New Delhi, March 19
Matthew Hayden played it big to crack a blistering knock of 93 to steer Chennai Super Kings to a five-wicket victory over Delhi Daredevils at the Ferozeshah Kotla here tonight.

Delhi Daredevils, won the toss and made 185 for 6 in 20 overs while Chennai Super Kings replied with 190 for 5 in 19.1 overs. The ramrod-straight Hayden, who projected a straight bat to butcher the bowlers totally unsettled the hosts who suffered their second straight defeat on home ground, after scoring two successive wins in away matches.

Chennai needed 16 runs from the last two overs, and Vijay’s six and four off Pradeep Sangwan in the penultimate over hastened their victory. Sangwan, who had a good first spell, gave away 15 runs in his final over, to spoil his figures. If Delhi Daredevils bit the dust despite Virender Sehwag’s blazing 74, it was due to some sloppy fielding and shoddy bowling. Only left-arm pacer Dirk Nannes commanded respect as his four-over spell cost only 18 runs and he also gained a wicket, while all others were carted around mercilessly.

Rajat Bhatia was hit for 18 runs in his first over as he conceded 31 runs in two overs while Sangwan went for 46 runs in his four-over spell.

Delhi Daredevils did the right thing by opting to bat, and Sehwag and Warner got off to a racy start. Though Warner exited early, Dellhi’s hopes soared when Sehwag was going great guns.

Dilshan, stand-in skipper Karthik and De Villers should have seen the Delhi innings to a better position, but Dilshan, Sehwag and De Villiers fell in the space of five runs, and Delhi could not recover from these sudden blows.

Manhas and Rajat Bhatia tried to quicken the scoring with some big hitting, but the Delhi innings tempo had been broken when Sehwag went out and their final score fell by around 20 runs short than expected.

With Hayden in full flow, Chennai Super Kings made light of opener Patel’s early run out. Hayden and Raina ensured that Chennai kept ahead of the asking run rate of nine plus to eventually coast home comfortably. This was Chennai’s second victory in three matches while Delhi have won two and lost two. Sadly, their game has come apart on the home ground while Chennai Super Kings bowled and batted with focus and purpose to triumph, without regular skipper Dhoni.

Scoreboard

Delhi Daredevils

Warner c Hayden b Balaji 6 (8)

Sehwag c Kemp b Muralitharan 74 (38)

Dilshan c Raina b Muralitharan 15 (24)

Karthik lbw b Joginder Sharma 19 (14)

De Villiers c Raina b Ashwin 2 (3)

Manhas not out 32 (22)

Bhatia c Raina b Balaji 21 (9)

Mishra not out 6 (3)

Extras: (lb 4, w 5, nb 1) 10

Total: (6 wickets; 20 overs) 185

Fall of wickets: 1-35, 2-102, 3-103, 4-107, 5-146, 6-177.

Bowling: Morkel 3-0- 26-0, Ashwin 4-0-40-1, Joginder 4-0-43-1, Balaji 3-0-21-2, Kemp 1-0-14-0, Muralitharan 4-0-25-2, 

Raina 1-0-12-0.

Chennai Super Kings

Patel run out 6(6)

Hayden c Dilshan b Mishra 93 (43)

Badrinath c Mishra b Yadav 14 (15)

Raina not out 49 (34)

Morkel c Mishra b Dilshan 0 (3)

Kemp b Nannes 4 (8)

Vijay not out 14 (6)

Extras: (lb 2, w 8) 10

Total (5 wickets; 19.1 overs) 190

FoWs: 1-21, 2-64, 3-142, 4-154, 5-169.

Bowling: Nannes 4-0-18-1, Yadav 4-0-38-1, Sangwan 4-0-46-0, Bhatia 2-0-31-0, Dilshan 2.1-0-30-1, Mishra 3-0-25-1.

Chandigarh, March 19
Women in India are still vying for their share of the pie in terms of exploits on the field. There are exceptions, of course. And while ace shuttler Saina Nehwal has always been part of this exceptional group, things are just getting even more special. Adding another feather in her already crowded cap, Saina broke into the top five rankings this week after her semifinal appearance at the All England Championship. Though the journey to the top has not been easy, the 20-year-old asserts that this is just the beginning. Talking to The Tribune, she shares her thoughts about her next target, Chinese domination in the sport, her home town Hissar and much more.

