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Kings trump Super Kings
Deccan Chargers seek revival against RCB |
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Warriors continue victory march, beat Kochi
1960 Rome Olympics heroes felicitated
No complacency: Tendulkar tells MI
The curious case of Ambati Rayudu
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Kings trump Super Kings
It seemed quite extraordinary, but for once MS Dhoni looked like an ordinary captain out in the middle. Such was the power of the onslaught launched by little-known Paul Valthaty that King’s XI made a difficult target look easy. CSK skipper Dhoni appeared clueless as Valthaty tore into the bowling attack to score an unbeaten 120 and the King’s XI achieved their win with five balls to spare and with six wickets in hand. It was at this very ground just about a fortnight ago when MS Dhoni could do no wrong and led his team to a famous semi-final win over Pakistan in the World Cup. But today it was Paul Valthaty all the way. The 27-year-old Mumbai batsman, who played for Rajasthan Royals earlier, came out to open the Kings’ innings along with skipper Adam Gilchrist and made an impact right from the start. Gilchrist realised early that Valthaty was in great touch and gave him most of the strike.
When Valthaty started the hitting, Dhoni must have imagined that this cameo will soon come to an end with some rash shot. But, Valthaty kept bringing out the shots one after the other, and the target kept getting smaller and smaller. At one point Dinesh Karthik (who remained unbeaten with 22) top-edged a shot and the ball went soaring into the sky. Dhoni took his time and tried to settle beneath the catch but in the end he finished nowhere near the ball and the catch went down. That moment kind of captured the overall helplessness of the CSK bowlers and fielders (and also of their captain). Valthaty was at his modest best after the match saying it all fell together for him on the day. But those watching at the ground, and the hapless fielders in the middle, could only applaud the sheer beauty of Valthaty’s shots. It was the kind of innings that has the power to launch an entire career and it will not be a surprise if this knock catapults Valthaty on to bigger things for the Indian team as well. Earlier, Kings were given a dream start by Praveen Kumar, who struck twice in the first over of the match to send back Aniruddha Srikkanth and Suresh Raina without a run on the board. Murali Vijay and S Badrinath then scored 124 runs for the third wicket to steady the CSK innings and captain Dhoni came in to maul Praveen Kumar for 22 runs in one over as the Chennai team finished with 188 runs from their 20 overs. That seemed like a daunting score. But that was before Paul Valthaty got into the act and played that gem of a knock. Unsurprisingly, Valthaty was adjudged man-of-the-match for his brilliant unbeaten hundred.
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Deccan Chargers seek revival against RCB
Hyderabad, April 13 Despite playing here on eight occasions over the past three seasons, the team is yet to register a single victory. Chargers had lost all their seven matches played here in the inaugural season in 2008. Under Adam Gilchrist’s leadership, they roared back to lift the title in the second edition, which was moved to South Africa due to general elections in the country. Last year the team’s base was shifted to Cuttack due to the Telangana unrest.Compounding their woes, the team has already suffered a few hiccups in the ongoing edition. Rajasthan Royals comprehensively beat them in their opening fixture last Saturday and, two days later, the Chargers were laid low by Kolkata Knight Riders. And tomorrow, they will be up against a team that boasts of quite a few world-class players itself. With the likes of AB de Villiers, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Virat Kohli and Saurabh Tiwary, all known for their explosive batting, Chargers’ bowlers will have to be on their toes. The home side will be hoping that South African speed merchant Dale Steyn and India seamer Ishant Sharma deliver the goods for them in the crucial encounter. The team is also banking on local boy Pragyan Ojha to do the job for them. The left-arm spinner had stamped his mark after he emerged as the leading wicket-taker in the last edition. However, both Ojha and Sharma had gone wicket-less in the opening two matches. On the batting front, Chargers rely heavily on South African all-rounder Jean-Paul Duminy and Sangakkara, with opener Shikhar Dhawan, Daniel Christian and local boy Ravi Teja completing the top-order. Both Christian and Teja made useful contributions batting down the order in the previous games. However, it will be interesting to see how the Chargers batting deals with the likes of skipper Daniel Vettori, Zaheer Khan and Dirk Nannes, RCB’s mainstays in bowling. The Bangalore outfit, after kicking off the campaign with a win over Kochi Tuskers Kerala last Saturday, was thrashed by Mumbai Indians in Bangalore yesterday. Challengers finished runners-up in the second season after suffering a six-run loss to the Chargers in the final. The revenge was extracted when the Bangalore team went on to beat the Chargers to secure third-place in the last edition. — PTI
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Warriors continue victory march, beat Kochi Mumbai, April 13 The win keeps intact the unbeaten start made by Yuvraj Singh’s team in this season of IPL. Earlier, Ravindra Jadeja counter-punched his way to a blazing 47 as Kochi Tuskers Kerala recovered from a poor start to post a modest 148 for eight. Tottering at 24 for four in the fifth over, the Kochi team were bailed out by a fine fifth-wicket stand of 88 runs in 64 balls between Brad Hodge (39 in 36 balls) and Jadeja, who struck three sixes and as many fours in his impressive 33-ball innings that ended in the 17th over.
