Win at Last

Streams of people were headed towards the gate. The crowd had realized it wasn’t going to be a dream day for Kolkata. Mumbai Indians, four successive losses, without Harbhajan Singh and Sachin Tendulkar, were finally tasting a win. The Mumbai team’s first century partnership did the trick and Robin Uthappa and Dwayne Bravo were the heroes.

But it wasn’t all rosy for the Indians after they had lost both the openers – Ajinkya Rahane (4) and Sanath Jayasuriya (18) – and Manish Pandey (0) with the scoreboard reading 25.

One just wondered what did the Mumbai team, after a brilliant bowling performance, require to pull off a win. Bravo and Uthappa had a 113-run answer, which not only propelled Mumbai to a win but in the process the two also upstaged Rohit Sharma and Andrew Symonds’s 111-run partnership against Rajasthan for the IPL record for fourth-wicket stand.

Bravo’s elegant drives and back-foot punches were a treat for cricket connoisseurs but silenced the Kolkata crowd.

Second in a row

Kolkata, on the other hand, tasted their second defeat in a row. Not exactly expected after they had a dream start to the tournament with a 140-run win over Bangalore Royal Challengers.

Earlier, Kolkata captain Sourav Ganguly had won the toss and decided to bat first. After Indians captain Shaun Pollock bowled his first over, the decision seemed to be the wrong one. The South African had sent back Brendon McCullum (1) and Ganguly (4) back into the dug-out within the first five balls of the match itself.

After Pollock was done, it was Sanath Jayasuriya’s turn to get some wickets.

He scalped three wickets, that of David Hussey, Mohammad Hafeez and Ajit Agarkar.

While Hussey and Agarkar walked back after having Ashish Nehra catch them in the deep, Hafeez edged one to wicket-keeper Pinal Shah.

Jayasuriya ended with much-more-than-impressive figures of 4-1-14-3.

But one man, who would like to forget the Indian Premier League would be Ricky Ponting. The Australian captain had a grouse about the IPL since the beginning, thanks to the lowly $400,000 that he fetched in the bidding process.

Ponting’s blues

Monday only added to his blues. The man, who played his last IPL match for the season before he returns for a tour to Caribbean, has only scored 39 runs from his four matches. Even his strike-rate (73.58) wasn’t Twenty20-esque.

What must have pained him even more was that though he was middling the ball well, his end had to come in the avatar of a run out. A mix-up with Hafeez meant Ajinkya Rahane had the ball thrown at Jayasuriya at the non-striker’s end and the Sri Lankan, cruelly for Ponting, flicked the bails off.

The only solace for McCullum, who was the other man from the Kolkata team to be playing the last IPL match this season, yesterday was his first-match knock of 158 not out.

That knock not only made the Knight Riders start on a high but even a man called Lalit Modi would have been salivating at the future prospects of the tournament and cash flows.


SCOREBOARD

Kolkata vs Mumbai : Eden gardens, Kolkata

Kolkata knight riders

B McCullum lbw b Pollock (2b) 1
S Ganguly c Jayasuriya b Pollock (2b, 1x4) 4
R Ponting run out (Rahane/Jayasuriya) (31b, 1x4) 19
D Das c Uthappa b Bravo (20b, 5x4, 1x6) 29
D Hussey c Nehra b Jayasuriya (20b, 3x4) 17
Mohammad Hafeez c Shah b Jayasuriya (6b) 2
LR Shukla not out (22b, 4x4, 2x6) 40
A Agarkar c Nehra b Jayasuriya (6b) 2
M Kartik c Jayasuriya b Fernando (11b, 1x4) 10
I Sharma not out (0b) 0

Extras (b 1, lb 5, w 7) 13
Total (8 wickets; 20 overs) 137

Fall of wickets: 1-5 (Ganguly), 2-6 (McCullum), 3-40 (Das), 4-74 (Hussey), 5-77 (Ponting), 6-77 (Mohammad Hafeez), 7-90 (Agarkar), 8-131 (Kartik)

Bowling: Pollock 4-0-27-2, Nehra 1-0-9-0, Fernando 4-0-41-1, Kulkarni 3-0-15-0, Bravo 4-0-25-1, Jayasuriya 4-1-14-3


Mumbai Indians (target 138)

A Rahane c Hussey b Agarkar (10b, 1x4) 4
S Jayasuriya b Sharma (10b, 3x4, 1x6) 18
M Pandey b Dinda (3b) 0
R Uthappa not out (37b, 5x4) 37
D Bravo not out (53b, 8x4, 1x6) 64

