The Indian Panorama

Tag: IPL

  • SACHIN TENDULKAR SEALS IPL CAREER WITH A SIX

    SACHIN TENDULKAR SEALS IPL CAREER WITH A SIX

    MUMBAI (TIP): The scenes were eerily similar to the night of April 2, 2011. That May 25 night saw an invasion of bleed blue at the Wankhede, after India clinched the World Cup and the players hoisted Sachin Tendulkar on their shoulders and took a lap of honour. Cut to May 26, 2013 and the Eden Gardens in Kolkata, a venue that is roughly 1033 miles to the east of Wankhede. There was another on-field invasion.

    This time by men wearing indigo. Again, Tendulkar was hoisted on the shoulders by teammates. While the Indian great missed out on the chance of bidding ODIs a perfect farewell, a decision that may come to haunt him later, he wasn’t going to let go of the chance to end his T20 career on a winning note and announced that he was done with the IPL.

    Mumbai Indians’ victory over the Chennai Super Kings in the final was the ideal parting gift for the former skipper and icon player of the franchise that he’s been part of for six years. “I have to face reality. I’m 40 and I had decided that this would be my last season. I’ve enjoyed six seasons with MI.

    It’s been a fantastic journey. We thought our third season was the best but this one is the icing on the cake,” he told the official broadcasters in a short interview on Sunday night. Not one to complain about the late hours and frequent travelling, he listed reasons why playing in the IPL is not easy anymore. “You have to alter your body clock because matches finish after or close to midnight.

    And sometimes we catch a flight at eight in the morning, making all the adjustments that are required.” These are pregnant lines by a man who till very recently swore by “age is just a number” theory and was riled whenever the media mentioned the ‘R’ word to him. Having quit ODIs in December, Tendulkar’s IPL departure is perhaps an indication that his eventual retirement is not far away.

    While his glittering career has been regularly punctuated by glorious milestones, Tendulkar’s body has almost been a war zone post 1999 with injuries acting as irritating speed-breakers on the road to cricketing immortality. The latest being a tendon injury on his left wrist, which saw him retire hurt in the game against Sunrisers Hyderabad. It made him miss the last four games for his franchise, including the final. Ironically, the injury occurred immediately after he had deposited Karan Sharma into the stands named after him.

    When Tendulkar burst on the scene, he established an immediate connect with the crowds because he was a little boy who could tonk big sixes. How fitting is it that the last bit of action in a format that encourages six-hitting, involved Tendulkar hitting a six.

  • MUMBAI INDIANS OUTPLAY CHENNAI SUPER KINGS TO WIN IPL 6

    MUMBAI INDIANS OUTPLAY CHENNAI SUPER KINGS TO WIN IPL 6

    KOLKATA (TIP): Mumbai Indians finally annexed their maiden Pepsi Indian Premier Legue title upstaging a jittery Chennai Super Kings by 23 runs in the final here yesterday to bring the curtains down to a tarnished sixth season of the cash-rich league. Mired in spot-fixing controversy after the arrest of owner N Srinivasan’s son-in-law Gurunath Meiyappan, Chennai Super Kings found the 149-run target, usually an easy ask by their standard, a little too much as they finished on 125 for nine on a difficult track.

    Kieron Pollard (60 no and 1/34, 1 catch) was the man-ofthe- match for his all-round effort. Skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni now lost back-to-back IPL finals despite being the lone man standing in the end with an unbeaten 63. As soon as the last delivery was bowled by Pollard, senior pros Sachin Tendulkar, Ricky Ponting along with Team Mentor Anil Kumble rushed to the ground.

    Just like 2011 World Cup final, Tendulkar did a lap of honour with the teammates like Harbhajan carrying him on their shoulders. Lasith Malinga (2/22) and Mitchell Johnson (2/19) set the tone before Harbhajan Singh (2/14) joined in the act as it was a rare batting disaster for the IPL heavyweights who featured in four straight, five overall, finals. Four of their batsmen including Suresh Raina and Ravindra Jadeja got out for noughts while tournament topscorer Michael Hussey (1) was dismissed first-up by a perfect Lasith Malinga toe-crusher to set the tone.

    With the team reeling at 57 for seven after 11th over, there was no chance for the ‘Men in Canary Yellow’ to make a comeback although Dhoni did try his best. For Mumbai Indians, Eden Gardens remained a happy hunting ground with six wins from seven outings this season as it Rohit Sharma and Co. Down with a wrist injury, Tendulkar however celebrated every moment of their triumph as the trophy was like a ’farewell gift’ for the 40-year-old who may not be around in the next season.

  • PRESSURE MOUNTS ON BCCI CHIEF TO GO

    PRESSURE MOUNTS ON BCCI CHIEF TO GO

    NEW DELHI (TIP): Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) president N Srinivasan came under all round attack with the Sports Ministry and Board heavyweights mounting pressure on him to quit. Srinivasan, however, remained unfazed and refused to step down. The Ministry for Sports and Youth Affairs said the BCCI chief should resign to avoid a conflict of interest, four days after the police arrested his son-in-law Gurunath Meiyappan in connection with the IPL scandal.

    “There is a conflict of interest in this inquiry. Therefore, the BCCI president should tender his resignation on moral grounds pending the outcome of the inquiry,” the ministry said in a statement. Pressure mounted on Srinivasan from within the Board too as two key members — Rajeev Shukla, vicepresident, and Arun Jaitley, vice president — asked the BCCI chief to stay away from the top post till investigations into the scandal were completed.

    “Srinivasan is an elected president, but we are of the view that it would be good if he stays away from this procedure (of the inquiry into the fixing scandal). We have made this suggestion. The decision is up to him,” Shukla said after meeting Jaitley. Shukla said he and Jaitley were in touch with all Board members. A three-member BCCI inquiry committee is probing Meiyappan’s role and the spot-fixing allegations against three Rajasthan Royals players and its franchise as well as the Chennai Super Kings.

    Srinivasan, on his part, showed no signs of relenting under pressure. “I saw Rajiv Shukla’s interview. What he says is that this commission has been appointed and I should disassociate myself from the procedure,” he said. “I had said in Kolkata that I will have nothing to do with the commission — its appointment, its terms of reference and its decision. Rajiv Shukla has reiterated this only,” said Srinivasan.

    “I have nothing to do with the commission. It is independent. Under the operational powers, they have powers to sanction and impose punishment. So, we will just await the results,” he said. Pressure has been mounting on Srinivasan to quit ever since his son-in-law was arrested in the fixing scandal, though his own name has not been linked to the scandal. He cannot be forced to quit, unless the Board takes a majority decision.

    He, however, can be prevailed upon to step down on moral grounds. The Sports Ministry, meanwhile, said it was in favour of a law to curb malpractices in all sports, and it will send its comments on the Bill drafted by the Law Ministry to all stakeholders. The ministry also clarified that enacting a law regularising betting in sports was a State subject, and therefore it “cannot be part of a Central Law”. “The ministry has made no recommendations to regularise betting to the Law Ministry or to any other organisation”, the ministry stated.

  • SPOT-FIXING: SACHIN TENDULKAR BREAKS SILENCE, SAYS HE IS SHOCKED AND DISAPPOINTED

    SPOT-FIXING: SACHIN TENDULKAR BREAKS SILENCE, SAYS HE IS SHOCKED AND DISAPPOINTED

    NEW DELHI (TIP): Breaking his silence on the raging spot-fixing scandal, Sachin Tendulkar on May 31 said that the developments of the last two weeks were “shocking and disappointing” and the faith reposed by the millions of fans in the game should be justified. Tendulkar said the authorities must take sincere steps to get to the root of the issue and ensure that credibility of the game is restored.

