Mumbai Vs Punjab ,Kolkata Vs Bangalore ,Delhi Vs Rajasthan

Mumbai Vs Punjab

Punjab beat Mumbai Indian

Match date :- 29.04.2009

Yusuf Abdulla held his nerve in the last over to bowl Kings XI Punjab to a heart-stopping three-run victory over Mumbai Indians in their Indian Premier League (IPL) match at Kingsmead here Wednesday.
J.P Duminy's battling 59 went in vain as he fell in Abdulla's last over, from which Mumbai Indians needed 12 runs to chase down Kings XI's 119.
The low-scoring contest was alive till the last ball, from which Mumbai Indians needed five runs. Saurabh Tiwary could manage only one and Kings XI broke out in celebration.
Nobody would have put their money on Kings XI when Mumbai Indians set out to chase the lowly total which was built around the solid contribution of Kumar Sangakkara (45 off 44 balls).
But Mumbai started badly, losing its last game heroes Sachin Tendulkar and Sanath Jayasuriya early.
Jayasuriya was out for a duck giving a thick outside edge to Yuvraj Singh off Irfan Pathan (2-20).
Tendulkar was caught at point by Mahela Jayawerdena off Vikramjeet Malik.
Abdulla struck with his very first ball to remove Shikhar Dhawan with a stinging yorker that hit him in line.
Mumbai were struggling at three for 12 before Duminy and Dwayne Bravo (15) looked to set the house in order.
Duminy broke the shackles with two successive fours off Malik in the last powerplay over. Kings XI bowlers hit the right length on the slow surface to concede only 23 runs in six overs.
Bravo smashed Piyush Chawla for a four and a six before holing out to Wilkin Mota at long-on off Romesh Powar.
Duminy scored in singles and twos with Abhishek Nayar (15) at the other end. The South African was lucky to survive a missed stumping and a run out chance.
Pathan rattled Nayar's timber in the 18th over for the crucial breakthrough.
With 19 required from two overs, Harbhajan Singh went for a wild heave off Chawla, only to be caught at the boundary.

Kolkata Vs Bangalore

Match date :- 29.04.2009

Bangalore beat Kolkata by five wickets

Bangalore Royal Challengers defeated Kolkata Knight Riders by five wickets with one ball left here at Kingsmead on Wednesday.Chasing an easy 140-run target, Bangalore fought hard to win their second match in the tournament off the penultimate ball. Shreevats Goswami top scored with 43 while Mark Boucher remained not out on 25 and Jacques Kallis made 23. Opening the innings, Goswami and Kallis gave their team a solid start of 69 runs which made other batsmen’s task easy.For Kolkata, Brad Hodge took three wickets for 29 runs and Ishant Sharma claimed two wickets for only 15 runs from four overs.Earlier, Kolkata won the toss and batted first but their batsmen could not play the Bangalore spinners with confidence and were restricted to a mere 139-6 in the allotted 20 overs.Kevin Pietersen, playing his last IPL game, surprised everybody by taking the first over himself. More surprisingly, he sent down the first ball of the match and got Brendon McCullum first ball. Then, no other batsman could make any significant contribution except Morne van Wyk who remained unbeaten on 43 and Chris Gayle who scored 40.The spinners bowled 15 overs for 100 runs, and took out five wickets. Kumble was the best of the lot, bowling four overs for 16 and two wickets.

Delhi Vs Rajasthan

Match date – 28.04.2009

Rajasthan beat Delhi by 5 wicket

Yusuf Pathan struck a blistering half century while Graeme Smith muscled his way to a belligerent 44 to power Rajasthan Royals to a five wicket victory over Delhi Daredevils at the SuperSport Park.
Chasing a modest 144, Rajasthan Royals rode on Pathan's buccaneering 62 of 30 balls and Smith's sensible 44 off 46 balls to cruise to 147 for five in 18.3 overs to register their second victory of the tournament and end Daredevils winning run.
Elected to bat, earlier, a fighting half-century from AB de Villiers and some lusty hitting down the order from Daniel Vettori and Mithun Manhas helped Delhi Daredevils post 143 for seven after Rajasthan bowlers sent packing four Delhi top-order batsmen with the scoreboard reading 49.
The Royals started their run chase on a cautious note but were little unlucky as Rob Quiney (4) departed early lbw to Nehra, but TV replays clearly showed he hit the ball.

Chennai Vs Hyderabad ,Mumbai Vs Kolkata ,Delhi Vs Bangalore ,Punjab Vs Rajasthan ,Chennai Vs Delhi,Mumbai Indian Vs Deccan Chargers

Chennai Vs Hyderabad

Match date – 27.04.2009

Deccan beat Chennai by six wickets

The Deccan Chargers beat the Chennai Super Kings by six wickets in their Indian Premier League (IPL) match at Kingsmead in Durban on Monday.Gilchrist and Gibbs scored 67 off 34 balls in a spectacular opening stand as the Chargers surpassed Chennai's competitive 165-6 with six wickets and three balls to spare in the Twenty20 clash at the Kingsmead here.The 37-year-old Gilchrist hammered 44 off 19 balls with five boundaries and three sixes. Gibbs remained unbeaten on 69 with six fours and two sixes to continue his side's impressive run this year. The Chargers had finished at the bottom of the table in last year's inaugural tournament.Chennai, finalists last year, now have just one win from five matches with three defeats and one rained-off game.Chennai's innings revolved around two whirlwind knocks from left-handed veterans Matthew Hayden of Australia and Jacob Oram of New Zealand.Hayden, who quit official cricket in January, hit 49 off 35 balls to remain the tournament's leading scorer with 215 runs in five innings.Hayden put on 64 in 39 balls for the second wicket with Suresh Raina (25) and 38 for the third with skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni (22) after Parthiv Patel had fallen in the first over.Oram, who replaced England's injured all-rounder Andrew Flintoff, smashed an unbeaten 41 off 29 balls with four boundaries

Mumbai Vs Kolkata

Match date – 27.04.2009

Mumbai Indians beat Kolkata Knight Riders by 92 runs

Mumbai Indians beat Kolkata Knight Riders by 92 runs in their Indian Premier League match at St. George's Park in Port Elizabeth on Monday.
Scores: Mumbai Indians: 187-6 (S. Tendulkar 68, S. Jayasuriya 52); Kolkata Knight Riders: 95 (15.2 overs) (Reporting by Jason Humphries; Editing by Patrick Johnston; To query or comment on this story email sportsfeedback@thomsonreuters.com)

Mumbai Indians beat Kolkata Knight Riders by 92 runs to win the 17th match of the second edition of the Indian Premier League at St. George's Park in Port Elizabeth on Monday. Chasing a victory target of 188 runs, Kolkata were bundled out for 95 runs in 15.2 overs. Last man Anureet Singh did not bat as he was injured during fielding in first over at boundary.Mumbai Indians captain Sachin Tendulkar was adjudged the Man of the Match for his swashbuckling knock. Sourav Ganguly as their top scorer with 34, with Brad Hodge chipping in with 24. Apart from Ganguly, Hodge and Chris Gayle, none of the other Kolkata batsmen reached double figures, as Abhishek Nayar and Lasith Malinga took 3 wickets each. Malinga was awarded the purple cap after the match for becoming the leading wicket-taker in the tournament. Earlier, Captain Sachin Tendulkar and his opening partner Sanath Jayasuriya put the Kolkata Knight Riders attack to the sword with a blazing partnership of 127 runs in just 12.1 overs as Mumbai Indians notched up the highest total at St. George's Park in any form of Twenty20 cricket. Winning the toss and batting first, Tendulkar led the brutal assault with a knock of 68 runs off 45 balls that was studded with 4 sixes and 6 fours, slamming his third IPL fifty in the process. Jayasuriya also hit his third IPL fifty with the help of 4 sixes and 2 fours and was dismissed for 52 that came off 32 deliveries.

Delhi Vs Bangalore

Match date – 26.04.2009

Delhi Daredevils beat Bangalore RC by six wickets

Delhi Daredevils beat Bangalore Royal Challengers by six wickets in their Indian Premier League match at St George's Park in Port Elizabeth on Sunday.
Scores: Bangalore Royals Challengers 149-7; Delhi Daredevils 150-4 (T. Dilshan 67 not out)
Tillakaratne Dilshan's unbeaten 67 guided Delhi to a six-wicket win over the Bangalore Royal Challengers on Sunday, giving the unbeaten Daredevils a third Indian Premier League victory. The Sri Lankan hit five boundaries and two sixes in 47 balls with some clean hitting mostly square of the pitch as Delhi eclipsed Bangalore's 149 for seven with four balls to spare at St. George's Park. Delhi and the Deccan Chargers are the only unbeaten teams left having each played three games, with the Daredevils second on net run rate. Bangalore are last with one win in five matches. Dilshan and AB de Villiers (21) put on 42 as Delhi recovered from 42 for two after pace bowler Pankaj Singh had removed openers Virender Sehwag for 16 and Gautam Gambhir for 7. “It's not easy when people expect things from you,” Sehwag said of his poor form in the tournament. When De Villiers fell in the 14th over, bowled by left-arm spinner KP Appanna after giving himself room outside off stump, the advantage appeared to drift to Bangalore. But Mithun Manhas hit 23 not out to steer Delhi home along with Dilshan. Bangalore captain Kevin Pietersen was generally happy with his team's performance. “It's sad to lose. I'm upset, but when you lose the way we did it's encouraging,” he said. “The guys can raise their heads high.” Pietersen scored 37 for Bangalore.

Punjab Vs Rajasthan

Match date :- 26.04.2009

Kings XI Punjab beat Rajasthan Royals by 27 runs

Irfan Pathan led the battle of the brothers on the field and with it Preity Zinta was able to lord it over rival team-owner Shilpa Shetty. The Kings XI Punjab began as though they had lost the plot in their match against the Rajasthan Royals but a gritty, fighting effort gave them victory by 27 runs.
After choosing to bat Punjab slumped badly, with four of their top five falling before there was fifty on the board. Kumar Sangakkara (60) resurrected the innings with Irfan Pathan (39) providing a late rally. Irfan (2/26) and Yusuf Abdulla (3/21) then blew Rajasthan away.

Score card

Kings XI Punjab: Bopara c Munaf b Kamran 11 (15 balls, 2x4), Goel run out 0 (0b), Sangakkara run out 60 (51b, 7x4, 1x6), Yuvraj c Rawat b Munaf 2 (3b), Jayawardene c Kamran b Munaf 7 (10b), I Pathan b Kamran 39 (33b, 2x4, 2x6), Chawla not out 6 (6b, 1x4), Mota not out 1 (2b)
Extras (b 2, lb 2, w 9) 13

Total (6 wkts; 20 overs) 139

Fall of wkts: 1-0, 2-21, 3-38, 4-48, 5-123, 6-130.

Bowling: Kamran 4-0-15-2, Mascarenhas 4-0-29-0, Munaf 4-0-24-2, Y Pathan 4-0-30-0, Warne 4-0-37-0.

