Pune, April 24
Skipper Virender Sehwag butchered a lacklustre Pune Warriors India attack as Delhi Daredevils romped home by eight wickets in an Indian Premier League encounter here today.

Sehwag scored 87 off a mere 48 balls as Delhi extracted a sweet revenge of their defeat at the hands of the same opposition three days back.

Delhi's domination was evident by the fact that they won the match with as many as four overs to spare.

And leading the charge was Sehwag whose innings was studded with 10 fours and three sixes.

Sehwag added 89 runs for the second wicket with Kevin Pietersen (27 off 21) in just 8.2 overs, and that paved the way for the convincing victory.

Earlier, despite a few drop catches, the Daredevils rode on a disciplined bowling effort to restrict the Warriors to a modest 146 for two.

When the visitors turn to bat came, Mahela Jayawardene initially went for his shots, while Sehwag was happy to play the second fiddle, but after the Sri Lankan was run out for a 14-ball 18, the latter started to free his arms.

After sending the ball twice to the fence in one of Ashish Nehra's overs, Sehwag hit Luke Wright, who replaced Angelo Mathews for this game, for a four and a six off consecutive balls.

Pietersen joined the party and the duo smashed the Pune bowlers at will to take the team past the 100-mark in the 11th over.

Rahul Sharma gave the hosts a breakthrough by sending back Pietersen, but by then, the damage had been done.

It was just a matter of time before Sehwag and Ross Taylor took the Daredevils home.

Earlier, Manish Pandey and Robin Uthappa scored half centuries to help Pune Warriors recover from a disastrous start. — PTI

SCOREBOARD

Pune Warriors

Ryder b Pathan 0

Pandey not out 80

Ganguly c Nadeem b Morkel 1

Uthappa not out 60

Extras: (b-4, lb-1) 5

Total: (2 wkts; 20 overs) 146

Fall of wickets: 1-0, 2-1

Bowling: Pathan 4-0-23-1, Morkel 4-0-34-1, Yadav 4-0-40-0, Negi 4-0-22-0, Nadeem 4-0-22-0. 

Delhi Daredevils

M Jayawardene run out 18

Sehwag not out 87

Pietersen c Ryder b Rohit Sharma 27

R Taylor not out 9

Extras: (lb-5, w-2) 7

Total: (2 wkts; 16 overs) 148

Fall of wickets: 1-22, 2-111

Bowling: A Thomas 2-0-14-0, A Nehra 3-0-34-0, L Wright 2-0-24-0, S Ganguly 1-0-12-0, M Kartik 4-0-26-0, R Sharma 4-0-33-1.

Chandigarh, April 24
Master blaster Sachin Tendulkar turned 39 today and on this occasion, no one was much happier than Adam Gilchrist. Reason: He still remembers his 134-runs innings that he played on his birthday at Sharjah in 1998.

Kings XI Punjab are scheduled to take on the Mumbai Indians at the PCA Stadium, Mohali, tomorrow.

Earlier, the Kings had defeated the Mumbai outfit on their home ground and with the aim to settle the score, Mumbai Indians will face the Kings here.

“I just wish the world’s greatest batsman ever a blessed happy birthday. Thank God! His birthday is today. I still remember his innings in 1998 when he hit the bowlers all over the park and presented them with the worst return gift that a bowler can get,” said Gilchrist.

Adding further “Everyone knows he is a gem and I hope he will continue to shower runs from his bat. In tomorrow’s match, we are working on some strategies and hopefully, these will work at the right time. All we need to do is to ball to him on the right track.

“Last time, the team played well in all departments and the result was in our favour. Hopefully, things will happen for us once again.” said Gilchrist.

The injured Gilchrist, who is also the coach of the Kings XI team, was all praise for the youngsters in his team.

“In the last match, Manpreet and Saini gave us a good start. They are consistent and hopefully against Mumbai, spectators will witness some nice action from the experienced lobby in the team,” said Gilchrist.

When asked about Shaun Marsh’s performance, he added, “He has stood for the team whenever it needed him the most. I hope he will continue to do the same,” said 40-year-old Gilchrist.

On six out of nine wins against Mumbai Indians in the IPL, he said, “The statistics are good, but had it been 9-0, the situation would have been more relaxed.”

Bangalore, April 24
An intense battle is on the cards as two in-form teams in start-studded Royal Challengers Bangalore and defending champions Chennai Super Kings lock horns in an important Indian Premier League encounter here tomorrow.

Both RCB and CSK have hit form after a slow start to the tournament. While RCB has registered three back-to-back wins after a few defeats, CSK will riding high on confidence following victories over Pune Warriors India and Rajasthan Royals in their last two matches.

But tomorrow's match at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium occupies special significance for RCB as they will be eyeing revenge following their lost to CSK in Chennai earlier this month.

And the hosts, who would be desperate after the last-over loss to CSK in the away match, have the ammunition to dismantle the visitors' fort in home conditions.

