DLF IPL Session 4th

KOCHI: Brendon McCullum exploded at the Jawaharlal Nehru stadium and destroyed Chennai Super Kings on Monday. The Kiwi scored another match-winning 47 off 33 balls as Kochi Tuskers Kerala, chasing 132 in a rain-hit 17-over game, scripted their second win in IPL 4. The underdogs have now accounted for the two hot favourites - CSK and Mumbai Indians - in the space of a week.

Scorecard | Match in Pics

Wicketkeeper-batsman Parthiv Patel (34 off 26 balls) played a good supporting role after McCullum's fireworks as the Kochi team underscored captain Mahela Jayawardene's claim that they had enough talent on the bench. The seven-wicket win for the home team came with two overs to spare.

McCullum carted Albie Morkel for two sixes in his first two overs and Jayawardene greeted offie Ashwin by hitting him for a six and a four. But Ashwin had the last laugh when he had the Sri Lankan in the same over. McCullum hit two more sixes before he perished to Ashwin, going for a big shot over long-off. Brad Hodge and Ravindra Jadeja gave the finishing touches to Kochi's victory.

Earlier, CSK weathered the vagaries of the wicket at the Jawaharlal Nehru stadium and a rain interruption to post a competitive 131 for four in 17 overs on the strength of a stroke-filled 50 (40 balls, 5x4, 1x6) from Suresh Raina. Unusual April rain in Kerala had reduced the match by three overs after Mahela Jayawardene opted to field first. The revised target after a 95-minute break for the home team was 135.

Jayawardene's decision to bowl first was influenced by the upsets created by Punjab and Kochi in the first week of IPL-4 chasing big totals. He had a second reason to do so as he reckoned that there would be some life early on for the fast bowlers. Midway through the CSK innings, the Kochi captain might have found a third reason by default to justify his decision to field first as rain interrupted the match when the visitors were 65 for two after nine overs.

Barring a couple of authentic cover drives by Murali Vijay, the CSK batsmen found more edges than hits. 

 

NEW DELHI: The IPL scrap which will take place at the Kotla on Tuesday involves teams who are trying to stay afloat in the competition - Delhi Daredevils and Deccan Chargers. Both have just a solitary win each so far and will try to gain some momentum when they battle it out in the middle.

The Daredevils, who got a win on board on Sunday night after two comprehensive losses earlier, are still regarded by many as one of the weakest teams in IPL 4. The Chargers, by comparison, look a much more balanced side on paper. A powerful top-order features the likes of skipper Kumar Sangakkara, South Africa's JP Duminy and Australian newcomer Daniel Christian. The surprise package for the side has been Bharat Chipli – the leading batsman for the side.

The pace attack is in the safe hands of Dale Steyn and Ishant Sharma while they have a couple of more-than-handy spinners in left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha and leg-spinner Amit Mishra. However, the Chargers have still lost three out of the four games so far.

Delhi, on the other hand, have been over-reliant on their openers – Virender Sehwag and David Warner. The middle though looks much more susceptible with the exception of Venugopal Rao who has been the most consistent Delhi batsman, along with Warner. All-rounder James Hopes provides much needed boost to lower middle-order but with Morne Morkel returning to side against the Chargers, the home side's batting will be weakened a little.

The Daredevils' biggest concern remains the spin department. The team management is satisfied with Shahbaz Nadeem's efforts so far but the Jharkhand left-armer has no support from the other end.

The Chargers have a few players like Shikhar Dhawan, Ishant and Mishra who know the Kotla conditions well. The team will surely count on their knowledge of the venue to give them an added advantage.

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DLF IPL Session 4th

MUMBAI: Some of the biggest names in the corporate world, politically-connected builders and diamond merchants were allotted 37 hospitality boxes in the newly renovated Wankhede stadium by the Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) before the World Cup in February.

