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KXIP in contention for play-offs berth: Hussey
Will go for gold in London: Sushil
Teams to earn big through ticket sales
Boxing team leaves for Baku
Basketball tourney at Pinegrove
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Mumbai, May 9 Setting RCB a target of 142 for a win, Mumbai bowlers were shown no mercy by the burly West Indian as he scored an unbeaten 82, to ensure a nine-wicket win for his side. It was always going to be an uphill task for the Mumbai bowlers to restrict an explosive Bangalore batting, and despite starting cautiously, Gayle and Dilshan kept the required scoring rate within their reach.
With this knock by Gayle that included 5 fours and 6 sixes, the West Indian also took over the Orange Cap from Virender Sehwag and is now the leading scorer in the League with 515 runs. He is also leads the six-hitting charts in the League with 37 sixes, and Kevin Pietersen comes a distant second at 20 sixes. The win will also be a crucial one for RCB as they try to keep alive their hopes of making it to the play-offs. Earlier, wicket keeper Dinesh Karthik top-scored with a breezy 44 as Mumbai Indians struggled against a disciplined Royal Challengers Bangalore bowling attack to post 141 for six. Karthik's 39-ball knock that included three fours and a six and his two significant partnerships with Sachin Tendulkar (24 in 27 balls) and Ambati Rayydu (22 in 39 balls) propped up the MI innings after they made a shocking start after being put to bat on a seam-friendly track. MI lost two wickets in the second over, R Vinay Kumar accounting for both in a superb first spell with Zaheer Khan at the other end, before Tendulkar, who hit four fours, and Karthik stabilised the innings a bit with a stand of 39. Tendulkar's dismissal at 41 in the ninth over saw Karthik and Ambati Rayudu joining hands to resurrect the stuttering innings with a stand of 44 in 33 balls. But the dismissal of both these batsmen as well as Dwayne Smith in the space of 11 balls jolted the innings and left MI struggling at 100 for six. Finally it was left to Harbhajan Singh (20 not out off 12 balls with two sixes) and the fit-again Kieron Pollard (21 not out off 13 balls with three fours) to hit some lusty blows to boost the score with an unbroken stand of 41 in 25 balls. Pollard carted Vinay Kumar for successive sixes in the last over in which the medium pacer gave away 18 runs. Vinay Kumar ended up with two for 34 while Harshal Patel and Muttiah Muralitharan secured identical two for 24. Mumbai Indians struggled to score runs on a wicket affording bounce and seam movement in plenty. Both Zaheer and Vinay Kumar were impressive and the latter struck two big blows to send back left-handed opener James Franklin (1) and in-form number three Rohit Sharma (0) off the second and fifth balls of his first over, and the innings' second. — Agencies SCOREBOARD Mumbai Indians Franklin c Zaheer b Vinay 1 Tendulkar c & b Harshal 24 Rohit lbw b Vinay 0 Karthik c Kohli b Murali 44 Rayudu c Murali b Harshal 22 Dwayne c Vinay b Murali 2 Pollard not out 21 Harbhajan not out 20 Extras: (lb-5, w-2) 7 Total: (6 wkts, 20 ovrs) 141 Fall of wickets: 1/1 2/2 3/41 4/85 5/100 6/100. Bowling: Zaheer 4-0-16-0, Vinay 4-0-34-2, Harshal 4-0-24-2, Mohammad 4-0-38-0, Murali 4-0-24-2. Royal Challengers Bangalore Dilshan lbw b Ojha 19 Gayle not out 82 Kohli not out 36 Extras (lb 2, w 2, nb 1) 5 Total (1 wkt, 18 ovrs) 142 Fall of wickets: 1-48. Bowling: Malinga 4-0-20-0, RP 4-0-28-0, Pollard 3-0-33-0, Harbhajan 4-0-18-0, Ojha 2-0-25-1, Rohit 1-0-16-0.
