Kings XI go Daredevils way
Super Kings complete hat-trick of wins over Punjab
Set up title clash with Rajasthan Royals today 
Mumbai, May 31
Chennai Super Kings drubbed Kings XI Punjab by nine wickets in a lop-sided contest here tonight to storm into tomorrow's final against table toppers Rajasthan Royals.

Mumbai, May 31
Chennai Super Kings drubbed Kings XI Punjab by nine wickets in a lop-sided contest here tonight to storm into tomorrow's final against table toppers Rajasthan Royals.

After restricting the Punjab side to a meagre 112 for eight, the Chennai side romped home riding on a second wicket stand of 102 runs between opener Parthiv Patel (51 off 48 balls) and Suresh Raina (55 off 34 balls) at the Wankhede Stadium.

This is Dhoni-led team’s third win over Kings XI in the IPL. Chennai had first defeated Yuvraj-led team when Michael Hussey scored a century in Mohali and again when L Balaji took five-wicket haul in Chennai.

The best chance for Kings XI, after putting up a pathetic batting display on winning the toss, was to strike a few early blows.

They managed to dismiss opener S Vidyut cheaply for six to reduce Chennai to 14 for one, but then the left-handed combination of Patel and the more aggressive Raina took control of the proceedings.

They made runs at a comfortable pace and raced past the finish line in 14.5 overs to complete a thumping victory.

Tomorrow's summit clash for the top prize of $ 1.2 million between Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals, who had beaten Delhi Daredevils in an equally comprehensive fashion by 105 runs in the first semifinal last night, would be held at the D Y Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai.

Vidyut mistimed a pull off Irfan Pathan and put up a dolly catch to short mid wicket to bring in Raina, included in the Indian ODI team for next month's Bangladesh tri-series and the subsequent Asia Cup.

The UP batsman carried on his good showing in their last league tie with some attacking shots in the company of only a slightly more sedate Patel, who hit eight fours, and the duo carried on merrily towards the victory target.

Raina smote four sixes on the way to his half century, one of them off James Hopes which went over the roof of stadium, besides striking four fours to completely dominate the rival bowling attack.

Earlier, Chennai pace attack ripped apart the strong Punjab top-order batting. Everything went wrong for Kings XI Punjab after captain Yuvraj Singh opted to bat first on winning the toss.

Half their side was back in the dug-out with only 40 on the board on a seaming track. Poor batting coupled with some good seam bowling undid the Punjab side.

Makhaya Ntini and Manpreet Singh Gony rocked the high-flying Kings XI Punjab side with a double strike each which reduced Yuvraj Singh-led team to a pathetic 34 for four in the sixth over.

Ntini started the domination of the ball over the bat when he had James Hopes caught behind chasing an outswinger for two in the second over.

Then Gony dismissed Kumar Sangakkara in similar fashion, caught by wicket keeper Parthiv Patel to leave Punjab at a shaky 2 for 11.

Things became grimmer when Kings XI Punjab captain Yuvraj Singh pulled Gony, who bowled an excellent four-over spell for figures of 2 for 14, straight to Muttiah Muralitharan at wide mid-on to leave them gasping at 28 for three.

But the biggest blow was when South African pacer Ntini dismissed Punjab batting mainstay Marsh in his third over.

The opener attempted to pull a ball from wide of his stumps but only managed to get an under-edge that crashed on to the stumps to the absolute delight of the Chennai Super Kings players.

Scoreboard

Kings XI Punjab:

Marsh b Ntini 23

Hopes c Patel b Ntini 2

Sangakkara c Patel b Gony 3

Yuvraj c Muralitharan b Gony 4

Jayawardene c Patel b Morkel 8

I Pathan run out 3

Mota c Raina b Morkel 25

Chawla b Muralitharan 12

Powar not out 28

Sreesanth not out 0

Extras (b 2, w 2): 4

Total (8 wickets; 20 overs): 112

Fall of wickets: 1-8, 2-11, 3-28, 4-34, 5-40, 6-45, 7-63, 8-98

Bowling: M Muralitharan 4-0-19-1, M Ntini 4-0-23-2, M Gony 4-1-14-2, J Morkel 4-0-27-2, L Balaji 4-0-27-0

