Pune, May 22
The glamour boys have finally turned methodical. The also-rans are eyeing the finish line before anyone else. The Knights are in for the ultimate crowning glory as they beat a fancied Delhi Daredevils side by 18 runs in the Qualifier 1 here tonight.

In a game that saw both teams edging the momentum battle in bits and pieces, KKR had the last laugh as their bowlers used the slowness of the wicket to their advantage. Chasing 163 for a win, the Delhi outfit were off to a horror start as the umpire mistakenly ruled David Warner caught behind. The ball had clearly ballooned off the pads, but Warner was given the marching orders.

Sehwag followed without a single run being added to the score, and Delhi were struggling to cope with the ball not coming on to the bat.

Naman Ojha and Mahela Jayawardene got together and the runs started to flow once more. But Ojha, after playing well for his 28, played a rash shot and his cut short went straight into the hands of Gautam Gambhir at point. Jayawardene was looking to see his team home with some sensible batting alongside Venugopal Rao, but an Iqbal Abdullah delivery didn’t spin much and Mahela, who had charged down the track, was not back in time as McCullum dislodged the bails.

There was really not much in terms of fireworks from a Delhi batting unit that has been dreaded for their ability to tear into oppositions. Kolkata, meanwhile, are through to their first ever IPL final, and Delhi too shall have another chance as they await the winner of the Eliminator between Mumbai and Chennai tomorrow. Sunil Narine and Jacques Kallis were the pick of the bowlers, picking up two wickets each.

Earlier, The Kolkata Knight Riders, led by a flurry of boundaries at the end by Laxmi Ratan Shukla and Yusuf Pathan, posted a competitive 162 for four against the Delhi Daredevils.

The Knight Riders won the toss and elected to bat on a surface that has been known for slowing down during the latter part of the innings. Skipper Gautam Gambhir and Brendon McCullum made a brisk start and the two were racing towards a score in excess of fifty within the first six overs.

But then some shabby running by Gambhir made a right mess of things, as he didn’t make the required effort to reach back in his crease and was found wanting after a direct hit.

McCullum was then joined by Jacques Kallis and the two, after steadying the ship, were trying to get into their groove when McCullum misread the turn on a ball by Pawan Negi. The ball went high, but was comfortably caught by David Warner.

Kallis was then joined by Shakib al Hasan, but that turned out to be a rather short lived partnership as Shakib was caught behind off the bowling of Irfan Pathan, while trying a wild drive outside the off stump.

Wickets were falling at the wrong time for KKR, and with not enough runs on the board, the time was just about right for Yusuf Pathan to walk in. Despite an indifferent season, Yusuf is still not taken lightly by any opposition. And he went on to prove just why.

After Kallis was caught at mid-wicket in an attempt to clear the boundary, Yusuf and Laxmi Ratan Shukla got together to score some priceless runs in a final heist. Yusuf (40 off 21 balls), and Shukla (24 off 11 balls), pumped some much needed wind into the fledgling KKR sails.

Bangalore, May 22
Mahendra Singh Dhoni is a lucky captain — and a level-headed captain at that — who does not get elated by wins or flustered by defeats. Even when Chennai Super Kings (CSK) were on the verge of elimination from Indian Premier League-V, Dhoni kept his cool.

He perhaps had a hunch that his luck will hold out yet again.

And so it was proved when Deccan Chargers knocked out Royal Challengers Bangalore to pave CSK’s way into the elimination round.

This give a lifeline to the defending champions who are aiming for a hat-trick in the IPL.

Twice champions — in the last two editions — once finalists and once semi-finalists, and also the 2010 Champions League title holders, Dhoni had led CSK with aplomb.

And when he won the World Cup last year, to add to his inaugural T20 World Cup crown, he was hailed as a skipper with a magic wand who could not fail.

But the disastrous tour of England and Australia gave a perfect platform for Dhoni’s detractors to unsheathe the dagger to draw blood.

