Mumbai Eying Encore of 2010 Final With Win Against Bangalore

Their campaign back on track with consecutive victories over Kolkata Knight Riders, a charged up Mumbai Indians would be eying an encore of last year's final with win over Royals Challengers Bangalore in the second qualifier of the IPL on Friday.
Mumbai would be desperate to avenge their last year's final defeat at the hands of title holders Chennai Super Kings, who have already made it to the summit clash by defeating RCB in the first qualifier on Tuesday.
But for that to happen, Mumbai will have to first quell the challenge of RCB, who inspite of losing to Chennai, will get yet another chance to qualify for the final by virtue of finishing at the top of the 10-team points table.
Going into the match, Mumbai would be brimming with confidence from the fact that their batting and bowling line-up clicked as a unit in their previous two matches.
The opening slot which has been a cause of concern for Mumbai right from the start of then tournament finally clicked with Sachin Tendulkar getting an able partner in Aiden Blizzard.
Chasing Kolkata's modest 147 for seven yes, the Tendulkar-Blizzard opening duo gave a blazing start to the Mumbai innings, putting on 81 runs in 7.5 overs to set the platform for the victory.
And Mumbai would be looking for a repeat performance from Blizzard and Tendulkar as their middle-order looked a bit shaky in the last few matches.
Rohit Sharma and Ambati Rayudu have fizzled out with the bat after their impressive start to the tournament.
To add to it, big-hitting Keiron Pollard has been a big let down for Mumbai in IPL 4, scoring just 143 runs from 15 matches with 28 being his highest.
But Kiwi all-rounder James Franklin has been a welcome addition in Mumbai's playing eleven in the last two matches as he played crucial unbeaten knocks in both the games to help his side's cause.
In their last round-robin match against Kolkata on Saturday, Franklin came up with a match-winning 45 of 23 balls to guide Mumbai to a sensational five-wicket win and then followed it up with a 25-ball 29 not out on Wednesday to justify his place in the starting line-up.
With his long handle, off-spinner Harbhajan Singh too has been a revelation for Mumbai down the order.
On the bowling front, Mumbai boasts of a potent bowling attack with the likes of tournament's highest wicket-taker Lasith Malinga, Munaf Patel, Harbhajan and young Dhawal Kulkarni up its rank.
With his toe-crushing yorkers, Malinga has been outstanding in the event and come on Friday, Tendulkar would be looking towards the Sri Lankan to give them a good start by dismissing the dangerous Chris Gayle early.
Just like Malinga, Munaf too will be a major concern for RCB going into the match as the lanky Baroda pacer can trouble any batsman with his nagging line and length, a preview of which was visible during his man of the match effort of 3-27 on Wednesday.
RCB, on the other hand, have no time to dwell on their six-wicket loss to Chennai in the first qualifier on Tuesday.
With a second chance in hand, the Daniel Vettori-led side will have to get their acts together soon, especially in their bowling unit if they wish to spoil Mumbai's party on Friday.
In Gayle, Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers, Luke Pomersbach and Saurabh Tiwary, RCB have a formidable line-up.
Gayle has been RCB's top performer with the bat and tops the list of run-scorers with 519 runs from 10 games, followed by Kohli (514 off 14) and Tendulkar (513 off 15).
RCB's batting prowess can be gauged from the fact that despite Gayle's early dismissal against Chennai, they scored 175 for four with Kohli starring with an unbeaten 70.
However, bowling remains RCB's top priority after conceding 58 in the last four against Chennai the other day.
Bangalore have only two world-class bowlers in Zaheer Khan and skipper Vettori, who is suffering from a knee injury and has been lacklustre in the last match, conceding 42 runs of his 3.2 overs, including 12 off the last over.

