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Kings ready for Royal rumble Uthappa’s blitz floors Chennai Super Kings |
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We lacked X-factor: Ganguly
Expectations motivate me: Yusuf
Afridi is skipper for T20 WC
Gill helps out indigent sportsmen
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Kings ready for Royal rumble
Mohali, March 23 The seamer made his presence felt in a dramatic matter. Given to bowl the Super Over, he first evicted dangerous Mathew Hayden, castling the batsman, and then had stand-in skipper Suresh Raina caught to finish with a dream spell of 4-0-17-2. Just back from the brink, the hosts Kings XI will need a similar performance from someone as they clash with Rajasthan Royals in the day\night IPL match at the Punjab Cricket Association here tomorrow. The joining of Australian duo of Shaun Marsh and Brett Lee should be a timely boost to the Kings XI campaign. Scoring runs heavily in virtually every outing, it was Marsh who was instrumental in taking Kings XI Punjab to the semifinals in 2008 edition of the IPL. Having got their first points after Sunday’s victory in the fourth match, the hosts will be desperate to consolidate their position. They will expect the Sri Lanka duo of Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene to regain their batting touch. World-class players, both have failed largely with the bat so far. Back from a 10-day break from Australia where he had to rush for treatment to his elbow injury, the joining of Lee would make the Punjab bowling attack formidable which otherwise looked ordinary. “There is no pain in his (Lee’s) elbow and he is raring to go. He is fully fit and should ideally play,” averred Bopara on the eve of the match. He also added that Shaun Marsh, who had a decent outing in a practice match today, might also be a part of the playing eleven. Experienced Lee, who announced retirement from Test cricket to prolong his career in the limited-overs games, could provide the spark the hosts badly need to put their campaign firmly on track. Left-arm seamer Yusuf Abdulla, who was a success in the previous year and Pathan have tasted limited success with the ball so far. Same has been the case with the spinning duo of Ramesh Powar and Piyush Chawla. With a lone victory in four matches, Rajasthan Royals are in the same boat. Unable to click as a unit, team is yet to produce the type of form that made them champions in the inaugural edition. They suffered a severe blow when South Africa captain and opener Graeme Smith was ruled out for the IPL. The Royals’ batting mainstay fractured his right middle finger while fielding during the Royals’ seven-wicket defeat against the Delhi Daredevils in Ahmedabad. Other than the win, the hurricane 37-ball century that burly Yusuf Pathan hit against Mumbai Indians at the Brabourne Stadium, even though the team lost the match by four runs, has perhaps been the only bright spot in their campaign so far. Back from the ICL, Abhishek Jhunjhunwala has shown promise. Explosive opener Swapnil Asnodkar and Naman Ojha need to have decent contributions with the bat before it is too late. Though he has not produced the type of bowling spell which he is capable of, tearaway Australian Shaun Tait has started to look good. Skipper Warne himself has failed to rekindle the type of magic that he is capable of.
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Uthappa’s blitz floors Chennai Super Kings Pacer Vinay Kumar emerged as the wrecker-in-chief and he was ably supported by skipper Anil Kumble and Praveen Kumar, who picked one each giving away 15 and 21 runs to bring Chennai's downfall at the M Chinnaswamy stadium here. Earlier, Uthappa starred in a 19-ball 52-run stand with Mark Boucher to take Royal Challengers Bangalore past the 150-mark. Struggling at 119 for five in 17 overs, RCB piled up 52 runs in the last three overs, thanks to the unalloyed blitzkrieg of Uthappa, who unleashed an array of attacking strokes to destroy the Super Kings. In the 19th over, the Karnataka batsman launched a brutal attack on Lakshmipathy Balaji and clobbered him for three successive sixes to set the stands on fire. His awe-inspiring innings was studded with three fours and six sixes. Chasing 172 to win, Chennai had a shaky start when they lost opener Parthiv Patel (1) in the last ball of the first over off Praveen Kumar. However, Hayden and Bailey steadied the ship with a crucial 55-run partnership for the first wicket but with Praveen and Steyn bowling a tight line, the duo could not free their arms. —
PTI Scoreboard Royal Challengers Bangalore: Pandey c Raina b Muralitharan 20 (28) Kallis b Balaji 19 (17) Dravid b Muralitharan 14 (11) Uthappa not out 68 (38) Kohli st Patel b Muralitharan 24 (16) Morgan b Morkel 1 (4) Boucher not out 11 (7) Extras (lb 10, w 3, nb 1) 14 Total (5 wickets; 20 overs) 171 Fall of
wickets: 1-28, 2-59, 3-63, 4-110, 5-119. Bowling: Morkel 4-0-28-1, Tyagi 4-0-19-0, Balaji 4-0-49-1, Muralitharan 4-0-25-3, Ashwin 4-0-40-0. Chennai Super
Kings: Patel c Boucher b Kumar 1 (3) Hayden run out 32 (28) Bailey c Boucher b Vinay 18 (27) Raina c Kallis b Vinay 9 (7) Vijay c Morgan b Kumble 3 (7) Badrinath c sub b Vinay 31 (17) Morkel b Vinay 19 (19) Ashwin not out 11 (10) Balaji not out 0 (2) Extras (lb 5, w 6) 11 Total (7 wickets; 19.6 overs) 135 Fall of
wickets: 1-2, 2-57, 3-59, 4-71, 5-74, 6-107, 7-135. Bowling: Kumar 4-0 -21-1, Steyn 4-0-25-0, Kumble 4-0-15-1, Kallis4-0-29-0, Vinay 4-0-40-4.
