IPL 2010 (12th march - 25th april)

[Pintu]

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com...y-beat-KKR-by-34-runs/articleshow/5706508.cms

Royals register first IPL 3 victory, beat KKR by 34 runs
20 Mar 2010, 1929 hrs IST, TNN

NEW DELHI: Rajasthan Royals registered their first victory of the third season of Indian Premier League as they defeated Kolkata Knight Riders by 34 runs at Sardar Patel stadium, Motera on Saturday.

Some late hitting by Owais Shah (19 off 17 balls) and skipper Sourav Ganguly (33 off 29 balls) failed to change the outcome as Royals successfully restricted the run flow in the match.

Yusuf Pathan struck in his final over to dismiss Brad Hodge (36 off 34 balls) to add more misery for Knight Riders.

Siddharth Trivedi added blow to already struggling Knight Riders’ run chase when he clean bowled Cheteshwar Pujara (29 off 25 balls) to reduce KKR to 68/2 in 10.4 overs.

Knight Riders lost opener Manoj Tiwary (11) in the third over to Yusuf Pathan, who clean bowled the batsman.

Earlier, Pacers Ashok Dinda, Shane Bond and Ishant Sharma shared two wickets apiece to help Knight Riders restrict Royals for 168/7.

Royals’ Adam Voges (37 not out) hit two sixes in the last over to set a fighting 169-run target for Knight Riders.

Ishant Sharma struck twice in the 18th over to dismiss Paras Dogra (0) and top-scorer Abhishek Jhunjhunwala (45 off 36 balls) to halt the Royals charge as lower-order batsmen failed to contribute much to the total.

Ashok Dinda struck again in his second spell to get rid of Yusuf Pathan (15 off 14 balls) to reduce Royals to 105/4 in 13 overs.

Royals lost Naman Ojha (27 off 18 balls) while trying to sneak a second run in the 9th over after Shane Bond struck in his first over to get rid of dangerous looking Faiz Fazal (31 off 23 balls) in the fifth over of the match.

Ojha was going steadily before the run out, he hit five boundaries in his 18 balls inning.

Faiz Fazal hit six boundaries to resurrect Royals innings after Dinda gave Knight Riders an early breakthrough when he trapped opener Michael Lumb in the very first ball of the match.

Earlier, Rajasthan Royals skipper Shane Warne won the toss and opted to bat against Kolkata Knight Riders.

Teams:

Kolkata Knight Riders: Sourav Ganguly (capt.), Shane Bond, Ashok Dinda, Brad Hodge, Murali Kartik, Angelo Mathews, Wriddhiman Saha, Owais Shah, Ishant Sharma, Manoj Tiwary, CA Pujara.

Rajasthan Royals: Shane Warne (capt.), Faiz Fazal, Abhishek Jhunjhunwala, Michael Lumb, Naman Ojha (wk), Munaf Patel, Yusuf Pathan, Shaun Tait, Siddharth Trivedi, Shrikant Wagh, AC Voges, P Dogra.

 

[plugwater]

Pune and Kochi unveiled as new IPL franchises

The financial might of the IPL was on display again on Sunday when Pune and Kochi became the league's two new franchises, being sold for a value in excess of the original eight franchises combined.

The Sahara group, the biggest patron of sports in the country, became owners of the Pune franchise after offering a staggering US$370m. The other new franchisee is a consortium of five companies called Rendezvous Sports World, which bid US$333.33m for Kochi. There were three other qualified bidders, including Adani Enterprises and VC digital solutions Pvt Ltd (Videocon), who were in the fray to become part of the IPL, which will be heartening for any existing franchise owners looking to offload their stake.

"It only shows there is no recession for the IPL and it is on the upswing," Lalit Modi, the league's commissioner, said after announcing the new franchises in Chennai.

Sahara, who have been sponsoring Indian cricket for the past 15 years, had bid for the same amount for three cities, but ultimately chose Pune over Ahmedabad and Nagpur. "When we considered the cities, in terms of infrastructure and logistics, Pune came first," Abhijit Sarkar, the head of Sahara's corporate communications, said. "Ït is also close to Mumbai - the commercial capital of India - and Aamby Valley (an upmarket township owned by the Sahara group)."

Ajay Shirke, president of the Maharashtra Cricket Association (MCA) and a prominent businessmen from Pune, said he was obviously happy about Pune being rated as the most popular venue at the auction with three out of the five bidders preferring Pune as their home base over the rest of the 11 cities.

"MCA has always maintained that we will support all bids that are made for Pune," Shirke, who was present at the auction venue in Chennai, told Cricinfo. "That only increases Pune's association with cricket manifold.

"What they [the bidders] would have kept in mind was the market of Mumbai and Pune are nearby. Then there are private cities like Lavasa and Aamby Valley, which are about 20 kilometres from the ground."