Rajasthan Royals: Asnodkar c Powar b Pathan 3 (4b), Smith c Sangakkara b Pathan 2 (6b), Quiney c Sangakkara b Abdulla 7 (8b, 1x4), Y Pathan c Goel b Chawla 10 (13b, 2x4), Mascarenhas b Abdulla 4 (2b, 1x4), Jadeja b Abdulla 37 (44b, 2x4), Raut c Powar b Chawla 1 (4b), Warne not out 34 (33b, 3x4), Rawat not out 4 (6b);

Extras (lb 5, w 5) 10;

Total (7 wickets; 20 overs) 112 Fall of wkts: 1-7, 2-9, 3-23, 4-27, 5-36, 6-42, 7-102 Bowling: Powar 2-0-10-0; I Pathan 4-0-26-2; Abdulla 4-0-21-3; VRV 4-0-19-0; Chawla 4-0-22-2; Yuvraj 2-0-9-0.

Chennai Vs Delhi

Match date :- 25.04.2009

Delhi beat Chennai by 9 runs

Welcome to empty stands in the Indian Premier League. And welcome to the real fun of T20 cricket. The two don’t go hand in hand, but that was precisely the case when AB De Villiers decided to tee off at a virtually empty Kingsmead on a weekday in Durban. But the handful of fans present at the ground in the day game were witness to some super hitting by AB as Delhi notched up their second successive win of the tournament. The game could have gone much tighter had Hayden (57 off 27 balls) hung on for a little longer. When Hayden got out, Chennai needed 100 off 72 balls, but Daniel Vettori had his full quota of four overs up his sleeve. The crafty Kiwi again made the difference, with his nice teasing flight, as Chennai kept losing wickets at regular intervals to go down by nine runs. While Vettori pushed in a few, he flighted some up nicely, and the likes of MS Dhoni and Andrew Flintoff struggled to find the big shots. While Dhoni fell to Vettori, Flintoff was dislodged by Ashish Nehra, and the pressure was right on Chennai. But they kept themselves in the game till the 19th over, but Vettori again bowled a brilliant over, dismissing Badrinath, which virtually sealed the game for Delhi. If Vettori starred with the ball, it was AB’s outstanding hitting that put Delhi in pole position. The trusted opening duo of Gautam Gambhir and Virender Sehwag had been removed early and the Chennai team was smelling blood. But De Villiers (105 off 54 balls), and his partnerships with Tillakaratne Dilshan (50) and Manoj Tiwary, helped Delhi put up the highest total of the tournament so far. The destructive AB was brilliant both off the front and backfoot and the Chennai bowlers just didn’t know where to bowl to him. The the man to suffer most was Chennai’s star all-rounder Flintoff, who was plundered for 20 off the penultimate over by AB. The 6-4-4-6 combo pushed the total to 189, which was probably 20 more than the par-score on this pitch. Even Dhoni was

Mumbai Indian Vs Deccan Chargers

Match date :- 25.04.2009

Deccan Chargers beat Mumbai by 12 runs

Herschelle Gibbs hit a brisk 44-ball 58, while Pragyan Ojha returned with a crucial three wicket haul to help Deccan Chargers beat Mumbai Indians by 12 runs in the Indian Premier League.
Gibbs slammed six fours and a couple of sixes to help Deccan Chargers post a competitive total of 168 for nine, before Ojha weaved his magic to restrict the Mumbai Indians just 12 runs short of the target.
Chasing 169, Mumbai made a watchful start after losing Sanath Jayasuriya cheaply in the second over but Tendulkar (36) consolidated the loss well and combined with South African JP Duminy (47) to score the first fifty in six overs en route a first wicket stand of 82 runs in 55 balls.
In the fifth over, Tendulkar welcomed new bowler Harmeet Singh with consecutive fours and followed it up with a mighty six over long off before Duminy sealed it with a flashing four over cover.
Tendulkar and Duminy played sensibly to post 84 runs in 10 overs but after the strategy break the match oscillated in Deccan's favour as spinner Pragyan Ojha struck thrice removing Tendulkar, Shikar Dhawan (3) and Duminy in his fours overs.
Part-time spinner Venugopal Rao also tightened the screw on the other end and although Harbhajan Singh kept the hope alive with some lusty blows, it was too little too late at the end

Kings XI Punjab Vs Bangalore Royal Challengers

Match date - 24th April 2007

Kings XI Punjab won by 7 wkts

Over by Over Commentry

Pietersen's Royal Challengers have won the toss and decided to bat. Yuvraj would have liked to bat too, but if he chooses tactics as impulsively as he chooses sunglasses, that's not saying much.
1st over: Bangalore Royal Challengers 6-0 (Ryder 4, Uthappa 0). All the runs off two deliveries, the third - sent through mid-on for four, and a couple from the last.
Wicket! Bangalore Royal Challengers 6-1 (Uthappa c Yuvraj b Pathan) Uthappa goes fishing for a wide 'un and just flicks it up to first slip. Kallis comes in.
2nd over: Bangalore Royal Challengers 12-1 (Ryder 4, Kallis 8 0). Kallis settles down immediately, hitting a six off his third delivery, spinning to hook the ball over square leg, and there's another couple off the following ball, hit in the same direction if not quite so hard. Or high.
3rd over: Bangalore Royal Challengers 32-1 (Ryder 24, Kallis 6). Jesse Ryder's started to swing, sending Bose's first ball past mid-off for four. And it didn't get any better for the lad, as Ryder got three more boundaries, 18 off the over.
4th over: Bangalore Royal Challengers 39-1 (Ryder 25, Kallis 13). Abdulla comes on, and watches his first ball go for four. It improves from there, and there's only a couple of singles thereafter. Ryder and Kallis, by the way – you wouldn't want to bump into them down a dark alley. They are massive. Huge. The commentators are already making sarcastic remarks about their waist size.
5th over: Bangalore Royal Challengers 47-1 (Ryder 32, Kallis 14). Pathan's back on from the other end. The first ball, a decent attempt at a yorker, is kept out. The second offers Ryder some width and he slashes it past square leg for four. After a couple of ducks, the Kiwi's settling nicely here. He even ran three off the fifth ball here, which required more athleticism than seemed likely
WICKET! Bangalore Royal Challengers 48-2 (Ryder b Abdulla 32) It's not a particularly clever delivery, but Ryder's already finished his stroke before it gets anywhere near him and in comes Pietersen.
WICKET! Pietersen OUT! Bangalore Royal Challengers 48-3 (Uthappa c Goel b Abdulla) Pietersen's second ball and a slower delivery leaves him flumoxed. He flips it up to silly mid-off.
6th over: Bangalore Royal Challengers 49-3 (Dravid 1, Kallis 15). Two wickets, two runs – suddenly Bangalore's innings crumbles into crisis, and Pietersen's struggles continue. A clever bit of bowling by Abdulla for the Englishman's wicket, though. Maybe he'll invent a knee injury and fly home?
7th over: Bangalore Royal Challengers 53-3 (Dravid 3, Kallis 16). The spin begins, Chawla coming on to totally destroy the RC's momentum. Four off the over, all singles.
8th over: Bangalore Royal Challengers 62-3 (Dravid 6, Kallis 23). Yuvraj comes on, and his first ball is half-volleyed through the off-side by Kallis, just foiling Pathan's dive.
9th over: Bangalore Royal Challengers 65-3 (Dravid 7, Kallis 25). It's like there are twice as many fielders out there as there were 10 minutes ago. Three singles off Chawla.
10th over: Bangalore Royal Challengers 71-3 (Dravid 8, Kallis 30). Two dot balls to start the over, but the third flies past Jayawardene for four. Another dot ball and a desperate scrambled single - again to Jayawardene, brooding over the boundary – but it's another slow over. Cue the tactical time-out.
Seven and a half minutes of relative relaxation Crikey, there's a lot of typing involved in these over-by-over jobs. Make football minute-by-minutes seem like a siesta by comparison. So if I'm ignoring some of your emails (many of them about that Fake IPL Player blog – here at Guardian towers, we're already so all over this), sorry. I'll get there in the end. Probably. Wouldn't bet on it, mind.
So who's the worse Twenty20 cricketer, Flintoff or Pietersen? Can England get them both injured in time for the World Twenty20? Anyway, enough about us. Bangalore will be hoping to get as close as possible to 170, but they'll need Dravid and Kallis to stick out there for a while. Tom Moody, the Punjab coach, reckons there's a good chance of a run-out with these two out in the middle. Anyway, back to the action...
WICKET! Bangalore Royal Challengers 73-4 (Dravid c Singh b Chawla 10) Dravid goes for the big one. Safe to say he didn't get it. It falls a good 10 yards inside the rope where Singh is arriving at pace to take the catch comfortably. This wasn't in the script.
11th over: Bangalore Royal Challengers 74-4 (Taylor 1, Kallis 31). Ross Taylor comes in but hasn't done anything yet. Bangalore need someone to land some big punches fast.
12th over: Bangalore Royal Challengers 87-4 (Taylor 2, Kallis 42). Kallis absolutely creams Yuvraj's first delivery (a long way) over mid-off for six, and the next two deliveries each bring a couple. 13 off the over, Bangalore's best for a while.
13th over: Bangalore Royal Challengers 91-4 (Taylor 4, Kallis 44). Now Bopara has a bowl, and it's a nicely disciplined over too - all the runs come in singles, and there are only four of them. The last one was about that far from being called wide though.
14th over: Bangalore Royal Challengers 105-4 (Taylor 13, Kallis 49). VRV Singh comes into the attack. His second ball is spooned by Taylor through where first slip would be for four, but if that was a fortunate boundary the next was not - a fine shot, played on the up and through the off-side in a flash. Kallis also has a bit of a go. 14 off the over.
15th over: Bangalore Royal Challengers 118-4 (Taylor 19, Kallis 52). Chawla's back on, his first three overs having gone pretty well. Not this one, though. Kallis brings up his half-century by running a couple off the first ball. Taylor thrashes an enormous six. His best ball is missed by both Taylor and the wicketkeeper, and carries for four.
16th over: Bangalore Royal Challengers 127-4 (Taylor 20, Kallis 60). Irfan Pathan comes on, and his first ball thrashed by Kallis over the bowlers's head and, with one bounce, for four. That's a 50-run partnership, off 30 balls. The last also goes for four, Taylor's shot marvellously controlled through gully.
WICKET! Bangalore Royal Challengers 134-5 (Kallis c Jayawardene b Abdulla 60) A third wicket for Abdulla tempts Kallis into a wild hook which looks an easy catch for precisely as long as it takes to fall out of the skies and into Jawardene's hands. Virat Kohli comes in.
17th over: Bangalore Royal Challengers 136-5 (Taylor 25, Kohli 1). Three wickets for 14 runs from three overs, is Abdulla's figures here. Not very bad at all. Did for Kallis with a slower bouncer, and Bangalore RC need to put their foot down fast.
WICKET! Bangalore Royal Challengers 134-5 (Kohli c Bopara b Singh 2) No time for Kohli to get settled. He sends the ball flying straight down Bopara's throat at mid-on.
18th over: Bangalore Royal Challengers 144-6 (Taylor 25, Kumar 2). Nine from the over, plus Kohli's wicket. This is running away from Bangalore.
WICKET! Bangalore Royal Challengers 159-6 (Taylor c Jayawardene b Abdulla 35) Taylor moves across his stumps before the fourth delivery comes in and has to improvise a shot which flies only to Jayawardene.
19th over: Bangalore Royal Challengers 162-7 (Vinay Kumar 0, Kumar 13). The bad news: 14 runs from the over, two massive sixes. The good news: Taylor's gone.
WICKET! Bangalore Royal Challengers 162-7 (Kumar lbw b Pathan 13) First ball of the last over and Kumar's gone, lbw. By the way, there were two 15th overs. This is the last, obviously. And here's another...
WICKET! Bangalore Royal Challengers 162-8 (Pankaj Singh b Pathan 0) Pankaj Singh tries to hoik his first ball into the stratosphere, but completely misses it. His leg stump pays the price.
20th over: Bangalore Royal Challengers 168-9 (Vinay Kumar 1, Kumble 5). Two wickets and no runs from the first three balls, six off the over. Not enough, you'd have thought.

