Mumbai, May 14
Riding on Sanath Jayasuriya's swashbuckling, unbeaten knock of 114 that contained an amazing eleven sixes and nine fours, Mumbai Indians outclassed Chennai Super Kings by nine wickets for their fourth straight win after four losses in the Indian Premier League here today.

The Sri Lankan veteran flicked, slashed and pulled the short-pitched balls served to him on a platter by the visiting team's bowlers as the home team, chasing Chennai's total of 156 for six, surged to a comprehensive win in only the 14th over.

Jayasuriya finished the match with a flourish by slamming Lankan compatriot Chamara Kapugedara for 26 runs in five balls, with three sixes to boot.

It was the 'Marauder from Matara' who stole the honours of the day with clean hitting as he took the match away in the first six overs when 78 runs were made, mainly through his efforts.

He ran away to his fifty in 25 balls and his hundred came from just 45 balls, studded with seven fours and 10 sixes.

Jayasuriya and fit-again Mumbai Indians skipper Sachin Tendulkar, who made 12 in 16 balls with a six and a four, put on 82 for the first wicket in only 44 balls to condemn the visitors to a comprehensive defeat, their fourth in 10 games.

The Lankan lost Tendulkar in the eighth over, bowled through the gate by Joginder Sharma when the champion batsman tried to play an on-drive, but carried on relentlessly to ensure that the home team came out victorious.

Chennai new ball bowlers Manpreet Singh Gony and South African Albie Morkel erred in trying to bounce out the great left-hander on a helpful pitch but just did not possess the much-needed accuracy and went for plenty.

Gony went for 31 in his first three while Morkel conceded a whopping 44 from the same number of overs. Jayasuriya struck three sixes each in one over from both the pacers.

The Lankan ace's initial pyrotechnics sealed Chennai's fate much before the end came.

Earlier, Subramaniam Badrinath and Mahendra Singh Dhoni revived the visitors with a 95-run stand after the hosts' pace attack had taken early control.

Badrinath, struggling initially before picking up pace, struck his second successive half century in the IPL when he made 53 off 32 balls with seven fours and two sixes while his skipper Dhoni made an unbeaten 43 in 35 balls with six fours and a six as the fifth wicket pair pulled Chennai out of the hole with their near-century stand in 61 balls.

The recovery came after the Mumbai Indians pace attack put them on the rack to leave them gasping at 46 four in the ninth over as the duo mixed authentic and streaky shots.

Put in to bat, Chennai began well by hitting a string of boundaries in the second over before being rocked by the Mumbai attack to be pushed on the back foot.

However, the Chennai Kings' total was inadequate against Mumbai Indians' strong batting line-up that included the fit-again Sachin Tendulkar for the first time in the tournament.

In the top-order, Stephen Fleming (26), dropped on one, and fellow-opener Vidyut Sivaramakrishnan (16) got a start but failed to flourish to the full.

Suresh Raina made only one run before edging a rising ball from Dwayne Bravo to 'keeper Yogesh Takawale to leave Chennai at 28 for two in the sixth over .

Scoreboard

Chennai Super Kings

Vidyut c Raje b Pollock 16

Fleming b Kulkarni 26

S Raina c Takawale b Bravo 1

Badrinath c & b Bravo 53

Kapugedera c Takawale

b Kulkarni 0

Dhoni not out 43

JA Morkel c Uthappa b Kulkarni 5

Extras (lb-3, w-9) 12

Total (6 wkts, 20 overs) 156

Fall of wickets: 1-18, 2-28, 3-46, 4-46, 5-141, 6-156

Bowling: Pollock 4-1-9-1, Nehra 4-0-31-0, Bravo 4-0-37-2, DS Kulkarni 4-0-33-3, Raje 3-0-33-0, Thornely 1-0-10-0.

Mumbai Indians

Jayasuriya not out 114

Tendulkar b Joginder 12

Uthappa not out 16

Extras (lb-4, w-12) 16

Total (1 wkt, 13.5 overs) 158

Fall of wicket: 1-82

Bowling: Gony 3-0-31-0, JA Morkel 3-0-44-0, Balaji 2-0-9-0, Joginder 3-0-24-1, Muralitharan 2-0-20-0, Kapugedera 0.5-0-26-0.

Player of the match: Jayasuriya (Mumbai Indians)— PTI 

New Delhi, May 14
Delhi Daredevils, still smarting under the crushing blows of Shoaib Akhtar for Kolkata Knight Riders, are now looking for an escape route to get back on rail which they hope will be provided by the Deccan Chargers, who are themsleves plumbing the depth of despair, when they clash in the Indian Premier League (IPL) Twenty20 Crickt Championship at the Ferozeshah Kotla ground here tomorrow night.

