Sports

Challengers crush Royals by 10 wickets

wali — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 23:01:04 +0530

Praveen Kumar recorded the first hat-trick of Indian Premier League III as a dominant Royal Challengers Bangalore mauled a sorry-looking Rajasthan Royals by 10 wickets to notch up their second consecutive win in the Twenty20 tournament here today.

Praveen (3/18) notched up the seventh hat-trick in the tournament's history, while skipper Anil Kumble and Jacques Kallis (2/20) ably supported him from the other end to restrict the Rajasthan side under the three figure mark.

Delhi Daredevils' Amit Mishra, Chennai Super Kings duo of L Balaji and Makhaya Ntini, Kings XI Punjab's Yuvraj Singh (twice) and Deccan Chargers' Rohit Sharma had achieved the feat in the previous editions of the event.

With a meager 93 to chase, in-form Kallis and young Manish Pandey bulldozed the Rajsathan bowlers to all parts of the ground from the onset to complete a facile win in just 10.4 overs to register the second biggest win in terms of balls to spare in the event's history.

Kallis continued his good showing with the bat with a sparkling unbeaten 44 while Pandey blossomed in the South African's company, scoring an elegant 42 innings.

Kallis' 34-ball essay was embellished with seven boundaries, while Pandey, the first Indian to score an IPL century last season, struck as many and a six in his entertaining 30 ball innings.

With this victory, Royal Challengers have registered two wins out of three matches they have played so far, while Rajasthan Royals have slumped to their third successive defeat in the tournament.

Royal Challengers had crushed Kings XI Punjab and lost to Kolkata Knight Riders in their earlier encounters.

Earlier, Yusuf Pathan, who was reprieved twice, showed glimpses of brilliance, scoring 26 runs off 24 balls with the help of two sixes and a four, while Martyn innings' (19 off 24) was a struggle.

Royals batting came a cropper today as after Yusuf and Martyn, only two other batsmen - Naman Ojha (16 off 18) and Michael Lumb (10 off 18) - could only manage double figures.

Brought back into the attack in the 17th over, Praveen first bowled Martyn of the second delivery of his third over, had Sumit Narwal brilliantly caught at square leg by Manish Pandey and then castled Paras Dogra of the next ball to the delight of the capacity crowd.

PCB in two minds on captaincy

SnehaSubra — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 22:37:46 +0530

Pakistan Cricket Board remains undecided on whether to award central contracts to the players banned and fined recently and also on the captaincy issue.

While the board announced the team management for the Twenty20 World Cup, there was still no word on who would be leading the team in the mega event in the West Indies from April.

"No decision has been taken on the captain as yet only the Chairman of the board will decide on this," a board official said.

Chief selector Mohsin Khan, who met Chairman Ejaz Butt on Thursday, said he had not discussed the issue of the captaincy.

"Who will be the next captain is not my domain, this is the sole discretion of the Chairman of the board whom he appoints, so I didn't speak to him on this topic," Mohsin said.

But reliable sources said the chief selector was called to Lahore mainly so that he could sign a two-year contract with the board and also give some input to the Chairman on the captaincy issue.

The board is said to be wrestling with the idea of appointing Shahid Afridi as captain but the fact that they have fined him heavily for three million rupees and also kept him on probation for six months is making life difficult for them.

IPL points table

SnehaSubra — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 19:35:19 +0530

Teams	Mat	Won	Lost	Tied	N/R	Pts	NetRR
Mumbai Indians	2	2	0	0	0	4	+2.550
Kolkata Knight Riders	3	2	1	0	0	4	-0.641
Delhi Ddevils	3	2	1	0	0	4	-1.192
Chennai Super Kings	2	1	1	0	0	2	+0.600
Deccan Chargers	2	1	1	0	0	2	+0.500
Royal Challengers	2	1	1	0	0	2	+0.111
Kings XI Punjab	2	0	2	0	0	0	-0.427
Rajasthan Royals	2	0	2	0	0	0	-0.800

Wide angle: Warne, Kumble rapport?

