Kollata, April 19
Kolkata Knight Riders ended their IPL campaign on a high note, beating table-toppers Mumbai Indians by a convincing nine-wicket margin in the dead rubber at Eden Gardens here today. Already out of the semifinal reckoning, the hosts put up a splendid all round show and finished in the sixth position with 14 points behind Delhi Daredevils.

Delhi also ended with 14 points but due to their better run-rate (+0.02) they finished one place above Kolkata (-0.34). Exploiting the slow track, Kolkata restricted the new-look Mumbai Indians to 133 for eight and then overhauled the target with 2.3 overs to spare with Brendon McCullum (57 not out) and Sourav Ganguly (42) playing good knocks at top.

It is for the first time in their last six clashes that Kolkata have defeated Mumbai Indians. Saurabh Tiwary's sensible 37-ball 46 was cornerstone of Mumbai's total as they made wholesome changes to their side, fielding five new players. Murali Kartik (2/20) and Shane Bond (2/24) set up the win for Kolkata by their brilliant effort as they restricted Mumbai to their lowest score in this season.

Chasing a modest total, and playing under no pressure, McCullum and skipper Ganguly threw their bat at each and everything and produced the one of the best opening stands for their side in this season. They rattled up 97 in 13.5 overs to lay the foundation for an easy win. Ganguly's 36-ball knock had four fours and two sixes and McCullum's 56 ball innings was studded with eight fours.

Ganguly began the scoring by hammering a big six off spinner Ali and McCullum played some really exquisite drives off Ryan McLaren and Dilhara Fernando. The Sri Lankan paceman was punished by Ganguly too as he was hit for a six and four by the former Indian captain. Dwayne Bravo, who led the side as Sachin Tendulkar opted to rest, produced a chance to break the partnership but McLaren grassed Ganguly's catch when he was on 22.

At half-way mark, Kolkata were comfortably placed at 72 for no loss but the partnership ended soon with the dismissal of Ganguly. The local southpaw miscued one shot off R Satish and the ball landed in the hands of Bravo, who nearly messed it up with McLaren. McCullum and David Hussey (20) then guided the team home comfortably. Earlier, Mumbai Indians found the going tough after winning the toss as stroke-making was tough on the slow strip and the ball was not coming on to bat. — PTI

Scoreboard
Mumbai Indians:
Tare c Kartik b Bond (3)
Dhawan c Saha b Bond 10 (11)
Tiwary c McCullum b Kartik 46 (37)
Duminy b Unadkat 19 (27)
Sathish c Kartik b Tiwary 11 (11)
Bravo st Saha b Kartik 5 (9)
Rayudu run out 27 (15)
Binny c Ganguly b Dinda 8 (5)
McLaren not out 0 (2)
Extras: (b 2, lb 2, w 2) 6
Total: (8 wickets; 20 overs) 133
Bowling: Bond 4-0-24-2, Dinda 4-0-20-1, Unadkat 4-0-27-1, Ganguly 1-0-13-0, Kartik 4-0-20-2, Hussey 2-0-14-0, Tiwary 1-0-11-1.

Kolkata Knight Riders:
Ganguly c Bravo b Sathish 42 (36)
McCullum not out 57 (56)
Hussey not out 20 (14)
Extras: (lb 2, w 9, nb 5) 16
Total: (1 wicket; 17.3 overs) 135
Bowling: Murtaza 4-0-27-0, Fernando 3-0-31-0, McLaren 3-0-26-0, Bravo 2-0-7-0, Binny 1-0-9-0, Duminy 2.3-0-22-0, Sathish 2-0-11-1.

New Delhi, April 19
Lashing out at his players for their inconsistent show after being knocked out of IPL, Delhi Daredevils skipper Gautam Gambhir today said they did not play as a team in the entire tournament. Chasing a modest 146, Delhi lost today's virtual quarterfinal to Deccan Chargers by 11 runs and crashed out of the tournament. The left-handed batsman was peeved with the flop show of the batsmen, particularly the top-order.

“We restricted them to 145. Considering their line up it was good effort. We should have chased it. The pitch was much better. It wasn’t bad. We should have batted sensibly, it was pretty much chase-able,” Gambhir said at the post-match press conference here. “Entire team has to take responsibility. We did not play as a team. We should have batted with more responsibility,” he added.

Gambhir said his team was never comfortable chasing even a comfortable total, thanks to pathetic top-order show.

“We never chased convincingly in the entire tournament. We were in positions to chase convincingly but we were not consistent. If we lose four out of five matches we do not deserve to be in semifinals,” he said.

Talking about Virender Sehwag’s indifferent form, he said, “It’s bad patch. We wanted to him to play his natural game but we lost wickets early in the last matches. Not only Sehwag but the entire top-order did not do well. Tried to get the best combination but it didn’t click.” Winning captain Adam Gilchrist was all smiles and said even after posting a not so impressive total, they were confident of defending it.

