Kochi, April 28
Deccan Chargers’ Ishant sharma, whose five-wicket haul paved the way for his team's comprehensive win over Kochi Tuskers Kerala in the Indian Premier League, says he still has a long way to go.

Asked if his superb burst of pace bowling last night would would help him make a comeback to the Indian team, the speedster said, "Well, there is still a long way to for me. I don't think about the selection at all. Today, it was about defending the 129 put up by our batsmen." Ishant produced the third best bowling effort in the history of IPL to set up Chargers' 55-run win against Kochi Tuskers.

Since being dropped from the national side, the lanky pacer from Delhi has been working hard to get back to peak form and fitness. “Preparations are obviously there. I have been working hard, focussing on my bowling especially on the technical bit,” he said. Ishant thanked India spearhead and Royal Challengers Bangalore's Zaheer Khan for helping him out. “I need to say thanks to Zaheer Khan because he told me to keep working hard on my fitness. Working with him is really tremendous for me,” said Sharma after his his man-of-the-match effort.

On the track he said, “We don't need to experiment on this. We just stuck to the basics”. — PTI 

New Delhi, April 28
Former India captain Sunil Gavaskar is least excited at the selection of Duncan Fletcher as the country's coach and said someone like Mohinder Amarnath would have been a better choice.

Gavaskar, if one remembers, was in the panel that picked predecessor Gary Kirsten in 2007 but unlike the selection of the former South African opener, Fletcher's appointment was made without any prior notice, in the BCCI working committee meeting yesterday.

Gavaskar insisted that Amarnath would have made a good choice since the cricketer was better equipped to understand the psyche of Indian cricketers and knows what it means to be at the top.

"Mohinder Amarnath for example is one himself, who for the simple reason that the core of the Indian team today comes from the Hindi belt. And I think Jimmy would get along brilliantly with them. Apart from that he has got a fabulous record of making comebacks, he knows what it is to be down and then come back up," Gavaskar said.

Amarnath was in the fray the last time around too, but was pipped at the post by Kirsten. Gavaskar was critical of India's fascination towards foreign coaches, saying that there is a wrong perception that an Indian would get involved in the politics of the game rather than focusing on the job.

"I think if you have a look there is a perception, and wrong if I might add that the Indian coach can be influenced. He will get involved in politics, which is there, but that you are presuming that Indian is not going to be a strong person," the little master said.

"Haven't we seen in the past the overseas guys also, well not exactly, if not indulging in politics and being a little partial towards people from their region," he added. — PTI 

Bangalore, April 28
Having lost four games on the trot in the fourth edition of the Indian Premier League, Pune Warriors will have to pull up their socks and perform as a team, when they take on a confident Royal Challengers Bangalore at the M Chinnaswamy stadium here tomorrow.

The eight-wicket defeat to Chennai Super Kings at Mumbai in their previous game has put the Warriors in a tricky position. With barely two wins from six matches and languishing at the ninth position with only four points, they can't afford to lose anymore matches.

Warriors now require to approach the next three games with a must-win attitude, if they harbour hopes of qualifying for the semifinal play-offs. Three successive wins would ensure that they have ten points from nine games, before the competition turns stiffer for the top four positions.

Having a well-rounded and resourceful team with a good sprinkling of stars, makes the side look unbeatable on paper. But performance is what matters and that is something that Yuvraj Singh would have to drive into his beleaguered boys.

Back-to-back defeats to Mahander Singh Dhoni's Chennai Super Kings has undoubtedly demoralised the team that was gathering steam and confidence at the start of the cash-rich tournament. Except for Yuvraj Singh and Robin Uthappa, the rest of the batsmen haven't really got going.

On the other hand, Royal Challengers, who struggled at the start of the championship, have gained confidence from their victories over Kolkata Knight Riders and Delhi Daredevils. With the likes of Chris Gayle, Tillakaratne Dilshan, AB de Villiers, Virat Kohli and Saurabh Tiwary in its rank, the RCB has got a power-packed batting line up, which can raise alarm bells in any opposition camp.

But with pace spearhead Zaheer Khan looking out of sorts, the team's bowling continues to remain the weakest link. — PTI

New Delhi, April 28
The Delhi Daredevils’ dismal performance with the bat continued, as they went down to Kolkata Knight Riders in a vital match of the Indian Premier League Season IV, at the Ferozeshah Kotla ground here tonight.

Chasing a not-so-imposing 149 for a win, the Delhi batting crumbled under some good bowling and fielding by the KKR side, and also some questionable batting by the home team as they could manage only 131 for 9 in their allotted 20 overs.

Skipper Virender Sehwag was the highest scorer for the Delhi side, but the rest of the batting simply failed to deliver. For KKR, spinner Iqbal Abdullah picked up three wickets, while paceman Lakshmipathy Balaji chipped in with two.

