RCB can spike Kings' aspirations

DHARAMSHALA: With the all-play-all phase of the Indian Premier League-IV entering its last week, Kings XI Punjab finds itself in a tricky situation.

Unlike the five teams below it on the points table, Kings is in contention for a place in the playoffs. But like the four teams placed ahead, it is not sure of making the playoffs solely on the strength of a victory or victories in the remaining matches.

Permutations

For Kings to secure a place in the top-four teams, it not only has to win against an already-qualified Royal Challengers Bangalore on Tuesday and Deccan Chargers on May 21 but also wish that fourth-placed Kolkata Knight Riders loses to Pune Warriors and Mumbai Indians.

Currently, Kings has 12 points, two points behind KKR that enjoys a far superior net run-rate.

At best, Kings can reach 16 points. In case of a tie at 16 points, Kings' low net-run rate will come in the way of securing a place in the playoffs. For the moment, Adam Gilchrist and his men can do only what they can — try and win.

RCB, obviously keen for a top-two finish in the league, will not be taking Kings lightly although it had posted a crushing 85-run win in their previous meeting.

The arrival of Chris Gayle has dramatically changed the fortunes of RCB.

Upfront, Gayle's savage attack on the new-ball bowlers has settled many contests much before the last ball was bowled. Even before Gayle arrived on the scene, RCB was already among the more balanced teams in the fray.

And even after skipper Daniel Vettori and Tillakratne Dilshan are not available for different reasons, the team has plenty in the reserve to go all the way.

Vettori has gone home to attend to a knee injury and Dilshan joins Sri Lanka for the tour to England.

On the other hand, Kings has taken time to make its presence felt in the competition.

The batting line-up now has a settled look with Gilchrist, Paul Valthaty, Shaun Marsh and Dinesh Karthik giving the opposition something to think about.

David Hussey is yet to play to his potential while Mandeep Singh is looking increasingly confident.

The bowlers, including Praveen Kumar, Ryan Harris, Shalabh Srivastava, Bhargav Bhatt, Piyush Chawla lacks the power to intimidate the batsmen.

But they have done reasonable well so far.

Traffic advisory for IPL match

NEW DELHI: Regular traffic arrangements followed for all IPL cricket matches will be in place for the T-20 match between Delhi Daredevils and Deccan Chargers that will be played at Ferozeshah Kotla Ground on Tuesday from 4pm to 8.30pm.

Public transport though will be allowed all through the day as it will help decongest the area. Meanwhile, there is limited parking available for labelled vehicles in the proximity of the stadium. There is no parking slot for general vehicles near the stadium.

No vehicle shall be allowed to be parked on Bahadurshah Zafar Marg, Jawaharlal Nehru Marg on Sunday. Vehicles parked on these roads shall be towed away and action will be taken as per law, warned traffic cops.

For spectators, park and ride facility will be available at the Mata Sundari and Shanti Van parking, they said.

Kochi Tuskers Kerala pick up first win in style against Mumbai Indians

Kochi Tuskers Kerala won a thriller against the mighty Mumbai Indians to pick up their first IPL victory on Friday at the Wankhede Stadium. Sachin’s century went in vain as Kochi defeated his team by 8 wickets with six balls remaining.

Answering the 182 for 2-carnage by the Mumbai Indians, Mahela came out with definite plans promoting himself as an opener. This worked well for Kochi as Mahela and McCullum opening wicket stand amassed 128 runs in 13.5 overs slamming all the Mumbai bowlers, especially Lasith Malinga and Kieron Pollard.

But Malinga had his revenge by bowling out the Kochi skipper Mahela Jayawardene with an inswinging yorker and Brendon McCullum with a fuller in his come back spell.

Mahela cracked 56 from 36 balls and McCullum slammed 81 runs from 60 balls.

McCullum hit three fours and Jayawardene one in a Slingshot over forcing Sachin to withdrew him from the attack early into the match. Pollard also took good beating as the Kochi batsmen allowed none of the bowlers to find their rhythm.