SnehaSubra — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 18:56:39 +0530

They might have been rivals during their international career but Australian legendary spinner Shane Warne today revealed his admiration for Anil Kumble, describing him as a throrough gentleman.

Sharing the dias at the launch of Kumble's Coffee table book "Wide Angle", Warne spoke at length about the lanky leg-spinner's dedication and determination.

"What Anil has achieved and what he has delivered to his fans has been fantastic. Playing against Anil, fortunately or unfortunately, I have found him to be a thorough gentleman, a humble guy," said Warne.

"He was told that he cannot spin the ball. They said he cannot bowl leg spin. But he has shown over 20 years what he can do by doing it. The one stand out thing about Anil for me is that he has a big heart. He is a giver, a hundred per cent team man, a man with a real big heart. Committed hundred per cent, he has always held his head high with his performances," said the Rajasthan Royals skipper.

Hearty praise

"For all the youngsters and many more, Anil is the role model, the way he conducts himself on and off the field. It is not just talent, but passion and love for the game that has seen Anil play the game for 20 years and that proves he has a big heart," said Warne.

Kumble also showered praise on the Australian legend and said he wished he could spin the ball like him.

"I wish I could bowl and spin the ball like him. I would secretly watch how he went about setting up the batsmen for taking a wicket," said Kumble.

Between the lines

The former Indian captain revealed the reason behind compiling the book.

"Cricket for me is a passion and as a cricketer I felt that (as do many players) many of the good that we do are not published and what we don't do does get into print. So I decided to compile the rare happenings of my twenty years journey as a cricketer and that is Wide Angle."

"I wanted to bring to front the things that happen behind the scenes, celebrations of performances, victories, achievements and birthdays where cake would be smeared on the face. Photography has been a stress buster for me and I have always sought to capture sights and sounds," he added.

Kings XI Punjab keen for first win

SnehaSubra — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 18:12:00 +0530

After back-to-back defeats, Kings XI Punjab will be eyeing a redemption while defending champions Deccan Chargers hope to continue with the winning momentum when they take on each other in an Indian Premier League match in New Delhi on Friday.

The Punjab side have opened their IPL campaign on a disappointing note, losing to Delhi Daredevils and then Royal Challengers Bangalore, mainly due to their depleted bowling attack which is certainly giving skipper Kumar Sangakkara sleepless nights.

On the other hand, despite a shocking 11-run defeat to last year's laggards Kolkata Knight Riders in their opening tie, the Adam Gilchrist-led side has managed to put things together to beat Chennai Super Kings by 31 runs in the next encounter.

Bowling is the worrying factor for the Punjab team, who lost both the matches despite putting good totals on the board as the opponent batsmen managed to overhaul the targets.

Breathless for Lee

They are clearly missing the service of Australian pace spearhead Brett Lee as Punjab's new-ball pair of S Sreesanth and left-arm Irfan Pathan have so far failed to make much impact on the batsmen.

Punjab's batting department, however, has impressed in previous matches with England's Ravi Bopara leading the charge on both the occasions.

Haryana boy Manvinder Bisla cracked a 51-ball 75 against Royal Challengers to give Punjab a 129-run opening partnership with Bopara and the team will expect him to again lay the foundation for a good total at the Barabati Stadium on Friday.

However, supports from stylish left-hander Yuvraj Singh and their Sri Lankan import Mahela Jayawardene down the order are also going to be crucial.

In form

Meanwhile, things have started falling in place for the Hyderabad-based side with all the three backbones of their batting order -- Gilchrist, South African Herchelle Gibbs and Andrew Symonds of Australia -- in good touch.

Deccan failed to chase down a 162-run target against Knight Riders in the tournament-opener, but then shrugged off the hangover to gather a competitive 190 to get the better of Chennai team in their next match.

Experienced Sri Lankan Chaminda Vaas has been impressive with his opening spells while R P Singh can also be effective with his swing bowling. The duo can forge a lethal pair in the opening overs, but the determined Punjab will be a hard nut to crack and so contributions from all-rounder Symonds and in the middle overs are also going to play an important role.