McCullum saves the day for tottering Kiwis

Brendon McCullum led a New Zealand fight back against England with a run-a-ball 97 to help his side to 208 for six when bad light ended the first day's play of the first Test at Lord's here on Thursday.


McCullum, who had seen New Zealand's top order fail again as they slumped to 109-5 at tea, on a day where rain meant there was no play before lunch, put on 99 for the sixth wicket with Jacob Oram.


But three runs short of what would have been the wicket-keeper's third Test hundred, McCullum was bowled between bat and pad by a quicker delivery from left-arm spinner Monty Panesar.


Once more he'd fallen just short of a century at Lord's, having scored 96 in the corresponding Test here four years ago. In all he hit two sixes and 13 fours, after coming in when New Zealand were in dire straits at 41-3.

At stumps, Oram was 23 not out and New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori unbeaten on five. Earlier pace bowler James Anderson, after England captain Michael Vaughan had won the toss and decided to field first in overcast, seamer-friendly conditions, took three wickets for 27 runs in his first 10 overs.


"It's bitter-sweet," said McCullum. "I'm obviously disappointed not to have made a hundred and still be at the wicket at the moment. "Last time I got quite nervous in the nineties, this time I felt quite calm. In the end, I just missed a straight one."


Assessing the state of the match, he added: "Credit to the bowling team. But for us it's not a bad day either. With the overhead conditions the way they were, there was a chance we might have been rolled over.


"If we had been out for 150, there was only one team that could have won the game. To be 208 for six and, arguably, with our two best batsmen at the crease is not a bad position.


"If we can get to 300 that would be a fantastic effort after losing the toss on that wicket," said McCullum, whose side were playing their first Test since the retirement of former New Zealand captain and No 3 batsman Stephen Fleming. McCullum, 26, is renowned as a dynamic one-day batsman.

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Pointing fingers easy, says Kumble

India’s Test captain Anil Kumble has come out in defence of his Bangalore skipper Rahul Dravid after their dismal run in the Indian Premier League (IPL) and criticism by team owner Vijay Mallya .


“What’s unfortunate is that, invariable, everyone starts pointing fingers at the captain. So it stands all the more to reason that people within the camp then stand up and say ‘we believe in you and your team’. That’s what’s most important in this kind of situation,” Kumble wrote in his column in Hindustan Times.


Bangalore have lost seven of their first nine matches and Mallya, apart from sacking CEO Charu Sharma , blamed Dravid for the team selection.

“I do understand that the IPL is different and there is a corporate look and feel to the whole concept. But having said that, at the end of the day, it is a cricket match - one that a cricketer does not want to lose,” he wrote.


“As players, we go through various ups and downs in our careers, there are phases when nothing one does is wrong and there are others where the same things that come so naturally to you seem like alien concepts. But as cricketers, we also know the bad times will pass, that we will pick ourselves up and bounce back,” wrote Kumble, conceding that Bangalore had lost the plot in this year’s IPL.


“It might be somewhat late for this tournament and that’s unfortunate, but we have a bunch of proven quality players and nothing can take that away.”

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Clash of giants at Wankhede Today

This is a clash between two titans (Sachin and Sourav). This is a battle between two resurgent teams in Indian Premier League. This is a war between battle hardened veterans (Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Shaun Pollock, Sanath Jayasuriya and Shoaib Akhtar). This is a cricket match between two teams with strongest fan bases. This IPL T20 match is crucial for both teams to strengthen their semi-final chances.

Shoaib Akhtar stunned cricket analysts with a superlative performance on his favourite Eden gardens ground against Delhi Daredevils. But Mumbai should be careful against Ishant Sharma as he rarely gives you width to the stroke players unlike Shoaib Akhtar.

Batting: Mumbai has clear edge in batting with so many ideal T20 batsmen who can score quick fire 20-30 runs if necessary. How long Kolkata will depend on David Hussey and Sourav Ganguly? If those two batsmen fall cheaply, Kolkata may not score even 100 runs. Mumbai should try to exploit this weakness. Kolkata needs to promote exciting wicketkeeper Saha as opener to utilise power play overs.

Bowling: Both teams are looking even in this department. But Mumbai has slight edge due to presence of high quality all-rounders. Ashish Nehra should bowl consistently like Shaun Pollock to trouble Kolkata in the early overs. As long as Kolkata picks Akash Chopra, opposition is always in safe position.