Mahela’s all the decisions worked today, he promoted Ravindra Jadeja ahead of experienced Brad Hodge and the youngster hammered a 11-ball 25 and also fired Ali Murtaza for two sixes to win the match in style for the Kochi.

Earlier, he won the toss and sent the Mumbai Indians to bat, which raised some eyebrows as Sachin Tendulkar and Ambati Rayudu slammed the Kochi Tuskers’ bowlers to power Mumbai Indians to 182.

Sachin cracked a 66 ball ton with 12 fours and three sixes after Ambati sacrificed his wicket in the fourth ball of the final over. Ambati slammed to 53 in 33 balls with the help of three fours and four sixes.

Mumbai Indians lost their opener Davy Jacobs for 12 runs after Raiphi Gomez delivery rattled the South African’s stumps.

Vinay Kumar then came close to the fame of taking the Little Master’s wicket when a stunner from him skidded on to the MI skipper’s pads. But the lbw was wrongly denied by the umpire as the replays later showed that the ball was on course to hit the stumps.

Luck did not come Kochi’s way as Sachin and Ambati were given more lives. Kochi missed a run-out chance and a catch that could have ended the 116-run second wicket partnership way too early.

Kochi came into the game with three changes, replacing Muttiah Muralitharan, S.Sreesanth and V.V.S. Laxman with Thisara Perera, Ramesh Powar and Kedar Jadhav.

Mumbai Indians also made one change by resting James Frankling and including Andrew Symonds.

Teams:

Kochi Tuskers Kerela:
Mahela Jayawardene (capt), Brendon McCullum, Kedar Jadhav, Parthiv Patel, Brad Hodge, Ravindra Jadeja, Thisara Perera, Raiphi Gomez, R Vinay Kumar, R P Singh, Romesh Powar.

Mumbai Indians:
Sachin Tendulkar (capt), Davy Jacobs, Ambati Rayudu, Rohit Sharma, Kieron Pollard, Andrew Symonds, Rajagopal Sathish, Harbhajan Singh, Ali Murtaza, Munaf Patel, Lasith Malinga.

Kochi Tuskers Kerala won a thriller against the mighty Mumbai Indians to pick up their first IPL victory on Friday at the Wankhede Stadium. Sachin’s century went in vain as Kochi defeated his team by 8 wickets with six balls remaining.

Answering the 182 for 2-carnage by the Mumbai Indians, Mahela came out with definite plans promoting himself as an opener. This worked well for Kochi as Mahela and McCullum opening wicket stand amassed 128 runs in 13.5 overs slamming all the Mumbai bowlers, especially Lasith Malinga and Kieron Pollard.

But Malinga had his revenge by bowling out the Kochi skipper Mahela Jayawardene with an inswinging yorker and Brendon McCullum with a fuller in his come back spell.

Mahela cracked 56 from 36 balls and McCullum slammed 81 runs from 60 balls.

McCullum hit three fours and Jayawardene one in a Slingshot over forcing Sachin to withdrew him from the attack early into the match. Pollard also took good beating as the Kochi batsmen allowed none of the bowlers to find their rhythm.

Mahela’s all the decisions worked today, he promoted Ravindra Jadeja ahead of experienced Brad Hodge and the youngster hammered a 11-ball 25 and also fired Ali Murtaza for two sixes to win the match in style for the Kochi.

Earlier, he won the toss and sent the Mumbai Indians to bat, which raised some eyebrows as Sachin Tendulkar and Ambati Rayudu slammed the Kochi Tuskers’ bowlers to power Mumbai Indians to 182.

Sachin cracked a 66 ball ton with 12 fours and three sixes after Ambati sacrificed his wicket in the fourth ball of the final over. Ambati slammed to 53 in 33 balls with the help of three fours and four sixes.

Mumbai Indians lost their opener Davy Jacobs for 12 runs after Raiphi Gomez delivery rattled the South African’s stumps.

Vinay Kumar then came close to the fame of taking the Little Master’s wicket when a stunner from him skidded on to the MI skipper’s pads. But the lbw was wrongly denied by the umpire as the replays later showed that the ball was on course to hit the stumps.

