IPL 2010: Tendulkar Guides Mumbai Into Semi-Finals

Sachin Tendulkar produced another Indian Premier League batting masterclass as the Mumbai Indians qualified for the semi-finals with a comprehensive 37-run win over the Rajasthan Royals.

Tendulkar batted through Mumbai's innings and took full advantage of being dropped by Aditya Dole when on 45 to see his side to a score of 174 for five before the Royals could only manage 137 for eight in reply.

Early on in his well-crafted innings, Tendulkar went to the top of the table for boundaries scored in the 2010 IPL and he soon became the seventh man to score 1000 IPL runs.

After hitting Shane Warne for 14 runs in one over he was dropped at long leg by Dole as he tried to pull Siddharth Trivedi and the Royals would pay dearly. Tendulkar passed his half-century and then raced past Jacques Kallis tot he top of the 2010 run-scoring lists, finishing by smacking Trivedi for 20 runs in the final over of the innings.

The Royals held the upper hand early on when Shane Watson's aggressive spell brought him the wickets of Sanath Jayasuriya, caught at mid-off by Abhishek Jhunjhunwala for one, Ambati Rayadu, caught by Naman Ojha for a duck adnd Saurabh Tiwary, caught by Dole at deep backward square leg.

Tendulkar then shared half-century stands with JP Duminy (31 in 32 balls) and Kieron Pollard (25 in 13 balls) and he closed the innings unbeaten on 89 in 59 balls having hit ten fours and two sixes.

The Royals, needing a fast start, got off to a poor one when openers Michael Lumb (8) and Ojha (0) were caught at backward point and slip respectively and it got worse when some chaotic bating ended in Watson being run out for one and Faiz Fazal departing in the same manner for ten.

Jhunjhunwala attempted to stabilise the innings but he too was run out for 22, Tiwary and Rayadu combining to end his day's work.

Controlled bowling from Mumbai and disciplined fielding, a late inconsequential drop from Lasith Malinga aside, led to more wickets tumbling and the match was quickly over as a contest, despite Dole hitting out to good effect with 30 in 18 balls and Adam Voges also making 28.

Zaheer Khan bowled superbly to return two for 17 and there was a wicket apiece for Dhawal Kulkarni, Harbhajan Singh and Pollard as the Royals were beaten in Jaipur for the first time.

Shah Rukh Khan will not be present in IPL Match on chennai

Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) co-owner Shah Rukh Khan will not be present when his side takes on Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s Chennai Super Kings in a must-win encounter for teams on Tuesday at the Chidamdaram Stadium.

"No, I won’t come to Chennai for the match. Think the team needs to introspect and play without my interference...emotional or physical," the superstar tweeted on Monday.

The Knight Riders have not been consistent enough in their campaign this year and are now ranked sixth with 10 points from 11 matches with a poor net run rate of -0.417.

Shah Rukh is reportedly worried about that.

"I think our main issue is winning consecutive games. We haven’t since the first two. Momentum and consistence amiss," Shah Rukh said on the social networking site.

Shah Rukh, who is busy shooting for his forthcoming film Ra. One, also feels that only praying for his team’s success will not work. Performance on the field is the only mantra for the Knights.

"Ha ha... someone said better way to pray at KKR matches will help... I don’t think so... I think better play at KKR matches will help our cause," he said.

The Knight Riders need to win all three of their remaining matches to stay in contention for a semi final berth.

With Mumbai Indians making the semi-finals for the first time in IPL history on Sunday after mauling the Rajasthan Royals, the only team not to feature in the semis ever isthe Knight Riders.

Tharoor's to-be wife stakeholder in IPL Kochi franchise

New Delhi: Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor himself may not be a stakeholder but the lady he is reportedly planning to marry is part of the consortium which owns the Kochi franchise of the Indian Premier League, revealed IPL commissioner Lalit Modi.

Clearing the air about the ownership structure of the little known Rendezvous Sports World which coughed up USD 333.33 million (appr Rs 1533 crore) to bag the Kochi franchise, Modi wrote on his Twitter page that the free equity holders include Kisan Shailender and Pushpa Gaikwad, Sunanda Pushkar, Puja Gulati, Jayant Kotalwar, Vishnu Prasad and Sundip Agarwal.

Media reports have said that Tharoor proposed to marry Sunanda Pushkar, a Kashmiri girl. Trained as a beautician, she runs a spa and has lived in Dubai.