Fielding: Kolkata is exceptional in fielding against Delhi.

Match timings: 8 PM – 11 PM at Wankhede stadium.

Interesting battle:
1. Sachin Tendulkar-Sanath Jayasuriya Vs Shoiab Akhtar: If Shoaib can able to repeat his last match performance against Mumbai, Kolkata win is certain. But experienced openers may utilise his pace to score some easy runs. I am expecting 2003 World Cup performance from Sachin Tendulkar.

Verdict: Mumbai has edge over Kolkata due to its strong batting and useful all-rounders. To defeat Mumbai, Kolkata batsmen especially Salman Butt should play along with Ganguly-Hussey. But after seeing Mumbai performance against Chennai, I am feeling sorry for Kolkata.

Probable squads:

Mumbai Indians: Sachin Tendulkar (captain), Sanath Jayasuriya, Robin Uthappa, Thornley, Bravo, Abhishek Nayar, Shaun Pollock, Yogesh Takawale, Ashish Nehra, Dhawal Kulkarni and Rohan Raje.

Kolkata Knight Riders: Sourav Ganguly (Captain), Salman Butt, Akash Chopra, David Hussey, Shukla, Saha, Shoaib Akhtar, Ishant Sharma, Mohammad Hafeez/ Taibu, Iqbal Abdulla and Ashok Dinda.

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Amit Mishra destroyed Hyderabad hopes

Amit Mishra helped Delhi to beat Hyderabad by 12 runs in a high scoring IPL T20 thriller at Feroz Shah Kotla. Delhi batsmen set an imposing target of 195 runs but Hyderabad hard hitters fought valiantly till the last over. Amit Mishra single handily took the match away from Hyderabad with a hat-trick in the final over. Mishra earlier took the vital wickets of Gibbs and Afridi when Hyderabad was going strong. Weak bowling of Hyderabad cost them this match but Hyderabad batsmen impressed everyone with their never say die attitude. Delhi audience enjoyed a wonderful match and their team improved semi-final chances with this win.

IPL Statistics and records:
1. Delhi leg spinner Amit Mishra took the second hat-trick in IPL. Balaji of Chennai Superkings took the first hat-trick in Indian Premier League.

2. Gautam Gambhir is leading the “Orange cap” race with 425 runs in 10 matches Dhoni and Rohit Sharma are in second and third places with 332 and 331 runs.

3. Shaun Marsh is leading averages with an unbelievable average of 98.33 from 5 matches.

4. Amit Mishra took 5 wickets for 17 runs in his 4 overs. Best figures by a spinner in Indian Premier League.

5. This is the first win for Delhi in the last 5 matches and Hyderabad is out of IPL Semi-final reckoning.

Toss: Adam Gilchrist won the toss and elected to field first as batting is their strength.

IPL T20 Score:

Delhi Daredevils: 194/4 in 20 overs.
Hyderabad Deccan Chargers: 182/9 in 20 overs.

Man of the match: Amit Mishra. No spinner dominated the match in IPL as he did today. Marvellous performance from this leg spinner in a match where Legend McGrath went for 42 runs in his 4 overs.


IPL T20 match Review:

Highlights of Delhi innings:

1. Virender Sehwag succeeded in scoring second successive duck out.
2. Vijay Kumar is once again at his economical best. He is “McGrath of Hyderabad”.
3. Sarvesh Kumar made his IPL debut and bowled much better than Vaas and Zoysa.
4. IPL helped many bowlers (Balaji, Ashish Nehra, Gony, Dinda and Sangwan etc) to catch the eye of selectors but it RP Singh omission from one day squad is almost certain.
5. Gautam Gambhir is marched ahead of rivals for orange cap as he scored 79 runs while rivals Gilchrist and Sehwag failed. But Rohit Sharma
6. Shikhar Dhawan once again played beautiful knock and if I were Indian selector, Gambhir, Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma and Badrinath are my automatic choices among younger lot. Indian selectors get huge opportunity to build good team for 2010 cricket world cup with these youngsters. Will they do it?