Four successive defeats have hampered Daredevils' hope of getting a last four berth, though they are still in with a chance as the fourth slot for the semi-final is still open.

Daredevils wish that Deccan Chargers will prove to be easy fodder on their home ground, though stand-in captain Adam Gilchrist, who has taken over the captaincy reins following the exit of VVS Laxman with a wrist injury, has no plans to end up as a doormat.

He is determined to give a fight, though his team's hopes of entering the semi-final stage, have vanished into thin air, after suffering seven defeats in nine matches.

The Delhi Daredevils' confidence has taken a knocking after losing to Mumbai Indians, Chennai Super Kings, Rajasthan Royals and Kolkata Knight Riders in a row after their early victory run was halted by Kings XI Punjab.

Virender Sehwag-led Delhi Daredevils' consolation would be, when they meet Deccan Chargers, that they are far better off than the team from Hyderabad. Barring the defeat against Dhoni's Chennai Super Kings men, Delhi had held their own at their home turf.

Delhi will be looking up to their fiesty top order batsmen like Gautam Gambhir, Sehwag, DeVilliers and Shikhar Dhawan to fire from the outset to get them a good score, either batting first or chasing a total.

In the last few matches, Daredevils have not been able to preserve their best bowlers for the death overs, and that trend may have to be changed tomorrow. Glen McGrath has, literally, lived upto his image as a 'tower of strength' bowling his quota of four overs with venom, depth, penetration, economy and wickets to boot.

If only others could also rise to such exacting bowling standards of Mc Grath, Delhi would have finished off their ties in style, either batting first or bowling last.

Delhi have good bowlers in Yo Mahesh, Farveez Maharoof, Pradeep Sanghwan, Mohammad Asif etc. and it's just a question of using the bowling resources judiciously in the end overs.

The Delhi middle order has also not produced the kind of runs expected of them but Daredevils continue to be a formidable force, and they cannot be written off in any manner.

Nor could the challenge of Deccan Chargers be wished away. Gilchrist's men may be down and in the dumps, but they have no intention of going down without a fight, at least for the sake of individual players. If any of their batsmen or bowlers strike it big or do death-defying displays, at least their personal causes would have been served better.

Deccan Chargers have competent performers like Gilchrist, Rohit Sharma, Shahid Afridi, Scott Styris, Chaminda Vaas, RP Singh, Venugopal Rao etc and it's just a question of their clicking for the cause of the team, which they have not been able to do after the departure of Andrew Symonds.

Kolkata, May 14
Shoaib Akhtar, on his IPL debut, dismissed the top four Delhi Daredevils batsmen to give Kolkata Knight Riders their fifth win in the IPL T20 tournament match at the Eden Gardens here last night. Shoaib’s 4 for 11 from three overs reduced Daredevils to 28 for four wickets and they never recovered from there. They were finally dismissed for 110 in 17.5 overs.

Laxmi Rattan Shukla wrapped up the Daredevils’ tail taking three wickets in five balls.

Mishra top scored for Daredevils and Dilshan contributed 25. Excellent fielding and two runouts made the small Kolkata total appear big.

With team owner Shah Rukh Khan cheering from the sidelines and the crowd egging them on, Kolkata bowlers made life difficult for Delhi batsmen.

Earlier, a lacklustre performance by their batsmen allowed Delhi Daredevils to restrict Kolkata Knight Riders to a modest total of 133 for six.

Electing to bat, the hosts set the Delhi side an asking rate of 6.7 before a crowd of 50,000 at the Eden Gardens.

Salman Butt (48) was the principal scorer for the home team with the in-form David Hussey (31 of 31 balls) getting moderate success in the slog overs.

Superb bowling performances from Glenn McGrath (4-0-22-0), Yo Mahesh (2/34) and Maharoof (4-0-25-0) ensured the Delhi batsmen got an easily attainable asking rate.

The Knight Riders could never get the momentum going, and only 10 fours came in their innings.

Butt and Aakash Chopra (13) made a sedate start, though the Pakistani executed several delightful shots square of the wicket and past the cover region.

Chopra, who was dropped by Gautam Gambhir in McGrath's second over, found it difficult to force the pace, and became the victim of a rather soft dismissal.

The right hand batsman played a casual shot as he tried to loft new ball bowler Pradeep Sangwan and offered a simple catch to Ferveez Maharoof at mid off.

