Rahane 100 in IPL season-5 stars in big win for Royals

The game was effectively over when the players walked off for the innings break. Ajinkya Rahane's blistering, unbeaten 103 brought up the first century of IPL 2012, propelling Rajasthan Royals to 195 against an already battered Royal Challengers Bangalore. Assisted by Owais Shah's equally intimidating 60, the Royals piled on a score way beyond reach for the hosts and such was the dominance that the chase turned out to be a tepid affair.

Rahane also smashed six consecutive fours off an over - the first in Twenty20 history, S Aravind being the unfortunate bowler. Rahane and Shah - ten years apart - didn't just deliver for the team's cause but also nudged their respective national team selectors ahead of the World Twenty20, each getting two big scores so far this IPL. Their bowlers - led by Siddharth Trivedi - backed them up, hitting their targets like efficient salesmen, getting six batsmen bowled.

Ironically, the losing side had the bigger names. With the likes of Daniel Vettori, Muttiah Muralitharan and Zaheer Khan to contend with, it appeared as if the Royals worked to the plan of exploiting the less-experienced Indian bowlers. It was an extension of Royal Challengers' affliction from the match against Chennai Super Kings, when Virat Kohli leaked 28 off the penultimate over of the game.

At one stage, Aravind conceded 48 off three overs, almost the same number given away by Zaheer, Vettori and Murali off ten combined overs. A less-than-fit Chris Gayle, recovering from a groin injury, came on in the 16th over more as an act of desperation by Vettori and didn't fare any better than the other weak links, leaking 21.

The hammering Rahane dished out was reminiscent of Brendon McCullum's butchering at the same venue in the IPL's opening game in 2008. He began by splitting the gap past cover and backward point for two fours off Aravind in the second over. The onslaught that followed was so brutal that it's easy to forget Zaheer bowled a maiden over to Rahane, the third of the innings. Rahane showed no such respect for Aravind the following over, taking 15 off it, including a massive hit over long-on.

Vettori and Murali then pulled things back with five relatively quiet overs, going for 23. Vettori's spell only widened the gap between him and the rest. He varied his pace and flight, fired in the quicker ones to keep the batsmen guessing.

Rahane's merciless approach was best illustrated in the 14th over, which produced six fours. He drove Aravind forcefully down the ground off the first two balls, scooped the third to fine leg, pulled the fourth to midwicket, drove the fifth past cover and delicately dabbed the six to third man. Aravind varied his pace and length, AB de Villiers came up to the stumps but nothing deterred Rahane.

Shah began his party with a top-edged six over long leg, before ripping into Gayle. Vinay Kumar aimed for the blockhole, but somehow Shah found a way to get under the bounce and slam sixes down the ground. He brought up his fifty off just 19 balls before launching into Murali. He tried the same against a slower Zaheer delivery but was caught at long-on.

At the other end, Rahane started the final over needing seven for his century and he required just three balls to get there. After driving Vinay past mid-off, he flat-batted the third ball just past long-on's grasp to bring up the landmark. The Royals hammered 113 off the last seven overs, the third-best in IPL history.

Royal Challengers began the chase in enterprising manner, with Mayank Agarwal pulling the first ball for six over fine leg. But a double-strike by Pankaj Singh in the fifth over derailed the chase and took the fight out of the hosts. Agarwal was caught off a top-edge and two balls later, Gayle dragged one onto his stumps.

That followed a period of prolonged struggle for Royal Challengers, stumbling against the asking rate, compounded by the steady fall of wickets. The boundary drought lasted an unforgivable 37 deliveries and that was thanks largely to Trivedi's nagging line and slower deliveries bowled from back of a length, assisted by the slow pitch. De Villiers played on to one that kept low, Kohli and Saurabh perished swinging across the line, before Vettori lost his leg stump giving the bowler the charge. Trivedi's 4 for 23 was his personal best in the IPL and the combined efforts launched the Royals to the top of the table.

Source:-http://www.espncricinfo.com/

IPL, 17th match: KKR v K XI Punjab at Kolkata, Apr 15, 2012 Punjab win thriller

A triple strike from Piyush Chawla in the middle of the Knight Riders innings and last over heroics from Harmeet Singh brought Kings XI back from the dead to beat their hosts in unlikely fashion. After posting a below par 134 and allowing Knight Riders to canter to 71 for 2 at the halfway stage of the chase, Kings XI relied on a spectacular effort from their legspinner to negate Sunil Narine's jaw-dropping 5 for 19.