Highlights of Hyderabad innings:
1. Glenn McGrath took the crucial wicket of Adam Gilchrist.
2. I expected a lot from Mohammad Asif. He is one of the biggest failures in IPL along with Ricky Ponting, Jacques Kallis and Misbah-Ul-Haq etc.
3. Herschelle Gibbs and Shahid Afridi played sensational shots in the first 6 overs.
4. Good captaincy from Virender Sehwag. His gamble paid off. He brought in spinner Amit Mishra and Afridi went for shot too early and paid the price. Afridi innings came to an end. He scored 33 runs in just 14 balls with two 6’s and three 4’s.
5. Amit Mishra changed match course. He took vital wicket of Herschelle Gibbs who looked in ominous form. Did you see the two superb sixers of Gibbs in McGrath’s over?
6. Amit Mishra – 2 overs; 6 runs; 2 wickets. Exceptional performance against biggest hitters in the game. Can Rohit Sharma save the match?
7. Rohit Sharma is on fire. He scored 19 runs in Rajat Bhatia’s over with 2 massive sixers and one four. Hyderabad needs another over like this to win this match.
8. I can’t understand why players like Scott Styris, Akash Chopra and Stephen Fleming are playing in IPL. They are not suitable for IPL T20 Cricket. When will these teams realise this?
9. Maharoof turned the match by taking the wicket of Rohit Sharma who looked to take the match away from Delhi. Hyderabad is in big trouble. Styris is wasting balls in this big scoring match. Rohit Sharma played unnecessary shot at crucial stage of match. Sharma scored 35 runs in 18 balls with two sixers and three fours.
10. All the Hyderabad big hitters started well in this match but fell at crucial time. Huge target and mounting run rate made them to take huge risks.
11. Mohammad Asif bowled another bad over and Hyderabad batsmen scored 15 vital runs. Hyderabad needs to score 43 runs in 3 overs.

Verdict: Delhi ended their losing streak with a fine performance in this match. But Delhi is relying too much on their top order. Whenever its top order clicks, Delhi wins. If not, Delhi loses. They need to find a solution for this problem. I can’t able to understand why Delhi picked Mohammad Asif ahead of Pradeep Sangwan and Yo Mahesh.

Why Hyderabad hadn’t picked Ravi Teja, Sarvesh kumar and Vijay Kumar in the first round matches? Why Hyderabad is sending opener Ravi Teja at no.6? Why they are picking players like Scott Styris who can neither bowl well nor hit big shots?

Answer: They are not practicing enough to find the potential in their young recruits. In the first round matches, they picked Arjun Yadav to satisfy his father and Hyderabad Cricket Association president Shivlal Yadav. What benefits will Coach Robin Singh get for this generosity? Wait and see. Just compare the performances of teams under Indian coaches with the teams under foreign coaches. It is not due to lack of ability but due to .... Have you got my point.

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Mumbai hope to turn into Super Indians

Mumbai coach Lalchand Rajput is aiming for a berth in the semifinals of the Indian Premier League (IPL) after their resounding win over Chennai on Wednesday.


“I think Sachin Tendulkar’s return has given us a real boost. The team is brimming with confidence, which is a very good sign for us after a shaky start in the tournament,” said Rajput, who was India’s cricketing manager earlier this year.

Tendulkar made his debut in the IPL after missing the first seven matches due to a groin injury, but it was Sri Lankan left-hander Sanath Jayasuriya who stole the show against Chennai with a quick-fire 114 not out off 48 balls that enabled them to hammer the opposition by nine wickets.


“If we continue to perform the way we did on Wednesday, our road to the last-four stage will become easy,” Rajput told Cricketnext.com on Thursday.


“Sachin is a great motivator. His presence on the field made a lot of difference. He plays according to the team’s needs. When Sanath was going great guns, Sachin didn’t mind playing second fiddle as his priority was to ensure a solid start,” Rajput added.


“Things don’t always go according to plan and we found ourselves in such a situation in the beginning of the tournament. Thankfully for us, Sanath has struck form at the right time. Our bowling, spearheaded by Shaun Pollock and Ashish Nehra, too has been improving by the day. Dhaval Kulkarni has shown a lot of promise and hopefully our combined effort will help us rise from our current sixth position on the points table,” he added.


Refusing to comment on Harbhajan Singh, Rajput said the team was not thinking of a replacement at the moment.


“Right now our focus is on the next match against Kolkata. We are banking on youngsters to do a containment job and let us see how it goes from here-on,” the former Test opener said.

