Mumbai, April 22
Shaun Marsh guided Kings XI Punjab to a six-wicket victory over Mumbai Indians with an unbeaten knock of 68 in an IPL match, here today. Marsh who scored his runs in only 40 balls paced his innings nicely as Kings XI, chasing MI's competitive score of 163 for 6, reached the target with three balls to spare.

Kings XI needed 20 runs in the last two overs and Munaf Patel seemed to have swung the game a bit towards MI's way with his first four balls of the 19th over before the left-handed Marsh swung the fifth, a short one, over mid-wicket for a six.

The timely hit brought down the winning target to nine from the last over and off the first ball of the 20th over bowled by Thisara Perera, Marsh struck a six over point which proved to be a decisive blow.

In all, the Australian batsman hit five fours and three sixes and his innings provided the visitors with only their third victory in the season in seven games while dumping the home team to their fourth defeat in the same number of matches.

The second successive home defeat for MI kept their points tally to six while the victory brought Kings XI at par with them on points.

Earlier winning the toss and choosing to bat first, MI posted 163 for six courtesy a 51-ball-79 by James Franklin.

The lanky left-handed batsman opened the innings with the fit-again Sachin Tendulkar (23. Tendulkar played only his second game of the tournament after missing four in between, put on a half century stand for the first wicket and then added a quick-fire 75 runs in just 36 balls with Dinesh Karthik (35 in 20 balls) to pave the way for the competitive score.

The momentum of the Mumbai Indians' innings was lost once Dinesh Karthik who hot a quickfire 35 off 20 balls was dismissed. Having scored 71 runs in the five overs between 11 and 15, the last five overs yielded only 34 runs.

Kings XI commenced the run-chase briskly with openers Nitin Saini and Mandeep Singh putting on 48 runs before the former was out in the second ball after the end of Powerplay.

Mandeep gave the chase the initial push by cover driving and cutting Munaf Patel for two fours and Saini followed suit by carting the India bowler for two more fours that prompted him to retort with a verbal volley at the batsman.

It needed the intervention of the umpires and MI skipper Harbhajan Singh to calm down the bowler but he is sure to face the reprimand of the match referee for his second offence in the tournament.

He had been fined a portion of his match fees in the game against Deccan Chargers on April 9 in Vishakapatnam for questioning the umpire's decision along with his captain.

Left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha drew the first blood as he beat Saini's defensive prod trapping him leg before for 30 off 25 balls with five boundaries.

Mandeep fell three overs later when he was caught pulling Kieron Pollard at the deep midwicket fence by James Franklin before Australians Shaun Marsh and make-shift captain David Hussey put the visitors on the victory path with a half-century stand for the third wicket.

MI skipper Harbhajan was struck for three fours in his second spell by the duo with Hussey edging him for the first boundary and the left-handed Marsh square cutting and then sweeping the off-spinner for two successive fours.

When left-arm medium pacer Rudra Pratap Singh came back to bowl the 15th over, he was punished for 16 runs, with Marsh ending the over with a straight six into the stands.

After 15 overs Kings XI were 119 for 2, needing only 45 runs in the last 30 balls. Hussey fell in the second ball of the 16th over off Pollard's bowling.

At the end of the over the Kings XI needed 44 from 24 balls. But Ojha's poor bowling coupled with those of Munaf and Perera gave enough chances for Kings XI batsmen to scamper across the line with three balls to spare. — PTI

SCOREBOARD

Mumbai Indians

Franklin c Miller b Praveen 79

Tendulkar run out 23

Sharma c Saini b Awana 2

Karthik run out 35

Pollard c Mandeep b Awana 7

Harbhajan c Chitnis b Parveen 4

Perera not out 4

Rayudu not out 3

Extras (LB-1, W-5) 6

Total (6 wkts, 20 overs) 163

Fall of wickets: 1-51, 2-56, 3-131, 4-142, 5-152, 6-152.

Bowling: Praveen 4-1-36-2, Bhatt 3-0-33-0, Awana 4-0-23-2, Mahmood 4-0-39-0, Chawla 4-0-19-0, Hussey 1-0-12-0.

Kings XI Punjab

Saini lbw Ojha 30

Mandeep c Franklin

b Pollard 24

Marsh not out 68

Hussey c Rayudu b Pollard 21

Azhar c Perera b Ojha 10

Miller not out 5

Extras (WD-6) 6

Total (4 wkts, 19.3 overs) 164

Fall of wickets: 1-48, 2-61, 3-119, 4-140.