Innings break Back in 20 minutes, then...

1st over: Kings XI Punjab 3-0 (Bopara 1, Goel 1). Kumar opens the bowling with a wide, in an otherwise unremarkable start.
2nd over: Kings XI Punjab 14-0 (Bopara 3, Goel 8). Punkaj Singh's first over is mainly notable because it saw Pietersen do something well, just about stopping Goel's off-side drive from reaching the boundary. A couple of wides mean the over went for 11 anyway
3rd over: Kings XI Punjab 18-0 (Bopara 5, Goel 10). The bowler, Praveen Kumar, looks to have turned an ankle trying an outlandish run-out. The physio tapes up his boot, which seemed fine – it's what was inside the boot that was struggling. He immediately cuts down his run-up. Uthappa leads a big appeal off the penultimate ball, which caught Goel's thigh-pad. Good decision.
4th over: Kings XI Punjab 29-0 (Bopara 11, Goel 14). I didn't mention the ads for Resolva weed killer. There are as many ads for that as there are for Emmenthal cheese. The thing is, I could do with some weed killer. There are weeds in my garden that are bigger than me. Emmenthal I can live without. Bopara gets the innings going with a fine four through deep square leg.
5th over: Kings XI Punjab 39-0 (Bopara 14, Goel 16). Jacques Kallis's first ball goes for four byes, and is called a wide. So that's five free runs. The wicket-keeper, Uthappa, could have stopped that. A shame, because the batsmen are scoring very slowly.
6th over: Kings XI Punjab 44-0 (Bopara 17, Goel 18). Before the over, Goel changed his bat. Vinay Kumar's first ball finds Bopara's leading edge, but it loops maddeningly out of his grasp. Just two boundaries, bouth fours, from the first five overs.
WICKET! Kings XI Punjab 52-1 (Goel run out 18) A really good throw from deep fine leg, and Goel's slightly half-arsed running, leads to a breakthrough for Pietersen's men. It was close though.
7th over: Kings XI Punjab 57-1 (Bopara 28, Sangakkara 1). From the first ball of the seventh over Bopara thrashes his first six, but just as the partnership looks to be getting going, it's broken.
8th over: Kings XI Punjab 61-1 (Bopara 30, Sangakkara 3). Pietersen's wheels out his part-time off-spin, and he should have got a wicket from it. Sangakkara skies the ball, which falls right into the hands of Rahul Dravid. But, right at the end, his hands move and the ball doesn't. A humiliation. Only four off the over, mind.
9th over: Kings XI Punjab 67-1 (Bopara 33, Sangakkara 7). Kumble comes on. Nothing happens. Six off it. Someone tries to sell me weed-killer. I could use some weed-killer, actually.
10th over: Kings XI Punjab 80-1 (Bopara 32, Sangakkara 19). Pietersen's second over isn't so good. Sangakkara sweeps for four and blasts a six off successive deliveries. At the half-way stage, Punjab are well in charge – they need less than nine an over off the last 10, with lots of wickets to play with.
11th over: Kings XI Punjab 84-1 (Bopara 34, Sangakkara 21). Sangakkara could have gone again, but Kallis's throw from the third man boundary isn't good enough and he just about makes his ground.
12th over: Kings XI Punjab 91-1 (Bopara 34, Sangakkara 26). Jesse Ryder has a go at bowling. He takes the pace right out of it, but gets his length bang on the money. The first five balls go for three, the last a nicely improvised four from the charmed Sangakkara.
WICKET! Kings XI Punjab 91-2 (Sangakkara c Pankaj Singh b Kumble 26) Sangakkara finally goes for it, and he finally goes – caught by Pankaj at long off
13th over: Kings XI Punjab 94-2 (Bopara 38, Yuvraj Singh 1). Kumble's bowling like a master and the asking rate has crept up to 10.7. Could Pietersen somehow end today without looking like an idiot?
14th over: Kings XI Punjab 103-2 (Bopara 44, Yuvraj Singh 4). Praveen Kumar comes back, having had to wait before bowling after receiving treatment to his ankle. Let's just say his over gives Setanta the opportunity to broadcast a lengthy interview with the world's least interesting ball boy, with Bopara's four the only highlight.
15th over: Kings XI Punjab 109-2 (Bopara 48, Yuvraj Singh 6). Another decent Kumble over: tight, in other words. You can't nurdle your way to 10 an over. Someone tries to sell me weed-killer. I could do with some weed-killer, you know.
16th over: Kings XI Punjab 128-2 (Bopara 67, Yuvraj Singh 6). Bopara boshes his way to a half-century, hitting Praveen Kumar's first delivery for six. Then the second goes for four, Kumar giving Uthapa all sorts of evils after it sneaks through. Then the fourth, a full-toss, goes for another six. This is the over Kings XI needed to put themselves back in charge, 19 off it.
17th over: Kings XI Punjab 141-2 (Bopara 69, Yuvraj Singh 17). Kallis comes back and goes for 13.
18th over: Kings XI Punjab 158-2 (Bopara 85, Yuvraj Singh 17). Jesse Ryder loses his discipline, with one really silly full-toss presenting Bopara with a gift-wrapped six, one of two this over. Challengers looked to be coming back into this a couple of over back, but their total's looking close now. And Bopara is the best Englishman in this competition. This has been a really clever innings. Brains and brawn.
WICKET! Kings XI Punjab 158-3 (Bopara c Ryder b Kallis 85) A slower ball, and Bopara's slog isn't quite good enough.
It's all over! Kings XI Punjab 173-3 (Jayawardene 1, Yuvraj Singh 30), 18.6 overs. "How do you reckon Bopara's been playing so far," asks Arun Venkataraman. Well, I'd say this was one late, loose but irrelevant shot away from being the perfect innings. Really well paced, and left his team on the brink of victory.
Final thoughts There might only have been two Englishmen here, but they'll be dividing the headlines between them. For Pietersen, disaster. He won the toss, but nothing went right after that. He got a two-ball duck as his team posted a barely-defensible target which they didn't come close to defending. His day was probably worse than Flintoff's. For Bopara, glory. A mature, composed, really intelligent innings, 85 off 59 balls. So points on the board for Kings XI Punjab, a game they looked likely to win from the moment Pietersen's wicket fell, two balls after that of Jesse Ryder.

Score card

The following is the scoreboard of the match between Bangalore Royal Challengers and Kings XI Punjab in the Indian Premier League (IPL) at the Newlands here Friday.

Bangalore Royal Challengers:

Jesse Ryder b Abdulla 32 (21 balls)
Robin Uthappa c Yuvraj Singh b Pathan 0 (1)
Jacques Kallis c Jayawardene b Abdulla 62 (46)
Kevin Pietersen c Goel b Abdulla 0 (2)
Rahul Dravid c Singh b Chawla 10 (13)
Ross Taylor c Jayawardene b Abdulla 35 (22)
Virat Kohli c Bopara b Singh 2 (3)
Praveen Kumar lbw b Pathan 13 (7)
Vinay Kumar not out 1 (1)
Pankaj Singh b Pathan 0 (1)
Anil Kumble not out 5 (3)

Extras (b 4, lb 1, w 3) 8

Total (nine wickets in 20 overs) 168

Fall of wickets: 1-6 (Uthappa, 1.1 overs), 2-48 (Ryder, 5.2), 3-48 (Pietersen, 5.4), 4-73 (Dravid, 10.3), 5-134 (Kallis, 16.3), 6-142 (Kohli, 17.4), 7-159 (Taylor, 18.4), 8-162 (Kumar, 19.1), 9-162 (Pankaj Singh, 19.2)

Bowling:

Ranadeb Bose 2-0-24-0
Irfan Pathan 4-0-35-3
Yusuf Abdulla 4-0-31-4
Piyush Chawla 4-0-19-1
Yuvraj Singh 3-0-28-0
Ravi Bopara 1-0-4-0
Vikram Raj Vir Singh 2-0-22-1

Kings XI Punjab:

Ravi Bopara c Ryder b Kallis 84 (59)
Karan Goel run out (Vinay Kumar/Uthappa) 19 (19)
Kumar Sangakkara c Pankaj Singh b Kumble 26 (18)
Yuvraj Singh not out 30 (17)
Mahela Jayawardene not out 1 (1)

Extras (b 1, lb 3, w 9) 13

Total (for three wickets in 19 overs) 173

Fall of wickets: 1-52 (Goel, 6.4 overs), 2-92 (Sangakkara, 12.3), 3-158 (Bopara, 18.1)

Bowling:

Praveen Kumar 4-0-36-0
Pankaj Singh 2-0-20-0
Jacques Kallis 4-0-51-1
Vinay Kumar 1-0-4-0
Kevin Pietersen 2-0-16-0
Anil Kumble 4-0-19-1
Jesse Ryder 2-0-23-0

Toss: Bangalore Royal Challengers, who chose to bat first

Points: Kings XI Punjab 2, Bangalore Royal Challengers 0

Umpires: Billy Doctrove (West Indies) and T.H. Wijewardene (Sri Lanka)

TV umpire: Simon Taufel (Australia)

Match referee: D. Govindjee (South Africa)

Chennai super Kings Vs Delhi Dare Devils ,Rajasthan Royal Vs Kolkata Knight Riders ,Deccan Chargers Vs Royal Challengers ,Mohali Vs Kolkata,MumVs Raj

Chennai super Kings Vs Delhi Dare Devils

Delhi won by 9 runs



Every body was thinking of two devils, namely, Sehwag and Gambhir in the Delhi contingent but de Villiers and Dilshan made it clear that each and every player of the Delhi team is a devil. No one could expect a team except for Delhi Daredevils, to resurrect from an early mishap of losing key players like Sehwag and Gambhir for a score of 8 runs to a comfortable poising of 46/2 in 5 overs and further develop it to 189/5 after 20 overs. The whole show belonged to de Villiers who beckoned his maiden IPL ton which also is the first in IPL Season 2 to make the Super Kings way out of caging the Daredevils. He was not ready to compromise with anything except for sixers and fours and in fact he took over the slaughter from Dilshan after the latter departed immediately after scoring his half century. Till then he was looking like a gentleman hiding the devil in him behind and once his companion parted the half century partnership, the Protean kept aside the policy of taking singles and propelled the ball 11 times beyond the fence out of which 6 times it did not touch the ground before ensuring the maximum runs. His 105* but could not help Daredevils touch 200 mark as Balaji claimed some good bowling and 3 wickets.