Narine's strangling efforts and Rajat Bhatia and Shakib al Hasan's supporting efforts kept the lid on Kings XI. Knight Riders were favoured to chase down a moderate target after Gautam Gambhir started with a speedy 22 and Manvinder Bisla and Manoj Tiwary steered the reply with a stand of 43. But, the home side unravelled after Chawla removed three of their key batsmen, Bisla, Yusuf Pathan and Shakib. Debrabata Das threatened to take the match to its expected conclusion with his aggressive innings but a slew of legbreaks from Harmeet ensured Kings XI defended what seemed hard to defend at one stage.

Gambhir began in a hurry. The early loss of Jacques Kallis - caught spectacularly by Paras Dogra at point - did nothing to deter him as he collected boundaries at will before offering Dimitri Mascarenhas a simple return catch.

Despite the departure of their captain, Bisla and Tiwary continued the task stoically and formed a partnership that would not have been out of place in longer formats of the game. They rotated strike, searched for singles and only targeted the boundary when they got a bad ball. They seemed certain to guide Knight Riders to an easy win but the match turned when Tiwary was trapped in front by Bhargav Bhatt.

A tiny wound had been inflicted on Kolkata Knight Riders and Chawla prised it open. He bowled Bisla with a delivery that did not turn and meted out the same to Yusuf Pathan with a legbreak in the same over. After 14 overs, Knight Riders were 85 for 5. Chawla had pulled them back to exactly the position Kings XI had been in at that stage - 85 for 3. He struck again, with a googly to Shakib al Hasan, to have the Bangladesh all-rounder caught of his own bowling.

Das defied the Kings XI charge. He started by smacking a full toss from Chawla for a straight six. As full deliveries were offered to him, he smoked them to the boundary. Ryan ten Doeschate provided some support and the pair took Knight Riders to within 13 runs of victory with two overs left.

Praveen Kumar gave away only four of those runs, bowling an over punctuated with yorkers and Harmeet had nine runs to work with in the final over. His seemingly harmless legbreaks had ten Doeschate frustrated as he played on. Harmeet then proved impossible to get away as he made up for Kings XI's lapses with the bat through cunning bowling.

Kings XI saw off 36 dot balls in their innings and allowed Knight Riders' attack to create pressure and use it to their advantage. Narine struck twice in his opening spell - when Adam Gilchrist top-edged and attempted pull to depart for 5 and by bowling Shaun Marsh with a delivery that turned away from the left-hander.

Together with Kallis, he ensured Kings XI crawled to 31 for 2 after seven overs and that they did not score a single boundary in five of them. If not for the half-century stand between Mandeep Singh and David Hussey, they would have not got off the starting blocks at all. The pair settled in on the surface, started to time the ball better and occasionally challenged the fielders, beating them for boundaries and pushing them hard to turn singles into twos. Old-fashioned grit and grind helped them build but just as they were looking to launch, Mandeep slog swept straight to deep mid-wicket.

They were never really able to push after that as Hussey was run-out soon after and the dominoes fell steadily after that. Bhatia took two wickets in his final over and Narine also struck twice on being brought back on the attack. Kings XI scored 30 runs off the last two overs which, in the end, proved to be the difference.

Source:-http://www.espncricinfo.com/

Confirm Bangladesh to tour Pakistan at month end

International cricket is set to return to Pakistan after three years, with Bangladesh formally confirming to the PCB that they will play one ODI and one Twenty20 International there later this month. There has been no cricket between two Full Member nations in Pakistan since the attack on the Sri Lanka team in March 2009.

The ODI is scheduled for April 29 and the T20I for April 30. Both matches will be played at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore.

"The public of Pakistan have been deprived of cricket and we felt that we needed to support them," BCB president Mustafa Kamal said. "The reception we received when we toured Lahore and Karachi on our security visit was overwhelming."

Zaka Ashraf, the PCB chairman, thanked the BCB and the Bangladesh government for their support for the tour.

The ICC, though, was more guarded in its response, saying it had asked the the PCB for a security plan, following which its Anti-Corruption and Security Unit would commission a localised risk assessment to determine the safety of its officials and staff; only after that would it decide on deploying its officials.

Last month, the ICC had introduced a "special dispensation" to be made only in "exceptional circumstances" in order to ensure that bilateral series take place even if the ruling body has determined it "unsafe" to appoint its officials for such series. This would allow such series to be manned by "non-neutral match officials", a departure from the ICC's Standard Playing Conditions, pending permission from its executive board.

Bangladesh was due for a full tour of Pakistan in 2012 under the ICC's Future Tours Programme. The PCB also said the remaining matches of the tour will be played at dates mutually agreed between the two Boards at venues including Bangladesh.

