Mohali, April 8
Down and out. This is what the Kings XI Punjab are at the moment. With eighth loss out the ten IPL matches played so far and emerging the first team to be out of the semifinal race, Kings XI have been left to play only for pride. Skipper Kumar Sangakkara said after the humiliating defeat at the hands of Rajasthan Royals at Jaipur yesterday that team would stick to basics and play to redeem pride in the remaining matches.

Given the harrowing run the team is going through at the moment and the unexpectedly big defeat yesterday, even this would not be easy, considering that they face mighty Mumbai Indians as their next opponents. But given the current form of the two opponents, the hosts would be required to pull off a virtual miracle if they have to put it across the table-toppers in the day-night fixture at the Punjab Cricket Association Stadium tomorrow.

With eight victories in the ten matches, Sachin Tendulkar-led Mumbai Indians are on a roll. Virtually everything going in their favour, the hosts would need to be at their best if they intend stopping Mumbai. Already going through a forgettable run in the competition, the morale of the Kings XI would have taken a further beating after the pasting they got at the hands of Rajasthan Royals at Swai Mansingh Stadium yesterday.

The opener Michael Lumb unleashed a ferocious assault on the Punjab bowling attack. He clobbered 43-ball 83 with 16 boundaries and two towering sixes as Royals emerged winners with plenty to spare. All the bowlers were treated with disdain as runs flowed all over the park. Sreesanth proved wayward, Juan Theron ordinary, while Irfan Pathan was taken to cleaners as a rampaging Lumb toyed with the Kings XI bowling attack.

Mumbai Indians, on the other hand, are a well balanced side. Under maestro Tendulkar, who is thoroughly enjoying his batting and leading from the front, Mumbai Indians has emerged as the side to beat. Sharing the new ball, Zaheer Khan and Lasith Malinga have formed a lethal combination. And crafty Bravo and McLaren providing the back-up support and Harbhajan Singh getting crucial breakthroughs, there has been no respite for batsmen.

Big plus for Mumbai Indians is that their young batsman have stood up and delivered whenever the team needed. Batting up-front, young Shikhar Dhawan has been a revelation. The brisk pace at which the Delhi left-handed batsman is scoring runs and shouldering of responsibility by Saurabh Tiwari have stood Mumbai in good stead. Not to be left behind, another youngster Ambati Rayudu has also done well in patches.

Unfortunately, the indifferent form of pace spearhead Brett Lee, coming into the tournament just after an elbow injury, Sreesanth or Pathan has made the task of Sangakkara tougher. With no easy solutions in sight, the skipper has an unenviable job at hand as two sides take the field tomorrow.

Bangalore, April 8
It was just another day at the office for Deccan Chargers until T Suman finally became their first Indian domestic cricketer to perform and guided them through an improbable chase, also keeping them alive in the tournament. Good start with the ball, everything falling apart at the end, it was all going according to the familiar script when Suman came out with new lines, hitting 78 off 57 from No. 3. Andrew Symonds' 53 off 24 was just the shot in the arm Deccan needed while going at more than 10 an over in the last 10 overs.

Earlier, Jacques Kallis (68) and Virat Kohli (58) put on a 52-ball 95-run fifth wicket partnership to power Royal Challengers Bangalore to a competitive 184 for six.

Kallis continued his purple patch and scored 68 in 44 balls while Kohli produced the acceleration towards the end, making the fifty plus innings in just 35 deliveries to guide RCB to the big score, especially after they were struggling at 68 for four at one stage.

Left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha (2/24) and Ryan Harris (2/37) were the notable wicket-takers for Deccan. From the time he stepped in, Kohli knew nothing about pressure and took the fight into the Deccan camp.

He virtually butchered the Deccan attack, taking 23 runs off an Andrew Symonds over to begin the late innings mayhem. Left-arm pacer RP Singh too bled as Kohli went berserk during his 35-ball blitzkrieg. — PTI

Scoreboard

Royal Challengers:

Pandey b Harris 1 (6)

Kallis c Harris b Marsh 68 (44)

Dravid c Sharma b Ojha 26 (25)

Uthappa c Gilchrist b Symonds 2 (5)

Taylor lbw b Ojha 1 (2)

Kohli c Symonds b Harris 58 (35)

White not out 13 (3)

Praveen not out 0 (0)

Extras (lb 1, w 14) 15

Total (6 wickets; 20 overs) 184

Fall of wickets: 1-18, 2-60, 3-63, 4-68, 5-163, 6-172

Bowling: Harris 4-0-37-2, Harmeet 1-0-13-0, RP 4-0-38-0, Marsh 4-0-37-1, Ojha 4-0-24-2, Symonds 3-0-34-1.