Hayden and Patel had some home work done before they started the chase as the duo could make a ‘super’ start with the partnership finding the fastest fifty runs of IPL Season 2, off just 27 balls. In fact Super Kings were better placed than the opponents with the score on 56/0 after the first quarter of their innings comparing to the 46/2 of Daredevils by that time. Patel departed with score on 57 but Hayden was in massive form and 7th over was the worst hit for Daredevils as 25 runs were conceded off it. But Sangwan at last got the fish with Hayden hitting him to find Nannes receiving the ball at mid-on. With 57 runs off 27 balls he surely swayed the game towards the Kings’ side. The fall of Hayden not only allowed Daredevils to stump over the opponents but it also made Kings feel that the match was not theirs or else they could have easily chased down the target with the run rate surging way ahead of the required one. Even singles and odd boundaries would have done the trick for them but after the fall of a giant king like Hayden it is obvious to see this sort of twist in the match. Last two overs found them needing 24 runs with 5 wickets in hand. But Badrinath could not take on the pressure and he was trapped by Vettori and though Gony could keep the mercury levels high with a six off Vettori, his fight concluded on the last ball of the over with a run out. 15 runs needed off the last over by Nannes but the bowler beautifully handled the situation though Joginder could scalp 4 runs off first two balls. Then he too ran to get out and on the very next ball Balaji too did commit the same mistake of running for an impossible run and lastly with Morkel managing only a single on the penultimate delivery, Muralitharan had one ball with a requirement of 10 runs. He could not make any miracle as obvious and it remained a dot ball to register a 9 run win for the Daredevils.

Rajasthan Royal Vs Kolkata Knight Riders

Kolkata won the game by super over

IPL witnessed its first nail-biting tie-breaker to otherwise staid game between Kolkata Knight Riders and Rajasthan Royals. Sourav Ganguly’s struggle to take the Knight Riders to the other side of 150 didn’t really succeed as his team exhausted the quota of 20 overs dot at 150. The match reached decision through a Super Over which was more entertaining than the entire two innings today, thanks to Yusuf Pathan’s crazy hitting.

Earlier in the game, the Knight Riders elected to field after winning the toss. The Royals had things going good for them. The wickets fell every now and then but the run rate remained healthy till Yusuf Pathan kept blasting the deliveries hurled at him. At a strike rate of 200, he scored 42 which included 6 boundaries and 2 sixes. The game turned slow after Mendis got him off Yashpal Sharma. Ishant Sharma, Anureet Singh and Ajantha Mendis bagged two wickets each as the Royals finished their innings at 150 for 6.In response, the Knight Riders lost skipper McCullum (3) for cheap but Chris Gayle set the Cape Town ground ablaze with his 41 off 33 balls. Hitting 2 fours and 4 sixes, he got the junta what it really expects out of IPL, some glorious hard-hitting. Ganguly kept things ticking with his 46 off 30 balls but failed his team at 149 at the second last delivery. Yusuf Pathan was righteously awarded the Man of the Match prize. Rajasthan Royals move up the points tally to the fourth position while Kolkata are now deep in the bottom at the second last spot.

Deccan Chargers Vs Royal Challengers

Deccan chargers won by 24 runs against Royal challengers


Luck has been eluding the Bangalore Royal Challengers since their first win of the IPL season against the Rajasthan Royals. First, they were steamrolled by the Chennai Super Kings and now they have been done in by the Deccan Chargers, who have played a game of their life today. Sadly for Pietersen, his poor run as a captain continues. As for the Deccan Chargers, Adam Gilchrist and Rohit Sharma took the team to the best total of the tournament so far. The two batsmen combined for a 3rd wicket partnership of 61 runs from 6 overs – definitely a feverishly paced score – ultimately leading the team to a score of 184 for 6. Clearly the day belonged to them.

After winning the toss and opting to bat first Gilchrist scorched the field with 71 off 41 balls, a score that comprised of 5 sixes and 6 fours. He took no time to settle in, taking Pravin Kumar’s first over for 3 consecutive fours. The second over by Steyn went for 14 runs including a 6. Those first two overs called for nearly 6 fielding changes. The 3rd over saw the fall of Herschelle Gibbs’ wicket, and VVS Laxman followed shortly; but amidst all this Gilchrist’s show continued. But the real story began when Rohit Sharma entered the field and hit a four off his very first ball. He went on to score 10 runs from the first 12 balls and 42 off the next 18. There was no curtailing the Deccan Chargers after that. Between them, Gilchrist and Sharma scored 123 runs in 75 balls, with 88 of those runs coming off boundaries. Rohit Sharma fell to Steyn at the far end of the innings in the 18 over, resulting in only 10 runs coming off the last two overs, but by then the damage had been done. As for the Bangalore Royal Challengers, they seem to be getting used to poor starts. Their innings began with Edwards bowling Ryder out in his very first ball. Following that they lost 3 quick wickets and were floundering at 62 for 4 in 11, chasing a target of 185 with a required run rate of 13.33. The only commendable performances came from Rahul Dravid (48 off 27 balls) and Virat Kohli (50 off 32 balls). But with an ever escalating run rate and 4 lost wickets, the match was as good as lost.

Mohali Vs Kolkata

Kolkata won by 11 runs

Kolkata picked themselves up from the disappointments of Cape Town to put their first points on getting the better of King’s XI Punjab on Tuesday. Though victory came via the Duckworth-Lewis route -- the Knights declared winners by 11 runs after rain stopped their chase at 79 for 1 in 9.2 overs -- the Knights presented a much more purposeful approach than they did on Sunday. With a relatively subdued Shah Rukh Khan watching anxiously from the terraces, KKR did well to first restrict the dangerous Kings XI batsmen to a total of 158 for six in their 20 overs. Then, Chris Gayle came out blazing to suggest that the Knights would get to their target without outside help. He was unbeaten on 44 off 26 deliveries when the heavens opened up and prevented further play. With the threat of a D/L intrusion hovering above, and the Kingsmead’s reputation of aiding new-ball bowlers on the ground, it was a good toss to win for Brendon McCullum and an absorbing 20-over battle between bat and ball ensued as both teams, in desperate need for victory after losses in their openers, tried to grab the initiative. Ishant Sharma sent down a fiery first over, announcing the bounce in the wicket and making promises on behalf of KKR. The first wicket came early as well, but Irfan Pathan, promoted to one-drop, unleashed a blistering 32 to turn the tide. Sourav Ganguly came on to begin with a sensational over, stopping the marauding Pathan and, a couple of balls later, having Ravi Bopara edging to McCullum.

Mumbai Indians Vs Rajasthan Royals

Rain stopped the Game

The Indian Premier League match between defending champions Rajasthan Royals and Mumbai Indians was abandoned without a ball being bowled due to rain on Tuesday. Both teams secured a point each after the washout. Mumbai now have three points from two games, while Rajasthan took their first point after losing their opening match.

