Scoreboard

Kings XI Punjab

Valthaty b Irfan 62

Gilchrist c Warner b Morkel 9

Marsh c Morkel b Irfan 46

Karthik c Hopes b Salvi 27

Hussey c Hopes b Salvi 3

Mandeep b Irfan 11

Harris not out 2

Piyush not out 1

Extras (lb 2, w 7) 9

Total: (6 wkts; 20 ovrs) 170

Bowling: Irfan 4-0-28-3, Morkel 4-0-22-1, Aaron 4-0-26-0, Salvi 4-0-40-2, Hopes 3-0-27-0, Sriram 1-0-25-0.

Delhi Daredevils

Ojha c Gilchrist

b Srivastava 28

Warner c Gilchrist

b Srivastava 29

Rao c Harris b Piyush 16

Sriram c Karthik b Piyush 4

Irfan c Mandeep b Valthaty 3

Hopes c Gilchrist b Piyush 7

Birt c Harris b Praveen 16

Nagar lbw b Harris 10

Morkel not out 16

Aaron not out 0

Extras (lb 4, w 8) 12

Total: (8 wkts; 20 ovrs) 141

Bowling: Praveen 4-1-32-1, Harris 4-0-16-1, Srivastava 4-0-39-2, Piyush 4-0-16-3, Valthaty 4-0-34-1.

Indore, May 15
Brad Hodge led the way with four wickets as Kochi Tuskers Kerala thrashed Rajasthan Royals by eight wickets to keep their hopes of earning a play-offs berth alive in the Indian Premier League, here today.

Opting to bowl first after winning the toss, Kochi rode on Hodge's impressive figures of four for 13, his best in IPL, to bundle out Rajasthan for a paltry 97, and then chased down the target in just 7.2 overs, with Hodge contributing 33 of them.

Thanks to the defeat, Rajasthan are knocked out of the tournament. On a high after the bowlers' excellent showing, Kochi batsmen led by the dangerous Brendon McCullum and a confident- looking Parthiv Patel, looked at ease during their respective knocks of 29 and 21 not out.

Despite the early loss of skipper Mahela Jayawardene to Jacob Oram, McCullum looked unperturbed and hammered four sixes and a boundary to knock the stuffing out of the Rajasthan bowlers during his 12-ball cameo. After McCullum's departure, Patel along with Hodge put together a half-century stand to seal the issue in their team's favour.

Chasing a small total, McCullum kicked off the Kochi innings in style, pulling Shaun Tait for a huge six over deep midwicket. The New Zealander then danced down the track to send Oram over his head for another six. That was the beginning of a brutal assault as McCullum smothered his Kiwi teammate for two more sixes in the same over.

But just as it seemed like he would finish the job on his own, Nayan Doshi had McCullum. That, however, didn't disturb Kochi's momentum as Patel and Hodge carried on from where McCullum had left, finding the ropes at the small Holkar Cricket stadium with consummate ease. — PTI

Scoreboard

Rajasthan Royals

Fazal lbw b RP Singh 16

Dravid c Shah b Sreesanth 1

Watson b P’waran 20

Rahane lbw b Sreesanth 8

Menaria c Shah b Hodge 31

Shah c G’wara b Hodge 5

Oram b Hodge 0

Warne b Hodge 2

Chavan run out 1

Tait not out 10

Doshi c J’dene b P’waran 0

Extras (lb 1, w 2) 3

Total: (all out; 18.3 ovrs) 97

Bowling: RP Singh 4-0-17-1, Sreesanth 4-0-16-2, P’waran 3.3-0-20-2, Prasanth 1-0-18-0, Hodge 4-0-13-4, G’wara 1-0-7-0, Jadeja 1-0-5-0.

Kochi Tuskers Kerala

McCullum b Doshi 29

J’dene c Chavan b Oram 6

Parthiv not out 21

Hodge not out 33

Extras (lb 5, w 2, nb 2) 9

Total: (2 wkts; 7.2 ovrs) 98

Bowling: Tait 3-0-36-0, Oram 2-0-32-1, Doshi 1.2-0-15-1, Chavan 1-0-10-0.

Mumbai, May 15
Buoyed by the upset victory over high-flying Mumbai Indians, a pumped up Deccan Chargers would play for pride when they clash with Pune Warriors in the IPL battle between low-ranked outfits at the D Y Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai tomorrow.

