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Super Kings march on, Kings limp out
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Big game hunting
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Manish to lead Haryana in athletics
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Super Kings march on, Kings limp out
King’s XI Punjab can only hope the losers of the Deccan Chargers versus Royal Challengers Bangalore game on Thursday finish with an inferior run rate to theirs, thereby opening the door to the semi-finals of IPL 2009. Set a moderate target of 117, they flaccidly lost to last year’s runners-up Chennai Super Kings by 24 runs in their concluding fixture in the league phase of the tournament. After a failure with the bat, disciplined bowling, zealous fielding and Mahendra Dhoni’s calm pulled the chestnuts out of the fire for Super Kings. The uneven pace and bounce of the pitch when King’s XI batted also played a part. Super Kings were playing for prestige after being guaranteed a place in the last four following Rajasthan Royals defeat to Kolkata Knight Riders earlier in the day. Now, both Chargers and Royal Challengers could qualify regardless of the outcome of their encounter. After an indifferent start to their campaign, a wobble in the middle, King’s XI Punjab had to win their last three engagements to qualify. They unfortunately failed at the final hurdle. The ball didn’t swing as much as in the afternoon match. The unpredictable wicket rendered it difficult for batsmen to time the ball; and the evening environment during KXIP’s response made the task tougher. The rare talent of Muttiah Muralitharan can still turn the ball on any track. He first bowled Simon Katich around his legs – this left-hander has a tendency to shuffe too much to the off side. Following this, the Sri Lankan found Luke Pomersbach’s outside edge to slip. Pomersbach was mounting a resistance when nipped in the bud. He was, in fact, middling it better than other KXIP batters, having once pulled Thilan Thushara to long leg for six. Worse was to follow. Yuvraj, having uncharacteristically scratched around, was bowled by one that kept low from Suresh Raina. Soon after, Kumar Sangakkara was caught and bowled by Ashwin, who finished with two for 13. Super Kings, despite missing Mathew Hayden due to injury, looked like doing justice to Dhoni winning the toss. Both Parthiv Patel and George Bailey exhibited crisp boundaries. The former also flicked a length ball off Irfan Pathan to midwicket for the first six of the innings. In the fifth over, a skimming throw from Yuvraj at long on beat Bailey at the bowler’s end. The 50 of Super Kings’ venture came up at a fair clip of 5.4 overs. But Ramesh Powar, introduced within the power play, bowled Patel as the left-hander played on. His 32 transpired to be the highest score for his side. Sreesanth unleashed a bouncer that got big on Subramaniam Badrinath – as they tend to on faster wickets as compared to Indian pitches – and the reflex hook simply dollied to midon. Before the over was out, Sreesanth yorked Dhoni with an absolute beauty. Like a footballer scoring a goal in a big match, the bowler went delirious with delight, running helter-skelter around the field. He later revealed he had never clean bowled Dhoni even at net practice. It was essential for Super Kings’ batting that Raina stepped up to the plate. He didn’t; and neither did Jacob Oram, who provided a steepler to be caught and bowled by Pathan - one of two wickets in an over from this left-armer. Previously, the gamble with Manpreet Gony also backfired. This rugged young man slog swept Piyush Chawla for six to midwicket; but was cleaned up by a quicker leg spinner in the same
over.
Scoreboard Kings XI: Player of the match: Muralitharan
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KKR K.O. Royals
A crucial, unbeaten 48 (off 46 balls, aided by two sixes) by Laxmi Shukla and an un-separated partnership between him and Ajit Agarkar (who also enjoyed figures of two for 15) knocked Rajasthan Royals out of IPL 2009. The defending champions were beaten by four wickets by wooden spoon holders Kolkata Knight Riders in a low scoring cliff-hanger with just three balls to spare. The defeat left Royals, who could only muster 101 for nine in their 20 overs, stationary on 13 points from their 14 games in the league stage; while Knight Riders with their second consolation win in a row finished with seven points. They have taken eight of their matches to the final over, but lost six of them. Brendon McCullum inserted Royals and benefitted from good carry off the pitch, not to mention movement for swing bowlers. So, why the captain tossed the new ball to Brad Hodge was inexplicable. The opening over, as if nemesis was at work, went for 22, as Naman Ojha feasted on three sixes off the Australian’s rather friendly offerings. Between that and the rest of Royals’ innings there was an amazing contrast. Indeed, a tragedy of errors - three avoidable run outs - contributing to a calamity. Swapnil Asnodkar and Yusuf Pathan were dismissed as they hazardously strayed out of the crease. The other removal was as a result of a fine piece of fielding by David Hussey at midwicket, who broke the stumps to non-striker Tyron Henderson’s exasperation. But the man who attracted the most compliments was Charl Langeveldt. Making his delayed debut in the IPL, he not only captured a wicket with his very first ball - Rob Quiney (surprisingly preferred ahead of Graeme Smith) top edging to the wicket keeper - but collected two more (including Ojha’s scalp, caught behind). Besides, he was highly economical with a return of three for 15. The South African, familiar with local conditions, varied his deliveries between good length and the odd bouncer. His pace was also deceptive. Why he was sitting on the bench for 13 games is a mystery. Royals’ were discomfited by the short ball from the quicker bowlers. Their lower order couldn’t cope against Shukla and Agarkar’s accurate, in-swinging yorkers, either. Earlier, Ashok Dinda worked up impressive