Earlier, the Delhi Daredevils bowlers for once got their act together to restrict Kolka Knight Riders (KKR) to 148 for 7.

Delhi Daredevils captain Virender Sehwag won the toss and opted to bowl on a wicket with a tinge of green. And Sehwag's decision on-mark as he persisted with his quick bowlers, who all did their bits admirably, to shackle the Gautam Gambhir-led KRK, who never really could get on top of the bowling, barring the flourishes, first by Sreevats Goswami and then by the big-hitting Manoj Tiwary.

Tiwary was the only one to get past the half-century mark, and surprisingly, Morne Morkel, the man who should have feasted on KKR's batting was left bleeding himself.

Morkel, whom Sehwag must have expected to provide the breakthrough, got the rough end of the stick, but Irfan Pathan, Umesh Yadav, Ajit Agarkar and James Hopes all bowled with control and speed to not only restrict the run flow, but also get among wickets as well.

Irfan Pathan, the left-arm seamer who has been struggling to find his bowling and batting rhythm, bowled with speed and swing to trouble the batsmen, and got the first breakthrough when he got rid of the dangerous Jacques Kallis with a ball that curled in to shatter the leg stump.

Kallis, who hit Morkel for two successive boundaries in the fourth over, made just 11 from as many balls.

Though Irfan tasted success, he was also guilty of flooring Gautam Gambhir when on 6, off Umesh Yadav. But he made up for the lapse when he caught his brother Yusuf Pathan off Yadav for 5.

Yadav made quite an impression when he sent back Eoin Morgan off the next ball.

Scoreboard

Kolkata Knight Riders

Kallis b Irfan 11

Goswami c Ojha b Agarkar 22

Gambhir c Rao b Hopes 18

Tiwary not out 61

Yusuf c Irfan b Yadav 5

Morgan c Ojha b Yadav 0

Doeschate c Irfan

b Morne 19

Lee run out 1

Balaji not out 3

Extras (lb-2, w-6) 8

Total (7 wkts, 20 overs) 148

Bowling: Irfan 4-0-16-1, Morne 4-0-42-1, Yadav 4-0-29-2, Agarkar 4-0-34-1, Hopes 4-0-25-1.

Delhi Daredevils

Warner b Balaji 2

Sehwag c Balaji

b Unadkat 34

Hopes c Tiwary b Iqbal 25

Irfan c Doeschate

b Iqbal 9

Birt c sub b Yusuf 8

Venugopal run out 19

Ojha c Lee b Iqbal 1

Nagar c Goswami

b Balaji 19

Agarkar run out 0

Morkel not out 6

Yadav not out 1

Extras: (b 3, w 4) 7

Total: (9 wkts; 20 overs) 131

Bowling: Lee 4-0-24-0, Balaji 4-0-38-2, Unadkat 4-0-24-1, Iqbal 4-0-25-3, Kallis 2-0-11-0, Yusuf 2-0-6-1.

Belgrade, April 28
Somdev Devvarman pulled off one of the biggest wins of his career by upsetting world number 26 Guillermo Garcia-Lopez in the second round of the Serbia Open here today. Somdev, who broke into top-100 early this year, scored a thrilling 7-6 (6) 2-6 7-6 (8) win over the Spaniard and sealed a place in the quarter-finals of the clay court event.

It was Somdev's first win over a top-30 player this year and would further enhance his reputation as a new force on the ATP circuit. The intense battle between Somdev, ranked 71, and Guillermo lasted three hours and 13 minutes.

It was Somdev's second meeting against Guillermo this year, having lost to him at Houston, U.S earlier. Somdev had defeated Ivo Karlovic, then world number 25, in 2009 Chennai Open to record his best win. Recently, Somdev had played his heart out against world number one Rafael Nadal and world number six David Ferrer before losing.

It was Somdev, who put his nose ahead by winning the first set thorugh tie breaker but the Spaniard brought all his experience to take second set. Somdev saved eight break points and converted one of the two break chances to stretch the opening set to a tie-breaker.

Guillermo though was not ready to throw in the towel and counter-attacked. He broke through Somdev's defence, grabbing all three break chances to brought the match to level terms. — PTI 

New Delhi, April 28
Young shuttlers Sourabh Verma and RMV Gurusai Datt continued their rampaging run in the Indian Open Super Series, notching up contrasting wins in the second round, to reach the quarterfinals of the men's singles event at the Siri Fort Complex here today.