Their twin dismissals within the space of six balls seemed to have put paid to the hopes of the Tuskers to post a more challenging score but Raiphi Gomez struck a quick-fire 26 not out in 18 balls to help Kochi finish on a brighter note at the D Y Patil Stadium. — PTI
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1960 Rome Olympics heroes felicitated
New Delhi, April 13 In a magnanimous gesture, Maken invited his immediate predecessor in the Sports Ministry, Dr M.S. Gill, to do the honours by presenting a silver plaque, a shawl and a cheque of Rs 1.5 lakh each to the 1960 Olympic football stars. Gill, at his time, had spent nearly Rs 8 crore each in the three years of his tenure for the development of football in India. Dr Gill had also honoured the living members of the Indian squad for the 1956 Melbourne Olympics. He said it was apt that the football veterans were honoured at the National Stadium where India had lifted the soccer gold in the inaugural Asian Games in 1951. “I still remember the goal scored by Mewa Lal,” he recollected. Those honoured today were P.K. Banerjee, Arun Lal Ghosh, Chuni Goswami, wife of late D Kannan, Fortunata A Franco, O Chandrashekhar, wife of late Peter Thangaraj, S.S. Hakim, S.S.H. Hamid, S. Narayanan, Simon Sunder Raj and Tulsidas Balaram. The irrepressible P.K. Banerjee held the centre stage with his forceful presence and forthright views. The still flamboyant Goswami paid glowing tribute to M.S. Dhoni’s feat of winning the World Cup. “It was a tremendous achievement, though cricket is played only in a few countries,” observed Goswami, who had the unique distinction of playing football and leading Bengal in the Ranji Trophy. Later, Maken said that Sports Ministry would give priority to football from now on.
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Tendulkar is Wisden’s leading cricketer for 2010
London, April 13 The iconic batsman became the seventh recipient of the Wisden award after teammate Virender Sehwag, Australians Ricky Ponting and Shane Warne, England's Andrew Flintoff, Sri Lanka's Muttiah Muralitharan and South African Jacques Kallis. The 148th edition of Wisden Cricketers' Almanack was launched today and it was the first time that Tendulkar has won the award since it has started in 2004. Tendulkar, who realised his long-cherished dream when India won the World Cup earlier this month in Mumbai, has also been named in Wisden's 2009 Test XI, at his accustomed number four position. Sehwag, who took the honour in the last two years, has also found a place in Wisden's 2009 Test XI, forming an attacking opening partnership with Bangladesh's Tamim Iqbal. The 37-year-old Tendulkar scored more than 1500 Test runs, including seven centuries in the year 2010, averaging 78. In February, he became the first in world cricket to score a double-hundred in One-day Internationals; while in December, he became the first man to score 50 Test tons, both landmarks achieved against the best pace attack in world cricket - South Africa. Tendulkar's citation read, "Wisden acknowledges his greatness by naming him as the Leading Cricketer in the World for 2010." — PTI
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No complacency: Tendulkar tells MI
Bangalore, April 13 Tendulkar said they had discussed about restricting the opposition to 140 and he was happy that they were able to achieve that last night. “When we started to bowl, we had hoped the target to be a maximum of 140. Malinga again provided us a great start. We also fielded well and it was another superb team effort. The idea was to bowl as straight as possible and we did just that.” The iconic batsman also praised young Ambati Rayudu for his aggressive half-century. “It was a brilliant innings from the young man Rayudu. It was a special stuff,” the maestro said. — PTI
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The curious case of Ambati Rayudu
The 26-year-old Rayudu was hailed as a prodigious batting talent when he had started his career in 2001, but for some reason, he could not do justice to his immense potential. Rayudu was selected to represent India's under 19 team for the tour of England in 2002 and had scored 177 and 80 to lead his team to a 3-0 victory. Rayudu, who currently plays for Baroda in the Ranji Trophy, captained the India Under-19 team in the 2004 Under-19 Cricket World Cup and also became a regular in the India-A squad. But a prolonged lean patch and some differences with the Hyderabad Cricket Association officials prompted him to leave Hyderabad and play for Andhra. His batting form deserted him and he got involved in a number of controversies, which led to an adverse effect on his career. Disillusioned by his failure to make it big, he joined the rebel Indian Cricket League in 2007 and was banned by the BCCI. He returned to the domestic cricket following an amnesty offer from the Board. It was a call from Tendulkar, which led Rayudu to join Mumbai Indians and now, the youngster has justified the faith his captain had shown. — PTI
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Mohali, April 13
Hyderabad, April 13
Years flew thin as players of another era re-lived the golden phase of Indian football at the National Stadium here today.
Mohali, April 13
Even after the King’s captain departed, Valthaty was in no mood to relent and continued to torment the CSK bowlers. Valthaty’s 63-ball knock contained 19 boundaries and two sixes. Valthaty, who was not very famous before this incredible knock, must have made quite an impression on the Indian captain, who watched this fiery knock in disbelief from right behind the stumps.
But for this stand, Kochi would have been bowled out for below 100 by the Warriors bowling attack that put in another impressive display after their superb show against Kings XI Punjab last Sunday.
Bangalore, April 13