The fully furnished boxes were given out for ten years and are believed to have fetched the association Rs 3.75-5 crore each. Club insiders said the Sharad Pawar-led MCA invited bids for only 19 boxes and alleged that the remaining ones may have been given away arbitrarily to the well-connected.

The MCA's bid document, a copy of which was made available to TOI, stipulates that a bidder cannot submit bids for more than two hospitality boxes. TOI contacted several MCA officials, but none wanted to come on record and say if there was a tender process in place at all before giving away these boxes.

According to a list obtained by TOI, Union minister and NCP leader Praful Patel was allotted a 15-seater box in the MCA pavilion. "I don't have a box," Patel sent a text message to TOI. When told that his name was on the list, the minister for heavy industries replied, "Sorry, wrong. I had recommended for friends, not for myself." Asked which friends he had recommended, Patel said he had suggested industrialist Sajjan Jindal's name. Asked how he could recommend anyone when the MCA had invited bids, Patel said there was no bidding for the boxes. "The box is not mine. I have not paid for it," he insisted.

The list shows that Reliance Industries bagged three boxes, Aditya Birla Group got three, while Raymond, Shapoorji Pallonji, Jindal, Sajjan India, Essar, Bajaj, HDFC, TCS, Citibank, HSBC, Kotak Mahindra, Mafatlal, SBI, Gannon Dunkunley, JP Morgan, Nimbus, United Breweries, Naman Developers and Intelnet Global got one each.

KOLKATA: The only franchisee not to have made the semifinals in the first three editions of IPL, KKR galloped to pole position in the 10-team standings with their third straight win on Sunday evening. If it was their batters who stole the show in Round 1 of their duel with Rajasthan Royals two days ago in Jaipur, the bowlers and fielders conjured a magical jugalbandi to blow away Shane Warne's team by eight wickets at the Eden in front of a 50,000-plus holiday crowd.

Scorecard Match in Pics

Lakshmipathy Balaji led the charge with the ball, relishing the low and sluggish pitch to torment the opposition with his accurate leg-cutters after Gautam Gambhir opted to field first for the second game running. One such beauty cleaned up the dangerous Shane Watson before the in-form Aussie could bare his claws.

That early wicket set the tone nicely for KKR, but even they would have been surprised to see the Royals fold up for 81 (the lowest total in IPL 4) in 15.2 overs. Balaji, in his first season for KKR after being 'bought over' from Chennai Super Kings, returned remarkable figures of three for 15 in 3 overs, while Bangladesh captain Shakib Al Hasan took two off two balls. Brett Lee did his job as well, so did Iqbal Abdulla who picked up a wicket besides running out Faiz Fazal.

The Knights, handed the luxury of chasing four runs an over, saw a rare first-over dismissal of the prolific and accomplished Jacques Kallis. That, too, off a short ball with the South African opener shaping for a pull off Shaun Tait only to check his shot and top-edge a high catch.

But so meagre was the target, Gambhir and Manvinder Bisla could afford to take their time in the face of some fiery stuff from Tait, who steamed in with four slips and a gully in his opening spell in an obvious effort to rip off the KKR top-order. Bisla succumbed to Warne, but Gambhir (35 not out off 35 balls, 3x4), who is truly looking like a man on a mission, and local boy Manoj Tiwary (30 not out off 26 balls, 4x4, 1x6) stepped on the pedal and raced past the target with 6.1 overs to spare.

Tiwary, especially, turned on the style in the end with a sequence of 6, 4 and 4 off Tait's final over to the delight of the huge audience. 

 

KOCHI: There are striking contrasts when we look at Chennai Super Kings and Kochi Tuskers Kerala ahead of their Round 4 clash in IPL 4 at the Jawaharlal Nehru stadium on Monday. As defending champions and a well-settled outfit, CSK may be overwhelming favourites to win the match but this edition of IPL has shown that the crown does not sit easily on any head.

