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Warriors face Super Kings
Deccan aim to rise from bottom, play Kochi Tuskers
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Dhoni played innings of his life in WC final: Yuvi
HPCA enter semi-final
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On a sluggish pitch last night, Warriors allowed the Mahendra Singh Dhoni-skippered Super Kings to score 140-plus, through less-than-perfect work on the field and their batsmen failed to get going in the run-chase. Two big defeats in the space of five days would be a dampener and the task in front of Warriors is to put the past behind and regroup as a winning combination in home conditions, which suit their style of play. In fact, the DYP stadium track brings out their best, as it helps the pacers get movement and the batsmen like Yuvraj, Jesse Ryder and Robin Uthappa, to play shots more freely because the ball comes on to the bat nicely. Uthappa made a duck and was bowled round his legs while trying to sweep R Ashwin, but a return to a venue, where he has batted much better, would lift his spirits. The unavailability of the injured Graeme Smith did affect the team's balance as Mohnish Mishra was sent up to open with Jesse Ryder and its not clear when the South African southpaw would completely recover from the hamstring strain. "He (Smith) feels much better now," said a team source. The Warriors also need to be at their physical best as they would be playing four matches, counting the first leg tie against the defending champions, in the space of six days, which includes travelling to Bangalore and Jaipur too after tomorrow's home game. The return to DYP could result in a call-up to Wayne Parnell at the cost of Nathan McCullum who played in Chennai. With Jerome Taylor performing very well, the new ball bowling looks meatier, but the same cannot be said about the slow bowling as Murali Kartik has been less than par for the course. The Super Kings, on the other hand, would be happy to get their title hunt back on track after a string of defeats. But they have won all their three matches at home and are yet to win their first away game. The form at the top of the order of Michael Hussey must be a very pleasing aspect for the team's think tank and though Murali Vijay has not converted his starts to big scores, he has done his bit. But the indifferent form of key batsman Suresh Raina who flopped in their last two games, must be a cause for some concern as he is an impact player for the defending champions with his flamboyant batting, outstanding fielding and effective (in this format) bowling. In fact, it was in fielding that not only Raina, but others like S Badrinath, outscored the Warriors and Dhoni appreciated this factor in his post-match comments. The team's pacers – Doug Bollinger, Albie Morkel and Tim Southee (if included) – would relish the pitch at the DYP much more than the Chepauk track. Though Ashwin and Suraj Randiv have performed well at home, it remains to be seen whether they can be effective on the surface here which does not aid spin bowling as much. The teams (from): Pune Warriors: Yuvraj Singh (capt.), Robin Uthappa (wk), Murali Kartik, Abhishek Jhunjhunwala, Bhuvaneshwar Kumar, Deeraj Jadhav, Eklavya Dwivedi, Ganesh Gaikwad, Harpreet Singh Bhatia, Harshad Khadiwale, Kamran Khan, Mithun Manhas, Mohnish Mishra, Rahul Sharma, Sachin Rana, Shrikant Wagh, Shrikant Mundhe, Imtiyaz Ahmed, Jesse Ryder, Graeme Smith, Wayne Parnell, Alphonso Thomas. Tim Paine, Callum Ferguson, Mitchell Marsh, Jerome Taylor, James Faulkner. Chennai Super Kings: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (capt.), M Vijay, Suresh Raina, S Badrinath, R Ashwin, S Anirudha, Shadab Jakati, Michael Hussey, Albie Morkel, D Bollinger, G Bailey, T Southee, F du Plessis, Suraj Randiv, Nuwan Kulasekara, Joginder Sharma, Yo Mahesh, A Mukund, W Saha, Scott Styris, Sudeep Tyagi, K Vasudevadas, G Vignesh. Injured Murali Vijay doubtful
Injured Chennai Super Kings opener Murali Vijay is a doubtful starter for tomorrow's Indian Premier League match against Pune Warriors at the D Y Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai here tomorrow. "A call on Vijay is to be taken tomorrow," informed sources in the Super Kings team today. The Chennai opener, who has scored 180 runs in six matches so far at a modest average of 30, strained his hamstring while batting in the previous game against the same opponents at the Chidambaram Stadium.
