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| Ganguly's 50 in vain, Knight Riders lose again |
Jaipur, May 1: Skipper Sourav Ganguly's fighting half century went in vain as Kolkata Knight Riders succumbed to their third consecutive loss, going down by 45 runs to Rajasthan Royals in their Indian Premier League tie at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium here today.
Chasing 197 for victory, the Knight Riders were bundled out for 151 in 19.1 overs and Ganguly's 51-run knock and David Hussey's 30-ball 42 were the only highlights of yet another dismal batting performance by the Kolkata team.
For the Jaipur team, the trio of Shane Watson (2/22), Sohail Tanvir (2/30) and Siddharth Trivedi (2/31) never allowed the Kolkatans to settle down.
The visitors also had some poor running between the wickets to blame for their fall as three of their batsmen were run out in the match, which marks their third successive loss after reverses against Chennai Super Kings and Mumbai Indians.
Pakistani Salman Butt opened the innings for the Knight Riders in the absence of Kiwi Brendon McCullum but could hardly get a look in before Tanvir castled him for seven in the second over.
Ajit Agarkar didn't last long either and became Jaipur skipper Shane Warne's only victim of the match after hitting a couple of sixes in his 13-ball 20.
Ganguly held the other end but with wickets tumbling around him, the asking rate kept climbing adding to the pressure on the left-hander. |
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Ganguly new to Twenty20 captaincy, has to learn: Gul |
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Jaipur, May 1: Sourav Ganguly's captaincy in the Indian Premier League is yet to impress his Kolkata Knight Riders teammate Umar Gul, who reckons the the left-hander has to learn some more before he can emulate his success as India's ODI skipper.
Ganguly's Knight Riders lost their third successive IPL match after going down by 45 runs to Rajasthan Royals and Gul felt Ganguly was struggling to cope with the new format of the game.
"This format is new for Ganguly. He is finding it difficult. He has to learn a few more tricks. We also have to find the right combination and rhythm," Gul said. |
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| Another week before BCCI decides Shaoib's IPL fate: Shah |
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Karachi, May 1: BCCI secretary Niranjan Shah says it will take another week to decide whether banned Pakistani pacer Shoaib Akhtar can be allowed to play in the Indian Premier League (IPL).
Shah said the BCCI was yet to deliberate on the latest development where an appellate tribunal had not removed a five-year ban on Shoaib from playing in or for Pakistan but cleared him to play anywhere outside Pakistan.
"No decision has been taken on this issue because the IPL officials are busy with their matches and I think we will only reach a conclusion by next week. Our officials have also asked for more details from the PCB," Shah said.
Meanwhile in another interesting development that would come as bad news for Shoaib, apparently the IPL governing council will have to forego a clause in its players contractual conditions to allow the fast bowler to play for the Kolkata Knight Riders team.
Sources in the Pakistan board said the IPL contracts specifically mention that a player who has been banned by his home board cannot play in the IPL.
"The clause is there and our Chairman, Dr Nasim Ashraf did call up IPL President, Lalit Modi to request him to forego this clause and allow Shoaib to play so that he can earn some money from the league," one source said.
Shoaib was purchased for USD 425,000 by the Kolkata Knight Riders team owned by Shahrukh Khan in the IPL players' auction.
The source said the PCB was facing some pressure from some influential quarters to do something to get Shoaib into action in the IPL.
"The Harbhajan Singh ban issue has also made things difficult for the PCB to now convince IPL to play Shoaib," he said.
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Tendulkar's fitness to be assessed on May 4
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Mumbai, May 1: The struggling Mumbai Indians team have decided to wait till the day of their next Indian Premier League (IPL) match, against Delhi Daredevils on Sunday, to see whether captain Sachin Tendulkar is fit to play or not.
"Sachin had net practice today. There are still two more days to go for the match. We will take a call on his fitness on May 4. Today he batted all right. Hopefully he gets all right before the next match," said team coach Lalchand Rajput after a practice session at the MCA's Bandra-Kurla complex.
The champion batsman, who turned 35 on April 24, aggravated a groin injury that he sustained during the tri-series Down Under when turning out for India against South Africa in the first Test at Chennai in March and has not played for more than a month.
In his absence from the playing XI, the Reliance Industries-owned franchise team lost their first four ties before earning a maiden victory over Kolkata Knight Riders on April 29 at the Eden Gardens, and are languishing at the bottom of the eight-team league table.