Deccan Chargers:

Gilchrist st Uthappa b Kumble 32 (19)

Mishra c Uthappa b Praveen 9 (11)

Suman not out 78 (57)

Rohit c Steyn b Vinay 6 (5)

Symonds not out 53 (24)

Extras (lb 2, w 6) 8

Total (3 wickets; 19.2 overs) 186

Fall of wickets: 1-11, 2-88, 3-95.

Bowling: Praveen 4-0-37-1, Kumble 4-0-38-1, Steyn 4-0-38-0, Kallis 4-0-32-0, Vinay 3.2-0-39-1.

Amritsar, April 8
In the nine-nation 2010 World Circle Kabaddi tournament, Pakistan joined hosts India, the pool A winner, by cementing its place in the semifinals without losing any match and clinching the top slot in pool B. With the conclusion of today’s encounters at Guru Nanak Stadium, here, the semifinalists spotted in this inaugural Rs 2.2 crore prize money meet, would include teams from India, Pakistan, Italy and Canada.

Nevertheless, Pakistan today outplayed England by 50-23 after establishing a comfortable 30-8 lead at half time. With this, the well-trained Pakistan completed their Pool B fixtures with three wins from as many matches. The Pakistan team, which trained at Lahore for two months before coming here to participate in the World Cup, topped their pool with six points. Canada finished runners-up with two victories and four points.

In another do-or-die battle, Italy snatched a thrilling victory over United States of America by two points (45-43) in a pool A match. With this, Italy joined hosts India in semifinal from their pool A. The crucial Italy-USA encounter witnessed the best kabaddi so far in the tournament. Both teams required victory to move to the knockout stage.

It was an evenly-contested affair, termed as the best match of the tournament so far as. With only few minutes left, Italy and USA were tied at 38-38. Putting their hearts out, Italy took a slender one point lead at 39-38 and kept on the pressure on their rivals and emerged winners by 45-43. Italian captain Kamaljit Singh Kala, Charanjit Channa and Daljit Lamba gave outstanding display. For USA, Jony Gill and Meek Seatle served their team well. Americans Dulla Pehlwan and Jassa Pehlwan also excelled.

It is to mention that Pehlwan brothers are trainees of Gulzar Wrestling Akhara, Zirakhpur. In another encounter, Australia tasted their first victory by beating Iran with a clear cut margin of 57-26. The winners led 33-9 at half time. With a rest day tomorrow, the semifinals matches will be played at the Sports Stadium in Bathinda. In the first semifinal, Pool A winners India will face pool B runners-up Canada and in the second semifinal Pool B winners Pakistan will cross swords with Pool A runners-up Italy. 

Amritsar, April 8
It would not be an exaggeration to say that kabaddi is a game of masses, looking at its popularity and involvement of enormous spectators, during the three-matches of the 2010 Punjab World Cup Kabaddi tournament, held at Guru Nanak Stadium, here, today. Having its origin dating back to pre-historic times, about 4000 years, kabaddi is played in different formats. The most popular has been the National style and Circle style kabaddi.

Though, National style of the game got the privilege to be recognised by Amateur Kabaddi Federation of India, unlike the circle style, but it is the circle style which invites more thrill and agility. The reason being that in circle style, the offence as well as defence is a “man to man” affair while in National style, offence is an individual effort where as defense is a group effort.

Director Sports Punjab Pargat Singh, agreed that contrary to National style, circle style would have to be promoted looking at the quantum of public response towards this format. “But, it would be possible only when the circle style should be separately affiliated with a new governing council. Thereafter its registration has to be done with the Indian Olympic Association. This has to be done initially to put this game on the Asian or Olympic grounds”, he said.

Nevertheless, detailing about the circle kabaddi, Principal Sarwan Singh, the commentary co-ordinator of this tournament and a sports expert elaborated further about its rules and regulations. In circle form of Kabaddi, each team consists of 10 players - five stoppers and five raiders, who remain in 22-meter circle. Besides this, four players from each side are kept reserve for replacement of any injured player.