Bangalore Royal Challengers vsChennai Super Kings

Chennai Super Kings Won by 92 runs

Over by Over commentry

Chennai Innings
1st over: Chennai 9-0 (Hayden 7 Patel 1)Hayden and Patel, possibly the greatest little-and-large double act since Little and Large, open the innings, with Praveen Kumar taking the first over. "I'm still struggling to get interested in this whole IPL thing. I think the starry line ups actually make it worse, all those famous names randomly thrown together just puts me in mind of a testimonial." Tom Hopkins, I know just what you mean, that's why the rabid crowds at last year's games were so important, because they added the thing a sense of genuine import. Patel pushes the first run away to extra cover, and Hayden then squirts three thin runs through mid-wicket. A leg bye puts him back on strike and he cuts the last ball for four through cover. We immediately cut away to a Lynx advert.
2nd over: Chennai 15-0 (Hayden 7 Patel 4)And at the other end, Dale Steyn. Patel swings wildly at the first ball, and slices away an inside edge for two. A single and a wide trickle the score onwards. Hayden clumps a really bad shot - he was aiming through cover - over backward square for two. Here's Harkarn Sumal: "We went to watch Warwickshire vs Somerset at Edgbaston yesterday. Apart from the sunburn (really suffering today), there was more than could have been expected in common with the "spectacle" you're "guiding" us through. Despite the fact that there were only about two thousand people sprinkled around the place we had booming music (courtesy of the Indian wedding reception taking place in a hospitality suite) a couple of South Africans whacking sixes and making mincemeat of Warwickshire's inexperienced attack whilst razzing along at about six an over, and some serious corporate sponsorship.
"Somerset's players were sporting a natty sweater with the logo of "Blackacre Farm Eggs" on their backs. This was pipped in the chuckle stakes by the sight of Teeny Tiny Tim Ambrose in his Warwickshire garb, with the word "Gulliver" splatted across his chest, offering a Brobdingnagian chortle to the roasting spectators and a small increase in profile for a local travel agent."
3rd over: Chennai 28-0 (Hayden 16 Patel 9)Patel clips four through long-on, the batsmen trade singles and Kumar then switches around the wicket. Much good it does him. Patel knocks away another single. And the last ball is a full toss, which Hayden thrashes over square leg for a DLF MAXIMUM! That's a six, for those of you who aren't fluent in the steaming BS that is the IPL's lingo.
4th over: Chennai 36-0 (Hayden 17 Patel 17)It's another six. Patel playing a powerful pick up stroke over the leg side. Steyn ends the over with a yorker, which Hayden chops into the floor and then turns into a quick single.
5th over: Chennai 56-0 (Hayden 36 Patel 18)Kallis comes on for a bowl, and is immediately cut through extra cover for four by Hayden. The second ball is swatted around the corner for four more. The third ball is guided through backward point for the third straight four. The IPL are surely missing a trick in the lack of sponsorship for fours here, couldn't they be the Betamax Quadruple or something like that? It's another six to end the over, Hayden slapping a by now thoroughly red-faced Kallis over cover.
6th over: Chennai 68-0 (Hayden 45 Patel 21)Vinay Kumar is into the attack. No, no me neither. Patel steps down the pitch to the first ball and slaps two runs over mid-on. "Gilbert Jessop must have hit quite a few DLF MAXIMUMS (though they were probably DLF MAXIMA) in his time" muses Gary Naylor. Only three of them in Tests, surprisingly enough. Give me Gimblett any day, or perhaps Wellard. In fact I'd back an all-time Somerset Twenty20 team to take on any side you'd care to name. With our Vic's off-breaks being a quite crucial component, of course.
7th over: Chennai 77-0 (Hayden 53 Patel 21)"Thanks for that Jacques" chuckles KP as he chucks Virat Kohli the ball. Hayden hooks four runs through fine leg, then steers four more through third man. That's fifty for Hayden, from 22 balls. "The mid-innings advert break is much more cynical and seditious than spraying a logo on the pitch or any other form of sponsorship." grumbles Robin Hazlehurst, "Logos pretend to be nothing more than commercialism and are at least honest in that, they don't claim to offer tactical input, and crucially they don't really interfere with the game, unlike a random and useless pause. When something interrupts the game while claiming to offer it a tactical boost, that is really cynical."
8th over: Chennai 85-0 (Hayden 54 Patel 22)Kumble is into the attack, his first ball disappearing down the leg side for four wides. That aside Kumble looks an entirely different class to everyone else we've seen bowl today. But then he is currently the proud owner of a purple baseball cap, bestowed on the tournament's leading wicket-taker in a shameless rip-off the Tour de France's iconic yellow jersey.
9th over: Chennai 97-0 (Hayden 58 Patel 27)Kallis is back into the attack, each batsman gliding a single to third man from his first two balls. Four leg byes follow. Boy oh boy that red uniform really doesn't flatter Kallis at all. Frankly, the man looks fat. Patel cuts four behind point.
10th over: Chennai 105-0 (Hayden 64 Patel 30)Hayden wallops a lofted drive over cover, and, a little bizarrely, the brass band in the stands breaks into a rendition of I Would Give Anything I Own by Ken Boothe. Hayden sweeps four more from Kumble, and that takes us into the "RH White's Lemonade seven-minute mid-innings tactical re-alignment break". KP's Imperial Stormtroopers are being taken apart here, in especially ugly fashion, by the seemingly unstoppable Matty Hayden.
WICKET! Patel 30 b Pietersen WICKET! Hayden run out 65 (11th over: Chennai 108-2 Raina 0 Dhoni 0)Ever the egotist, Pietersen brings himself on and gets Patel's wicket with his first ball, slipping an off-break through the gate and clattering the stumps before Patel was even really ready to receive the ball. Suresh Raina is in. And Matty Hayden is out. Run out in fact, going after a stupidly quick single. Well there you have it. KP's "RH White's Lemonade seven-minute mid-innings tactical re-alignment break" obviously went something like this: "look, fellas, I'll bring myself on and then we'll bowl them out, OK?". MS Dhoni is in.
12th over: Chennai 111-2 (Raina 3 Dhoni 2)"Why has Jesse Ryder been dropped?" asks George Wright, "Isn't he the future of Twenty20?" No, no, he's the future of booze-addled squandered talents. "Could I be the 1057th Bristol-Bath continuum resident to query whether or not your motoring transgression took place in Trescothick Close?" asks Michael Hatcher, "Banger is a the local sleb, worthy of an eponymous street." Indeed he is, he still turns out for Keynsham CC every now and then (along with his father). Surely though it's time for Bill Bailey Avenue?
13th over: Chennai 116-2 (Raina 5 Dhoni 3)KP continues, and gets away with it too as the batsmen are temporarily trading in singles rather than swipes.
14th over: Chennai 129-2 (Raina 10 Dhoni 11)Ross Taylor is into the attack to ply some, well, what is he plying exactly? Off breaks apparently. Ouch. He didn't get much turn on that one, chiefly because he failed to land it on the strip. It was a full toss, which Dhoni clouted over cover for six.
15th over: Chennai 135-2 (Raina 12 Dhoni 14)Unbelievably the entire second-floor toilet block at GU Towers is "out of order". How can an entire block be out of order? What the hell is happening in there? Eitherway this is getting deeply uncomfortable. Steyn shells the simplest of catches at deep backward square, setting himself underneath a slog from Raina and spilling the ball from his grasp even as his teammates were starting to celebrate the wicket.
WICKET! Dhoni 16 c Bishnoi b Kumar (16th over: Chennai 144-3 (Raina 21 Flintoff 0)Praveen Kumar is back on, but his first ball is a little too wide and Raina larrups a six over point with a hard-swung cut shot. Dhoni is out moments later though, caught at mid-on. Here's Fred.
17th over: Chennai 151-3 (Raina 22 Flintoff 6)Deliciously, KP has brought himself on to bowl at Fred. And we all assumed it would be the other way around. Flintoff prods tentatively at the first ball, and nudges the next away to leg. Raina does likewise, and Flintoff then pulls Pietersen around through square leg for four.
18th over: Chennai 158-3 (Raina 23 Flintoff 11)Dale Steyn returns and makes Fred look utterly amateur with his first ball, which holds up and slides away past the outside edge of a straight drive. Flintoff throws his bat at the next delivery too, slicing an edge through third man for four. Flintoff clips Steyn hard to point, where Pietersen fields and fires in a return throw that fizzes past the stumps.
WICKET! Raina 28 c Kohli b Kumar (19th over: Chennai 165-4 (Flintoff 13 Morkel 0)My favourite email of the day yet. Sorry, that should read "my Relentless Energy Supreme email of the day" comes from Pete Obee: "To counter the ghastly 'Citi moment of success' the IPL shills are forced to trumpet, how about using 'HBOS moment of failure' to describe a cravenly poor delivery or inept drop (ie Steyn)?" Raina drops down onto one knee and slaps four through mid-wicket. Flintoff, still struggling to make clean contact with the ball, slices a slower ball over mid-off for a single. Raina falls to the final ball, caught at long-on attempting to clear the rope. He didn't, quite, but was caught instead.
WICKET! Morkel 5 b Steyn (20th over: Chennai 179-4) (Flintoff 22)The final over of the innings opens with another DLF Maximum - I take a peculiarly masochistic pain in using that depressing phrase in full - from Flintoff, thumped over cow corner. Morkel forces the next ball past point for four and then uppercuts a single through to Uthappa. Umpire Jerling calls a wide, provoking an angry outburst from Steyn, "a bit of 'how's your father?' between Steyn and the umpire" suggests the commentator. I think he may have got a bit confused with his clichés there. The final ball is a yorker which clean bowls Morkel. and that leaves Bangalore 180 to make to win. Flintoff finishes with 22 from 13 balls, while KP took an unlikely 1-14 from his three overs.

Bangalore Innings

WICKET! Kumar 0 b Gony (1st over: Bangalore 5-1 (Uthappa 0 Kallis 4) need 180Manpreet Gony, highly impressive in last year's competition, opens the attack. Amusingly Bangalore have pushed a pinch-hitter, Praveen Kumar, up to open the innings. And it's a move that will surely be a strong contender for the "Aunt Bessie's Yorkshire Puddings Tactical Blunder Of The Day" award, as he has been bowled for a duck by the third ball he faced. Kallis is in, and off zero with a gorgeous cover drive that races away across the turf for four.
2nd over: Bangalore 14-1 (Uthappa 0 Kallis 14) need 180The wonderfully named Lakshimpathy Balajii takes the second over. And that is another delightful shot from Kallis, knocking away a half-volley through long-on every inch the picture of a knocking the top off a thistle with his walking stick, as John Arlott once said of Clive Lloyd. The next ball is worse still, and Kallis whips it away through backward square for four more.
3rd over: Bangalore 25-1 (Uthappa 1 Kallis 18) need 180Kallis is catching light here, crashing a cut square past point for four more with a showman's flourish. "I hope this IPL gets a huge amount of coverage, then perhaps somebody somewhere will realise FLINTOFF CAN'T BAT," says Paul Franklin, just possibly pursuing some kind of private agenda. Four more from Kallis, driven hard through cover. A wide provides Bangalore's first run from a source other than Kallis's big broad bat. Gony pus him back in his place with a bouncer that thuds into his shoulder.
4th over: Bangalore 31-1 (Uthappa 5 Kallis 18) need 180"Slave to corporatism that I am," opens Tom Hopkins, "I felt compelled to google (other search engines are available) DLF to see exactly what sort of maximum we were dealing with. I'd like to think they were publicising the Disabled Living Foundation, but looking further down the list it seems more likely they're taking the Rupee from some bricklayers." Uthappa eases four through cover off the gentlest of looseners from Albie Morkel. Bangalore now need 149 from 96 balls.
5th over: Bangalore 40-1 (Uthappa 11 Kallis 23) need 180The tick tock of singles isn't going to win this for Bangalore, which may be why Uthappa has decided to hoick that last delivery from outside off stump up and over to cow corner for four. Gony gives away a wide attempting a slower ball out of the the back of his hand.
WICKET! Kallis 24 LBW Morkel (6th over: Bangalore 46-2 (Uthappa 18 Taylor 1) need 180A costly error from Kallis, walking across his stumps ans playing too late on a full delivery from Morkel, who celebrates the ensuing LBW with a whoop of aggressive intent. Ross Taylor comes to the crease now, though you'd really have thought that they'd want that man Pietersen in sooner rather than later.
WICKET! Taylor 1 c & b Flintoff (7th over: Bangalore 48-3 (Uthappa 19 Pietersen 0) need 180Flintoff is into the attack for the first time, and he promptly has Uthappa ducking under a vicious bouncer. He's bowling fast, straight and short, and, as is so often the case, he's all but impossible to score off. In the end Taylor loses concentration through his frustration, and slaps a catch high into the night air. Flintoff takes it himself, and celebrates by volleying the ball away towards cover. Pietersen is in at last, and you have to say that until he's out the match is far from over, but all the same the 132 his side need from 78 balls - 42 of them to be bowled by a combination of Murali and Flintoff - is a stiff ask even for him.
WICKET! Pietersen 0 LBW Muralitharan WICKET! Uthappa 20 st Dhoni b Muralitharan (8th over: Bangalore 51-5 Dravid 0 Kohli 0) need 180Here's Murali and he's got Pietersen for a golden duck! Ooops. It was a lovely ball, from around the wicket, biting and coming back in to hit the pad in front of middle stump. KP is far from happy about it. He's got another one! What an over from Murali this is! The doosra does for Uthappa, spitting past his outside edge and into Dhoni's gloves, allowing a sharp stumping.
9th over: Bangalore 52-5 (Dravid 1 Kohli 1) need 180Ronnie Irani is providing some of the very worst cricket commentary it has ever been my sorry pleasure to hear. I'm not even going sully the page by repeating it for your displeasure. Flintoff continues, each dot ball he delivers only reinforcing the impression that this contest is very much over. Hayden has stolen the orange hat bestowed on the tournament's current leading run-scorer from Rahul Dravid, and is standing smugly at slip with it atop his head (which, to be fair, is probably the best place for it. A great over from Flintoff.
10th over: Bangalore 56-5 (Dravid 3 Kohli 4) need 180Just eight runs from the last three overs, which will give Chennai plenty to think about during the, umm, strategic break. "What should we do boss?""Hit it."
WICKET! Kohli 11 c Badrinath b Sharma 11th over: Bangalore 66-6 (Dravid 5 Bishnoi 0) need 180
Suitably refreshed, Chennai have decided to ( / been instructed by their IPL overlords) to make a game of it by bringing on Joginder Sharma. Dravid pulls his first ball straight into umpire Taufel's foot and square leg. Taufel grins, holding back the tears. Kohli picks the next delivery up off his ankles and away over deep backward square for a six. Enticed by the thrill of his first DLF Maximum of the innings, Kohli tries to hit another off the next ball. He doesn't succeed, but rather holes out to mid-on instead.
WICKET! Bishnoi 0 c Balajii b Muralitharan (12th over: Bangalore 66-7 (Dravid 9 Kumar 1) need 180 and a minor miracleBishnoi's batting contribution on his debut amounts to one ball, which he drives accurately into the hands of long-on. He tucks his bat under his arm and trots off. Seems like a nice boy. The commentators have just reminded us that the umpires are taking notes in every match with a view to judging which team will be awarded the Fly Kingfisher Good Sportsmanship prize. I kid you not.
WICKET! Kumar 2 c Hayden b Balajii 13th over: Bangalore 78-8 (Dravid 12 Steyn 0) need 180 and a stiff drinkKumar comes and goes for just two, clipping a catch straight to Matthew Hayden at mid-wicket. Dravid, clearly a little sickened by the shambles surrounding him, belts four through the leg side.
WICKET! Steyn 0 run out Raina (14th over: Bangalore 78-9 (Dravid 12 Kumble 0) need 180 and a new teamSteyn is doesn't linger to find out whether the umpire thinks he is out or not, but goes ahead and jogs off the pitch, knowing full well that however thin the margins may have been the idiocy of the run itself fully merited the dismissal. Kumble is in as last man, one of the few occasions in the history of cricket, surely, when the no11 has a Test century to his name.
WICKET! Dravid 20 c Flintoff b Balajii 16th over: Bangalore 87 (Kumble 1) need 180 and at least three wishesFlintoff returns, and Dravid cuts four superfluous runs away behind point. The last thing this game needs now is a tenth-wicket stand that lasts five overs. OK, the last thing I need now is a tenth-wicket stand that lasts five overs. I need to hotfoot it to Paddington to catch a train West to begin my re-education. Dravid should do the decent thing and get out. Ah, I always thought he was a nice chap. He is out, caught by Flintoff at deep backward square. The game is up! Chennai win by 92 runs, and Pietersen and his side have, frankly, has been rather humiliated