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Ganguly said KKR had the team to deliver the goods this time around after doing badly in the first two seasons but somehow they lacked the X-factor. “We are batting well but not that well. We need the X-factor to get those 10 or 15 runs at the end,” he said. He praised the bowling performance of Mumbai Indians towards the latter part of their innings when they got restricted to 155 for three after scoring 70 for no loss in 11 overs. “Laisth Malinga bowled very well at the death. Harbhajan Singh too bowled very well,” he pointed out. Ganguly defended the decision to open the bowling with pacers Shane Bond and Ishant Sharma. “Ishant is the India seamer and then there was Bond. There was not enough turn in the wicket. You expect Ishant and Bond to pick up wickets. But after two overs I brought on Chris Gayle. You needed that much to study the wicket,” he said. Ganguly said that Ishant, who was spanked mercilessly by MI skipper Sachin Tendulkar during his unbeaten innings of 71 in 48 balls with ten fours, would hopefully learn from what he received from the champion batsman today. “He (Tendulkar) is a great player and he’s done that to quite a few players in the world. Hopefully Ishant would learn from this experience,” the Bengal stalwart said. He also praised Gayle’s innings of 75 that was the bedrock on which KKR raised 155 for 3. “He played well. He kept the innings together and we scored 155. But we needed that one big over which we did not get. Credit to Malinga and Harbhajan,” he said. Ganguly declared he and Gayle would open the innings henceforth and said Owais Shah was a better bet in the middle order than Brad Hodge who had to be left out at the top to accommodate Gayle. “Now I think Gayle and myself would keep opening the innings. We will see what happens later,” he said. — PTI
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Expectations motivate me: Yusuf
Chandigarh, March 23 Pathan, who is in full form these days, emerges as the great threat for bowlers, especially after his blitzkrieg century in just 37 balls against Mumbai Indians. His was the first-ever century in the IPL-3 session. “I enjoy fast cricket,” said the elder sibling of Pathan duo. When asked about his marriage plans, especially after the flashing of news about the prospects of his younger brother Irfan Pathan marriage with his NRI girlfriend, Yusuf said that he has no such plans yet. “No one is in my life”, said Yusuf while maintaining that he has no girlfriend so far. At the moment I am just focussing on my game, nothing else, added Yusuf. On being questioned whether he would go for arrange marriage, Yusuf said that his family is busy in building their new house. “Only after that we would see what to do in this direction”, said
Pathtan.
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Modi raises auction cap to $7 million
New Delhi, March 23 “In IPL, the amount that the teams would spend on players would be huge for having the contract for just three years,” IPL Commissioner and Chairman Lalit Modi said. After winning team Pune with a staggering bid of over Rs 1,700 crore, Sahara Group chief Subroto Roy had suggested that IPL should increase the ceiling on the cap for each team to participate in the auction. Roy’s acquisition comes in the midst of the third season of IPL, where eight teams are vying for honour in the over month-long tournament. Rendezvous World Sports bagged the Kochi team, taking the total number to 10, which Modi said would remain intact for at least seven years. Modi said Roy has a long association with cricket India, “he understands the game and his bid, though slightly higher than what he anticipated, proved that IPL has the value.” The enhanced cap for auctioning would be for three years from IPL season-IV beginning next year, he said, adding that details of the increased ceiling as also the auction programme would be announced shortly after the ongoing tournament. Pooh-poohing the doomsayers and sceptics of IPL, he said that doubts were raised right from the time the league was launched and even when the first tournament was played. Independent brand valuation consultancy Brand Finance has said the IPL’s brand value has more than doubled to $4.13 billion this year, reflecting the format’s success. “Even the IPL season-II was questioned as it was being played on foreign soil and now despite the success the questions are being asked how long? We are making a few crores a day... every time I put a number in the market be it for the players or bids, people say it is not achievable but I have delivered every time,” he said. On the contrary, he said that every such criticism would make him more determined about the success as sceptics did not talk with knowledge and “I have worked on figures for 15 years days in and days out.” Modi said that the three-year lock-in period would continue even in the next round of bidding and should a player or team desire for a change there are “separate trading windows for the purpose”. — PTI
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Karachi, March 23 The PCB said the appointment was for the T20 World Cup but indications are that if the 30-year-old Afridi manages to lead and gel the team well he could be having the captaincy in the Test and one-day forms of the game as well. Sources within the Board said that during a meeting that the Chairman of the Board, Ejaz Butt had with national team coach, Waqar Younis and manager, Yawar Saeed and also with Afridi on Tuesday, it was decided he can resume playing Test cricket as well. Afridi’s last Test appearance was in 2006 in England and since then he has been limited to play for Pakistan in ODIs and T20 internationals. Afridi said he was elated at getting the captaincy back despite the recent fine of Rs 3 million on him. “It is a big honour for me to lead my country and I relish the challenge. I just want to assure my people that this team is perfectly capable of defending its title successfully in the West Indies,” Afridi said — PTI
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Gill helps out indigent sportsmen
New Delhi, March 23 The money for Sarkar has been sanctioned to procure an artificial limb. Bharatan had represented the country in football from 1973 to 1975, and had played in the Santosh Trophy and the Merdeka Cup. The Minister took note of the fact that Bharatan was running a kiosk to eke out a living and the Rs 1 lakh grant Sarkar had lost his leg in a rail accident when he was four years old, but he still participated in sports and won medals in sports competitions for the disabled at the national and international level. He approached the Ministry seeking assistance to buy an artificial limb costing Rs over four lakh out of which Rs 3 lakh he had arranged. Dr Gill accepted his request and sanctioned the differential to buy the artificial limb. |
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Kings XI Punjab owe it to Juan Theron. Hardly left with any time to overcome even the jetlag after a long journey, the seamer produced a dream spell in his debut IPL game to script a come-from-behind victory for Kings XI Punjab.
Chandigarh, March 23
Karachi, March 23
Bangalore, March 23
Mumbai, March 23