Sourav Ganguly (7) walked in to loud cheers from the home crowd, and raised hopes of another magical knock as he hit Yo Mahesh for a six by making full use of a free hit, but the end came soon in the same over. 

Scoreboard

Kolkata Knight Riders

Salman Butt c McGrath b Mahesh 48

A Chopra c Maharoof b Sangwan 13

Ganguly b Mahesh 7

Hussey c Tiwary b Maharoof 31

Taibu run out 7

LR Shukla c Gambhir

b Maharoof 10

WP Saha not out 5

Iqbal Abdulla not out 1

Extras (lb-3, w-7, nb-1) 11

Total (6 wkts, 20 overs) 133

Fall of wickets: 1-35, 2-47, 3-87, 4-99, 5-119, 6-129

Bowling: McGrath 4-0-22-0, Sangwan 4-0-29-1, VY Mahesh 4-0-34-2, Maharoof 4-0-25-2, A Mishra 3-0-13-0, Sehwag 1-0-7-0.

Delhi Daredevils

Gambhir c Hussey b Akhtar 10

Sehwag c Saha b Akhtar 0

de Villiers c Taibu b Akhtar 7

MK Tiwary lbw Akhtar 9

S Dhawan b Dinda 7

Dilshan run out 25

A Mishra c Ishant b Shukla 31

Maharoof run out 10

VY Mahesh b Shukla 3

Sangwan c Hussey b Shukla 0

McGrath not out 0

Extras (lb-1, w-7) 8

Total (all out, 17.5 overs) 110

Fall of wickets: 1-2, 2-17, 3-28, 4-28, 5-43, 6-67, 7-101, 8-105, 9-105, 10-110

Bowling: Akhtar 3-0-11-4, Ishant 3-0-18-0, Dinda 4-0-29-1, Ganguly 4-0-23-0, Iqbal Abdulla 3-0-22-0, LR Shukla 0.5-0-6-3.

Player of the match: Shoaib Akhtar (Kolkata Knight Riders).— Agencies

Mumbai, May 14
Temperamental off-spinner Harbhajan Singh today got away with a five-match ODI ban for slapping his India teammate S Sreesanth and was warned by the cricket board of a life ban for any further misconduct on his part.

A day after BCCI-appointed Commissioner Sudhir Nanavati submitted a 14-page report to the Board, the BCCI's Disciplinary Committee acted swiftly to impose the ban on the beleaguered spinner who will now miss the forthcoming tri-series in Bangladesh and two matches of the Asia Cup in Pakistan.

The 27-year-old Harbhajan, who had already been banned from the ongoing Indian Premier League and fined a whopping Rs 3 crore match fee for the level 4 offence, was summoned by the Disciplinary Committee, headed by president Sharad Pawar, to hear his views on the incident which happened after an IPL match in Mohali on April 25.

"The Committee accordingly decided to ban Harbhajan Singh for five one-day internationals, starting today and further observed that any further instance of misconduct will invoke a life-ban," the BCCI said in a statement after the committee's hearing.

"The Committee invoked Rule 3.2.1 of the BCCI Regulations for Players, Team officials, Managers, Umpires and Administrators. Under this provision, the maximum punishment that can be meted out to a player is a ban up to a maximum of 5 ODIs and/or 3 Test matches," Pawar told reporters.

He said a copy of the report was given to Harbhajan who was heard by the committee before taking a final decision on the quantum of punishment.

"The player admitted his guilt in the concerned matter. He prayed for leniency and assured the Committee that there would not be any misconduct on his part in the future," the Board said.

Pawar and other members of the committee, president-elect Shashank Manohar and vice-president Chirayu Amin, met at the Cricket Centre to discuss Nanavati's report on the issue.

With the ban coming into effect immediately, the off-spinner will have to sit out of the tri-series in Bangladesh to be held from June 8-14 and the first two matches of the Asia Cup scheduled to be held in Pakistan from June 24-July 6.

The Board also told Sreesanth to mend his way. "The Disciplinary committee also considered Sreesanth. He has to improve a lot and if he is does something similar in future, he will be dealt with firm hand," Niranjan Shah said.

Asked how Harbhajan reacted to his ban, Shah said, "He is okay, he knows that he is guilty and the BCCI has also given a warning that if he gets involved in any further misconduct, he will be banned for life.

"He has learnt his lesson, he knows exactly where he stands," he said.

Shah refused to call it an exemplary punishment but made it clear that the Board would not brook any such indiscipline.

