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Feisty Deccan knock out RCB
Mumbai cruise to
victory
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National Chess
Santosh Trophy
Yuki wins maiden ATP Challenger singles title
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Feisty Deccan knock out RCB
Steyn claimed the wickets of dangerous Chris Gayle and his opening partner Tillakaratne Dilshan and Zaheer Khan as RCB failed to chase down the target of 133 at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium at Uppal. The victory by the Chargers also meant that defending champions Chennai Super Kings go through the play-offs stage, along with table-toppers Delhi Daredevils, Kolkata Knight Riders and Mumbai Indians. RCB collected 17 points from 16 matches, the same as that of Chennai but the latter made it to the play-offs stage on better net run rate. Delhi now play Kolkata in the first qualifier in Pune on May 22 while Chennai take on Mumbai in the eliminator in Bangalore on May 23. The Chargers, who ended the tournament at eighth out of nine teams with nine pints from 16 matches, thus spoiled RCB's chances of a play-off berth just two days after knocking out Rajasthan Royals from the tournament. Steyn was ably supported by Ashish Reddy (3/25), Amit Mishra (2/26) and Veer Pratap Singh (1/26) as RCB could score 123 for nine from their 20 overs. But RCB's run chase never got going as they lost wickets at the crucial stages. Gayle taking 24 runs from the second over bowled by Manpreet Gony was the only highlight of the RCB chase and all the batsmen other than Kohli, Gayle and Tiwary could not reach double digits. It was a perfect revenge for the Chargers who were earlier beaten by the same opponents. But, just as the RCB run chase began it looked like they would run away with the destructive Gayle hitting Gony two sixes and three fours from the second over. It was, however, not Gayle's day today as he lost the duel with Steyn. Gayle tried to smash the ball through the off-side but took the bottom edge on to his stumps. The South African fast bowler then picked up the wicket of Sri Lankan opener Tillakaratne Dilshan by getting him LBW for just four runs. Mishra gave a double blow to the visitors in the 10th over by dismissing AB de Villiers (4) — when compatriot J P Duminy took a splendid catch — and then bowled Mayank Agarwal for just one run. Kohli and left-hander Tiwary tried to steady the innings and put on 46 runs, but the former's innings of 42 came to an end in the 16th over when RCB required 30 runs off 25 balls. It was medium-pacer Ashish Reddy who had the last laugh after Kohli had hit a massive six of his previous delivery. Kohli was dismissed the very next delivery when he tried to replicate the shot and the ball went straight at long-on for Gony to take a fine catch. Kohli hit two fours and as many sixes. With 29 runs required for a win by RCB, Steyn removed Zaheer Khan in the 17th over before Veer Pratap Singh claimed the wicket of Tiwary who made 30 off 27 deliveries. Fourteen runs were required of the last over and Ashish Reddy dismissed Vinay Kumar and Muttiah Muralitharan as RCB ended their innings at 123 for nine. Earlier, South African allrounder JP Duminy cracked a strokeful 53-ball 74 as Deccan Chargers recovered from a shaky start to post a modest 132 for seven.
— PTI SCOREBOARD Deccan Chargers Dhawan b Zaheer 5 Reddy c de Villiers b Vinay 7 Sangakkara c Vinay b Murali 15 White c Agarwal b Parameswaran 1 Duminy c Appanna b Khan 74 Parthiv c Gayle b Vinay 16 Ashish b Vinay 4 Steyn not out 0 Extras (b-1, lb-5, w-4) 10 Total (7 wkts; 20 overs) 132 Fall of wickets: 1-6, 2-19, 3-20, 4-51, 5-122, 6-132, 7-132 Bowling: Zaheer Khan 4-0-30-2, Vinay 4-0-22-3, Parameswaran 3-0-12-1, Muralitharan 4-0-30-1, Patel 4-0-26-0, Dilshan 1-0-6-0. Royal Challengers Bangalore Gayle b Steyn 27 Dilshan lbw Steyn 4 Kohli c Gony b Ashish 42 Tiwary c Sangakkara b Pratap 30 de Villiers c Duminy b Mishra 4 Agarwal b Mishra 1 Zaheer b Steyn 0 Vinay c Duminy b Ashish 7 Patel not out 5 Murali c Duminy b Ashish 0 Parameswaran not out 0 Extras (w-3) 3 Total (9 wkts, 20 overs) 123 Fall of wickets: 1-30, 2-36, 3-55, 4-57, 5-103, 6-104, 7-111, 8-120, 9-121. Bowling: Steyn 4-0-8-3, Gony 4-0-38-0, Pratap 4-0-26-1, Mishra 4-0-26-2, Ashish 4-0-25-3.