Curiously, CSK themselves found it out the hard way against Kings XI Punjab in their second-round match. As the new entrants to IPL, Kochi were written off even before they started their campaign but with every match, they proved their critics wrong, having their chances in the two losses and finally came into their own with a stunning win over Tendulkar's side.

As giants vs giant-killers, this contest may even out some of the disparities between the sides on paper in the context of the T20 format and its uncertainties. Yet it cannot be denied that Chennai Super Kings will hold the edge for the simple reason that they have the best indigenous talent in their ranks while Kochi will bank heavily on imported stuff.

Both the sides have the option of trying their Australian resources and CSK may very well use Mike Hussey in the middle-order while Kochi may throw all-rounder John Hastings, who had a good tour of Bangladesh, into the party at the expense of either Thisara Perera or Muralitharan.

Curator Ramachandran kept a fair amount of grass on the surface until late on Sunday before shaving it off, showing the concern that Kochi had following Murali's form in the two matches he played. Interestingly, Kochi were rated better in their bowling department but it was their batting that showed "character", to use Mahela's compliment to his team after the Mumbai victory. In fact, throughout the three matches, the Kochi battling looked decent and it was their bowling that has let them down.

CSK's batting order is tried and tested with the three Chennaites — Vijay, Anirudha and Badrinath — and Suresh Raina having established themselves at the top. Mike Hussey proved his worth as an opener with his unbeaten 83 against Royal Challengers in his first match this season. 

 

MUMBAI: After a stupendous run that saw him return unbeaten in four World Cup matches and two Indian Premier League clashes, Yuvraj Singh - the flavour of the year in Indian cricket - tasted his first defeat on the field on Sunday evening. And with him, Pune Warriors, newcomers in the tournament but having played with the temperament of a seasoned franchise so far, also went down for the first time.

Scorecard | Match in pics

The DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai gave Delhi Daredevils reason to rejoice as Virender Sehwag & Co chased a sturdy 187 with four balls to spare to win their first match in IPL 4.

Coming into the game, it was important for Warriors not to get complacent and for Daredevils to get their combination right. On that count, the Daredevils fared better with their openers getting a solid start and five batsmen contributing in bits and pieces to frame the eventual victory.

Daredevils chose to field, perhaps with the thought that the wicket would seam a bit early on and then settle down. It was the right thing to do, considering that Morne Morkel, their main pace weapon, injured himself on the day of the match and had to sit out.

The Warriors began well. In fact, looking at the way opener Jesse Ryder started and went about scoring a 27-ball 60, the wicket gave no hint of any danger. By the time Yuvraj arrived at the crease, Pune were placed well at 82-2 in the ninth over and the skipper was left with enough time and space to free his arms.

The World Cup 'man of the tournament' took his time to settle down, but once he opened up there was no stopping him. Fortunately for Delhi, it was their last over when Yuvraj plonked young Ashok Dinda for three sixes over long-on. The massacre earned him 26 runs and it seemed like Delhi simply wanted to pack up as soon as possible.

Prior to the beginning of the chase, an asking rate of 9.40 runs per over looked a mammoth task. But Delhi skipper Virender Sehwag and their most experienced Twenty20 striker, David Warner, took up the challenge. The two batsmen opened and stayed around for a while which solved half the issues for the struggling side. Warner's 28-ball 46 and Sehwag's 23-ball 37 ensured the Daredevils were closing in on 100 by the end of the 10th over and 87 would be needed in the next 60 deliveries with eight wickets in hand.

That's where the percentage cricketers came to the party. Aaron Finch's 12-ball 25, Venugopal Rao's 20-ball 31 and James Hopes' 4-ball 13 closed the chapter for Warriors. For Hopes, whose father is suffering from cancer, the decision to stay around in IPL was heartening. For Finch, it was important to come up with something special in line with his bundle of talent. And for Rao, who scored a brilliant 60 in Delhi's last game, it was icing on the cake.

 

 

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