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Deccan aim to rise from bottom, play Kochi Tuskers
Kochi, April 26 Their campaign has been far from impressive so far and the task is not going to be any easier for Deccan against a confident Kochi outfit. Although their three-match winning run was halted by Rajasthan Royals, but Kochi have done well and look a solid unit. But Kumar Sangakkara's Chargers have been struggling to gel together as a team and that has reflected in their roller-coaster run so far. In six matches they have played so far, the 2009 champions have won only twice, while finishing on the losing side on four occasions. Having lost to Mumbai Indians in their last outing, with both batting and bowling failing to make an impression, the chips are obviously down. And they desperately need a win against Kochi, who have managed three wins and as many losses from their six games. The Deccan batting line-up has not been able to live up to expectations except for Kumar Sangakkara and to some extent Shikhar Dhawan. Besides, Sunny Sohal and Bharat Chipli have done a decent job in a couple of matches to bring a semblance of balance to the Chargers' batting. As far as their bowling is concerned, the team would be hoping that South African pacer Dale Steyn and Manpreet Gony and spinner Amit Mishra would come out with flying colours. But Ishant Sharma and Daniel Christian will also have to get into the rhythm to cope with the likes of Mahela Jayawardene, Brendon McCullum, Brad Hodge, VVS Laxman and Parthiv Patel. On the other hand, the Kochi Tuskers, who had been on a rampage, having registered three back-to-back victories, were stopped by the Rajasthan Royals in the last game. But that should not have much bearing on Jayawardene and Co., who earlier stunned three powerful sides in the competition - defending champions Chennai Super Kings, runners-up of last season Mumbai Indians and Kolkata Knight Riders - to emerge victorious. — PTI
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Delhi fall to a Royal Challenge
New Delhi, April 26 Chasing Delhi’s 160 for six, RCB reached 161 for seven off 19.3 overs to claim two much-needed points, as Delhi were left pondering over what could have been. Virat Kohli was the star for RCB, hammering a pugnacious 56 off 38 balls while Chris Gayle scored a typical 26 off 14 deliveries. An inspirational throw from the square-leg fence by David Warner that smashed into the stumps at the non-striker’s end, sent back the dangerous AB de Villiers after 8.5 overs, followed by the departure of Kohli two balls later, bowled off the inside edge. This, combined with the departure earlier of Gayle after he and Kohli had combined to blast away for an 82-run second-wicket stand made Delhi believe they were back in the game. But they couldn’t seal off the advantage and some late flourish from Saurabh Tiwary, Daniel Vettori and Syed Mohammad ensured that RCB didn’t lose the plot. If RCB had any rough edges to sort out, they would be the constant flow of wickets they kept throwing away, keeping Delhi interested right till the end. But the hosts just didn’t have enough runs. Earlier, James Hopes was the cornerstone of Delhi’s effort of 160-7 with an innings of 54 while Sehwag and Venugopal Rao chipped in usefully. Delhi scored in fits and starts, often promising a much larger total than what they got. Sehwag began the way he does but Warner struggled and departed to a cracker from Zaheer Khan. Sehwag fell short of his crease taking and Matthew Wade played over one from Mithun soon after. It was again left to Venugopal Rao to stitch a partnership with Hopes, who was lucky to get a life at 43, caught off a Mithun no-ball. The two put together 47 runs for the fourth wicket, with Venugopal Rao finding the fence twice and going over it once. But Rao left, bowled by Daniel Vettori and Hopes was then left with the job of keeping the innings together against some good fielding and accurate bowling. Once Hopes left, Ojha and Irfan Pathan garnered some vital runs towards the end of the innings. Scoreboard Royal Challengers
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Sanga, Jayawardene for early exit from IPL
Colombo, April 26 Sangakara and Jayawardene, who are currently in-charge of the Deccan Chargers and Kochi Tuskers Kerala respectively, will reportedly leave the Indian Premier League (IPL) early to start preparations for the first Test against England on 26th May. According to 'The Island', both the players are expected be in Colombo by the May 16 and will leave the island a day later, to join the squad for the second warm-up game scheduled for May 19 against England Lions at Derby. The newspaper also reported that both players have received the necessary consent of their franchises to make an early exit. The newly appointed skipper, meanwhile, is expected join the national squad before it takes-off to England on the May 10. Sri Lanka Cricket last week allowed seven players from the squad to arrive in England before May 19, the day their second warm-up game starts. The board had earlier asked the players to return on May 5 to prepare for the tour. — PTI
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Dhoni played innings of his life in WC final: Yuvi
Mumbai, April 26 "It was a dream come true. As MS (Dhoni) said (earlier) I did not know what to do. I wanted to jump on MS and keep jumping on him. He had just played the innings of his life," the flamboyant batsman said. "It was the highlight of my career. To win the World Cup after 28 years, was very special. Can't explain the feelings," said Yuvraj who scored 362 runs in 9 matches averaging 90-plus and also grabbed 15 wickets with his left arm slow bowling. Dhoni, for his part, conceded he had gone blank after hitting the winning shot, a six. "I was quite blank at that point of time. I didn't know how to celebrate. Then I saw Yuvraj's 6-foot, 2-inch (frame) coming towards me. I thought, he's not going anywhere; let me get to the stumps (souvenirs) first," said Dhoni at the event organised by Reebok to felicitate the triumphant team members. — PTI
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Saint Lucia, April 26 Umar Akmal carried the visitors over the threshold with 12 balls remaining, when he lofted a delivery from Dwayne Bravo to long-off for the final boundary of the match. The result means that Pakistan take a 2-0 lead in the five-match series after winning the first game by eight wickets on Saturday at the same ground. Pakistan have now won their last seven ODIs against West Indies, a sequence spread over the last four years. Brief Scores: WI : 220 (50 overs, Simmons 51); Pak: 221/3 (48 overs), Shehzad 102. — AFP
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Madrid, April 26 The Portuguese coach has always managed to rile Barca, where he spent some of his formative years as an assistant to Bobby Robson in the 1990s, and guided Inter Milan to victory in the semis last year on the way to Champions League glory. Mourinho also crossed swords with Barca three times during his spell at Chelsea, twice bettering them over a 'two-match series'. His ability to ruffle the Catalan team's feathers knows no end and he has outwitted them so far in the unprecedented 'four-match series' between the world's two richest clubs. A 1-1 league draw, when Real came back to level with 10 men on April 16, was followed by last Wednesday's 1-0 extra-time victory in the King's Cup final, Mourinho's first trophy as coach of the Madrid side. The league title is all but wrapped up for Barcelona, for Real, and a third for Mourinho - and all with different teams. — Reuters
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Mumbai, April 26
Mumbai, April 26
Mumbai, April 26
The Warriors, led by India's World Cup hero Yuvraj Singh, began their debut season on a high, with back-to-back victories over Kings XI Punjab and Kochi Tuskers Kerala earlier this month, both at the DYP. But the defeat against Delhi Daredevils at their home venue, despite scoring an imposing total of 187 for 5, started the Warriors' slide and they lost successive ties to Mumbai Indians at the Wankhede Stadium, and to CSK at the latter's backyard - Chidambaram Stadium.