Madhya Pradesh lad Sourabh once again led the charge as he continued his giant-killing spree with a 21-19, 18-21, 21-11 upset win over seventh seed Kenichi Tago, while Gurusai sent Yuhan Tan of Belgium packing to a 21-13, 14-21, 21-13 defeat. However, India number one P Kashyap found the going tough against world number two Taufik Hidayat and lost 21-17, 21-19.

Sourabh, who is ranked 218 in the world, sent out a wave of euphoria across the sparse crowd, when he beat the world number 25 Japanese in an hour's time. The 20-year-old didn't allow his higher-ranked opponent to settle down and varied the pace of the game, playing an array of strokes. He moved fast on the court and kept the shuttle flat while serving.

In the first game, Sourabh failed to judge the shuttle well, but caught up with Tago at 15-15 before wrapping it up at 21-19. Not ready to give up, the Japanese opened up a three-point lead at 12-9 in the second game and though Sourabh drew parity at 16-16, he surged ahead to bounce back. In the decider, Sourabh stepped up the gas and employed a more aggressive approach to open up a huge 6-0 lead, as Tago's game crumbled.

"The last match had given me a lot of confidence and I knew if I play well, I can beat him. I made sure that I didn't repeat the last match's mistakes and tried to control the game. We were equal in speed and power as we both are young and so it was tiring in the third game. But I didn't want to defend, so I went for my strokes in the third and was aggressive from the start," Sourabh said.

While Sourabh was swift and fluent on the court, Gurusai was slow and sluggish, but the Andhra Pradesh lad was still good enough for his Belgium rival. While in the first game, the world number 52 Indian didn't give Tan any chance, he was erratic in the second game, conceding a lot of points through enforced errors, as the 78th ranked Belgium fought back into contention. But Gurusai got his act together quickly in the decider and moved ahead 10-1. — PTI

New Delhi, April 28
Vijay Kumar Malhotra took charge as the acting president of the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) at Olympic Bhawan here today. He was welcomed by IOA secretary-general Randhir Singh, and held talks with him to chalk out the future course of action. Malhotra, who spent two hours at the Olympic Bhawan, also met senior office-bearers of the IOA and other senior sports officials.

It is learnt that the IOA Executive Committee meeting, which was scheduled to be held on May 15, will now be held on May 24, due to the unavailability of Randhir Singh, who will be away to attend the International Olympic Committee meeting.

But Malhotra will meet the representatives of the National Sports Federations, as planned, on May 1 and then an IOA delegation and representatives of the sports federations, headed by Malhotra, will meet Sports Minister Ajay Maken and senior officials of the Ministry on May 2, to discuss various things, including the contentious Government guidelines on tenure and age limit stipulated for office-bearers of the sports federations.

Malhotra’s meeting with the federation heads will also discuss the new IOA constitution, which was adopted during the National Games in Ranchi (Jharkhand) a few weeks ago, and prepare a calendar of the coming sports events.

Chandigarh, April 28
The 8th Honoria Basketball tournament for Girls took off with a colorful start at the Lawrence School, Sanawar, here today. Six teams from top schools of the country will vie for the coveted trophy over the next three days.

The tourney that has earned recognition and aficionados ever since its inception in 2002, will be played on a round-robin league basis among teams from YPS Mohali, Daly College Indore, The Sri Ram School Delhi, Welham Girls Dehradun, Woodstock School Mussoorie and hosts Lawrence School Sanawar.

The inaugural match was between Sanawar and Woodstock School. Sanawar beat Woodstock by 26 points to 10. Natasha Sidhu, Yashodhan Thakur and Shrinjen Hooda were the top scorers from Sanawar. In other matches YPS Mohali beat Sri Ram School Delhi (39-27) and Daly College Indore beat Welham Girls Dehradun (45-17). 

Madrid, April 28
Lionel Messi lit up an ill-tempered Champions League semifinal yesterday with two goals in the last 15 minutes, to give Barcelona a 2-0 victory at 10-man Real Madrid. Messi guided substitute Ibrahim Afellay's cross through the legs of goalkeeper Iker Casillas, to open the scoring in the 76th minute.

With three minutes to play, the elusive Argentina forward brilliantly ghosted past three defenders before clipping the ball past Madrid goalkeeper for his 52nd goal of the season, and 11th in the Champions League. Barcelona dominated throughout, and coach Pep Guardiola congratulated his team's performance. — AP

New Delhi, April 28
Defending champions Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) defeated Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association (HPCA) by six wickets to sail into the final of the 21st Om Nath Sood Cricket Tournament played at the RSKP ground here today.

Scores:

HPCA: 138 (N Gangta 43, H Dogra 39, P Gupta 4 for 21, P Awana 3 for 16, S Singh 2 for 34). ONGC: 139 for 4 (RS Gupta 52, S Sharma 37, G Khoda 36, S Saini 2 for 43). — TNS