The 10-run victory in a low-scoring thriller over Sachin Tendulkar's strong Mumbai franchise has given the Chargers an ideal fillip ahead of the interesting duel with the Warriors. The contest is a revenge clash too for the Chargers at the stadium they called as 'home' venue in 2010, following the defeat against the Warriors in the first leg in Hyderabad five days ago. Both the teams have eight points in their kitty.

The Warriors must be mighty pleased with the way their bowlers and fielders defended the small total of 135 put up by the batting unit against the formidable Sachin Tendulkar-led Mumbai and would be looking for an encore. Chargers have shown on occasions that when their batsmen put up a good score, they have the varied bowling attack, spearheaded by Dale Steyn (who sat out against MI) and comeback man Ishant Sharma, to put any batting line-up under the thumb.

The gangling Ishant bowled with fire and purpose to pack off two of MI's top run getters of the season, Ambati Rayudu and Rohit Sharma, cheaply to slow Tendulkar's team's progress early. With Amit Mishra providing splendid variety with his leg spin, the Chargers needed a couple of others to come to the bowling party and none did it better than an unheralded Anand Rajan, the tall and well built medium pacer from Madhya Pradesh in his maiden match. — PTI 

Mumbai, May 15
Ishant Sharma and Amit Mishra, who made a comeback in the India ODI squad for the West Indies tour, have impressed their IPL side Deccan Chargers captain Kumar Sangakkara who said the Delhi duo deserved to be back in the national side. "Ishant was really outstanding for us this season. When he came in he was a bit rusty, but you could see his top quality in the nets. He's probably the best fast bowler currently in India along with Zak (Zaheer Khan).

"He's proven in this IPL by performing consistently, day in and out," he said at the match-eve press conference ahead of Deccan's IPL match against Pune Warriors tomorrow.

The former Sri Lanka captain said that Ishant thrived on confidence and the young Indian paceman has shown it in this IPL. "Just a case in point when we were defending a low total (135 against Mumbai Indians yesterday). Ishant always bowls well when he's got his confidence and is intent attacking right from the start. When he's got that confidence he's able to raise his game. He really wanted to show some intent in the first six overs and came charging in. That was really good for us," said Sangakkara who stepped down as Sri Lanka skipper after the World Cup.

He also came in for praise of leg-spinner Mishra, whose all-round show yesterday helped Deccan scored a stunning upset over Mumbai Indians. "The Indian guys like Ishant and Amit Mishra have been outstanding. This is the first time I have seen Amit from up close 'keeping to him. He's got all the tricks the leg spinner should have. At the same time what is important for a leggie is that he's got a huge heart, very strong character.

"That (character) came through yesterday with his batting (when he struck Munaf Patel for four successive fours in the last over of the DC innings)," Sangakkara said.

"He is a guy who will grab every opportunity given to him and try and do well with it," he added.

Sangakkara said IPL performance can be taken into account for choosing national Twenty20 sides which he felt was what the Indian selectors did when choosing the ODI squad for the West Indies.

"The real question is what you are selecting the players for. If it's the Twenty20 side, may be you can consider T20 performance like IPL. Selecting players for ODI side or a Test side, I don't think IPL format is really that much, as it's quite a different format. At the same time when you see guys like Ishant (Sharma) and Amit (Mishra) and they do consistently well as bowlers even in this format of the game, that means they have a lot to offer. Especially bowlers with the skills they have.

"I think those two guys have done really well and have played for India. They (selectors) know what they (Ishant and Amit) had. They probably waited to see how these guys step up in the IPL and they did it," he said. — PTI 

Lahore, May 15
Fined in a match-fixing inquiry 11 years ago, former Pakistan Test cricketer and umpire Akram Raza has been arrested along with six alleged bookies, who were taking bets on the ongoing Indian Premier League. "We arrested seven men from a plaza in Liberty area in Gulberg today and one of them has been identified as Akram Raza a former Pakistan player," a senior police officer at the Gulberg police station said.

He said the police got a tip off that a gang of known bookmakers was taking bets on the IPL in the liberty area and conducted the raid. “We recovered cash, mobile phones and many telephone numbers in India,” he said. He said the arrested persons, including Raza, have been lodged at the Gulberg station but not charged as yet. “We are investigating to find out their modus operandi and connections,” he said.

The 46-year-old, who played nine Tests and 49 one-day internationals for Pakistan, is presently on the Pakistan Cricket Board first class umpires panel and has supervised top matches. He was also named in the match-fixing scandal that first broke out in Pakistan cricket 16 years back and was later fined by the Justice Malik Qayyum inquiry commission into match-fixing in 2000.

