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Mumbai knock out Knight Riders
Clinical Federer advances
Roger Federer in action against Maxime Teixeira in the men's second round of the French Open championship at the Roland Garros Stadium in Paris on Wednesday. — AFP |
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Disappointing to be on losing side: Kohli
Terry Jenner passes away
Shane Warne (L) and mentor Terry Jenner. Jenner had a big role to play in Warne’s success.
One more award delayed
‘We’re confident of winning against India’
ICC under-resourced to catch fixers: Strauss
Wanted to finish off the game: Raina
Dharmasena in Elite Panel
LeBron shows his class against Bulls
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Mumbai knock out Knight Riders Mumbai, May 25 With this win, MI have kept their hopes alive for a place in the final. They will now take on RCB in the second eliminator in Chennai on Friday. This loss also put an end to KKR’s campaign in IPL-IV. Earlier, Dutch all-rounder Ryan ten Doeschate struck a fighting unbeaten half-century as Kolkata Knight Riders recovered from a disastrous start to post a competitive 147 for seven. Asked to bat, Kolkata were reeling at 20 for four after six overs but Doeschate (70) combined with Yusuf Pathan (26) for a 60-run partnership for the fifth wicket to resurrect the innings in the do-or-die match at the Wankhede stadium. Doeschate then found an able ally in Shakib al-Hasan (26) as the duo put on 41 runs for the sixth wicket to further improve the health of their innings. Doeschate's unbeaten knock, coming off 49 balls, negated the good work done by Mumbai bowlers at the start as hosts had KKR on the mat by scalping four top-order batsmen within the powerplay period. The Dutch player, who survived a stumping chance off spinner Harbhajan Singh when he was on 38, hit six fours and three sixes in his knock as KKR scored 98 runs off the last 10 overs to give the bowlers something to fight for. Munaf Patel (3/27) was the most successful bowler while Lasith Malinga was, as usual, the most economical, giving away just 19 runs apart from taking one wicket. The Knight Riders lost openers Jacques Kallis (7) and captain Gautam Gambhir (4) in the second and third over respectively to slump to 13 for two. Kallis hit a glorious cover driven four off Patel but perished in the next ball as his uppish drive was taken well by rival captain Sachin Tendulkar. Gambhir, who was playing in the match despite reports that he might skip it due to a shoulder injury, started confidently with a step-out loft for four but was bowled by Harbhajan. More trouble was in store for Kolkata as Shreevats Goswami was caught behind in the second over of Patel and soon they were 20 for 4 with the departure of leading run-getter Manoj Tiwary (4) in the sixth over. Tiwary was trapped leg before with an angled-in delivery by Dhawal Kulkarni to put Mumbai right on top. Aggressive batsman Yusuf Pathan played carefully in the company of Doeschate, who released some pressure with a six off James Franklin, the first of the innings, in the eighth over. Kieron Pollard was hit for 15 runs in the 11th over with Doeschate hoisting him for his second six over long on and a four before Pathan smashed the West Indian over his head for his first four. Pathan, having decided to go on an all-out attack, hammered Harbhajan straight and top edged Munaf for fours in successive overs to up the tempo. But just when he started to look dangerous, Pathan got rid off him once again through a great running catch by Pollard, who ran 25 yards to his left at long on and completed the catch in over number 13. Doeschate escaped a leg side stumping chance off Harbhajan in the 14th over and then swung the next ball to the square leg fence. New batsman Shakib Al Hasan took the attack to the rivals soon after arriving to the crease by crashing three successive fours off Kulkarni to bring the visitors 100 in the 15th over. Shakib struck four fours in his 16-ball cameo. — PTI Scoreboard Extras (b 1, lb 1, w 4) 6 Mumbai Indians Extras (lb 3, w 1) 4
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Paris, May 25