    The champion batsman, who retired from IPL after his side Mumbai Indians won the title recently, said as a cricketer he has always learnt to play in the true spirit of the game. “It has always hurt me when the game of cricket is in the news for the wrong reasons. The developments in the last two weeks have been shocking and disappointing. As cricketers we are always taught to go out, fight hard, give our very best and play in the true spirit of the game,” Tendulkar said in a statement.

    The milestone man of Indian cricket said it was important that the authorities get to the root of the problem. “During this difficult phase, I join every cricketer, from the boys in the maidans across the country to those who represent clubs, states and the country, who trust the authorities to take sincere steps to get to the root of the issue. “The faith reposed by the millions of fans should be justified and we owe it to them to ensure that Indian cricket is all about pride and joy,” the statement added.

    Tendulkar’s statement on the spotfixing scandal assumes great importance since none of the current Indian cricketers have spoken on the issue, since it broke out about two weeks ago. Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni has steadfastly refused to speak on the scandal, apparently under a gag order from the BCCI. Dhoni evaded questions on spot-fixing at the pre-departure press conference in Mumbai on Tuesday and also did the same at the media interaction in Birmingham on Thursday ahead of the Champions Trophy.

    The only thing Dhoni said at the press conference in Birmingham was that Indian cricket’s reputation was not “gone” and that some people were “slightly mentally weak” compared to others. He said that he will speak when the time was right. With more and more cricket boards and state unit officials coming out in the open against BCCI president N Srinivasan’s continuance over the last few days, it will be interesting to see whether more cricketers also start giving their views, taking a cue from Tendulkar.

  • Spot-fixing money paid to Sreesanth seized in Mumbai

    Spot-fixing money paid to Sreesanth seized in Mumbai

    NEW DELHI (TIP): With the recovery of Rs 5.5 lakh from an apartment in Mumbai, the Delhi Police has claimed to have taken account of the entire money allegedly paid to arrested cricketer Sreesanth for spot-fixing by bookies. The recovery was made on the basis of information provided by Sreesanth’s friend Abhishek Shukla, who was arrested on Wednesday. Shukla was arrested for allegedly hiding Sreesanth’s electronic gadgets and the money that was paid to him by the bookies. He was granted bail by a Delhi court.

    Shukla took Delhi Police officials to his apartment at Lokhandwala in Mumbai and an amount of Rs 5.5 lakh, allegedly belonging to Sreesanth was recovered. In an IPL match between Rajasthan Royals and Kings XI Punjab in Mohali on May 9, a Rs 40-lakh deal was struck with Sreesanth for conceding a specified number of runs in an over. Sreesanth was playing for Rajasthan Royals.

    The bookies gave Rs 10 lakh to Sreesanth’s friend Jiju Janardhan. The cricketer later received the money. The investigators have also claimed to have recovered four bills, which showed that Sreesanth spent Rs 7.33 lakh by credit card and cash in Jaipur and Mumbai. The payments were made a few days before his arrest. The first bill is for Rs 1.7 lakh while the second one is for Rs 1.58 lakh.

    In both case, Rs 1 lakh was paid through credit card and the rest by cash. The third bill is for Rs 2.1 lakh, out of which Rs 2 lakh was paid through credit card and the remaining in cash. The three bills purportedly showed that the money was spent in Jaipur. The fourth bill for Rs 1.95 lakh, dated May 14, is from “Diesel” store in Mumbai. “On that day, Sreesanth had paid Rs 1.95 lakh for buying denims and other articles from Diesel store. Shukla was handling the money.

    After the purchases, Shukla took the money in a black bag to his Lokhandwala apartment,” police sources said. Shukla reportedly wanted to become Sreesanth’s agent. He first met the cricketer in Bangalore about six years ago. The Delhi Police had earlier claimed that immediately after Sreesanth’s arrest, Jiju had given Rs 2 lakh to Shukla. The money was taken from the cricketer’s room in Mumbai.

    After Sreesanth’s arrest, his friend Rajiv was directed by the police to call Jiju and tell him to arrive at Hotel Intercontinental in Mumbai. Investigators claimed Jiju then spoke to someone in Malyalam over the phone. The police has obtained intercepts of the telephonic conversation.

  • SPOT-FIXING PROBE REACHES DOORSTEP OF BCCI CHIEF’S FAMILY

    SPOT-FIXING PROBE REACHES DOORSTEP OF BCCI CHIEF’S FAMILY

    CHENNAI/MUMBAI (TIP): The IPL fixing scandal has reached the doorstep of Indian cricket’s powerful boss and Chennai Super Kings (CSK) owner N Srinivasan’s family — quite literally. A day after a report about the police investigating Srinivasan’s son-in-law and CSK CEO Gurunath Meiyappan’s phone conversations with Dara Singh’s son Vindu for possible links with a betting syndicate, a fivemember crime branch team from Mumbai arrived in Chennai on May 23 morning to serve summons on Meiyappan.

    They first went to the headquarters of Srinivasan-controlled India Cements, and on finding no one there, stuck a copy of the summons on the door before going to Meiyappan’s home around 2pm to instruct him to present himself before the CB between 11am and 5pm within 24 hours. But with no member of the family available to meet the team, they were initially not let in by the guard; after several phone calls, they were allowed into the compound.

    Rama Subbu, the chief security officer of India Cements, arrived soon thereafter and was seen signing a paper which the officers handed him. Strangely though, on his way out, he denied having received any summons on behalf of Meiyappan. Later in the evening, the crime branch is reported to have received a one-page fax from Meiyappan saying he was out of town and seeking time till Monday, with the assurance that he would appear in person. A top police officer said night that no decision had been taken on whether to allow him the extra time.

    If the police were to reject such a request, which seems unlikely, Meiyappan could be arrested. The whereabouts of the 35-year-old continued to be shrouded in mystery with speculation placing him variously in Kodaikanal (where he has a holiday home), Kolkata (where CSK plays the IPL finals on Sunday against the winners of the Mumbai Indians vs Rajasthan Royals match) and Delhi (to prepare his legal defence with top-flight lawyers).

    Nor is there any word as to where the BCCI chief might be although New Delhi was abuzz with rumours that he would leverage his considerable clout to counter what his supporters consider a “politicallymotivated conspiracy to discredit him”. On May 16, the day Sreesanth and his two Rajasthan Royals were arrested, Srinivasan had said, “One or two bad eggs cannot sully the game,” before stating, on further questioning, “I hope nobody else is involved, but if information comes to BCCI, we will act immediately.”

    I was close to Bhajji, Virat: Vindu Dara Singh MUMBAI (TIP): Vindu Dara Singh has told Mumbai police that he knew several players but was close to Virat Kohli, Harbhajan Singh, and Manpreet Gony. Gony, who now plays for Kings XI Punjab, played one-dayers for India while he was with Chennai Super Kings in 2008. Police said they are yet to come across anything that links the three players to Vindu’s betting racket. Vindu also revealed the names of Bollywood celebrities who bet on IPL matches.

    He acted as a middleman, placing bets on their behalf with bookies. He said he came in contact with the betting syndicate several years ago through a friend, Anand Saxena, who introduced him to Ramesh Vyas and Shobhan Mehta, both big bookies. He got to know Sreesanth through Ajit Chandila and some Delhi-based bookies.