RCB, who lost to CSK and Rajasthan Royals in a row, have improved a lot as the tournament progressed, winning three games on the trot and would be hoping to continue their unbeaten stretch.

RCB would be taking heart from the fact that they pulled off an easy win against Rajasthan Royals in their own backyard last night without much contributions from explosive Chris Gayle (4) and Virat Kohli (16).

To RCB’s delight, Tillakaratne Dilshan and AB de Villiers have regained their lost touch, which should sound warning bells in the opposition camps.

Dilshan returned to form in style, scoring a match-winning unbeaten 76 and together with AB de Villiers, who scored a quickfire unbeaten 59 off just 23 balls, shared an unconquered 122-run fourth wicket partnership to propel RCB to 189 for three against Rajasthan last night.

But Virat Kohli's dismal form will be the only concern for RCB skipper Daniel Vettori ahead of the CSK tie. — PTI

Jaipur, April 24
AB de Villiers blazed his way to the second fastest fifty in this edition of the Indian Premier League before KP Appanna did a star turn with the ball to help Royal Challengers Bangalore post a convincing 46-run win over Rajasthan Royals here yesterday.

After the undefeated 122-run fourth-wicket stand between de Villiers (59 off 23) and Tillakaratne Dilshan (76 off 58) propelled Bangalore to 189 for three, Appanna bemused the Rajasthan batsman with his slow left-arm bowling, which saw him return figures of 4/19, at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium.

Appanna weaved his magic after de Villiers consumed just 21 balls to get to his fifty.

While Dilshan hit 10 fours and a six, de Villiers smashed three fours and five sixes during their partnership, which came off just 50 balls.

Chasing a stiff target, Rajasthan were off to a flying start, with skipper Rahul Dravid (58 off 42) leading the way by racing to his fifty in just 34 balls.

Rajasthan crossed the 50-run mark in good time but the in-form Ajinkya Rahane's dismissal to Appanna came as a setback.

Dravid, during his stay at the crease, played some innovative shots all round the wicket but, faced with the daunting task of keeping pace with the ever-increasing required rate, the senior pro needed more from his team-mates.

Dravid reached his half-century with a four through cover. — PTI

SCOREBOARD

Royal Challengers Bangalore

Kohli c Hodge B Pankaj 16

Dilshan not out 76

Agrawal c Hogg b Hogg 15

Gayle lbw Hogg 4

de Villiers not out 59

Extras (lb-10, w-7, nb-2) 19

Total (3 wkts, 20 overs) 189

Fall of wickets: 1-23, 2-60, 3-67

Bowling: Chandila 4-0-29-0, Pankaj 4-0-32-1, Cooper 4-1-35-0, Trivedi 4-0-44-0, Hogg 4-0-39-2.

Rajasthan Royals

Dravid c Dilshan b Appanna 58

Rahane c sub (Pomersbach)

b Appanna 13

Shah st de Villiers b Appanna 10

Goswami c Agarwal b Appanna 1

Hodge c Agarwal b Patel 10 Binny not out 20

Cooper c Vettori b Zaheer 8

Hogg c Vinay b Patel 13

Extras (lb-5, w-5) 10

Total (7 wkts; 20 overs) 143

Fall of wickets: 1-56, 2-80, 3-87, 4-91, 5-101, 6-119, 7-143.

Bowling: Zaheer 4-0-30-1, Vinay 4-0-37-0, Vettori 4-0-20-0, Appanna 4-0-19-4, Patel 4-0-32-2.

Roseau, Dominica, April 24
Former Australia captain Ricky Ponting overtook India's Rahul Dravid to become the second highest Test run scorer on Monday during the opening day of the third test against West Indies.

Ponting, who made his Test debut in 1995, moved past Dravid’s career total of 13,288 shortly after tea.

Ten balls after going one run ahead of Dravid, Ponting was dismissed for 23 without having added to his total.

The 37-year-old was caught by West Indies captain Darren Sammy at leg-slip off off-spinner Shane Shillingford.

India's Sachin Tendulkar has the highest total of Test runs with 15,470 at an average of 55.44.

Dravid retired from international cricket last month. — Reuters

Top 10 Test run-scorers

S Tendulkar (Ind) 1989- 15,470 runs

Ricky Ponting (Aus) 1995- 13,289 runs

Rahul Dravid (Ind) 1996-2012 13,288 runs

Jacques Kallis (SA) 1995- 12,379 runs

Brian Lara (WI) 1990-2006 11,953 runs

Allan Border (Aus) 1978-1994 11,174 runs

Steve Waugh (Aus) 1985-2004 10,927 runs

M Jayawardene (SL) 1997- 10,440 runs

Sunil Gavaskar (Ind) 1971-1987 10,122 runs

S Chanderpaul (WI) 1994- 9,918 runs

Patiala, April 24
Keeping up their good form, ONGC players continued to dominate the last day of the 16th Federation Cup National Senior Athletics Championship and became overall champions.

Punjab PWD (B&R) Minister Sharanjit Singh Dhillon was the chief guest at the valedictory function. First Arjuna awardee of the country MS Randhawa was the special guest.

