Bangalore Royal Challengers v Kings XI Punjab at Bangalore
Kings have won four on the trot while Challengers’ bowlers had a superb outing in their win over Deccan Chargers. It seems to be all set for a mouth watering clash in this Indian Premier League match toady.
Men at the Helm
Yuvraj is very aggressive while Rahul is cool and calm. Yuvraj has shown vulnerability in pressure situations as in the match against Knight Riders when Hussey and Saha had clubbed a few out of the ground while Dravid hasn’t been as innovative as some of the other captains on seen.
We have the bat
Punjab’s batters, the likes of Marsh, Hopes and Yuvraj look better suited for the shortest version of the gentlemen’s game but a slightly dodgy pitch at Chinnaswamy like the other day in the match against Chargers could sway the match in Challengers’ favor with Jaffer, Kallis and Dravid lining up.
We have the ball
Bangalore’s balling unit looks much stronger than Punjab but Kallis has been struggling big time while Pathan has come good for Kings XI. It is also being seen as the battle of the two Indian left armers, Zaheer and Pathan, who are the leading wicket takers in the league as of now. It only lets us keep wondering what if Lee was still here, Lee v Steyn!
Patrolling Party
Fielding throughout the tournament has been of the highest standards. Challengers Kohli, Jaffer and Dravid and Yuvraj and Marsh for Punjab probably make it to the five best catches of the league as yet. What more can one ask for?
High on betting meter
Punjab are high on betting meter with odds of about 4 to 5 on 7 while Bangalore have odds of about 10 to 11 on 8. But it looks like a still tighter fight.
Who gets the tick?
Both pans of the balance hang at similar heights. It will require a very big score from Punjab or a charismatic balling performance from Bangalore to tilt it on one side.
Karachi : Sohaib Akhtar has finally cleared all hurdles and now he can take part in IPL. Earlier the Pak board has enforced a ban of five years on him which prevented him from playing IPL as the rules et in by the IPL governing body states clearly that no player can take part unless he gets a NOC from his home country Cricket Board.
Earlier Shoaib lost his appeal against the ban after which he appealed to the Pak Cricket Board to allow him top play for IPL which was heard yesterday. The Pak board was lenient and has been kind enough to kept his suspension in abeyance for a period of one month - which perfectly allows him to play for the Kolkata Knight Riders the IPL team for which he has signed initially.
The news was cheered by the owner of the Kolkata Team - Shahrukh Khan as also the team mates who are currently in dire need of a miracle to push them up from the very end of the team position table in the tournament. With Ishant Sharma bowling at his peak with Knight Riders , Sohaib’s inclusion definitely adds a fire power to the team but with the top batting order failing on each of the last three instances one has a doubt if Sohaib’s inclusion will really make a major difference to the performance.
An arbiter
on Saturday passed an interim order restraining Pakistani player
Mohammad Yousuf from participating in the Indian Premier League (IPL),
an Indian Cricket League (ICL) lawyer said. PTI - Mumbai reports.
“Justice (retd) Dr B P Saraf passed an
interim order restraining Yousuf from participating in IPL in any
manner,” said ICL’s lawyer Hitesh Jain.
Jain said now there would be a final hearing, which is likely to commence in July.
Yousuf and ICL are caught up in legal
wrangle, as the Essel Group-bankrolled ICL alleged that the player
breached his earlier contract with them and signed up for the IPL.
The dispute then landed before arbiter
Dr Saraf who, on December 15 last year, restrained Yousuf from playing
for any rival league till further orders.
Though Yousuf signed up for IPL, he was not picked up by any of the IPL franchise teams.
Advocate Jain said Saturday’s order was
a first of its kind in Indian sports. “It is significant for IPL too,”
the ICL laywer said.
At this stage, no penalty has been
imposed on Yousuf, but the arbiter may contemplate such action at the
time of the final decision, he added.
Lets wait for a final decisison and see if he allowed to play the tournament which is already half way.
The inaugural season of the Indian Premier League has thrown up many surprises. One of them which has had praises and accolades from all corners has been the inspirational leadership of Shane Keith Warne.
Owners of Rajasthan Royals, Emerging Media had been confident right from the word go, on the back of their long association and involvement with world sports. And the spinning wizard has helped them keep their heads high.
