Aabu Dhabi, April 29
Gautam Gambhir finally came good on Tuesday. Coming into the game with three consecutive ducks and one run, the Kolkata Knight Riders skipper struck an unhurried 44-ball 45. His return to form saw his side first tie the game, and then lose in the super over.

KKR scored 11 runs in the super over bowled by James Faulkner, thanks to a six by Manish Pandey. Royals also managed 11 runs, leaving the super over tied too. But the Royals were declared winners on the basis of having smashed more boundaries. Earlier, chasing 153 for victory, Gambhir kept his team in the hunt by holding up one end, and keeping the scoreboard moving.

Even as others kept departing after chipping in with small contributions, the skipper kept on going until Rajat Bhatia had him caught in the deep. Suryakumar Yadav and Shakib al Hasan took them to the doorsteps of victory with a 49-run partnerships but they lost three wickets in the 18th over, bowled by James Faulkner, and just about managed to tie the game on the last ball.

Earlier, Ajinkya Rahane hit a classy 72 as Rajasthan Royals posted a fighting 152 for five. While Rahane anchored the innings with proper cricketing shots, getting his runs off 59 balls, skipper Watson hit a few lusty blows to score 33 off 24 balls. Rahane's innings had six boundaries and a six. The manner in which he paced the innings was praiseworthy. When Watson and Samson were going after the bowlers, he dropped anchor getting those singles along with odd boundaries to help Royals cross 150.

Once he got his half-century, he opened up pulling Vinay Kumar for a six. When Chawla was introduced into the attack, Rahane played a copybook sweep shot to get a boundary when the bowler pitched one well outside the leg-stump.

Kings XI Punjab medium pacer Sandeep Sharma has credited Virender Sehwag for helping him become a better cricketer and described him as a "gem of a person". “Viru pa is an amazing person! In the nets, we inform the batsman of our hypothetical field and bowl to them. Sometimes, when I don't bowl to my field or do something wrong and Viru pa happens to see it, he stops his own batting and comes to talk to me. He tells me exactly where I went wrong and goes out of his way to help me become a better cricketer," Sandeep was quoted as saying.

KKR assistant coach Vijay Dahiya insists there is no danger to Gautam Gambhir's place in the side even as the captain continues to battle poor form. Though Dahiya backed Gambhir to come good later in the tournament, he conceded that the left-hander not scoring runs is a worry for the team. “If you ask me, Gautam is our best batsman and there are no two ways about it that if your best batsman is not in form, it is a problem for the team," said Dahiya before final game in the UAE. 

Australian Mitchell Starc feels that dismissing Glenn Maxwell with his brilliant effort was very satisfying”. “Maxi's catch was more satisfying because he has been scoring heavily and I was happy to get him out cheaply. It didn't do us any good in the end but I was happy to take a couple of good ones," said Maxwell after their win against RCB on April 29. “Technically, however, I found Maxi's catch a little easier. Saha had hit the ball hard and I didn't know to which part of the boundary it was going.”

West Indies' Lendl Simmons has been included in the Mumbai Indians' squad in place of Jalaj Saxena. Although an official reason was not given, the inclusion of Simmons will add much-needed power to what has otherwise been a shoddy display from the defending champions so far. "The IPL Event Technical Committee has approved Lendl Simmons as a replacement player for Jalaj Saxena for the remainder of season. Simmons is eligible to play for MI with immediate effect," read a press release. 

“My strength is not pace. I rely on swing to get wickets and I continue to do it that way. I have never tried to copy others,” Bhuvneshwar Kumar said. Asked if playing alongside Steyn and Ishant he ever feels the need to increase pace, Kumar said, “No, I don’t think so.Never looked at the other end, that my partner is working up good pace or not. I just want to bank on my strength and I do that,” he said. Fast becominga swinging sensation Bhuvneshwar said his mantra was simple to just stick to the basics.

Scoreboard
Rajasthan Royals
Rahane c Yadav b Vinay 72 (59)
Nair b Vinay 1 (5)
Samson b Shakib 20 (19)
Watson run out (Pandey/Bisla) 33 (24)
Binny c Bisla b Morkel 0 (1)
Smith not out 19 (11)
Faulkner not out 2 (1)
Extras: (w5) 5
Total: (5 wickets; 20 overs) 152
Fall of wickets: 1-13 2-54 3-118 4-128 5-145

Bowling
Vinay 4-0-30-2
Morkel 4-0-40-1
Narine 4-0-28-0
Shakib 4-0-23-1
Kallis 1-0-4-0
Chawla 3-0-27-0