ONGC emerged overall winner with 8 gold (Men- 4 and Women- 4), 6 silver (Men- 6) and 5 bronze (Men-3 and Women- 2) medals while Kerela was second with 7 gold (Men- 4 and Women- 3), 7 silver (Men- 3 and Women- 4) and 4 bronze (Men-2 and Women- 2).

Uttar Pradesh bagged the third spot with 5 gold (Men- 1 and Women- 4), 4 silver (Men- 2 and Women- 2) and 4 bronze (Men-2 and Women- 2) medals.

While neighbours Haryana got the fourth spot, hosts Punjab stood at the eighth spot in the medal tally. The last day saw some power-packed performances, but Siddhant T from ONGC was the star of the day as he bettered his own national record in 110m hurdles by 8 seconds. He clocked 13.69 seconds today while his earlier record was 13.77 sec.

New Delhi, April 24
Indian men's shuttlers Sai Praneeth and Sameer Verma wasted match points to bow out but their female counterparts Arundhati Pantawane and Neha Pandit notched up contrasting victories to reach the main draw of the Yonex Sunrise India Open Super Series here today.

National Games champion Arundhati saw off Sabrina Jaquet of Switzerland 19-21 21-13 21-18 to set up a clash against fourth seed Chinese Yanjiao Jiang in the main draw of the women's singles tomorrow at the Siri Fort Sports Complex.

The Nagpur girl didn't have to play the first qualifying round after her opponent Jing Yi Tee of Malaysia was promoted to the main draw.

Pune girl Neha also reached the main draw after beating fellow Indian Mohita Sahdev 21-17 22-24 21-14. She had defeated Trupti Murgunde after the latter retired mid-way at 11-21 2-11.

However, it turned out to be a disappointing day for the men's singles players as all of them fell by the wayside after suffering contrasting defeats.

Praneeth, who had beaten Srikanth K 21-12 21-18 in the first qualifying round, suffered a 21-19 19-21 21-23 loss to Suppanyu Avihingsanon of Thailand. The Indian got ample chance to pocket the match after reaching the match point but he squandered it all as the Thai shuttler clinched the issue with a smash in the end.

Sameer was no better as the Indian too had a bright chance of making the cut but wasted match points in the second game and suffered a 21-17 23-25 14-21 defeat to Vladimir Ivanov of Russia. He had beaten Russian Ivan Sozonov 21-16 21-9 in the first round.

In the women's singles, PC Thulasi, Sayali Gokhale, Tanvi Lad and Mohita Sahedev failed to reach the main draw.

Results (Qualifying second round): Men's singles: Vladimir Ivanov (Rus) bt Sameer Verma (Ind) 17-21, 25-23, 21-14; Suppanyu Avihingsanon (Tha) bt B Sai Praneeth 19-21, 21-19, 23-21, Yong Zhao Ashton Chen (Sin) bt C Rohit Yadav (Ind) 21-13, 21-13, Tanongsak Saensomboonsuk (Tha) bt Anand Pawar (Ind) 21-12, 21-14.

Women's singles: Neha Pandit (Ind) bt Mohita Sahdev (Ind) 21017, 22-24, 21-14; Arundhati Pantawane (Ind) bt Sabrina Jaquet (Sui) 19-21, 21-13, 21-18; Xiao Jia Chen (Chn) bt Lianne Tan 21-18, 21-9; Nichaon Jindapon (Tha) bt Elizabeth Cann (Eng) 21-11, 21-11. — PTI

Srinagar, April 24
For the first time, the summer capital of the state will host the All-India Postal Football Tournament later this year.

“Football teams from all the states will be participating in the tournament being organized by the Department of Posts (DoP) in the last week of August,” Chief Postmaster General J&K John Samuel said while addressing a press conference here.

Stating that Srinagar city had been conferred a special honour as the tournament is held at “major” cities in the country, he said the inaugural and closing ceremony of the All-India Postal Football Tournament would be held at the Bakshi Stadium.

“The tournament will be conducted in association with the Jammu and Kashmir Football Association and games will be played at other venues as well,” Samuel added.

The DoP also intends to hold three state-level sporting events this year that include Speed Post Football Tournament, Postal Life Insurance Cricket Tournament and India Post Badminton Tournament.

Samuel said that organising sports events was a part of J&K Circle’s strategy in terms of staff development. “2012 will see many sports events being organised in the state involving the DoP staff members. Staff will be also recruited on sports quota during this year. This will also give a major fillip to the sports programmes that will be organised in the state,” he said.

Meanwhile, in an effort to encourage the school children to take up the hobby of stamp collection, the DoP would be organising School Stamp Shows (SSS) across the Kashmir valley.

“The programme will begin in the first week of May. We will put around 10,000 rare stamps on display at different schools for two days each. We will also tell the kids to display their own collections besides encouraging others to take to philately. Letter writing competitions will also be organized at the schools,” Samuel said.