  • MORE PLAYERS INVOLVED

    MORE PLAYERS INVOLVED

    NEW DELHI (TIP): Delhi police commissioner Neeraj Kumar has claimed that more players from different IPL teams are involved in the spot-fixing saga that has rocked the entire nation. Kumar said that they have concrete evidence of involvement of more players other than S Sreesanth, Ajit Chandila and Ankeet Chavan, the disgraced trio of Rajasthan Royals, who were arrested in the last week for their alleged role in spot-fixing in IPL 6.

    Meanwhile, Ajit Chandila was allegedly paid Rs 12 lakh by a bookie for spot-fixing in IPL 6 but the attempt to manipulate matches failed as the cricketer could not play many matches, Delhi Police sources claimed. Interestingly, the sources said, Chandila gave three cheques of Rs four lakh each, two of which bounced, after the alleged bookie-cum-fixer Sunil Bhatia insisted on repayment of the money as he did not deliver as promised under the deal.

    The sources also said police has issued Look Out Notices against some persons in connection with the spot-fixing scandal besides asking official broadcaster Setmax to provide raw footage of all matches involving Rajasthan Royals. Investigators claimed that Bhatia paid the money to the off-spinner last year and after he could not act according to the fixers, the player was asked to return the money.

    Chandila, the sources claimed, could play only three to four matches last year and that was why he could not do spot- fixing. Bhatia, they said, wanted Chandila to return the money. The player then gave three cheques of Rs four lakh each to the alleged bookie but the ones dates December 10, 2012 and February 10, 2013 bounced. However, sources said, the third one was encashed and that they have recovered the two bounced cheques from Bhatia. “It was arrested player Babu Rao Yadav who introduced Chandila to Bhatia.

    After getting a hattrick last year, it was clear that he would play more matches. So the bookie approached him this time again,” a senior police official said. On Sreesanth said, the official said, the pacer fought with coach Paddy Upton under the influence of alcohol for not including him in the playing team after the May nine match in which police claimed that he indulged in spot-fixing. “He consumed alcohol and fought with the coach after he was excluded from the team after the May nine match. For this, he was suspended from the team.

    That was why he was not staying in Hotel Trident where players were staying. He separately booked into Hotel Safotil,” the official said.

  • ICC WITHDRAWS UMPIRE ASAD RAUF FROM CHAMPIONS TROPHY

    ICC WITHDRAWS UMPIRE ASAD RAUF FROM CHAMPIONS TROPHY

    NEW DELHI (TIP): The raging spot-fixing saga in the IPL turned murkier with controversial Pakistani umpire Asad Rauf being withdrawn by the ICC from next month’s Champions Trophy in UK for his alleged role in the scandal which is growing bigger by the day. A week after the sensational arrest of India paceman S Sreesanth and two of his Rajasthan Royals team-mates on charges of spot-fixing, Rauf’s pull-out from the June 6-23 Champions Trophy added a new twist to the fast unfolding drama.

    The ICC said in a statement that Rauf has been withdrawn as he was under investigation by the Mumbai Police, thus becoming the first umpire to come under the scanner in the IPL spot-fixing scandal. “The decision has been made after media reports indicated that the umpire was under investigation by Mumbai Police,” the ICC release said.

    Explaining the decision, ICC Chief Executive David Richardson said: “In the wake of reports that the Mumbai Police are conducting an investigation into Asad Rauf’s activities, we feel that it is in Asad’s best interests as well as those of the sport and the event itself, that he is withdrawn from participating in the ICC Champions Trophy.” Rauf has had a history of controversies and only last year a small-time model named Leena Kapoor had accused him of sexually exploiting her for months before refusing to marry her.

    As per the duty schedule of the on-field umpires, Rauf was supposed to officiate in a warm-up match between Australia and West Indies in Cardiff on June 1. In the tournament group league stage, he was supposed to officiate in two matches in Cardiff. The first on June 9 was between Sri Lanka and New Zealand while other was between West Indies and South Africa. In the ongoing IPL, Rauf had on-field umpiring duty in 13 matches, the last one being in the game between Sunrisers Hyderabad and Kolkata Knight Riders in Hyderabad on May 19.

    The three Rajasthan Royals players — Sreesanth, Ajit Chandila and Ankeet Chavan — are in police custody while actor Vindu Randhawa, son of the late Dara Singh, has also been arrested by the Mumbai Police in connection with the case along with several other bookies, many of whom have underworld connection. But the BCCI threw its weight behind Srinivasan, saying that it was unfair to implicate his son-in-law of any wrong doing until the investigations are over.

  • Mumbai Indians look to preserve dominance

    Mumbai Indians look to preserve dominance

    Sitting comfortably at the top of the table, Mumbai Indians have done enough to cement their place in the playoffs. In their last match of the league round against Kings XI Punjab, they would want to carry their winning momentum before meeting Chennai Super Kings in the first qualifier. As formidable as they appear, their opponents would have made note of how the Mumbai batsmen managed just 34 runs in the last five overs against Royals.

    Prior to that match, against Sunrisers Hyderabad, Mumbai’s batting was struggling until Kieron Pollard came in and thwarted Sunrisers with a blistering innings. Sachin Tendulkar, who missed the previous game, has been declared fit* but could still sit out the game. “The games are coming thick and fast and it has been just three days since he sprained his wrist,” Anil Kumble, the Mumbai Indians mentor, said. “Though he has recovered, he will probably give the match here a miss.” Local boy Rishi Dhawan might also find a place in the side.

    Sunrisers’ victory over Rajasthan Royals put Kings XI out of the reckoning for the playoffs spot. With their tournament drawing to a close, Kings XI would like to register one last win and beating a highprofile team like Mumbai would certainly please their fans. In the spotlight Adam Gilchrist’s announcement of his retirement from the IPL at the end of the season evoked a sense of déjà vu, just like his batting over the last couple of games. Having scratched around for form in the early part of the tournament, his innings have been crucial to the side’s wins in the last two games. Will Glenn Maxwell get an extended run? Or will he make way for Dwayne Smith? IPL 2013’s most expensive player didn’t last for too long in his first outing as an opener for Mumbai this season.

    He dominated the bowlers for as long as he was at the crease, but his wicket came after he had gotten off to a good start. For all the hype that surrounds his selection, the team will be expecting more runs from him. Stats and trivia Among Kings XI batsmen, Shaun Marsh has scored the most runs against Mumbai Indians, scoring 337 in 7 matches.

    Adam Gilchrist is the most successful wicket-keeper in the IPL with 66 dismissals in 79 matches.Kings XI’s lowest total in IPL – 87 – came against Mumbai in 2011.

    TEAMS MAT WON LOST TIED N/R PTS
    Mumbai Indians 15 11 4 0 0 22
    Chennai Super Kings 16 11 4 0 0 22
    Rajasthan Royals 15 10 6 0 0 20
    Sunrisers Hyderabad 15 9 6 0 0 18
    Royal Challengers Bangalore 15 8 7 0 0 16
    Kings XI Punjab 15 7 8 0 0 14
    Kolkata Knight Riders 15 6 9 0 0 12
    Delhi Daredevils 15 3 12 0 0 6
    Pune Warriors 15 3 12 0 0 6
  • Sunrisers take lead in playoff race, Royals miss out on top two

    Sunrisers take lead in playoff race, Royals miss out on top two

    Sunrisers Hyderabad gave themselves a lead over Royal Challengers Bangalore in the race for the final spot in the IPL playoffs, with a comprehensive win over the troubled Rajasthan Royals, their sixth win out of seven home games. Both Sunrisers and Royal Challengers have a game left, but Sunrisers play the easier opposition in Kolkata Knight Riders. Royal Challengers go up against Chennai Super Kings in their last match. Royals, who have qualified for the playoffs but have also been rocked by an alleged spotfixing scandal, began the game needing a big win to give themselves a chance of finishing in the top two. For a long time they looked like they could do so, thanks largely to James Faulkner’s second five-for of the season – both against Sunrisers – but they let Sunrisers back in followed by an indifferent batting display in the chase of 137.