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Jaipur's foreign stars mull pull-out from IPL

Mumbai: Foreign players of the Jaipur IPL team have expressed their concern over participating further in the tournament following the serial blasts in the city.


"All of them, including captain-cum-coach Shane Warne, Graeme Smith, Shane Watson, and coaching director Darren Berry refused to return to Jaipur from Goa, where they are holidaying," the team's assistant coach Harish Joshi said from Jaipur. "We had a lengthy chat with them and it has been explained to them that if they don't return for the match, it would send a wrong signal on the part of the organisers."


"(However) they have agreed to return to Jaipur on Thursday," he further added.

IPL Commissioner Lalit Modi has ruled out a shift of venue after a series of blasts killed more than 60 people and left several others injured. The side is to host Bangalore on Saturday.


It was not known whether Modi spoke to these players individually but the franchise owner Manoj Badale, now in London, is likely to have summoned the necessary officials.


Shane Warne's brother Jason in Melbourne was also worried about the situation in India. "I saw the news on TV and we are certainly concerned. I am yet to receive a call from Shane."


Darren Berry, the team's coaching director, told an Australian paper about his and the foreign players' apprehensions on staying on in India.


"(There's) a real option of getting on the plane and getting out of here. We are not comfortable at all. This is an extremely uncomfortable situation," Berry was quoted as saying by Macquarie National News.

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Simply Sanath; Chennai massacred

Mumbai: Sanath Jayasuriya is one of those batsmen who have destroyed many a bowling attack, and his pride must have been hurt with his pretty sedate show in the Indian Premier League so far.


He repaired all that tellingly against Chennai Super Kings on Wednesday, as he blasted 114 not out off just 48 balls to guide Mumbai Indians to a sensational nine-wicket win.


The Sri Lankan veteran hammered 11 sixes and nine fours, and scored at an astounding strike rate of 237.5.

Sachin Tendulkar's debut in the IPL was sedate, as the Mumbai skipper was dismissed for just 12 runs.


Earlier, S. Badrinath and Mahendra Singh Dhoni brought Chennai back from the edge of almost certain defeat to pose a teaser for Mumbai, as they reached 156-6.


Dhoni and Badrinath were involved in 95-run partnership which carried Chennai to a pretty decent total, which looked impossible at one stage. Badrinath scored a fine 53, while Dhoni scored 43 not out.


Shaun Pollock bowled four overs for just nine runs.


Sachin Tendulkar returned to serious cricket, and won the toss against Chennai Super Kings, deciding to field first.


Teams: Mumbai Indians: Sachin Tendulkar, Sanath Jayasuriya, Robin Uthappa, Dominic Thornley, Dwayne Bravo, Shaun Pollock, Abhishek Nayar, Yogesh Takawale, Dhawal Kulkarni, Rohan Raje, Ashish Nehra.


Chennai Super Kings: Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Stephen Fleming, S Vidyut, Suresh Raina, S Badrinath, Albie Morkel, Chamara Kapugedera, Muttiah Muralitharan, Manpreet Gony, Joginder Sharma, Lakshmipathy Balaji.

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Can Gilchrist save Hyderabad IPL?

Favourites Delhi Daredevils will take on Hyderabad Deccan Chargers at Feroz Shaw Kotla ground in New Delhi. Hyderabad hopes solely depend on their captain Adam Gilchrist. Even Rohit Sharma is playing consistently; he is not a match winner like Gilchrist. Hyderabad needs to change their batting order in order to win this match. Shahid Afridi should play in this match and Gibbs should come lower down the order as he is looking uncomfortable against moving ball. Hyderabad top order needs to play carefully against Glenn McGrath.

Delhi Daredevils will try to win their match against Hyderabad to raise their hopes for Semi-final spot whicl almost unlikely. Famed Delhi top order was brutally exposed by Shoaib Akhtar in the last match. Sehwag and Gambhir will try to restore their pride by capitalising on the weak Hyderabad bowling. Delhi is looking strong over Hyderabad in all departments. If opposition can take top order wickets as Kolkata did, Delhi will be in trouble.
Hyderabad should remove Scott Styris and believe in youngsters. Gilchrist should properly utilise and guide youngsters like Venugopal Rao, Ravi Teja and Vijay Kumar. Delhi lost previous four matches due to individual brilliance. So Hyderabad hopes lay on Adam Gilchrist individual brilliance. Venugopal Rao all-round brilliance in the last match is a ray of hope for Hyderabad. If Gibbs and Afridi regain their form, Hyderabad may surprise Delhi.