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KXIP in contention for play-offs berth: Hussey
Hyderabad, May 9 "Of course, we are confident. (We) would not be in the competition if we are not confident of making it to the finals. Every team starts they will make it to the top four. Our job is to win the next four to qualify for the finals," Hussey told reporters late last night here. "If Mandeep (Singh) keeps playing well and (Parvinder) Awana keeps playing well and others, we will have the chance," he added. With 12 points from an equal number of matches, the Punjab side ranks number five on the table among the nine teams in IPL 2012. The first six overs of their batting innings really set the game for them and the decent total of 170 helped the team win the match, he said. Mandeep, who played a memorable innings of 75 in 48 balls, said setting a target of 170 runs ensured victory. "Wicket is on the lower side. So, we knew if we scored around 160-170 it will be a good score which ultimately we did," he said. Meanwhile, Deccan Chargers coach Darren Lehmann said his team did not bowl well and that it was a wrong decision to field first. "The wicket gets better for batting and the team thought it would be better to chase which did not work," he said when asked about the logic behind bowling first as the wicket is known to help batsmen. — PTI
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Upbeat Rajasthan square off against floundering CSK
Jaipur, May 9 Rajasthan have the winning momentum with them and have emerged from the shock of four consecutive defeats by posting two impressive wins over Kings XI Punjab and Pune Warriors. The match will be a keenly-fought contest because a defeat here might just spoil the chances of either team to make it to playoffs. The team composition for the previous two matches has been remarkable for Rajasthan Royals. With Australian all-rounder Shane Watson and pacer Shaun Tait in the side, they have proved that they are better as a team than their more fancied rivals.
The batting of the hosts revolves round the opening partnership of skipper Rahul Dravid and Ajinkya Rahane who has surrendered his orange cap to Delhi skipper Virender Sehwag. Shane Watson, at number three, has added strength by smashing the bowlers while Ashok Menaria, Brad Hodge and Owais Shah have played their role to perfection. The bowling has been consistent and Shaun Tait, who had to wait for a couple of games to get a chance, has been lethal in the past two matches. The reliable Sidhartha Trivedi and Watson give a settled look to bowling. On the other hand, champions for the past two years, Chennai Super Kings have not been in prime form this season and are languishing at sixth with five victories and six defeats. They have not been able to finish off close games and have lacked consistency. But Chennai have enjoyed a three-day break which might have provided them with enough time to regroup and plan for their remaining four games. The fact that they are the most successful IPL team, having played in three finals and have been victorious twice, should also give them confidence. Besides, Mahendra Singh Dhoni leads a team that boasts of several international stars who have the ability to turn games. Their batting has a solid look on paper with Faf du Plessis and Murali Vijay at the top and the likes of Suresh Raina, Dwayne Bravo, Dhoni and S Badrinath coming down the order. All-rounders such as Ravindra Jadeja, Albie Morkel and R Ashwin add depth to the line-up. — PTI
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Daredevils aim to regain top spot
Hyderabad, May 9
A win tomorrow would serve the visitors well as they face tough rivals ahead in Royal Challengers Bangalore and Chennai Super Kings, who are desperate to come out of mid-table logjam and be in play-off contention. There is little doubt that Daredevils are the odds-on favourites but they need to guard against complacency as their batting and bowling both looked ordinary against KKR and for the first time, their middle-order was put to test and it failed miserably. Their foreign recruit Ross Taylor has not fired as yet and in the absence of star English cricketer Kevin Pietersen, who has gone back to England for national duty, the defeat has certainly acted as a wake-up call for Virender Sehwag's boys. Taylor, by his own admission is out of form having managed only 107 runs from eight matches, and the Daredevils management may be tempted to pitchfork West Indian all-rounder Andre Russell in the thick of things. Not only Russell is a capable seamer, he is also a very handy batsman. The rest of the team selects itself. Daredevils have depth in batting as despite Pietersen not part of it now, the outfit has been bolstered by the arrival of another match-winner in David Warner. — PTI
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Liverpool, May 9 Michael Essien's own-goal and goals from Jordan Henderson, Daniel Agger and Jonjo Shelvey ensured Fernando Torres endured a nightmare return to his former club since leaving for £50 million ($81 million) in January 2011. The defeat means Chelsea must beat Bayern Munich in the Champions League final on May 19 if they are to secure a place in the competition next season as they can now no longer finish fourth in the Premier League. Chelsea caretaker manager Roberto di Matteo made wholesale changes to his side, but the Italian will be concerned the FA Cup winners have now won just one of their last five league games. Rarely have Liverpool looked forward to the end of the season so much after enduring a campaign where a League Cup final win has failed to mask their mediocre league form. They lost their last two games at Anfield while their fans had been starved of a home league win since March 13 and even this victory left the Reds, managed by Anfield great Kenny Dalglish, in a relatively lowly eighth place. Chelsea went into the game having secured more away points (25) than Liverpool had managed at home (24). — AFP