Kolkata Knight Riders
Gambhir c Abdulla b Bhatia 45 (44)
Bisla c Nair b Richardson 3 (9)
Kallis c Smith b Tambe 13 (17)
Pandey lbw b Tambe 19 (11)
Yadav c Smith b Faulkner 31 (19)
Shakib not out 25 (15)
Uthappa b Faulkner 0 (1)
Vinay b Faulkner 0 (1)
Chawla run out (Smith/Samson) 0 (1)
Narine not out 1 (1)
Extras (b 1, lb 2, w 6, nb 2) 11
Total (8 wickets; 20 overs) 152
Fall of wickets: 1-21 2-49 3-85 4-88 5-137 6-141 7-141 8-146

Bowling
Binny 1-0-7-0
Richardson 4-0-28-1
Faulkner 2-0-11-3
Abdulla 2-0-17-0
Watson 3-0-26-0
Bhatia 4-0-29-1
Tambe 4-0-31-2

Chandigarh, April 29
A week after the Supreme Court asked the Justice Mudgal committee to investigate the IPL corruption scandal, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) requested the court to form a new panel, alleging that the Mudgal committee's report was "erroneous".

The BCCI’s counsel also asked that N Srinivasan —the controversial BCCI president who has been forced to give up his position because of the Supreme Court’s intervention — be allowed to resume office even as the probe is conducted. The Supreme Court had noted last month that for a fair and clean probe to take place, it was necessary that Srinivasan — who owns IPL team Chennai Super Kings, which is at the centre of the betting and spot-fixing controversy — should give up the office of president.

On Tuesday, the Supreme Court reserved its order on the probe panel to investigate the allegations against 13 "very important personalities" in cricket. BCCI's lawyers also wanted the court to reinstate Srinivasan as BCCI president till investigations are completed. The bench is expected to issue an interim order regarding the composition of the second probe panel within a few days.

The court refused to give a clean chit to Srinivasan over allegations of betting and spot-fixing in IPL-6. The bench, comprising Justice AK Patnaik and Justice FMI Kalifullah, told the BCCI counsel: "Should we read out portions of the secret report? A judge and two lawyers have given a secret report on allegations.” They were referring to the report of the Justice Mudgal committee, and made this remark when the BCCI counsel, CA Sundaram, asked them to clarify that Srinivasan only faced allegations of not "acting despite specific knowledge".

However, the two-judge bench refused to stop Srinivasan from attending the International Cricket Council (ICC) meetings. The court observed: "We are not concerned with the issue at present. Let us concentrate on the probe issue."

After rejecting a BCCI-proposed panel last week, the court was expected to hand over the investigation to Justice Mudgal today. But the BCCI counsel opposed Justice Mudgal, and the court is expected to name a fresh probe panel before it breaks for the summer vacation.

The Justice Mudgal committee, which presented its report to the Supreme Court in February, had indicted Srinivasan's son-in-law Gurunath Meiyappan – who was also found to be an official of Chennai Super Kings — for betting and sharing team information.

Last month, the court had observed that it was “nauseating that Srinivasan continued as BCCI chief, he should go if cricket has to be cleaned”. Incidentally, Justice Patnaik, one of the two Supreme Court judges who called Srinivasan "nauseating", retires in June.

Justice Mudgal had sought the assistance of a few individuals —including former CBI (Special Director) ML Sharma — to carry out further investigations into the scandal. The panel, which gave its consent to carry on further investigations last week, submitted a list of persons it needed to assist in the probe. (See box)

The Mudgal committee had submitted its report in February, and the BCCI had accepted its recommendations. But the report included a sealed envelope — to be seen only by the judges — with the names of 13 people who, the committee said, should be further investigated. The BCCI wanted these 13 people to be investigated by its own proposed panel, which included cricketer-commentator Ravi Shastri, a BCCI employee. 

New Delhi, April 29
She is young, she is energetic, and, above all, she is the only Indian woman shuttler to have won a singles medal at the World Championships. At just 18, Pusarla Venkata Sindhu is already being dubbed as the next Saina Nehwal.

Having settled for a bronze medal in the recently concluded Asian Badminton Championship in Gimcheon, Korea, Sindhu is now focused on giving her best shot at the upcoming Thomas Cup and Uber Cup Finals in New Delhi from May 18 to 25.

“It's great that Thomas and Uber Cup finals are taking place in India. The bronze medal at the Asian Championship will boost my confidence going into the tournament. It (medal) has come at a right time for me,” Sindhu told the Tribune from Hyderabad.

But, before taking on the world's best at the Siri Fort Sports Complex next month, Sindhu said she would look to add more variation to her game. “I need to work on my defence. This is one area where I need to get better. I am also looking to improve my stroke play as top players from around the world would be participating in the tournament,” she said.

India will host the finals of the prestigious Thomas Cup and Uber Cup for the first time to decide the world's strongest men and women's teams. The country had hosted Thomas Cup and Uber Cup preliminary stage matches in 1988, 2000 and 2006.