Chennai Super Kings:

P Patel not out 51

Vidyut c Mota b Pathan 6

Raina not out 55

Extras (w 4): 4

Total (1 wicket; 14.5 overs): 116

Fall of wicket: 1-14

Bowling: I Pathan 4-0-24-1, S Sreesanth 1-0-7-0, R Powar 3-0-28-0, VRV Singh 2-0-14-0, J Hopes 2-0-20-0, P Chawla 2.5-0-23-0

Player of the match: M Ntini (Chennai Super Kings). — PTI

Mumbai, May 31
The Rajasthan Royals may have bulldozed the Delhi Daredevils in last night's lop-sided semifinal but victorious captain Shane Warne thunders his team can
play even better and that would be on display in the final of the Indian Premier League. Now that the side has booked its final berth, Warne does not care who he faces on Sunday.

"Some day your tactics come off. The players were up for it and you could tell that from our intensity on the field. It was still not our best game and I hope we have saved it for the final," Warne said after leading his side to a thumping 105-run win against Virender Sehwag's Daredevils.

"Whoever we play, we would play our best. We have been the best team in the tournament so far and I'm confident we would do well in the final," Warne said, almost in a veiled threat.

His opposite number Virender Sehwag, for the first time, admitted the brittle middle order could not live up to the expectation and the Daredevils paid the price for their over-reliance on the top three.

"The middle order has let me down. They have not clicked in the past few matches and it's not easy for the top three batsmen to go out and perform in every game," he rued.

"The match was never in our hands. After the first three overs, (Swapnil) Asnodkar and (Graeme) Smith took the game away from us. Perhaps if we had batted well, we could have consoled ourselves that at least we tried. But we did not even do that," he said.

Warne thoroughly enjoyed the backing of the crowd at the Wankhede Stadium and the showman took a bow at them after the match.

"I'm very happy with the crowd. Mumbai understands its cricket and reminded me of New South Wales or Sydney. They were right behind us in this match. There is perhaps a rivalry between Mumbai and Delhi, which helped us tonight."

Warne also showered praise on compatriot and Man of the Match Shane Watson who was instrumental behind Rajasthan's win with his sterling all-round display.

"Throughout the series he has been superb. He lost a bit of the edge in the last few games but again he was absolutely fantastic and showed his class. He's a fantastic all-round cricket and good enough to be in the Australian team.

"Watson stays injury-free which is good and he can easily be one of the leading all-rounders if he gets his head right. I see a long Australian career for him,"
Warne said.

The coach-cum-captain of the side also thanked his foe-turned-friend Graeme Smith for braving the hamstring pull and chipping in.

"It was great that he put the team ahead of himself. He stood and kept slogging and got runs for the team which I think was incredible.

"Lot has been said about him and me when we played against each other in the national teams but I have been lucky to have him here as a friend and he has been brilliant in the team," he said.

Warne said in case the fresh injury kept Smith out of the final, he already had replacement in mind.

"It has been fantastic to have him in the team and it would be a big loss for us if he is not in the final. Someone like Younis Khan or Kamran Akmal could replace him in the final if he cannot play."

On the Indian players in the Rajasthan side, Warne lavished praise on Siddharth Trivedi and Niraj Patel and said the duo was good enough to represent India.

He patted Ravindra Jadeja, Yusuf Pathan and Swapnil Asnodkar as well and said, "I just heard that Pathan got picked in the Indian ODI squad. I'm proud that I managed to get the best out of him in the tournament so far."

Asked if would like to coach the Indian team at some point of time, Warne said, in a lighter vein, "Perhaps not the coach but as the team manager', before adding "There are many leggies like (Piyush) Chawla and (Amit) Mishra and others like Pathan and Jadeja. I may come back as spin bowling mentor."

The spin legend said the IPL was right up there in terms of best experience he had in his illustrious career.

