Sachins props up Mumbai again(finished at 174/5 against Royals)

Jaipur, April 11: A captain’s innings of 89 off just 59 balls by Sachin Tendulkar helped Mumbai Indians to put up a respectable total of 174/5 in their game against Rajasthan Royals at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium here tonight.
Sachin, who was let-off by Aditya Dole when he was at 45, played the lone hand for the Mumbai side, especially at the end by scoring 20 runs in the last over by Siddharth Trivedi.
For Royals, Shane Watson took three wickets while Trivedi and Dole contributed with a wicket each.
Earlier, after two fours by Tendulkar in the first over bowled by Pathan, Watson brought Royals back in the game with two quick wickets. First he got Sanath Jayasuriya (1 off 2 balls) out in the cover then he got rid of Ambati Rayudu (o off 3 deliveries) with an aggressive bouncer.
Jayasurya, who replaced Ryan Mclaren in this game, could not pick the slow delivery by Watson and gave a simple catch to Abhishek Jhunjhunwala while Rayudu, who was intimidated by Watson in the previous delivery, was unable to control a short ball and caught behind the wicket.

Sourabh Tiwary started off well, hitting two straight boundaries off Aditya Dole but was outsmarted by Watson, who got him with a well thought of bouncer at fine leg.
Sachin tried to run neck to neck with his nemesis Warne and hit three delectable boundaries – two over covers and a square cut – off the leg spinner. But he could not get the required support from JP Duminy, who was playing his second game of the competition, got out after getting his eye in. The South African all-rounder contributed with 31 off 32 balls. Kieron Pollard (25 off 13 balls) hit some lusty blows towards the end of Mumbai’s innings.

Knight Riders put 160 for Challengers to chase

Bangalore, Apr 10: Brendon McCulllum tried to repeat what he did in the very first match of this competition here two years ago, then he played a blazing unbeaten innings of 158 off just 73 deliveries, this time his innings of 45 off 35 balls helped Kolkata Knight Riders to reach a decent but chaseable target of 160 in their game against Bangalore Royal Challengers here tonight.
The New Zealander was supported by Chris Gayle (34 off 15 balls) and Skipper Sourav Ganguly (33 off 32 balls), who shared a 52-run stand for the first wicket. Few lusty blows at the end by Cheteshwar Pujara helped the visiting team cause to reach a respectable total after Anil Kumble won the toss and asked the visiting side to bat first.
Vinay Kumar was the most effective bowler for Royal Challengers, taking three wickets in three overs, while Jacques Kallis contributed with two scalps. Skipper Kumble and Dale Steyn shared a wicket each.
Earlier, Ganguly found it really hard to cope with the pace of Steyn, who touched mid 150 kph on a consistent basis while Gayle was in full flow at the other end, clubbing the ball as hard as he could. He hit two fours off Steyn in the fourth over and repeated it with two more boundaries and a massive six in the mid wicket region off Praveen Kumar, making it the most expensive over of the innings by collecting 21 runs.
Kallis brought the instant success for Challengers in sixth over of the innings. Gayle was caught at extra cover by Rahul Dravid while making room for himself to play in the off side.
Sridharan Sriram, playing his first game of the tournament, bowled a mixture of his left arm orthodox with chinaman to confuse the batsmen. But his trick was foiled by McCulllum from the beginning of his second over, hitting him for three fours and a six.
Vinay Kumar provided the much needed breakthrough for the Challengers by getting rid of Ganguly. The visiting captain stroked the ball with 103 strike rate, just few points below his average in this year’s competition – 108 per hundred balls.
Manoj Tiwary came and went without troubling the scorers after facing just two balls. Angelo Mathews did exactly the same as Tiwary, went without scoring.
Riders could have scored lot more but lost too many wickets in the latter half of their innings.