IPL Started

Deccan Chargers wins against Kolkata Knight Riders

Rainy conditions prevailed through out the day at Newlands. After a rain curtailed first match which saw an emphatic victory for Delhi against Punjab, the Hyderabad vs. Kolkata match had a delayed start after the floodlights at the stadium went faulty.The Buchanan appointed Kolkata captain Brendon McCullum won the toss and on a pitch, which assisted the bowlers, he surprisingly opted to bat first.The first ball of RP Singh's over resulted in the dismissal of the Kolkata captain. McCullum tried a glance down to fine leg only to glove the ball to Adam Gilchrist. Chris Gayle, after scoring a four and six consecutively off RP Singh, went for one shot too many, holding out to Harmeet Singh at long off.A struggling Ganguly was soon to follow. He was out in his archetypal fashion, attempting a flashing drive and edging a Harmeet Singh delivery to Laxman in the slips. Kolkata were limping at 16/3.A mini partnership was taking place between Chopra and Hodge before Chopra was out, stumped to a well-crafted ball by Ojha. The wily left arm spinner struck again by luring Shukla out of the crease only to find the bails removed by Gilchrist.Running out of partners, Hodge carried on with his innings scoring 31 runs until he became the next man to go. After scoring two boundaries off Scott Styris, he was out to a sharp reflex catch by Gibbs. In the same over, Scott Styris sent Henriques back to the pavilion thanks to an impressive catch by Rohit Sharma at short-covers.The dismissal brought Agarkar to the crease. However, he did not stay long. After hitting a massive six, Agarkar was run-out to a brilliant fielding effort by Rohit Sharma again. RP Singh finished off the Kolkata tail by picking up Ishant Sharma and Ashok Dinda. Kolkata could only manage 101 runs.The Hyderabad openers went about the chase in the manner as expected from them. Boundaries flowed freely from both the openers' bats. However, the commentator's curse struck Gilchrist when he skied a mistimed pull and was brilliantly held by Henriques.Laxman started off well scoring at a quick rate. However, confusion with Gibbs resulted in his run-out. Rohit Sharma joined Gibbs and together the put on a prosperous partnership. Agarkar was introduced prior to the strategy break and was taken for 17 runs in his over. The pair of Gibbs and Sharma carried on after the break scoring at a quick run rate. Together they took the Deccans to victory after scoring the required runs in just 13.1 overs. Gibbs remained unbeaten on 43 while Rohit Sharma was not out on 36.

Punjab Lost to Delhi

Persistent rain forced the match between Punjab and Delhi to be shortened to a 12 over affair.Delhi left out the exciting Warner, and opted to include left-arm quick Dirk Nannes. They also opted to rest Glenn McGrath, preferring to preserve him for the business end of the tournament.Virender Sehwag won the toss and inserted Punjab in as expected with the overcast conditions and the shortened match.The decision was made to look extremely silly in the first half of the Punjab innings, with Karan Goel and Ravi Bopara going beserk. Goel got out off the last ball of the 6th over, with the score a formidable 67 for 1.From there things started to go downhill for Punjab as they managed only 37 more runs for the loss of 6 more wickets in the next six overs.Spin was king again with Daniel Vettori turning in a spell of 3-0-15-3. His spell also saw two of Punjab's batsmen run themselves out needlessly - with Yuvraj Singh being the culprit on one occasion and Piyush Chawla suffering on account of Irfan Pathan's reckless call.Punjab eventually ended up on a fairly decent 104 for 7, but it was at least 20 runs short of where they should have ended after the start they got.If the first half of the Punjab innings saw one way traffic with the ball being fetched regularly from the stands, the second half saw one way traffic in the other direction, with batsmen trooping back to the pavilion.When Delhi came out to bat, what Punjab needed was quick wickets. What they got was 11 balls of a Gauti-Viru special, before the skies opened up with heavier rain than there had been all day. The hottest opening pair in the business blasted four 4s and a six in those eleven balls to take Delhi to 24 without loss.When play started again, the target had been revised to 54 from 6 overs - which meant Delhi had just 30 more to get from 25 balls, with a rampaging Sehwag and an equally belligerent Gambhir at the crease. The break did nothing to stem the flow of runs, and Delhi needed only 18 more balls (3 overs) to knock off the runs. At the end Sehwag was unbeaten on a furious 38 off 16 balls, while Gambhir looked positively snail-like on 16 off 13 balls, while Delhi had won at a canter by 10 wickets. It says much for the might of the Delhi team that they won comfortably even though they rested McGrath and didn't pick Twenty20 specialist Warner.Man of the Match:Daniel Vettori, whose crucial spell put the brakes on Punjab's free scoring and made the job much easier for his formidable batting lineup.Turning Point of the Match:11th over of the match, bowled by Vettori. Before the over Punjab were at 91 for 3. At the end of the over, they had slid to 98 for 6. Vettori's tight bowling contributed to two suicidal runs resulting in two run-outs and he picked up the wicket of Jayawardene too.Soundbytes:"It's nice to have Sehwag and Gambhir on the same side for a change!" - Daniel Vettori gets candid, with memories of India's tour to New Zealand still fresh."Sachin and Rahul are legends of the game, they have 10000+ runs in both ODIs and Tests, so they can adapt to any format. I'm proud to play in the same team as them" - Virender Sehwag makes a heartwarming comment about two people he's grown up watching and played alongside.

Mumbai beat Chennai by 19 runs in IPL opener


Sachin Tendulkar led from the front as Mumbai Indians launched their campaign in the second edition of the Indian Premier League with a stunning 19-run victory over last year's runners-up Chennai Super Kings.
The Mumbai Indians first rattled up a competitive 166 for seven riding on Tendulkar's masterly unbeaten 59 and quickfire 35 by Abhishek Nayar and then stopped Chennai Super Kings at 146 for seven in a tight game at the Newlands stadium.
It was a commendable display by the Mumbai outfit who outplayed their fancied opponents in all departments of the game to gain two points and start their campaign in a resounding fashion.
Tendulkar played a pivotal role by anchoring the innings with a crafty unbeaten 59 but it was young Abhishek Nayar who provided the impetus late in the innings with a 14-ball 35 which took Mumbai to a decent total on what appeared to be a rather spongy track.
The experienced Sanath Jayasuriya was the other notable performer for Mumbai Indians with a 20-ball 26 while Shikar Dhawan chipped in with 22.
Chennai never really recovered from a disastrous start and although Matthew Hayden (44), captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni (36) and Andrew Flintoff (24) got decent scores it was not enough to overhaul the Mumbai target.
Sri Lankan paceman Lasith Malinga was the pick of the Mumbai Indian bowlers with impressive figures of 4-0-15-3 while the wily Jayasuriya chipped in with two wickets. Chennai lost opener Parthiv Patel in the second ball of the innings and found it difficult to maintain the asking rate which kept climbing as the innings wore on.
While Tendulkar, who was adjudged man of the match, paced his innings brilliantly it was Nayar who changed the complexion of the game with his lusty hittings.
Nayar was particularly severe on Andrew Flintoff, the most expensive player of the second edition of the IPL, as he blasted him for 22 runs, including three sixes, in one over to give the innings the much needed boost in the end.
Put into bat, the Mumbai Indians got off to a decent start with the two stalwarts Tendulkar and Jayasuriya maintaining a fairly brisk pace though the Newlands track was not really conducive for strokeplay.
The left-handed Jayasuriya was the more aggressive of the two batsmen as he picked up the inexperienced paceman Manpreet Gony for special treatment by clobbering him for a few boundaries.
Tendulkar, in tremendous form of late, got a reprieve when he was on 10 with Australian Matthew Hayden dropping a simple catch in the first slip, much to the disappointment of his teammates.
But Hayden made amends soon after by latching on to a simple catch at the mid on region to send back Jayasuriya who was looking quite dangerous. Sri Lankan paceman Thilan Thushara provided the breakthrough for Chennai Super Kings.
Jayasuriya failed to control his shot as the ball balooned to Hayden who made no mistake this time around. The former Sri Lankan captain's 20-ball 26 contained five boundaries.
Shikar Dhawan joined Tendulkar and the duo took the score to 82 before Gony got rid of Dhawan as he tried to accelerate the pace of scoring shortly after the break.
The Mumbai team lost the wickets of J P Duminy (9), the young South African sensation, and West Indian Dwayne Bravo (5) in quick sucession to be reduced to 102 for four at one stage. It was mainly due to Nayar's stunning assault that Mumbai Indians could surpass 150 mark as his 14-ball 35 was laced with three sixes and two fours.




Bangalore Royal Challengers vanquish Rajasthan Royals





Stripped of captaincy, Rahul Dravid batted with vengeance to set up a 75-run win for Bangalore Royal Challengers against defending champions Rajasthan Royals in the second match on the opening day of the Indian Premier League (IPL) at the Newlands here Saturday.
After deciding to bat first, Royal Challengers recovered from a poor start with Man of the Match Dravid's 66 to put up a modest 133 for eight in 20 overs.
In reply, another Bangalore veteran Anil Kumble picked up five wickets for just five runs to stun the defending champions, whose innings folded up for just 58 runs in 15.1 overs. It was also the lowest score in the IPL.
Dimitry Mascarenhas (3-20) raised hopes for Rajasthan Royals early in the innings when he picked up openers Jesse Ryder and Ross Taylor in the first two deliveries to put Royal Challengers on the back-foot. Maverick Rajasthan Royals skipper Shane Warne (2-18) then unfurled his tricks to do further damage by picking up wickets lower down the order.
Newly appointed skipper Kevin Pietersen (32) tried to show some resistance but didn't last long. But it was the 48-ball innings from the experienced Dravid that set up the innings for the Bangalore team.
Dravid went about his job in his cool and calm way and kept on collecting runs in singles. He mixed his innings with both orthodox and inventive shots to give his bowlers a total to defend. Dravid's 48-ball innings was studded with eight boundaries and one six.
In reply, Praveen Kumar (2-7) started the proceeding well for Royal Challengers by moving the ball both ways. He picked up opener Swapnil Asnodkar in the fifth ball off the innings to a rash stroke and caught by Dravid. Graeme Smith (2) was his next victim in the next over as Rajasthan Royals were reduced to two for seven.
Next it was the turn of old warhorse Kumble, who even after his retirement from international cricket, showed that he is still a force to reckon with with his five-wicket haul.
Tyron Henderson, Yusuf Pathan and Ravindra Jadeja were the only Rajasthan Royals who could get to double
Score Board:

