Knights are like my kids, says SRK

It sounds pretty much like what coach Shah Rukh Khan dished out to a bunch of women hockey players before the final in Chak De! India. Only this was no final game and his team had nearly signed an exit warrant from the Indian Premier League. Before his team's hoping against hope game against Delhi Daredevils on Thursday, Shah Rukh sent out a chin-up sms longer than a panchvi class essay to the Knight Riders. He told his team, "Don't spoil your character in the next two games. Let's go out with a bang and not a whimper. In films, we say you are only as good as your last film. So let's make the whole world know how good we are in the last (maybe not) two games." Despite the defeats suffered by his team, Shah Rukh says he remains dedicated to the team. "I am as dedicated to my Knights as I am to my kids," he says. Then he adds, "Only, I won't be coming to the class room till the headmaster's rules are understood by me. I am a bit anti-establishment kind of a guy, so I apologise for this quirk to you all." In the game, Shah Rukh was asked to leave the team's dugout by ICC's anti-corruption and security unit. Unfortunately, unseasonal Delhi rain did not give his team the opportunity to sign out with a flourish.

I would've cracked T20 if I was 21: Dravid

There was more to it than merely winning a game of T20. On Wednesday, Rahul Dravid, for once, was making a statement. "T20 is a bit of a hit-and-miss game. Had I been 21, I would easily have cracked this," he said, and perhaps for the first time, an admission of age had been made by one of the Indian batting's Big Three in the IPL. While on one hand, Dravid made it clear that it doesn't take too much to master the format, the technician also gave the impression that probably he was tired of re-inventing himself. At 35, you can expect that from a man who has done everything for India except opening the bowling! There was no extra excitement in the usually inscrutable Dravid, after he, along with old pal Anil Kumble, helped Bangalore Royal Challengers record a shock, and very satisfying, victory on Wednesday over Chennai. The win meant that Chennai are left with no option but to win one of the two remaining matches (against Jaipur and Hyderabad) if they have to make the semi-finals. While Dravid's 39-ball 47 (the highest individual score of the game) kept the Royal Challengers in the hunt, it was Kumble's spell of 3-14 that ultimately won the game for them. "In One-day and Tests, you get a little more time to adjust ... T20 doesn't give you that time. Maybe, I am still learning," he jibed, when somebody asked whether he has finally come to terms with T20 cricket. You couldn't miss the sarcasm in Dravid's voice as he added: "I don't think I need not prove anything more to anybody." Was it meant for his owner Vijay Mallya, who would have preferred to have Dhoni in his team rather than spending as much as he did on the 'icon'? Dravid didn't specify, but he made it clear that he won't leave the battlefield so easy. "This win won't make any difference for us this time, but we will take a lot of heart from it anyway and come back strong next season," he said. As Dravid spoke for himself, he also didn't forget to mention Kumble. "He knows all about handling pressure situations and this was special," he said, referring to the leggie's spell where the Team India Test captain accounted for Stephen Fleming, Parthiv Patel and S Badrinath to turn the game around. Amidst all these, Dravid couldn't conceal the sense of pleasure at being able to break Chennai Super Kings' rhythm. "I don't mind playing the party-pooper now," he said with a smile.

Rain lashes Viru's boys, sends Riders crashing out

A morose Delhi Daredevils dressing room sat and watched in silence as rain lashed the Ferozeshah Kotla on Thursday, washing out their all-important clash with the Kolkata Knight Riders. Delhi, who needed to win both this game and the next one against Mumbai to stand a strong chance of making it to the semi-final, have now split points with Kolkata, which has further complicated their scenario and made them dependent on the results of some of the other semi-final contenders to get into the last four. Intermittent drizzle late in the evening made the work of the Kotla ground-staff very difficult. Their best efforts couldn't get the stage ready for the show. The umpires called off the match after an inspection at 10pm. However, match referee Clive Lloyd expressed his unhappiness at the condition of the super soppers used to flush out the water from the outfield. He said that only one of the three soppers was working efficiently. Meanwhile, Kolkata Knight Riders, after this game, are definitely out of the semifinal race with 11 points from 13 games, which means they can at best finish with 13 points. Both Team Hyderabad and the Royal Challengers Bangalore are already out of the race. With Team Jaipur already through with 18 points, and Team Mohali also assured of a place with 16 points and three games to go, that still leaves Delhi (13 points after this washout from 13 games), Mumbai Indians (12 points from 11 games) and Team Chennai (14 points from 12 games) jostling for the other two semi-final spots. Mumbai now look the strongest out of these three to make it to the semis first. They have three games to play, and Delhi will be hoping and praying they lose at least two out of those three. If Mumbai wins two of their remaining games, they'll be out of reach of Delhi. That means Delhi will have to beat them on Saturday and hope for Mumbai to lose another game, either against Team Jaipur or the Bangalore Royal Challengers, and for Chennai to lose their remaining games. In such a scenario, Delhi will finish with 15 points, while Mumbai and Chennai will have 14. So Delhi will become the third semi-finalist, while Mumbai and Chennai jostle it out (in terms of net run rate) for the fourth slot. The equation for Chennai is now quite simple: they need to win either against Team Jaipur or Team Hyderabad to be sure of a spot in the semis. In short, it's not curtains for Delhi yet, but they'll have to closely follow the fortunes of the competition and hope for the best.