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India names its 15 for T20
Dhoni, Jakati help Super Kings take charge |
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Daredevils look to bounce back against KKR
Consolation win for Pak
Arsenal look for revenge
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India names its 15 for T20
Wicketkeeper-batsman Dinesh Karthik, who figured in India's squad that played the last Twenty20 in New Zealand in February end, has also been dropped from the squad which has no major surprises. Hard-hitting batsman Robin Uthappa has also been omitted. India, who won the inaugural edition of the championship in South Africa in 2007, will be led by Mahendra Singh Dhoni while Virender Sehwag has been named his deputy. Vengsarkar gives thumbs
up Former chief selector Dilip Vengsarkar today gave a thumbs up to the Indian squad selected for the Twenty20 World Championship and said the team stands a very good chance of retaining the title in England. Vengsarkar said the 15-member squad has quality all-rounders and they would come in handy in England’s seaming conditions. “More or less the same squad has been retained. With England hosting the World Cup, the role of all-rounders will be important as in English conditions the ball will do a bit and India has many good all-rounders like Irfan Pathan and I think India has a good chance to retain the Cup,” he averred. The squad includes five specialist batsmen, five specialist pacers, two spinners, two all-rounders and a wicket-keeper in Dhoni. The selectors had earlier announced a list of 30 probables for the event to be held in England from June 5-21 and today pruned it to the final 15. All participating teams have to submit the final squad by tomorrow as per the ICC rules. As expected, there are no major surprises in the squad which was picked up by the selection panel headed by former India captain Krishnamachari Srikkanth via teleconference. Among others who could not make it to the final 15 are Tamil Nadu opener M Vijay,Mumbai trio of Ajinkya Rahane, Dhawal Kulkarni and Abhishek Nayar, Tamil Nadu batsman S Badrinath, Delhi batsman Virat Kohli, Bengal duo of Manoj Tiwary and Wriddhiman Saha, Haryana leggie Amit Mishra, Tamil Nadu pacer L Balaji and Madhya Pradesh stumper Naman Ojha. Tamil Nadu off-spinner R Ashwin, who was named back-up for Harbhajan Singh, also failed to survive the pruning exercise. Youngsters Abhishek Raut, who plays for Rajasthan Royals, and Bangalore's Shrivats Goswami also could not make the cut despite their decent showing in the Indian Premier League. Joginder Sharma, who is remember for his last over in the inaugural edition of the Twenty20 World Cup, could not find a place in the 30-member list of probables, along with Piyush Chawla and S Sreesanth. Sreesanth is recovering from a back injury and has not played competitive cricket for the last few months. Sachin Tendulkar had opted out of the Twenty20 World Cup in 2007 and continued to remain away from the shortest format of the game despite his good form in recent time.
— PTI |
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Dhoni, Jakati help Super Kings take charge
A target of 179 runs in 20 overs under lights is daunting enough. More so in South African conditions, which are not as batsmen friendly as they are in India. In fact, Deccan Chargers, hitherto league leaders, came nowhere near fulfilling their assignment, surrendering tamely to Chennai Super Kings, who with nine points from seven games, moved to the top of the table. Chargers slipped to second place with eight points from seven matches. Notwithstanding a plethora of dropped catches, Super Kings won comfortably by 78 runs. Chargers suffered a disastrous start, three for three, which reflected the departures of their three big cannons, Adam Gilchrist, Herschelle Gibbs and VVS Laxman, the last mentioned returning to the XI to no avail. Gilchrist was out for a golden duck when Albie Morkel, going around the wicket, trapped him leg before while Gibbs was, thereafter, bowled by Sudeep Tyagi, while Laxmax flicked without control to midwicket. West Indian Dwayne Smith seemed oblivious of the carnage. He just freed his arms and, West Indian style, went bang bang! He battered the onside stands with a barrage of five sixes, producing a blistering 49 off 23 balls, before becoming the second of left-arm spinner Shadab Jakati’s four victims. It was the second time in succession that this Goan captured four wickets. It being a less utilised pitch, this lent itself to big hits, especially if the ball was struck with the breeze. At the same time, Chargers sorely missed the fire and brimstone of Fidel Edwards, who has winged away to England to release his skimmers at Lord’s for the West Indies against England on Wednesday. Mahendra Dhoni, Super Kings’ captain, had described his previous form in the tournament as “pathetic”. Now, he promoted himself to number three and made amends. He may not be elegant, but he’s mighty effective. His 37-ball 58, that, too, not out included a straight six off left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha. He replaced Mathew Hayden, still holder of the orange cap, at the crease. As usual, the brawn Australian had given Super Kings a flying start, hitting three sixes in his 26-ball 43. RP Singh - he slashed him over point; he shaped to lift medium pacer Smith over cover, but the ball finished at long on, where again the leather landed when he stepped out to Rohit Sharma’s off-break. He realised 61 runs in 6.5 overs with fellow opener Murali Vijay, who was predictably more orthodox, commencing with a classical cover drive for four; but not to be left behind, he, too, blasted an on-drive over midwicket. Undersized boundaries in the tournament have been one of the complaints of bowlers. This time, it was a little better. But when on song, Suresh Raina has been clearing the fence by tens of metres, as he again did, twice belting off-spinner T Suman over midwicket. The Dhoni-Raina association produced 54 runs for the 3rd wicket in a mere 5.5 overs, which maintained the gallop towards achieving the highest total of the tournament so
far. Raina’s contribution was a cavalier 32 off only 19 balls. Scoreboard Chennai Super Kings: Vijay c Gibbs b Suman 31 Hayden c Singh b Shoaib 43 Dhoni not out 58 Raina c Smith b Singh 32 Morkel not out 4 Extras (lb 5, w 5) 10 Total (3 wickets; 20 overs) 178 Fall of wickets: 1-61, 2-99, 3-153. Bowling: Harris 4-0-39-0, RP Singh 4-0-36-1, Smith 2-0-21-0, Rohit 1-0-8-0, Shoaib 2-0-14-1, Ojha 4-0-26-0, Suman 3-0-29-1. Deccan Chargers: Gilchrist lbw b Morkel 0 Gibbs b Tyagi 0 Laxman c Jakati b Morkel 0 Rohit c Badrinath b Jakati 21 Smith lbw b Jakati 49 Suman c Vijay b Muralitharan 17 Venugopal c Muralitharan b Jakati 2 Harris b Jakati 1 RP c Vijay b Muralitharan 2 Shoaib not out 1 Ojha c Jakati b Raina 0 Extras (b 1, lb 3, w 2, nb 1) 7 Total (all out; 14.4 overs) 100 Fall of wickets: 1-0, 2-1, 3-1, 4-73, 5-75, 6-82, 7-96, 8-99, 9-99. Bowling: Morkel 3-1-24-2, Tyagi 2-0-9-1, Balaji 1-0-18-0, Jakati 4-0-22-4,, Muralitharan 3-0-11-2, Raina 1.4-0-12-1.
