Mumbai, May 24
Suresh Raina played a sensational knock of 73 off just 50 balls to steer Chennai Super Kings into the final of the Indian Premier League by beating Royal Challengers Bangalore in the first play-off qualifier by six wickets here tonight.

Defending champions Chennai were in a spot of bother when they lost openers Murali Vijay and Mike Hussey cheaply, but then Raina came to their rescue. He formed some steady partnerships, first with S Badrinath and then with captain MS Dhoni and Albie Morkel to get CSK past the target.

Albie Morkel finished off the game in style by hitting Royal Challengers’ captain Daniel Vettori for a massive six over mid-wicket.

Earlier, Virat Kohli struck a superb unbeaten 70 in only 44 deliveries to lift Royal Challengers Bangalore to an imposing total of 175 for 4.

Kohli began slowly and then accelerated towards the end of the innings by hammering three sixes and 5 fours as RCB made light of a rare failure by Chris Gayle to set a stiff target for the CSK who need to score at 8.8 runs per over for victory.

Apart from Kohli, opener Mayank Agarwal made 34 in 33 balls with five fours and Luke Pomersbach made a quick-fire 29 in only 18 balls to give the innings the much-needed impetus when it was needed.

For the Super Kings, left-arm pacer Doug Bollinger emerged as the pick of the bowlers with one for 20 while off- spinner Ravichandran Ashwin, who dismissed Gayle cheaply in his first spell, finished with one for 33.

Dwayne Bravo and Albie Morkel were off-target with the latter conceding 40 runs in his four wicketless overs while Shadab Jakati picked up one for 37.

It was surprising to find that Ashwin who had normally opened the bowling wasn't brought in early as Dhoni opted for seamers from both ends.

Though Albie Morkel went for some runs when Mayank Agarwal thumped him for a few boundaries, Doug Bollinger bowled splendidly, not allowing danger man Gayle the chance to drive.

Bollinger dug the ball short and even rattled the Gayke with a sharp bouncer. Gayle who has attacked from onset didn't get a chance to free his arm.

At the other end, Agarwal who hit the first ball of the match, a juicy delivery pitched on his pads to the fine leg fence, struck two more fours off successive deliveries in Morkel's second over which forced Dhoni to get the South African all-rounder out of attack.

Ashwin, brought on to bowl the fourth over when Royal Challengers were 24 without loss, was hoisted over the mid- wicket fence when he bowled short by Gayle but had his revenge off the very next ball when he trapped the left-handed leg before as he went for sweep shot. Agarwal and Kohli came together to take the score past the 50-run mark in the seventh over after RCB total was 42 for one at the end of the Powerplay.

With the dip in scoring rate, Agarwal tried to give the charge to Dwayne Bravo and was caught at long-on by Bollinger. — PTI

Scoreboard

Royal Challengers

Mumbai, May 24
After dishing out a last-ball thriller in the last league match, Mumbai Indians and Kolkata Knight Riders would square off against each other yet again here tomorrow, but the stakes are high now, as it will be end of the road for the loser in the Indian Premier League. Thanks to the changed format, tomorrow's eliminator tie has become a sort of a quarter-final, since the winner will then clash with the loser of the qualifier-1 to earn a shot at the title match.

Kolkata were well-poised to hand Mumbai their fourth straight defeat in their last league match, but allowed them to escape and record a thrilling last-ball victory. The Kolkata players, particularly Laxmipathy Balaji, who was hit for 23 runs in the last over that included a last-ball six by Mumbai's Ambati Rayudu, can forget that stunning change of fortunes in a jiffy.

Tomorrow's game is a do-or-die match, which would get nerves jangling and the team that shows iron grip on its emotions is likely to win the eliminator. The Knight Riders batting has done quite well with Jacques Kallis (417 runs from 14 games), Manoj Tiwary (355 from 14) and skipper Gambhir (374 from 14) being its mainstays.

Yusuf Pathan has not exactly scored big with 47 not out being his highest score in a tally of 257 from 14 games, but Mumbai would be aware of the damage the big-hitting Baroda man can cause, once he gets going. The bowling line-up of the Knight Riders has also been below par with Brett Lee not really pulling his weight (4 wickets in 11 games), while Balaji (10 wickets in 13) and Jaidev Unadkat (6 in 7) have been expensive.

Kolkata have depended mostly on their spinners, especially Yusuf and Iqbal Abdulla, who have grabbed 13 and 16 wickets, respectively and have also been economical for this format of the game. The Wankhede track has afforded turn over the last few matches and the duo would relish bowling on it. The gentle medium pace of Rajat Bhatia (8 wickets in 13 ties) has also been pretty handy for the Knight Riders.

If Kolkata have some problems to solve, Mumbai too have a few to tackle, the biggest of them being finding an effective opening partner to Tendulkar. The team has tried out five batsmen, but no one has clicked, though Davy Jacobs appeared to have settled down in his role when he broke his thumb and had to be replaced.

In the last match Tirumalasetti Suman was tried, but he failed for the second time in the key batting position and this has upset the balance of the team to some extent. The team would again be looking forward to contributions from the trio of Tendulkar (477 runs), Rayudu (383) and Rohit Sharma (359) in batting.

Hard-hitting Kieron Pollard (140) and Andrew Symonds (135) have disappointed Mumbai, but the blistering 45 not out in 23 balls by New Zealander Franklin, incidentally his highest in the IPL, has given them new hope.

Sri Lankan paceman Lasith Malinga (27 wickets) and Munaf Patel (17) were the kingpins till a few games ago, before they were mauled at the death. Malinga still remains Mumbai's best bet to give them early advantage, while Patel, who was dropped for the previous game, is set to regain his spot.

