Sourav a poor sport, says Warne

After the slapgate comes another showdown. Just days after the Harbjahan-Sreesanth fiasco, a fresh storm broke in the IPL on Thursday during the Jaipur-Kolkata game, involving two vastly experienced foes.
In something strikingly similar to a controversy that made headlines during Australia's eventful tour of India in 2001, home team skipper Warne tore into Ganguly for being late in leading his side into the ground while batting and fielding. Speaking after the game, Warne also accused him of violating the spirit of cricket for questioning the validity of a catch claimed by Graeme Smith.
It was a smooth win for Warne’s team and he was paying glowing tributes to his players until someone brought up Dada’s captaincy. The leg-spin legend wasted no time in unleashing a scathing verbal assault. “Our batters were waiting in the hot sun for five minutes. They (Ganguly’s team) were not to be seen. Then when we went into the field, once again we had to wait for Sourav. He was going on his own time. I told him Twenty 20 is one hour and 20 minutes and it took us longer because of him.”
In 2001, Steve Waugh accused Ganguly of arriving late for the toss, but Warne didn't stop there. "When we signed the spirit of cricket memorandum, we said we'll start on time and play in the right spirit. Sourav didn't do it." He was also miffed with Ganguly's decision to ask the umpire to refer a catch Smith claimed.
"If an international captain like Smith says he's caught it, you can't question it,” said Warne. “You are not allowed to ask the on-field umpire to refer it. That's not in the spirit of the game. We are very disappointed with Sourav." He didn't say comment on the third umpire’s ruling in Ganguly's favour.
A Kolkata source told HT “unpleasant words were exchanged right through." While Kolkata’s Director (team and media) Joy Bhattacharya said the team wouldn’t react to a “non-issue”, Ganguly apparently said: “You just need to look at his career and the incidents he has got into will give you an answer.” He added: “And I didn’t know in cricket, taking a one-drop catch was in the spirit of the game”.

Mohali Marsh past Hyderabad

Shaun Marsh sizzled on his Indian Premier League debut and blasted unbeaten 85 off 62 balls as Kings XI Punjab thumped Deccan Chargers by seven wickets with seven balls to spare to coast to their third win of the tournament. Chasing 165, the Punjab side romped home in 18.5 overs losing just three wickets. Marsh, son of former Australian opener Geoff Marsh, was the outstanding performer for the winners with a belligerent half century that included 11 boundaries besides a six off Nuwan Zoysa.Earlier, Rohit Sharma stood tall amid ruins and hammered an unbeaten 42-ball 76 as Deccan Chargers posted 164 for eight despite a middle and lower order collapse.

We will win the trophy, says Shah Rukh

Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan, owner of Kolkata Knight Riders, says he is confident that his team will win the Indian Premier League (IPL) Twenty20 trophy.
A day after Kolkata Knight Riders faced their second consecutive defeat losing to Mumbai Indians on their home ground Eden Gardens here on Tuesday, Shah Rukh on Wednesday reposed his trust in the team.
"We Knight Riders are positive. We know that we will win some matches and lose some. But ultimately the IPL trophy will be ours," Shah Rukh said before leaving the city.
After starting their campaign on a high note winning their first two matches - against Bangalore Royal Challengers and Deccan Chargers, the Sourav Ganguly-led Knight Riders lost to Kings XI Punjab and then a resurgent Mumbai Indians Tuesday night.
Is the team not at all affected by the defeats?
"The seniors like Sourav Ganguly and Ricky Ponting know that to achieve success you have to understand and accept failure. But the youngsters in the team were feeling a bit low. So I decided to stay back with them here a little longer. We even arranged for a private get-together and danced till 4 am," said Shah Rukh.

And how does he personally see this defeat at the home ground?
"Kolkatans know that Knight Riders will never let them down. As for me, I have been successful for the last 20 years because I know how to ride over failure. Kabhi kabhi jeetne ke liye haarna bhi parta hai aur haarkar jeetne wale ko baazigar kehte hai. And we are beyond baazigars, we are the Knight Riders," Shah Rukh said recollecting his famous dialogue from the film "Baazigar".
Is the team suffering from captain Sourav Ganguly's off-form?
"You can't question ace players like Sourav Ganguly. He is aware of his form more than even coach John Buchanan and will sort out things himself.
Will Kolkata see Shah Rukh in all the Knight Riders matches?
"I don't know about other cities. But I have worked out my calendar in a way that I don't miss a single match in Kolkata. This city is our hub, it's like being home."

Tendulkar's fitness test on May 4

The struggling Mumbai Indians team have decided to wait till the day of their next Indian Premier League (IPL) match, against Delhi Daredevils on Sunday, to see whether captain Sachin Tendulkar is fit to play or not.
"Sachin had net practice today. There are still two more days to go for the match. We will take a call on his fitness on May 4. Today he batted all right. Hopefully he gets all right before the next match," said team coach Lalchand Rajput after a practice session at the MCA's Bandra-Kurla complex.
The champion batsman, who turned 35 on April 24, aggravated a groin injury that he sustained during the tri-series Down Under when turning out for India against South Africa in the first Test at Chennai in March and has not played for more than a month.
In his absence from the playing XI, the Reliance Industries-owned franchise team lost their first four ties before earning a maiden victory over Kolkata Knight Riders on April 29 at the Eden Gardens, and are languishing at the bottom of the eight-team league table.
Mumbai Indians were led by Harbhajan Singh in their first three matches, which were all lost.
The team was led by ace ex-South African all rounder Shaun Pollock in their last two matches following the booting out of Harbhajan from the IPL after he was found guilty of slapping India teammate S Sreesanth.
The Mumbai outfit have lost to Royal Challengers, at home, Chennai Super Kings and King's XI, away, and Deccan Chargers, at home, before putting it across Sourav Ganguly's Kolkata team, away, for their first points in the Twenty20 league.

