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Mi aim for revenge, play-off berth
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Sachin the best I played against, says Warne
Shane Warne
Knights too good for Warriors
Parthiv Patel
MSD more marketable than Rafa, Bryant
Misbah replaces Afridi as Pak ODI captain
Falcao heads Porto to European glory
Shooter Rahi qualifies for Olympics
Bulls face James’ Heat
14 athletes for Grand Prix series
Indo-Pak football matches
Ferrari's Fernando Alonso
‘If Ganguly can, so can I’
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Mi aim for revenge, play-off berth
Mumbai, May 19 Though Mumbai are sitting pretty with 16 points from 12 games, they still need one victory out of their remaining two games to secure their place in the four-team play-offs, and the Sachin Tendulkar-led side would be eager to finish off the job tomorrow itself at the Wankhede stadium. Mumbai cannot afford to wait till the last away league tie against Kolkata Knight Riders on May 22, incidentally the final round-robin game before the play-off phase begins on May 24. But the Royals, out of running for the next phase with only 11 points ahead of their final game, would be equally eager to stop Mumbai from clinching the berth, which could lead to a no-holds-barred game between the two outfits. The match would also provide Mumbai an opportunity to avenge their humiliating seven-wicket defeat against Royals in an away encounter in Jaipur last month. In Jaipur, Mumbai's strong batting line up choked and were restricted to a paltry 94 for eight, which the Royals overhauled losing just three wickets with 11 balls to spare. And Tendulkar would be keen to reverse that result by leading from the front with the bat on a track, which too is likely to assist the slow bowlers at the fag end of the season. With Royals captain Shane Warne being let off with only a hefty fine following his public spat with Rajasthan Cricket Association secretary Sanjay Dixit, the decks have also been cleared for one final riveting battle on the field between the spin legend and batting maestro Tendulkar. Mumbai's mighty batting line-up has shown signs of vulnerability once the three main run-getters - Tendulkar (408 runs from 12 games), Ambati Rayudu (364 from 12) and Rohit Sharma (291 from 12) - were sent packing cheaply. The overseas batsmen have simply not stepped up to the plate and delivered, though big-hitting Kieron Pollard showed some signs of rediscovering his lost form in the last game against the Chargers. The biggest problem confronting the hosts is the lack of an effective opening partner for Tendulkar, with the team's think tank trying four of them and still not able to plug the hole. — PTI |
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Sachin the best I played against, says Warne
New Delhi, May 19 Rajasthan Royals skipper Warne, who will play his last Indian Premier League match against the Mumbai Indians tomorrow, said it was only appropriate to end his IPL stint as a player against Tendulkar. "Sachin is the greatest player I have played against. It's appropriate that my last game is versus Sachin," Warne said. "Sachin has been my friend for a long period of time. We have bit of laugh with each other, crack jokes. I hope Sachin does not smash me all around the park tomorrow," he said. Warne was fined a hefty $50,000 following his public spat with Rajasthan Cricket Association secretary Sanjay Dixit and the the 41-year-old Australian said that he failed to understand why nothing happened to the RCA secretary. "Unfair that I get fined while Sanjay Dixit gets away with saying whatever he feels like," Warne told NDTV in an interview. "My fight with Dixit was immature on both our parts," he added. Warne escaped a ban but was fined heavily by the IPL's disciplinary panel for calling Dixit a "liar and egoistic" after an IPL match in Jaipur, forcing RR owner Shilpa Shetty to intervene and apologise for the incident. Dixit, who is also an IAS officer, had blasted Warne and Tendulkar on Twitter and trashed Warne in a website article. "I had to face the consequences but he got away simply. I don't think it's fair. It should be something same for both of us. But the story is this way and one can't do much. "I had 7 days to decide on a counter claim but I did nothing. It was a silly incident and pity that it got way too much attention," he said. Despite his spat with the RCA secretary, Warne remained positive about being associated with the Rajasthan team in the future. — PTI
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Mumbai, May 19 The target never looked too daunting for the Kolkata side, and in the end a half-century by skipper Gautam Gambhir, and decent contributions by Manoj Tiwary and Yusuf Pathan were enough to see them home. This was a crucial win for them as they have Kings XI Punjab breathing down their necks in the points table. Earlier, already out of contention, Pune Warriors struggled their way to a meagre 118 for seven. Caught on a spinning track that was also a tad too slow for their liking, the hosts slumped to 17 for two initially and never recovered from the poor beginning after being invited to take first strike by skipper Gautam Gambhir. Manish Pandey (16), Callum Ferguson (16) and Sourav Ganguly (18) frittered away decent starts along with the under-performing Robin Uthappa (12) after opener Jesse Ryder was packed off