Scoreboard

Royal Challengers:

McDonald c Bracewell b Morkel 30

Pujara c Irfan b Morkel 11

Kohli c Nagar b Bracewell 8

de Villiers not out 64

Tiwary lbw b Maxwell 13

Mayank c Nagar b Nadeem 16

Vettori run out 3

Vinay c Morkel b Bracewell 18

Harshal b Bracewell 0

Total: (8 wkts, 20 ovrs) 157

Fall of wickets: 1-37, 2-46, 3-56, 4-59, 5-85, 6-103, 7-157, 8-157.

Bowling: Irfan 4-0-47-0, Bracewell 4-0-32-3, Morkel 4-0-30-2, Yadav 2-0-8-0, Nadeem 4-0-26-1, Maxwell 2-0-10-1.

Delhi Daredevils

Finch lbw b Murali 25

Sehwag c Pujara b Zaheer 0

Naman c Kohli b Murali 33

Rao c Agarwal b McDonald 18

Maxwell c Zaheer b Murali 3

Nagar c Harshal b Vettori 16

Irfan run out 24

Bracewell not out 12

Morkel not out 2

Extras: (lb-2, w-2) 4

Total: (7 wkts, 20 ovrs) 137

Fall of wickets: 1-13, 2-55, 3-68, 4-76, 5-83, 6-115, 7-131.

Bowling: Zaheer 4-0-36-1, Vinay 4-0-25-0, McDonald 2-0-11-1, Vettori 4-0-28-1, Muralitharan 4-0-25-3, Patel 2-0-10-0. 

Pune, April 7
Buoyed by an upset win over Mumbai Indians in their tournament-opener, Pune Warriors will look to affirm their superiority over Kings XI Punjab when the two teams lock horns in the fifth edition of the Indian Premier League at the newly-constructed Subrata Roy Sahara Stadium here tomorrow.

The hosts led by Sourav Ganguly, hunted in a pack to defend a small total against Mumbai, but a disappointing show by the batters will particularly be a cause of concern for them. None of their batsman, except for man-of-the-match Steve Smith and Robin Uthappa, looked comfortable against the likes of Lasith Malinga and Pragyan Ojha. However, they might take heart from the fact that the KXIP doesn't possess the same quality of attack as the Mumbai Indians did.

The onus will be on the top-order to provide a good start to the Pune innings. Manish Pandey, who was castled by Malinga without even opening his account, would look to make amends against Kings XI. The opener has not been in great touch off late and would like to see himself back in the runs column.

Ganguly, meanwhile, would like to forget his dismissal against Mumbai in the opening game and bat through the innings. The other worrying factor for the Warriors would be the indifferent form of Marlon Samuels. Though, he came handy with the ball, his batting is still scratchy.

KXIP, on the other hand, looked rusty in their opening encounter against Rajasthan Royals, with almost all their bowlers struggling to find the line and length against Ajinkya Rahane and co. Praveen Kumar and James Faulkner went for 83 runs in their eight overs and their spinners too were wayward in their line.

The visitors will be particularly concerned about the form of Praveen, who was clobbered all over the park by the Rajasthan batsmen.

In the batting department, the side will want to see their previous edition's hero, Paul Valthaty to come good against the likes of Ashok Dinda, who shaped Pune's win with his four-wicket haul in their first match, and Wayne Parnell.

Although the skipper Adam Gilchrist looked in good nick against the Royals, the team would want him to stay at the crease for a longer duration particularly with Shaun Marsh looking woefully out of form. In the middle-order, the responsibility will be on the shoulders of another Australian import David Hussey to guide the likes of Abhishek Nayar and Mandeep Singh.

The team, however, would take some positives from the way its tailenders contributed to the chase, helping it reach 160.

Both the sides would though be wary of the nature of the pitch at the newly-built stadium as it remains unchartered territory. The hosts, however, hold a slight edge over their visiting counterparts with the kind of variety they have in their repertoire. — PTI 

Jaipur, April 7
After a rollicking start to their IPL V campaign, Rajasthan Royals will look to continue the winning momentum when they face Kolkata Knight Riders, who would be equally keen to bounce back from a humiliating defeat in their opening match against Delhi Daredevils, here tomorrow.

Led by the recently-retired Rahul Dravid, Rajasthan beat Kings XI Punjab by 31 runs last night and the former India skipper would hope that his boys would come up with an equally good performance tomorrow. Kolkata Knight Riders too would be eager to put their humiliating eight-wicket defeat behind them when they start in the day match tomorrow to be played in the scorching heat at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium here.

