (24) and Watson made the most of the dropped chances to bring back their team in the hunt as they put on a crucial 71-run partnership for the third wicket.

Smith was dropped on zero by Amit Mishra and Watson by skipper Virender Sehwag when the Australian was on individual score of 26 and the team was struggling at 59 for two.

The hosts were stuttering at 15 for two after five overs and just when it seemed the Delhi team was on course of pulling a improbable win, Smith-Watson combo lifted their team from the pits.

The partnership laid a strong foundation for the victory though the battle swung again in the favour of visitors with leg-spinner Amit Mishra (2/27) scalping two wickets in successive overs.

Mishra first dismissed Smith and then bowled Ravindra Jadeja (6) to give his team a good chance to come back in the match. 

                                                              How they stand

Team                               Mat      Won       Lost      Pts      Net RR

Rajasthan Royals                        9           7             2         14      +0.592

Chennai Super Kings                  9           6             3         12       +0.104

Kings XI Punjab                           8           5             3         10      +0.272

Kolkata Knight Riders                 8           4             4          8        +0.545

Delhi Daredevils                          8           4             4          8        +0.500

Mumbai Indians                          7            3            4           6         -0.455

Deccan Chargers                        9            2             7          4          -0.352

B’lore Royal Challengers           8            2              6          4         -1.309

Scoreboard

Delhi Daredevils

Gambhir b Trivedi 31

Sehwag c Kaif b Watson 17

S. Dhawan run out 3

de Villiers c Warne b Dimtri 20

D Karthik c Rawat b Dimitri 13

T Dilshan not out 18

A Mishra b Trivedi 4

Maharoof c Patel b Watson 39

Y Mahesh not out 0

Extras (b-1, lb-6, w-4) 11

Total (7 wkts, 20 overs) 156

Fall of wickets: 1-47, 2-52, 3-68, 4-92, 5-94, 6-100, 7-154

Bowling: Mascarenhas 4-0-29-2, Watson 4-0-21-2, M Patel 4-0-24-0, S Trivedi 4-0-28-2, Warne 4-0-47-0.

Rajasthan Royals

Y Pathan run out 8

Smith c Mahesh b Mishra 24

Kaif run out 1

Watson run out 74

R. Jadeja b Mishra 6

Mascarenhas b Sehwag 9

Warne b Maharoof 11

N. Patel not out 4

M. Rawat not out 5

Extras (b-2, lb-7, w-5, nb-3) 17

Total (7 wkts, 19.1 overs) 159

Fall of wickets: 1-11, 2-15, 3-86, 4-99, 5-127, 6-150, 7-150

Bowling: Glenn McGrath 4-0-12-0, Maharoof 4-0-22-1, Sangwan 4-0-33-0, Mahesh 2.1-0-35-0, A Mishra 3-0-27-2, Virender Sehwag 2-0-21-1.

Player of the Match: Watson (Rajasthan Royals). — PTI

Colombo, May 11
India clinched their fourth successive women’s cricket Asia Cup title by thrashing Sri Lanka by a massive 117 runs in the final at the Welagedara Stadium in Kurunegala today.

The two teams clashed in the final for the fourth successive time and once again it was the Indians who came out trumps.

Player of the match Asha Rawat fell short of a well-deserved 100 by three runs, while skipper Mithali Raj once again starred with a 66-run knock to help India put on 260 for seven in their quota of 50 overs.

The defending champions then bundled out the hosts for 83 in 35.2 overs with Pujare Seema and Neetu David picking up three wickets apiece.

Electing to bat after winning the toss, the Indians were dealt an early blow with opener Jaya Sharma departing in the second over without scoring a run.

Rawat then joined Kavita Jain (28) to steady the innings before the latter was also sent back by S. de Alwis with the scoreboard reading 75. Mithali and Rawat then made sure there were no further hiccups until the 38th over as the two steered the Indians towards a big score.

While Rawat struck 12 fours and a six in her 114-ball knock, Mithali hit six fours in her 72-ball stay at the crease.

Amita Sharma also chipped in with a quickfire 31-ball 50 to take India to what eventually turned out a winning score.

The Sri Lankan chase never got off and half of their side was back in the pavillion with just 62 runs on the board and almost 28 overs still to be bowled.

Four of the Sri Lankan batters were sent back for nought and only two managed to register double-digit scores with P. Kumarihami being their top scorer labouring to a 63-ball 23.

Seema and David wrecked the hosts' line-up as India cruised to their fourth successive title triumph. Player of the tournament all-rounder Rumeli Dhar and pacer Jhulan Goswami also picked up a wicket each.

Brief scores:

India: 260 for 7 (Asha Rawat 97, Mithali Raj 66, Rumeli Dhar 50, S. Siriwardene 
4-53) Sri Lanka: 83 all out (P. Seema 3-10, Neetu David 3-11). — PTI

Ipoh, May 11
Riding on two goals by Diwakar Ram, India made a fine rally from one goal deficit to outclass lowly Canada 3-1 and keep themselves in contention in the Azlan Shah Cup hockey tournament here today.

India dominated the proceedings getting nine penalty corners as against two by their opponents but trailed 0-1 at the breather only to bounce back strongly in the second session with their forwards for once showing the bite in their attack.

India could have scored more but for the Canadian goalkeeper Mike Mahoot bringing out some fine saves under the bar.

Canada took the lead in the ninth minute from their second penalty corner with Wayne Fernandez's firm push sailing high into the net at the left side of Indian goalkeeper Adrian D'Souza.

India equalised in the 45th minute with Diwakar Ram converting a penalty stroke which was awarded after SV Sunil's goal-bound push following India's fourth penalty corner hit a Canadian defender.