In the Thomas Cup (the men's World Team Badminton Championships), India is bracketed alongside Malaysia, Korea and Germany in Group ‘C’, while in the Uber Cup (the women's World Team Badminton Championships), the hosts are placed in the company of Thailand, Canada and Hong Kong in Group 'C'. “I would soon start my training for the Uber Cup. It depends on what strategy our coach Pullela Gopichand decides for the championship and I will prepare myself accordingly. It's an important event and we would be playing in front of the home crowd,” she said.

Talking about her narrow three-game defeat to World No.2 Shixian Wang of China in the semi-finals last week, World No.10 Sindhu said she committed simple errors in the second game and failed to defend her match points. The Indian fought hard before losing 21-15 20-22 12-21 to the two-time reigning All England champion Shixian in the women's singles competition.

Leading 20-18 in the second game after taking the first, Sindhu committed two errors as the Chinese saved two match points and took the contest into the decider after reeling off four straight points.

“It was a tight match. I was leading in the second game but let go the advantage. I couldn't defend my match points. Though I lost to Wang, it shows that Chinese players are beatable,” she said. “Overall, I am happy with my performance. It's for the first time that I have won a bronze medal at the Asian Championship and this will motivate me to perform better in coming events,” she signed off. 

New Delhi, April 29
The Indian Olympic Association said it would look into the allegations of sexual harassment levelled on a top official of the Uttar Pradesh Football Sangh by a woman player after verifying the “facts” surrounding the matter first.

UPFS Secretary Mohammed Shamsuddin has been accused by a woman footballer of sexually harassing her while she was attending a 15-day camp this month in preparation for the ongoing National Championships at Golaghat in Assam.

Shamsuddin was reportedly arrested in Varanasi on April 20 and later released on bail.

Uttar Pradesh Olympic Association had sought action against the state football body for not taking action against Shamsuddin.

Sports Secretary,UP, has also reportedly written to the IOA to disaffiliate All Indian Football Federation for not taking action against Shamsuddin. IOA Secretary General Rajiv Mehta said it will first find out what had actually happened and then consider whether to form a committee to look into the matter or not. — PTI

New Delhi, April 29
Indian women slumped to their second consecutive defeat in the Champions Challenge 1, losing 0-4 to hosts Scotland at the Glasgow National Hockey Centre on Monday. This was India’s second defeat in the tournament as they had earlier lost 2-4 to Korea in their opening Pool A match.

Scotland made a confident start to the game and proved to be a dominating force from the very beginning, winning a penalty corner in the fourth minute but failed to convert the same.

The Indian goalkeeper denied another scoring opportunity to Scotland in the 11th minute, while the replacement goalie Yogita Bali also did an exceptional job in holding the hosts back from opening their account.

It was only in the 30th minute that Scotland got a chance to open their account as Nikki Kidd scored through a brilliant field goal. Emily Maguire soon doubled the lead in the 33rd minute as the Indian women failed to open their tally in the first half.

The script remained the same in the second half as Scotland scored two more goals through Vikki Bunce (41st) and Becky Ward (66th) to register a comfortable victory. India, who sit in the last place, will clash with Belgium in their final pool match tomorrow.

London, April 29
Arsenal took a big step to securing their place in the Champions League for a 17th consecutive season after a 3-0 home win against an increasingly woeful Newcastle United on Monday.

With two Premier League games remaining, Arsenal have 73 points, four clear of fifth-placed Everton who lost 2-0 at Southampton on Saturday and have still to play title favourites Manchester City.

“One more win and we will be in the top four for sure,” Wenger said, while injecting a note of caution. “I’m long enough in the job to know to get over the line is always difficult.”

Arsenal, who will face a European side in a playoff to reach the Champions League proper if they finish fourth, opened the scoring in the 26th minute through Laurent Koscielny, when he prodded home Santi Cazorla’s free kick. Mesut Ozil then doubled the hosts’ lead in the 42nd minute with a tap-in after Tim Krul had twice denied Olivier Giroud.

Arsenal added a third after 66 minutes with a powerful Giroud header.

Arsenal’s 3-0 humbling at Everton earlier this month looked to have ended their hopes of Champions League qualification but a run of three successive victories coupled with Everton’s stuttering form has the Gunners back in the driving seat. — Reuters

London, April 29
The tepid 0-0 draw in the Vicente Calderon resembled a phoney war but Chelsea and Atletico Madrid will surely up the ante at Stamford Bridge on Wednesday when a place in the Champions League final is on the line.

That semifinal first leg stalemate left Chelsea marginal favourites to progress although with no away goal in their pocket, Jose Mourinho’s side will be vulnerable against an Atletico side capable of much more than they produced at home.