Federer, a 16-times grand slam champion who will next face Serbia's Janko Tipsarevic, offered some words of consolation to his unheralded opponent. "It is so hard to play on a big court when you're not used to it. I think Max did a good match. He fought well," the Swiss said courtside. The 22-year-old Teixeira, who had never played a match on the main Tour before this year's French Open, said, "It's an incredible experience. Playing against Roger is something I will never forget. I did what I could." Little-known Romanian Simona Halep will probably like to forget her Court One outing on a sunny Parisian morning against last year's runner-up Stosur. Stosur looked like she would be handing Halep the dreaded 'double bagel' for breakfast but in the end had to settle for a 6-0 6-2 win in 66 minutes. On kids day at Roland Garros, the eighth-seeded Stosur was in no mood to fool around as her pace and kicked serve proved too much to handle for the world number 67, who bowed out when she mishit a crosscourt forehand. World number one Caroline Wozniacki was coasting towards a routine win but her second-round opponent, Canada's Aleksandra Wozniak, trapped her into a moonballing contest and set up three set points in the second set. Dane Wozniacki, who has yet to claim a grand slam title, survived the test thanks to her powerful forehand and won 6-3, 7-6. The heat and a plucky opponent initially left 17th seed Julia Goerges frazzled as she fell a set and 3-1 behind. But the in-form German, who won the Stuttgart tournament and reached the last four in Madrid during the past few weeks, relied on her survival instincts to floor Czech Lucie Safarova 2-6, 7-5, 6-2. Goerges, however, did not let the win go to her head. Asked who she would pick as the tournament favourite, she quipped: "For sure not me." — Reuters
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Disappointing to be on losing side: Kohli
Mumbai, May 25
"It was disappointing to be on the losing side especially when you have put in efforts while batting when your team wanted the most. We need to move on now and focus on our next match," Kohli, who scored a magnificent 70 of 44 balls, told reporters here on the sidelines of a promotional event. "It was tough honestly. I think we shouldn't have bowled the balls that we bowled in the last few overs," he added. The 22-year-old Delhi cricketer, however, defended Bangalore bowlers, who failed to defend the score of 175, saying that it was an one-off day. "We have bowled well in the depth. This was one match where we didn't do well....You have a one-off day in T20 cricket and you can't bowl consistently all the time." Virat Kohli, who has scored 1,954 runs in 54 ODIs for India and is the fastest Indian to score 1,000 runs in One-dayers, said his willingness to take more responsibility has helped him mature quickly. — PTI
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Melbourne, May 25 Jenner played nine tests in the 1970s and later coached Australian spin bowlers including Warne, who retired from all forms of cricket 10 days ago after completing his stint with the Rajasthan Royals in the India Premier League. Cricket Australia spokesman Peter Young said Jenner died today morning. Jenner's wife, Ann, said in a blog that her husband had suffered a heart attack six weeks ago, and other reports said he had suffered from a lengthy illness. "We were saddened to be advised that Terry has passed away this morning," Young said. "He was a significant mentor of later generations including Shane Warne." The 41-year-old Warne has played only in the IPL Twenty20 tournament since retiring with 708 test wickets in 2007. Sri Lankan spinner Muttiah Muralitharan, who retired from international cricket after last month's World Cup final, finished his career with 800 test wickets, the only bowler to surpass Warne's total. Former Australia test captain Allan Border said Jenner leaves a huge hole in Australia's spin-bowling fraternity. "Terry was a very, very strong influence on Shane Warne. That says it all," Border told Fox Sports News. — AP
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One more award delayed
Patiala, May 25 The ‘Maharaja Ranjit Singh Award,’ the highest sports honour in the State, is another which is forming headlines these days. While the Government has showered cash awards on the Commonwealth Games medallists, it has delayed its regular feature of giving the Maharaja Ranjit Singh Award which carries a cash award of rupees one lakh, a scroll and a statue of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, to deserving players. Though this is not the first time that there has been a gap in giving this award, this time the gap has stretched a little longer. The last time this award was given in 2004. Though the department had invited applications for this award in 2010, there is no information with the authorities as to when the award would be given. Sources informed that the Punjab Finance Department had put in a clause, demanding a proper Maharaja Ranjit Singh Policy. “The policy has been sent to the Finance Department and as soon as they clear the policy, all deserving sportspersons which have excelled during all these years would be honoured within two months time,” a source said. Director Sports of Punjab Government, Pargat Singh, when contacted said that the department had issued notification in this regard and “we would soon honour all players, including the ones that have excelled in year 2010-11. Even we want our players to be suitably rewarded and our doing our level best to speed up the process.”