The blonde from Victoria has been wielding magic right from his first test scalp, Ravi Shastri, to his last, 708th in the form of English Andrew Flintoff. In between, he regularly produced unplayable deliveries and the big turning leg break that bowled Gatting round his legs in the 1993 Ashes proved only a trailer of things to follow.
After retirement he joined the English county Hampshire and led them very successfully but his captaincy grabbed most eyes only at the Indian Premier League probably owing to its higher viewership.
Dhoni and Warne have by far been the two best men at their teams’ helm in this season of the Indian Premier League - IPL. Dhoni’s work has been a little easier with Hayden and Hussey scoring big and his sterner test is likely to be when both of them have left for international duties.
Warny on the other hand has led a comparatively inexperienced bunch to some superb wins. He has shown excellent skills and mindful attitude by giving simple straight instructions and not complicating things for the youngsters. He has one instruction for each player and they have to carry it out on the field.
Graeme Smith and Kaif have been told to play the role of anchors when only one of them is at the crease. Pathan, Watson and Ravindra Jadeja have the clear instructions to go bang bang from the start. In bowling Watson bowls out and out quick; Munaf and Tanvir keep it straight and full while youngster Siddharth Trivedi tries out variations like bouncers, yorkers and slower balls. On the field he cheers up his team members and keeps them on their toes.
In the match against Kolkata at Jaipur he yelled at a fielder in the ring who did not follow the ball to the boundary and because the fielder on the boundary had to slide to stop the ball and get up and throw it back, it conceded an extra run. This incident was the testimony to the great cricketing brain that dwells in him. It has been a joy watching him lead this side. He is very intense in the nets which motivates other players watching a man sweat it out in the 38th summer of his life.
Many people from cricket and media have previously talked about the leadership potential that vested in him. But controversies which gave this spin wizard the nickname “Hollywood”, took their toll. Incidents like supplying team and pitch information to bookies, taking banned substances and some bold uncalled for comments got him out of the reckoning for the captaincy of the Australian national team and left everyone wondering, “Did world cricket miss out on a charismatic captain?”
Both the rival captains Sourav Ganguly and Shane Warne has been fined today for an amount of 10 per cent of their match fee and reprimanded for their conduct by the Indian Premier League.
The two veteran cricketers engaged in a public remarks following the IPL match between their respecctive sides, the IPL was quick to punish the two captains and said it would not tolerate any on-field or off-field indiscipline.
While Kolkata Knight Riders skipper Ganguly was penalised for forcing the on-field umpire to refer a contentious catch to the third umpire, Rajasthan Royals’ captain Warne was punished for lambasting Ganguly’s conduct in the post-match press conference. The IPL also rightly decided to suspend the on-field umpire in question, G Pratap Kumar, for a match.
“It has been informed by Farokh Engineer, the Referee in the IPL game between the Kolkata Knight Riders and Rajasthan Royals in Jaipur on May 1, that he has issued an official reprimand to Sourav Ganguly, and fined him 10 per cent of his match-fee for showing dissent on the field,” IPL commissioner and chairman Lalit Modi said in a statement today.
“The Referee has also suspended Pratap Kumar for one match, on the grounds that there was no reason for him to accede to Ganguly’s request to consult the TV umpire while Warne crossed the line by commenting on Ganguly’s conduct after the match.” Modi said.
“Shane Warne, captain of the Rajasthan Royals in the ongoing DLF Indian Premier League, has been reprimanded and fined 10 per cent of his match-fee by Match Referee Farokh Engineer,” Modi explained.
“Warne was found guilty of violating Section 1.7 of the ICC’s Code of Conduct, which deals with public criticism of, or inappropriate comment on a match-related incident or official. It constitutes a Level I offense,” he added.
Warne had criticised Ganguly for going against the spirit of the game by not accepting fielder Graeme Smith’s word on the controversial catch.
He also blamed Ganguly of resorting to time-wasting tactics during the match. Though the Royals decided against lodging a formal complaint against the former India skipper, the IPL decided to take action as “Ganguly’s act of prevailing upon the on-field umpire to refer a decision to the TV umpire constitutes a Level I offence as per the ICCs Code of Conduct.”
We think that this will set an example for all players to behave properly in the true spirit of Cricket only and refrain from slamming each other.