"It is sure that if any indiscipline is seen on the field the board would be very strict. It won't allow itself to be taken for granted," he asserted.

Harbhajan slapped his national teammate Sreesanth at the conclusion of King's XI Punjab's IPL match against Mumbai Indians in Mohali on April 25.

Harbhajan, who was bought by Mukesh Ambani's franchise for a whopping Rs 3.40 crore during the landmark auction, was subsequently banned from the remainder of the IPL, apart from losing nearly Rs 3 crore of match fee, for breaching the ICC's Level 4.2 Code of Conduct.

Brussels, May 14
World number one Justine Henin announced she was retiring from professional tennis with immediate effect today. ''It's the end of a wonderful adventure but it's something I have been thinking about for a long time,'' the Belgian told a news conference.

Henin, the winner of seven grand slam titles, had been expected to defend her French Open crown later this month but instead opted to turn her back on the sport at the age of just 25.

''I am leaving as the world number one and that is important and it is always better to go out at the top,'' said Henin, who won 41 titles since turning professional in 1999.

''I have been driving my career based on an emotion but I didn't feel that emotion anymore since (last year's season-ending championships in) Madrid.

''At Madrid I felt I had reached the climax of my career. I had thought about taking a break, but in the end I didn't think this was the right decision.'' ''I decided on returning from (last week's tournament in) Berlin to stop now.

''I leave without any regrets and I know it is the right decision.'' Henin became the first Belgian to win a grand slam title with her triumph at the French Open in 2003 and despite suffering numerous turmoils throughout her career, she did not let it affect her form on court.

Credited with owning the best backhand in the game, she bucked the trend of the power players on the tour by climbing to the top of the world rankings despite her slight 1.67 metre frame.— Reuters

New Delhi, May 14
The lone Indian left in fray at the ATP Challenger Series' SAIL Open, Ashutosh Singh today crashed out with a straight-set loss to Australian Colin Ebelthite in the rain-interrupted second round of the $ 50,000 event.

The wildcard local favourite, who stunned eighth seed Alexandre Kudryatsev of Russia in the opening round yesterday, was handed a 4-6 4-6 defeat by Ebelthite, bringing the curtains on the Indian challenge in the singles.

In what turned out to be a lopsided contest interrupted by a duststorm and heavy rain that left players and officials scurrying for cover, Ashutosh was done in by backhand errors and the inability to match his opponent's power.

The national champion was faced with a couple of break points in the third game itself but managed to save them with fine serves.

However, he could not save the next break that he conceded in the seventh game as Ebelthite broke him courtesy yet another backhand error by Ashutosh. The Indian had his share of chances and could have gone a break up in the previous game but squandered them with misplaced returns.

Ebelthite, ranked 234 in the world, more than 300 places above Ashutosh, was never really challenged by the home favourite as he wrapped the first set with ease before heavy rain preceded by a powerful duststrom halted the proceedings for more than two hours.

The Indian led 1-0 in the second set on his serve before rain played spoilsport.

Once the match restarted, Ebelthite seized control of the proceedings and broke the home favourite once before advancing to the quarterfinals. — PTI 

Ipoh (Malaysia), May 14
Buoyed by back-to-back wins over Canada and Belgium, a resurgent India will take on the unbeaten-as-yet arch-rival Pakistan in the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup Hockey tournament, here tomorrow.

The much-anticipated match is crucial for India as a win will boost its chances of a respectable finish in the event, while for Pakistan another victory would ensure a majestic passage to the final.

Pakistan, under the new coach Naveed Alam, have been in excellent form here, winning three while drawing against Argentina 3-3.

Their forward line looks formidable having scored 14 goals in just four matches, making it a phenomenal performance for a side that finished sixth here last year.

However, Indian coach Ajay Kumar Bansal is unperturbed by the Pakistanis' remarkable run and exuded confidence of an Indian win.

"We have to win tomorrow. If we have to go anywhere near a medal, this win is a must and my boys are aware of this," he said.

"I think we will be able to put it across Pakistan", he added.

Bansal felt with both Sandeep Singh and Diwakar Ram in good form, the Indians have a real chance of ending Pakistan's unbeaten run.

"There is no reason why they cannot be successful tomorrow also?" he said. Pakistan coach Alam is, however, cautious in his appraisal.

"We will look at the contest beyond the results. Our aim is to showcase the game for which we both nations are known for," he said. The Indian coach, meanwhile, is busy finding the chinks in Pakistan's armoury. — PTI