Kotla gears up for Kings and Daredevils

A huge monkey off their back after the win against Deccan Chargers, the born-again Delhi Daredevils would be gunning for a revenge when they collide head-on with the high-flying Kings XI Punjab in a potential Indian Premier League humdinger on Saturday.The fortnight-long nightmare, featuring four defeats on the trot, finally ended in Kotla last night and Virender Sehwag and his fellow Daredevils managed to snap the losing streak to keep alive their semi-final hopes.The passage, however, is no more as smooth as it was at the start of this month. Being pushed to the brink often simplifies things and the revenge-driven hosts would be looking forward to settle scores when they host Yuvraj Singh's Kings XI at Ferozeshah Kotla.When the two sides met first time on April 27, it was Yuvraj who was smiling at the end with his side carving out a four-wicket win with three balls to spare. Sehwag, however, made it clear that he is desperate to have the last laugh tomorrow."At this stage, all the matches are challenging for us. They have been on a roll but however good you maybe, someone will come and beat you hands down. Maybe we'll do it tomorrow," said the Daredevils skipper.

Stone throwing at home ground stuns Sehwag

The disarming smile was replaced by a sombre look and Delhi Daredevils captain Virender Sehwag simply could not believe that he was stoned at his home ground Ferozshah Kotla, of all places. His team had just tamed the Deccan Chargers by 12 runs to snap the string of defeats but instead of looking upbeat, Sehwag looked thoroughly upset in the post-match press conference late on Thursday night. "Unfortunately, an Indian player has been pelted in India. It's a matter of shame that a stone was thrown at a Delhi player in Delhi," Sehwag said. Asked to name the player, he said "Sehwag. I was fielding in the boundary line when it hit me." The incident happened in the 19th over of the Deccan innings when Sehwag was fielding in the deep. The Daredevils skipper was suddenly seen rushing to umpire Brian Jerling to convey something and the match was held up for a few minutes. Nobody outside had any clue about what was going on in the middle, which gave rise to speculation that probably the cheerleaders had been subjected to some taunts or something like that. Sehwag, however, finally cleared the air in the press conference. Incidentally, this is not the first time that the accusing finger was pointed at the Kotla crowd. England all-rounder Andrew Flintoff claimed in his book 'Being Freddy' that he had been shot at here during an ODI against India in 2002. "I felt something hit me and, looking down, saw pellets on the ground," Flintoff wrote in the book. "You expect to have plastic bottles thrown at you when you are playing on the subcontinent, but you don't expect to be shot," he said. The Delhi and District Cricket Association, however, rubbished Flintoff's claim. Meanwhile, Sehwag looked far from worried even after he was out for his second successive duck in the IPL. "It does not matter at all. Cricket is not about an individual. It's a team game and as long as the team keeps winning, I don't have any problem," he said, almost nonchalantly. He also sought to dismiss the notion that the Daredevils relied too much on its top order and the middle order has a brittle look about it. "To be honest, I can't blame the middle order. The fact remains that they are not getting a chance on most occasions, because the top order is finishing the job. "I mean players like Manoj Tiwary or Rajat Bhatia have got just 2-3 chances so far because the top order was doing so well," he explained.

There are issues but I've faith on Dravid and Co: Mallya

Bangalore Royal Challengers owner Vijay Mallya on Friday admitted there were issues regarding team composition and non-performance but asserted he had full confidence in the squad which was languishing at the bottom of the Indian Premier League. Mallya also said he did not regret buying an IPL franchise but claimed his comments on former CEO Charu Sharma's sacking were distorted to send the wrong signal. "I have read all the reports in the media over few days with considerable dismay. Matters are not only being blown extravagantly out of proportion but my initial comments in response to Charu Sharma have been twisted and turned in a bizarre manner," Mallya, currently in Europe, said in a statement. "The Royal Challengers is my team and I have full confidence on them. Admittedly, there are issues on team composition and non-performance but I hope that I can enjoy the legitimate privacy of sorting out issues within my own squad," said the liquor baron. Earlier, Mallya had made it clear that he was far from happy with captain Rahul Dravid's selection of players, which made the side look like a Test team in Twenty20 jersey. According to him, Dravid, and Sharma too, went ahead with their own list of players, ignoring his inputs. Mallya said there were issues indeed but oozed confidence that the Royal Challengers would put behind their disastrous performance in the inaugural IPL and come back strong in the subsequent editions of the tournament. "I continue to believe that I made the right choice in acquiring an IPL franchisee which will create great value going forward. I like winning but losing round one doesn't mean that I have lost the fight. "The Royal Challengers will emerge winners going forward," Mallya added.

