Knights brawl till their last mouthful of air. And if a Kolkata Knight Riders’ team member is to be believed, just like the ancient warriors, they would by no means give up and do all to make it to the last-four phase of the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL).“Don’t write us off. We are knights and the battle is still not over,” the player said. “We will fight till the end and give it our all,” he reiterated.Things, on the other hand, look vigorous difficult for the hosts as they take on League toppers Rajasthan Royals in a do or die encounter at the Eden on Tuesday.While the Shane Warne-led side are almost through, the Knight Riders must win all their enduring three match to have any hopes of making it to the knockout round.
With pace spearhead Shoaib Akhtar probable to sit out on Tuesday after bad tempered of a knee injury, things look even more complex for captain Sourav Ganguly.Though the Pakistan speedster has been kept in the 13-member squad, he will undergo a two-day medical scrutiny. In case he fail to make the cut, Umar Gul will be his replacement.“He came to the contest under-prepared… He has given his 100 per cent. But he has a problem with his knee and we will check him for the next couple of days,” coach John Buchanan said on Monday twilight.Sourav, however, in a function later on Monday night, claim that the fast bowler was “fit enough to play.”
Besides the confusion over Shoaib, Nor’wester can also be a main concern for Shah Rukh Khan’s side. On Monday sunset, it rained heavily for about an hour and the Eden outfield became water-logged again.After a lot of testing with the opening slot, it was learnt that Buchanan, after a discussion with captain Sourav, is keen to stick to the Salman Butt-Mohammad Hafeez combination to open against the Royals.However, a lot depends on Sourav’s batting presentation. Though he has been inconsistent in the IPL so far, the vastly experienced captain can run through a bowling attack.The Rajasthan side, in the meantime, are expected to field an extra batsman against the hosts. Former Pakistan captain Younis Khan may be built-in the live XI. With the likes of Shane Watson, Munaf Patel, Yousuf Pathan, Sohail Tanvir and Shane Warne in their ranks, the bowling section looks dense.
run and shell: Mallya and the fine art of discrepancy “We have a team that has a lot of equilibrium now and we should be taken very gravely in IPL.” That was Vijay Mallya speaking after the IPL’s second auction on March 11. The statement may seem incongruous today, when Mallya is letting the world know that he feels let down at being handed a dud team in the form of Royal Challengers.But March 11 wasn’t the first time Mallya had spoken the view that his was a team to reckon with. Even earlier, on February 27, on the sideline of the F-1 in Barcelona, he had held forth on the virtues of his squad to a group of Indian journalists. On that time, it wasn’t just a throw-away line, but a detailed dissectio of Royal Challengers. The liquor baron, for instance, describe Jacques Kallis as the “most excellent (all-rounder) going around” and Cameron White as “young and explosive”. As for Mark Boucher, he supposed the addition of “this hard-hitting wicketkeeper” batsmen meant that “we have a very strong and fair team”. He spoke approvingly of Wasim Jaffer and Chanderpaul as well and said that for the spinners role, “with Anil Kumble at hand we didn’t have to go too far”.Mallya did say that he would have liked to bag Robin Uthappa as well. “I only wish we could have bought Robin Uthappa. But due to budget constraints we couldn’t get him. We would have been 100% total with him. At the moment, we are 95 per cent but I am quite satisfied,” he added. “We have loads of experience in our team and I think that is what is going to count in a long-drawn league,” he concluded. Even as recently as May 7, the day after Royal Challengers CEO Charu Sharma was sacked, Mallya it seems that had no evils with the team per se. A statement issued by him said: “I continue to have faith and self-assurance in all my players led by Rahul Dravid and in Martin Crowe, chief cricketing officer, and his side.” But five days later he was singing a different tune. “My main error was to abstain from the selection of the team,” he was reported as saying. “Since Dravid is such an iconic player, I trusted his judgement. But after the final list, my friends told me it look like a Test team. But I backed both of them thinking that they advised me correctly.”On Tuesday, source close to Mallya suggested that the flamboyant liquor baron had wanted MS Dhoni, Brendon McCullum and Uthappa in his side but had been vetoed by Dravid at the auction.Here’s the no-win situation in that account: Dhoni went to Chennai for $1.5 million, McCullum to Kolkata for $700,000 and Uthappa to Mumbai for $800,000. That’s a combined sum of $3 million for those three players.Bangalore would have had to bid senior for them to get them. Add to that the fee it would have had to pay for Dravid - 15% higher than Dhoni as Dravid is an icon player - and the total for just those four players would have been at least $4.75 million. With a $5 million cap placed on each team for the sale, that would have absent Bangalore with four group of actors. Not very much also.
