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Elements, Vettori thwart KXIP RP Singh scalps 4 as Chargers sail through |
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Dhoni keen to make amends
Port Elizabeth, April 19 Maintaining the momentum would be Bangalore Royal Challengers' aim while Chennai Super Kings would seek to shrug off the hangover of their first match defeat when the teams cross sword in the second Indian Premier League cricket tournament here tomorrow.
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Elements, Vettori thwart KXIP
Newlands, Cape Town, April 19 Daredevils’ experienced opening pair of Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir, knowing exactly what was required of them, made light of their assignment. The former typically went ballistic with an array of three sixes, including a short arm scoop to midwicket and a flourish to long on to complete the job. “After seven overs we had a good momentum going,” KXIP captain Yuvraj stressed. Then he drove home: “Duckworth & Lewis is handy for the team batting second.” But he remained optimistic. “We take some positives out of the game,” he claimed. “I am sure we’ll go all the way,” he reiterated. First, the match was reduced from Twenty20 to 12-overs-a-side. Thereafter, as Duckworth & Lewis intervened, Sehwag and Gambhir were left to perform an elementary task of scoring 31 runs off 25 balls. From a strictly cricketing standpoint, it might have been fairer if neither side had been awarded full points so artificially; and these were shared. But where television and sponsorship revenues dictate terms, the purity of the game suffers. To start with, it was a distinct disadvantage to bat first on a seaming pitch and to be in relatively uncharted territory of 12 over innings. But KXIP rode the storm with openers Karan Goel and Ravi Bopara blazing to 67 in 5.5 overs. The duo made it look easy as the Daredevil bowlers, unable to grip a wet ball, strayed in line. The chunkily built Goel swung at deliveries Yuvraj style, carting one of his three sixes into railway tracks next to this suburban ground. He raced to 38 off just 21 balls before mistiming against an otherwise erratic Yo Mahesh. England’s Bopara, recruited this year for $ 450,000 by the Chandigarh side, rivalled the pyrotechnics with two “DLF maximums” (as sixes are being commercially called) of his own to the midwicket region. The compulsory “time out” after 10 overs probably affected his concentration. But full marks to Daniel Vettori for deceiving him with an armer. Yuvraj raised hopes with two sixes off consecutive deliveries, but was run out attempting a high risk single. KXIP slid to 104 for seven, when 10-12 runs an over was a minimum requirement under the circumstances. For the third consecutive match a spinner’s influence proved to be decisive. Just as much as Harbhajan Singh, Shane Warne and Anil Kumble had transformed matches on Saturday, Vettori did so now. He added Sri Lankans Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene to his scalps to finish with three for 15 in three overs. Not surprisingly, he became the recipient of the Man of the Match award. Scoreboard Bopara lbw b Vettori 22 Goel c Vettori b Mahesh 38 Yuvraj run out 16 Sangakkara c Nannes b Vettori 8 Jayawardene c Dilshan b Vettori 6 I Pathan c Dilshan b Salvi 6 Chawla run out 0 Kohli not out 0 Extras (lb 4, w 4): 8 Total (7 wickets; 12 overs): 104 Fall of
wickets: 1-67, 2-67, 3-77, 4-98, 5-98, 6-98, 7-104 Bowling: D Nannes 3-0-24-0, A Salvi 2-0-17-1, P Sangwan 2-0-19-0, Y Mahesh 2-0-25-1, D Vettori 3-0-15-3. Delhi Daredevils: Gambhir not out 15 Sehwag not out 38 Extras
(b 1, lb 1, w 3): 5 Total (0 wickets; 4.5 overs): 58 Bowling: I Pathan 1-0-9-0, Y Abdulla 1-0-19-0, V Malik 1-0-11-0, VRV Singh 1-0-5-0, P Chawla 0.5-0-12-0. |