Extras (lb-5, w-9, nb-1) 15
Total (3 wickets; 18.4 overs) 138
Fall of wickets: 1-16 (Rahane), 2-25 (Jayasuriya), 3-25 (Pandey)
Bowling: Agarkar 4-0-23-1,Sharma 3.4-0-33-1, Dinda 4-0-12-1, Kartik 3-0-24-0, Hafeez 1-0-16-0, Ganguly 2-0-14-0,Shukla 1-0-11-0

Ronaldo caught in sex scandal

London: Police are investigating allegations by three transvestites that Brazilian soccer star and AC Milan forward Ronaldo threatened them after taking them to a Rio de Janeiro motel. Police said they were also looking into an accusation by the 31-year-old player that one of the transvestites tried to extort $31, 619 dollars in return for not going to the media.

According toThe Daily Telegraph, Ronaldo, who is back in his hometown recovering from an injury, left a nightclub in the posh Barra da Tijuca neighbourhood early yesterday with three call girls, only to find out that they were men, according to authorities.

Bhajji banned, to lose Rs 3 crore; Sree warned

NEW DELHI: The IPL has banned volatile off-spinner and Mumbai Indians' stand-in skipper, Harbhajan Singh, for 11 IPL matches after finding him guilty of physically assaulting fellow Indian cricketer and Team Mohali bowler Sreesanth after an IPL game on Friday evening. According to IPL commissioner Lalit Modi, Harbhajan has also been fined 100% of his match fee for his conduct on the field.

The ban implies that Harbhajan stands to lose as much as Rs 3 crore as he will only be paid for the two matches that he played in the T20 league. Sreesanth too was given a warning on the basis of his behaviour in previous matches. Harbhajan's attack, however, was found to have been "unprovoked".

There could be further trouble for "bad boys" Harbhajan and Sreesanth as BCCI too has launched a probe into the spat which will examine the backdrop to the assault.

Mumbai Indians coach Lalchand Rajput was also found guilty of "conduct flouting the spirit of the game". "It's a Level 2 offence. He was fined 50% of his match fee as well. In the video footage, Lalchand was standing right behind Harbhajan and he could have stopped the incident from happening. He didn't take any step to restrain him from behaving like that. Instead, he stood there and was found laughing in the tape," a top BCCI official told TOI.

The ugly incident between Harbhajan and Sreesanth occurred a few minutes after the Mumbai team lost to Team Mohali. Images of a profusely weeping Sreesanth were aired on TV after the fiasco. Footage made available to the match referee Farokh Engineer shows Harbhajan shaking hands with Team Mohali members after the match.

Said Modi: "Then, the video shows Harbhajan slapping Sreesanth instead of giving him a handshake. I would like to make it clear to all players that the cricket board is not going to spare anyone who crosses the limit." Modi added that Harbhajan had accepted he slapped the pacer under no provocation and the match referee states this in his report.

"As a penalty for the Level 4.2 offence committed by Harbhajan Singh, we hereby order that Singh be banned for the rest of the league matches of the first IPL event," he said while announcing Engineer's verdict here in a city hotel on Monday, after the IPL inquiry committee examined the footage of the incident and consulted representatives from both teams.

"Harbhajan Singh will also be fined 100% of his match fee that may have been paid or may hereafter be paid to him in respect of the remaining matches only. That does not take into account any of the two earlier matches (prior to Friday) that he may have played," Modi added.

Engineer, who conducted the hearing, said: "Harbhajan accepted his guilt. It can happen to any cricketer and I am glad that Harbhajan knows where he has gone wrong." The former Indian cricketer then announced: "Sreesanth has been warned to behave well on the field."

Later, while addressing the gathering, Harbhajan hugged and shook hands with the Kerala fast bowler.

Super Kings beat Royal Challengers by 13 runs

Bangalore, April 28:: MS Dhoni led from the front with an explosive innings and his bowlers later exploited an inept batting by their opponents to script a narrow 13-run win over Bangalore Royal Challengers and maintain their clean slate in the IPL match here tonight. Electing to bat on a Chinnaswamy Stadium, Dhoni with some lusty hitting along with Michael Hussey posted a competitive 178 for 5 in 20 overs.

In reply, the Royal Challengers were cruising to 102 for 2 in the 11th over only to make a mess of what appeared like a gettable target and were all out for 165 with two balls to spare.

The home team did not have the best of a start with opener B Chipli getting out cheaply for eight. But Wasim Jaffer and Ross Taylor took the team past 100 in the 11th over and they were cruising along.