According to Shirke, the Sahara franchise would have its home ground situated on the outskirts of Pune city, in Gahunje, which is on the Mumbai-Pune expressway. The ground construction is already underway with Shapoorji Pallonji being the main contractors.

He was confident that the ground would be ready in time for the IPL's fourth season when Sahara would unveil its team. "The construction work has already started and it should be ready by March 2011," Shirke said.

While Sahara have a long history of sports sponsorship and are a high-profile corporate group, little is known about the winners of the Kochi franchise. It is a consortium with five partners - the Rendezvous group, Parini developers, Anand Shah Estate, Anchor Earth Private Limited and Film Waves. Minister of state for external affairs Shashi Tharoor was involved in bringing together the group, but has no stake in the franchise.

In fact, Tharoor clarified to Cricinfo that he had no stake in the Kochi franchise and that his role was limited to encouraging the consortium that bagged the team. "My role consisted only of encouraging and blessing the venture, and steering it to Kerala," he told Cricinfo.

"Tharoor was involved in facilitating and trying to get a team for the state," Modi confirmed. "He is an ardent fan of cricket and he has been trying to get people from Kochi to bid for it. I think his involvement ends there."

Modi said the tournament's organsiers would provide the Kochi franchise a home ground till the Kerala Cricket Association completes construction of its new stadium. "Kerala Cricket Association is in the process of building the infrastructure and as when the stadium is ready teams will play there," he said. "But till the structures are ready, the IPL will provide them with an alternate venue."

Speaking to reporters, Shailendra Gaikwad of Rendezvous World Sport said, "We have closely been following every development within the IPL, right from the inaugural year. Today, I am very happy for our consortium of Rendezvous World Sport and the people of Kochi as we finally have a team to call our own in this amazing city-based sports franchise"

While the huge money offered by the new franchisees shows the health of the IPL, Modi said there were no plans in the near future to further increase the number of teams involved. "We also have no plans to expand further immediately. In fact I don't foresee an expansion in many, many years to come but then you never know."

The IPL will now feature 10 teams and - if the current format is retained - a total of 94 games, from the existing 60. After the first season in 2008, the league has already expanded its reach to other centres such as Cuttack, Ahmedabad, Nagpur and Dharamsala.

The franchise auction process was to have been completed on March 7 but was postponed by two weeks after the bidders and the BCCI objected to stiff financial clauses.

http://www.cricinfo.com/ipl2010/content/current/story/452856.html

 

[JAISWAL]

cricket, sachin and T-20

hello members
in this cricket crrazy nation what u think should sachin restart his t20 ining again share ur views

 

[JAISWAL]

http://m.timesofindia.com/PDATOI/articleshow/5716679.cms

 

[JAISWAL]

Another gem of inning by masteq today http://m.cricinfo.com/s/2497/110;js...?countryId=6&newsDetails=true&country=topNews

 

[johnee]

In this killer form, the little master would undoubtedly be worth gold in any format. His presence may just be the difference between India winning the approaching T20 WC. We have many explosive batters but none of them can combine stability with aggression which is the trademark of mumbai maestro. Having said that, since Sachin has already taken a decision of not playing for T20 at international level, it would be best if he is not forced. IPL would be a tiring tournament in itself to someone like Sachin, so forcing him to play WC would be a bit unfair. I am sure, Sachin can make it work if he wants to, but since he has taken a decision already, I would like him to stick with it. After all, there must be some difference between the greatest batsman of all times and aira gheras like Shahid Afridi who claim to retire then come back and play. Sachin is a role model both onfield and off-field...

 

[Pintu]

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...-continue-their-march/articleshow/5729327.cms

Rajasthan Royals continue their march
Ajit Bezbaruah, TNN, Mar 27, 2010, 12.26am IST

AHMEDABAD: The Rajasthan Royals are on a roll now. When Deccan Chargers skipper Adam Gilchrist won the toss and elected to bat against the Royals at the Motera here on Friday, it looked like the former Aussie glovesman was trying to break Shane Warne's team's momentum.

After three consecutive defeats, the Royals had put their campaign back on track bowling second. So, Gilchrist decided to make the Royals chase here. That made no difference to the Royals, who chased down Chargers' 148/9 as easily as they had defended their totals in the last two games.

'Baroda Bomber' Yusuf Pathan once again played the kind of innings one normally expects him to play, an unbeaten 73 runs in 34 balls with two fours and eight sixes, and the Royals were home in just 15.4 overs losing only two wickets. It was another exhibition of power hitting by Yusuf whose sixes sailed way back into the crowds. The way he celebrated in the end showed how badly he wanted this.

But it was Michael Lumb and Naman Ojha who started it all taking all Chargers bowlers to the cleaners early on. Lumb was particularly severe on RP Singh whom he hit for four consecutive boundaries to take the Royals off to a flier. Though RR lost Ojha with the team total on 55, Yusuf ensured that all ends well for the Royals, their third straight win after three straight losses.