Sachin Tendulkar reserved Sanath Jayasuriya absent from bowling duties. And the starving Sri Lankan feasted on the Chennai Super Kings bowlers, lashing 11 sixes in an awesome display of crisp, clean hitting as Mumbai Indians cruised to a nine-wicket conquest in the DLF-Indian Premier League at the Wankhede Stadium here on Wednesday.Jayasuriya’s unbeaten 114 came off just 48 delivery and he hit nine boundaries apart from the 11 sixes. Mumbai Indians, chase 157 for conquest, reached 158 for one in the 14th over in a one-sided meet. Alarming regularity Walking out to bat with Tendulkar — a sight straight out of dream — the Lankan play out the fantasy part by picking the line early against Manpreet Goni and Albie Morkel, clearing the ropes with disturbing regularity.Jayasuriya began the assault with a flicked six to mid-wicket and then step out to scoop the ball in the same region. The Super Kings fielders watched in awe and disappointment as the Lankan rocked on to the back foot to balls pitched around the off-stump and slashed naturally over point and cover. Goni went for 20 in one over, while Morkel appeared helpless as one over yielded 21.Jayasuriya’s bat-speed and timing were so good that he had to just connect the ball to send it soaring into the stands.Tendulkar rotated the strike, scampered across to admire the ‘sixes shower’ from the non-striker’s end. Joginder Sharma broke the reverie by castling Tendulkar, but by then the damage had been done. Mumbai Indians was so far ahead that even Muttiah Muralitharan, twirl the ball at the bowling crease, was no cause for fear.Earlier, the stranglehold exerted by a collective effort from the Mumbai Indians bowlers continued under Tendulkar who took over from Shaun Pollock. A fifth-wicket stand of 95 in 61 balls flanked by Super Kings captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni (43 n.o., 35b, 6×4, 1×6) and the in-form S. Badrinath (53, 33b, 7×4, 2×6) pulled the visitors out of trouble.Pollock set the tone with a forbidden first over, bowling to the field and denying the openers — S. Vidyut and Stephen Fleming — any liberties. He showed admirable mastery over swing and control with a maiden over against Dhoni to walk away with fantastic figures of 4-1-9-1.The wily Dwayne Bravo (two for 37), well supported by the young Dhaval Kulkarni (three for 33), kept the batsmen in check before Dhoni connected Badrinath at the crease. The two negotiated some awkward moments and cut loose towards the end. Kulkarni, feeling the jitters when asked to bowl the 20th over, sent downward three wides in a row. Charmed life Earlier, Vidyut, lucky to see an edge rebound into the third man fence off Aashish Nehra, got cracking by making room for a square cut after Tendulkar opted to unleash his pace bowlers on a lively wicket. Stephen Fleming lived a enamored life, a snick lessening short of slip fielder Tendulkar and beyond a leap wicket-keeper Takawale. Super Kings needed a push from the batsmen as only 23 came after five overs. Fleming responded to the situation with fierce cuts to the cover fence. Kulkarni’s two-wicket burst brought Dhoni to the crease at a critical phase — 57 at the halfway mark of the innings. Tendulkar turned to masterly Pollock and the accurate Nehra to strangle the runs. The South African put the brake on Dhoni with six spot balls in his fourth over. Dhoni delights Dhoni lastly got down to commerce, freeing his arms for influential shots and creating space for the slash past the cover region. Badrinath made space and chipped over short fine-leg and then pulled a short ball from Raje for the first six of the match in the 18th over. Badrinath hit two more sixes, three in all for Super Kings audacity of big-hitters next to the 11 from Jayasuriya unaccompanied.