The duo stitched a superb 89-run second wicket stand before Jaffer returned to the hut after making a breezy 50 off 33 balls, though he was dropped twice.

South African Jacques Kallis continued his poor form and was out cheaply for 14 but big hitting Kiwi Ross Taylor kept the run ticking at a reasonable pace.

But, once Taylor was out for 53 which he made from 34 balls with the help of three fours and as many sixes, the procession of Royal Challengers' batsmen started.

Mark Boucher (4), Virat Kohli (12) and captain Rahul Dravid (0) departed in quick succession though the former India captain was a bit unlucky to get the LBW decision off Manpreet Gony.

Even as cool-headed Dhoni kept on shuffling his bowlers to induce errors to their opposition batsmen, the last seven Bangalore Royal Challengers' wickets fell for just 38 runs and that put paid the home team's hopes of second win from four outings.

Punjab medium pacer Manpreet Gony, who picked up three wickets including two in one over of Boucher and Dravid, was the most successful of Chennai Super Kings bowlers while Palani Amarnath took two wickets.

Earlier, Dhoni and Michael Hussey shared a 95-run fourth wicket stand to take Chennai Super Kings to a competitive score of 178 for five in 20 overs.

Dhoni (65) gave ample demonstration of his class outscoring his Aussie partner as the two consolidated the position after the Super Kings were 83 for three at one stage.

Dhoni got his eye in before unleashing a fierce assault on the Royal Challengers in the later overs.

He plundered 45 runs off 16 deliveries at one stage disfiguring the bowlers' analysis to a great extent before trying for another big hit only to be caught in the last over.

Dhoni's contribution in the last 45 runs he added with Hussey (47) was an amazing 43 and his 65 came off 30 balls with 9 fours and three sixes. He had reached 50 in 24 balls earlier.

Matthew Hayden, Parthiv Patel and Suresh Raina fell after a slow start with only 83 runs coming off 12 overs.

But the Royal Challengers lost the ascendancy once Dhoni came to the crease.

Sweet first win

MUMBAI, IANS: Adam Gilchrist slammed a 42-ball century, helping Deccan Chargers beat Mumbai Indians by 10 wickets on Sunday, as the much-hyped home team still waits for its first win in the Indian Premier League (IPL) Twenty20 cricket tournament.

Chasing a modest target of 155, Gilchrist blasted the fastest ton of the IPL, playing the destroyer's role to perfection, in the company of captain VVS Laxman to lead Deccan Chargers to their first victory in the league at the DY Patil Sports Academy.

The ignominy of Mumbai India's fourth defeat on the trot was intensified with the 10-wicket loss, a testimony of a dispirited performance - what with stand-in skipper Harbhajan Singh being suspended for allegedly slapping Sreesanth in Friday's match.

A splendid all-round display

BANGALORE, PTI: A splendid all-round display enabled Rajasthan Royals cruise to a comfortable seven-wicket victory against Royal Challengers Bangalore in the Indian Premier League tournament on Saturday.

For the second successive time, the Bangalore outfit failed to rise to the occasion in front of the home crowd at the Chinnaswamy Stadium making just 135 for eight in 20 overs after being invited to bat.

In reply, the team led by legendary Shane Warne chased it losing only three wickets with 17 balls to spare.

Man of the match Shane Watson, who dismissed both Dravid and Chanderpaul early, stole the show with a well compiled unbeaten 61 off only 41 balls with eight fours and two sixes.

Graeme Smith made a useful 49 before departing just before victory was achieved.

The giant killers

The stage is set for an exciting weekend for Indian Premier League fans, who would be eager to know if Royal Challengers Bangalore are the next victims for giant killers Rajasthan Royals at the Chinnaswamy Stadium here on Saturday.

Shane Warne-led Rajasthan Royals, who were considered as the weakest team after a nine-wicket loss to Delhi Daredevils in their opening match, stunned the favourites like Kings XI Punjab and Deccan Chargers in a spectacular fashion and would be keen to prove that the feat was no fluke.

Rajasthan Royals jumped to fourth place after Thursday's superb win in Hyderabad and would be determined to keep at bay the Rahul Dravid and Co, just one step behind them at the fifth spot in the points table.

The Jaipur outfit appeared to have gelled well under their charismatic leader Warne and their morale is boosted with South Africa Graeme Smith joining the batting line up which is already in good shape with Yousuf Pathan, Shane Watson and Mohammad Kaif in good touch.