Q: How does it feel to be among the top five shuttlers in the world?

A: It gives me immense confidence to see where I am today. I had set this to be the target last year and I am relieved to have achieved it earlier than I thought I would. To become the first Indian woman to have reached the semifinal of All England Championship is a dream come true for me. I have been putting a lot of hard work and it is good to see the recognition.

Q: Losing in the semifinals at the All England must have been disappointing?

A: Every loss is hard to digest, and it would have been special to make it to the finals of the prestigious tournament. It was very close and at 19-19 in the first game I should have served better. Though it was painful to lose at that stage I am very happy with my performance.

Q: So what is the next target?

A: I want to be in the top three in the world within a year. That is the next shot I am working towards. I know it is not going to be easy, but I am game for the challenge. To be able to consistently win tournaments will be my focus.

Q: What are the challenges you perceive in the journey to the top?

A: The Chinese dominate the top ranks and it is not going to be easy at all beating them. But I have been playing top players off late. I did well in the Uber Cup where I beat the top rank players and then All England went really well. The success has given me a lot of confidence and I am determined to win over any challenge on the way to the top.

Q: How has the preparation for the Commonwealth Games been?

A: It is going to be a special time with the Games coming to India in October. The whole year is going to be busy and an important one with Asian Championship in April and then the World Championship. I am working on my fitness even harder to put in my best in all the tournaments.

Q: Hissar is your birthplace, and while you have been away for long now, any plans on going back?

A: Oh, I do miss Hissar very much and have many a fond memories of the place. But I have been in Hyderabad for the past 12 years and looking at my career graph, there are no immediate plans to shift base. I am a proud Hyderabadi now and wherever I stay, it is going to be India first always.

New Delhi, March 19
There is no plan to stage Indian Premier League outside the country but franchises are free to play abroad, IPL chief executive Sundar Raman said here today. Dismissing reports that a second IPL is in the offing and it would be held abroad, Raman said he could only foresee a situation with the franchises playing occasional matches abroad.

“This is Indian Premier League and will be played in India. Now if the IPL franchises want to play matches abroad, that is upto them. We did have the previous edition in South Africa, which was a blessing in disguise since it unlocked a new market for us but IPL would take place in India,” said Raman. “We are happy to be back in India this year. People are thronging stadiums and there is no plans to have IPL abroad,” said Raman.

Earlier, media reports had quoted IPL commissioner Lalit Modi as saying that a second IPL could be staged abroad. Raman’s attention was drawn to the growing list of injured players participating in the ongoing IPL and how it jeopardised their prospect in the Twenty20 World Cup starting next month in the West Indies. The IPL CEO, however, sprang to the Twenty 20 league’s defence and passed the buck to the players. — PTI 

Zurich, March 19
Titleholders Barcelona will play Arsenal in the quarterfinals of the Champions League and remain on course for a repeat of last year’s final against Manchester United after the draw was made on Friday.

A screen shows the results of the draw for the quarter-finals soccer matches of the Champions League at the UEFA headquarters in Nyon on Friday. — Reuters

United will travel to Bayern Munich for the first leg of their quarterfinal in a rematch of the 1999 European Cup final, where the English Premier League side snatched two goals at the death for an extraordinary 2-1 win.

“This is a very difficult but also attractive draw,” Bayern General Director Karl-Heinz Rummenigge told his club website. “Manchester are a team that is up there at the very top. We will have to reach our limits and even exceed them if we want to progress. Manchester are the favourites and that is where it is attractive in that we can trip up the favourite.”

The winners will face Olympique Lyon - conquerors of Real Madrid in the previous round and Liverpool in the group stage - or Girondins Bordeaux in the semifinals after the two French clubs were pitted together in the last eight of the draw made at UEFA’s headquarters in Nyon.

Inter Milan’s reward for knocking out Chelsea is a quarterfinal against CSKA Moscow, with either Barcelona or Arsenal waiting if they get past that hurdle.

Barcelona’s match against Arsenal is a repeat of the 2006 final which the Spanish club won 2-1 in Paris. The London club will host the first leg. — Reuters 

Jammu, March 19
With an aim of channelising youth towards sports, Young Star Cricket Club (YSCC) of Doda district is organising the All-India Gufran Memorial T-20 Cricket Championship 2010, to be held in May this year.