Probable teams:

Hyderabad Deccan Chargers: Adam Gilchrist (captain), Ravi Teja, Herschelle Gibbs, Rohit Sharma, Venugopal Rao, Shahid Afridi, Chaminda Vaas/Zoysa, RP Singh, Vijay Kumar, Sanjay Bangar and Pragyan Ojha.

Delhi Daredevils: Virender Sehwag (Captain), Gautam Gambhir, De Villiers, Shikhar Dhawan, Rajat Bhatia/Mohammad Asif, Farveez Maharoof, Dilshan, Amit Mishra, Pradeep Sangwan, Glenn McGrath and Yo Mahesh.

Verdict: Delhi is strong favourite against Hyderabad but recent form of both teams is not convincing and Delhi is relying too much on Sehwag and Gambhir. Either Mumbai or Kolkata will go to semi-finals if Delhi will not take things seriously. I don’t have any hopes on weak Deccan Chargers bowling.

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Sachin-Sanath combo set to take centrestage

With six points, Mumbai still have some work to do to repair the damage of their early losses. For the last week they have had a chance to rest and perhaps rejoice. Now, with the return of Sachin Tendulkar and a dream opening pairing with Sanath Jayasuriya complete, Mumbai have an air of confidence about them.


"At this moment we know who are in contention and those are the teams which we have to beat for sure," Tendulkar said ahead of his team's home clash against Chennai.

But Tendulkar's challenge won't end just with the bat. He will take over from Shaun Pollock as captain, and expects to slip easily into that role.


"I will just have to go out there and with the help of other senior players, I will have to get into that groove, because it's not going to be easy to get in straight away. But I'm prepared for all those challenges," he added.


But while Chennai will be wary of Tendulkar's return, they are themselves functioning like a well-oiled machine now. With two victories in their last two games, Mahendra Singh Dhoni's side have the momentum with them, not that the skipper buys into that theory.


"In Twenty20 you can't really say much, because you get momentum by the sort of start you get in the game. So it's not whether you are winning four or five games regularly. It's all about what kind of a start you get and how you can really look to capitalise on that," Dhoni says.


Expect a full house at the Wankhede to see their hero on his return to the playing arena.

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Shoaib's carnage conquers Kolkata

The Rawalpindi Express signalled his arrival in the DLF Indian Premier League with a four-wicket blitz that left Delhi gasping. More than this win, Shoaib's arrival has given a lot of hope to Kolkata as they look ahead to a semi-final berth.


It was an emotional moment for Shoaib Akhtar, one he had been waiting for a long time. After waiting in the sidelines for more than four months, Shoaib Akhtar was out to prove a point, and he couldn't have done it in a more spectacular style as he brought Delhi down with an inspired spell.

"I just wanted to win the game. I have no points to make to anybody," Shoaib said after his sensational debut in the IPL.


Kolkata captain Sourav Ganguly also heaped rich praise on the tearaway fast bowler. "He came to the country with lots (of things) happening behind him. But he showed a lot of character."


Akhtar is no stranger to Kolkata or to the Eden Gardens. He came into the limelight here with a sensation burst when he removed Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar with consecutive balls in a Test in 1999. This time he played as one of their own and the Kolkata crowd embraced him with open arms.


"For me, my team is the most important thing. Kolkata is my home team. Eden Gardens is my home ground," he gushed.




The win takes Kolkata to fourth place on the leader board with 10 points from five wins in nine matches. But more importantly, Shoaib's performance has meant that Shah Rukh Khan's team suddenly has a weapon to instill fear in the opposition camps over the next few weeks.

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Watson seals tense win for Rajasthan

Shane Watson first used the uneven bounce of the Jaipur pitch to keep the Delhi Daredevils in check and then acted as if it didn’t exist to bludgeon 74 off 40 balls and maintain the Rajasthan Royals’ 100% record at home.

Shane Warne’s strategy of winning the toss, inserting the opposition in and restricting them to a total that his batsmen then chase with ease is getting predictable.

But it’s also what is keeping the Rajasthan Royals at the top of the points table, with their seventh win of the tournament coming against a side that struggled to match them on the field on Sunday night.