“Definitely (it was defendable). It was a team effort. At the toss I thought 150 would be okay. But when Symonds and Marsh were batting, I thought of 170.

They did not do that but I always felt there was a chance (to defend this total),” he said. Gilchrist was of the view that this season saw the fiercest competition among the teams.

“This (season) has been the most competitive. It’s last matches that we are getting to know the semifinalists which was not the case last season or in the first season.

The fortunes have fluctuated,” he said. The Australian said the players in his side were jittery after the bomb blast in Banglore before the RCB-Mumbai Indians match.”

There is always concern when that happens. But we had lot of confidence in the management. We did not get any advisory from Cricket Australia or the government but we did consult our security advisor here,” he said. — PTI

Dharamsala, April 19
Kings XI Punjab coach Tom Moody claimed that Yuvraj Singh was not fully fit in the IPL III and that has contributed to his side's poor show in the tournament. Moody attributed his side’s bottom finish in the IPL III to injury to key bowlers like Brett Lee and lack of full fitness of Yuvraj. “Most of our main bowlers including Brett Lee are injured. The main player of the team Yuvraj Singh also has not recovered fully from wrist injury," said Moody after his side's six-wicket loss to Chennai Super Kings in their last league match here.

“A new team after the fresh auction will bring back the reputation of Kings XI Punjab," he added. He said his players committed some silly mistakes in every important game which cost the side dear. “We lost both the games at Dharamsala after scoring huge runs. It is disappointing," said the Australian. “A number of players are out of form but the spinners have done a terrific job in the tournament,” he added.

Moody reasoned that Yuvraj's ordinary form in this IPL might be due to the pressure of high expectations from the fans. “After the six sixes in the 2007 Twenty20 World Cup, a mental pressure has been built up on Yuvraj. The high expectations of the public might have affected his performance. Moody denied that there was any rift among players in the side because of the poor performance in the tournament. — PTI

New Delhi, April 19
Commonwealth Games Organising Committee Chairman Suresh Kalmadi today said the OC was monitoring the situation after Saturday’s twin blasts in Bangalore and assured all participating countries that best possible security arrangements will be made for the Games. “The Ministry of Home Affairs and Delhi Police have been working on making the best security arrangements for the athletes and visitors in the Commonwealth Games. Along with them, we are monitoring the situation in the wake of the recent incident in Bengaluru and we are leaving no stone unturned to make sure that the Capital is safe and secure,” Kalmadi said in a statement.

Saturday’s twin blasts in Bangalore triggered a security alarm for New Zealand's Olympic Committee which said it was taking the incident seriously before finalising the contingent for the Delhi Commonwealth Games. NZOC said it would now seek advice from the government’s Major Events Security Committee because “athlete safety remains the organisation's highest priority.” Kalmadi assured that the organisers were not taking any chances even though Commonwealth Games Federation is happy with the arrangements.

“The Commonwealth Games Federation has been advised by its international security consultant that India is making the best security arrangements for the Games,” he said. “CGF President Mike Fennell was also satisfied with the security arrangements,” he said. Kalmadi said the organisers held a number of security briefings for Heads of Missions of the Commonwealth countries and recently hosted a Chefs-de-Mission Seminar.

“On both occasions, Delhi’s security plans received a thumbs-up," Kalmadi claimed. “We have been planning the security arrangements for many years and Government has spared no expense in asking for the best equipment and personnel to be in place. Once all venues are ready, there would be another International Security Liaison Group Security Commanders’ conference. We are taking no chances at all,” Kalmadi said.

He pointed out that events like World Cup Hockey, Commonwealth Shooting Championship, Commonwealth Boxing Championship and Badminton Asia Championship have been hosted without any problem and said the organisers are always maintaining the security scenario. — PTI

Monte Carlo, April 19
Mahesh Bhupathi had to retire due to a leg injury, forcing the Indian and his partner Max Mirnyi to settle for the runners-up trophy in the men’s doubles competition of the Monte Carlo Masters here. The fifth seeds were trailing 3-6, 0-2 against top seeds and defending champions Daniel Nestor of Canada and Nenad Zimonjic of Serbia when Bhupathi retired due to a leg injury after 44 minutes of play.

Nestor and Zimonjic broke serve in seventh and ninth games of the 29-minute first set, winning 16 of 20 service points and hitting five aces. After breaking in the second game of the second set, the match continued for a further two points before Bhupathi - appearing in his 80th tour-level final (45-35) - called it a day.