Luck did not come Kochi’s way as Sachin and Ambati were given more lives. Kochi missed a run-out chance and a catch that could have ended the 116-run second wicket partnership way too early.

Kochi came into the game with three changes, replacing Muttiah Muralitharan, S.Sreesanth and V.V.S. Laxman with Thisara Perera, Ramesh Powar and Kedar Jadhav.

Mumbai Indians also made one change by resting James Frankling and including Andrew Symonds.

Teams:

Kochi Tuskers Kerela:
Mahela Jayawardene (capt), Brendon McCullum, Kedar Jadhav, Parthiv Patel, Brad Hodge, Ravindra Jadeja, Thisara Perera, Raiphi Gomez, R Vinay Kumar, R P Singh, Romesh Powar.

Mumbai Indians:
Sachin Tendulkar (capt), Davy Jacobs, Ambati Rayudu, Rohit Sharma, Kieron Pollard, Andrew Symonds, Rajagopal Sathish, Harbhajan Singh, Ali Murtaza, Munaf Patel, Lasith Malinga.

ochi Tuskers Kerala won a thriller against the mighty Mumbai Indians to pick up their first IPL victory on Friday at the Wankhede Stadium. Sachin’s century went in vain as Kochi defeated his team by 8 wickets with six balls remaining.

Answering the 182 for 2-carnage by the Mumbai Indians, Mahela came out with definite plans promoting himself as an opener. This worked well for Kochi as Mahela and McCullum opening wicket stand amassed 128 runs in 13.5 overs slamming all the Mumbai bowlers, especially Lasith Malinga and Kieron Pollard.

But Malinga had his revenge by bowling out the Kochi skipper Mahela Jayawardene with an inswinging yorker and Brendon McCullum with a fuller in his come back spell.

Mahela cracked 56 from 36 balls and McCullum slammed 81 runs from 60 balls.

McCullum hit three fours and Jayawardene one in a Slingshot over forcing Sachin to withdrew him from the attack early into the match. Pollard also took good beating as the Kochi batsmen allowed none of the bowlers to find their rhythm.

Mahela’s all the decisions worked today, he promoted Ravindra Jadeja ahead of experienced Brad Hodge and the youngster hammered a 11-ball 25 and also fired Ali Murtaza for two sixes to win the match in style for the Kochi.

Earlier, he won the toss and sent the Mumbai Indians to bat, which raised some eyebrows as Sachin Tendulkar and Ambati Rayudu slammed the Kochi Tuskers’ bowlers to power Mumbai Indians to 182.

Sachin cracked a 66 ball ton with 12 fours and three sixes after Ambati sacrificed his wicket in the fourth ball of the final over. Ambati slammed to 53 in 33 balls with the help of three fours and four sixes.

Mumbai Indians lost their opener Davy Jacobs for 12 runs after Raiphi Gomez delivery rattled the South African’s stumps.

Vinay Kumar then came close to the fame of taking the Little Master’s wicket when a stunner from him skidded on to the MI skipper’s pads. But the lbw was wrongly denied by the umpire as the replays later showed that the ball was on course to hit the stumps.

Luck did not come Kochi’s way as Sachin and Ambati were given more lives. Kochi missed a run-out chance and a catch that could have ended the 116-run second wicket partnership way too early.

Kochi came into the game with three changes, replacing Muttiah Muralitharan, S.Sreesanth and V.V.S. Laxman with Thisara Perera, Ramesh Powar and Kedar Jadhav.

Mumbai Indians also made one change by resting James Frankling and including Andrew Symonds.

Teams:

Kochi Tuskers Kerela:
Mahela Jayawardene (capt), Brendon McCullum, Kedar Jadhav, Parthiv Patel, Brad Hodge, Ravindra Jadeja, Thisara Perera, Raiphi Gomez, R Vinay Kumar, R P Singh, Romesh Powar.

Mumbai Indians:
Sachin Tendulkar (capt), Davy Jacobs, Ambati Rayudu, Rohit Sharma, Kieron Pollard, Andrew Symonds, Rajagopal Sathish, Harbhajan Singh, Ali Murtaza, Munaf Patel, Lasith Malinga.