 |
|
|
Bangalore end victory drought
Great to sign off with a win: KP
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Kings XI pip Mumbai Indians in thriller Mumbai Indians’ Jean-Paul Duminy (R) plays a shot as Kings XI Punjab’s wicketkeeper Kumar Sangakkara looks on during their IPL Twenty20 match at The Kingsmead Cricket Stadium in Durban on Wednesday. — AFP
BCCI ‘amnesty’ for ICL players
NZC differs on cooling period idea
Delhi look to foil Deccan charge
Age no criteria for T20: Sachin
|
|
Bangalore end victory drought
Durban, April 29 After restricting the Kolkata side to a modest 139 for six which largely revolved around Chris Gayle's knock of 40 and MN van Wyk's unbeaten 44, the RCB overhauled the target with just one ball to spare to record their second win in the tournament. In the battle of the laggards, the RCB have the last laugh and the narrow victory has given them a hope of riving their fortunes in the high profile event. The Bangalore openers Shreevats Goswami and South African all-rounder Jaques Kallis laid a strong foundation with a 69-run partnership off 67 balls. Goswami was in a punishing mode as the left-hander sent Ajit Agarkar out of the ground on two successive occasions in fourth over before hitting two boundaries off left-arm spinner Murali Karthik in the next over. Goswami, who adorned his 46-ball 43 with six boundaries, found good support from Kallis (23) as the duo showed a consummate ease in rotating strikes to the frustration of Kolkata skipper Brendon McCullum. Hodge tasted the first success for the Knight Riders as he broke the opening partnership by sending back Goswami in 12th over as his turning delivery kissed the willow before going to wicketkeeper MN van Wyk's custody. The proceedings took an interesting turn when Bangalore received three jolts within 38 runs with Hodge striking twice. Kallis fell prey to paceman Ishant Sharma, followed by two cheap dismissals of skipper Kevin Pietersen (13) and Virat Kohli (19). With 10 runs required from the last over off Chris Gayle, experienced Mark Boucher held his nerve to hit a boundary and then rotate strike with Manish Pandey (2 not out) before wrapping up the affair by sending the ball to the fence. Earlier, Bangalore skipper Pietersen decided to share the new ball with spinner RE van der Merwe and his vagary paid dividend as the Kolkata team suffered a huge blow when skipper Brandon McCullum departed with a golden duck in the very first delivery of the match. McCullum tried to start on an attacking note but his ambitious cut off Pietersen found Virat Kohli in backward point as the latter pouched a well-judged catch. Brad Hodge then joined opener Chris Gayle out on the middle before Anil Kumble struck in the sixth over, just when the duo were struggling to repair the innings. Scoreboard
Royal Challengers Bangalore:
|
|
Kings XI pip Mumbai Indians in thriller Durban, April 29 Chasing 120 for a win, Mumbai Indians managed 116 for seven, thanks to JP Duminy's 63-ball 59 which proved not enough in the end. Earlier, Kumar Sangakkara's unbeaten 45 saved Kings XI Punjab the blushes as the side fumbled and faltered its way to 119 for eight wickets. In reply, Mumbai Indians realised, much to their horror, that their boat was rocking dangerously early in the chase. For them, the first 19 balls yielded only 12 runs while costing them the wickets of Sanath Jayasuriya (0), Sachin Tendulkar (1) and Shikhar Dhawan (3). Irfan Pathan had Jayasuriya caught in the lone slip with his first legitimate delivery and in the next over, Vikramjeet Malik sent groans across the stadium when Mahela Jayawardene caught Tendulkar at point. Not to be left behind, in-form Yusuf Abdulla trapped Dhawan plumb in front with a toe-crusher and at 12 for three, things looked far from rosy for Mumbai. Dwayne Bravo (15) scratched around for a while before Ramesh Powar got rid of him. Earlier, barring Sangakkara, none of the Kings XI Punjab batsmen could make their presence felt. Sangakkara waged a grim battle with a 44-ball 45 on a day when only three of his teammates returned double digit scores. Yuvraj Singh's decision to bat first backfired and by the first strategy break, the Punjab side crawled to 50 in 10 overs with three top order batsmen, including the skipper himself, cooling their heels in the hut. Openers Karan Goel (12) and Ravi Bopara (6) just could not get going and the first three overs yielded only 10 runs. The subdued start would have pleased any rival captain but not Sachin Tendulkar who tossed the ball to Harbhajan Singh in the fourth over and the offie struck with his third delivery. Goel, having slog-swept the spinner for a six in the previous delivery, stepped out to court peril and return stumped after completely misreading the line. Dwayne Bravo followed in Harbhajan's footsteps and struck in his first over, removing Bopara. A lot was expected of Yuvraj (10) but the left-hander let down once again, leaving his team in dire straits. Tendulkar pressed Sanath Jayasuriya into service and the wily Sri Lankan responded by removing Mahela Jayawardene (7). To make it worse Irfan Pathan's (7) was a brief stay, cut short by Zaheer Khan, and Lasith Malinga then castled Wilkin Mota and Piyush Chawla off successive balls to dash hopes of Punjab's rearguard defiance. —
PTI Scoreboard Mumbai Indians:
|
|
|
Great to sign off with a win: KP
Royal Challengers Bangalore captain Kevin Pietersen, who played his last game of this IPL today, said it was a great feeling to sign off with a victory and hoped his side can carry forward the momentum in the remainder of the tournament.