Raza is a close friend of former Pakistan captain Salim Malik who was banned for life by the same commission for match-fixing. — PTI 

Ipoh, May 15
Dragflicker Christopher Ciriello scored a golden goal from a penalty corner as World champions Australia clinched their sixth Azlan Shah Cup hockey title beating Pakistan here today.

Ludhiana, May 15
Trailing by two goals till the interval, JCT FC, Phagwara bounced back to hold Chirag United, Kolkata to a 2-2 draw in 24th round match of the I-League played at Guru Nanak Stadium, here today. Chirag United looked comfortable early on and managed to puncture home team’s defence regularly but the desired result eluded them on two occasions.

JCT players too had close calls when forwards Gurtej Singh (Sr) and Ajay Singh succeeded in ripping apart the visitor’s defence midway through the first session but they also fumbled at the goal mouth.

In the 28th minute, Chirag’s JD Martin received a parallel pass from SM Tujanga and sent the header into the net to put his side ahead. He again struck seven minutes later to cement the lead (2-0).

Martin remained in the thick of the action as he breached JCT defence thrice just before half time but his attempts missed the target narrowly, much to the relief of home side. Undeterred at this, JCT exhibited more control in the second session and reduced the margin in the 53rd minute through Rahul Kumar off a free kick taken just at the top of box (1-2).

Four minutes later, in a counter attack, JCT equalised the score when Ajay Singh’s blistering shot slipped off Chirag United custodian Abhijit Mondal’s hands and Gurtej Singh (Jr) sent in a powerful grounder to make it 2-2.

Elated at this, JCT players unleashed attacks on the Chirag goal in quick succession but failed to find a winner. With this draw, JCT and Chirag United shared a point each. After 24 matches, JCT have secured 24 points. Rahul Kumar of JCT was named the man of the match. 

London, May 15
Manchester City's 35-year wait for a trophy ended when Yaya Toure's ferocious shot sealed a deserved 1-0 win over Stoke City in the FA Cup final on Saturday.

On the day Manchester United won a record 19th league title, City fans can finally hold their heads high at the end of a week in which they also secured a place in the Champions League qualifiers for the first time.

City's fifth FA Cup and first since 1969 was the first tangible reward for Abu Dhabi's Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed bin Al Nahyan, who bought the club in 2008 and has spent around 300 million pounds ($487.6 million) on new players. "We won the FA Cup. It is an important trophy. We need to improve more to do another step, but it was important to start to win because when you start to win, afterwards everything will be easier," City manager Roberto Mancini told reporters.

The meeting of arguably the richest club in world soccer and one who have just one League Cup in well over a century of mediocrity summed up the romance of the Cup and helped produce a wonderful atmosphere. — Reuters 

Patiala, May 15
Ever since the controversy regarding the Commonwealth Games had begun, administrators at the National Institute for Sports, Patiala, had developed cold feet and virtually converted it into an impregnable fortress. Media was kept away from covering national camps and even now, though the institute has softened its stance to an extent, but the ban is in place for all practical purposes.

In a letter addressed to the media, Executive Director of NIS LS Ranawat informed that it has been decided to allow the representatives of print and electronic media to visit the institute for the coverage of the National Coaching Camps, in progress at the institute, in preparation for London Olympics and other activities. But, the letter further said the permission would be granted for the first working day of every month, from 5 to 7 pm. This decision has not gone down well with media, coaches as well as the players.

“I am a little shocked as to how do they expect us to cover the details of all the camps and collect one month’s data within two hours and that too during the training hour of the players. Also, the star players, especially the athletes, train abroad and come to NIS for few days. That is the only time they can be contacted and restricting the entry of t he media at this time is not justified,” added one of the reporters.

Sources said the authorities had not only banned media entry but also issued strict instructions to players, officials and coaches from sharing any information with media persons. Players too feel that this decision will affect their chances of highlighting their problems and getting recognition for their hard work. “Media support has helped us to gain fame and also fight against unjust decisions of the sports authorities. This will certainly reduce the exposure we get,” rued a NIS camper.

Rome, May 15
Maria Sharapova and Samantha Stosur signalled their return to form ahead of Roland Garros after setting up a final showdown at the Italian Open on Saturday.

Seventh seed Sharapova called on all her experience to outfox 20-year-old world number one Caroline Wozniacki 7-5, 6-3, while sixth seed Australian Stosur proved too tenacious for fourth seed Li Na, overpowering the Chinese 7-6, 6-0 in sunny Rome. "It's thrilling to be in the final and I'm going to go for it," said Sharapova. — Reuters