Rajasthan Royals hand Kolkata third defeat

Skipper Sourav Ganguly's fighting half century went in vain as Kolkata Knight Riders succumbed to their third consecutive defeat, going down by 45 runs to Rajasthan Royals in their Indian Premier League match at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur on Thursday.
Chasing 197 for victory, Knight Riders were bundled out for 151 in 19.1 overs. Ganguly's 51 and David Hussey's 30-ball 42 were the only high points of yet another dismal batting performance by the Kolkata team.
The Jaipur team's trio of Shane Watson (2/22), Sohail Tanvir (2/30) and Siddharth Trivedi (2/31) never let the Kolkatans settle down.
The visitors also had some poor running between the wickets to blame for their dismal showing as three of their batsmen were run-out in the match, which marked their third successive loss after reverses against Chennai Super Kings and Mumbai Indians.
Pakistan's Salman Butt opened the innings for Knight Riders in the absence of New Zealand's Brendon McCullum but could hardly get a look in as Tanvir castled him for seven in the second over.
Ajit Agarkar did not last long either and became Jaipur skipper Shane Warne's only victim of the match after hitting a couple of sixes in his 13-ball 20.
Ganguly held the other end, but with wickets tumbling around him, the asking rate kept climbing, adding to the pressure on the left-hander.
Ricky Ponting's replacement, Brad Hodge, was run-out after adding just one run to the team's score and it was left to Hussey to rebuild the innings after Ganguly too departed with the score at 119.
Ganguly's knock included four boundaries and a couple of sixes.
Hussey, however, could not find an able partner at the other end to build the innings.
Earlier, Swapnil Asnodkar and Yousuf Pathan slammed blazing fifties to guide Rajasthan Royals to 196 for seven.
Asnodkar scored a 34-ball 60, that included ten fours and a six, Pathan was out after scoring 55 off 33 balls, studded with six fours and a couple of sixes.
Royals were dealt an early blow when Graeme Smith (2) departed in the second over of the innings, bowled by Ishant Sharma.
Mohammad Kaif, the next man in, too did not last long. After a whirlwind 21-run knock that included three fours and a six, he was caught by David Hussey off Umar Gul's bowling.
However, Asnodkar and Yousuf scored briskly to help the Royals to a healthy total.
Although Shane Watson couldn't contribute � he was trapped leg before by Gul for a naught -- Ravindra Jadeja's quickfire 33 of 19 balls boosted the Royals' total. Jadeja was bowled by Laxmi Ratan Shukla after striking three fours and a six.

'Misbah will definitely get his chance' - Dravid

The Bangalore Royal Challengers have sunk to the bottom of the points table in the Indian Premier League after their fourth loss out of five matches, against the Delhi Daredevils on Wednesday. However, Rahul Dravid, the Bangalore captain, brushed away suggestions that his team was unsuited to the Twenty20 format.
"Twenty20 fates are decided in an over or two. Luck and the rub of the green are factors here," Dravid told reporters after the loss in Delhi. "And it's not that our team does not have youngsters. If there is any missing link, I think we lack that x-factor."
That x-factor could be Pakistan's Misbah-ul-Haq, who has been benched despite his outstanding batting in the World Twenty20 because of the cap on the number of overseas players in the XI. Bangalore's four overseas players against Delhi were Jacques Kallis, Ross Taylor, Mark Boucher and Dale Steyn.
"It was difficult fielding all the foreigners," Dravid said. "We needed an allrounder because our bowling was not strong, so Kallis played. Ross Taylor will leave now and Misbah will definitely get his chance."
The 10-run defeat against Delhi was Bangalore's third loss in a row and the second close one, after the 13-run defeat against Chennai Super Kings at the Chinnaswamy Stadium on April 28. Dravid said McGrath's four-wicket haul was the key to Delhi's victory and also singled out Daniel Vettori's economical spell of 1 for 19.
"I think the difference [between the sides] was McGrath's wickets, both upfront and in the later stage," Dravid said. "Vettori gave next to nothing in his four overs, Yomahesh bowled tight too. Twenty20 matches are decided in one-two overs and we needed two big overs, which we just didn't get. Chasing 10 per over, we were right on track but could not eventually make it."
Bangalore opened with Praveen Kumar, their fifth opener in five games, to try and boost the run-rate while chasing a target of 192 but the ploy did not work. Praveen was dismissed by McGrath in the first over.
"Chasing 10 runs per over, we had to send our stroke-players upfront," said Dravid. "Praveen was sent up with this idea. If he could score 15-20 quick runs, things could have changed. There was nothing wrong with the strategy."
Bangalore's next match is a home game against the Deccan Chargers on May 3 and Dravid hoped that Anil Kumble, who missed the last two games because of injury, would be able to return. "I hope things would improve when Anil returns," he said. "Our fifth bowlers are conceding 50-odd runs. If Anil concedes little less, it would help the side."