A sigh of release and a intelligence of satisfaction! These could be the likely transformations Shoaib Akhtar might just go through after his much-awaited Indian Premier League’s debut match against Delhi Daredevils. The twists and turns in the pacer’s contentious life seemed to be quite identical with his comeback bowling. From facing a five-year ban on his global career to lastly getting a nod for IPL, Shoaib’s rollercoaster trip to reach the grounds at Eden Gardens in Kolkata has been phenomenal. The infamous bad boy of international cricket - Shoaib Akhtar joined Shah Rukh’s bunch of goons, as he proudly promotes them in one of his TV commercials, and brought the missing charm to the Bollywood star’s depleted team.
Knight Riders very much needed Shoaib’s services and it couldn’t have got better than this day when they had to defend a mere total of 133 against mighty Delhi Daredevils. The force was on bowlers and Riders came out confidently, may be with a cerebral benefit of Shoaib Akhtar being in their playing XI.
Second ball of the primary over by ‘Rawalpindi Express’ triggered his vision entrance at the place where he once got Sachin Tendulkar out on his first ball in 1999 - Kolkata’s Eden Gardens. Virender Sehwag was only left guessing and nick the ball to the keeper - Prasanta Saha. The crowd roared with pride and yes, it was Shoaib’s much-awaited reply.
Next was Gautam Gambhir to prize the pacer with his second success. David Hussey made no mistake in helping Shoaib clinching the current-holder of the ‘Orange Cap’. The party had just begun and SRK was only adding on to every bit of it by cheering his team like always. After all, the intense bonding between the two has never been a secret and Shah Rukh Khan made every possible effort to bring back the $425,000 priced player in his Sourav Ganguly-led team.
gratitude to Shoaib Akhtar, Delhi’s AB de Villiers and Manoj Tiwary joined the queue with Gambhir and Sehwag back in the pavilion. He was now on a hat-trick but couldn’t sustain his demolishing act and missed the tempting chance. But, no one really care about the misses, it was Shoaib’s attendance that was being felt by every individual present on his particular day. Knight Riders’ Laxmi Shukla too fetched a pack of four wickets and was also instrumental in handing over the victory to their side.
As expected, the pace lead was confirmed ‘Man of the Match’. What a way to kick start his first season. Now that’s what is called an ideal comeback and a rocking IPL style debut. Shoaib’s winning act would surely shut some of those blabbered mouths for a while. And for the fans, it’s a treat to watch the excitement spread all over the stadium with millions of TV spectators too coming jointly in the dual celebrations of King Khan’s ‘Korbo Lodhbo Jeetbo Re’ group. The feel of Kolkata’s opening match has been unknowingly brought back by Shoaib Akhtar. Welcome Shoaib, greeting on board!
He’s reverse: Sachin Tendulkar income to the Mumbai side after absent the first seven games because of Sachin Tendulkar has said he is fit and will lead the Mumbai Indians in their next game, next to the Chennai Super Kings on Wednesday. The news will be a shot in the arm for Mumbai, who played the first half of the IPL with no Tendulkar, compulsory to sit out with a groin injury.
The action process has been successful, Tendulkar announced today; there was no “discomfort” and he will open Mumbai’s innings with Sanath Jayasuriya.”I will be live on May 14. It’s looking very good and I’m feeling very optimistic,” Tendulkar said after a two-hour batting session at the Wankhede Stadium. He said it was really “rough” for him to sit out but acknowledged the hold up of the fitness staff who had “really worked hard, especially the physio and the masseur”.Tendulkar first chosen up the injury during the CB Series in Australia and it got worse after the first Test against South Africa in Chennai, forcing him to miss the final two matches of the series. He was unable to recover for the start of the IPL, missing Mumbai’s first seven games.
Though Mumbai lost their first four games, Tendulkar was careful not to return before he was completely fit. “It was disappointing to miss the two Tests against South African and then seven IPL games. In his absence Harbhajan Singh led Mumbai for the first three games and after he was banned for an on-field row with Sreesanth, Shaun Pollock came in as the stand-in captain. “I will be the captain. Shaun was a makeshift captain and he did a terrific job and the other senior players have also contribute well. It’s not about who the captain is but it’s about helping each other and that’s what Mumbai Indians have been doing and will continue to do.”
Despite his minimal contact to the Twenty20 format - he has played only five sports competition so far - Tendulkar was look ahead to the challenge ahead. “I always try hard and I’ve forever given my best.” Mumbai are currently placed sixth in the points table, just above the Deccan Chargers and the Bangalore Royal Challengers.