pace, touching 140 kph and yet not leaking runs. Even the less experienced Saurav Sarkar bowled adequately, including uprooting Ravindra Jadeja’s leg-stump as the left-hander moved back to give himself room. In reply, though, Knight Riders started disastrously. Two short balls from Munaf Patel in the first over were pulled and cut by McCullum for fours. But Saurav Ganguly departed for a duck in the same over, cutting to square thirdman. Off the first ball of the next over, McCullum was lbw. It was nine for two. Hodge, attempting a cheeky single, was run out by the wicket-keeper; while Hussey pulled Johan Botha into midwicket’s lap. 30 for five; and Knight Riders were veritably staring down the barrel. Yet, Shukla’s body language as he walked to the crease and took guard exuded confidence. Indeed, he fairly shocked Botha with a pick up from outside off stump to fine leg to open his account. Shane Warne tried to apply psychological pressure, keeping him waiting at times. Shukla responded by pulling this wily leg-spinner for a six to midwicket against the tide. Knight Riders and especially Shukla had held their nerves. Scoreboard Kolkata Knight Riders: Player of the Match: L Shukla
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Sydney, May 20 Symonds, playing IPL-II in South Africa, had played in the one-day series against Pakistan in Abu Dhabi after spending a very long time out of the team due to many reasons including injuries and off-field antics. The selectors announced the squad with 50 days to go for the first Test, to be played in Cardiff. Squad: Ricky Ponting (c), Michael Clarke (vc), Stuart Clark, Brad Haddin, Nathan Hauritz, Ben Hilfenhaus, Phillip Hughes, Michael Hussey, Mitchell Johnson, Simon Katich, Brett Lee, Graham Manou, Andrew McDonald, Marcus North, Peter Siddle and Shane Watson. — PTI
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ICL agrees to release players
New Delhi, May 20 “A few domestic and overseas players and support staff have approached us with an application to be released from ICL to pursue cricket with the state associations. The same was due to the announcement made by the BCCI offering to take the players back into their fold. “ICL has been set up for development of cricket to unearth and nurture young talent for the game and if certain players wish to go back to BCCI fold we will not stop them nor would we ever wish to exercise contractual authority to stall their dreams,” the ICL executive board said in a statement. “We are happy that domestic players got the opportunity to play at the highest level in the ICL events. ICL will continue to bring up and nurture younger talents for future.” the statement read.
— PTI |
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CWG Village work on track
New Delhi, May 20 Though Green Peace activists, environmental groups and save Yamuna people were up in arms against the massive construction work on the river bank for the Games Village, holding up the work for quite a long period, things were now moving fast. Commonwealth Games Organising Committee chairman Suresh Kalmadi expressed his satisfaction at the pace of work, adding that with 500 days to go for the games, the countdown had already begun. For the first time, a group of reporters were taken around the Games Village site, and were given a peep into the magnificent model flats constructed at the village, which were a byword in luxury. An elated Kalmadi said the Commonwealth Games village will be the best-ever provided in any international competition, including the Olympic Games. The village is being developed by Emaar-MGF, but the furnishing of the flats will be done by the Delhi Development Authority (DDA), which has also bought a block of flats to give the developers the necessary financial leverage to enable them to complete the work on schedule. In all, there will be 1168 flats, which would accommodate around 8000 sportspersons. The Games Village is located on the west side of the famous Akshardam Temple, with the Yamuna Bank metro station, which has been opened to the commuters, is only a hailing distance away. Kalmadi said not only the Games Village, but all other infrastructure for the Games would be completed by December this year, barring the rugby stadium and cycling velodrome. The rugby stadium will be completed a month later, while the velodrome is likely to be done up only by March 2010, as a decision to have a roof over it with air-conditioning, is yet to be finalised. Kalmadi said with UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh taking a very keen interest in the progress of the work, things were moving at a steady pace. He said Rahul Gandhi will also be requested to get actively involved in the conduct of the Commonwealth Games, as Rajiv Gandhi had done during the 1982 Asian Games in Delhi.
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Manish to lead Haryana in athletics
Chandigarh, May 20 Boys: K Kumar (100m), Sandeep (400m) both from Rohtak, Aman (5000m, 2000 steeple chase) Yamunanagar, Sandeep (triple jump) Hisar , Kuldeep, M Dalal (10km walk) Jhajjar, K Singh (shotput), K Kumar (discus), S Singh (hammer throw) all Bhiwani, M Kumar (100m), Pardeep (400m), Sikander (high jump) & D Dangi (shotput) national campers. Girls: Pinki (100m), Jyoti (hammer throw) Jhajjar, Preeti (800m) Faridabad, Kaushalaya (long jump), P Jangra (triple jump) SAI Hisar, Soniya (Shot put) national camp.
— TNS |
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King’s XI Punjab can only hope the losers of the Deccan Chargers versus Royal Challengers Bangalore game on Thursday finish with an inferior run rate to theirs, thereby opening the door to the semi-finals of IPL 2009. Set a moderate target of 117, they flaccidly lost to last year’s runners-up Chennai Super Kings by 24 runs in their concluding fixture in the league phase of the tournament.
So near but yet so far. King's XI Punjab skipper Yuvraj Singh attributed two reasons for his team’s defeat to Chennai Super Kings. He said, “We could not get a partnership going. We needed just one partnership of 50.”