There had been several itineraries proposed for the tour, including a three-match ODI series and a series of two ODIs and one Twenty20 international. Karachi and Rawalpindi were the other possible venues but ESPNcricinfo understands they were dropped on security grounds.

Sunday's announcement follows lengthy negotiations between the two boards over the terms of the tour, and at times it looked as though the tour would be a non-starter. A nine-member delegation, headed by Kamal and including security officials from that country, visited Pakistan in March for a demonstration of the security plan for the proposed series. The plan was well received, it is believed, but confirmation of the series was delayed. One reason, according to the BCB, was that it was waiting for a government advisory; another possible reason was the ICC's special dispensation plan, which possibly implied that the venue was not safe for neutral officials.

Jalal Yunus, the BCB's media committee chairman, said Kamal had taken charge of the matter and handled it personally. "We haven't talked about it since Zaka Ashraf came and discussed the matter officially, so it has been 2-3 months," he said. "The BCB president must have known the government stance and that's why he has confirmed. He has handled it personally from the beginning."

The tour will come a little more than three years after masked terrorists attacked the Sri Lanka team bus and a van carrying ICC officials to Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore, on what would have been the third day of the second Test of that tour. Six Sri Lankan cricketers were injured in the attack, and six security personnel and two civilians were killed.

Since then, Pakistan have hosted "home series" in UAE and other neutral venues. They played New Zealand in New Zealand (2009-10), England and Australia in England (2010). UAE has been their favoured home base, having hosted South Africa, Sri Lanka and England.


Source:-http://www.espncricinfo.com

Azhar Mahmood gets Indian visa To Play IPL-5

Azhar Mahmood, the former Pakistan allrounder, has been granted an Indian visa for the IPL but ESPNcricinfo understands it is valid only for Chandigarh and Delhi. Mahmood will arrive on Saturday to play for Kings XI Punjab but will be available only for five games in Chandigarh, at their home ground in Mohali, and one match against Delhi Daredevils in Delhi.

Mahmood, who is now a British citizen and plays for Kent, was bought by the franchise at the auction last February for $200,000. He was expected to be available for selection from the beginning of the IPL season but visa delays led him to miss Kings XI's first three matches.

However, his arrival will boost Kings XI, who suffered a setback when England allrounder Stuart Broad was ruled out of the entire IPL season due to a calf strain.

Adam Gilchrist, the Kings XI captain, had announced Mahmood's imminent arrival at the media briefing in Mohali after the game against Pune Warriors India on Thursday. Mahmood, who is the only player in this IPL to have played for Pakistan, tweeted to confirm the development.

Azhar Mahmood@AzharMahmood11

Thank you all for your concern but I HAVE got the visa and in Shaa Allah be in india very soon !

13 Apr 12 ReplyRetweetFavorite

Kings XI suffered successive defeats in their first two matches, both away games. Back then Gilchrist had made public his disappointment about not having Mahmood at his disposal, saying Kings XI were missing out on a "class" player.

A consistent allrounder in Twenty20 cricket, Mahmood has been one of the top performers for Kent. He was player of the season for Kent in the County Championship last year and finished as the county's highest run-getter in the domestic T20 tournament, with 485 runs, including a century, from 15 games at a strike-rate of 143.91.

Tendulkar on his 100th hundred

The context of Tendulkar's 100th century will be remembered today, tomorrow, even at the end of his career. Debating societies will exhaust themselves over its significance, particularly what transpired between 99 and 100. But the memory of Tendulkar's labours over the last 12 months will not outlast the hundreds. The numbers will neither be repeated nor surpassed. A hundred hundreds are the stuff of sporting eternity; this is our generation's 99.94.

For an entire year it actually seemed destined to become the 99.94 - a final Bradmanesque flourish of imperfection. In less than three months, between December 2010 and March 2011, Tendulkar had scored four centuries in 12 innings. His march towards the 100th was, we believed, destined. A hundred centuries was a landmark waiting to be reached. Except, of course, like every cricketer will tell you, nothing is merely written, because everything is accounted for. The game sought its dues and Tendulkar paid with with heavy interest. Between Nagpur and Mirpur, he has clanked through various gears to find the form to take him past three figures. From free-flowing to fastidious, from studiousness to abandon, from the purity of shot to anxiety of thought. He came close, went adrift and over and over again.