    Royals will rue a seemingly innocuous moment in the sixth over. Sunrisers had gone against their winning formula of chasing at home and were in deep trouble when Biplab Samantray took two instinctive steps down the wicket and went back a little lazily. The ball had gone towards point, Ajinkya Rahane swooped in, and had actually run Samantray out. Except that nobody appealed. Had Rahane appealed, Sunrisers would have been reduced to 21 for 4. Instead Samantray – 8 off 12 then – went on to score his first IPL fifty, which took Sunrisers to a fighting total. With Darren Sammy, Samantray added 56 runs in 5.5 overs. Sammy scored 23 off 19. Sunrisers didn’t even manage a big push towards the end, because Faulkner came back to undo the rebuilding work, but Sunrisers’ bowlers have defended worse than 136. Their two big bowlers – Dale Steyn and Amit Mishra – set the tone of the defence. Steyn bowled fast, accurate and with swing, and conceded just four runs in his first two overs.

    Royals had surprisingly still opened with Rahul Dravid and Ajinkya Rahane because they needed a huge-win-or-nothing approach: they couldn’t have missed out on the playoffs but needed a win and a big netrun- rate boost to compete for the top two slots. The pressure exerted by Steyn was too much on the openers, and Mishra didn’t let up at all. He returned the joint-most economical figures of this season: 4-0-8-2. In between, Rahane and Shane Watson holed out, effectively ending the chase. Mumbai and Super Kings now finish in the top two, and Royals await either Sunrisers or Royal Challengers in the eliminator.

  • SUNRISERS BOWLED POORLY: WAQAR YOUNIS

    SUNRISERS BOWLED POORLY: WAQAR YOUNIS

    HYDERABAD (TIP): Sunrisers Hyderabad bowling coach Waqar Younis said his bowlers performed “quite poorly” in the IPL match against Chennai Super Kings, who won the game by 77 runs on May 8. With the team still stuck on the fifth position on the points table, Younis believes the bowlers will have to put their act together. “Bad day at the office. It didn’t get the way we planned.

    We bowled pretty ordinary. We made a plan but I don’t think we executed that. We bowled quite poorly and it was all over the place. We have to fix it soon,” said Younis. “I think the most important part is to bowl straight. I don’t think we bowled straight enough.We bowled all over the place.

    We gave them the width to hit and they are all international players. If you bowl bad deliveries to them, they will pound. They have shown it today by scoring 77 runs in four-odd overs. You can’t afford to bowl like that,” he said. Defending the decision to field first, Younis said under the little overcast and humid conditions they thought it might swing around a bit but that didn’t happen. “We have chased also in last few matches.

    There are a few things which we have to really look into it and we thought there is little bit in the pitch. Ishant Sharma bowled very well in the last game and suddenly he couldn’t get it right. Both left-handers Hussey and Raina are in great form. They cashed in.” Ishant Sharma conceded 66 runs in four overs, the highest by any bowler in the IPL. The former Pakistani speedster feels there was nothing he could have done.

    “This is the worst part of coaching. You can’t do anything about it. You have to sit out and wait till the end to talk and tell them what to do in the next game. 20-20 is so fast, it doesn’t give you opportunity to send the message.” On Dale Steyn, who bowled very well in the match with figures of 4- 1-17-0,Waqar said it was very difficult to compare anyone with Steyn. “Look at his record at international level.

    His class is written all over him. The way he bowled not only this game but most of the games he played he spearheaded and he proved it again and again. He brings lot of energy to the team.” On local bowling talent in the IPL, Younis pointed out that there are lots of bowlers in this IPL with some new faces.

    He believes IPL offers a great opportunity to young bowlers to learn. “Vinay Kumar is coming back. You have Bhuvaneswar Kumar bowling very well. You also have Amit Mishra coming back. I think it is a great platform. You see lot of talent. Umesh Yadav, I think, has good talent.”

  • Knight Riders Stumble Against Warner, Chand

    Knight Riders Stumble Against Warner, Chand

    RAIPUR (TIP): A spirited performance on the field, followed by a resilient 95-run stand between David Warner and Unmukt Chand helped Delhi Daredevils add a third win to come level with Kolkata Knight Riders. Knight Riders are now level with Daredevils, squandering a two-point advantage. The task of making it to the playoffs, for both, remains a distant dream. Daredevils had been the happier side halfway into their innings.

    The first couple of overs from Brett Lee and L Balaji indicated there was help for the bowlers, but Virender Sehwag laced a couple of boundaries to set the innings into motion. Gautam Gambhir spilled an easy chance off Sehwag at short cover, but it didn’t hurt Knight Riders much. Sehwag steered a length delivery into the hands of slip in the next over, the relief writ large on Gambhir’s face. And when Mahela Jayawardene fell in an identical manner the next over, Knight Riders had found an opening.

    Unmukt Chand had a torrid time in his first four games, but he set about improving his run with a patient stay in the middle. He was at sea against Sunil Narine’s variations, but hung in and kept rotating the strike. Fortunately for Daredevils, there wasn’t much scoreboard pressure; only a couple of productive overs were needed to catch up with the required rate. That impetus was provided by measured aggression from David Warner, who pierced the boundary every now and then and helped bring the equation under control during the 12th over that yielded 15 runs.

    By that time, Chand had settled down and started stroking boundaries – an upper-cut past slip being the most stylish – to bring up his best score this IPL. He fell trying to hasten the end but Warner, who scored his third half-century this IPL, switched gears, unleashed the ruthless strokeplay he’s acquired a reputation for and sealed victory with 13 balls to spare. Gambhir called the Raipur stadium one of the best in the country in terms of facilities, but the venue didn’t bring any cheer for Knight Riders after they chose to bat.

    Manvinder Bisla, who was in imperious touch in the last two matches, started with a casual pull that rocketed to the deep square-leg boundary, but, off the very next ball, Gambhir called him for a suicidal single and paid the price as Irfan, the bowler, beat him in a dash to the striker’s end. What followed was a period in which the Daredevils seamers – and the fielders – started shutting escape routes for the batsmen. Bisla was beaten for pace by a sharp delivery from Umesh Yadav. Yusuf Pathan attempted to mark his authority with a huge hit off Morne Morkel, but was brilliantly caught next ball by Irfan, who took the skier running backwards from square leg.

    That brought the experienced pair of Jacques Kallis and Eoin Morgan together, but their alliance was short-lived. Morgan reverseswept Shahbaz Nadeem for a boundary, but when he tried to pull the long-hop next ball, Yadav charged in from deep square leg to take a good, low diving catch. Kallis followed Morgan in the next over, as another stunning, one-handed catch at point, from Ben Rohrer, reduced Knight Riders to 50 for 4 in the ninth over.

    Debabrata Das and Rajat Bhatia started the repair job, making slow progress with occasional hits to the boundary to bring Knight Riders to 83 for 5 with five overs to go. They hobbled to 110 for 6 at the end of the 18th, but some timely hitting by Lee propped up the score to 136, a good effort on a ground with bigger boundaries. It wasn’t good enough, however.

  • Bowlers, Dhawan Extend Sunrisers Home Run

    Bowlers, Dhawan Extend Sunrisers Home Run

    HYDERABAD (TIP): This was a clash between the IPL’s most powerful line-up and its most effective attack. Here was a line-up that had had just one failure in nine games. Here was an attack that was still to concede more than 130 at home. The Sunrisers Hyderabad bowlers kept their home run going, stopping Mumbai Indians just short of 130 on a slow pitch which the visiting batsmen could never get going on, despite losing only four wickets.

