New Delhi, March 29
David Warner swung his bat around like a magic wand to post the second century of the third edition of the Indian Premier League and guide Delhi Daredevils to a 40-run victory against Kolkata Knight Riders at the Ferozeshah Kotla ground here tonight.

Delhi Daredevils, chosing to bat, made 177 for 4 in 20 overs and then restricted Kolkata Knight Riders to 137 for 9 in 20 overs to record their fourth victory in seven matches, and first win at the Kotla in three matches.

Warner’s batting was a classic act, as he stood rock-like amidst ruins to take Daredevils out of the woods and onto the victory podium. Daredevils had been dogged by a home ground hoodoo after they lost their first two home matches to Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings.

They seemed headed for another disaster when former captain, present captain and stand-in captain departed in the space of 28 runs as Daredevils slumped to 38 for three. Virender Sehwag, as is his wont, got off to a lightening start, spanking Chris Gayle to two consecutive fours off the fourth and fifth balls of the first over, but the slow West Indian bowler had the last laugh when he enticed Sehwag to step out and Wridhiman Saha did a fine stumping act.

Gautam Gambhir, who was a doubtful starter, took the field but seemed a bit rusty and was caught plumb in front of the wicket by Langeveldt. Dinesh Karthik too departed quickly falling to Ishant Sharma, after the former Delhi boy was clobbered by Warner for 17 runs, including two sixes, off his first five balls of the third over.

Warner stood unfazed at the other end to score at a brisk pace by mostly taking the aerial route to circumvent the Kolkata in-fielders. Paul Collingwood proved an ideal foil for Warner to play for his shots and collect some fast runs, which, in the end, clinched the issue for Delhi as Saurav Ganguly’ s KKR found the target beyond their reach.

Warner and Paul Collingwood feasted on the varied KKR bowling attack and hoisted the 100-run stand for the fourth wicket in 53 minutes off 78 balls. Warner was then on 93 and Collingwood on 53. And when Warner was on the threshold of his coveted century - 96 to be precise - Murali Karthik took a return catch, and the batsman had almost reached the dugout when he was recalled as Karthik had apparently grassed the catch.

Mumbai, March 29
After five defeats in six matches, the future looks bleak for Kings XI Punjab but its stand-in skipper Mahela Jayawardene has not given up and believes the team can still bounce back in the Indian Premier League with a few wins in the subsequent outings.

“We need a few wins to get the momentum going. I still believe that the point table is still quite wide open. If you can win half of your games you can move up and keep fighting,” the Sri Lankan told reporters ahead of the team’s match against Mumbai Indians here tomorrow.

Jayawardene will lead the side tomorrow after regular skipper Kumar Sangakkara was banned for one match following the team’s third slow over-rate offence in the competition. “We need to get the combination going and get those few wins under the belt and we will be heading in the right direction in the points table,” said Jayawardene.

The Sri Lankan blamed the batsmen for the team’s poor run in the tournament, lamenting their inability to bat throughout the overs. “We had good starts up the order but none stood that long to make it count. If you look at other teams, players had taken responsibility to bat throughout. We haven’t done that. Guys are hitting well in the middle but they have not taken the responsibility to bat through and take us to a good position,” he said.

Jayawardene said though the team’s bowling was upto the mark, the team was losing the plot due to a few bad overs in the middle. “We have bowled well with good variations. But a couple of overs here and there have cost us the game. (There is) nothing drastically wrong, need to get the small things right.” Jayawardene said.

The veteran Sri Lankan batsman said Kings XI Punjab had tried a few changes but it has not been successful thus far. “We have tried a few things like batting Yuvraj up the order so that he could spend more time in the middle. Sanga (Sangakkara) and I had different responsibilities in the team, to try and control the period in the middle but unfortunately we haven't been successful,” he said.