"A lot of you asking shareholders and events surrounding the kochi team. I am compiling a note shortly and will put an official release soon," Modi wrote.

Modi hinted there was pressure on him not to reveal the details of who all owns Rendezvous.

"I was told not to get into who owns Rendezvous, specially Sunanda Pushkar. Why?" said Modi, a disclosure which could land Tharoor in a fresh controversy.

In a subsequent tweet, Modi spelled out the details.

"Kochi shareholders are: Rendezvous 25 per cent free, Rendezvous one percent, Anchor 27 per cent, Parinee 26 per cent, Film Waves combine 12 per cent, Anand Shyam 8 percent, Vivek Venugopal one percent," Modi tweeted.

Interestingly, Tharoor had played an instrumental role in galvanising the Kochi consortium, insisting all along that he had no financial stake in it.

"All I did on my part was to offer encouragement, blessings and expert advise when required to the bidders. Beyond that, I had no role to play. It`s a group of business people and I understand it`s a business decision," Tharoor had said.

"I am not even sure whether I know all of them, nor do I have any knowledge of the decision that how much they were going to bid. I know this Rendezvous Sports World and had met the Gaekwad brothers.

"I have given them all kind of encouragement but my role was limited. It was like...what shall I say...mentor sounds too grand a word," Tharoor had said.

Modi himself had earlier described Tharoor`s role as that of a facilitator only.

"Mr Tharoor was involved in facilitating and trying to get a team from Kochi to bid. He is an ardent fan of the game who wanted a team from Kochi and his role ends there," Modi had said.

Kochi-IPL spat turns ugly, Modi alleges foul play

New Delhi: The IPL-Kochi franchisee row took a more intense turn as league commissioner Lalit Modi, unperturbed by BCCI chief Shashank Manohar’s rebuke, alleged that the Shashi Tharoor ‘linked’ group had a lot to hide and he had done no wrong by disclosing their names to public.

In an e-mail to the BCCI chief, he even went at lengths to say that the group “has lied about who is the actual owner of the shares” and is uncharacteristically mum on their association with Sunanda Pushkhar.

Modi had hinted that there was pressure on him not to reveal the details of who all owns Rendezvous saying, “I was told not to get into who owns Rendezvous, especially Sunanda Pushkar. Why?"

Modi`s tweets could land Tharoor in a fresh controversy as the union minister had vehemently claimed that he had no financial stake in the Kochi franchise. He however, is supposedly about to tie the knot with the Dubai-based Kashmiri girl.

"All I did on my part was to offer encouragement, blessings and expert advise when required to the bidders. Beyond that, I had no role to play. It’s a group of business people and I understand it’s a business decision," Tharoor had said.

Sources claimed that Modi was interested in having Ahmedabad as one of the franchises for the subsequent IPL seasons and was therefore creating problems for Kochi which emerged as the second highest bidder in the auction.

Kochi and Pune will be the two new teams from IPL 2011.

Bangalore seek to settle score

It’s heartening to see reigning champions Deccan Chargers finally getting their bearings right. And now they look a potent force, having clocked two wins on the trot. As Gilchrist and Co had comprehensively beaten Royal Challengers in their own den in the last encounter, they would go into this match with a psychological edge at their surrogate home ground, Nagpur.

Deccan Chargers

Interestingly, Tirumalasetti Suman’s batting form has coincided with the team’s change in fortune. Batting at no. 3, he carved out two half-centuries that were in the winning cause. Against an opposition like Bangalore, Suman’s role will again be crucial.

Captain Gilchrist would love to take a leaf out of his junior’s book and hit the straps against a formidable side like Royal Challengers. However, the intriguing form of Rohit Sharma is another riddle the team needs to fix.

In a crucial match where a win could potentially decide the team’s entry to semis, the captain would do well to bring back either Herschelle Gibbs or VVS Laxman even though they haven’t been in good nick. As they say, class is permanent.

Ryan Harris has been hitting the deck nicely and picking up wickets as well and that should come handy against Bangalore’s reputed batting line-up. The duo of Harris and RP Singh will have to keep pecking at the top order to restrict the opposition to run away with the match. Pragyan Ojha, who is the leading wicket taker, has been doing a splendid job during the middle overs and he should pose a challenge to Bangalore batsmen.

Royal Challengers Bangalore

The seven-wicket defeat at the hands of Deccans must be rankling in the collective consciousness of the team. It can either become a mental block or spur the team to settle the score. With a team as resourceful as Bangalore, the latter is more likely.