    Shikhar Dhawan guided the chase single-handedly, peppering both square boundaries as he motored to his second fifty in three innings. Apart from the pitch and the home attack, what went against Mumbai Indians was that they lost their four wickets in groups of two each, sucking out whatever momentum they had managed to build on both occasions. The first time it happened, a start of 32 in 4.2 overs was squandered. The second time, two batsmen, Dwayne Smith and Rohit Sharma, who had spent enough time in the middle to have assessed the wicket, fell in the same over.

    It was Ishant Sharma who began Sunrisers’ dominance. Sachin Tendulkar had whipped and lofted Dale Steyn for successive fours but Ishant’s short of a good length stuff was to prove difficult to time. Tendulkar backed away and missed one that nipped in from that length. Two balls later, the in-form Dinesh Karthik reached for one that wasn’t quite there for the drive, and sliced it to backward point. As he usually does, Dwayne Smith took his time in the Powerplay but unlike normally, he found the runs weren’t coming even during the middle overs.

    Ishant was bowling a superb line and length, and the two legspinners, Amit Mishra and Karan Sharma, were getting grip and turn. Smith was dropped by Ishant at long-off in Mishra’s second over but got a poor decision in the bowler’s next, given out lbw after gloving an attempted sweep onto the pads. Four balls later, Rohit mishit in front of long-off and this time, Ishant made no mistake. Ambati Rayudu and Kieron Pollard had seven overs to go, and managed to last till the end, but as evidence of how accurate the Sunrisers bowlers were, the partnership went over run a ball only twice in those overs.

    Steyn came back well after an expensive opening over, signing off with six full and low balls in his last over. Thisara Perera wasn’t far behind apart from the 20th over that went for 16, finding swing on his full deliveries. Mumbai Indians don’t have a bad attack at all, but Dhawan is not in bad form either after that Test debut against Australia. A chase of 130 could easily have got close – Sunrisers defended 126 here against Pune Warriors – but Dhawan was in a different mood.

    Pragyan Ojha created some pressure, giving just 18 in four overs, but Sunrisers broke away in the 12th over as Rohit tried Smith. Dhawan and Hanuma Vihari took 15 off Smith’s mediums. Dhawan bossed the attack after that, cutting, pulling and lofting over extra cover at will to end the game with a couple of overs left.

  • Attacks on Sri Lankan monks were isolated incidents: INDIAN HIGH COMMISSIONER

    Attacks on Sri Lankan monks were isolated incidents: INDIAN HIGH COMMISSIONER

    COLOMBO (TIP): India has said that the recent attacks on Sri Lankan Buddhist monks in Tamil Nadu were isolated incidents and did not reflect the strong people-to-people bonds. “These were isolated incidents and did not reflect the strong people-topeople bonds that have been an integral part of the close historical, cultural and civilisational ties between the India and Sri Lanka,” Indian high commissioner Ashok K Kantha has said. He was making farewell calls on the two Buddhist high priests located in the central town of Kandy yesterday. The attacks on two Buddhist monks triggered protests here which even caused the wrath on Sri Lankan cricketers playing in the IPL. The protesters urged the cricketers to boycott IPL.

    The Indian envoy told the two high priests that “the state government of Tamil Nadu had taken immediate action to identify and prosecute the miscreants responsible for these incidents and that the Government of India, in consultation with the concerned state governments, had taken and would continue to take all possible measures to ensure the safety, security and well-being of Sri Lankan visitors to India, including to Tamil Nadu,” the Indian high commission said. Kantha’s remarks came just days after Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa had said that Sri Lanka and India continued to enjoy good relations despite the rumblings in Tamil Nadu.

  • Dhoni Takes Stumbling Chennai Home

    Dhoni Takes Stumbling Chennai Home

    CHENNAI (TIP): You can be hero and villain on the same night. Ask Amit Mishra and Ashish Reddy. Reddy scored a whirlwind 36 off 16 balls to help Sunrisers Hyderabad get 59 off the last four overs and give them something to bowl at. Mishra kept them alive with the wickets of Michael Hussey, M Vijay and Suresh Raina. However, Mishra, promoted to No.5, wasted 21 balls for just 15 runs, and dropped MS Dhoni even before he had opened the account. Reddy was given the last over to bowl with 15 to defend, and a nowrampaging Dhoni to face. Reddy completely froze, and bowled the most predictable slower balls imaginable for Dhoni to win it easily.

    Spared villainy was Dwayne Bravo who bowled length in the final overs to allow Reddy those runs, but more crucially batted like a rabbit in the headlights, manufacturing – as the IPL’s wont has been – a thriller out of nowhere. He played out a maiden from Karan Sharma – who registered this IPL’s most economical fourover figures of 0 for 8 – in the 16th over. Then he holed out on the bowling of Ishant Sharma for a near game-changing 7 off 16. The man who well and truly snatched heroism from villainy was Dhoni. He too began dozily, playing six dots before he topedged Dale Steyn to long leg where Mishra missed him. How Dhoni made Sunrisers pay for it. Firstly, after Bravo’s maiden left Super Kings needing 46 off last four, Dhoni hit two sensational and consecutive pulled sixes off Steyn, who at times bowled at close to 150 kph. One over midwicket, and the other dragged from wide outside off to clear long-on. This was brutal hitting against the best bowler in the world. Bravo, though, turned it around again, and Sunrisers went to Steyn to bowl the 19th over with 27 runs to play with. Dhoni played another calculated over. Steyn bowled with third man and fine leg up to defend areas down the ground. Dhoni dabbed the first past short fine leg for two, and square-drove the second over point for four. The third one he slogged over deep midwicket. This was the first time Steyn was hit for three sixes in an IPL innings, and only the second time in any Twenty20 game.Steyn came back, though, with Ravindra Jadeja’s wicket, and left Super Kings needing 15 to win off the last over. Darren Sammy, the IPL debutant, was the only man who had bowled earlier on the night and had an over to go. Cameron White, though, went to Reddy. Perhaps he was thinking if this was Reddy’s evening, it might be his night too. It wasn’t.

    Reddy began with a back-of-the-hand slower ball that was almost off the pitch. He ran up again, and tried the same slower ball again. Dhoni missed, but it was not as though he had not picked it. Reddy had got lucky Dhoni didn’t connect. Reddy, though, tried it again, and Dhoni smacked it clean out of the ground. Eight off four now. Reddy was clearly nervous. He tried the normal yorker now, and missed his line by feet. Five wides. Hang on. Dhoni admits to having touched it. So three off four now becomes four off three.

    Dhoni pulled the next slower ball to beat long-on and bring the win that put Super Kings level with Royal Challengers Bangalore at the top of the table. Watching all this, Shikhar Dhawan would be wondering whatever happened to what should have been a special Sunrisers debut for him. He came out from a month in the cold storage, braved a blow in the unmentionables, scored a fifty to give Sunrisers a total to bowl at, but ended as a footnote on a night Dhoni went from 0 off 6 to 67 off 37.

  • Terror Strikes Bangalore; 16 Injured

    Terror Strikes Bangalore; 16 Injured

    BANGALORE (TIP): At least 16 persons, including 11 policemen, were injured in a bomb blast near the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party’s state office in the Malleswaram area of the city on April 17. The blast later triggered a mudslinging fest among politicians in the poll-bound Karnataka.