Bangalore Royal Challengers:

Jesse Ryder c Rawat b Mascarenhas 0
Robin Uthappa c Rawat b Mascarenhas 3
Ross Taylor b Mascarenhas 0
Kevin Pietersen c Niraj b Henderson 32
Rahul Dravid c Warne b Munaf Patel 66
Virat Kohli b Warne 3
Balachandra Akhil b Warne 9
Praveen Kumar c & b MM Patel 8
Vinay Kumar not out 8
DW Steyn not out 0
Extras: (lb 2, w 2) 4
Total:( For 8 wickets in 20 overs) 133
Fall of wickets: 1-0 (Ryder, 0.2 overs), 2-0 (Taylor, 0.3), 3-17 (Uthappa, 4.5), 4-52 (Pietersen, 8.5), 5-63 Kohli, 11.5), 6-88 (Akhil, 15.4), 7-119 (Kumar, 19.2), 8-125 (Dravid, 19.4)
Bowling:
Dimitri Mascarenhas 4 0 20 3
Kamran Khan 3 0 21 0
Munaf Patel 3 0 25 2 (1w)
Tyron Henderson 4 0 30 1
Shane Warne 4 0 18 2
Yusuf Pathan 2 0 17 0 (1w)

Rajasthan Royals innings:

Graeme Smith c Dravid b Kumar 2 11 0 0
Swapnil Asnodkar c Kohli b Kumar 0 2 0 0
Niraj Patel c Kumble b Ryder 4 16 0 0
Tyron Henderson b Ryder 11 15 0 1
Yusuf Pathan c Ryder b Kumble 11 14 1 0
Dimitry Mascarenhas run out (Kohli/Uthappa) 0 1 0 0
Ravinder Jadeja c Kohli b Kumble 11 10 0 1
Shane Warne st Uthappa b Kumble 3 9 0 0
Mahesh Rawat not out 5 7 0 0
Munaf Patel c Steyn b Kumble 0 2 0 0
Kamran Khan c Uthappa b Kumble 3 5 0 0
Extras: (w 7, nb 1) 8
Total: (For 10 wickets in 15.1 overs) 58
Fall of wickets: 1-2 (Asnodkar, 0.5 overs), 2-7 (Smith, 2.6), 3-14 (Niraj , 6.2), 4-28 (Henderson, 8.3), 5-28 Mascarenhas, 8.4), 6-47 (Pathan, 11.1), 7-47 (Jadeja, 11.2), 8-53 (Warne, 13.3), 9-53 (Munaf 13.5), 10-58 (Kamran Khan, 15.1)
Bowling:
Praveen Kumar 3 0 7 2 (1nb, 2w)
Dale Steyn 2 0 6 0 (3w)
Vinay Kumar 3 0 25 0 (1w)
Jesse Ryder 4 0 14 2 (1w)
Anil Kumble 3.1 1 6 5
Toss: Bangalore Royal Challengers, who chose to bat first
Umpires: Billy Doctrove (West Indies) and Russell Tiffin (Zimbabwe)
TV umpire: K. Hariharan (India)
Match referee: G.R. Viswanath (India)
Reserve umpire: EC Hendrikse

IPL News Update

Mumbai Indians vs. Chennai Super Kings - 12.30 - Saturday, April 18

The opening game of the IPL 2009 will see Sachin Tendulkar's Mumbai Indians, take on IPL 2008 finalists, the Chennai Super Kings, at Newlands in Cape Town.

The Chennai Super Kings, under the leadership of wicketkeeper/batsman MS Dhoni, are entering this year's IPL as one of the bookmaker’s favourite.

Big hitting all-rounders Andrew Flintoff and Albie Morkel will be at the forefront of the Super Kings attack this coming Saturday.

They will try to be tamed by the Mumbai Indian's bowlers, consisting of Zaheer Khan, Lasith ‘Slinga’ Malinga and Harbhajan Singh, who have the knowledge of Shaun Pollock (the Mumbai Indians' mentor) on their side, when taking on the often tricky Newlands pitch.

All eyes will be on Mumbai's Sanath Jayasuria, to see if he can entertain the sold-out Newlands crowd, as he tries follow up his record as IPL’s greatest six hitter (31 sixes in IPL 2008).

Other Mumbai batsmen to watch will be the "Maestro" Sachin Tendulkar, "Million-Dollar Kid" JP Duminy (on his home ground), and West Indian Dwayne Bravo.

They'll try to be unsettled by Chennai's Makhaya Ntini, Muttiah Muralitharan, and Lakshmipathy Balaji.

Watson, Symonds, Lee all Aussies missing from IPL

With last year's player of the tournament absent due to national commitments, and two others who're among the highest-paid stars also missing, Australia's contingent at the start of the second IPL season will be more notable for who's not playing than those who make the trip to South Africa
There'll still be retired spin bowling great Shane Warne leading the way as captain and coach of the defending champion Rajasthan Royals, but Warne will be missing a key ingredient from last year, player of the inaugural Indian Premier League Twenty20 season Shane Watson.
The 26-year-old Watson, who scored 472 runs at an average of 42 in the IPL last year, has returned from injury and was named in the Australian limited-overs squad for a series against Pakistan in Dubai and Abu Dhabi beginning next Wednesday _ four days after the IPL starts.
Also missing will be troubled allrounder Andrew Symonds, who was been out of the Australian lineup for several months until his recall for the Pakistan series, and fast bowler Brett Lee, who was initially named in squad to play Pakistan but was later ruled out and replaced by Doug Bollinger.
Lee, at least, will continue to train in South Africa with his Indian Premier League franchise, Kings XI Punjab, to further his rehabilitation from ankle and foot operations. But if he's cleared to play, it's expected that will be for Australia before he sees any action for his IPL franchise.
Symonds would have been the fourth-highest salary earner at $1.35 million with Deccan Chargers in the IPL this season (behind England's Kevin Pietersen and Andrew Flintoff and India's Mahendra Singh Dhoni).
Lee was set to make $900,000, which would have put him at No. 10 in the 2009 earnings list.
Salaries are paid on a pro-rata basis for the foreign stars, so the more matches they play, the more they earn. The Australians on national team duties will get a chance to return to the IPL later in the tournament.
Also among the absent Australians is test skipper Ricky Ponting, who is being rested to prepare for the Ashes campaign against England in two months.
Australian Michael Hussey will also not play in this year's IPL in order to rest for the Ashes. Hussey would have been available for only the final two weeks of the IPL, which ends with the final on May 24 in Johannesburg.
Michael Clarke, who will captain Australia in Ponting's absence against Pakistan _ that series ends May 7 _ and pace bowler Mitchell Johnson, will also miss this year's IPL. Clarke and Johnson did not play in the inaugural IPL and did not nominate for the player auction earlier this year.
Ponting is expected back as skipper for Twenty20 World Cup in June and the Ashes.
"Right at the moment I feel like I need to get away and have a bit of a break, so that's the way it is," said Ponting, who was given a release for the 2009 season by the Kolkata Knight Riders franchise which is coached by ex-Australia coach John Buchanan.
Lee, a 76-test veteran, is pushing to reclaim his place in the Australian attack for the Ashes series. So IPL's loss might be Australia's gain for the crucial series against England. He joined the Kings XI Punjab squad in South Africa to practice because wet whether in Sydney was limiting his time in the nets.
"Now that he's here in South Africa with his IPL team, when he is ready to bowl again there'll be no excuses for weather or anything," Ponting said of Lee. "He should be able to get a lot of bowling done and when he's fit enough and ready to play, hopefully he'll be playing for us because that's what he wants. We need to see him back in Australian colors."
The eight-team, 59-match IPL tournament, switched to South Africa from India due to security concerns because of clashing dates with the general elections, begins Saturday.

Bollywood meets Cape Town in IPL parade

Bollywood glitz and cricket razzmatazz combined in a colourful, star-studded parade through Cape Town on Thursday as the 2009 Indian Premier League made its high-profile brash entrance.
Nine floats, one for each of the eight teams plus one for the IPL, made their way along one of the main streets, accompanied by energetic Indian dancers and brass bands drawn from the local community.
More than 150 cricketers were in attendance, as were Bollywood stars Shah Rukh Khan, Preity Zinta and Shilpa Shetty, part-owners of the Kolkata Knight Riders, Kings XI Punjab and Rajasthan Royals respectively.
Hundreds of people lined the streets to watch the parade, which launched festivities that will run until the grand final in Johannesburg on May 24.
One of the tournament's initiatives aimed at maintaining the buoyant atmosphere is the introduction of a Miss Bollywood South Africa competition with contestants drawn from fans attending matches.
The idea came from IPL commissioner Lalit Modi, who has employed the help of the three Bollywood idols associated with the tournament.
"We're looking for someone who has the star quality to stand out in a crowd, probably without even trying that hard," Modi explained at the launch of the concept in Cape Town.
"It's that special, almost indefinable, quality that makes someone a star more than a beauty queen that we are looking for.
"IPL matches with their mix of fun and excitement are an excellent environment to identify the kind of person who is a natural stand-out in a big crowd."
One Miss Bollywood of the Day will be found at each of the 56 round-robin matches and stands a chance of winning a trip to India, a role in a Bollywood film and 5,590 dollars.
"Star searches like this are a really great way to find people who may never even have thought that they have what it takes to really make it big," said Khan, the so-called 'King of Bollywood'.
"The heart of our idea is to search the crowd at IPL matches for someone who has the attitude and appearance that automatically draws the eye.
"It will be the kind of person who is not necessarily showing off for the camera, but who can mesmerise even total strangers.
"The announcement of the winner will be shown during a 'strategy break' and will be declared Miss Bollywood of the Day."

Rajasthan Royals face tough IPL opener

When the glitz and the glamour of the build-up to the Indian Premier League makes way for cricket action Saturday, past form will not count for much.
Defending champions the Rajasthan Royals could find it tough this time around, starting with their opening clash against Bangalore Royal Challengers in the second match of a double header which gets the five-week, 2009 tournament underway.
Mumbai Indians meet Chennai Super Kings, who were runners-up last year, in the early match.
The relocation of the world's richest cricket league from India to South Africa means that conditions will be different, with seam bowlers likely to get far more assistance than they did in the inaugural tournament in India last year.
The Royals had an early taste of the Newlands pitch in a warm-up match last weekend when batsmen struggled to play the sort of dominating innings that marked the first IPL.
It is a major blow for the champions will be without all-rounder Shane Watson and left-arm fast bowler Sohail Tanvir, two of the main match-winners for the underdogs who spent the least money on players but carried away the 1.2-million-dollar prize money.
The Royals, who will again be led by veteran Australian leg-spinner Shane Warne, will hope that Indian fast bowler Munaf Patel and South Africa's Morne Morkel can compensate for the loss of the two stars.
In contrast to the Royals, the Challengers spent big but achieved little in the first IPL, finishing seventh of the eight teams.
They are likely to be an improved side, however, with star English signing Kevin Pietersen leading the team in the only stages of the tournament and tough South African Ray Jennings cracking the whip as coach.
The Bangalore team will be boosted by the signing of Indian batsman Robin Uthappa, while South African fast bowler Dale Steyn is likely to be more effective on his home country pitches than he was in India.
South African all-rounder Jacques Kallis and leading Indian batsman Rahul Dravid will be expected to improve on mediocre performances last time.
The battle between the Mumbai and Chennai franchises should get the tournament off to a cracking start.
Mumbai Indians will be led by Indian icon Sachin Tendulkar, who missed most of the first series because of injury.
Their squad had a pre-season training camp in South Africa under the direction of Shaun Pollock, appointed as team mentor, and fielding ace Jonty Rhodes.
With teams only able to field four non-Indian players, Mumbai have a stronger core of Indian stars than some of their rivals, with Tendulkar and Test bowlers Zaheer Khan and Harbhajan Singh in their squad.
Overseas aces include Sri Lanka's Sanath Jayasuriya, West Indian Dwayne Bravo and South Africa's JP Duminy.
Chennai Super Kings were runners-up last year and will again provide a formidable challenge.
Led by the dynamic Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, they have been strengthened by the signing of England all-rounder Andrew Flintoff, who joins Australian batsman Matthew Hayden, South African all-rounder Albie Morkel and Sri Lankan spin bowler Muttiah Muralitharan in what looks a powerful squad.