The motive behind organising an international level championship in the militancy-plagued belt is to spread the message of peace and mutual understanding through cricket. International players Mohd Kaif and Joginder Sharma have confirmed their participation in the tourney, said Manzoor Ahmed Batt, chief patron of YSCC.

The area has suffered a lot of calamities during the past two decades due to militant activities and the scheduled tourney is an attempt to attract younger generation of this mountainous belt towards sports. Batt said, “We want to convey a message to the whole country that the people here want peace. This is the basic idea behind organising such a big sports event in this remote area.”

Joginder Sharma, who was part of the Indian Team that had won the first T-20 World Cup, had played three matches of this tournament in 2008.

Chandigarh, March 19
Milkha Singh, the first and only Indian to win a gold medal at the Commonwealth Games, thinks that there is no hope from Indian athletes at the Games in Delhi scheduled for October this year. Talking to The Tribune here today, Singh said, “We have failed to produce top class athletes in our country despite the facilities and advances made in coaching It makes me very sad that after my gold at the 1958 Commonwealth Games, nobody has repeated the feat.

In athletics, which would have around 50 gold medals on offer, I think all would be clinched by foreign athletes”. Singh had won the 400m event at Cardiff in 47.6 sec. “In my viewpoint the authorities (sports) should be asked sternly whenever our sportspersons put up a dismal show at any international events.”

“Or the responsibility of sports should be thrust upon the Army, giving them the target of producing results within a certain timeframe.” Citing the hockey debacle in the World Cup Singh said the game was marred by politics.

BRIEFLY

Lee returned due to security fears: Report
MELBOURNE: Security concerns in India prompted Brett Lee’s return to Australia for treatment on his injured elbow, his agent has claimed. The fast bowler, who plays for Kings XI Punjab in the Indian Premier League, is in Sydney to get treatment on his elbow, which was operated a couple of months ago. — PTI

John McEnroe reacts during his match against Thomas Enqvist at the ATP Champions Tour tournament in Bogota on Thursday. — Reuters

No central contract for Yousuf
LAHORE: Banned former captains Mohammad Yousuf, Younus Khan and Shoaib Malik as well as Shoib Akhtar were dropped from the list of players who were on Friday awarded central contracts by PCB. The board, however, gave central contracts to Afridi, Kamran and Umar Akmal, who were fined after a probe into Pakistan’s disastrous tour of Australia in January-February. — PTI

Smith to be fit for WC T20
JOHANNESBURG: South Africa can heave a sigh a relief as Graeme Smith will not need a surgery for his fractured finger and is likely to recover in time for the Twenty20 World Cup starting April 30. Smith had an X-ray done on the middle finger of his right hand which was fractured while taking a catch against Delhi Daredevils earlier this week. — PTI

‘Local players are KKR’s strength’
AHMEDABAD: Kolkata Knight Riders coach Dav Whatmore on Friday credited the bunch of local cricketers in the team for their good start in third edition of the Indian Premier League. “This year KKR has come out stronger because of lot of local talents, due to more domestic players in the team,” Whatmore said. — PTI

We want Beckham in SA: Capello
MADRID: England have accepted injured midfielder David Beckham is out of the World Cup but have asked him to join the squad in South Africa anyway, coach Fabio Capello was quoted as saying on Friday. “We have asked Beckham to come to South Africa with us,” Capello said. — Reuters

Mohun Bagan play Sporting
KOLKATA: With a full-strength side at their disposal, Mohun Bagan will be desperate for a win when they take on Sporting Clube de Goa in a 17th round I-League match at Yuba Bharati Krirangan in Salt Lake here on Saturday. The match is equally important from Sporting’s perspective as there is a relegation threat looming large on the Goans. — PTI

Chowrasia tied second
MOROCCO: SSP Chowrasia’s late birdie binge catapulted him to the tied second place after his sparkling opening round of six-under 67 in the Trophee Hassan II golf tournament here. Playing in the tougher Red course at Royal Golf Dar Es Salam, the Kolkata pro birdied the five of his last seven holes. — PTI

Jeev off to poor start
FLORIDA: Jeev Milkha Singh faces an early exit from the PGA Transitions Championship after his poor opening round of three-over 74 placed him tied 105th in the $5.4 million golf tournament here. It was back nine blues for the Chandigarh pro, a 10th tee starter, bogeyed the three of his first nine holes to find himself under pressure at the turn. — PTI