for one in the eighth ball of the innings. Yuvraj Singh (24) and Sachin Rana (18), playing his first match, gave some late fillip to the sagging innings during their stand of 34 for the sixth wicket – the highest of the innings. But the overall batting effort was sub-par for the course. All the batsmen struggled to get on the offensive against the visiting team's spin trio of Yusuf Pathan, Iqbal Abdulla and Shakib Al Hasan who picked up five of the seven wickets to fall. Pathan and Bangladesh skipper Shakib bagged two wickets apiece along with pacer Laxmipathy Balaji who got both his wickets in the only over he bowled, the final one. Brett Lee's express pace came as a big relief for the batsmen, especially Manish Pandey who hit three fours off his first two overs – a punch through the covers, an edge and a pull shot. Ryder, who has failed to convert his starts into bigger things, failed to get going at all as he was snapped up in the second over following a rush of blood. He went down the track to Pathan's second ball and mistimed the drive to offer a high catch to mid off. Pandey, who looked to be in good touch, did not last long after the fall of his opening partner and departed for 16, trapped leg before by left arm spinner Iqbal Abdulla's arm ball. The struggle continued for the hosts when Ganguly, who was given a loud cheer by the huge crowd when he came out to bat against his old team, found it difficult to time the ball along with Ferguson. — PTI Scoreboard Pune Warriors Ryder c Tiwary b Yusuf 1 Pandey lbw b Abdulla 16 Ferguson st Goswami b Shakib 16 Ganguly c Yusuf b Shakib 18 Uthappa c Lee b Yusuf 12 Yuvraj c Goswami b Balaji 24 Rana b Balaji 18 Parnell not out 1 Extras (lb 3, w 8, nb 1) 12 Total: (7 wkts; 20 ovrs) 118 Bowling: Lee 4-0-28-0, Yusuf 4-0-23-2, Abdulla 3-0-12-1, Kallis 2-0-18-0, Shakib 4-0-16-2, Bhatia 2-0-11-0, Balaji 1-0-7-2. Kolkata Knight Riders Gambhir not out 54 Goswami c Uthappa b Thomas 6 Tiwary b B Kumar 24 Yusuf c Ganguly b Parnell 29 Bhatia not out 1 Extras (lb 1, w 3, nb 1) 5 Total (3 wkts; 16.4 overs) 119 Bowling: Thomas 3-0-29-1, Parnell 4-0-27-1, Rahul 4-0-29-0, B Kumar 3-0-19-1, Yuvraj 2-0-12-0. Rana 0.4-0-2-0.
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Will try my best in WI: Parthiv
Chennai, May 19 "I can't say that I will bat like Sehwag and keep like Dhoni. I will give my hundred percent and try to perform to the best of my abilities," Parthiv told reporters here. The Kochi Tuskers Kerala captain missed a couple of stumping chances in last night's IPL match against Chennai Super Kings (Michael Hussey and Wriddhiman Saha) but feels his overall performance with gloves has been good. As Kochi finished their campaign with six wins, Parthiv said there are lot of positives that one can take from the debut campaign. "There has been a lot of positives. Looking at the team sheet of Kochi before the start of the IPL. Everyone thought that ours is a weaker side. We did not have any outstanding performers. R P Singh's bowling has been a big plus as he got the ball to swing." On last night's performance, Parthiv said the reason for the defeat was not being able to accelerate after the 15th over. "We have done well to restrict them to 150. This was not the usual Chepauk wicket where it turns quite a lot in the second innings. We had a plan of having wickets in hand but we could not accelerate after 15th over. In fact not getting too many boundaries till the 13th over was another big reason," he assessed. He conceded that Chennai were a better fielding side. "Having played for the CSK earlier, I know how they prepare. It's working well for them. Ours is a good fielding side but I guess we were a bit short on intensity today." On sending Gnaneswara Rao ahead of seasoned Owais Shah, Parthiv explained, "Rao was hitting the ball well in the nets so we thought of trying him at NO. 3 today." — PTI
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MSD more marketable than Rafa, Bryant
London, May 19 Dhoni, who hit the winning runs in the ICC World Cup and led the Chennai Super Kings to the 2010 Indian Premier League (IPL) title, is 10th on the list. The top spot goes to Jamaican sprint king Usain Bolt and includes football sensations Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi at third and fourth, respectively. Dhoni's teammate Yuvraj Singh also makes the list - at the 49th spot - after being named player of the tournament at this year's World Cup. Chinese basketball superstar Yao Ming makes the top 20 at 11th, despite his consistent injury problems. "MS Dhoni's marketability has reached another new high in India in the aftermath of the cricket World Cup. Although, he will never attain quite the Messianic status that Sachin Tendulkar has with the Indian population, Dhoni has undeniably become the number one choice for those looking to boost their brand in the south-eastern Asian country," SportsPro editor David Cushnan said. The only female in the top ten is ninth-placed Caroline Wozniacki, who reached the top of the world rankings in 2010, despite not having won a Grand Slam. — PTI The Top Ten 1. Usain Bolt (Athletics) 2. LeBron James (Basketball) 3. Cristiano Ronaldo (Football) 4. Lionel Messi (Football) 5. Lewis Hamilton (Formula One) 6. Carmelo Anthony (Basketball) 7. Sebastian Vettel (Formula One) 8. Michael Phelps (Swimming) 9. Caroline Wozniacki (Tennis) 10. MS Dhoni (Cricket) |