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‘We’re confident of winning against India’
Basseterre, May 25 The West Indies drew the two-Test series against Pakistan 1-1 yesterday. The side's first match against India is the Twenty20 game in Trinidad on June 4. "It's all about hard work and putting into play what we worked hard on during the training sessions," Sammy said after the loss to Pakistan in the second Test. "We have a full series against India coming up and it will be a tough series. We have to continue to put in the hard work and look to put totals on the board so the bowlers will have runs to work with. We are a confident group of young men and we will go into that series with the belief that we can win," he said. Sammy praised his bowlers' effort in the series. "We did a great job getting the win in Guyana and we were looking for similar success here in St Kitts, but things did not go our way," Darren Sammy said. — PTI
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ICC under-resourced to catch fixers: Strauss
London, May 25 "The only input I've had is with the anti-corruption people who came round during the World Cup. It seems to me that they are woefully under-resourced. I just don't think they've got the resources to do it properly," Strauss told 'London Evening Standard'. Strauss said though the sub-continent is the hotbed of illegal betting, there is no doubt that corruption in cricket is there in other countries as well. "Clearly most of the betting seems to go on in the sub-continent but I wouldn't say it was just sub-continental players that are involved," Strauss said. "My gut feeling is there is more to it than we know about. I haven't seen any resolve to deal with the issue. It is hard for me to comment because I don't know what's going on behind closed doors," he added. Strauss was England's captain in the infamous Lord's Test against Pakistan last year, during which rival skipper Salman Butt and seamers Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Aamer conspired to send down deliberate no-balls as part of a 'spot-fixing' scam. Pakistan Cricket Board chief Ijaz Butt, at that time, had accused English players of throwing matches for money and Strauss said the allegation which was later withdrawn this left him enraged. "I was quite emotional myself about it. My original view was our integrity had been brought into question. We got quite close to not playing the one-dayer at Lord's. "But over the course of the evening it became a lot clearer to me that actually the right thing to do was to play. We didn't feel overjoyed to be playing the game or that series but we got through it. — PTI
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Wanted to finish off the game: Raina
Mumbai, May 25
"I knew it was important to stay till the end. Zaheer Khan was bowling well, but I had to play my shots. I stayed positive. It was important to believe in myself and play my natural shots. I wanted to finish the game for the team," said the left-handed Raina, who remained unbeaten on a brilliant 50-ball 73 that included six sixes and four fours. Riding on Raina's innings and a 10-ball 28 by Albie Morkel, the Super Kings overhauled the target of 176 with two balls to spare at the Wankhede Stadium last nght. Raina said the half-century stands with S Badrinath (34) and Mahendra Singh Dhoni (29) proved to be crucial in the end. "There were very important partnerships with Badrinath who played a fine innings and Dhoni who played his shots before Morkel finished the game for us," he said. He also said the key was in playing straight and hitting shots down the ground. — PTI
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Dubai, May 25 According to a media release issued by ICC, the two match officials, who have been serving on the International Panel of ICC Umpires, will replace Australian Daryl Harper, whose existing contract expires in July, and controversial Asoka de Silva of Sri Lanka. — PTI
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LeBron shows his class against Bulls
Miami, May 25
James, who top-scored with 35 points for the Heat, took on the task of limiting Rose in the fourth quarter and it was his presence that hampered the Bulls main offensive threat when he missed a chance to win the game with eight seconds left. Towards the end of a marathon game, James volunteered for the difficult job of guarding the quick and agile 22-year-old and his coach Erik Spoelstra was delighted as his team went 3-1 up in the best-of-seven Eastern Conference finals. "I didn't even ask. I know he shoulders a big responsibility for us during the course of the game on both ends of the court. He had already played 40-something minutes when we made the switch and he stepped up to the challenge," he told reporters. "That's as tough a cover as you can have in this league. Derrick, I've compared him to trying to corral a tornado. "He's so explosive and clever with the ball that it takes a dream effort and great individual commitment to try to keep your chest in front of him. "Even then he will find a way to get to the rim." The television highlights usually show James making spectacular dunks, delivering crucial three point shots and twisting and turning to make jump shots but his work at the other end of the court can often be just as crucial. On Tuesday he displayed the pace to get back down court quickly, the positional awareness to get in the way of shots and the physical attributes to get in a scrap for the ball when needed. And he loved every minute. "I play both sides of the floor. I love defense much more than I do offense," James said. I just take pride in that side of the floor. It is great when you have guys behind you that also love to play defense, you know that you have got help if you get beat." The key play in the game came when Rose, with James astride in front of him, failed to make a potential match-winning shot. — Reuters
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Paris, May 25
Melbourne, May 25
London, May 25
World number three Federer thrashed French wildcard Maxime Teixeira 6-3, 6-0, 6-2 in an 84-minute morning jog as dozens of panamas bloomed in the Court Suzanne Lenglen stands. Swiss Federer, who has not won a grand slam title since the 2010 Australian Open, misfired a few routine forehands in the opening set before he revved up the engine to flatten world number 181 Teixeira.