Venue and team snapshots

Venues
Kingsmead, Durban

Kingsmead is known to be influenced by tidal movements because of its close proximity to the sea. It was the venue where Yuvraj memorably clouted Stuart Broad for six sixers in an over, the first-ever time the feat was accomplished in a T20 match.
Seating capacity: 25,000
Pitch: Kingsmead used be known traditionally as a seamer's wicket and has witnessed many batting collapses. The pitch has since been redesigned to ensue a fair contest between bat and ball. Number of IPL matches to be played: 16

St George's Park, Port Elizabeth

The St George's Park is home to one of the oldest cricket clubs in South Africa, the Port Elizabeth Cricket Club. The ground hosted its first Test in March 1889.
Seating Capacity: 19,000
Pitch: The windy conditions at the St George's Park generally tends to favour the seamers at the start. However, batsmen have found the conditions easy once they get their feet moving.
Number of IPL matches to be played: 7

Newlands, Capetown

Nestled in the backdrop of the Table Mountains and the Devil's Peak, Newlands is also called the "Lord's" of South Africa.Seating capacity: 25,000
Pitch: Generally on the slower side, the Newlands pitch tends to favour the spinners more than any other venue.
Number of IPL matches to be played: 8

IPL 2009 NEWS UPDATES

Big B goes out of way to cheer Preity Zinta's IPL team

Bollywood megastar cheered up Preity Zinta's Indian Premier League (IPL) team Kings XI Punjab by giving a short TV bite on her behest. Preity had called last evening for a request - her IPL team was hugely depressed and she was wondering if I could do a small TV bite to cheer them up. I did that and I hope it makes them happy," Amitabh posted on his blog. Commenting on the upcoming Twenty20 series, Amitabh wrote: "Cricket has become so big and important. And the T20 series, now shifted to South Africa due to security concerns and concerns of its reflection on the elections, is a sheer delight

Local umpire gets IPL call

Seven umpires from across the country, have got call from Indian Premier League (IPL) for Twenty20 tournament to be played in South Africa. Umpires Sanjay Hazare, nephew of legendry cricketer Vijay Hazare, has been contacted by the IPL authorities. All the seven have been sent emails by the IPL authorities asking them about their visa documents and other papers.

No IPL option for cinema halls

Inox vice-president (distribution and programming) Utpal Acharya said, "We had approached Sony last time for the screening rights. This time they decided to have a separate body for theatrical rights and tenders were invited for the same. But I am told the tenders have not been opened as yet. We were banking on the aggregator who would provide the feed to us and give the minimum guarantee. Unfortunately nothing has happened till now. It is learnt there were three bidders for the theatrical telecast rights, including UTV, PVR and Group M. It is learnt that Sony, which owns broadcast rights, demanded a minimum guarantee (Rs 50 lakh to Rs 1 crore per screening) to which the multiplex owners objected. "That and the tax burden were too much,'' said an official.

Thomas Cook launches special travel packages for IPL season 2 to South Africa

Thomas Cook, the premium travel agent in the country has been appointed as `Tour Partner` to Kingfisher Airlines for the DLF IPL 2009 to be held in South Africa.
Thomas Cook has always been an agency that believes in enabling its customers to experience the best in the travel trends of the given season. The IPL packages by Thomas Cook start from at an attractive price of Rs 43000 for 3 nights and 4 days including Air fare, transfers, accommodation, travel insurance, and match tickets.


Warne fit and keen for IPL 2009

Despite his long break from active cricket, legendary Australian spinner Shane Warne is fit and keen to lead defending champions Rajasthan Royals to victory in the second edition of IPL in South Africa, according to Rajasthan Royals vice chairman Ranjit Barthakur. Barthakur told mediapersons that the reigning champions Rajasthan Royals plan to build on their fairytale victory in the first edition and add another title in the second edition of the Twenty20 tournament which has been shifted to South Africa.

Taylor to miss IPL 2009

Kings XI Punjab will miss the service of injured West Indies paceman Jerome Taylor during the second edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) in South Africa from April 18 to May 24. The Mohali team has decided to replace Taylor, who survived a motor vehicle accident last month, with South African young left-arm pacer Yusuf Abdulla, co-owner of Kings XI Punjab Ness Wadia said on Saturday. Wadia, however, hoped that star Australia fast bowler Brett Lee, who is nursing an ankle injury, will be available.


Tickets for DLF IPL’s Inaugural Double Header SOLD OUT

The DLF Indian Premier League today announced that tickets for the Season 2009’s inaugural double header on Saturday – April 18th 2009 between the Mumbai Indians v Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals v Royal Challengers, in Cape Town SOLD OUT within hours of going on sale at www.computicket.com. In fact, the site also reported that very few tickets were left for the next day’s double – header featuring the Delhi Daredevils v Kings XI Punjab and Deccan Chargersv Kolkata Knight Riders on Sunday, April 19th ensuring that Season 2009 in South Africa got off to a successful start with sellout crowds at the Sahara Park Newlands in Cape Town.Computicket – the online destination for ticket sales to Season 2009 also reported heavy ticket sales for DLF Indian Premier League s tickets for Season 2009 in Durban, Pretoria and Johannesburg as fans rushed online to book their seats to watch their favourite international cricket stars do battle.

Chennai Super Kings.

Chennai Super Kings is yet to receive an official communication from star Australian batsman Michael Hussey who has been quoted as saying he would opt out of the 2009 DLF-Indian Premier League scheduled to be held in South Africa from April 18 to May 24. Hussey, who played a crucial role in Super Kings’ four victories at the start of the inaugural competition last year, has been reported to have pulled out of the DLF-IPL event to give himself time to recover ahead of the Ashes tour of England after a hectic international schedule. Hussey also reportedly indicated that he would make himself available for the Super Kings if the team qualifies for the knock-out (semi-finals and final) stage.

Back in India for the second edition of the Indian Premier League, former Australia opener Matthew Hayden today attributed India's growing stature in Tests and ODIs to the IPL and the country's Twenty20 World Cup triumph.The burly left-hander, who retired from international cricket after the third Test against South Africa in January following a string of sub-par performances, said he would be missing the Chepauk stadium after the IPL was shifted to South Africa since its dates were clashing with the Lok Sabha elections."Bowlers will have a chance there (in South Africa) but small grounds and high altitude will ensure high scores there too," he said, adding that the IPL will "take the game to a wider audience


Delhi Daredevils

Delhi Daredevils manager TA Sekar feels his team is one of the most balanced sides going into the second season of the Twenty20 extravaganza. With a good side that is a mix of hard-hitting batsmen, good all-rounders and steady bowling, there is a lot of flexibility and options, Sekar says.The induction of five more international players has given the team more solidity and it also means a lot of options for captain, Virender Sehwag , who himself is in brilliant form with the bat.Even as skipper Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir, lay the foundation for the innings, the Daredevils can expect some explosive innings from Australia’s latest find, David Warner, who Daredevils signed up before he went on to play for Australia.
Former Australian Test paceman Glenn McGrath says he's happy with his fitness as he embarks on a heavy schedule before his first major cricket match in almost a year.McGrath leaves for a 12-day training camp in India on Saturday in preparation for more than a month of Twenty20 matches in the Indian Premier League (IPL) matches.

Kolkata Knight Riders

Australia skipper Ricky Ponting says there is some merit in Kolkata Knight Riders Director John Buchanan's proposal to have multiple captains within the team in this month's DLF-Indian Premier League (IPL) in South Africa, reports The Age. Buchanan, one of cricket's most lateral-thinking and controversial coaches, stepped down as Australia's mentor after helping guide Ponting's team to a successful one-day international World Cup defence in the West Indies in 2007.
Kolkata Knight Riders’ Cheteshwar Arvind Pujara is a well-known name in the Indian domestic circuit but still a Knight-in-the-making in DLF Indian Premier League. He travelled the length and breadth of the country as part of the Kolkata Knight Riders squad last season but watched the glitz from the sidelines. By scoring three triple-hundreds in quick succession in domestic cricket, the 20-year-old phenomenon has provided a fine John Buchanan and Co an option at a time when the Shah Rukh Khan-owned Kolkata Knight Riders are looking at changing their fortunes in the second season of the DLF Indian Premier League


Deccan Charger

With just weeks left for the second edition of Indian Premier League (IPL) to commence in South Africa, city-based team — Deccan Chargers are in high spirits despite the fact that they would not be playing the game in front of their home crowds.Acknowledging the difference due to changes of venues, middle-order batsman Rohit Sharma said: “Playing in front of our home crowd and playing in South Africa are two different things altogether.”“But, I am sure that we would receive a good support out there because when we played the World Cup Twenty20 there and went on to clinch it too,” he added.Rohit said, “I firmly believe that our team is one of the strongest sides in IPL and we have a different plan this time and we hope to implement it on the field.” RP Singh, the side’s left arm pacer too felt that the Chargers were a competitive unit. “It’s an unpredictable game and many of the matches that we lost last year were closely-fought which could have gone our way too. So, I would firmly believe that we are an equal contender in this tournament.”Both Rohit Sharma and RP Singh took part at a function where PUMA announced its association with the Deccan Chargers as the official sponsor of their home and away uniforms.

If Kolkata Knight Riders’ coach John Buchanan sparked a debate with his multiple captain theory then teams such as the current title holder Rajasthan Royals has announced that it would be playing matches before the IPL season kicks off on April 18.Deccan Chargers has cleverly chosen to stay away from the limelight, wanting to let their cricket to do all the talking. At the conclusion of a five-day training camp in the city, the team’s assistant coach Kanwaljit Singh stressed that the team’s camp was mainly to finetune things. “The camp was designed to finetune different aspects of the game and also for team bonding. We ensured that every team member is fit before we leave for South Africa,” he said. R.P. Singh believes that conditions in South Africa should suit the seamers. Be it the team composition or the strategy, Deccan Chargers are silent and are holding the cards close to their chest. “We do have a plan in place,” Kanwaljit said when quizzed repeatedly. Be it the fielding drills or the batting and bowling practice sessions, one could see a sense of purpose amongst every member.