When Pathan met Pathan

King's XI Punjab bowler Irfan Pathan greets elder brother and Rajasthan Royals' all-rounder Yusuf at the end of their Indian Premier League match at PCA stadium in Mohali on Wednesday.

The Punjab team beat Rajasthan by 41 runs in the last league match. Royals topped the IPL points table with with 22 points from 14 matches while Punjab finished second with 20 from as many matches.
The Pathan brothers have been a huge hit in the League.
Yusuf Pathan was instrumental in giving Rajastahn some breezy starts as he scored 334 runs with a strike rate of 182.5. He also claimed five wickets at an average for 41.6 from 14 matches.
Meanwhile, Irfan has 128 runs at the strike rate of 123 and 14 wickets at an average of 23.28 from 13 matches.

He's like a lion'

The Indian ODI and T20 captain, the Chennai skipper and the player who earned the highest bid during the IPL auction - it is MSD who gets the ladies' votes too! Actress Sophie Choudry calls him a "lion on field and I looove it! He has a fantastic and positive attitude. To be honest, IPL or no IPL, it is Dhoni for me."These superlatives later, singer Anushka Manchanda chips in, "He takes care of his looks and leads his team well… excellent combination." His game is what makes him so hot for the women. "Success suits him. His sexiness lies in the way he leads his team," she adds. Grooming pro Meyhar Bhasin sums it up, "Dhoni is a statement in himself. He has class, panache and attitude. His game is like no one else's."

IPL is here to stay, says Dravid

The Bangalore Royal Challengers may have cut a sorry figure in the inaugural Indian Premier League but captain Rahul Dravid has no doubt that the Twenty20 extravaganza is here to stay. After the side completed their campaign with yet another defeat, Dravid looked back at the tournament and said though organisers put up the show in a hurry, the event looked good enough to last. "Definitely this IPL tournament is here to stay. It was designed in such a short span of time and hopefully it will come with better colours next year," said Dravid. When asked about his team's performance, Dravid said, "It has given all of us lot of learning. We require some special skills to play in Twenty20 games and it's for the youngsters to know how important it's to hone these skills when they are back in this format next year." He felt crowds have been fantastic in this tournament. "Though unfortunately we could not play well here the crowds have been fantastic in these matches," said Dravid. In their last league assignment, Dravid's team went down to Sachin Tendulkar-led Mumbai Indians by nine wickets. In the rain-truncated tie, the Mumbai side restricted the hosts to 122 for nine in 18 overs before they went on to overwhelm the target with two overs to spare. Dilhara Fernando wrecked the top order with a four-wicket haul which also earned him the Man of the Match award. The strapping pacer later said varying the pace did the trick for him. "Change of pace is very important in Twenty20 matches," said Fernando, who grabbed 4 for 18 in his four overs. "It's important to vary pace in this format of the game as it helps to break the rhythm of the batsmen," said the curly-haired Sri Lankan. "I have learnt a lot from bowling in these matches and sharing the dressing room with the likes of Sachin (Tendulkar) Sanath (Jayasuriya) and (Shaun) Pollock have been very fruitful," he said. Coach Lalchand Rajput, who accompanied Fernando, was of the view that IPL had provided a fine platform for the youngsters to showcase their talent. "The youngsters I feel have been benefited a lot from this tournament sharing dressing rooms with senior cricketers and international players. The wealth of knowledge that has been shared in the dressing room is tremendous and in the years to come they will turn out to be better cricketers," said Rajput.

Punjab win by 41 runs against Rajasthan

Shaun Marsh smashed a mesmerizing century to lead Kings XI Punjab to a convincing 41-run victory against Rajasthan Royals in their inconsequential IPL encounter at PCA stadium on Wednesday.Put in to bat, the Punjab team, riding on Marsh's 115-run knock reached a massive 221 for three and then restricted the visitors to 180 for seven in their quota of 20 overs.Young leg spinner Piyush Chawla was the most successful bowler for the hosts with brilliant figures of 4-0-35-3.Niraj Patel (57) and Yousuf Pathan (39) did their best for the Royals but their effort was not enough to overhaul the big target.Though both the teams have already made the semi-final grade, which made the match inconsequential yet the Punjab team enter the knockout stage with the momentum.

Mumbai win by nine wickets against Bangalore

Mumbai Indians put up an all-round display to end their Indian Premier League campaign with a thumping nine-wicket victory over Bangalore Royal Challengers on Wednesday.The win though came late for Mumbai Indians, who went out of the semifinal contention after losing three close games in a row, which made them dependant on other teams' losses to reach the last four.

Even though their team doesn’t figure in the semi-finals, the franchisees of Mumbai Indians, Reliance, are set to make a killing during the finale of the IPL stretching over May 30 to June 1. As highest bidders at the team auctions, they were given marketing rights for all the matches in Mumbai, including the two semi-finals and the final. As the event caught the public fancy and demand for tickets increased, the value of the high-end seats has almost doubled while that of the lower seats in the north stands has quadrupled. But for the Vijay Merchant upper stand, the rate has gone up from Rs 500 to Rs 10,000, a 2,000 per cent rise. For the Vijay Merchant lower stand, the rate has gone up from Rs 500 to Rs 1,000. The franchisee upset the staging association, Mumbai, by refusing to give them the 20% quota of seats/tickets for the last three matches, as it had done during the league games. Instead, it agreed to give them to the IPL management. The MCA took up the matter with BCCI president Sharad Pawar. He ruled in favour of the MCA and ensured that the MCA would get its quota for the semi-finals at the Wankhede. For the final at DY Patil Stadium, though, the IPL, sources said, allotted 2,000 tickets to both MCA and D Y Patil Sports Academy. Agency reports quoted an MCA official as saying: ‘‘Commerce, more than promotion of the game or the interest of the host association, is the overriding factor in the staging of IPL ties