Atletico, closing in on a first Spanish league title since 1996, ran out of ideas against a resolute Chelsea rearguard in which John Terry and Gary Cahill spent most of the evening heading away hopeful crosses into the area.

The Londoners are sweating on the fitness of Terry, who turned his ankle in the first leg and they will be without injured goalkeeper Petr Cech and suspended midfielders Frank Lampard and John Obi Mikel.

Whoever plays, Atletico coach Diego Simeone needs a different game plan if his club are to reach the final for the first time since 1974.

They enjoyed 64 percent of the ball last week but leading striker Diego Costa barely got a sniff of a chance as the two sides effectively cancelled each other out.

Simeone’s side, who have conceded the fewest goals in La Liga this season, have won their last nine Spanish top-flight games and are on a 14-match unbeaten run in all competitions.

With a relatively thin squad he was unable to rest any of his regulars in the 1-0 win at Valencia at the weekend, although Gabi played down talk of heavy legs as the season reaches its climax.

“We are up on a cloud from which we don’t want to get down,” Gabi, who will miss the second leg through suspension, said. “The team has a level of conviction that has rarely been seen.”

Simeone, however, issued a word of caution. “La Liga is nothing like the Champions League,” he said before referencing a weakened Chelsea’s 2-0 win at Premier League leaders Liverpool.

“Chelsea has a great team, the possibility of rotating and winning 0-2. We face a very powerful team that will make it very hard for us.”

Mourinho is a past master at knocking teams off clouds and while Simeone will demand more imagination from his side at Stamford Bridge where an away goal could prove vital, Mourinho may elect to adopt the tactics that so stifled Atletico and Liverpool in the space of a few days. — Reuters

BRIEFLY

Indian gymnasts return with seven medals from Perth
New Delhi: Indian gymnasts returned with a rich haul of seven medals, including three golds, from the International Commonwealth Championships held at Perth. According to a Sports Authority of India (SAI) statement, the India gymnasts bagged three gold, three silver and one bronze in the two-day event. While 2010 Commonwealth Games and Asian Games medallist Ashish Kumar won two gold medals, female gymnast Dipa Karmakar bagged the other yellow metal.

Supriya Mondal qualifies for Youth Olympics
New Delhi: Swimmer Supriya Mondal has qualified for the 2014 Youth Olympics by winning a gold medal in the 200m butterfly event at the Dubai International Aquatic Championships in Hamdan. The 17-year-old swimmer clocked 2:03.93s, achieving the ‘A’ qualification mark and will compete in the same event in the Youth Olympics, to be held in Nanjing, China in August. Hailing from Shahpur in West Bengal and coming from a family of modest means, Mondal has won several national level events. “Qualifying for the Youth Olympics is a dream come true for me. I am thankful to my family, coach and others who have supported my dream. I hope to make them all proud at the Youth Olympics in August and beyond,” he said.

Somdev defeats Ebden for first win in 3 months
Oeiras (Portugal): Somdev Devvarman finally snapped his losing streak in the singles with a commanding straight sets victory over Matthew Ebden in the first round of the ATP Portugal Open on Tuesday. The 102-ranked Indian won 6-2, 6-3 against his Australian rival, placed 64 in the ATP charts, in one hour and 13 minutes in the Euro 485,760 clay court event. The win is Somdev’s first after suffering five straight first-round defeats in the last three months. The last time he won a singles match on the ATP tour was when he defeated Juan Martin del Potro in ATP 500 Dubai event in February.

Indians record second straight win in World TT
Tokyo: Indian men outplayed Australia while the women fought hard to beat Nigeria on day two of the World Team Table Tennis Championships on Tuesday. The men's team eased past Australia 3-0 in Group F and women got the better of Portugal 3-1 in Group G. Sharath Kamal, India's highest-ranked player at 39, defeated David Powell 11-9, 11-7, 7-11, 11-8 in the opening singles. Reigning national champion Sanil Shetty was stretched to five games by Hu Heming. The southpaw eventually prevailed 9-11, 11-9, 13-11, 8-11, 11-3. Harmeet Desai gave India their second win in as many games by getting past Kane Townsend 11-6, 11-7, 11-7 in the third singles.

Imran Khan-backed T20 league gets PCB nod
Dubai: Cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan's party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf has been given the green signal by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) to organise a Twenty20 league next month. The league named 'Love Pakistan Peace Cricket League 2014' is expected to be played across five cricketing centres including Karachi, Lahore and Peshawar between May 3-18. The T20 league is expected to not only rope in current Pakistan stars but also invite veterans to play in an exhibition match. Names like West Indies' legend Vivian Richards and former India captain Ravi Shastri, who are close friends of Imran Khan, are doing the rounds to feature in a promotional game at the Gaddafi stadium in Lahore.— Agencies