Indian Premier League and Cricket News by IPL Cricket Forum

Bollywood actress Riya Sen has been chosen by IPL as a brand ambassador for their official website.

Talking from Dubai to Times of India, Chief Technical Architect of ipl website, Akash Aurora confirmed Riya’s appointment. He said, “Yes, we have appointed Riya as the brand ambassador of our website.

Explaining why they chose Riya, Akash said, “We saw Riya attending a couple of the IPL matches. We observed that she was quite well-versed with the game and its proceedings. Rather than having somebody naive on board, we preferred getting someone who knows about the game. Riya was our first choice and we went ahead with her.”

“Riya has already signed the contract. The duration of the contract will depend on the response we get from our readers,” Akash told TOI.

We have seen Mandira Bedi, Katrina Kaif, Deepika Padukone and many others adding glamor to Cricket - now its turn for Riya to convince the fans that she understands Cricket a bit more than the cheerleaders.

The Indian Premier League is half over but on of the biggest attraction and star icon Sachin Tendulkar is yet to play a game because of a groin injury.

There is a possibility that Sachin might take up his trusted bat in the next match against Chennai Super Kings on May 14th.

However, he is optimistic of joining the resurgent Mumbai Indians soon. “I can tell you roughly that I’m targetting the next match, Sachin said while watching Mumbai play Rajasthan from the sidelines. “If I’m in the middle, I should be able to compete, for if I’m not able to compete, I’ll be letting the team down.”

Nearly all his fans in India and worldwide is waiting anxiously for his return in this mother of all cricket tournament.

For once they forgot their differences and two political oponents, BJP leader LK Advani and RJD supremo Lalu Prasad were on Thursday seen on the same side, cheering the Delhi IPL team at the Ferozeshah Kotla Ground in New Delhi. Yes they even mamaged to shift eyeballs from the regular dancing cheerleaders and draw all the attention but could not save their team Delhi from defeat.

The two cricket buffs provided some heavyweight VIP backing for the home team as they took on Chennai at an Indian Premier League match.

Advani and Laloo Prasad Yadav, who are on opposite sides in the Parliament, shared space in the VIP box in the stadium as they cheered the hosts Delhi Daredevils.

Laloo Prasad was at the stadium with his family, including his son Tejaswi Yadav, who is an upcoming cricketer and a member of the Delhi team. The RJD chief, who is President of the Bihar Cricket Association (BCA), has, in fact, been a regular at all Delhi’s matches at the Kotla.

In the other game yesterday night which got reduced to 16 overs due to rain, Kolkata Knight Riders ended a run of four consecutive defeats to edge out Bangalore by five runs in a low-scoring and rain-affected match.

The Knight Riders batted first at Eden Gardens in Kolkata and compiled just 7 for 129 off 16 overs but it proved to be enough, with the Royal Challengers mustering only 4 for 124 from their 16.

David Hussey’s 26 off 12 balls was the top score for the Knight Riders while captain Sourav Ganguly chipped in with 20 before getting run out.Brad Hodge opened the innings while Dale Steyn took 3 for 27 for Bangalore.

It was with the ball that Ganguly was the unlikely hero, conceding just seven runs from his three overs while taking a wicket for the Knight Riders.

Mark Boucher smashed an unbeaten 50 and Cameron White managed 30 for the Royal Challengers, but it was not enough to meet the target.

Bangalore has now lost six of its eight matches in the tournament and its a mater of concern for the owner also. With the CEO Charu Sharma sacked swiftly and very little co-ordination or team work its a doubt if this team can make it to the first four.

Afer three straight defeats Chennai finally woke up under the captain ship of MS Dhoni who spear headed a thrilling four-wicket win over Delhi in the Indian Premier League overnight.

Gautam Gambhir smashed 80 off just 49 balls as the Devils compiled a formidable 5 for 187 after being put into bat at Feroz Shah Kotla in Delhi.

Gambhir and Shikhar Dhawan (59) put on a record 121 for the third wicket and the Super Kings did well to restrict the Devils to below 200.

Chennai pulled off a fantastic run chase, led by Stephen Fleming’s 44 off 28 balls and S Vidyut (40 off 23), promoted to open in place of Parthiv Patel.

The pair put on 62 runs for the first wicket and captain MS Dhoni (33) and Albie Morkel (30) ensured their early work did not go to waste. For the first time in Inidan Premier League, the match was won only in the last ball of the game.

MS Dhoni emerged as the man of the match.