Kolkata Kept Their Hopes Alive

Kolkata, Apr 7: Kolkata Knight Riders kept their cool in tense situations tonight to overcome the determined effort of Delhi Daredevils in their encounter at Eden Gardens here. Devils finished with 167, fourteen shy of their target of 182 runs.
Virender Sehwag was the highest run getter for the Delhi side, scoring 64 off just 40 deliveries. Skipper Gautam Gambhir too scored 47 off 29 balls. For Kolkata, Ashok Dinda and Ajantha Mendis bowled with great zeal and guile to keep their opponents at bay. Both chipped in with two wickets each.
While batting, a seventy run fourth wicket stand between Manoj Tiwary and Angelo Mathews took Riders’ score past 180.
Mathews (46 off 28 balls) hit some big hits at the end of Kolkata’s innings while Tiwary too played his part by scoring 26 off just 18 deliveries.
Skipper Sourav Ganguly too chipped in with 54 off 43 balls for Riders. He gave a solid start to the home side with Chris Gayle (40 off 21 balls), scoring 94 runs for the first wicket. For Daredevils, Daniel Vettori and Rajat Bhatia shared a wicket each.
In reply, Devils got off to a worst possible start with David Warner became the victim of Ashok Dinda’s brilliant bowling in the first over. He did not give the Aussie any leeway outside the off stump in all the five deliveries he faced before cleaning him up. Warner did not trouble the scorer.
Sehwag and Gambhir both feeling the pinch of scoring quickly, played some rash shot early in their innings but got away with them. But, finally, ball started going from the middle of their bats. Gambhir hit two fours and a six off Mathews’ fifth over and took score to 39.
After the first six overs, Daredevils scored 44 runs, six less of what Knight Riders had made in their innings. Ganguly brought himself on in the ninth over with an intention to provide a breakthrough. But Sehwag welcomed his former national team captain with a six over long-off.
Gambhir got himself out while trying a quick single. Ganguly standing at mid-off did not even blink while hitting the stump. Paul Collingwood, who played well in the last few innings, followed his skipper soon. He holed out to deep mid wicket off Mendis.
Sehwag kept going at the other end. He reached to his fifty in 34 deliveries. In form Dinesh Karthik replaced his English teammate and took the innings forward with quick singles and doubles.
Ajit Agarkar provided the golden breakthrough for Riders, shattering the stumps of Sehwag. The other batsmen followed him one by one.

Royals overcome Kings' challenge

Rajasthan Royals moved a step closer to the semifinal berth after overcoming Kings XI Punjab by nine wickets at Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur on Wednesday.
Some poor bowling and equally bad fielding from Punjab helped Royals cause of reaching the target of 154. With this win Rajasthan also moved to third place in the points table with twelve points in eleven games and made the contest of grabbing a semifinal spot even more interesting.
For the home side, Michael Lumb played a scintillating knock of 83 runs in just 43 deliveries while Naman Ojha complimented his opening partner, with a well crafted innings of 44 off 37 balls.
All the Punjab bowlers paid a price for bowling on both sides of the wicket. Especially, S Sreesanth, who opened the bowling for Kings, looked completely out of sort. He leaked runs on every side of the ground and also bowled three no balls.
Earlier, astute captaincy by Shane Warne helped Rajasthan Royals restrict Kings XI Punjab to 153/6 in their innings.
Warne, who asked Aditya Dole to bowl the twelfth over, took crucial wickets of Yuvraj Singh (28 off 16 balls) and Mahela Jayawardene (44 from 33 balls), and put the brakes in Kings’ innings, who were at 103/2 at the end of eleven overs.
For Royals, Siddharth Trivedi was the pick of the bowlers with two wickets for 22 runs while the other medium pacer Dole also chipped in with two wickets.
None of the batsmen, except Jayawardene and Yuvraj could make a mark for the Kings. Only Irfan Pathan hit few blows at the end of their innings and took the score above 150.
In reply, Lumb looked in tremendous touch from the outset, hitting nine fours and a six in the first 22 balls he faced, hitting Juan Theron for 20 runs in his first over. Naman Ojha too bated with ease, with some beautifully timed shots off Ramesh Powar.
Lumb reached to his fifty in 28 balls with ten fours and a six and continued punishing Kings’ bowlers. He finally holed out at deep mid wicket to Piyush Chawla off Ravi Bopara, but set the perfect platform for Yousuf Pathan(21from 13 balls) to take his side home in 15 overs.