Tendulkar's failure to get across that ever-receding line had actually begun to shrink the hundred in its import. In the period, he took surprising decisions that have still not been clearly explained: he first missed out on a Test series for the first time in his career for reasons other than injury, and he chose to return to the ODI game after the World Cup, first in Australia and then, to everyone's surprise, in the Asia Cup.

Along with Tendulkar's trials, there was mayhem in India's Test cricket, the team went through two tours from hell. The eight Test defeats were larger than the absence of a Tendulkar hundred. Eight-zero reflects a worrisome future for Indian cricket which is not going away soon. The completion of 100 centuries still stand though for Tendulkar's appetite, drive and sheer cussedness as a competitor over two decades - and the combination of those qualities will be gone from Indian cricket sooner rather than later.

What unsettles some is that Tendulkar's 100th had to arrive in ODI cricket. Mirpur was not pretty, it did not round off a great script, it did not reflect the nobility of the longer version of the game, or indeed, the purity of Tendulkar's own game at its best. India didn't even win. But there it was. Slammed down our throats like a shot of country liquor. Gulp that down, boys.

Yet, it was in the short form cricket that Sachin Tendulkar became the boy-man to walk out for India and it was with 50-over feats that he first grew in the public eye. His identity as team-mate and prodigy, colleague and hero in Test cricket, will remain his most enduring. But one-day cricket has always been bread and butter. Tendulkar has often said that opening the innings in ODIs helped bring a greater range of shots into his Test game. So what if Mirpur was not poetry or fine dining? Right now, bread and butter will do just fine.

The 100 international hundreds are an essential part of the reason why Tendulkar has continued to survive in the game; this desire to put his game into repeated examination, has remained front and centre in his life, over and above everything else - the pop-icon status, the cult, the insane fans, the media circus, the protesting body, the clock, the scorn. The fact that the 100 hundreds even exist is because he wanted questions asked of himself and he found ways to answer them. A few minutes after Mirpur had happened, Sanjay Manjrekar tweeted to say that attention should not be so much on the 100th hundred, "but how he got his 100 hundreds."

It is the Machine, always at his side, purring, growling, always trying to win. He will have to keep it at bay for the rest of his life, but for the moment, with the fortress of a hundred international hundreds around him, Sachin Tendulkar is winning.

Jadeja take 5 wicket to get chennai first win in IPL-5

While Jadeja's name was all over the scorecard, it was Dwayne Bravo's late blast with the bat that took the game away from Chargers. Bravo blasted five sixes in the last two overs to propel Super Kings to a tall score, which was aided by loose bowling from the Indian component of the Chargers attack. Faf du Plessis provided the boost at the start, Jadeja built on it in the middle and Bravo took Chargers apart at the death.

Forty runs came in overs 19 and 20 bowled by TP Sudhindra and Manpreet Gony. A leading edge off Sudhindra carried all the way over the straight boundary for the first six. Bravo wound up and deposited the next delivery, a length ball, over long-on. Gony was wayward in the final over, and Bravo clattered three sixes off an assortment of full tosses and short deliveries.

Bravo ended on 43 off 18, with Super Kings taking 72 in the last five overs. Du Plessis had set the tone earlier, hitting Gony for three consecutive boundaries in the fifth over. Gony became too predictable with his shortish length, and du Plessis stayed back to steer for four to third man and pull for six over deep midwicket. Gony became predictable again when he went full with the last ball of the over, and du Plessis lofted him over long-off.

Sudhindra had du Plessis holing out to long-on with his first ball, but was to go for 46 in four overs. Suresh Raina and S Badrinath looked in fine touch till Daniel Christian got them. Christian and Dale Steyn were difficult to get away, but Chargers had plenty of weak links in the attack.

Jadeja went after fellow left-arm spinner Ankit Sharma, slog-sweeping and lofting him for three boundaries. Christian was taken for consecutive fours. Jadeja even tried to distract Steyn by moving around in his crease but was dismissed hit-wicket when he trod onto his stumps as he tried to nudge a short of a length Steyn delivery. Things weren't looking as bad for Chargers at that point with the score on 147 in the 18th over, but Bravo's innings turned a stiff chase into an improbable one.

It did not help Chargers that the longest any of their batsmen managed to last was 18 deliveries and the most any of them made was 23. Super Kings' spin battery smothered Chargers completely. R Ashwin gave 12 runs in his three overs at the start, Shadab Jakati got the important wickets of Cameron White and Christian, and Jadeja did the rest. He is an unspectacular bowler, but is generally accurate.

By the time he was brought on in the 11th over, the asking-rate had already crossed 12. Chargers had no option but to go after the bowling. But this was Jadeja's night, and there was to be no hitting him.