Then CSK surprisingly stumbled from defeat to defeat, scoring some occasional wins to keep them in the hunt, till the final match of the Indian Premier League initial round, many bayed for his blood questioning his waning captaincy skills and his own fading batting form.

But Dhoni rode out the storm when CSK earned a place in the eliminator to lock horns with Mumbai Indians, with whom he has many a score to settle.

Like Dhoni, MI captain Harbhajan Singh too seems to have loads of luck. At once stage, MI, the Champions League winners, were on the line too, particularly after Sachin Tendulkar was sidelined due to a finger injury after featuring in Mumbai Indians’ opening match victory against Dhoni’s CSK.

CSK not only began IPL-V on a disastrous note, but also lost the return match against MI in Mumbai.

Thus, it was double whammy for Dhoni and his men, who underperformed throughout, till luck saw them through to the play-off.

With hosts Royal Challengers Bangalore out of the qualifier that CSK have gained at their cost, the Chinnaswamy Stadium sported an almost deserted look. There was hardly any buzz on the eve of the eliminator.

The match carries a lot of significance for Dhoni and CSK as they will not only be looking to exact revenge, but will also look to keep up their glorious track record in the IPL.

It was a collective failure of the batsmen and bowlers that put CSK in a predicament while Mumbai Indians, after many a tumble initially, gathered their wits to ensure a place in the play-offs instead of waiting for the last match to decide their fate.

Lasith Malinga, the Sri Lankan sling bowler, played a pivotal role in ensuring that MI qualified for the play-off without many hiccups.

Sachin Tendulkar, Rohit Sharma, Ambati Rayudu, Kieron Pollard, Herschelle Gibbs and Dinesh Karthik, all played their roles in bits and pieces to feature in Mumbai’s wins while Dhoni could only tear his hair in desperation when he could not find a stable opening batting pair and some wicket-taking bowlers.

His spinners, particularly R Ashwin, were great let-downs, and Dhoni’s own batting form took a dip when it mattered the most.

Suresh Raina, S Badrinath, M Vijay and Ravinder Jadeja have not justified the high price they commanded in the IPL auction. Now, it is time that they collectively came good to take revenge on Mumbai Indians.

Though Dhoni would have preferred to meet MI in Chennai, Bangalore should do him fine as the weather is much more amiable here than in Chennai.

Tomorrow’s evening match will give Dhoni the perfect stage to upstage Mumbai Indians big time as the losers will bow out of IPL-V in the absence of a second life-line.

New Delhi, May 22
Former Pakistan captain and bowling coach of Kolkata Knight Riders, Wasim Akram today slammed those criticising the Indian Premier League, saying that they were "jealous" of the cash-rich Twenty20 event's success and should be "ignored".

"It is sad to see people protesting against IPL. These are jealous people and should be ignored. Let's focus on the business end of the championship," Akram said.

The veteran of 104 Tests insisted that the Twenty20 tournament was a "great advertisement for pure entertainment".

Akram said that success makes many enemies and IPL was one glaring example of that.

"Only successful people have critics. In our culture, there is a tendency to run down a prosperous venture. Make no mistake, IPL is all about success. Every year it is making a positive statement and attracting the best in the world. We have had packed stadiums in almost every game. That's just great," the cricketer wrote in his column.

The fifth edition of IPL has been marred with controversies with a television channel alleging that fixing of matches was rampant in the tournament. KKR co-owner Shah Rukh Khan was involved in a brawl with the Mumbai Cricket Association officials at the Wankhede stadium leading to his ban for five years from the venue.

The chorus against IPL got louder when Royal Challengers Bangalore's Australian recruit Luke Pomersbach was charged of molesting an American national at the team hotel here. If all these were not enough, Pune Warrior's cricketers Rahul Sharma and Wayne Parnell were detained by the police after a raid at a rave party.

However, Akram insisted that the controversies surrounding the IPL have in no way "dampened the spirit of the game".

"Any big event always brings along its share of concerns.