Like the last two occasions, the Royals bowling and fielding and, of course, Warne's moves were spot on. The legendary leg-spinner seems to be finding his magic, as a bowler, back as well. His spell of 4-0-15-1 helped the Royals restrict Chargers to 148 for nine.

The track had a sprinkling of grass on it but not so much to ring alarm bells for the batters. What belittled Chargers' effort was some brilliant fielding by Rajasthan. Like Abhishek Jhunjhunwala's direct hit to run out Venugopal Rao, then a throw on top of the stumps to run out Andrew Symonds, who was looking dangerous. The only man who survived for while was Rohit Sharma who celebrated his inclusion in the World T20 squad with an exciting 33-ball 49 with two fours and three sixes but after being dropped by Adam Voges off Yusuf when on 30.

 

[Vinod2070]

This IPL thread should have been much more interactive rather than just after the match report. It would have been great if many people were posting their emotions as things are happening on the ground.

 

[Yusuf]

My emotions sure do run high when I see those pretty cheer leaders and Preity as well.

 

[Soham]

^^^

I'm totally with you on that. That's why I just can't wait for someone to hit a boundary.

 

[Vinod2070]

So, let's be there and enjoy today's match together on this thread.

 

[Soham]

Here's a lil glimpse of why IPL is a cause for Global Warming :

 

[Yusuf]

Soham, your mommy is tracking you with all the spy softwares she has bought.

 

[Soham]

No she ain't. She's not too fond of computing and keeps to Microsoft Word and excel. Plus the laptop is fingerprint protected.

 

[Vinod2070]

KKR has done well to post a good total. My bet is on them to win this one.

 

[Pintu]

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/iplarticleshow/5733636.cms

We've finally got the X-factor to put 10-15 runs more: Ganguly
PTI, Mar 28, 2010, 02.48am IST

MOHALI: After snapping their three-game losing streak with a 39-run win over Kings XI Punjab, Kolkata Knight Riders skipper Sourav Ganguly said they have finally got the X-factor to put a competitive score on board.

"Good to get a win. To be honest, our batting dipped against Chennai and Rajasthan. As I said after losing to Mumbai, we finally have got the X-factor, an extra 10-15 runs," Ganguly said after the match.

Ganguly stressed on the importance of Indian players playing well and said he was happy to be among runs.

"I have been in decent form, a couple of good thirties, good to get a fifty today. We spend a lot of time deciding which overseas players to play, but as long as the seven Indian players do well, we will be in good shape," he said.

Asked about their semifinal hopes, Ganguly said it is still a long way to go and the tournament is wide open now.

"Anyone can come back in this format. Rajasthan have shown it by winning 3 in 3. We are going to play freely and hopefully keep winning. We still have six more home games and we will take match by match. Semis is still a long way ahead," Ganguly said.

Ganguly said it was crucial to get Yuvraj Singh early after the left-hander opened the innings for Kings XI Punjab.

"He (Yuvraj) could have proved dangerous if he had batted through the innings. It's good that we got him early. He is a dangerous batsman," he said.

His counterpart Kumar Sangakkara, meanwhile, blamed his team for putting themselves in such a position and said the batsman couldn't handle the pressure.

"I never got going, neither did Mahela, and left too much for the bottom half. We have ourselves to be blamed. Our bowlers did their job but we didn't handle the pressure well. 184 is chasable on this track. We didn't respond as well as we could have," Sangakkara said.

Asked how this defeat will affect his team's semi-final chances, Sangakkara said it is difficult but not impossible to reach the final four.

"We were trying to find the best positions for players to bat, but we are yet to find it. Only one way to go now - up. It is difficult but not impossible. We have seven-eight games still to play and we will look to win them," he said.

Man of the match Manoj Tiwary said this was one of his best knocks in the tournament.

"Today the wicket was very good to bat on, not much lateral movement. I took my time, to get my eye in and later accelerated. I wanted to do well and score big," he said.

Tiwary said taking that running catch in the boundary line to dismiss Yuvraj was very relaxing for him.

"I had to take that catch, Yuvi is such a good player, it felt good to take it and helped me relax," he said.

 

[Vinod2070]

RR 23/0 in 2 overs. Solid start. I would bet on them in this match.

 

[Daredevil]

It seems Rajasthan Royal have finally found their bearings and are on a winning trot. RR has good domestic as well as players unlike other teams. Even I feel RR will win over CSK.

 

[Vinod2070]

86-1 in 9 overs. Going good.

Naman Ojha is really impressive, a candidate for Indian T-20 team soon I hope.

 

[Vinod2070]

Two quick wickets and Chennai have a chance now. Yusuf the dangerman gone.

RR 117/2 in 12.3.