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RP Singh scalps 4 as Chargers sail through Newlands, Cape Town, April 19 The two were un-separated, realising 69 runs for the third wicket. Gibbs slog swept Chris Gayle for six. Sharma went one better by despatching Ajit Agarkar over long on and Murali Kartik over long off. In the opening semester of the Indian Premier League, they were dubbed as favourites, but ended up holding the wooden spoon. This time, Deccan Chargers, admittedly at an advantage after winning the toss, are off to a winning start. Last year, Brendon McCullum, now captain, set the tone with a 158 run blitzkrieg in KKR’s first game. This time, at the same juncture, he departed for one. Cricket is a great leveller. The New Zealander’s exit was followed by Saurav Ganguly’s as the latter chased a wide ball from R. P. Singh to snick to slip. Chris Gayle flattered to deceive. He cut and pulled RP for four and six off successive deliveries, but holed out in attempting an encore. Thereafter, hopes rested on Brad Hodge. He moved swiftly and skilfully to 31 off 34 balls before a brilliant Gibbs catch at point cut short his ambitions. Rohit matched the athletic Gibbs in the field. His catch at short extra cover was no less exhilarating; and he followed this with an incredible run out of his Mumbai teammate Ajit Agarkar, who had just hit a six. The rest of the KKR batting just disintegrated in conditions not suitable for willow-works following the persistent dampness of the weekend. RP, out of the India team for a while, looked fit and determined; and bent his back. Not surprisingly, he recorded figures of four for 22. It would be fair to say, though, that RP benefitted from the fast and furious Fidel Edwards softening up batsmen at the other end. This West Indian quick did not capture a wicket, but conceded only six runs from his four overs, thus keeping the batters very much under check. But for the fourth match in a row in the first weekend of the second IPL season, a spinner played a defining role, in this case Pragyan Ojha. His turn and bounce caused concern. His analysis of two for 14 provided an accurate reflection of his performance. Scoreboard McCullum c Gilchrist b R P Singh 1 Gayle c Harmeet b R P Singh 10 Ganguly c Laxman b Harmeet 1 Hodge c Gibbs b Styris 31 Chopra st Gilchrist b Ojha 11 Shukla st Gilchrist b Ojha 8 Henriques c Sharma b Styris 6 Agarkar run out 7 Kartik not out 10 Ishant b R P Singh 9 Dinda b R P Singh 2 Extras (lb 4, w 1): 5 Total (all out; 19.4 overs): 101 FoW: 1-1, 2-12, 3-16, 4-34, 5-48, 6-72, 7-73, 8-81, 9-99 Bowling: F Edwards 4-1-6-0, RP Singh 3.4-0-22-4, Harmeet Singh 4-0-23-1, PP Ojha 4-0-14-2, S Styris 4-0-32-2. Deccan Chargers:
Gilchrist c Henriques b Dinda 13 Gibbs not out 43 Laxman run out 10 Rohit not out 36 Extras (b 1, w 1): 2 Total (2 wickets; 13.1
overs): 104 FoW: 1-24, 2-35 Bowling: AB Dinda 3-0-24-1, Ishant Sharma 3-0-13-0, M Kartik 4-0-23-0, S Ganguly 1-0-8-0, A Agarkar 1-0-17-0, C Gayle 1-0-14-0, M Henriques 0.1-0-4-0. |
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Dhoni keen to make amends
Port Elizabeth, April 19 Under their new captain Kevin Pietersen, the Bangalore outfit made a statement of sort yesterday when they humbled defending champions Rajasthan Royals by a whopping 75 runs, announcing they are ready to shed the laggard's tag they earned last year. Interestingly, Pietersen owes the morale-boosting win largely to the person he replaced at the top and Rahul Dravid stood testimony to the fact that a player need not be ugly and go bang-bang all along to succeed in the Twenty20 format. Dravid's cultured 66 was the cornerstone of the Bangalore innings against Rajasthan Royals while Pietersen contributed his mite as well. But from the team point of view, Jesse Ryder, Robin Uthappa and Ross Taylor failed to make early impressions and Pietersen would hope that the trio would come all guns blazing tomorrow. Fortunately, there seems no such worry in the bowling department where Anil Kumble, like Dravid, proved that Twenty20 is not necessarily a youngster's game and experience has no alternative. Praveen Kumar and Dale Steyn did an excellent job in the pace department while Jesse Ryder's military medium pace also proved effective. In contrast, the mood is somewhat sombre in the Chennai Super Kings camp after Mahendra Singh Dhoni's men went down to Mumbai Indians in the tournament opener. Apart from Matthew Hayden and Dhoni, none of the batsmen could really do any justice to their reputation and Andrew Flintoff was largely ineffective either with the ball or with
the bat. Flintoff did get the start but could not convert it, while Jacob Oram let the side down. Even the Indian youngsters - Parthiv Patel, Suresh Raina and S Badrinath - came a cropper and Dhoni can only hope that they would not repeat their mistake tomorrow.. —