Though Delhi fought hard to defend their total, the match was more or less decided in the first innings when Rajasthan’s bowlers checked the run-scoring to the extent that Delhi didn’t hit a six till the 18th over.
The Rajasthan Royals bowlers lent excellent support to Shane Warne’s strategy of winning the toss and inserting the opposition as they restricted Delhi to 156 in Jaipur. It could have been a lot less but for some clean hitting by Farveez Maharoof towards the end of the innings. Delhi’s strong batting order came unstuck as the Rajasthan bowlers, backed by their fielders, bowled disciplined lines and did not give the batsmen many opportunities to get boundaries. The pitch helped as well, as the bounce was not always even.

Shane Watson was the first to inject doubt and uneasiness in to the Delhi openers’ minds when he used the short ball to repeatedly beat their bats. Gambhir leaned out to reach for one that lifted from back of a length and swished wildly in the air. Sehwag’s attempted pull off another short one from Watson narrowly missed the edge.

The two openers managed to nudge singles, run hard for twos and go for the occasional boundary but Watson had prevented them from breaking loose. Though smiling through his first spell, Watson had words with Gambhir, but it was Sehwag who fell following the chatter. He tried to cut over point but didn’t get enough elevation and was caught by Mohammad Kaif for 17. For six overs after Sehwag fell - during which period Shikhar Dhawan was run out and Gambhir bowled - Delhi did not score any boundaries.

Dimitri Mascarenhas, who went for 12 runs in his first over, came back in his second spell to get the wickets of AB de Villiers and Dinesh Karthik in the same over. He finished with figures of 4-0-29-2 in his only IPL match this season and completely justified his selection. Munaf Patel varied his length and bowled to his field to choke the runs during the middle overs. Siddharth Trivedi managed to get movement off the seam and troubled Gambhir before knocking over his off stump.

It was only in the 16th over that Delhi crossed the 100-run mark and it wasn’t till the 18th that Delhi managed their first six.

Rajasthan’s commitment to keep the runs in check was exemplified by a dive by Watson to reduce a certain four to two runs after de Villiers stroked the ball through extra cover. Watson, fielding at mid-on, ran sideways towards the ball, threw himself towards the ball and got his left hand around it just before it raced past him. Even Munaf, one of the more sluggish fielders in the Indian side, was in the thick of things, trying to throw down the stumps and diving to save runs.

The last three overs fetched a much-needed 47 runs, with Maharoof hit Warne for four sixes off Warne’s last over, to give Delhi’s bowlers something to bowl at.

Rajasthan Royals 1 Graeme Smith, 2 Yusuf Pathan, 3 Mohammad Kaif, 4 Shane Watson, 5 Niraj Patel, 6 Dimitri Mascarenhas 7 Ravindra Jadeja, 8 Shane Warne (capt), 9 Mahesh Rawat (wk), 10 Siddharth Trivedi, 11 Munaf Patel.

Delhi Daredevils 1 Virender Sehwag (capt), 2 Gautam Gambhir, 3 Shikhar Dhawan, 4 AB de Villiers, 5 Tillakaratne Dilshan, 6 Dinesh Karthik (wk), 7 Amit Mishra, 8 V Yomahesh, 9 Glenn McGrath, 10 Farveez Maharoof, 11 Pradeep Sangwan.

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Shane Warne most successful captain-coach in the IPL

Having led his team to 7 wins in 9 outings in the DLF Indian Premier League (IPL), Shane Warne is sitting pretty as the most successful captain-coach in the IPL. His brilliant strategies have seen the Rajasthan Royals go from a lacklustre team at the start of the tournament to one of the first teams to secure a Semi Final berth.

In the post match press conference after the match against the Daredevils, Warne appreciated his wards' efforts and spoke about how the strategies devised by his team have come off.

He started off by lauding Shane Watson's efforts saying that his match-winning innings of 74 (off 40 balls) was what turned the tide in favour of his team. He termed the Aussie allrounder's innings as "the most valuable innings of the tournament".

He also said given the quality of batsman in the Daredevils' ranks, restricting them to 157 was a good effort by his boys and conceded 170 was par for the course on that wicket.