Exciting finish on the cards in IPL

The first half of the IPL was quite exciting for two reasons. The way Mumbai kept winning - Six out of seven matches they have played so far and the fight for the second, third and the fourth spot. This challenge is just going to get tougher in the second half.
Mumbai have virtually sealed their place in the semis. Delhi, five wins from eight matches, need just three more to book their spot in the last four. Now there are three teams with four win - Bangalore, Rajasthan and Kolkata, though, the last two have played a game more than Bangalore.
Life seems to be very difficult for Deccan Chargers and more so for Chennai Super Kings. With just three wins from eight games, Dhoni’s brigade has a real challenge in its hands.
They have to win at least five of their last six matches with a good run rate while Deccan can catch up with the rest of the top teams if they start winning from here on. But it seems highly improbable, especially with the bowling options they have. None of their bowlers seem to be effective. Though, Chaminda Vass bowled really well in the first few matches. The second half would be even more exciting. Let’s hope.

Highlights of the day...

• BCCI seems to be pressing the panic button after the humiliating defeat to the team in the first Test match. They have asked the Eden Gardens' pitch curator to make a spin friendly track, which was dismissed at the first place.
  The Indian Board is trying to salvage the No 1 spot, got after the consistent performance by the team. But, it was terrifying experience for the side to face Steyn and co. in Nagpur.
  If the Indian batsmen could not play Steyn in their backyard, then how would they cope up with his pace and bounce when they travel to SA at the end of this year?


• So, who could be the possible spoilsport mentioned by Pakistan skipper, Mohammad Yousuf? Even the team management was aware of this from the New Zealand tour. And that is the reason why he was dropped from some of the matches on the tour down under. Shoaib Malik, show some results in the two upcoming T-20 games against England, otherwise, find your own exit.

Nail biter finish to Ranji Season

The Ranji Trophy final between Mumbai and Karnataka was a real nail biter. Though, Mumbai won by six runs at last but the way Karnataka fought throughout the match was laudable.
The whole match saw loads of ups and downs over three days. Few players from both the sides chipped in with important contributions. First, R Vinay Kumar and Abhimanyu Mithun were fantastic with the new ball for Karnataka. They were full of energy and the desire to do well.
Avishkar Salvi did it for Mumbai in the first innings. His five-for proved crucial in dismissing the opponents for a paltry total. Dhawal Kulkarni’s 87- run innings were important in getting the vital lead in the second innings.
But it was Manish Pandey’s breathtaking innings that gave Karnataka a real chance to win the title after a gap of nine years. He was brilliant on both sides of the wicket. His shots on the off-side on back foot as well as his pulls and hooks were just exemplary. And, who could forget the magical catch he took at long-on to send Abhishek Nayar back to pavilion?

Karantaka pace duo
Vinay, showed us once again that why he is rated so high in domestic cricket. Mithun, playing his first domestic season, bowled his heart out. He, together with his new ball partner Vinay, shared bulk of the wickets this season and played a pivotal role in almost clinching a victory for their side in the finale. One could see the dedication and efforts in their strides.

'AAD' shine for Mumbai
Ajit Agarkar’s bowling in the second innings, Avishkar Salvi’s in the first and Dhawal Kulkarni gritty innings with the bat proved crucial at the end. Ajit, though wayward initially, bowled with precision later on. His knack of getting the crucial breakthroughs when needed always kept Mumbai in the game.
Avishkar, whose career has been ravaged with injuries throughout, bowled in the right areas and was rewarded for his consistency. Though, the decision to send Dhawal Kulkarni ahead of Agarkar and Ramesh Powar was baffling, it worked for Mumbai. He played with composure and did not try anything outside his limitations.

A star in the making!
Manish Pandey, who impressed one and all in the Indian Premier League (IPL) last year, was superb in the season. He scored 882 runs that include four 100s and an equal number of half centuries with an impressive average of 62 this season. His composure at the crease, balance and ability to score runs even on good balls make him a serious contender to knock on the Indian team door in the near future.

The only thing he has to watch out for is the pitfall along the way to stardom. Many have observed it before and he is too good a candidate to go on the same line.