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Jaipur, May 20 The Mumbai duo bettered the previous best of 159 by Chennai Super Kings' Michael Hussey and Murali Vijay in IPL-4. Smith slammed 87 off 58 balls while Tendulkar scored a 51-ball 58 to help Mumbai chase down the target of 163 with two overs to spare at the Sawai Mansingh stadium. With their place in the playoffs already assured, the win will be a huge morale booster for Mumbai going into the eliminator against holders Chennai. Chasing a challenging target, Mumbai threw a surprise by sending Smith to open the innings along with Tendulkar. The 100 was up in the 12th over. And with both Smith and Tendulkar looking at ease, Mumbai knocked off the required runs without any difficulty. Earlier, Watson top-scored with a 36-ball 45 as Rajasthan Royals posted a challenging total. Watson hit four boundaries and two sixes before Owais Shah and Ashok Menaria provided the late flourish. Batting first after the coin landed in skipper Rahul Dravid's favour, Rajasthan lost their openers early to be placed at 31 for two in the sixth over. This was the final league game of the season. — PTI SCOREBOARD Rajasthan Royals Dravid c Karthik b Kulkarni 5
Rahane c Sharma b Kulkarni 13 Watson c Smith b Pollard 45 Binny run out (Pollard) 30 Shah not out 28
Menaria c & b Kulkarni 21 Yagnik c & b Malinga 6 Hogg not out 0 Extras (lb-1, w-11, nb-2) 14 Total (6
wkts, 20 overs) 162 Fall of wickets: 1-9, 2-31, 3-84, 4-105, 5-148, 6-160. Bowling: RP Singh 3-0-32-0, Kulkarni 4-1-18-3, Malinga 4-0-32-1, Harbhajan 3-0-31-0, Smith 2-0-13-0,
Pollard 3-0-29-1, Franklin 1-0-6-0. Mumbai Indians Tendulkar not out 58 Smith not out 87 Extras (lb-2, w-15, nb-1) 18 Total (0
wkts; 18 overs) 163 Bowling: Chandila 2-0-24-0, Watson 3-0-17-0, Tait 4-0-40-0, Hogg 4-0-30-0, Trivedi 4-0-37-0, Binny 1-0-13-0.
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We needed to play better shots, says skipper Kohli
Hyderabad, May 20 After restricting the Chargers to 132-7, Bangalore fell shot by nine runs in the end and Kohli admitted it was his own wicket at a crucial stage that derailed their run chase. "We could have played better shots, we did not play the right shots on that wicket. We needed to get in first and cash in at the end. My wicket probably changed the game. We needed 30 off 24 at that stage," Kohli said after the defeat. "We just need to learn from our mistakes and come back stronger next year. The wicket was not that bad to bat on, it was a bit of two-paced but you needed to have clarity in the mind about what sort of shots to play," he added. Kohli, however, said his team played good cricket through out the tournament. Winning captain Kumar Sangakkara thanked his team for ending the season with a win at home. "It was great to win at home. It was the last match of the season and we are glad we won. Shikhar Dhawan, Dale Steyn, Amit Mishra, Parthiv Patel -- all the young players did well for the team," he said. — PTI |
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Lorenzo on top after French MotoGP win
Paris, May 20 Australian Casey Stoner, who announced this week that he will retire from the sport at the end of the 2012 season, took third place while his Honda team mate Dani Pedrosa, who had started on pole, was fourth. Lorenzo, who won the season's first event in Qatar, tops the standings on 90 points, eight ahead of defending champion Stoner. Earlier, Spaniard Dani Pedrosa took his first pole position of the season at the French Grand Prix on Saturday with a last-gasp lap that pushed MotoGP champion and Honda team mate Casey Stoner into second place. Pedrosa produced his best lap of one minute 33.64 seconds in his last attempt on a drying Le Mans track to beat the Australian who had led into the final minute of a session that started wet. Stoner, the championship leader who said on Thursday he would retire at the end of the season because he had fallen out of love with the sport, lapped 0.303 seconds slower. "We had the pace to take pole, but I don't think I got one clean lap," said Stoner. Italy's Andrea Dovizioso, who is fifth in the championship standings for the Tech3 Yamaha team, completed the front row with Spain's 2010 world champion Jorge Lorenzo starting fourth on a works Yamaha. "I'm not happy, I wanted to be at least on the front row but it was not possible, Andrea was very fast today. I didn't make one perfect lap," said Lorenzo.