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Misbah replaces Afridi as Pak ODI captain
Lahore, May 19 PCB chief Ijaz Butt, who held a joint press conference with interior minister Rehman Malik in Islamabad, said senior batsman Misbah-ul-Haq would lead the team for the two matches against Ireland on May 28 and 30. "Afridi has been retained in the team as a player, but Misbah will captain the side," Butt said. The PCB had earlier this month issued a notice to Afridi for making comments on team's affairs after returning from the West Indies. Butt had indicated that he was not happy with the habit of Afridi to frequently give media statements on team matters and just about 24 hours back, the all-rounder had been given no guarantee that he will be retained captain. Removal of Afridi has come as a shock in the cricket circles as he had successfully captained Pakistan to the World Cup semi-finals, where they lost to India, followed by a 3-2 win in the One-day series against the West Indies. The allrounder, however, on returning home from the Caribbean, had made it clear that he was not happy with the interference of people in his work, thereby making a clear indication to his dispute with head coach Waqar Younis over tour selection matters. Afridi was not available for comments as he is presently in the US for charity and to look after his father, who is being treated there. Interestingly, the board has added just two players to the One-day squad for the Ireland matches with the selectors recalling Younis Khan and Afridi. — PTI
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Falcao heads Porto to European glory
Dublin, May 19 Falcao swooped for his 17th goal of the competition just before halftime, timing his run to perfection to meet compatriot Fredy Guarin's precise cross and brilliantly direct a header past Braga keeper Artur. Braga, the competition's surprise packages, who knocked out former European champions Liverpool and Benfica, should have equalised when Mossoro went clean through seconds after halftime, only to shoot straight at the goalkeeper. However, they did not have enough attacking guile to stop Porto boss Andre Villas Boas, emulating the club's greatest coach Jose Mourinho by winning this competition and the domestic league in his first season in charge. He also became the youngest coach to win a European trophy. "Without a doubt this is a great feat. We have one trophy left for a memorable season," Villas Boas said. "This has a huge emotional impact for us. Round after round, we kept believing more. Porto becomes an even more special club, even more unique. It adds another trophy, which is important and builds its future." Porto cruised to the Portuguese title undefeated and reached this final by knocking out the likes of Spain's Sevilla and Villarreal. Their opponents, playing in their first European final, created the first chance, when midfielder Custodio fired a half volley wide of Porto captain Helton's goal on four minutes. Braga coach Domingos was almost certainly taking charge of his team for the last time with media speculation strongly linking him with a move to Sporting. "I am very proud, I lived unique moments here. These players also did, it's a beautiful story," he said. "May Braga continue to grow, we dignified Portuguese football." Porto had the better of the first half and burly Brazilian forward Hulk cut in from the wing and zig-zagged past two defenders before flashing the ball across the Braga goal. Hulk continued to prove a menace and was forcibly stopped in his tracks twice at the cost of two yellow cards in quick succession. But it was his strike partner Falcao who broke the deadlock a minute before the break, handing the game the jolt it needed with his 38th goal of the season and his team's 137th. The goal meant the prolific striker, who scored five goals in the semi-final against Villarreal, took his record-breaking tally for a single European competition further past the previous mark of 15 held by Juergen Klinsmann. — Reuters |
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Shooter Rahi qualifies for Olympics
New Delhi, May 19 By virtue of the bronze, the 21-year-old Kolhapur girl won a quota place for the London Games and also earned India its maiden entry in the Sports Pistol event in the Olympics. Rahi, playing only in her sixth World Cup, was at the bottom of the starting list in the final, but came up with an excellent performance to climb to third position from eighth. Rahi qualified for the finals with a score of 582, but with an excellent performance of 207.7, she eventually ended up third overall with a total score of 789.7. The gold medal in this event was won by Chinese shooter Chen Ying, who equaled the world record with a score of 796.7, while the silver medal went to Otrvad Gundegmmaa of Mongolia, who shot 789.8 and took the other quota place available from this World Cup. Among other Indians in fray, Commonwealth Games gold medalist Anisa Sayyed finished a disappointing seventh out of eight finalists, with a total score of 787, while Annuraj Singh, who won a quota place in the Air Pistol event, was ranked 33rd with a score of 574. Anisa, however, was at the second spot at the start of the final, with a score of 587 out of 600, but she came up with a poor performance of 200 in the finals to finish on a lowly note. — PTI