Bowling: Munaf 4-0-41-0, RP Singh 3-0-28-0, Ojha 3-0-28-2, Pollard 4-0-14-2, Harbhajan 4-0-34-0, Perera 1.3-0-19-0. 

SCOREBOARD

Deccan Chargers

Sangakkara b Balaji 12

Dhawan c Das b Bhatia 50

Patel run out 23

White c Das b Lee 10

Duminy not out 16

Jaggi c McCullum b Narine 3

Ankit c Gambhir b Balaji 1

Steyn c Tiwary b Narine 7

Mishra not out 1

Extras (LB-2, NB-1) 3

Total (7 wkts, 20 overs) 126

Fall of wickets: 1-37, 2-81, 3-95, 4-100, 5-109, 6-113, 7-121.

Bowling: Yousuf 2-0-19-0, Lee 4-0-15-1, Narine 4-0-26-2, Balaji 4-0-22-2, Kallis 2-0-16-0, Bhatia 4-0-26-1.

Kolkata Knight Riders

McCullum b Steyn 10

Gambhir c Sangakkara

b Rajan 30

Bisla b Mishra 10

Kallis c Patel b Steyn 23

Pathan b Ankit 6

Tiwary not out 30

Das not out 9

Extras (lb-2, w-7) 9

Total (5 wkts; 19 overs) 127

Fall of wickets: 1-16, 2-44, 3-64, 4-72, 5-105.

Bowling: Steyn 4-0-24-2, Ankit 4-0-19-, Pratap 4-0-35-0, Mishra 4-0-27-1, White 1-0-8-0, Rajan 2-0-11-1, Duminy 0-0-1-0 .

Jaipur, April 22
A star-studded Royal Challengers Bangalore will be eyeing revenge and continue their winning streak when they take on formidable-at-home Rajasthan Royals in an IPL match here tomorrow.

The visitors have the arsenal to turn the tables on the hosts who would be weary after the last-over loss to Chennai Super Kings in the away match. Bangalore, beaten by Rajasthan in their home game by 59 runs, have been an improved lot thereafter. With West Indian Chris Gayle in cracking form, the visitors have reached Jaipur with fine victories over Pune Warriors and Kings XI Punjab in their previous two matches.

They have a strong line-up but poor form of Virat Kohli, remains a matter of concern. He has done little of note except for a 54-run knock against Chennai Super Kings.

The batting revolves around Gayle and the opponents try to get him out early but he has continued to clout the bowlers all over the park.

His previous two innings of 87 against Kings XI and 84 against Pune Warriors powered his team to facile victories. The rest of the batting has hard-hitting South African AB De Villiers, Saurabh Tiwary, Mayank Agrawal and Daniel Vettori apart from Tillakaratne Dilshan who has not been kept out after his initial failure.

The bowling, spearheaded by veteran Muttiah Muralitharan and Zaheer Khan, is a balanced line-up with Vinay Kumar, Vettori, Andrew McDonald and H V Patel capable of lending good support.

The hosts, on the other hand, do not have big names but the team is well-balanced. The only centurion in this edition of IPL so far, orange cap holder Ajinkya Rahane, and the daring Owais Shah have clicked often and the support from the likes of Ashok Menaria, skipper Rahul Dravid, Brad Hodge and Kevin Cooper has been good.

The bowling department has relied on the medium pace of Siddhartha Trivedi and Amit Singh while Australian speedster Shaun Tait is yet to get an opportunity to play.

Rajasthan gambled with Stuart Binny against Chennai but he was dispatched for 20 runs in two overs. The bowling worries for the hosts have compounded and they might go for Sahun Tait tomorrow.

Royals are second on the table with eight points from seven matches while the visitors are at seventh but they have played a match less and a win here may change the position. — PTI

New Delhi, April 22
Taking a serious note of Geetika Jakhar's complaint, the Sports Ministry today sought an explanation from the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) for calling a retrial even after she won the recently concluded trials for next month's Olympic Qualifiers in Helsinki, Finland.

The Sports Ministry sought an urgent report from the WFI, clarifying its decision to hold a retrial in Geetika's category after she, in her complaint, had alleged that the federation had bias against her.

"Geetika Jakhar has stated that the Wrestling Federation has decided to hold a retrial only for the category in which she has been declared as winner in the trials held on April 19 since she belongs to Haryana and the contestant whom she defeated is from Uttar Pradesh," the Under Secretary to the Government of India, AK Patro, wrote in his letter to WFI secretary-general Raj Singh.