Under Pietersen, Royal Challengers started their IPL campaign on a fairytale note, beating defending champions Rajasthan Royals in the inaugural match of the high-profile event. Thereafter, the Bangalore outfit lost four successive games only to return to winning ways today defeating Kolkata Knight Riders by five wickets. "Yeah I'm very happy. Came and won the first game, didn't go quite as planned in the middle but to go back now winning the last game feels great. Hopefully, the boys will carry forward from here and use the momentum for the rest of the tournament," said Pietersen, who will return home to join the national team for the Test series against the West Indies starting next week at Lord's. "But in this form of the game, still there is lot of work to do. We just need to play as well as we can," he added. — PTI |
|
BCCI ‘amnesty’ for ICL players
Mumbai, April 29 The Indian Cricket League players have been given time till May 31 to severe ties with the Subhash Chandra-owned League, which was launched in 2007 but was not recognised by the ICC or the BCCI. "The BCCI has decided to grant amnesty to all players, support staff and anyone else connected with ICL provided they cancel all their existing contracts with the ICL by May 31," BCCI President Shashank Manohar told a media conference here. "But they will not be considered for international cricket for one year though they can play domestic cricket," he said. The BCCI Chief said the Board took the decision after "a lot many players and support staff had approached us and admitted they had made a mistake and wanted to come back into the BCCI fold". The BCCI's surprise move has paved the way for active ex-internationals like Dinesh Mongia, Ambati Rayudu, Hemang Badani and Rohan Gavaskar, coaches such as Sandeep Patil, Balwinder Sandhu and others on administrative side of the ICL like ex-captain Kapil Dev and Kiran More to return to the official body. Manohar pointed out that the International Cricket Council had earlier this month rejected an ICL application to give it recognition, indirectly hinting this could be the reason for the players and others connected with ICL wishing to return to the official fold. "They have admitted they made a mistake and we have decided to give them a chance," the Nagpur-based lawyer said. But he also made it clear that as a measure of punishment for associating themselves with the rebel body those ex-players, whose monthly gratis was not remitted to them during their association with the ICL, would not be paid this amount even after they sever the ties. "They will not be compensated. They will have to face some punishment and will not get the unpaid amount," he said. The list of ex-players whose monthly gratis was stopped by the BCCI includes current ICL Executive Director Kapil Dev and the amount works to Rs 35,000 per month. — PTI
|
|
NZC differs on cooling period idea Wellington: New Zealand may not adhere to the one-year cooling period proposed by the Indian cricket board for ICL players, which could see banned Shane Bond and Daryl Tuffey return to the national fold as early as August for the Sri Lanka tour. The BCCI today lifted its ban on ICL players participation in domestic cricket but imposed a one-year cooling period before they could return to the national team provided they severe their ties with the rebel league by May 31. New Zealand Cricket chief executive Justin Vaughan hailed the BCCI's move and felt it might resolve the ICL issue. "This is a positive move," Vaughan told 'Cricinfo'. "Hopefully this will lead to the ICL issue being resolved pretty quickly. If there is a mass exodus of players from the ICL, then hopefully we will all be back to being able to field our best teams, and international cricket will return to normality." However, the NZC chief executive said they need not follow the one-year international hibernation, claiming that the International Cricket Council, this month, gave national bodies freedom to determine what sanctions they would like to impose on players returning from the ICL. — PTI
|
|
Delhi look to foil Deccan charge
Pretoria, April 29 Tagged as laggards last year, Chargers have started the second edition of IPL on a resounding note, winning all their matches so far - against Kolkata Knight Riders, Royal Challenger Bangalore, Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings - and are looking unstoppable. South African Herschelle Gibbs and skipper Adam Gilchrist have been in ominous form as the duo have just blown away all strategies of the opponent out of the window with their power-puffed batting, which catapulted the duo among the top five run-getter in the tournament so far. Rohit Sharma also has been in rampaging form and the only chink in their batting is out-of-form VVS Laxman and Gilchrist would hope that the former skipper will make himself counted in tomorrow's tie. Their bowling have been equally good with RP Singh leading the pack taking nine wickets, while spinner Pragyan Ojha has also made the opponents dance to his tune, bagging eight wickets to feature in the top three list of most wicket takers in the tournament. West Indian Fidel Edward has also done a good job with part-timers like Rohit Sharma and Venugopal Rao also chipping in nicely. Delhi Daredevils, on the other hand, are nursing their first defeat in the tournament after they were blown away by Yousuf Pathan, who blasted a 30-ball 62 to fashion a five-wicket win for Rajasthan Royals last night. Delhi had made a good start to their campaign with three successive wins against Kings XI Punjab, Chennai Super Kings and Royal Challengers in their first three matches. — PTI
|
|
Age no criteria for T20: Sachin
Durban, April 29 "I don't know who says that it's a young man's game. Clearly, he doesn't know much about cricket. It's a cricketers' game so it really doesn't matter whether you are young or old. It is a cricketer's match," Tendulkar told the Indian Premier League's official website. The 36-year-old skipper of the Mumbai Indians team has been in sparkling form in the IPL having scored 163 runs at an average of over 80 in three matches. He is currently fourth on the leading IPL-II scorers' list. — PTI
|
| 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 | |
Durban, April 29
Durban, April 29
Durban, April 29