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Vettel takes Red Bull’s first win Shanghai, April 19 The 21-year-old claimed the second victory of his career, with Australian Webber celebrating his own best result to date, in a Red Bull one-two on a track that resembled a skidpan for much of the race. "Getting the top two for Red Bull is incredible, I'm extremely happy," said Vettel, who took nearly two hours to complete the 56 laps. "It was extremely challenging, there was a lot of aquaplaning ... really hard to keep the car on the track, sometimes it was like there was a river running down the track." Webber, whose previous best result was third, said the race had been "right on the edge in terms of safety". Briton Jenson Button, who won in Australia and Malaysia, finished third to extend his championship lead to six points over Brawn GP team mate Rubens Barrichello, who was fourth. "It's a great result for me," said Button, who now has 21 points. — Reuters McLaren's Heikki Kovalainen was fifth to get his season going at last after failing to finish a lap in the previous two races, while world champion team mate Lewis Hamilton finished sixth after a late spin robbed him of a better result. "I made a few too many mistakes today," said Hamilton, who has four points. "This afternoon was a real struggle but I'm glad I got some points for the team." German Timo Glock was seventh for Toyota, who slipped to third in the constructors' standings behind Red Bull, and Toro Rosso's Swiss rookie Sebastien Buemi was eighth. There was heartache for Force India, still without a point since their debut last year, who had Adrian Sutil in sixth place until the German crashed out six laps from the finish. Brawn have 36 points to Red Bull's 19.5 and Toyota's 18.5. Ferrari's misery continued with the champions failing to score for the third race in a row. Brazilian Felipe Massa's car ground to a halt with an electrical problem when he was running third during the second safety car period while 2007 world champion Kimi Raikkonen finished 10th. Ferrari, who remained bottom of the constructors' standings, are now suffering their worst start to a season since 1981 when their cars retired from the first three races. They will be looking for a vast improvement in Bahrain next weekend, where at least wet weather should not be a problem. "I'm very disappointed and a bit upset but my motivation is still intact," said Massa. "All of us must work together to get out of this situation. The team is united and there is real will to turn things around as soon as possible." The heavy rain meant the first eight laps were run behind the safety car, which returned on lap 20 after one of the string of collisions and crashes left debris strewn over the track. Vettel, who became Formula One's youngest winner for Red Bull's sister team Toro Rosso in the wet at last year's Italian Grand Prix, had his share of good fortune and escaped unscathed when Buemi shunted into the back of his car on lap 19. "I'm really sorry for Sebastien," said Vettel. "I was extremely lucky to continue." He emerged from the pits in third place with 19 laps to go and only had to wait for Webber and Button to make their final stops to retake the lead. But with Button struggling with his tyres, Vettel went ahead and steered his car through the rain and spray to victory. - Reuters
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Was it a fair contest or a farce? The harsh reality is King’s XI Punjab - in the first outing in the second edition of the Indian Premier League - were defeated as much by the elements as by Delhi Daredevils, who won by 10 wickets under Duckworth & Lewis calculations.
Hershelle Gibbs was in cracking form in the just concluded one-day international series against Australia. This momentum was maintained as he blasted 43 runs off 26 balls to navigate Deccan Chargers to a comfortable 8-wicket win over Kolkata Knight Riders. The classy Rohit Sharma was unbeaten on a 32-ball 36.
Maintaining the momentum would be Bangalore Royal Challengers' aim while Chennai Super Kings would seek to shrug off the hangover of their first match defeat when the teams cross sword in the second Indian Premier League cricket tournament here tomorrow.