    Police personnel bore the brunt of the blast triggered by an IED mounted on a two-wheeler. Five civilians, including three women and two teenagers, were among the injured. Fire tenders rushed to the scene to douse the fire and the police combed the area with sniffer dogs. National Investigation Agency (NIA) officials and forensic teams were also present at the scene to look for clues. The explosion comes on the anniversary of a series of blasts outside the Chinnaswamy Cricket Stadium in 2010 that forced the shifting of IPL matches from Bangalore to Mumbai. Describing the blast as a “clear act of terror”, Deputy Chief Minister and Home Minister R Ashok said it was targeted at the party workers and its leaders. “It is a clear act of terror… It is targeted at the BJP, our senior leaders and workers,” Ashoka said. “State and central-level leaders keep coming to the party office for meetings in connection with the Assembly elections.

    The bomb was meant for them,” he said. Ashok said the date of the blast coincided with the Chinnaswamy Stadium blasts three years ago. The police would study this angle too during its investigations, he added. Congress leader and Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly Siddaramaiah said the blast could be the handiwork of the BJP to attract the sympathy of voters. This charge was furiously refuted by Bangalore (South) MP and former union minister Anantha Kumar and other BJP functionaries. “A bomb-like material on a motorbike exploded around 10.30 am, injuring 16 persons, including 11 policemen, near the BJP office at Malleswaram,” state DGP Lalrokhuma Pachau said. “The injuries are not serious.

    The injured are being treated in a nearby government hospital,” Pachau added. “We do not know the type of material or bomb used in the blast. It is under investigation. The NIA and forensic experts are examining the charred vehicles,” he said. The motorcycle suspected to have been used in the blast bore a Tamil Nadu registration number and was parked between two cars. The explosion ripped through the twowheeler and charred both cars. The explosion also shattered the windowpanes of houses in the vicinity. BJP spokesperson Prakash, who was at the party office when the bomb went off, said they heard a loud noise. No senior leader of the BJP was in the office at the time of the blast, he added. The BJP used the incident to target the Election Commission of India, which had transferred senior police officers, including the police commissioner, of the city recently

  • Clinical Super Kings Thump Delhi

    Clinical Super Kings Thump Delhi

    NEW DELHI (TIP): In the school of Chennai Super Kings cricket, they swear by a formula. Ten times six plus ten times 10 equals a winning total on a slow pitch. The corollary is, ten times six often begets ten times ten. On April 17, Super Kings followed that formula like frontbenching geeks. They reached 60 for 1 in 10 overs, then switched gears to score 109 in the last 10 with Michael Hussey and MS Dhoni turning it on like only they can. The chase was killed by the time Virender Sehwag joined David Warner and Mahela Jayawardene back in the dugout. Delhi Daredevils have lost all of their six matches in this year’s IPL.

    It was an all too familiar sight with Hussey back in the side and Super Kings biding their time at the start of the match, sizing up their prey. Suresh Raina seemed to struggle to find his touch a bit, but they reached that preliminary 60 in 10 without much drama. Just like that Raina drove Umesh Yadav over cover in the 11th over, and Super Kings were on their way. In the next over, when Hussey pulled Ajit Agarkar over midwicket for a six, his strike rate finally crossed a run a ball. Despite Raina’s wicket, the five overs immediately after the 10th went for 9, 14, 11, 10 and 12. A bit of it had to do with Dhoni, who not only finally came out to bat at four, but came with the switch flicked on that told him he didn’t need to block at the start of the innings. The first ball Dhoni faced he pulled disdainfully through midwicket for four, and you knew bad things were going to happen to bowlers. And then, horror of horrors, Agarkar, one of the best fielders among Indian quicks, dropped him at long-off.

    Dhoni would have gone for 17 off 10 had it been taken. That was also a period when Daredevils were trying to play games with that formula of ten times 10. That Yadav over brought only seven, and in the next over Irfan Pathan conceded just four of the first five balls. Hussey, though, drilled the last one through long-off to reopen the flood gates. He went from 24 off 27 to 65 not out off 50. And Dhoni, by the time he played a dot ball he had reached 32 off 15, and would go on to add 12 off eight more.

    The thing with Daredevils, though, is you can’t count them out lest one of their big three has a crazy day with the bat. Haryana quick Mohit Sharma, coming back like Hussey, quickly put paid to that. First he got a bottom edge from Warner, and then had Sehwag holing out to deep midwicket. In between, Chris Morris got Jayawardene lbw. After that Dwayne Bravo kept taking catches and danced into the night.

  • Finch, Uthappa end Pune’s losing streak

    Finch, Uthappa end Pune’s losing streak

    PUNE (TIP): When Pune Warriors stumbled to 99 for 9 after choosing to bat against Kings XI Punjab and crashed to their 11th successive defeat, their captain Angelo Mathews said his batsmen needed to sort their “intent and attitude” towards the first six overs. Warriors had made 24 for 2 in the first six overs that evening. Four days later, Robin Uthappa and Aaron Finch blasted them to 64 for 1 in the same period, and Warriors made short work of the target of 146 set by Rajasthan Royals to break the longest losing streak in the IPL.

    Finch was playing only because Marlon Samuels was injured, and his arrival heralded a complete change in the way Warriors approached the Powerplay. Instead of starting overcautious and getting tied down, they started aggressively and never looked back on a slowish pitch. Royals captain Rahul Dravid gambled with India Under-19 left-arm spinner Harmeet Singh for a couple of overs at the start, ahead of James Faulkner, Kevon Cooper and Siddharth Trivedi. Harmeet was making his Twenty20 debut, and while his first over went for just six, the next one was taken for 17.

    There was no gamble with giving Sreesanth two overs from the other end. And while the first went for just seven, the second was shredded for 21. Uthappa did most of that damage, pulling successive long-hops from Harmeet for six and also lifting Sreesanth over long-on and deep square leg for two more sixes.

    Warriors catapulted to 51 for 0 in four overs, the frenetic start all but ending Royals’ hopes. Though Uthappa went for 32 off 16 deliveries to a brilliant one-handed take by Dravid in an opening partnership of 58 in 4.5 overs, Finch kept going and going. He’d already lofted Harmeet and Sreesanth for a couple of straight sixes and went on punishing slight width either side of the wicket, swinging Cooper over deep square leg to reach his fifty off 36 balls. Yuvraj Singh returned after missing the previous game with an injury to finish the chase in the 19th over with a huge six over deep midwicket off Sreesanth. It wasn’t that Royals had ended short of expectations in setting the target. Rahane said during the innings break they had aimed for anything between 140 and 150.

    Kusal Perera had gone first ball of the match to a Bhuvneshwar Kumar inswinger, but Dravid and Rahane had set the platform with a second-wicket stand of 81 off 67. Dravid was in superb touch on his way to 54 off 48, timing several pleasing drives through the off side. Rahane rotated the strike well, but both batsmen fell to sharp catches off the spinners as Royals lost their way in the middle of the innings. Rahul Sharma was especially difficult to get away with his full and quick legbreaks. Royals did scrap some runs towards the end, but the way Uthappa and Finch batted, Warriors’ losing streak had no chance of getting extended.

  • Team Bangalore Breaks Jinx Beat Mumbai At Home For First Time

    Team Bangalore Breaks Jinx Beat Mumbai At Home For First Time

    BANGALORE (TIP): Team Bangalore finally broke the jinx when they beat Team Mumbai at home, on their sixth attempt, in the IPL. In what was a heart-stopping finish, Bangalore squeezed out a two-run win after Kieron Pollard could manage only one off the final ball of the innings, bowled by Vinay Kumar.