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Daredevils look to bounce back against KKR
A defeat against Chennai Super Kings in their last match pushed Daredevils from the second place to the third spot in the league while Knight Riders are languishing at the bottom of the table after their fourth straight loss Sunday. Knight Riders have lost six of the eight matches they have played in the league and things are not going their way. If their batting has come good in one match, their bowling and fielding have let them down. Against Kings XI Punjab, Knight Riders, with some solid batting, put themselves in a position to win the match but four dropped catches cost them the match. "The pitch was on the slower side. It was a fine total. (Brad) Hodge batted brilliantly and his innings gave us a chance. We were accurate while bowling and had we fielded well it could have been different. The score was enough and defendable. Unfortunately, we put down some chances," said Knight Riders skipper McCullum.
— IANS |
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Consolation win for Pak
Abu Dhabi, May 4 The 27-year-old wicket-keeper batsman struck an unbeaten 116 in a record partnership of 198 for the fourth wicket with Misbah-ul-Haq (76 not out) to help his team chase a challenging 251-run target with three overs to spare. Watson’s 116 not-out was the cornerstone for Australia’s 250-4 in 50 overs. Despite the defeat, Australia took the five-match series 3-2 after winning the second match by six wickets, the third by 27 runs and fourth by eight wickets. Pakistan won the first match by four wickets. Akmal and Haq got together with Pakistan struggling at 56-3 after 16 overs. They opened up gradually and lifted the quality of batting, which had earlier been mainly to blame for Pakistan’s defeat in the last three matches. Akmal, who managed 19, eight and one in the last three games, drove and cut beautifully as he took full advantage of a pitch which offered little help to the bowlers. Akmal hit Clarke for his 13th boundary to reach his fifth ODI ton, each time he has done so, Pakistan have been the winning side.
— AFP Scoreboard Australia Watson not out 116 Haddin c Younus b Akhtar 36 North st Akmal b Ajmal 5 Clarke c Akmal b Gul 26 Symonds b Malik 15 Ferguson not out 41 Extras (lb-3, nb-1, w-7) 11 Total (for 4 wickets in 50 overs) 250 Fall of wickets: 1-58, 2-83, 3-140, 4-166. Bowling: Akhtar 7-1-43-1, Gul 8-0-44-1, Arafat 5-0-39-0, Ajmal 10-0-39-1, Afridi 10-0-36-0, Malik 10-0-46-1. Pakistan Shehzad lbw b Hauritz 19 Butt run out (Laughlin) 0 Younis c Hilfenhaus b Hauritz 27 Kamran Akmal not out 116 Misbah-ul-Haq not out 76 Extras (b 4, lb 2, w 7, nb 3) 16 Total (3 wickets; 47 overs) 254 Fall of wickets 1-2 , 2-46 , 3-56 Bowling: Bollinger 8 -0- 40-0 , Hilfenhaus8-1-43-0, Laughlin 7-0-48-0, Hauritz 10-0-44-2, Clarke 4-1-27-0, Hopes 8-0-32-0, Symonds 2-0-14-0. Player of the Match: Akmal
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London, May 4 Arsene Wenger’s side need to inflict United's first defeat in 25 Champions League matches as the defending champions arrive at the Emirates Stadium looking to protect a 1-0 advantage in the semifinal tie. The winners play Chelsea or Barcelona in the final in Rome on May 27 and United's cause will be boosted if defender Rio Ferdinand is fit after bruising ribs in Wednesday's match at Old Trafford. Ferdinand missed the 2-0 win at Middlesbrough on Saturday as United closed in on an 18th English league title but his return would further tighten United bid to become the first club to retain the European Cup in the Champions League era. Arsenal, meanwhile, who need to score at least twice to win, hope striker Robin van Persie will be fit to return following a groin strain which has sidelined him for four games. Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger, deprived of the cup-tied Andrei Arhsavin and injured striker Eduardo, will hope that striker Emmanuel Adebayor returns to his plundering best. “I am confident we can beat United by two clear goals because we are 90 minutes away from the final,” Wenger said. “These are special circumstances because if we go a goal ahead they will be under pressure, knowing that if they concede again they will be out.” Arsenal, who only have the Champions League trophy to aim at to avoid a fourth successive season without a trophy, rested eight players who started against United in a 3-0 win over Portsmouth — Reuters
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