Teams from

Royal Challengers: Daniel Vettori (capt), Chris Gayle, Mayank Agarwal, Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers (wk), Saurabh Tiwary, S Aravind, Zaheer Khan, Arun Karthik (wk), G Muralidharan, A Mithun, Mohammad Kaif, R Ninan, Asad Pathan, Charl Langeveldt, Luke Pomersbach, Johan van der Wath, Syed Mohammed, Rilee Roussow, Jonathan Vandiar, Abrar Kazi.

Mumbai Indians: Sachin Tendulkar (capt), Aiden Blizzard, Ambati Rayudu (wk), Rohit Sharma, T Suman, Harbhajan Singh, Munaf Patel, Kieron Pollard, Lasith Malinga, Andrew Symonds, Davy Jacobs (wk), James Franklin, Ray Price, Abu Nechim, Aditya Tare (wk), Ali Murtaza, Dhawal Kulkarni, Pawan Suyal, R Satish, Sarul Kanwar, Suryakumar Yadav, Yuzvendra Singh Chahai.

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Kolkata Thrash Pune by 7 Wickets, Alive Play-off Hope

Gautam Gambhir's unbeaten 46-ball 54 led Kolkata Knight Riders to an emphatic seven-wicket victory over Pune Warriors India in their IPL match at DY Patil stadium in Mumbai on Thursday.
Gambhir hit 7 fours in his unbeaten knock as Kolkata chased down the 119-run victory target in 16.4 overs to move to the third spot in the points table.
Yusuf Pathan hit a six and three fours in his 25-ball 29 before Sourav Ganguly took a good catch running backwards to dismiss him off Wayne Parnell.
Manoj Tiwary added 46 runs for the second wicket with Gautam Gambhir before edging a Bhuvaneshwar Kumar delivery onto his stumps.
Tiwary hit a six and a four in his run-a-ball 24 before his dismissal.
Gambhir and Tiwary brought up Kolkata's 50 in the seventh over after the early dismissal of Shreevats Goswami.
Alfonso Thomas struck early for Pune when he had Goswami caught behind by Robin Uthappa on the fourth ball of the Kolkata run chase.
Earlier, Shakib Al Hasan, Yusuf Pathan and Lakshmipathy Balaji took two wickets each as Kolkata restricted Pune to 118/7.
Balaji, who bowled only the last over of the Pune innings, clean bowled Sachin Rana by a yorker on the last ball of the hosts' innings.
Pune lost their sixth wicket when their captain Yuvraj Singh mistimed a slower ball from Balaji high up in the air for keeper Shreevats Goswami to take the catch.
Yuvraj hit 2 fours in his 26-ball 24 before falling to Balaji.
Pathan took his second wicket when he had Robin Uthappa caught by Brett Lee at deep mid-wicket.
Uthappa hit a four in his 19-ball 12 before falling to Pathan.
Shakib had Sourav Ganguly caught by Pathan at short fine-leg to reduce Pune to 71/4.
Ganguly hit a six in his 22-ball 18 before falling to Shakib.
Shakib had Callum Ferguson stumped by Shreevats Goswami to reduce Pune to 44/3.
Ferguson hit 2 fours in his 19-ball 16 before charging down the pitch to go for a big hit but missed the ball that turned away from him and Goswami uprooted the stumps in a flash.
Yusuf Pathan gave Kolkata an early breakthrough when he had Jesse Ryder caught by Manoj Tiwary at long-off in the second over of their match.
Pune lost their second wicket when Iqbal Abdulla trapped Manish Pandey plumb in front of the wicket.
The breakthroughs came after Kolkata captain Gautam Gambhir won the toss and chose to bowl.
Kolkata dropped Mark Boucher, Eoin Morgan and Jaidev Unadkat and brought in Ryan ten Doeschate, Shakib Al Hasan and Shreevats Goswami.
Pune brought in Sachin Rana and Alfonso Thomas.