    Mumbai needed 157 for a win and finished at 156/5 after Dinesh Karthik gave them hope with a 37- ball 60. Mumbai required 10 runs in the last over but Vinay Kumar was equal to the challenge, dismissing Karthik and Rayudu off consecutive balls to help Bangalore to a memorable win. Dan Christian’s fourth over changed the complexion of the match with Karthik hitting three straight sixes and a four.

    The over went for 24 and the required run rate came down to nine per over with 27 needed off the last three overs. But Mumbai were denied in the end. Some things don’t change too fast, do they? For all of Team Bangalore’s efforts to balance the side in the player auction earlier this year, their dependence on West Indian Chris Gayle appears a hard habit to shrug. And it became all the more evident in their IPL 6 opener.

    Tasked once again with lending stability to the Bangalore’s innings stifled by Mumbai’s attack led by young pacer Jasprit Bumrah, Gayle (92 n.o, 58b, 11×4, 5×6) braved a knee injury to carry his bat and guide his team to a respectable 156/5. Supported by wicketkeeper KB Arun Karthik’s steady 20 and a quick-fire 24 from skipper Virat Kohli, Gayle stole the show in telling fashion, finishing Bangalore’s innings with a six off Munaf Patel. Earlier, Mitchell Johnson justified Mumbai skipper Ricky Ponting’s decision to bowl first after winning the toss by scalping Tillakaratne Dilshan in the third over.

    The Sri Lankan opener completely missed the line of the ball and saw his stumps shattered. Next man up, Kohli then made his intentions clear, beginning with a boundary off Johnson before launching Patel for a huge six over long on. Things changed just as Kohli gave the impression that he had reserved his aggression for Mumbai’s impressive first-change bowler Jasprit Bumrah but lost his wicket while trying to hit him. Gayle then decided he would take his chances. The big Jamaican followed up a stand-and-deliver six over the sight screen off Bumrah in the ninth over with a massive effort over wide-long on that cleared the ropes by a mile in fellow Kieron Pollard’s 11th over that yielded 15 runs

  • Kkr Cruise To Easy Six-Wicket Win Over Delhi Daredevils

    Kkr Cruise To Easy Six-Wicket Win Over Delhi Daredevils

    KOLKATA (TIP): Kolkata Knight Riders started their title defence on a confident note as ‘Mystery Spinner’ Sunil Narine guided them to a comfortable six wickets victory over Delhi Daredevils in the opening encounter of the sixth edition of Indian Premier League in Kolkata on April 3. A clinical bowling effort saw KKR restrict Daredevils to a modest 128 in 20 overs and then they chased down the runs with eight balls to spare on a Eden Gardens strip where batsmen found difficult to score freely.

    Narine with brilliant figures of 4/13 kept Daredevils under tight leash while skipper Gautam Gambhir’s useful 41 kept the defending champions’ run-chase on track. Jacques Kallis (23) and Manoj Tiwary (23) were involved in small but useful partnerships as KKR always looked firm favourites to pull off the chase despite losing a few wickets towards the end. Ashish Nehra gave an early breakthrough removing Manvinder Bisla (4) but skipper Gautam Gambhir and elder statesman Kallis added 47 runs for the second wicket before the South African legend holed out in the deep as he failed to punish a rank long-hop from left-arm spinner Shahbaz Nadeem. Gambhir was off the blocks as he first slashed Irfan Pathan over point for a boundary and then lofted the bowler over long-on for a six. Kallis’s straight push and a ‘Nataraja shot’ off Nehra saw KKR score at a quick clip.

    Once Kallis was gone, Gambhir-Tiwary duo added another 41 runs before a quicker one from Johan Botha caught the lefthander on the wrong-foot. Gambhir’s 42 came off 29 balls with five fours and a six. Tiwary’s run-a-ball 23 came to an end when Nadeem (2/22) got his second wicket. Yusuf Pathan (18 no) and Eoin Morgan (14 no) completed the formalities with minimum fuss. Sent in to bat on a sluggish wicket, the Delhi franchise found strokemaking difficult and most of its batsmen threw their wickets cheaply in their bid to force the pace.

    The sole exception was skipper Mahela Jayawardene (66, 52b, 8×4, 1×6), who played a smooth knock and got out only in the penultimate over as he went for an uppish shot off Brett Lee and was taken by Narine in the covers. Jayawardene, who has completed 1,500 runs in the IPL, reached his half-century off 46 balls. Except Jayawardene and Warner (21), none of the Delhi willowers could reach double figures.

    The match had a sensational start, with Australian pacer Brett Lee straightaway dislodging the young Unmukt Chand’s off stump with a sharp away-cutter, much to joy of the packed crowd. Jayawardene and David Warner, however, repaired the early damage by scoring at a brisk pace as the Daredevils scampered to 41/1 after five overs. Warner looked in fine touch, picking up boundaries mainly on the leg side, with Jacques Kallis getting most of the stick. However, Caribbean offie Sunil Narine, who shone with 24 wickets in the previous edition of the tourney, saw the back of Warner (21; 19b, 4×4) by inducing an edge that finished at first slip, as the visitors stood at 44/2 in the sixth over. Wickets continued to tumble at regular intervals, as Manprit Juneja, Naman Ojha, Johan Botha and Irfan Pathan fell cheaply, even though Jayawardene anchored the innings at one end. For the Knights, striving to defend their title, Narine (4-13), Bhatia (2- 23) and Lee (2-40) were the main wicket takers.

  • IPL Player Jesse Ryder In Coma After Bar Brawl

    IPL Player Jesse Ryder In Coma After Bar Brawl

    WELLINGTON (TIP): New Zealand cricketer Jesse Ryder lies in coma after being badly beaten up by a group of men near a bar in Christchurch early March 28, police said. “Four men” attacked Ryder as he left Aikman’s Bar in Merivale shortly after midnight (around 12.30 a.m. local) after having “a few drinks” with Wellington Firebirds teammates, The New Zealand Herald reported. The “brutal assault” has left Ryder in an induced coma with a fractured skull and multiple injuries. The left-hand batsman, who has been involved in alcohol related incidents in the past, was due to leave for India to represent Delhi Daredevils in the Indian Premier League beginning April 3.

    An eyewitness described the attack on the cricketer as “sickening”. “Just around 12.30 a.m., I look up and three or four guys were attacking Jesse,” Emma- Louise Ferguson was quoted as saying by the newspaper. “There didn’t seem to be any argument or anything. They were just punching him, they had him on the ground and they were kicking him hard. It was unbelievably brutal. It was literally right outside the door of the bar,” she said. “When he was on the ground, I couldn’t actually see him but I could hear the they were kicking him as hard as they could. I know about impact, I’ve seen fights and been in (charity boxing) fights and this was sickening.

    I can’t understand what could have caused them to attack him in such a way,” she added. Aikman’s Bar has handed over the CCTV footage of the incident to the police, who are trying to find who the assailants were, the report said. The attackers ran away when emergency services were called. Heath Mills of New Zealand Cricket Players Association wished Ryder a speedy recovery and said the assault was not “alcohol fuelled” even though the southpaw has had related problems in the past.

  • Sahara Wants Pune Warriors India To Be Based Out Of Kanpur

    Sahara Wants Pune Warriors India To Be Based Out Of Kanpur

    CHENNAI (TIP): Sahara has expressed its desire to the Indian cricket board (BCCI) to move its Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise, Pune Warriors India, out of the western city due to ongoing tensions between franchise bosses and the Maharashtra Cricket Association. It is understood that members of the PWI management, who were in Chennai during the IPL auctions on Feb 3, have asked the BCCI mandarins that they want their franchise to be based out of Kanpur.

