 |
|
|
KINGS LOSE BATTLE ROYALE
Deccan up against charged MI
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Chennai continue survival battle
Pak kabaddi team arrives
World Cup Kabaddi opens today
Arrival of two Italy teams embarrass organisers
|
|
KINGS LOSE BATTLE ROYALE Mohali, April 2 Chasing 182-run target, Punjab were coasting along nicely as Lee, Sreesanth and Srivastava as well as spinner Chawlake loss of two wickets after 15 overs and Royal Challengers needing 60 runs in the last five overs, the game looked slightly in favour of the hosts. It was at this stage that the hosts committed a virtual harakiri. First, Sreesanth, fielding at long-on, drooped a sitter off Pietersen’s blade. Royal Challengers were again let off the hook, when Bopara repeated the act at the same position. Had the simple catch been taken, dangerous Uthappa, who later changed the course of the match in the 17th over of the innings, would have been walking back to the pavilion. After he got the reprieve, the hard-hitting batsman made a mockery of Brett Lee, who returned for his second spell from the far end. The batsman just waded into Lee and unleashed a ferocious assault, which Lee would like to forget as early as possible. His two effortlessly sixes - one straight over the bowler’s head and the second that went soaring over the square leg fence - a spanking one-bounce four and a wide delivery when crossed the fence saw the fast bowler concede 25 runs in his over. It was this over which changed complexion of the game. Punjab’s ill luck did not stop here. Kevin Pietersen, who had held the innings together with remarkable composure and poise, was reprieved by skipper Kumar Sangakkara fielding near the long-off fence. Just after he had completed his half century, Pietersen unleashed a fierce stroke. Sangakkara made a hash of the chance, ending up only in helping the ball to the boundary which was well within his grasp. Punjab’s batting was propped up by Sangakkara and Bisla after the early dismissal of Shaun Marsh. Skipper played a responsible knock of 45 off 27 balls. Under huge pressure to perform, Yuvraj did well to contribute 20-ball 36, including two sixes three fours. But it was Bopara who provided late thrust to the innings with unbeaten 42. With seventh loss today out of the eight games played, Punjab have now been ruled out of the semifinal race. Pietersen was adjudged Man of the Match. Scoreboard Marsh c Dravid b Vinay 2 (9) Bisla b Kumble 28 (26) Sangakkara c Kallis b Steyn 45 (27) Bopara not out 42 (33) Yuvraj c White b Kallis 36 (20) Pathan run out 16 (5) Lee not out 1 (1) Extras: (b 2, lb 1, w 7, nb 1) 11 Total (5 wickets; 20 overs) 181 Fall of wickets: 1-3, 2-66, 3-84, 4-149,
5-180. Bowling: Kumar 4-0-37-0, Vinay 3-0-24-1, Steyn 4-0-31-1, Kallis 4-0-45-1, Kumble 4-0-33-1, Pietersen 1-0-8-0. Royal Challengers Bangalore: Pandey run out 29 (25) Kallis c Bisla b Srivastava 9 (10) Pietersen not out 66 (44) Kohli c Pathan b Bipul 42 (26) Uthappa c Bisla b Pathan 22 (8) White not out 6 (3) Extras: (lb 3, w 6, nb 1) 10 Total: (4 wickets; 19.1 overs) 184 Fall of wickets: 1-28, 2-54, 3-130, 4-170. Bowling: Lee 4-0-48-0, Sreesanth 2-0-14-0, Srivastava 2-0-21-1, Chawla 2-0-22-0, Bipul 4-0-26-1, Yuvraj 2-0-14-0, Pathan 3.1-0-36-1. |
Mumbai, April 2 The Adam Gilchrist-led Deccan were flying high after they recovered from their loss to Kolkata Knight Riders at the D Y Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai in the tournament opener on March 12. They won three matches in a row and zoomed to the top of the table. But a loss to the Shane Warne-led Rajasthan Royals at Ahmedabad on March 26 brought them back to the ground with a thump and also started their steep slump. Losses to Mumbai Indians in their 'home' tie at the D Y Patil Stadium two days later and to the Knight Riders last night at the Eden Gardens have pushed the holders down to seventh in the league table going into their eighth round encounter against the Sachin Tendulkar-led Mumbai.
But that’s the hard task facing Deccan, whose batting and bowling collectively failed against Kolkata. Their main worry is the total loss of form of their dashing skipper Adam Gilchrist who has tallied just 10 runs in these defeats. It's imperative that the former Australia stumper rediscovers his magical form with the bat against Mumbai.