However, one wonders why change an opening combination of Jacques Kallis and Manish Pandey that has done well in the past.

The middle order has too much of class and substance to fail too often. However, it would be important not to hit the panic button if they lose early wickets.

The bowling quartet have done exceedingly well with captain Kumble leading from the front. Dale Steyn and Vinay Kumar have often wrecked batting line with their speed and guile and would be looking forward to carry on their good job.

Teams (Probable Eleven):

Deccan Chargers: Monish Mishra/VVS Laxman, Adam Gilchrist (capt-wk), T Suman, Rohit Sharma, Andrew Symonds, Dwayne Smith/Herschelle Gibbs, B Sumanth, RP Singh, Pragyan Ojha, Ryan Harris, Harmeet Singh

Royal Challengers Bangalore: S Sriram, Jacques Kallis, Rahul Dravid, Robin Uthappa (wk), Ross Taylor, Cameron White, Virat Kohli, Anil Kumble (capt), Vinay Kumar, Praveen Kumar, Dale Steyn

Lalit Modi tweets names of IPL Kochi owners

New Delhi: IPL Chairman Lalit Modi ended all speculations regarding the scrapping of Kochi franchise by giving a list of the names of the owners on his Twitter page.

Modi informed his followers on the page saying, "Kochi shareholders are: Rendezvous 25% free, Rendezvous 1%, Anchor 27%, Parinee 26%, Film Waves Combine 12%, Anand Shyam 8%, Vivek Venugopal 1%. And Rendezvous free equity - held by Kisan, Shailender and Pushpa Gaikwad, Sunanda Pushkar, Puja Gulathi, Jayant Kotalwar, Vishnu Prasad, Sundip Agarwal."

Modi had last week told his tweeted, “Ignore all speculations over Kochi row.”

He had clarified that Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) stands on Kochi consortium over ownership issue and there is no chance of scrapping the newly acquired IPL team.

The Kochi owners had met BCCI officials in Mumbai on Friday as they looked to dispel fears that their agreement with the IPL would collapse. Modi had also said, "There are certain shareholders in the Rendezvous Company who have not been able to answer the question over stakes yet. The agreement has been signed, but we will seek clarification. It`s just a matter of time."

A consortium of various business groups, under the umbrella of Rendezvous, had bid Rs 1300 crore for the Kochi based franchisee at an auction last month.

ICC rules out window for IPL

The ICC has ruled out creating a separate window in the FTP for lucrative domestic leagues like the IPL, despite increasing calls for the game's governing body to figure out a way to allow players to participate without disrupting their international commitments.

"We don't envisage a separate window for a domestic event like the IPL," Haroon Lorgat, the ICC's CEO, said in New Delhi at the unveiling of the ICC World Twenty20 trophy. "We cannot incorporate all domestic events into the FTP. It is just not possible as there would be implications for all other member boards."

Players from Australia, New Zealand and West Indies had to miss the first few games of the IPL this season as they were busy playing for their countries. Australia and New Zealand were involved in a bilateral series and the players couldn't reach India before April 1. Former Australian wicketkeeper and captain of Deccan Chargers, Adam Gilchrist, was the latest to join the chorus for an IPL window, pointing to the financial rewards for the players.

Commenting on the Twenty20-heavy calendar, Lorgat said he wasn't too concerned about possible player burnout once players assemble in the West Indies for the World Twenty20. The tournament begins on April 30, just five days after the conclusion of the six-week IPL. He pointed to the success of last year's World Twenty20 in England, which followed just after the IPL.

"The World Cup in England last year came immediately after the IPL. But it was extremely successful. We saw a full house at all the venues. I think the IPL is a great forerunner to the World Cup," he said. "Players are in Twenty20 mode and we are hopeful of an equally successful World Cup this time around."

The World Twenty20 is supposed to be held once every two years, but the fact that this edition follows barely a year after the previous one is an anomaly, which the ICC is trying to fix. "The fact that it is the third T20 World Cup in four years is a bit of an anomaly," Lorgat said. "We are trying to rectify the scheduling and set it right."

He also brushed aside concerns that the popularity of Twenty20 will overshadow that for Tests and ODIs. "Its popularity has gone beyond expectations but other formats are also popular. There was a lot of negativity around the other formats, but in the last 12-18 months we have seen some fascinating 50-over games," Lorgat said. "When (India's) Sachin Tendulkar scored 200, most people were of the view that 50-overs cricket would definitely survive."