 |
|
|
Flintoff, Pietersen most expensive
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Daredevils net Shah, C’wood
Aussies beaten again
India pushes Aussies to 3rd place
South on mat in reply to West’s 459
Dutch thump Kiwis, book place in final
|
|
Flintoff, Pietersen most expensive
Panaji, February 6 In an auction telecast live by most channels, it was Pietersen and Flintoff - both former England captains - who were expectedly the most sought after exceeding their base prices by huge margins. The hard-hitting Pietersen was bought by Bangalore Royal Challengers while Flintoff went to Chennai Super Kings at the auction, which had its share of glamour with Bollywood stars Preity Zinta, Shilpa Shetty and Juhi Chawla in attendance. Bangalore Royal Challengers spent most of their total amount of $ 1.95 million on the highly talented Pietersen who had a base price of $ 1.35 million. Flintoff, another former England captain, expectedly got a good bidding and will now feature in the same team as Dhoni who is the captain of Chennai Super Kings. Flintoff and Pietersen, like all other English players, will be available for just 21 days for the second edition of the high-profile Twenty20 league although their contracts are for two years. Upcoming South African batsman Jean Paul Duminy ($ 950,00), Bangladesh paceman Mashrafe Mortaza ($ 600,00), unheralded South African all-rounder Tyron Henderson ($ 650,000) triggered surprise bidding wars among the eight franchisees. The likes of Duminy and Mortaza made a killing at the auction far exceeding their base prices. In contrast, the Australians, struggling to hold on to their cricketing supremacy for the past few months, were a big flop with several of their players like pacer Stuart Clark, wicketkeeper Brad Haddin and another fast bowler Ashley Noffke failing to attract any bids. Among other players first to be auctioned, Australia's Shuan Tait was purchased by title holders of the inaugural edition Rajasthan Royals for $ 375,000 while upcoming South African batsman Jean Paul Duminy went to Mumbai Indians for $ 950,000. The biggest surprise was bidding war over Bangladesh Mortaza, who despite a very modest base price of $ 50,000, was picked up for $ 600,000 by Kolkata Knight Riders. The pacer was also sought by Kings XI Punjab which was engaged in the bidding war for almost half an hour. Among the bargain buys, West Indian paceman Fidel Edwards was went for his base price of $ 150,000 to Deccan Chargers. England's Owais Shah and Paul Collingwood were bought by Delhi Daredevils for $ 275,000 each. At the end of the auction, IPL Commissioner Lalit Modi told reporters that the price paid for Mortaza was a big surprise but he was very happy for the Bangladesh player. "The auction is over. Unspent money by the franchises at the auction becomes zero now. Some teams still have slots for replacements, Kolkata, Bangalore, Rajasthan Royals and Deccan Chargers. "They will have to purchase from the lot of 115 players in the list minus the 17 who have been bought. If two teams are interested in the same player they will have to negotiate," Modi said.
— PTI |
|
The following are the details of 17 players bought at the IPL auction. Pool A: Shaun Tait (Australia) to Rajasthan Royals - $375,000 (Base Price $250,000); JP Duminy (South Africa) to Mumbai Indians - $950,000 (Base Price $300,000); Andrew Flintoff (England) to Chennai Super Kings - $1.55 million (Base Price $950,000); Kevin Pietersen (England) to Bangalore Royal Challengers - $1.55 million (Base Price $1.35 million). Pool B: Fidel Edwards (West Indies) to Deccan Chargers - $150,000 (Base Price $150,000); Owais Shah (England) to Delhi Daredevils - $275,000 (Base Price $150,000); Paul Collingwood (England) to Delhi Daredevils -$275,000 (Base Price $250,000). Pool C: Tyron Henderson (South Africa) to Rajasthan Royals - $650,000 (Base Price $100,000); Ravi Bopara (England) to Kings XI Punjab - $450,000 (Base Price $150,000); Thilan Thushara (Sri Lanka) to Chennai Super Kings $140,000 (Base Price $125,000); Jesse Ryder (New Zealand) to Bangalore Royal Challengers - $160,000 (Base Price $100,000); Kyle Mills (New Zealand) to Mumbai Indians - $150,000 (Base Price $150,000). Pool D: Dwayne Smith (West Indies) to Deccan Chargers - $100,000 (Base Price $100,000); Jerome Taylor (West Indies) to King XI Punjab Punjab - $150,000 (Base Price $150,000). Pool E (All players unsold): Tamim Iqbal (Bangladesh), Jon Moss (Australia), Bryce McGain (Australia), James Franklin (New Zealand), Aiden Blizzard, Ramnaresh Sarwan (West Indies), Michael Klinger (Australia), Kaushalya Weeraratne (Sri Lanka), Prasanna Jayawardene (Sri Lanka) and Dominic Thornley (Australia) were unsold. Pool F: Mashrafe Mortaza (Bangladesh) to Kolkata Knight Riders $600,000 (Base Price $50,000); George Bailey (Australia) to Chennai Super Kings $50,000 (Base Price $50,000). UNSOLD: Samit Patel (England), Shakib-al-Hassan (Bangladesh), Morne Van Wyk (South Africa), Stephen Smith (Australia), Ashley Noffke (Australia), Gulam Bodi, Mohammed Ashraful (Bangladesh) and Darren Powell (West Indies), Ashwell Prince (South Africa), Phil Jaques (Australia), Andre Nel (South Africa), Luke Wright (Australia) and Nuwan Kulasekara (Sri Lanka) were unsold. Yusuf Abdulla (South Africa), Daniel Harris (Australia), Kemar Roach (West Indies), Aaron Bird (Australia), Michael Dighton (Australia), Michael Hill (Australia) and Brett Geeves (Australia) were unsold. Stuart Clark (Australia), Brad Haddin (Australia) and Chamara Kapugedara (Sri Lanka) were unsold.