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Will go for gold in London: Sushil
New Delhi, May 9 Sushil put Indian wrestling on the world map after winning the bronze at Beijing four years ago. In 2010, he stamped his authority by clinching the World Champion title in the 66 kg freestyle competition at Moscow, Russia. However, what followed was a series of poor performance as he first failed to defend his title at the 2011 World Championship and then could not qualify for the London Games at the Asian qualification event last month. But Sushil finally answered his critics when he earned his ticket to London, wining the gold medal at the World Qualifier in Taiyuan, China — to make his third successive appearance at the mega event. "There was never any pressure on me. If I think about pressure I won't be able to perform. I just believe in working hard. I will give my best and I am confident of doing better than last Olympics," said Sushil, who beat 2008 Beijing bronze medallist Tushishvili Otar 3-0 on his way to a gold at China. "I had injured my shoulder and couldn't perform but the coaches knew that I can do well in China. I believed in myself and knew that I will get well. Everybody around me kept saying that I will qualify and it kept me motivated," he said on the sidelines of the unveiling of a docu series 'Travelling with the PROS' by model-turned actor Bikram Saluja. Sushil's coach Yashvir Singh, who received Federation of International Wrestling (FILA) Coach of the Year award for 2010, said his performance dwindled mainly because of injury and felt his qualifying late won't affect him in London. "There was a one-year gap between CWG and 2011 World Championship in Istanbul and before Asian Olympic Qualifiers in Kazakhstan, he was injured, so he couldn't perform. I don't think his qualifying late will affect his chances. His competitors also qualified late," he said.
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Teams to earn big through ticket sales
New Delhi, May 9 "I never expected such kind of a response. We were very apprehensive before the event started because the Indian team was not doing too well, it lost two successive series (in England and Australia)," Shukla told PTI in an interview here today. — PTI |
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Boxing team leaves for Baku
New Delhi, May 9 In the previous edition of the tournament, India returned with one gold medal and two bronze medals. Naveen Kumar (52 kg) who won the gold in the fly weight division would look to defend his title. For the 15-year-old from Haryana, the title won in Baku holds great importance. — PTI
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Basketball tourney at Pinegrove
Chandigarh, May 9 Sixteen teams from various parts of India including Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Delhi and Uttrakhand are participating in the three-day tournament. Teams from The Asian School, Dehradun, The Punjab Public School, Nabha, Sherwood College, Nainital, Vivek High School, Chandigarh, Welham Boys’ School, Dehradun, Yadvindra Public School Patiala, Yadvindra Public School Mohali, Convent of Jesus & Mary, Shimla, Hopetown Girls’ School, Dehradun, St. Mary’s Convent School, Kasauli, The Sri Ram School, Delhi, Welham Girls’ School, Dehradun and the hosts Pinegrove School would be vying for honours in the three-day tournament. The teams prepare well for this tournament and good quality and highly competitive basketball from all the participating schools is expected. The tournament assumes significance as music and entertainment meets basketball under floodlights at the two basketball courts at Subathu which is a treat to watch. The main objective of the tournament is to popularise basketball as well as improve the standard of the sport commencing at the school level. The tournament in the past has been a great help in improving the skills and capabilities of the players at the junior level and has gone a long way in preparing teams of the future and providing the much needed impetus to the game of basketball. The tournament will be played on league-cum-knock out basis under the aegis of Basketball Federation of India. Lt Col Arun Kulkarni, Principal of The Rashtriya Military School, Chail will be the Chief Guest for the opening ceremony. |
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Even after Dilshan departed after making 19, Gayle and Virat Kohli continued and eventually shifted gears with ease as the Mumbai bowlers kept firing blanks. 
Shane Watson has been in fine form both with the bat and ball while Tait has proved that he is more than a handful in conditions that suit him.
Daredevils had surrendered the top spot to Kolkata Knight Riders when they lost the home match by six wickets. With 16 points from 11 matches, they are placed second and have virtually sealed a play-off berth, while Chargers are out of reckoning with just five points from 12 matches.