Brief scores
Pune Warriors 118 for 7 (Yuvraj 24, Balaji 2-7, Shakib 2-16)
Kolkata Knight Riders 119 for 3 (Gambhir 54*)
Results Kolkata Knight Riders won by 7 wickets
MOM Yusuf Pathan (Kolkata Knight Riders)
Points Kolkata Knight Riders 2, Pune Warriors 0

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Pune Warriors Look to Spoil Knight Riders Party

Already out of the IPL play-off race having suffered 8 defeats in 12 games, Pune Warriors would be looking to restore some pride and play party poopers when they take on Kolkata Knight Riders on Thursday.
While the Warriors have blown away any chance of making it to the four-team play-offs in this edition of the IPL, the Knight Riders are well poised to make it to the second phase of the tournament, having won seven out of 12 games with a total points tally of 14.
And a victory over the struggling Warriors would ease their way to advance to the play-off stage but they would certainly be aware of the pitfalls that the Pune outfit is capable of creating in their way.
A defeat for the Knight Riders would make their position shaky with Kings XI Punjab creeping up the table in grand fashion with a string of victories. Punjab have sent out strong signals to the currently placed top-four teams in the table, following their massive 111-run victory over Royal Challengers Bangalore on Tuesday.
Thursday's match to be played at the DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai takes on an extra edge with Sourav Ganguly playing against his old team.
The former India skipper would be eager to stamp his authority on the proceedings and send a message to the owners of the KKR, who discarded him after three years.
The Kolkata outfit has blown hot and cold this season. A string of wins has been followed by a few losses, including the one against Royal Challengers Bangalore in their previous game.
But they have had enough time to recover from that defeat and now would be anxious to hit the ground running and vanquishing the Warriors who arrested a seven-match losing sequence with a two back-to-back victories before suffering a huge defeat at home.
The Knight Riders' batting has revolved around five key players in captain Gautam Gambhir (312 runs from 12 games), leading run-scorer Jacques Kallis (358 from 12), Manoj Tiwary who has been the most consistent with a tally of four under 300 runs at a fine average of 74-plus, Yusuf Pathan and Eoin Morgan.
Kolkata's bowling has been sustained by spinners Pathan (11 wickets) and left-armer Iqbal Abdulla (14), but the biggest disappointment has been Brett Lee who has neither been incisive (4 wickets in 12 games) nor economical (236 runs conceded at over 7 per over and a none-too-impressive average of 59 per wicket).
Lee, would thus be eager to set things right on a track that has offered more bounce during the season than the one at the Knight Riders home venue, Eden Gardens.
Laxmipathy Balaji has done his bit with seven wickets under his belt but has also been expensive.
Against Pune's left-oriented top-order batting, Pathan can do the trick as he can take the ball away, which would invite Jesse Ryder, skipper Yuvraj Singh and Ganguly to play against the spin.
The Warriors batting has not lived up to expectations and has depended a lot on Ryder (291 runs from 12 games) at the top and Yuvraj (319 from 12) down the order till Ganguly's arrival late in the tournament.
Robin Uthappa (252 from 12) and Manish Pandey (230 from 8), who missed the first four matches due to a ban imposed on them by the IPL governing council, have not been very good at taking full advantage of their starts.
Uthappa said after the defeat against Deccan Chargers in the last game, the team would strive hard to win their last two games and avoid the wooden spoon in the ten-team tournament.
"Definitely we would play for pride. We would not want to be there at the bottom of the table. The season is not over yet. If we can finish on a high. We would be better off psychologically for next season," said the Karnataka batsman.
Pune's bowling has also been unimpressive so far and apart from Rahul Sharma's 16 wickets from 12 games in the tournament at an economy rate of 6, there is little the team can boost off.
Wayne Parnell and Yuvraj Singh (nine wickets from 12 games) are the other two bowlers, who have had a decent run till now but Murali Kartik (one wicket in six games) has been disappointing and thus failed to find a regular place in the playing eleven.