— Reuters |
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National Chess
In a surprising result, Satyapragyan succumbed to time pressure to hand full points to his Andhra Pradesh rival P Praveen Prasad in a keenly contested fourth round encounter. Playing black side of Queen's Gambit accepted variation, Das displayed sheer skills in the Queen and Pawn ending to garner full points against his Karnataka rival Arvind Shastry in 45 moves. IM Saptarshi Roy of Railways and G Akash of Tamilnadu joined Das at the top of the table after defeating Vignesh N R (TN) and Women Grandmaster Kiran Manisha Mohanty (Orissa) respectively. Earlier in the third round, top seed and defending champion Vikramaditya Kulkarni drew with IM R Balasubramaniam after a marathon match that lasted 123 moves. Second seed IM Satyapragyan settled for half point against E P Nirmal of Kerala and talented Orissa youngster Utkal Ranjan Sahoo outwitted IM C Praveen Kumar of Railways.
— PTI |
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Santosh Trophy Cuttack, May 20 The 31-time champions, who had earlier lost to Maharashtra, desperately needed a win but failed to achieved the desired result. Kerala now have four points from two matches while Bengal collected one point from two matches. In another Group A match, Maharashtra rode on Kailash Patil's hat-trick to rout Punjab 5-0. Maharashtra now have six points from two matches while Punjab are yet to open their account. — PTI
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Yuki wins maiden ATP Challenger singles title
The unseeded Indian, ranked 297, recorded a 6-3, 6-3 win in one hour and 20 minutes over the world number 185 in the summit clash of the $35,000 hard court event. Today's victory is expected to push Yuki to top-220 in the ranking, which will make him the highest-ranked Indian in the ATP charts. Yuki earned 80 ranking points and $5000 as prize money for his effort. Last week, the-19-year-old had won his career's first ATP Challengers doubles title along with compatriot Divij Sharan in the Busan event. Amir tired to claw his way back in the match when he broke Yuki in the third game to lead 2-1 but the Indian teen broke back immediately to level the scores. He then broke the Israeli in the eighth game and served out the set and match in the next game.