Harbhajan Singh has been quite efficient if not spectacular in most matches and Mumbai would be expecting more from him against the likes of Yusuf Pathan. Pollard and Symonds have been below par in bowling too, to add to Mumbai's woes and they would be eager to see at least one of these big signings step up and perform in the make-or-break tie. After all, Tendulkar is aware that the stung Knight Riders are capable of storming their way back. — PTI

Paris, May 24
India's Somdev Devvarman crashed out in the first round of the men's singles event at the French Open after suffering a 4-6, 3-6, 4-6 against world no 37 Ivan Ljubicic of Croatia here today. The big-serving Croat took little over two hours to quell the challenge of the top-ranked Indian.

It was always going to be a tough match for Somdev who doesn't fancy playing on the clay courts. Ljubicic, who is known to be a clay-court specialist, fired 10 aces compared to four by the Indian. It was Somdev's second serve that let him down today.

While Ljubicic got 70 percent of his second serve in, Somdev's success with the second serve was a mere 47 percent. Not only did the Croat had superior baseline game, but time and again he created pressure on the Indian, ranked 66th in the world, with his timely net approaches.

That was precisely the reason that Ljubicic hit as many as 40 winners. Somdev's only break point conversion came in the first set when he got four chances to break his opponent. Ljubicic on the otherhand, converted both the break points to wrap up the first set.

Somdev couldn't put up much resistance in the second set which he lost in only 29 minutes. — PTI 

New Delhi, May 24
Sri Lanka's former assistant coach Trevor Penny could be the Indian cricket team's next fielding coach with Duncan Fletcher planning to bring him on board as part of his support staff. Fletcher, who took over as India's national coach from Gary Kirsten after the team's World Cup triumph last month, is keen on bringing the 42-year-old Penny.

Penny has worked with Fletcher earlier also, as the part-time fielding coach of England in 2005 before becoming Tom Moody's assistant with the Sri Lankan team. He was a deputy to Moody even in the IPL with the Kings XI Punjab franchise.

India have not had a fielding coach for two years now, with Robin Singh being the last to be appointed to the post. Mike Young, who was Australia's fielding coach, worked as a consultant in late 2009. Penny is likely to join the squad from the West Indies tour that begins on June 4, BCCI sources said.

Penny played for 17 years with English county Warwickshire, and was among England's substitute fielders for the 2005 Ashes. When Moody decided to move to Western Australia after his Sri Lanka stint, Penny joined him there and later worked as Moody's deputy at IPL franchise Kings XI Punjab. — PTI 

Colombo, May 24
Sri Lanka has turned down an offer to tour Pakistan because of security concerns, the Sri Lankan cricket board told Reuters on Tuesday. "We have refused to tour Pakistan," a Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) spokesman said by telephone. "We are concerned about the security and that's why we said no to them."

Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) had been hopeful of coaxing the Sri Lankans into touring the country, but Sunday's Taliban attack on a naval air force base near Karachi's National Stadium dealt a severe blow to the prospects.

Pakistan has not hosted international cricket since the Sri Lankan team visited the country in 2009 when gunmen attacked their team bus in Lahore, killing seven people. The PCB recently made another attempt to convince the Sri Lankans to tour Pakistan.

"Yes, we have sent them a fresh invite to play the series of three tests, five one-day internationals and one T20 match in Pakistan in October-November," PCB official Nadem Sarwar told Reuters on Saturday. "We are waiting for their response and have given them full security assurances," he said. — Reuters 

Chandigarh, May 24
The formation of Independent School Sports Federation (ISSF) was announced here on Monday. The body aims to organise sporting activities for students studying in schools, which do not receive aid from government, and are not covered by School Games Federation of India (SGFI).

Speaking on the occasion, ISSF president Ravinder Talwar said a large chunk of sporting talent from open unaided schools was kept out as SGFI held competitions only for students studying in government and government-aided schools, and Kendriya Vidyalayas.

“The federation’s primary goal will be to tap talent of students studying in unaided schools by organising district, state and national level tournaments,” Talwar said, adding that nearly 30 schools, from and outside Chandigarh, have joined the federation so far.

The president also said that schools already affiliated to SGFI were welcome to become members of ISSF. Talwar added that an annual affiliation fee of Rs 20, 000 would be collected from every member school to raise finances for organising tournaments.

Patiala, May 24
Controversy’s favourite child, the Punjab Sports Department, is in the soup again following a delay in the release of promised cash awards to the coaches of the Commonwealth Games medallists. Even months after the declaration of the award, the department is yet busy forming criteria for the selection of coaches for these.

It is pertinent to mention here that the Punjab Government has announced cash awards of Rs 3 lakh, two lakh and one lakh each for the coaches of players who win gold, silver and bronze medals, respectively at the Commonwealth Games. While the players got their awards, the coaches were ignored.

Giving information in this regard, gold medallist Heena Sidhu’s father, Rajbir Singh Sidhu, who was also her coach, said the department had not contacted them in this regard. “Though the cash award was announced, there is no official information from the department whether it would be given or not,” he said.

Another coach, speaking on the condition of anonymity, informed that he had got a call from the department just to check if he was the coach of a particular player, but after that, there was no further correspondence.

Director Sports of Punjab Government, Pargat Singh, when contacted in this regard, said the criteria of coach selection had not been finalised yet. “If we go by the Government of India policy, then we have to honour a coach with whom the player is attached for the last 180 days, which means that only the coaches involved with the national camps would be considered.

“In that case, our coaches, who are the real reason behind the success of these players will be ignored as all of them are not attached with the national squads. Therefore, we are considering a suitable policy to ensure that the coaches don’t feel left out. There is difference in opinion of different coaches due to which we will hold a meeting within a week and discuss all necessary details,” he added.