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Chicago, May 19 Dead-locked at 73-73 late in the fourth and the Bulls on the charge, James took over, scoring nine of Miami's final 12 points to earn the Heat a split in the Windy City. The best-of-seven series moves to South Beach for Games Three and Four Sunday and Tuesday. "I put it all on the line tonight, I did whatever it took for our team to win," James, who has been battling a cold, told reporters. "I'm glad we've got a few days to get back down into that great weather we have in Miami. "Hopefully I can get over it before we play Game Three. It's whatever it takes at this point." James has made a habit of coming through in the clutch for the Heat this post-season in his chase for an elusive first NBA title. Wednesday's heroics mirrored those James delivered in the East semi-finals against Boston when he scored Miami's last 10 points in a 97-87 win that eliminated the Celtics. James finished with a game-high 29 points and 10 rebounds while Dwyane Wade contributed 24 points and nine boards. Chris Bosh, the other member of the Miami's big three, chipped in with 10 points and eight rebounds. "That fourth quarter is going to be what will epitomize this entire series," said Miami coach Erik Spoelstra. "It's an absolute street fight. "I anticipate a lot of quarters like that fourth quarter. "I've seen it enough with Dwyane and now with LeBron that they respond and often play their best when their back is against the wall." — Reuters
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14 athletes for Grand Prix series
New Delhi, May 19 The squad: Men: Shameer Mon (100m), Kunhu Mohammed (400m), Ghamanda Ram and S Joseph (both 800m), J Thomas and HS Roy (high jump), Mahan Singh and Shamsher Partap Singh (long jump), Arpinder Singh (triple jump) and Vikas Poonia (discus throw). Women: D Majumdar (400m), M Johny (triple jump), S Antil (discus throw) and S Devi (javelin throw). Coaches: Ranbir Singh (sprints), GR Shyamkumar (jumps), NW Das (masseur) and Katkaneni Ranga (manager).
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Lahore, May 19 "We reached this understanding for a three-match friendly series in June after our tour to Palestine was postponed indefinitely last week," Naveed said. The tour to Palestine could not take place due to the non-issuance of visas from Israeli authorities. Pakistan and Palestine were scheduled to play on May 24 and May 27 in Ramallah in the return-leg of the bilateral series after the Palestinian team had played in Pakistan earlier this year, in front of big crowds. "The series against India will go ahead once their federation gets the clearance from their government," Naveed added. "Once they get the clearance, we will advise the Indian officials of the venues and dates and will also start the visa process," he said. Naveed said the proposed three-match series against India will serve as practice for Pakistan's World Cup qualifiers against Bangladesh. — PTI
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Rome, May 19 Spaniard Alonso, who won the driver's titles in 2005 and 2006 with Renault, said, "I am very happy to have reached this agreement. I immediately felt comfortable within Ferrari and now, it feels to me like a second family. "I have the utmost faith in the men and women who work in Maranello and in those who lead them. It is therefore natural for me to decide to extend my relationship in the long term like this, with a team at which I will no doubt end my Formula 1 career one day." Ferrari boss Luca di Montezemolo added, "It is a great pleasure to have renewed our agreement with a driver who has always demonstrated a winning mentality even in the most difficult circumstances. "Fernando has all the required qualities, both technically and personally to play a leading role in the history of Ferrari and I hope he will be enriching it with further wins very soon." The 29-year-old has won 26 times in Formula One races. — AFP
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‘If Ganguly can, so can I’
Wellington, May 19 "Hey! If Ganguly can do it, anyone can do it! Shane Warne has been amazing and as a spin bowler, he can probably bowl like that for a long time to come. Gilchrist has kept himself fit. It's human nature to feel that you are on top of things," Crowe, a former New Zealand captain, said. " I needed to do something to stay at the top of things. It's a little bit of fun, but it's based on the need to get off my butt. When you get to my age, you need to do something. Physically, I am a person who needs more than going to gym.” — PTI
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Still not assured of a place in the next stage of the ongoing IPL, Mumbai Indians would be hoping to book their berth in the play-offs with a win over out-of-contention Rajasthan Royals here tomorrow.
New Delhi, May 19
Indian cricket captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni has pipped the likes of tennis superstar Rafael Nadal and iconic basketball player Kobe Bryant to be among 10 most marketable sportspersons in the world, according to the SportsPro magazine.
Chicago, May 19
The packed gathering at the Wankhede Stadium will witness the leg-spin ace, who is retiring from all forms of cricket after the tie, confronting the champion batsman, who would be smarting from the Warne retort against his comments about the pitch conditions in Jaipur after the previous engagement between the two teams on April 29.