Kolkata Knight Riders Brett Lee during a practice session on the eve of their match against Rajasthan Royals in Jaipur on Saturday. — PTI

The Royals were impressive against Kings XI and Kevon Cooper was the find of the match. The little-known Caribbean cricketer impressed with his allround capabilities by adding 11 runs off three balls and then bowling with guile to grab four for 26 apart from displaying his agility on the field.

The batting for the hosts looked solid with Rahul Dravid playing his role as a motivator and sheet anchor to help Ajinkya Rahane play a brisk 98 run innings. Though the exuberant Ashok Menaria failed to read a wrong one from Piyush Chawla, other batsmen including, Brad Hodge, Owais Shah and Kevon Cooper, accelerated according to the need of the hour.

The bowling department too looked in good touch as they took advantage of the wicket. Cooper was especially outstanding as he learnt fast to mix his slower ones according to the pace of the wicket. The 23-year-old lad from Trinidad has demonstrated that he is a quick learner and might be a vital cog in Rajasthan Royals' campaign.

Amit Singh and Siddharth Trivedi have shouldered the responsibility of the pace unit in the first match and the hosts might also bring quickie Shaun Tait to spearhead the attack tomorrow. — PTI

Jaipur, April 7
Kings XI Punjab skipper Adam Gilchrist feels Rahul Dravid has rallied Rajasthan Royals well to open their IPL V campaign on a winning note but said it is unfair to compare the retired India batsman with spin wizard Shane Warne, who had led the Jaipur franchise to a title triumph in the inaugural edition.

Gilchrist believes Dravid is a terrific person and Rajasthan will be benefited by his leadership but said there was no need to make any comparison between him and Warne. “Shane was altogether a different person with his own game plans. He has the wonderful ability to manage but we don’t need to compare him with Rahul Dravid who has taken over the reins of royals,” said Gilchrist.

“Dravid is terrific as a person, respected all over the world. He has rallied his team around. Perhaps Rajasthan Royals is among the least fancied team in this IPL but he has been able to begin with a good victory and this is going to help them,” added the former Australian wicketkeeper.

Talking about their 31-run defeat to Rajasthan in the opening match, Gilchrist said his bowlers couldn’t adjust their pace according to the wicket at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium here. “It is disappointing any time you lose and especially the first match but we have to forget it quickly,” the 40-year-old said after the match last night.

“Ajinkya Rahane did bat well and played some good shots but I also feel that our bowlers strayed down the leg and also did not get their pace right according to the nature of the wicket,” he added.

Regarding his decision to field first, Gilchrist said: “Dravid too was willing to field first in case of winning the toss. But I feel our bowlers could have been trying out variations. Apart from Rahane’s batting it were the slower ones from Kevon Cooper, which dented us. The wicket slowed up more than we had anticipated and held itself longer,” he said. — PTI 

Jaipur, April 7
Promising India batsman Ajinkya Rahane is disappointed to miss out a hundred by a whisker but said his match winning 98-run knock which helped Rajasthan Royals to notch up a 31-run victory over Rajasthan Royals in IPL V was very satisfying. Rahane rated the 66-ball innings as one of his best and also praised new skipper Rahul Dravid, whom he considers his role model.

“Yes, I am bit disappointed for missing a hundred but a match winning 98 is also satisfying. I don’t rate it as my best knock but certainly it one of the best. My 61 against England was also equally good innings,” Rahane said after the match last night.

“Regarding the wicket the ball was coming nicely on to the bat and stroke making was easy. Skipper Rahul Dravid was a source of inspiration. It is proud moment for me to bat with him as he has been my idol,” said Rahane.

Rahane said Dravid and he didn't have any particular plan and just looked to stitch a long opening partnership. “There were no defined role for us and I was striking the ball well so he was giving me more of the strike and I too would have done so had I been not in good touch,” he said.

“Our plan was to put up a good opening partnership and had decided to bat on at least till the first power play. We did not have any particular plan but were thinking of just one ball at a time. Dravid kept on motivating me from the other end. We have a good understanding and he had prompted me to play full 20 overs,” said Rahane. — PTI

Colombo, April 7
Graeme Swann claimed a match haul of 10 wickets as England roared to a series-levelling win over Sri Lanka in the second and final Test today to retain their number one ranking. Swann followed his four wickets in the first innings with six in the second as Sri Lanka were bowled out for 278 at the stroke of lunch on the fifth day at the P Sara Oval in Colombo.

