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Hussey leads Chennai’s charge Daredevils ride on Warner’s blazing 51 to push Pune to the bottom |
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Livid Kohli criticises Wankhede crowd for jeering at him
Chowrasia finishes tied 11th at Ballantine's Championship
Femme fatale: Porsche temptation drives Maria to run over Li
Sania-Bethanie reach final
Nadal wins Barcelona Open
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Hussey leads Chennai’s charge
Chennai, April 28 Left-handed Hussey was in terrific touch as he batted with ease, taking just 59 balls for knock which was studded with 13 boundaries and led the hosts to a formidable 200 for three after invited to bat. The Australian along with new opening partner Wriddhiman Saha (39) rattled up 103 in 10 overs and later added 55 for the second wicket with Suresh Raina, who chipped in with a quick-fire 25-ball 44. The Knight Riders refused to be intimidated by the big target and put up a spirited fight but eventually fell short as the hosts had too many runs to defend. Manvinder Bisla batted brilliantly from one end but his efforts could only reduce the defeat margin. Bisla scored 92 off 61 balls with 14 fours and two sixes as Kolkata managed 186 for four. Hussey sent back Bisla with a direct hit at crucial juncture as the Indian in company of Eoin Morgan (32 not out) had almost pulled off a great win for his side. Bisla was run out in the penultimate over when his side needed 23 from 10 balls and that had a bearing on the outcome. Kolkata began their chase in right earnest, scoring at a good pace with Bisla yet again doing a great job for his side. Chris Morris was singled out for special treatment by Bisla as he hit the paceman for four boundaries in the fifth over. But not keeping wickets in hand hurt their chances. Skipper Gautam Gambhir (14) frittered away a good start and comeback-man Brendon McCullum (6) could not make any impact. Gambhir was bowled by Morris while McCullum dragged one back onto his stumps off Mohit Sharma. Chennai spinners created some good chances and Jacques Kallis got two lives when Raina put him down in the deep off Ashwin and Dhoni missed a stumping off Ravindra Jadeja. However, the South African could not cash in on and departed after making a 19-run contribution when his scoop off Dwayne Bravo landed in hands of Dirk Nannes. — PTI Scoreboard
Chennai Super Kings Saha c Morgan b Bhatia 39 Extras: (b 1, w 2) 3 Bowling: Pathan 2-0-18-0; Shami 2-0-20-0;
Balaji 4-0-45-0; Narine 4-0-35-1; Kallis 4-0-50-0; Bhatia 4-0-31-1 kolkata knight riders Bisla run out 92 Extras: (b 4, lb 4, w 11, nb 1) 20 Bowling: Nannes 4-0-50-0; M Sharma 4-0-23-1;
Morris 3-0-29-1; Jadeja 2-0-13-0; Ashwin 3-0-26-0; Bravo 4-0-37-1
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Daredevils ride on Warner’s blazing 51 to push Pune to the bottom
Raipur, April 28 Batting first, Delhi made 164/5 in 20 overs. In reply, Pune could only muster 149/4.Yuvraj Singh (31), Aaron Finch (37) and Robin Uthappa (37) contributed in the losing cuase. For Delhi, Irfan Pathan and Umesh Yadav bagged two wickets each. Earlier, Delhi made 164 runs. That score was possible only due to David Warner, who made 51 (25 balls, 4x4, 4x4) and added 63 for the fifth wicket with Kedar Jadhav after the team had been reduced to 96/4 in the 14th over. After Pune Warriors won the toss and elected to field first in the first-ever IPL match being held in the city, Delhi got off to a sedate start. Openers Virender Sehwag and Mahela Jayawardene were not kept on a tight leash by Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Kane Richardson and Delhi had only 20 runs on board at the end of the fourth over. Jayawardene was removed off the first ball of the fifth over by Ashok Dinda, which brought Unmukt Chand to the middle and the scoring rate quickened. Sehwag and Chand added 48 off 35 balls, Sehwag being the dominant player in the partnership with 26 off 18 balls. In the points table, CSK are on top with 14 points, while KKR (6 pts) are in the seventh position. DD (4pts) are eighth, while Pune Warriors are in the ninth. Scoreboard
Delhi Daredevils J’dene c Wright b Dinda 12 Extras: (lb 2, w 12) 14 Bowling: Bhuvneshwar 4-0-30-0;
Richardson 4-0-38-0; Dinda 4-0-31-3; R Sharma 3-0-23-1; Wright 1-0-16-0;
Yuvraj 2-0-9-0; Nayar 2-0-15-1 pUNE wARRIORS iNDIA Uthappa c Chand b Pathan 37 Extras: 6 Bowling: Pathan 4-1-29-2; Yadav 4-0-24-2;
Morkel 4-0-36-0; Nehra 4-0-27-0; Nadeem 4-0-30-0
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Livid Kohli criticises Wankhede crowd for jeering at him
Mumbai, April 28
Kohli was booed by fans at the Wankhede Stadium after a controversial runout incident during RCB's match against the Mumbai Indians here last night. Kohli was jeered several times after he appealed for a runout involving Mumbai Indians batsman Ambati Rayudu, who was dismissed in a bizarre manner. Rayudu seemed to have grounded his bat before it went in the air when he collided with bowler Vinay Kumar. It was at this time that a direct hit from Kohli hit the stumps. The visitors asked for the third umpire's decision, which went in their favour. This agitated the crowd and they booed Kohli calling him a “cheat”. The 24-year-old continued to face the crowd's ire when he came onto bat and even during the post-match presentation. "As far as the crowd is concerned, it has happened to a few players in the past as well. I don't know why they get so worked up during IPL. IPL is not the end of the world. And they forget that the players they are booing for also play for their country," a livid Kohli said. “It is only creating hatred among the players. When I come back and play for India, they are going to cheer for me. It doesn't work that way. You come to Bangalore and you see how Indian players are appreciated,” he added.