Controversies may have surfaced but they haven't damped the spirit of cricket. Close matches have underlined the beauty of T20 cricket," he wrote. — PTI

New Delhi, May 22
Grapplers from more than 20 nations will participate in the inaugural edition of the Hari Ram Indian Wrestling Grand Prix scheduled to commence at city's Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium from May 25.

The tournament will witness 300 wrestlers and officials from 22 countries, including the likes of Georgia's Sakandelidze Giorgi (120kg) and Tajikistan's Yusup Abdusalamov (84kg), who won the Olympic Qualification Tournament gold this year.

The women's field will be graced by Mongolia's Burmaa Ochirbat (72kg) besides Nigerian Ifeoma Iheanacho (67kg).

The names of the Indian grapplers have not been declared yet but the organisers said the four Olympic-bound wrestlers will be a part of the tournament.

The competition has been divided into male and female division with grapplers getting a chance to showcase their skills in seven weight categories.

The three-day tournament, which boasts of a galaxy of Olympics, Asian and European Games medal winners, will be an ideal ground for the Olympic-bound Indian wrestlers to hone their skills ahead of the marquee event.

With three teams from India getting a chance to compete in the event, a total of 42 wrestlers from the country will be in fray for medals.

"Tournaments like this should be held on regular basis.

“These give an opportunity to our wrestlers to compete against the best and provides them the necessary exposure. The tournament is even more significant keeping in view that it is an Olympic year," the secretary general of the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI), Raj Singh, said.

The tournament involves a total prize purse of USD 98,000 with the gold medalist getting USD 3,000.

The silver medalist will bag USD 2,000, while the winner of bronze medal will fetch USD 1,000, the secretary general informed. — PTI

Zaozhuang (China), May 22
Grandmaster and Asian Champion, Parimarjan Negi came good with his white pieces to register a 2.5-1.5 victory against Rustam Khusnutdinov of Kazakhstan in the fifth round of the Asian Nations chess cup here today.

The victory ensured that the Indian men kept pace with China-1, who also scored an identical victory over Vietnam.

The two leaders now have nine match points out of a possible ten and enjoy two points lead over third placed China-2.

Kazakhstan is on fourth spot with six points in all.

In the women's championship being organised simultaneously, the chances of an Indian medal improved significantly after the eves cruised home to a 3-1 victory over Indonesia.

D Harika struck form in a crucial first board encounter against Asian women's champion Irine Sukandar Kharisma and the rest was easy for the girls despite a debacle on the third board where Mary Ann Gomes went down to A A Citra Dewi.

China-1 maintained two points lead with their fifth straight victory in this section from as many matches. With ten points in their bag, China-1 is solely followed by the Indian girls on eight points while China-3 stands third a full point adrift.

With four rounds still to come, China-1 is sitting pretty and Indians also look good to give them a run for money. To strive for gold, the Indians will have to come out firing on all cylinders when they meet China-1 in this section.

In the open section, Indians needed a win desperately and the knockout punch was provided by Negi who is playing his best chess recently.

Playing the white side of a Sicilian Dragon, Negi was in control right from the word go as he launched an offense through the central files and Khusnutdinov fell prey to some well disguised manoeuvres in mutual time pressure. The Kazakh called it a day when checkmate was inevitable.

On the first board, Sasikiran was held to a draw by Murtas Kazhgaleyev after an entertaining game. After initial skirmish Sasikiran had to mastermind a fine endgame where Kazhgaleyev could not make any progress despite having an extra queen.

P Harikrishna pressed hard for a victory on the second board against Anuar Ismagambetov but he could not make much progress against a solid defense. Down to the rook+knight versus rook endgame, Harikrishna tormented Ismagambetov well over a 100 moves before finally settling for a draw.

National Champion Abhijeet Gupta also conceded a draw to Kirill Kuderinov and dented his all-win record in the championship. Kuderinov was simply too safe with his white pieces and Gupta's efforts in the endgame were in vain. — PTI