At one time, only one of the stoppers can try to stop the raider. If more than one touch the raider, an automatic point is awarded to the raider’s team. If the stopper is pushed out by the raider or vice versa, then the team whose member is still in the field gets a point. In this, 40-minute ‘power’ game, three breaks are mandatory. One minute break is given after play of 10 minutes. The next break of five minutes is there after the game resumes for another 20 minutes and the third break of one minute would be there before the remaining 10 minutes of play. 

Manchester, April 8
Arjen Robben ripped up Wayne Rooney's script on Wednesday when the Dutchman's sublime late volley swept Bayern Munich into the Champions League semi-finals and Manchester United to European oblivion. Rooney, returning to the heat of battle just eight days after damaging ankle ligaments in his side's 2-1 defeat in the first leg of their quarter-final, flummoxed Bayern by his mere presence as United romped to a 3-0 lead but ultimately his amazing powers of recovery counted for nothing.

The England striker, who has scored 34 goals to underpin United's season, was largely a peripheral figure as United scored three goals in the opening 41 minutes against a Bayern side that had completely fluffed their lines amid the tumultuous din of a heaving Old Trafford. He had a hand in Darron Gibson's opener after three minutes but after that it was Antonio Valencia and Nani who tore Bayern to shreds, the latter scoring twice to send United seemingly towards a fourth consecutive semi-final in the competition.

That was as good as it got, however, for United, who conceded twice to crash out on the away goals rule — the second, former Chelsea winger Robben's killer blow, coming after Rooney had trudged off after 55 minutes with more damage to his ankle and Brazilian fullback Rafael had been sent off.

As the Old Trafford crowd disappeared into the night, the realisation that their team relies too heavily on Rooney was nagging away again. — Reuters

Augusta, April 8
Golfing greats Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus launched the 74th U.S. Masters on Thursday while Tiger Woods was poised to make his highly anticipated return to competition later in the day. Watched by a packed gallery under clear skies, four-times champion Palmer and six-times winner Nicklaus hit the ceremonial first shots at Augusta National’s par-four opening hole.

Palmer struck a solid blow up the right side of the fairway after being introduced by Augusta National chairman Billy Payne, prompting Nicklaus to ask him, “How did you do that?” Dead-panned, Palmer replied, “Just keep your eye on the ball.”

Nicklaus then followed suit, also pushing his drive to the right. Although his ball ended up slightly ahead of Palmer’s, a security guard kicked it another 10 yards up the hill. Palmer, 80, has struck the honorary first shot as a solo act in recent years and was delighted to be joined by his long-time rival and good friend, the “Golden Bear”.

“It felt great,” Palmer said. “If there was anyone that deserved to be up there with me it would Nicklaus.” Ten minutes later, Australian Nathan Green struck the tournament’s first competitive shot by teeing off at the opening hole. Green was followed by American Heath Slocum and South African Louis Oosthuizen.

The eyes of the golfing world, however, will be firmly fixed on disgraced world number one Woods when he tees off at Augusta National in the second-to-last group of the day. The 14-times major champion, who has won the Masters four times, has not competed since winning the Australian Masters on Nov. 15 following startling revelations that he had had a string of extra-marital affairs. — Reuters

BRIEFLY

CHANDIGARH
Tarlochan for QBR in Canada: Rajya Sabha Member Tarlochan Singh, who is also the chairman of the Media and Publicity Committee of the 2010 Commonwealth Games, will represent India at Queen Baton relay in Canada. Queeen’s Baton will be reaching Toronto on April 13 and on April 14 and it will be taken to Ottawa where an official reception will be held. Tarlochan Singh has been asked by the Indian Olympic Association president Suresh Kalmadi to represent India at the relay. — TNS

Fatehgarh win in U 16 cricket: Fatehgarh Sahib District Under -16 Cricket team defeated Hoshiarpur District in the Punjab Under-16 District Cricket Tournament being originzed by the Punjab Cricket Association by 9 wickets at Hoshiarpur. Hoshiarpur won the toss and elected to bat but they were bundled out for 87 runs in 37.5 overs. Talwinderjit Singh, Deepak Boora and Daksh Aggarwal played havoc with their bating by taking two for 35, two for 16 and one for 14 runs each respectively. — TNS

New Delhi
‘Sohrab can’t represent India’: The Union Sports Ministry on Thursday informed the SC that it was against allowing shooter Sohrab Singh Gill to participate in the World Cup in England and the World Championship in Italy as he was not an Indian citizen. Solicitor General Gopal Subramanium argued that the Indian squad had to be called back from the Asian Championship because Sohrab was a US citizen and held an overseas citizen of India card. — TNS