Kohli said he could not understand the crowd behaviour at the Wankhede. "I don't know what is wrong with people in this venue. It feels a bit weird because at the end of the day you play for India and you don't come here to be hated. Whoever wins or loses, in any of the games, you come to Bangalore, every captain is cheered, every Indian player is cheered." “People appreciate good cricket. I don't know why people have so much aggression and so much hatred towards other teams in this particular venue. As I said, IPL is not the end of the world," Kohli said. — PTI
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Lee Chong Wei, Ratchanok win India Open titles
New Delhi, April 28 Third seeded Ratchanok Intanon of Malaysia stunned second seed Juliane Schenk of Germany 21-13,21-14 in 44 minutes to annex the women’s title. Both the matches were absorbing battles as in one, the underdog, who was trying to get into a bigger shoe, was put in his place, while in the second, the underdog prevailed as the favourite suffered a hand injury when she was leading, and on return she lost her rhythm to lose out. Lee Chong Wei, the top seed who was expected to score a regulation victory over sixth-seeded Kenichi Tago, followed a predictable script, in the first game, albeit after fighting a close till 9-9. However, the script looked set to alter beyond recognition in the second game when Kenichi Tago raised his game many notches to get winners at will to race to a 11-3 lead. Lee just could not get his smashes, drops and returns right but fought back nevertheless to narrow the gap from 5-12 to 18-20 before losing out through a couple of negative points. The loss of the second game put it anybody’s match, and it was a close, see-saw fight till 9-8 in the third, but once he widened his lead with a deadly smash to be on 12-8, there was no looking back as he brought out his best in the crunch with his smashes rattling Tago, and fittingly, he smashed his way to glory to get the match point. The women’s match between German Juliane Schenk, who is World No 4, and Ratchanok, World No 6, was loaded in favour of the former who led 3-7 quite easily. Then she hit out to trail and another return went wide as the lead narrowed to 5-7. But the German suffered a hand injury while leading 11-8, and took time out to get medical attention. But the break gave some breather to Ratchanok, who recouped to raise the bar, to forge ahead and win as the German was no more the same. In the second game, it was neck-and-neck fight till 9-9, but the Malaysian girl went ahead when Juliane returned deep and out. She then kept widening the gap to clinch the game and the match rather comfortably to bag her first Super Series trophy. “It was not my day. I gave away too many points. Rathanko’s shots went in, while mine went awry”, the German said. BAI amends constitution to fall in line with Code
The Badminton Association of India (BAI) has amended its constitution to align itself in accordance with the Government's Sports Code by fixing the age and tenure limitation of its office bearers. |
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Chowrasia finishes tied 11th at Ballantine's Championship
Icheon, S Korea, April 28 While Chowrasia was the pick of the Indians, Jyoti Randhawa (70) finished tied 17th and Shiv Kapur (70) was tied 31st. At the top Australia's Brett Rumford showed he is the man for the big occasion when he prevailed in a three-way play-off alongside compatriot Marcus Fraser and Scotland's Peter Whiteford to win the title. The three were tied at 11-under, with Romain Wattel of France in fourth place and world No. 5 Louis Oosthuizen (69) was fifth and six players were tied at seven-under in sixth place. — PTI
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Femme fatale: Porsche temptation drives Maria to run over Li
Stuttgart, April 28 The top-seeded Russian swept to her second title of the year after winning in Indian Wells, Calif. She became the first player to retain the Stuttgart title since Lindsey Davenport in 2005. This was her 29th career title and 16th consecutive win on clay, dating to Rome last year. Sharapova was using the Stuttgart tournament for her clay-court debut this season, as she did last season when she went on to capture the French Open. The second-seeded Li had a double-fault on match point, with another one earlier in the final game. Sharapova had to fight through three long three-setters to get to the championship match, but there was little drama in the final. The Russian opened with a break and went up 4-1 before Li could pull back one break. But that was not enough, and Sharapova closed the set with a service winner. Li, who became the first Chinese player to win a Grand Slam title with her victory at Roland Garros in 2011, simply didn't have enough consistency to threaten. Sharapova gained the key break in the seventh game of the second when Li sent a volley wide. Sharapova now holds a 9-5 career edge over Li, who beat her in the semifinals of the Australian Open, the year's first Grand Slam.
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Stuttgart, April 28 The unseeded Indo-American pair carved out a 6-4 7-5 win over local favourite combination of Angelique Kerber and Andrea Petkovic in the semifinals in one hour and 31 minutes. Sania and Bethanie converted six breakpoints and saved nine on their own serve. They will clash with giant-killers and another local favourites Sabine Lisicki and Mona Barthel, who got the better of Darija Jurak of Croatia and Katalin Marosi 6-3 6-4 in the other semifinal of the USD 795,707 clay court event. Sania and Bethanie had won Brisbane and Dubai events early in the year.
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Chennai, April 28
Raipur, April 28
Maria Sharapova beat Li Na 6-4, 6-3 on Sunday to successfully defend her WTA Porsche Grand Prix title in a final between the last two French Open champions.
The top-seeded Russian swept to her second title of the year after winning in Indian Wells, Calif. She became the first player to retain the Stuttgart title since Lindsey Davenport in 2005.