|
|
Daredevils net Shah, C’wood
New Delhi, February 6 Owais Shah is a hard-hitting batsman who can score at a very fast pace. He hit his maiden ODI century against India - 107 in 95 balls - at the Oval in September 2007. He also made his Test debut against India in Mumbai in March, 2006. Paul Collingwood is a regular in the English team in both Tests and ODIs. An all-rounder, Collingwood is a consistent middle-order batsman. Earlier, Daredevils had taken in the Australian trio of David Warner, Andrew McDonald and Dirk Nannes as uncapped players. Warner went on to represent Australia in ODI and Twenty20 soon after that and McDonald was selected in the Australian Test team against South Africa. “We are very excited about our picks this season. Owais Shah, who is an exciting batsman and all-rounder Paul Collingwood give us the desired firepower in batting and enough bowling depth for the entire season. We have built the team keeping in mind the players’ availability. “The two picks today were very much part of the plan and I am glad to say we have achieved that goal,” said T.A.Sekhar, former Test fast bowler and vice-president of Delhi franchise GMR Sports. The other five foreign players in the Daredevils' squad are Glen McGrath, Daniel Vettori, AB De Villiers, Dilshan Tillakarathe and Farveez Maharoof. In the domestic transfer, Daredevils swapped Ashish Nehra from Mumbai Indians with Shikhar Dhawan. The contract for Brett Geeves was brought out, Mohammed Asif at his request was released and Shoaib Malik's contract was terminated following non-availability of Pakistani players. In the inaugural edition of the IPL, Daredevils had reached the semifinals. “Led by Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir, the best opening pair in the world, we have a perfect balance in the team”, said chief executive officer of GMR Sports Amrit Mathur. |
|
Aussies beaten again
Melbourne, February 6 The loss in the second ODI here has also dislodged Australia from the second spot of the ICC’s ODI rankings with India replacing them behind South Africa. Chasing Australia’s modest total of 225, which was largely due to stand-in-captain Michael Clarke’s 98 and Mike Hussey’s 75, New Zealand played cautiously to achieve the target with seven balls to spare.
— UNI Scoreboard Australia: Warner c Vettori b Mills 2 Clarke b O'Brien 98 Haddin c McCullum b Southee 12 D xHussey run out 10 M Hussey c Vettori b O'Brien 75 C White not out 17 Ferguson not out 6 Extras (lb 2, w 3) 5 Total (for 5 wickets, 50 overs) 225 Fall of wickets: 1/4, 2/35, 3/63, 4/196, 5/206 Bowling: Mills 10-1-37-1, Southee 10-0-57-1, O'Brien 10-0-48-2, Vettori 10-0-35-0, J Patel 8-0-38-0, Elliott 2-0-8-0 New Zealand: McCullum c M Hussey b Hopes 43 Guptill c White b Bracken 8 Fulton c Haddin b Hopes 21 Ross Taylor c Haddin b Johnson 47 Elliott not out 61 Broom not out 26 Extras (lb 8, w 12) 20 Total (for 4 wickets, 48.5 overs) 226 Fall of wickets: 1/21, 2/62, 3/104, 4/176 Bowling: Bracken 9-1-34-1, Hilfenhaus 9.5-1-58-0, Johnson 10-0-43-1, Clarke 5-0-21-0, Hopes 10-1-30-2, White 3-0-18-0, D Hussey 2-0-14-0.
|
|
India pushes Aussies to 3rd place
Dubai, February 6 India, who have made steady upward progress after its winning streak of nine consecutive ODI triumphs, now have 122 rating points to be just three points behind top rankers South Africa. The Proteas recently climbed to the top of the table at Australia's expense.