Gilly rues fading spirit of cricket

Deccan Chargers captain Adam Gilchrist criticised the Delhi Daredevils for their pacer Mohammad Asif's off-and-on presence on the field during Thursday's IPL match even as his counterpart Virender Sehwag claimed it was within the rules.
Gilchrist said it baffled him to see Asif bowling, going out before returning again to bowl. Shoaib Malik fielded for Asif, while Delhi already had a substitute fielder in Ab de Villiers for Gautam Gambhir who had injured his knee while batting.
"Players being allowed to bowl an over then walk off the field, have a substitute fielder come on then walk back on to the field, bowl an over and then go off again is a cycle which I don’t believe is in the spirit of the game," Gilchrist told this newspaper on Friday.
"I was told that it was within the laws of the game and that there was not much anyone could do. But I believe if you are fit enough to bowl, you should be fit enough to field and take part in the game. It was a bit frustrating," he added.
Also, "Asif bowled with tape around fingers on his bowling hand which is not allowed according to the rules," Gilchrist observed.
Asif's was not the only issue. "Gautam Gambhir was also not fielding, having taken a blow when he was batting, which allowed them (Delhi) to have two of the best fieldsmen in the world as substitutes, who had a hand in crucial dismissals," Gilchrist said.Gilchrist made it clear that "It’s not an excuse to why we lost. Delhi played better and were able to get the win."
"But the captains had signed an agreement at the start of the tournament about the spirit of cricket. And I think that when things like these are exploited, the cricket agreement doesn’t weigh much."
The Chargers captain said he addressed the issue with the match referee, Clive Lloyd, after the game. "I just took it upon myself to go to the match referee after the game. He was very understanding of my concern and has taken it on board. He has noted down the concern. However, we as a team are not lodging an official complaint or trying to take it any further... we just expressed our concern with the match referee," the Australian said.
Sehwag on his part, said his side was playing by the rules. "I think if umpires did not have any problems, Gilchrist too should not have any. The rulebook says a bowler can go out as many times as needed in case of external injury. Asif was injured while fielding," Sehwag said.

Pollock sends Knight Riders crashing

Chasing the lowest total in Indian Premier League, Mumbai Indians beat Kolkata Knight Riders by 8wickets at the Wankhede Stadium on Friday. Sanath Jayasuriya continued his terrific form to score a quickfire 48 runs off 17 balls to guide his team to an easy victory with 87 balls to spare. Resurgent hosts Mumbai Indians go on to win their five matches in-a-row with this triumph. The win put Mumbai Indians fourth in the points table, keeping hope alive to make to the semi-finals of the tournament. Earlier, Shaun Pollock came up with a deadly spell on a helpful Wankhede Stadium track to rip the heart out of the Kolkata Knight Riders who were shot out for a paltry 67, lowest in the tournament by the Mumbai Indians in the Indian Premier League. Put in to bat, the Kolkata team were in dire straits by losing half their side with only 29 on the board as the top order was undone by some exceptional seam bowling on a bouncy and pacy track by Pollock, to a large extent, and his West Indian comrade-in-arms Dwayne Bravo. Former South African captain Pollock, now retired from international cricket, came up with yet another splendid display to finish with 3 for 12 in his full quota of four overs bowled on the trot. Bravo, who is to return home after this match to get involved in the Test and ODI series against Australia, had impressive figures of 2 for 13. Later local talent Rohan Raje and Australian Dominic Thornely grabbed two wickets apiece as the Kolkata team were shot out for the lowest total in the IPL, the previous worst being Bangalore Royals' 82 against them, in only 15.2 overs. Only Salman Butt (13), Sourav Ganguly (15) and Ajit Agarkar (15) reached double figures in a shocking display from a team aiming for a spot in the semifinals. The visitors totally lost their bearings after starting reasonably well when Pakistan left-hander Butt and Aakash Chopra put on 16 in the first two overs. Butt hit Pollock for a four and then slashed Ashish Nehra for a fine six over the cover region and things looked a bit rosy for Kolkata who had lost to the home team earlier in the tournament at the Eden Gardens that started the latter's winning streak after four straight defeats. But in the third over things took a dramatic turn as the visitors lost two wickets off successive balls. Pollock removed Butt by having the batsman caught at slip by Sachin Tendulkar, trying to drive. Then Chopra was run out due to a terrible mix-up with Ganguly to leave Kolkata at a dismal 16 for two after three overs. Pollock then dealt two huge blows by sending back in-form batsman David Hussey and Mohammed Hafeez with rising balls, which undid them. Australian Hussey edged an intended drive to wicketkeeper Yogesh Takawale while Hafeez, without getting his eye in, tried an injudicious drive to a rising delivery from Pollock and the high edge was taken well by second slip fielder Robin Uthappa. Pollocks deadly spell read 4-0-12-3 and he had ripped out the heart from the visiting teams batting to make it easy for the other bowlers. It was a repeat of his splendid display that rocked Chennai Super Kings on the back foot two nights ago before being rescued by S Badrinath and captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni. There was none to do so tonight for the Kolkata side. Bravo struck a blow when he induced Wriddhiman Saha to edge to Tendulkar a defensive prod and Kolkata were left gasping at 29 for five. Seeing the visiting team in disarray, Tendulkar brought into action his second-string pace attack and it paid rich dividends when Rohan Raje, who replaced Bravo after the latters two-over spell, clean bowled all-rounder Laxmi Ratan Shukla when he shaped to clip the ball off his toes. Ganguly watched grimly from the other end when the mayhem took place and started to assert himself in the company of Ajit Agarkar who slammed Raje for two fours in one over to bring some cheers to the struggling visitors' ranks. At the half way mark Kolkata were 44 for six with very little batting left to bail them out of the deep hole. The seventh wicket duo added 19 runs, the highest for the innings thus far, when Ganguly was caught behind trying to guide medium pacer Dominic Thornely towards the third man region and wicket keeper Takawale took a juggling catch at the second attempt. And once Ganguly was gone, the rest folded up meekly. Tendulkar took four catches, which is highest by a fielder in an innings in the IPL.