Harbhajan seems to find something extra within when he faces the duo of Gilchrist and Andrew Symonds on the opposite side for reasons that go back to India-Australia Test rubbers in the past. Apart from Gilchrist’s poor form, the Chargers have also been let down by Herschelle Gibbs who has been unable to convert his starts into something more meaningful either as opener or at one-down. This duo’s failure to fire in unison at the top has resulted in extra burden falling on Symonds and Rohit Sharma in the middle. Despite their best efforts the Chargers have fallen short in their last three ties. —
PTI
|
||
|
Chennai continue survival battle
Chennai, April 2 Opener Murali Vijay’s impressive 39-ball 78 and Suresh Raina’s determined unbeaten 44-run knock helped Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s Chennai eke out a comfortable five-wicket win. The last time Chennai and Rajasthan faced off, Shane Warne’s men had the last laugh after Naman Ojha produced a scintillating 49-ball 80 and Yusuf Pathan and Shaun Tait shared four wickets between them to guide the team to 12-run triumph. However, Chennai’s batting line up has been strengthened with the arrival of Aussie star Michael Hussey and their bowling has also get a major boost with pacer Doug Bollinger, an important cog in the Aussie wheels, joining in. On the other hand, Royals have had a clear run in the tournament but surrendered their initiative to an embarrassing 67-run loss to Delhi Daredevils two days ago. Based on sheer experience against youth, Chennai have an edge over Warne’s team. Between the rivals, Royals and Chennai would be playing their ninth of the 14 league matches in the first phase of the tournament and the former have won four matches against the hosts three. Chennai can’t afford to lose from here as any defeat would severely dent their chances of making the semifinals. With Vijay and Raina hitting a purple patch and Hayden too getting back his rhythm, Chennai's batting looks solid and if Dhoni also finds his touch, the hosts would have the edge. The Royals have won most of their matches at home and away matches seem to be their nemesis. Warne has been a great motivator for his young teammates and his compatriot all-rounder Shane Watson's arrival has strengthened both batting and bowling. Yusuf Pathan, openers Michael Lumb and Ojha have been among the runs for the Royals. Pacer Shaun Tait, Warne, Siddarth Trivedi have take care of the bowling department well. On the whole, Super Kings would be looking forward to reverse their 17-run loss last week in their first outing against the Royals at Ahmedabad. —
PTI |
|
Pak kabaddi team arrives
Attari, April 2 While talking to The Tribune, Bhatti said dope tests on players was a “must”, keeping in mind the amount of power play involved in the sport. While terming circle kabaddi as “Maha Kabaddi”, Mazzafar added that the game commanded immense popularity among the people of Pakistan as well. “We believe in fair competition. We are ready to undergo any doping test here. In Pakistan, only one match of 45 minutes span is conducted in a single day, because a player can give his “genuine best” only for a single match in a day. Those, who play three or four matches in a day, have “suspicious potential”, which needs to be checked”, he further said. Repenting upon not clearing visa formalities for four of their “top level” players, Mazzafar told that still they were confident of bringing home the coveted cup. Meanwhile, from the Indian side Punjab Sports Department officials led by district sports officer Sukhbir Kaur welcomed the Pakistan delegation. A bhangra team was also there to celebrate the moment. |
|
World Cup Kabaddi opens today
Patiala, April 2 This historic event is going to be a star-studded affair with Bollywood actor Dharmendra and star Australian cricketer Bret Lee most likely to attend the opening ceremony. Also Punjabi artists Sarabjit Cheema and Lakhwinder Wadali will entertain audience during the opening ceremony. A media centre has also been set up to facilitate the journalists for the coverage of this late night event. In order to check final arrangements, P.S. Aujla, organising secretary of the tournament, Deputy Commissioner Priyank Bharti and secretary sports, Punjab government, Pargat Singh reached YPS Stadium today morning and checked that all arrangements were carried out as per plan. The deputy commissioner informed that the arrangements were not just complete but perfect and ruled out any possibility of chaos. SSP, Patiala, Ranbir Singh Khatra, informed that high security has been set up to ensure the safety of these VIPs attending the function. Expecting a strength of over 50,000 viewers from different states, Khatra assured that proper arrangements have been made for the security of all players coming from different countries. There will be high security on all gates of the stadium and everything will be very systematic, he added. Around 400 artists from different states of India will perform during the cultural evening and the inaugural match between India and USA will be played soon after the gala evening around 8.30 pm. Bhagwant Mann, Jasbir Jassi, Master Saleem, Satwinder Bitti and Manpreet Akhtar are the other artists who would be associated with this cup. |
|
Arrival of two Italy teams embarrass organisers
Ludhiana, April 2 Sources said that two separate invitations were sent to different Kabaddi Federations in Italy headed by Santokh Singh Lalli and Karamjit Singh Dhillon respectively. Anil Sharma, senior manager of the team led by Lalli group, while talking on phone said he received invitation from Director of Sports Pargat Singh. While kabaddi team led by Karamjit Singh Dhillon received invitation from Punjab Kabaddi Association. The department officials were caught unaware, today, when both the teams marked their presence amongst the Kabaddi cup organisers. The situation became embarrassing when both the teams showed their respective invitations to the organisers and claimed themselves to be eligible to participate in the World Cup. Later during the day, Pargat Singh and Gurmail Pehalwan, a senior factionary of the Punjab Kabaddi association, managed to affect a compromise and selected nine players from Lalli group and five players from Dhillon group. The players who were expelled from the team at the last moment expressed their resentment over the procedure of selection. They said that they spend money on airfares and sweat it out while practising for world cup, but they were sacked at the last moment because of no
reason. Anil Sharma said the nine players selected from his team were star players and their selection was on expected lines. |
| HOME PAGE | |
Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir |
Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs |
Nation | Opinions | | Business | Sports | World | Letters | Chandigarh | Ludhiana | Delhi | | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail | |
That should be the end of road for Kings XI Punjab. Though they gave an inspired display, it was not good enough as Royal Challengers Bangalore coasted home by six wickets in the IPL match at the Punjab Cricket Association Stadium today.
Mumbai, April 2
Chennai, April 2
With only a day left for the beginning of the World Kabaddi Cup, YPS Stadium,
Patiala, has been turned into a fortress with hundreds of cops patrolling the stadium and nearby areas in order to ensure proper security arrangements. The cops have been deployed on all roads leading to the stadium and checking of vehicles is on full swing. It is the largest sports event in the history of the city.
It won’t be easy to pick themselves up from the floor after this losing sequence, besides the physical exertion of travelling from Kolkata to Mumbai today after finishing their match past 11 p m last night.
The previous encounter between the two teams was taken away from the Chargers by Harbhajan Singh who first smashed his way to 49 not out in 18 balls to give Mumbai a fighting score to defend and then dismissed Gilchrist for a blob off the second ball of their innings.
