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Kingdoms, Royalty at stake
Kallis keeps alive the Challenge
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Q2 target for drivers: Mallya
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Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s men now face a do-or-die match against an equally desperate Punjab, on a roll with two consecutive wins. Even without their run-machine Matthew Hayden, Chennai posted 188 against the Kolkata team but couldn’t defend the total, due to poor bowling. Skipper Dhoni would hope his team shrugs off the disappointment and comes out firing all cylinders tomorrow. For Chennai, orange cap winner Hayden has done the bulk of scoring and Dhoni would desperately want him back in the squad. — PTI Royals wary of Knights
The seven-wicket victory over Chennai Super Kings may have lifted some of the gloom in the Kolkata Knight Riders’ beleaguered camp but is not welcome news for Rajasthan Royals, who face the Brendon McCullum-led side in their must-win last league encounter, here tomorrow. The Shane Warne-led side have stuttered in this season’s Indian Premier League campaign and have rarely looked like the defending champions. Injuries and the absence of some of last year’s key players have affected Royals’ progress this season. They have won six of their 13 matches with an equal number of defeats against their name. With 13 points, they need victory against the Knight Riders to brighten their prospects of a semi-final berth, though, Rajasthan would still have to depend on other results. Knight Riders, who have long been out of a semi-final reckoning, would love to play spoilsport and finish their campaign on a high after a disastrous run that saw them lose eight successive matches. McCullum’s good form with the bat ought to be another piece of worrying news for Warne, who himself is struggling with a hamstring injury. Rajasthan will depend on Graeme Smith and Yusuf Pathan to put runs on the board. South Africa skipper Smith has had an inconsistent tournament so far and would be keen to set things right tomorrow. Yusuf is not a grafter. For him to deliver, the team needs to give him a platform from where he can launch his arsenal.
— PTI
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Kallis keeps alive the Challenge
With an unruffled Jacques Kallis (58 not out) steering them to shore, Royal Challengers Bangalore are still sniffing a semifinal place. They convincingly defeated league leaders Delhi Daredevils by seven wickets on Tuesday to climb to 5th place in the table (the top four will ultimately qualify) with 14 points. There are two other sides with as equal tally from as many matches (13) – Deccan Chargers and King’s XI Punjab – but both have superior run rates to Royal Challengers. The winners of the Chargers versus Challengers match on Thursday evening will almost certainly enter the knockout stage. Equally, if King’s XI prevail in their engagement with Chennai Super Kings on Wednesday, they will reach the last four. Super Kings could, of course, go through even if they lose, as long as their run rate remains better than Rajasthan Royals. Royal Challengers contained Daredevils to 134 for seven. Then, the run chase was rendered easy by a gale force intervention by Ross Taylor. He carted Aavishkar Salvi to the roof of one of the stands and then despatched Yogesh Nagar to the grassy banks – all sixes – before the latter had him swallowed at long on for 25. As the culmination of Royal Challengers’ allocation of overs approached, Kallis, to the utter delight of a boisterous, albeit only quarter full stadium, stepped on the gas. He blasted Daniel Vettori for a six and a four in a decisive 18th over, which cost 14. After 10 overs Royal Challengers were 54 for one, compared to Daredevils’ 63 for three. The target was modest enough for batsmen not venture into ugly shots. But orthodox Rahul Dravid (38 off 34) was caught and bowled by off-spinner Nagar to a ball that seemed stop on him. Virender Sehwag decided to bat first. But this didn’t make a significant difference as it was a warmer than usual evening; and there was little or no moisture on the pitch to assist bowlers in the second half. It was a must-win match for Royal Challengers; and they couldn’t have got off to a better start. In the very first over of Daredevils’ innings, Sehwag clipped Praveen Kumar straight into the hands of square leg. Two balls later, Mithun Manhas’ faint edged an attempted hook to a diving second slip. Both batsmen gone for duck, red-shirted Challenger fans were over the moon. Gautam Gambhir, if anything, is a street fighter. He stepped out in Kumar’s next over to hoist him for a massive six into the centenary block behind long on. Otherwise, with his usual nip and tuck method punctuated with drives through the covers he advanced to 27 off 19. But an uppish square cut at this juncture ended in the palms of point. Akhil Balachandra was expensive, as was Roelof van der Merwe. But the latter retaliated with an arm ball to capture the important wicket of Abraham de Villiers; following which, the ever reliable Anil Kumble (eventually two for 24) rattled the up-and-coming Australian all-rounder Andrew McDonald’s stumps. At 70 for five in the 12th over, Daredevils were almost back to square one. Next to depart was Yogesh Nagar caught off Kumble at deep extra cover after a run-a-ball 20; but the big blow was the exit of in-form Karthik (top scorer with 31 off 29). Even for him boundaries were difficult to come by. He enterprisingly attempted to scoop Kumar (three for 30), but Uthappa took a second well judged catch, this time running in from fine leg to long leg. In the last over, though, he slightly blotted his copy by dropping Vettori at square thirdman off Kumar. Daredevils, however, didn’t really cash in on this. Scoreboard Delhi Daredevils: Royal Challengers:
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Punjab football’s success tale
Chandigarh, May 19 JCT’s Pawan Kumar, the captain of the Punjab outfit, filled in as goalkeeper and striker. It is also worth notice that Punjab did not lose even a single game in the entire competition. In the preliminary round, (Cluster- III) matches, it went on to beat Orissa by 4-1 on May 1 and Manipur by 2-0 on May 3, to qualify for the quarterfinal league. In the quarterfinal league (Group-B) matches, it went on to beat Meghalaya by 3-2 on May 7, Kerala by a resounding 6-0 on May 9, and drew against Haryana 1-1 on May 11, and thus entered the semis as Group B winner. In the semifinal, it met another title contender in West Bengal and managed to scrape past them 1-0 on May 14. In the final, Punjab faced Mizoram, the title favourites, and many had assumed that this would be a lop-sided game, but Punjab fought tooth and nail in a fierce encounter and their persistence finally paid as they went on to beat Mizoram 3-2 in the final played on 16th May. The team’s resounding success and its ability to fight off competition to defend the title was aided by the fact that 14 players in the squad were from the JCT Academy. The academy’s reliable strikers Ajay Singh (9 goals), Vijay Kumar (5 goals) combined well with midfielders Maninder Singh (3 goals) and Gurpreet Singh (2 goals) to help bring the title home for Punjab.
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“Clearly we have some work to do in qualifying, but I would beg to differ about the lack of improvement in the race. Giancarlo set the eighth quickest time during the race in Spain, and was competitively racing with BMW, Renault and Williams,” Mallya said. “We might not yet be in a points scoring position but I am happy with the rate of progress we are making. We’ve always said top 10 for the first part of the year and then points if and when possible. This race I think, with the improvements we have and the confidence of our drivers around this circuit, we could very well get into Q2 - that should be the aim for now,” he added. Last year’s Monaco Grand Prix was a particularly memorable one for the Force India team with Fisichella celebrating his 200th race start and Sutil racing from the back of the grid to fourth position in the closing stages of the race. — PTI
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Durban, May 19
Durban, May 19
Chennai
are currently placed second with 15 points after notching up seven wins from 13
matches. Just one point behind them is Punjab. Chennai were on course for a semifinal spot but Kolkata spoiled their party last night with a seven-wicket victory.s
Monte Carlo, May 19