"It is not clear as to why retrial is being done in her case when she was declared the winner and as per the stated policy of the Federation, the winners of the trials held on 19th April were to represent India at the Olympic Qualifiers at Helsinki. — PTI 

Jaipur, April 22
Royals Challengers Bangalore skipper Daniel Vettori today said that his side's batting was not too heavily dependent on explosive opener Chris Gayle and they can win even if he fails.

Vettori said that he was happy the way Gayle was batting but his side were capable of winning even without the West Indian contributing much.

"Yes I am happy the Chris (Gayle) is batting. He is one of the best T20 players in the world. But we are not wholly dependent on him and other batsmen were also capable of winning matches for us. We beat Delhi Daredevils in our first match without him," said Vettori ahead of his side's match against Rajasthan Royals here tomorrow.

"We have come here after beating two good teams like Pune Warriors and Punjab Kings eleven in back to back matches and that gives us more confidence. We were beaten by the Royals in our own back yard and we have thought over it and would try and win this one," he said.

Asked about spin legend Muttiah Murlitharan being left out for Tillakratane Dilshan to take his place in an earlier match, Vettori said that the hardest part of the IPL was that only four overseas players can play in any match. — PTI

New Delhi, April 22
Bengal paddlers Soumyajit Ghosh and Ankita Das booked their London Olympics berths on the concluding day of the Asian Olympic Qualification Table Tennis Tournament in Hong Kong, but it was a real heartbreak for top paddler Achanta Sharath Kamal.

Olympic tickets for Bengal paddlers Soumyajit Ghosh (above) and Ankita Das came via the continental quotas after they topped from the South Asian region.

For both Soumyajit and Ankita, the berths came via the continental quotas, after they topped from the South Asian region.

"I have realised my dream today and will prepare well for the Olympics. It was a real tough match against Amal Raj and it could have been anybody's game. I am happy I won it to earn the spot," the Siliguri lad, who became the first Indian to win the world junior circuit title in 2010.

Soumyajit outplayed compatriot and current national champion Anthony Amal Raj to emerge as the highest placed paddler in the South Asian region while Ankita won a hard fought battle against fellow Indian Kumaresan Shamini to seal a berth in the London Olympics.

Soumyajit, who had an inconsistent run in the tournament, lost to Song Man Jang of North Korea in the first match of the day before coming back strongly to beat Tran Tuan Quynh of Vietnam and then overcoming Amal Raj to finish as the second reserve position.

Soumyajit started off the day losing 2-4 (5-11, 11-9, 6-11, 12-10, 6-11, 4-11) to Jang, but that didn't prove a deterrent for him as he clawed his way back whitewashing Quynh 4-0 (11-5, 11-5, 11-0, 11-0) before accounting for Amal Raj in another one-sided affair.

Amal Raj showed some fight in the opening game dragging Soumyajit to a 10-12 finish but that was not enough as the later won the next three games 11-9, 11-6, 11-7 to seal the match and the qualifying place.

Ankita, meanwhile, downed Shamini 4-3 (8-11, 11-3, 11-8, 11-13, 11-9, 9-11, 11-8) to bag herself a ticket to the London Games.

"It was a 50-50 match. I was playing well but I believe she was lucky. It was her day, she played really well," Shamini told PTI over phone.

The 19-year-old Ankita, who incidentally became the youngest Indian girl to qualify for Olympics, gave credit to national coach Bhawani Mukherjee for giving her the confidence to compete at the highest level.

It was, however, a disappointing day for country's ace table tennis player Sharath Kamal as he failed to clinch the last qualifying spot and returned with fourth reserve position.

Sharath and Amal Raj will have yet another chance to book their ticket to the marquee event in the final World Olympic Qualification tournament to be held in Doha, Qatar, from May 10. — PTI

Siliguri hailed as ‘Bhiwani of Indian TT’

New Delhi, April 22
They have grown up in the same city, trained at the same club under the watchful eyes of former women's national Table Tennis champion Mantu Ghosh in their early days but now Olympic-bound paddler duo Soumyajit Ghosh and Ankita Das have managed to put Siliguri permanently on India's sporting map.

To understand what Siliguri has done for Indian TT, one needs to listen to former India international and two-time national champion Mantu, who was the first iconic paddler from the North Bengal town.