“Of course we got a little fortunate today with the injury which is unfortunate for them. They’ve been playing really well recently, getting to the final in Miami and they’ll definitely be one of the teams to contend with throughout the rest of the season,” said Nestor. Nestor has now captured 67 doubles titles, while Zimonjic has a 35-23 finals record. He also lifted the Monte-Carlo title in 2004, 2005 and was runner-up in 2006.

As a team, they have compiled a 19-9 record in title matches and have a 21-5 match record on the season. Jonas Bjorkman and Todd Woodbridge were the last back-to-back winners at the Monte-Carlo Country Club in 2001 and 2002. Bhupathi and Mirnyi were finalists at the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami two weeks ago. They played together from 2002-04, winning seven of 15 finals, including the Monte-Carlo title in 2003. — PTI

London, April 19
Arsenal’s faint hopes of winning the Premier League title were finally killed off when Wigan Athletic scored three goals in the last 10 minutes to snatch a dramatic 3-2 victory on Sunday. Arsenal, lifted by Chelsea’s defeat at Tottenham Hotspur on Saturday, looked to be coasting to victory through goals by Theo Walcott and Mikael Silvestre either side of halftime.

But Ben Watson, Titus Bramble and Charles N’Zogbia struck in quick succession to turn the match on its head and give Wigan their first league victory over Arsene Wenger’s side. “It is the most disappointing defeat of the season and the way we conceded, it was also the most disappointing,” Wenger said. “It is difficult to understand and accept, perhaps the players felt too comfortable but in football you must stay focused for 90 minutes and we were punished. We made mistakes and they took advantage, they were sharper in the final part of the game.”

Wigan had already beaten Chelsea and Liverpool at home this season but captain Mario Melchiot said it was his side’s biggest victory of the campaign. “I was so happy when we scored the winner because we needed the points,” he said. “It’s a very big result, very good for the morale of the team.” The result moved Wigan on to 35 points, seven clear of Hull City, and virtually guaranteed their Premier League survival for another season.

Arsenal, who would have moved to within three points of leaders Chelsea with a win, remained third on 71 points, six behind Chelsea and five adrift of Manchester United with just three matches to play. In the day’s other match Aston Villa won 2-1 at relegated FA Cup finalists Portsmouth and leap-frogged above Liverpool into sixth place, at least until Liverpool play West Ham United on Monday.

Villa, still in the hunt for fourth place which brings with it a chance of Champions League football next season, moved on to 58 points, six behind Spurs (64), who are fourth. Manchester City (62) are fifth. Wenger conceded that Arsenal were out of the title race on Wednesday when they lost 2-1 at arch-rivals Tottenham Hotspur but they were handed an unlikely lifeline when Spurs beat Chelsea. — Reuters

BRIEFLY

Narang shoots World Cup bronze
NEW DELHI: Ace Indian shooter Gagan Narang won a bronze in 10 meter air rifle event at the World Cup in Beijing. Narang shot 597 in the qualifying and then came up with 103.3 in the final round for a total of 700.3 to win his sixth World Cup medal. Russian Denis Sokolov won the gold with a total score of 701.3 (597+104.3) while the silver went to Chinese Zhu Qinan who shot 701.2 (598+103.2). Other two Indians in the fray, Sanjeev Rajput and P T Raghunath failed to qualify for the final round after finishing 24th and 25th respectively. — PTI

Women’s hockey squad for NZ tour
NEW DELHI: Veteran striker Surinder Kaur will lead a 22-member Indian women’s hockey squad in the five-match Test series against New Zealand from May 13 to 23. The series, to be played at Palmerston North in Wellington, is part of the India team’s preparation for the Women’s World Cup at Rosario, Argentina in August. Schedule: 1st Test - 15th May; 2nd Test - 16th May; 3rd Test - 19th May; 4th Test - 22nd May; 5th Test - 23rd May. — PTI

Modi rubbishes betting allegations
NEW DELHI: Embattled IPL Commissioner Lalit Modi on Monday rubbished allegations of betting and money laundering in the event and threatened to take legal action against the newspaper which has made the accusations. Modi, said the charges were “nonsense” and aimed at discrediting the Twenty20 tournament. “Mr Lalit Kumar Modi has rubbished the front page article that appeared today in the Economic Times under the title ‘I-T Blows The Lid off IPL Sleaze - Lalit Modi charged with Betting & Laundering’,” the statement issued by the IPL read. — PTI

Advani for inter-state tournament
CHENNAI: World professional billiards champion Pankaj Advani and Asian Games snooker gold medallist Rafat Habib would be seen in action in the two day Karnataka-Tamil Nadu Inter-state prize money tournament to be played from April 21. Advani, who recently won the Asian Billiards title for the record third time, has confirmed his participation in the event which includes Billiards, Snooker and Pool Games, a release from Tamil Nadu Billiards and Snooker Association said. — PTI