Warne took full responsibility for letting the Daredevils off the hook; the 19th over of the Daredevils' innings, bowled by Warne, cost him 27. Farveez Maharoof smashed the blonde leggie for four sixes to help Delhi past the 150-run mark.

Terming that over as a ‘small mishap', the Royals' skipper quickly clarified that all his other ploys worked perfectly.

Talking about the strategies he had in place to contain Sehwag and Gambhir, Warne said that the Rajasthan Royals had studied the two Delhi openers closely and had devised a strategy to contain the flamboyant openers. He said, " We know Sehwag and Gambhir like to hit square, they like the pace so we thought if we have Dimitri Mascarenhas bowl medium pacers up front, it would be difficult for them as they like the ball coming on to the bat faster."

He added that Delhi played well, but was proud that his side fought back strongly to avenge the defeat that was handed to them by Sehwag and co. when the two sides met in their opening encounter of the IPL.

"Look, all in all I was very happy," concluded the Australian spin wizard, content with seeing his team sitting pretty at the top of the points table.

The Royals next face the last-placed Royal Challengers Bangalore after a 5-day break.

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IPL is only going to get bigger and better: Styris

The Deccan Chargers haven't had the best of starts in the DLF Indian Premier League (IPL) placed at the lower end of the points table but the experience has been "great" for New Zealand all-rounder Scott Styris.

In an exclusive interview, Styris talks about his IPL team and the memories he will take back to Kiwi land.

"The IPL's been great so far. We're all gelling as a team. There are a lot of good guys in the team. We're all working hard. We're all working as team. We've just got to start performing on the field," said Styris.

His team has been at the receiving end of seven matches in their nine played so far, so the chances of them making it to the next round seem bleak.

About taking losses in the stride of the game, the New Zealander who cites Richard Hadlee and Martin Crowe as his idols said that after you have a game that goes wrong you should just throw it away and start afresh. He added that there's no time to worry about defeats in this format of the game and one should just concentrate on doing the basics well from the next game.

About the multi-national and local players all sharing the dressing room, Styris cited it as a wonderful experience saying, "It's been a great experience sharing the dressing room with other players. We've got players from many different countries which is even better. We're not only learning about the players and themselves but a little bit about their cultures and where they're from."

According to Styris, it's the international bonding and learning that makes the IPL a great experience.

He said that he enjoyed both Twenty20 cricket as well as one-day internationals and was practical in adding that both formats of the game have their respective place in the scheme of things to come.

He felt that given the success of the IPL in its inaugural year, things are only going to get bigger and better in the coming years as all the players are taking the game very seriously.

"Everyone's going to try and score runs and take wickets and play well and I'm no different," concluded the Black Cap all-rounder.

The Deccan Chargers next face the Delhi Daredevils for a chance to salvage some pride in the tournament on May 15 at their opponent's home ground, the Feroz Shah Kotla at Delhi

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Kolkata bank on Shoaib to keep Delhi down

Logic says never change a winning combination. Kolkata have won their last two games but may just turn that line of thinking on its head for this one, and unleash the latest Knight in their armour, Shoaib Akhtar, who has been waiting desperately for a go since touching down.

"A fit Shoaib, or even almost a 90 per cent fit Shoaib will be perfect for anyone. But again, at the same stage, we don't want to rush him in the competition," Kolkata coach John Buchanan says.

Delhi have suddenly got the task of finding a way to stop a dramatic slide. From being unstoppable to three straight defeats, Virender Sehwag's men have been on opposite ends of the wheel of fortune already, and know now that more slip-ups will cost them dear.

"When you look at the table, this game is very, very important. The next few fixtures against these teams could well determine the last spot in the semi-finals," says Greg Shipperd, the Delhi coach.

"When you look at the table, this game is very, very important. The next few fixtures against these teams could well determine the last spot in the semi-finals," says Greg Shipperd, the Delhi coach.


With both Ganguly and Sehwag on level terms with eight points each, the match promises to be a close one. While Delhi have hit a slump, Kolkata are enjoying a winning streak.

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Misbah unluckily on hit wicket.

Misbah badly walked back on his stumps and was out hit wicket.
The Challengers threatened to get going for the briefest of periods. Misbah-ul Haq, whose name has been thrown around in Bangalore's much publicised recent problems, looked like he would turn their team's fortunes around. Having clobbered his way to 21 from 7 balls.He was worried of his hit wicket and be tensed during match

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