Mumbai Indians were led by Harbhajan Singh in their first three matches, which were all lost.
The team was led by ace ex-South African all rounder Shaun Pollock in their last two matches following the booting out of Harbhajan from the IPL after he was found guilty of slapping India teammate S Sreesanth.
The Mumbai outfit have lost to Royal Challengers, at home, Chennai Super Kings and King's XI, away, and Deccan Chargers, at home, before putting it across Sourav Ganguly's Kolkata team, away, for their first points in the Twenty20 league.
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| Jeev tied 9th in Japan Tour |
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Nagoya (Japan), May 1: A steady opening round of two-under 68 had Jeev Milkha Singh placed tied ninth in his first appearance on the Japan Tour this year at the 120 million Yen Crowns Tournament at the Nagoya Golf Club Wago Course here today.
Jeev got off to a strong birdie-birdie start and picked up one more shot on the 16th hole but not before dropping his lone bogey on the 12th.
Kiyoshi Miazato and Tatsuhiko Takahashi blasted identical four-under 66 to share the opening round lead.
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| Yuvraj puts Deccan Chargers in |
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Hyderabad, May 1: Kings XI Punjab captain Yuvraj Singh won the toss and asked Deccan Chargers to bat first in the Indian Premier League match at the Rajiv Gandhi international stadium here today.
Kings bowler S Sreesanth, who was down with flu, is playing in the match.
Teams: Deccan Chargers: VVS Laxman (Captain), Adam Gilchrist, Rohit Sharma, RP Singh, Sanjay Bangar, H Gibbs, D Kalyankrishna, Shahid Afridi, Venugopal Rao, N Zoysa and Pragyan Ojha.
Kings XI Punjab: Yuvraj Singh (captain), Karan Goel, M Jayawardene, Piyush Chawla, Irfan Pathan, K Sangakkara, VRV Singh, S Sreesanth, R Sarwan, Marsh and Gagandeep Singh. |
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Dalmiya terms Speed's exit 'unfortunate'
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Kolkata, May 1: Former International Cricket Council President Jagmohan Dalmiya today described the entire chain of events leading to the removal of ICC Chief Executive Officer Malcolm Speed as "unfortunate", saying the world body's image has taken a "beating".
"What has transpired over the last few weeks can't be good for any organisation and certainly not for the ICC. The image of the ICC has taken a beating. The entire chain of events is unfortunate," Dalmiya said in a statement here.
The high-profile ICC CEO was removed from his post last week following a "fundamental breakdown" in his relations with Board members of the game's apex governing body.
"Difference of opinion is central to the decision making process but if such differences take the shape of acrimony and eventually result in a fall-out like what has happenned between the President (Ray Mali) and CEO of the ICC, it doesn't augur well for the body," Dalmiya said.
"I have had my differences with Malcolm on certain matters but never did things go out of control. In fact, such difference of opinion eventually allowed us to reach a solution that was good for the game of cricket," he said.
During Dalmiya's tenure as ICC chief between 1997 and 2000, Speed was Australian Cricket Board CEO.
While Dalmiya was the BCCI President from 2001-2004, Speed took over as ICC CEO in 2001.
Speed shared a strained relationship with some of the top BCCI officials including Dalmiya, and had often been quite critical on some of the issues involving India. |
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Shoaib keen to get IPL nod
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Karachi, May 1: Banned pacer Shoaib Akhtar says he is keen to play in the Indian Premier League but getting the nod to play in the twenty20 venture would not stop him from pursuing his appeal against the five-year ban imposed on him.
"I am waiting for the IPL order myself as I am keen to play some cricket. But if I don't get permission to play for the Kolkata team I have no intentions of going to India in any capacity," Shoaib said.
Shoaib told Geo TV that he would continue to fight his battle to clear himself regardless of whether he gets a chance to play in the Indian Premier League or not.
Shoaib is awaiting a final word from the governing council of the IPL on whether they are ready to allow him to play for the Shahrukh Khan owned, Kolkata Knight Riders team.
The three-member appellate tribunal headed by Justice (retd) Farrukh Aftab yesterday rejected an application from Shoaib's lawyers to stay the ban imposed on him by the PCB.
But the tribunal said it had no objection to Shoaib playing anywhere outside Pakistan till the proceedings of the tribunal resume on the appeal filed by the fast bowler against the ban in June. |
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