— PTI |
|
South on mat in reply to West’s 459
Chennai, February 6 In reply to West’s 459, thanks largely to Ajinkya Rahane's 165, South top order, except captain Subramaniam Badrinath (54 batting), failed to deliver with former India captain Rahul Dravid (5) and Murli Vijay (10) out cheaply at the MA Chidambaram Stadium here. Right-arm spinner Ramesh Powar dismissed South opener Robin Uthappa for 32 while spin mate Rajesh Pawar scalped the wickets of Dravid and Vijay. M Suresh was run our for a duck after a mix up with Badrinath to pile on South's misery.
— PTI Scoreboard West Zone (1st innings): 459 South Zone (1st innings): Uthappa b Powar 32 Vijay c Patel b Pawar 10 Badrinath not out 54 Dravid c Jadhav b Pawar 5 Suresh run out 0 Karthik not out 5 Extras: 0 Total: (4 wickets in 38 overs) 106 Fall of wickets: 1-28, 2-71, 3-92, 4-94. Bowling: Kulkarni 9-3-23-0, Trivedi 10-1-22-0, Pawar 10-4-36-2, Powar 9-1-25-1.
|
|
Germany win 4-2, keep hopes alive
In their earlier games, the Germans, with some new faces in the tournament, looked a bit out of depth. Though solid in defence and man-to-man markings, they distinctly lacked the finesse to provide the finishing touches to well-coordinated moves. Today, in a do-or-die contest, they proved how dangerous they could be. The first half totally belonged to them. It was the time when they outdid the hosts in virtually every department of the game, who suddenly looked completely out of sorts. Indians lacked imagination in the first half. Neither their passing nor tackling was accurate. Their moves, if there were any, were nipped in the bud. It were, however, the Indians who scored the first goal. Tushar Khandekar provided finishing touches to a move via the right flank through a reverse flick as India surged to 1-0 lead. Germany took charge after that. They did not take long to restore parity when Jan Philipp Rabente sounded the board from a close range. Germany soon made it 2-1 when Lim Kevin was bang on target. With the Germans crowding the Indian goalpost, Kevin coolly shot home. In quest of a big win, the relentless Germans forced a penalty corner just before the end of the first half. Moritz Furste sounded the board as the visitors secured to 3-1 lead. Immediately after the breather, Oskar Deecke charged towards the Indian citadel in a virtual solo move and gave a timely pass to skipper Tobias Haunke, who was well on target as Germans almost made the victory secure by forging ahead by 4-1. Desperate to stage a comeback, Indians finally came into their own and threatened the rival goalpost repeatedly. In one such move, Rajpal approached the goalpost only to be foiled by the rival defenders. An alert Rajpal retrieved the ball again and passed it to Vikram PIllay, who entered the danger area to pass it on to Shivender, who failed to provide finishing touches. Germany had a golden opportunity to put it further beyond India. With only Indian goalkeeper to beat, Christopher Wesley hit straight to Bajlit, who he had no difficulty in clearing the ball. A counter-attack by the hosts saw India get their first penalty corner, which proved futile. Minutes after, India forced their second penalty corner. This time Sandeep was right on target (4-2). With time running out, India fabricated moves, but failed to convert. Prabhjot Singh and then Sunil V made solo runs towards the rival goalpost but lack of back-up support saw the moves fizzle out. With the rival goalkeeper Nicolas Jacobi effecting a couple of impressive saves, Germany emerged the convincing winners.
|
|
Dutch thump Kiwis, book place in final
The match started on a cautious note but soon the Dutch stamped their prolific play all over. There was relentless prodding into the 16-yard box and the Kiwi defence was left wide open when in the 24 th minute Rob Reckers thumped the ball from inside the box and beat a diving Pontifex. But there was no respite for the Kiwis as yet and Lucas Judge scored in the 31 st minute with a thumping shot off a penalty corner to extend the lead. The breather came in time for the Kiwis as they were savd further agony, albeit temporarily. The second half started with the Dutch playing a solo striker at times, defending deep, but passing around at will. In the 41 st minute Wouter Jolie scored for the Dutch to make it 3-0. The signs were hardly encouraging for New Zealand, but in the 63 rd minute, against the run of play, Nick Haig pulled one back. It seemed that the Kiwis would atleast go back with the consolation of having scored the last goal of the game, but in the last minute of normal time, Hertzberger scored for the Netherlands to make it 4-1. The Dutch marched into the final and it seemed they ate a Kiwi or two on the way! |
| HOME PAGE | |
Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir |
Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs |
Nation | Opinions | | Business | Sports | World | Letters | Chandigarh | Ludhiana | Delhi | | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail | |
Chandigarh, February 6
Chandigarh, February 6