"What Bhiwani means to Indian boxing, having produced so many champion boxers, Siliguri now has established itself as the nursery of Indian TT. Siliguri has produced national champions in all age-groups and number of international players. But two players in same Olympics is something I have never dreamt about," an ecstatic Mantu, who is also the chief of the North Bengal Table Tennis Association (NBTTA) said. — PTI

Manama, April 22
Defending double world champion Sebastian Vettel claimed his first win of the year on Sunday to take over as leader of the Formula One title race when he triumphed in the controversial Bahrain Grand Prix.

Without any threatened interference from demonstrators at the heavily-guarded Sakhir circuit the 24-year-old German regained the form of last year and controlled the race from start to finish.

He jumped to the top of the drivers' standings after registering his 22nd career victory with a near-flawless drive from pole position to the chequered flag.

Vettel came home ahead of Kimi Raikkonen, the 2007 champion, and the Finn's Lotus team-mate Romain Grosjean. "That was an incredible race, very tough," said Vettel.

"I was lucky to have a good start, and that was crucial, as it let me pull away and open up a gap at the front. But Kimi (Raikkonen) challenged me - I think he must have found a dealer who had all those new tyres."

Raikkonen said: "I had one chance to pass him, but I couldn't quite do it and that was it. But it was a good race for us." It was Grosjean's first podium finish in Formula One and the 25-year-old Frenchman said: "For me, I am very happy to have my first podium and to go like this, one step at a time.

"I said at first I wanted to finish in the points and then in the top five, and now on the podium. Let's take a break before I say I want to win!" Australian Mark Webber finished fourth in the second Red Bull, confirming their return to form after a lacklustre start to the year.

Vettel was the fourth different winner in four races so far in the 2012 season and he now leads the overall standings with 53 points ahead of Lewis Hamilton 49 and Webber on 48.

German Nico Rosberg, who claimed his maiden victory for the Mercedes team at last weekend's Chinese Grand Prix, finished fifth ahead of Briton Paul Di Resta of Force India and Fernando Alonso of Ferrari.

Hamilton came home eighth after a troubled race for McLaren, ahead of Felipe Massa in the second Ferrari and, amazingly, seven-times champion Michael Schumacher in the second Mercedes. Schumacher had started from 22nd on the grid.

Hamilton's McLaren team-mate Jenson Button retired on the final lap after a late puncture, but had been unable to mount a serious challenge in a race of rapidly-changing positions.

The top four finishers were all powered by Renault engines, the automotive company that owned the Lotus team until last year.

It was the first time since 1979 that Lotus, in name, had carried two drivers to podium finishes at a Grand Prix.

Vettel made a fast and smooth getaway from the grid, pulling clear of Hamilton who held second ahead of a fierce scrap for positions behind them.

The Lotus team provided the major surprise with their pace, notably from Raikkonen whose return to F1 after two years in rallying has seen him deliver his familiar pace and mature judgement as he went from 11th on the grid to finish second. — AFP

Monte Carlo, April 22
Rafa Nadal blazed to an eighth consecutive Monte Carlo Masters title as he ended a seven-match losing streak against Novak Djokovic with an emphatic 6-3, 6-1 victory on Sunday.

The Spaniard wrapped up a disappointingly one-sided contest with an ace after 78 minutes to win his first title since last year's French Open and send put down an ominous marker for the rest of the claycourt season.

On a windy and sunny afternoon by the Mediterranean, the world number two became the first player ever to win a tournament eight times in a row as he clinched his 47th ATP Tour title, including 20 Masters events.

"It's my favourite tournament in the world," Nadal said on centre court after Monaco's Prince Albert handed him the trophy. "You make me feel incredible feelings."

Nadal took the title without dropping a set for the fourth time, having also achieved that feat in 2007, 2008 and 2010. His record at the glamorous Monte Carlo Country Club now stands at 44-1, his only loss coming against Argentina's Guillermo Coria in 2003 when he was playing the event for the first time as a 16-year-old.

Nadal was playing his first tournament since he had to pull out of the Miami Masters semi-final last month because of a knee injury and his level of performance got better and better as the week progressed.

World number one Djokovic, who beat Nadal in an epic Australian Open final at the start of the year and who dominated the Spaniard last year, winning six finals in a row against him, including on clay in Madrid and Rome, played a poor match.

"I'm sorry about my performance today," the Monaco-based Serb, whose grandfather died during the tournament, said in French on the court. "Congratulations to Rafa, he deserves to win. Me, I'll be back next year." — Reuters