England, set a modest target of 94, coasted home by eight wickets despite a brief stutter at 31-2 following the dismissals of skipper Andrew Strauss for no score and Jonathan Trott for five.

Alastair Cook and Kevin Pietersen carried the tourists home with a brisk third-wicket stand of 66 in 69 balls, amid wild celebrations from some 5,000 travelling English fans at the ground.

Left-hander Cook remained unbeaten on 49 and Pietersen, who hit a century in the first innings, smashed 42 not out from 28 balls, signalling his team’s emphatic victory with a six off Tillakaratne Dilshan.

It was England's first win in five Tests on their Asian sojourn this year after being blanked 3-0 by Pakistan in the United Arab Emirates and losing the first Test against Sri Lanka in Galle.

Sri Lanka, currently ranked sixth, paid the price for not reaching 300 in either innings of the match and will remain without a series win since 2009, when they beat New Zealand at home.

The overnight pair of Mahela Jayawardene and Angelo Mathews, who resumed at 218-6, survived close calls within the first 30 minutes of play.

Mathews was fortunate to see Cook put down two sharp chances at short-leg off Swann, first when the batsman was on three and then on 12.

Jayawardene, on 58, was reprieved by a television review in the day’s fourth over after on-field umpire Asad Rauf had upheld seamer James Anderson’s appeal for leg-before.

Cook finally held on to a catch at short-leg to remove the in-form Sri Lankan captain for 64 and give Swann his fifth wicket in the innings. Jayawardene ended the series with 354 runs in four innings at an average of 88.50 with two hundreds and a half-century.

Swann then bowled Prasanna Jayawardene around his legs and Samit Patel removed Rangana Herath to reduce Sri Lanka to 251-9, before Mathews delayed the end with a fighting 46. Mathews was last man out, caught at mid-wicket off seamer Steven Finn, who finished with two wickets. — AFP

Scoreboard

Sri Lanka 1st innings: 275

England 1st innings: 460

Sri Lanka 2nd innings

(overnight 218 for 6)

Prasad c Bresnan b Finn 34

Thirimanne c Strauss b Anderson 11

Dilshan c Anderson b Swann 35

S’kara c Prior b Swann 21

Mahela c Cook b Swann 64

S’rweera b Swann 47

Randiv b Swann 0

Mathews c Strauss b Finn 46

J’rdene b Swann 2

Herath c Anderson b Patel 2

Lakmal not out 4

Extras: (b-4, lb-6, w-2) 12

Total: (all out, 118.5 ovrs) 278

Fall of wickets: 1-23, 2-64, 3-104, 4-125, 5-215, 6-215, 7-238, 8-242, 9-251.

Bowling: Anderson 20-6-36-1, Finn 15.5-1-30-2, Swann 40-1-106-6, Bresnan 14-5-24-0, Patel 25-7-54-1, Pietersen 4-0-18-0.

England 2nd innings:

Strauss b Dilshan 0

Cook not out 49

Trott lbw b Herath 5

Pietersen not out 42

Extras: (lb-1) 1

Total: (2 wkts, 19.4 ovrs) 97

Fall of wickets: 1-0, 2-31.

Bowling: Dilshan 7.4-1-43-1, Herath 9-0-37-1, Randiv 3-0-16-0. 

Gurdaspur, April 7
The National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) Director General Rahul Bhatnagar has confirmed that every sportsperson who will quality for the London Olympics will be tested atleast twice before he or she is allowed to board the plane for the British capital.

“This has been done to avoid any last minute embarrassment and we intend to trap potential cheats before the games actually commence. NADA has already started conducting the out-of-competition tests on the athletes who have booked a berth. The second round of tests will be done in June when more or less the entire contingent will be finalised,” Bhatnagar said.

Around 53 sportspersons, including the hockey team, have already qualified for the Olympics so far. “We are working according to the guidelines set by the World Anti Doping Agency (WADA). We hope this system will help us nab the cheats and ensure that the country does not experience any embarrassment during the Olympics. No sportsperson will be able to avoid these tests and we will not hesitate to raid an athlete’s home if necessary,” added Bhatnagar who was speaking from New Delhi.

Weightlifting has been a discipline in which India has had majority number of dope cases. However, the recent failed tests by the star women athletes have set alarm bells ringing, Bhatnagar averred. “Athletes, knowingly or unknowingly, will fall into that trap. We mustn’t forget that the expectations from the Indian athletes are higher than ever. So the lure to take the short cut is also more,” he reasoned. “We’ll conduct the tests in two parts.”