— PTI |
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Chelsea crowned European kings
Munich, May 20 In what may be the final act of his Chelsea career, Didier Drogba sealed victory in a tension-packed Champions League final with the last kick of the shootout to clinch victory after he had headed Chelsea's equaliser two minutes from time to force a 1-1 draw and send the game to extra time. Bayern, just as in 1999 when they lost 2-1 to Manchester United who scored two goals in stoppage time, were within touching distance of the cup thanks to an 83rd-minute header from Thomas Mueller. But history came back to haunt them as Drogba snatched victory from their grasp with a late equaliser to set up his team to victory against all the odds. Even in extra time Bayern had a golden opportunity to seal the win but Arjen Robben's penalty was saved by Petr Cech after Drogba fouled Franck Ribery to concede the spot kick. Bayern skipper Philipp Lahm even won the toss to decide which end the shootout would take place and it was held in front of the Bayern fans. Chelsea's success, built on the millions invested in the club over the last nine years by Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich, came on another night of unlikely glory in a season that seemed to be going nowhere under coach Andre Villas-Boas who was sacked in March. Chelsea were rejuvenated by interim coach Roberto Di Matteo who not only steered them to this success but also won the FA Cup two weeks ago. Whether he gets the job permanently remains to be seen, but there is little more he could have done to prove he is the man for the job. He ended the campaign not only with the two cups, but also making Chelsea the first London club to win the trophy since the competition began 57 years ago and guaranteed to play Champions League football again next season. The match itself was similar to Chelsea's astonishing semifinal victory over Barcelona with both successes built on solid steel rearguard actions against sides that dominated them territorially and with possession of the ball. The Barcelona victory followed Chelsea's win over Napoli in the Round of 16 when they lost the first leg 3-1 in Italy and came back to win 4-1 in the second leg, a result that ultimately set them on the road to their success in Germany. At the end the German players were utterly stunned, none more so that Bastian Schweinsteiger after his poorly struck penalty hit the post. "I believe a lot in destiny," Drogba said. "It was written a long time ago. This team is amazing and I dedicate this cup to all the managers and players we had before. Bayern were left to rue a third near-miss this season after finishing runners-up in the Bundesliga and the German Cup but this was the harshest of blows.
— Reuters |
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Munich hero Drogba makes amends for Moscow misery
Munich, May 20 Four years after being red-carded in the 2008 Champions League final defeat, the 34-year-old produced a man-of-the-match performance against Bayern Munich and his final spot-kick on Saturday sealed Chelsea's 4-3 penalty shoot-out win. "Today is a great day for our club, for our fans, for the players," he said. "I'm just really happy, I don't know if there is enough words to describe the way I feel now. "I wanted to make Chelsea smile compared to the other time where we were all down and some were crying. So I'm happy we made them smile." After Bayern took the lead in the second-half, it was Drogba who kept the Blues in the game as he rose highest to convert Juan Mata's corner and equalise against Bayern two minutes from time as the game finished 1-1 after extra time. Having also scored in the 2-1 FA Cup final victory over Liverpool a fortnight ago, Drogba then flirted with the villain's role four minutes into extra time as his foul on Franck Ribery saw Bayern awarded a penalty. With the entire stadium holding their collective breath, Bayern's ex-Chelsea wing Arjen Robben could only weakly hit to Petr Cech's right and his shot was quickly gathered by the grateful goalkeeper. Drogba worked tirelessly throughout, often back-tracking to help out in defence and grew in stature as the game wore on before keeping his cool to nail the final penalty past Munich's Manuel Neuer to give Chelsea the title. Having joined the Blues from Marseille in 2004, the Ivory Coast forward has said he will sit down with Chelsea's bosses to discuss a new deal once the season is over.
— AFP |
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World Chess Championship
Moscow, May 20 It turned out to be a disastrous day for Anand and he now trails 3.0-4.0 in the 12-game match with five games still to go. The momentum now shifts in favour of Gelfand who started as an underdog coming into the match. The defeat came after Garry Kasparov's comments after the sixth game that Anand has lost motivation. To Gelfand's credit, he got the advantage for the first time in the match and he was able to convert it into a full point. Anand was not able to do so in game three when he had his best chance thus far. Playing his second white in a row, Gelfand went for another deviation in the Slav-meran by Anand and finally his efforts paid off. The opening gave white a small advantage and it would have remained so had Anand not gone for unwarranted complications in the middle game. As it happened, Gelfand got a firm control of the only open file in the game, posting both his rooks there. It was time to be extremely careful but Anand, who had thus far remained rock-solid as black, could not really cope with the pressure and went for an erroneous plan. Gelfand seized the initiative by eliminating one rook and according to analytical machines the way out for Anand was to play very precise moves. That however did not happen. For the first time in the match, Anand appeared vulnerable and it remains to be seen how the Indian ace takes up on the new situation. Out of five remaining games, Anand has three whites and his main chances remain with the favourable colour. — PTI
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Hyderabad, May 20
For RCB, captain Virat Kohli top-scored with a 40-ball 42 while Saurabh Tiwary and Gayle contributed 30 and 27 respectively.
Tirupati, May 20
New Delhi, May 20