    According to Sahara sources, it is 80% certain that they “won’t play their matches in Pune”. There are, however, some logistical problems regarding Kanpur. Even though a section of the Sahara management is confident that the Green Park Stadium in Kanpur can become their new venue, the fact that it doesn’t have an airport might make things a little difficult. “The nearest airport is in Lucknow and it’s two hours away from Kanpur.

    So, it will be difficult even for the TV crew,” a source said. Therefore, a few other names like Nagpur, Rajkot, Ahmedabad and DY Patil are also being discussed. It is learnt that the name of the franchise might not be changed right away. “It’s not easy to build a brand.

    So they might go slow on the renaming of the franchise,” the source added. There has been a long-standing problem between Sahara and the MCA with the former moving Bombay HC against MCA for “wrongful termination of agreements” with regards to the Subrata Roy Sahara Stadium in Pune.

    Pune sign J&K’s Rasool
    Pune have signed J&K off-spinner Parvez Rasool for the forthcoming IPL season. Rasool took 7-45 for Board President’s XI against Australia and has been snapped up by the franchise in an effort to boost its spin attack. “He is a bowling allrounder and we feel he can play an important role for us,” a Pune source said. Rasool will be the first player from J&K to play in the IPL.

  • Indian Potash in deal with Belarusian company

    Indian Potash in deal with Belarusian company

    NEW DELHI (TIP): Indian Potash Ltd (IPL) has signed a contract with Belarusian Potash Company (BPC) to import 1 million tonne of muriate of potash (MOP) at $427 a tonne this calendar year. The pricing of the new deal is about 15 per cent lower than the previous contract signed at $490. BPC, a joint venture distributor of Belaruskali and Uralkali, will begin MOP supplies to IPL from this month till January 2014. “The delivery price of potash fertiliser for India has been set at $427 a tonne on CFR basis.

    BPC deliveries under the contract with IPL will total 1 million tonnes,” BPC said in a statement. “We strongly believe that the agreement bringing us one step forward in restoring potash demand will influence positively both the domestic and global potash market,” said Valery Ivanov, CEO of BPC.

    India, which is dependent on imports to meet its potash demand, imported about 5.5 million tonnes of the nutrient in the past 18 months. The IPL-BPC deal is probably the first of its kind to be announced by the Indian fertiliser makers, who are going slow in signing new contracts this year as the country still has huge unsold stocks of the nutrients. Erratic monsoon and high prices had impacted the fertiliser offtake last year, resulting in stock build-up.

    Besides, the Government had recently told the fertiliser companies not to bring in any nutrients till the end of current fiscal. IPL, the largest importer of potash in the country, expects to negotiate with other suppliers for another million tonnes in the current year, said Managing Director P.S. Gehlaut. “We expect to bring in the MOP shipments from BPC into the country from April onward,” Gehlaut said.

  • Dhoni should give up IPL, T20 captaincy: Rahul Dravid

    Dhoni should give up IPL, T20 captaincy: Rahul Dravid

    NEW DELHI (TIP): Former India skipper Rahul Dravid believes MS Dhoni, while still the best man to lead the country in Tests, needs to change the way he captains if he is to turn around India’s fortunes. Acknowledging the team’s poor run and the fact that the captain is under “enormous pressure”, Dravid wrote in his column for a website. “What it (a turnaround) will require from him (Dhoni) is a change in the way he captains, a recognition that he can’t do everything all the time, and the willingness to ask for and accept help.” Dravid believes there are no alternatives to Dhoni as Test captain, so he must give up the captaincy in T20s and pick and choose ODI assignments . “There’s a lot of talk of split captaincy these days. It won’t be a bad model for India to adopt, if only to keep Dhoni fresh as Test captain,” Dravid wrote. “Dhoni has got to recognize that he can’t continue to captain and play all the time, because it is making him stale. The pressure of international cricket is huge — it lends itself to a lot of fatigue — and Dhoni has been in the job a long time now. “To start with, Dhoni could easily give up the India T20 and Chennai Super Kings captaincies . He should certainly play ODIs and T20s for India, because he is invaluable to the side. Giving up a couple of captaincy roles might give him more time in the main India job and the freshness to keep doing it. “It would also give India an opportunity to perhaps give someone like (Virat) Kohli a chance to be T20 captain, break him into the job and see how he goes.

    There is another option for Dhoni as well, which he has resorted to in the past: to miss the odd ODI series and prepare himself for the big competitions.” Dravid also says Dhoni must change his captaincy style to suit the changing requirements of the team. “He must also recognize that he needs to change a very successful leadership style — almost change direction — because the team is changing. ” Dravid suggests that unlike in the past, when he had experienced batsmen and bowlers to aid his “instinct” and “gut feel”, Dhoni must adopt a more hands-on approach to the Test captaincy. “He led on instinct and gut feel, and it worked brilliantly for him. Now Dhoni is captaining a team with young guys, who need more communication and guidance.

    One of the criticisms directed at Dhoni has been that there is very little communication about plans and roles either. “He is not one for bowling plans and bowlers’ meetings. When you have senior bowlers like Zaheer, Kumble and Harbhajan, the captain need not worry about all that because the bowlers know what to do. The younger bowlers coming in now, like Ashwin and Ojha, need to know what the plan is…they need to discuss strategy and planning well before they go on to the field.” Given the series of overseas tours in the coming years, Dravid says, “I don’t think anybody expects him (Dhoni) to have great success in the immediate future. People recognize that this is a period of transition and that there are going to be tough days.

    What they need to know, though, is that the way forward has been clearly mapped. If Dhoni wants to lead India, the job is going to demand a lot more energy and involvement. He is the man for it at the moment, if he can find that second wind.” On why there are no alternatives for Dhoni as Test skipper, Dravid says, “At one point we felt Gautam Gambhir could take over the job…yet what goes against him today is the fact that he has not scored too many Test runs in the last three years, and he averages under 32. Virat Kohli is the only other alternative leader, and he ticks the box of being an automatic selection in all three formats. Yet I believe it’s a little early for him.”

  • India lacks skill to beat top teams: Rahul Drav

    India lacks skill to beat top teams: Rahul Drav

    The clamour for an overhaul in Indian cricket keeps growing. The latest to come out in scathing criticism of Team India’s lack of ability is the recently-retired Rahul Dravid, who told the BBC’s Test Match Special that MS Dhoni’s men lacked the skill to beat top teams and should be made more accountable for their on-field efforts.

    India are 1-2 down in the Test series heading into the final Test in Nagpur. “India haven’t been able to put up a fight. You can’t demand runs, but you can at least demand accountability in terms of intensity and effort,” Dravid said. “India have been poor in the field and their physical fitness is disappointing me.

    That’s not an excuse.” Dravid went on to question the ability of new Indian players. “People talk about attitude and say the players don’t care because there is too much money in the IPL… But the main thing is their lack of skill and ability, which is more worrying. It raises questions as to the talent and quality of players coming through.” Dravid, India’s second-highest run getter in Tests, raised questions about India’s cricket set-up and the feeder lines in place for the national team. He said BCCI needed to work out “how to bring through young players who have the skill, technique, temperament and desire to play Test cricket.” “One of the challenges is that our domestic cricket is not of the quality to allow players to seamlessly move into international cricket.

    England have put a mirror up to Indian cricket and shown them the challenges that they face,” he added. “Having ‘A’ tours and the academy system is becoming more and more important. I think England have been pretty good with that in the way that the academy travels every winter to different parts of the world. I think that is something India can learn from England,” Dravid said, pointing out that “lessons need to be learned from this series.” The recently-retired batsman said India had been out bowled in the spin department. “That’s a worrying sign because spin has been our strength,” Dravid said.