He disclosed that NADA agents were already performing random surprise tests on the athletes who have qualified. “Once that process is done, we will conduct the tests again in June. During the Games, the WADA and the London Olympic Games Organising Committeeo (LOGOC) will be conducting the dope tests,” he claimed.

India’s last major Olympic doping embarrassment came in the 2004 Athens Games. Weightlifter Sanamacha Chanu, who finished fourth in the 53kg category, was disqualified after she tested positive for banned substances. 

Namangan, April 7
India were relegated to Asia Ocenia Group II in Davis Cup after the seasoned doubles pair of Leander Paes and Rohan Bopanna lost the doubles rubber, giving Uzbekistan an unassailable 3-0 lead in the Group I tie, here today. The Indians fought hard before going down 6(4)-7, 4-6, 6-3, 3-6 to Denis Istomin and Farrukh Dustov in a must-win encounter at the Sport Complex Pahlavon.

The Indian team was banking heavily on Paes and Bopanna to pull one back in order to keep tomorrow's reverse singles matches consequential, after rookies Sanam Singh and Yuki Bhambri lost their respective singles matches yesterday. But Istomin and Dustiv caused a major upset when they handed defeat to Paes and Bopanna, both of whom are ranked in the doubles top-10.

While the first set was stretched to the tie-breaker with none of the teams ready to bow down to each other, the Uzbeks did well to snatch the second. The Indians though bounced back in the third set to keep their chances alive.

However, they completely ran out of steam in the fourth to surrender meekly.

Yesterday youngsters - Sanam Singh and Yuki Bhambri - lost their singles matches in straight sets against Istomin and Dustov, respectively in what turned out to be lop-sided contests. Sunday's reverse singles will be dead rubber. Bhambri would take on Istomin in the fourth singles. — PTI 

Miramar, April 7
Pankaj Advani managed to outwit Praput Chaithanasukan of Thailand in a classic contest between the two former world champions in the second semifinal of the 11th ONGC Asian Billiards Championship here today.

Advani beat Praput by 5 games to 4 at the Clube Tennis De Gaspar Dias Miramar.

Right from the outset, the match was a toss-up between the two highly skilled cueists. Advani was the first to gain the required high level of concentration while chalking up an unfinished break of 102 to take the first game.

Exhibiting matching skill and temperament, Praput rallied superbly to take the second and third in which he piled up an unfinished 99 break for an early 2-1 lead.

Not to be outdone, Advani bounced back with an unfinished 100 break, leaving Praput stranded without scoring.

Continuing his fine form, Advani was once again a picture of poise and determination as he uncorked 97 and in the process taking the fifth game to nose ahead by 3-2.

But the Thai player was not finished yet. Playing in his usual care-free manner, Praput struck again to notch an unfinished 102, restoring parity at 3-all. The crucial seventh game was the most pulsating one as Advani began scoring points after having traded a couple of safety exchanges with his rival in a patient methodical and calculated manner to reach 96 points, but just when he needed only four points to close the game, he went out of position.

In the ninth and deciding game, Advani scored an useful 71 break in reply to the 46 points gathered by Praput at the given stage. Subsequently, playing with utmost care and caution, Advani finally closed shop with a well executed cannon when just requiring one scoring stroke to win. However, Thailand had the satisfaction of winning the other semifinal as Thawat Sujaritthuarkarn white-washed the challenge of the other Indian, Devendra Joshi 5 games to nil. — PTI

Guangzhou, April 7
India's Subhajit Saha and Divya Deshpande registered upset wins to move into the second round of the Asia Cup table tennis tournament here today. Both players fought hard from the word go and were relentless as they were able to finally outclass their higher ranked opponents in a masterclass outing by the duo.

Subhajit, ranked 259 in the world, defeated world No 18 Jiang Tian Yi of Hong Kong 3-2, while Divya toppled world No 123 Beh Lee Wei of Malaysia 3-1 to top the Challenger group.

Both Saha and Divya will now play for 9 to 16 position classification matches, slated for tomorrow. — PTI

BRIEFLY

Chelsea win 2-1
London:Chelsea grabbed a late 2-1 win over an unlucky Wigan Athletic on Saturday to boost their push for third in the Premier League after Tottenham Hotspur could only draw while Liverpool also had to settle for a point as their winless run dragged on. Tottenham's dire 0-0 draw at Sunderland means Arsenal can move back into third with a point at home to second-placed Manchester City. — Reuters