“We need to go out and enjoy ourselves in the middle. We need to make a few changes, settle down. We are a couple of good knocks away from playing well,” he said. On the game against Mumbai Indians, Jayawardene said, “It’s a great game for us. We have nothing to lose. Mumbai Indians are playing some good cricket. We need to just go out there and express ourselves. From where we are now there is no way backwards and the only way is up.”

Jayawardene also cautioned his team against thinking too much ahead. “I think we shouldn’t get ahead of us too much. We should get these little things right. Rather than thinking what's going to happen 6-7 games down the line we should think what’s going to happen in the next game and concentrate at one game at a time,” he said. — PTI

Karachi, March 29
Former Pakistan cricket captain Mohammad Yousuf announced his retirement from international cricket on Monday, following an indefinite ban imposed by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) in the aftermath of a winless tour of Australia. “I received a letter from the PCB that my staying in the team is harmful for the team, so I announce my retirement from international cricket,” he said in Karachi.

“I thank the fans around the world, all the senior players and family members for supporting me throughout my 12-year career. I always played for my country, and, if my playing is harmful for the team, then I don’t want to play,” he said. Yousuf played 88 Tests, nine as captain and scored 7,431 runs at an average of 53.07, including 24 centuries. He also scored 9,624 runs in 282 one-day internationals.

Chandigarh, March 29
Stringent action would be taken against players who are found to be using performance enhancing drugs during World Cup Kabaddi to be held in Punjab from April 3. Stating this to the media here today Bikram Singh Majithia, senior vice chairperson of World Cup Kabaddi added that the tournament would be a drug free event as it was mandatory for all players taking part in the tournament.

He said an Anti Doping panel under World Ant-Doping Agency, has already started functioning by taking samples of 29 Indian players who turned up for the selection trials in Ludhiana on March 20. He said about 13 probables selected for the camp were found to be using drugs and recommended two year ban on them for participating in any national or national events.

Giving the details of the world cup Majithia said that kabaddi teams from 9 countries including United Kingdom, America, Canada, Pakistan, Iran, Australia , Italy, Spain, Norway besides hosts India would be in the fray for the first world cup which would be inaugurated at Patiala. He said 24 venues in 8 cities of Punjab, which include YPS Patiala, Sangrur, Bathinda, Amritsar, Jalandhar, Gurdaspur, Hoshiarpur, Amritsar and Ludhiana.

He said winners would get Rs one crore, runners up would get Rs 51 lakh, while third and fourth place holders would get Rs 25 lakh and Rs 10 lakh, respectively.

The best raider and best catcher of the semi final teams would get tractors, he announced. Majithia said that eminent Punjabi folk singers and comedian Bhagwant Mann, Master Saleem, Satvinder Bitti, Manpreet Akhtar and jasbir Jassi would regale the spectators at the all the venues of the grant event.

Islamabad/Karachi, March 29
Indian tennis star Sania Mirza is engaged to former Pakistan cricket captain Shoaib Malik and they might tie the knot next month, claimed a television channel here. Geo television reported today that the two sporting superstars have got engaged and their marriage would take place in April.

Incidentally, Shoaib was earlier accused of marrying another Hyderabad girl, Ayesha Siddiqui, in 2002 over phone even though the cricketer said he was merely engaged to her. Ayesha’s father had also threatened to sue Malik for jilting the girl and not giving her divorce.

According to the channel, Shoaib’s mother met Sania’s parents in India and accepted her as future daughter-in-law. The ‘Walima’ or reception is expected to be held in Lahore on April 16 or 17, according to the channel, which quoted sources as saying that Sania and Shoaib fell in love some six-and-half months ago and it could be the reason for the breaking up of Sania's engagement with childhood friend Sohrab Mirza.

“I desire to get married soon. You will soon get some good news but it depends on my family. I fully expect to get married this year,” Shoaib had said in a recent interaction with the media here. Asked if it would be an arranged marriage, he said, "No one can say what will happen, but it will take place with the concurrence of my family.” — PTI