Young Diwakar, replacing Sandeep who was hit on his right leg by a powerful penalty corner shot, sent the Canadian goalkeeper on the wrong foot.

Nineteen-year-old Diwakar scored again in the 51st minute to put India ahead from their seventh penalty corner with a fine low push and the agile Canadian goalkeeper dived full length to his right but failed to stop the ball from finding the cage.

Two minutes later, India had a two-goal cushion from a combined team effort. Captain Sardara Singh's free hit touched the stick of SV Sunil and rolled towards Shivendra Singh who gently tapped the ball into the open goal to give his side their first win from three matches.

The Canadians pressed hard late in the second half, but their shots were wayward. Innocent Kullu and Gurbaj Singh brought some goalline saves in this spell to keep India's lead intact. We desperately needed a win to stay in the tournament and we got it. The credit should go the young team as they started scoring at last," said visibly relieved Indian coach Ajay Kumar Bansal.

In their next outing, India face Belgium tomorrow and Bansal thinks his boys would not have much problem in taming the Europeans.

"If my forwards play as they did today, I don't think we will have any problem tomorrow," he said. — PTI

London, May 11
Manchester United retained the Premier League title on Sunday when they won 2-0 at Wigan Athletic with a first-half Cristiano Ronaldo penalty and a goal by substitute Ryan Giggs.

United ended the season on 87 points, two clear of Chelsea, who drew 1-1 at home with Bolton Wanderers after an injury-time Kevin Davies goal for the visitors cancelled out a scrappy effort by halftime substitute Andriy Shevchenko.

It was United's 10th Premier League title and 17th championship in all and they will now go for a double when they face Chelsea in the Champions League final on May 21.

Everton qualified for the UEFA Cup after their 3-1 home victory over Newcastle United secured them the fifth place.

Birmingham City and Reading joined Derby County in being relegated after Fulham won 1-0 at Portsmouth to complete an unlikely escape. — Reuters 

Patiala, May 11
The Indian Weightlifting Federation (IWF) once again has egg on its face as Kavita Devi (75 kg) returned from the Asian weightlifting championship held at Kanazawa (Japan) from April 27 to May 2 because of a positive dope test.

Kavita Devi, who was part of the seven-member women’s squad at Kanazawa, was found to be on an anabolic steroid in an out-of-competition random dope test conducted by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) at the NIS here on April 7.

The Asian Championship also acted as the qualifying meet for the Beijing Olympics and out of the seven women competitors, only Laishram Monika Devi (69 kg) made it to Beijing.

The WADA had picked up samples of 10 lifters, including those of Kavita Devi, undergoing training at the senior national camp from the NIS.

This is Kavita’s first dope offence and if two more Indian lifters are found to be on dope in this calender year, in either the men or women’s sections, the international weightlifting body will impose a year-long ban on the IWF.

The fact that Kavita was called back just before the actual competition at Kanazawa had commenced due to a ‘doping infringement’ was today confirmed by the IWF president Harbhajan Singh.

When contacted in New Delhi, Harbhajan said, “The federation officials were unaware of the fact that Kavita had returned a positive dope test and the moment we got to know it, we called her back."

Controversial Egyptian coach Magad Salama, who was attached with the national weightlifting camp, had on many occasions pointed a finger at women lifters saying that "many of them were on dope." Kavita is a trainee of the Centre of Excellence at Lucknow and is a pupil of coach Hansa Sharma. When contacted, Hansa refused to answer any queries relating to Kavita’s doping offence.

Istanbul, May 11
Ferrari's Felipe Massa won the Turkish Grand Prix from pole position for the third year in a row today after tyre concerns slowed Lewis Hamilton's challenge.

Force India’s Giancarlo Fisichella slammed into the back of Kazuki Nakajima's Williams at the first corner at the end of the opening lap.

The Brazilian Massa took the chequered flag 3.7 seconds ahead of the 23-year-old McLaren driver Hamilton, who ran most of the race on harder tyres and had to make three pitstops compared to his rivals' two.

It was Massa's seventh win in Formula One, at the anti-clockwise track where he took his first in 2006, and his second in five races this season.

Ferrari's world champion Kimi Raikkonen saw his overall lead trimmed to seven points from nine after finishing a close third.The Finn, the only driver to score points in every race this season, now has 35 to Massa and Hamilton's 28.

Massa's win was champions Ferrari's fourth in a row and meant that the Turkish Grand Prix, which made its debut in 2005, has still only ever been won by the driver on pole position.

Three of his wins have come in Turkey, prompting a suggestion that the Brazilian should change nationality, “I think I can get a passport here already,” he grinned.

Poland's Robert Kubica was fourth, ahead of BMW Sauber team mate Nick Heidfeld.

Adrian Sutil finished a satisfying 16th for Force India after teammate Giancarlo Fisichella's campaign ended in the very first corner of the Turkish Grand Prix here today.

Sutil, beginning at 19th position on the grid, recorded a timing of 1:27:51.473 to bring home one finish for Force India. Adrian made a good start, however a Toro Rosso shut the door on him through turn five and damaged his front wing, forcing him to pit to change the nosecone.

With the safety car deployed to clear the stricken cars from the startline accident, Adrian rejoined at the rear of the field.

In his first pit stop on lap 21 he jumped the two Toro Rosso cars and started to close the gap to the group in front by more than one second a lap and, by his second stop on lap 38, was just under seven seconds behind Rubens Barrichello's Honda.

He fell back behind Vettel after the stop however regained the position later in the race when Vettel had a problem in his own pit stop. Despite Vettel putting him under intense pressure in the latter stage of the race, Adrian held onto secure 16th place.

Sutil said he had troubles during the race but managed to finish the race thanks to good going in the middle. — Agencies