"IPL is new and exciting and the BCCI must be praised for the concept. I think everyone has enjoyed it so far," he said. — PTI

Paris, May 31
Maria Sharapova led a trio of Russians into the last 16 of the French Open on Saturday while a relieved fifth seed David Ferrer was given an unnerving reminder of just how effective Lleyton Hewitt's grit can be.

Top seed Sharapova, so unconvincing in her first two matches this week, looked like she was in for another slog when it took her 81 minutes to clinch the first set on a tie-break against 32nd seed Karin Knapp.

But Italian Knapp could not emulate the giantkilling feats of compatriot Flavia Pennetta, conqueror of Venus Williams late on Friday, by collapsing 7-6 6-0 on Court Philippe Chatrier.

Dinara Safina, Sharapova's next opponent, stepped up to the plate to extinguish Asia's faint hopes of a champion with a 6-2 7-5 triumph over China Zheng Jie.

A third Russian, Svetlana Kuznetsova, the 2006 runner-up, bulldozed her way past Nadia Petrova, the 25th seed who looked a pale imitation of the player that twice reached the last four here.

Petrova, semi-finalist in 2003 and 2005 and a former world number three, opened the match with a double fault and it barely got any better for the 25-year-old, losing 6-2 6-1 in just 69 minutes.

The fourth seed now faces Belarus teenager Victoria Azarenka, who continued her quiet but no less devastating dash through the draw.

Azarenka, without a win in two previous visits to Roland Garros, has lost just six games in reaching the fourth round with a 6-1 6-1 win over Italy's 18th seed Francesca Schiavone.

Third seed Jelena Jankovic needed three games to complete victory in her third-round match against Slovakia's Dominika Cibulkova, halted in fading light on Friday night. Her 7-5 6-3 win means she now faces 14th-seeded Pole Agnieszka Radwanska.

Ferrer reached the last 16 for a second time after a bruising three hour 35 minute dogfight with former world number one Hewitt.

The tenacious Australian outslugged Ferrer for large parts of their encounter before finally succumbing 6-2 3-6 3-6 6-3 6-4 on Court Suzanne Lenglen.

Robby Ginepri was busy dispelling the notion that the chances of an American winner went with the exit of the Williams sisters on Friday.

Ginepri, the world number 88, became the first man from the U.S. to reach the last 16 since Andre Agassi in 2003 when he dispatched France's Florent Serra 6-4 6-4 6-4.

Chilean dasher Fernando Gonzalez, the 24th seed, came back from the brink to end the hopes of Rome finalist and Swiss ninth seed Stanislas Wawrinka 5-7 2-6 6-4 6-4 6-4. — Reuters

North Sound, Antigua, May 31
Ricky Ponting passed the 10,000 Test runs mark and Simon Katich scored unbeaten 113 for Australia who made 259 for three on the first day of the second Test.

In front of a woefully small crowd and on a deadly dull batting track at the Sir Vivian Richards Cricket Stadium yesterday, the tourists went about their business in steady and sensible fashion with Ponting making 65 and then Michael Clark confidently adding 38.

It was clear from the first few deliveries of the day from quickies Daren Powell and Fidel Edwards which barely reached the gloves of wicketkeeper Denesh Ramdin, that the West Indian attack was going to be in for a long hard day.

Katich, whose return to Test cricket in this series comes after nearly three years' absence, was badly in need of a score after his failure in both innings at Sabina Park last week.

The tourists lost opener Phil Jaques for 17. Then Ponting, who made 158 in the first innings of the first Test in Kingston, Jamaica last week, went to the crease needing 61 to reach the milestone.

Scoreboard

Australia (first innings):

Jaques lbw b Bravo 17

Katich not out 113

Ponting c Marshall b Taylor 65

M. Hussey c Chanderpaul b Sammy 10

M. Clarke not out 38

Extras (lb-4, w-5, nb-7): 16

Total (for three wickets, 82 overs): 259

Fall of wickets: 1-36 2-172 3-199

Bowling: Powell 17-3-54-0; Edwards 18-3-55-0 (nb1); Taylor 15-3-43-1 (nb4, 1w); Bravo 15-1-56-1 (nb2); Sammy 12-1-31-1; Sarwan 5-0-16-0. — Reuters