Teams from

Pune Warriors: Yuvraj Singh (capt), Robin Uthappa (wk), Sourav Ganguly, Murali Kartik, Abhishek Jhunjhunwala, Bhuvaneshwar Kumar, Deeraj Jadhav, Eklavya Dwivedi, Ganesh Gaikwad, Harpreet Singh Bhatia, Harshad Khadiwale, Kamran Khan, Mithun Manhas, Mohnish Mishra, Rahul Sharma, Sachin Rana, Shrikant Wagh, Shrikant Mundhe, Imtiyaz Ahmed, Jesse Ryder, Graeme Smith, Wayne Parnell, Alphonso Thomas. Tim Paine, Callum Ferguson, Mitchell Marsh, Jerome Taylor, James Faulkner.

Kolkata Knight Riders: Gautam Gambhir (capt), Jacques Kallis, Eoin Morgan, Manoj Tiwary, L Balaji, Manvinder Bisla, Rajat Bhatia, Shreevats Goswami, Iqbal Abdulla, Yusuf Pathan, Sarabjit Ladda, Shkib Al Hasan, Pradeep Sangwan, Laxmi Rathan Shukla, Jaidev Unadkat, Ryan Doeschate, Brett Lee, Mark Boucher (wk), James Pattinson, Shami Ahmed.

Match facts
Thursday May 19, 2011 (day/night)
Start time 20:00 local (14:30 GMT)

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Knight Riders Beat Super Kings by 10 runs by D/L Method

Kolkata Knight Riders moved to 14 points after they beat Chennai Super Kings by 10 runs (D/L) in the rain truncated IPL match at the Eden Gardens on Saturday.

Rain stopped the Knight Riders vs Super Kings match with Kolkata ahead by 10 runs against Chennai according to D/L method.
Chasing a modest 115-run target, Kolkata Knight Riders were 61/2 in 10 overs when rain interrupted again for the second time.
Knight Riders lost skipper Gautam Gambhir (16) and Eoin Morgan (5) early against Super Kings.
Spinner R Ashwin dismissed Gambhir in the sixth over after he struck early with his first ball to dismiss Morgan and gave Super Kings a crucial breakthrough in the second over.
Electing to bat, Subramaniam Badrinath slammed quick-fire 41-ball 54 runs after an awful start to Chennai innings and added 65-run stand with Albie Morkel (30 not out) for the fourth wicket to help Super Kings set a decent 115-run target for the hosts.
Kolkata bowlers dominated the proceedings from the word go as Chennai batsmen failed to score single boundary in the first nine overs. CSK's first boundary - a six by Badrinath - came off Yusuf Pathan in the 9.5 overs.
In-form Badrinath was on his usual self as he smashed two sixes and three fours and raced to fifty in 37 balls. Whereas, Morkel hit three boundaries in his run-a-ball knock as the South African played second fiddle in their revival act.
Badrinath finally got out on the last ball of the innings as he tried to steal a second run.
For KKR, Iqbal Abdulla (1-15), Yusuf Pathan (1-25) and L Balaji (1-33) shared a wicket each. And Brett Lee was mean as miser as the Aussie speedster conceded just eight runs in his four overs.
Earlier, Super Kings skipper MS Dhoni won the toss and decided to bat against Knight Riders.
The match has been delayed for more than an hour due to consistent drizzle at Eden Gardens.

Brief scores
Chennai Super Kings 114 for 4 (Badrinath 54)
Kolkata Knight Riders 61 for 2 (Ashwin 2-12)
Result: Kolkata Knight Riders won by 10 runs (D/L method)
MOM: Iqbal Abdulla (Kolkata Knight Riders)

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Deccan Take on Kolkata in Crucial Match

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Their survival in the Indian Premier League at stake, former champions Deccan Chargers face an uphill battle as they take on a spirited Kolkata Knight Riders on Tuesday.
Deccan have played eight matches so far and managed to win only three of them. The roller-coaster campaign puts them in the lower half of the points table with six points.
Significantly, four other IPL teams also have six points and Deccan have another half a dozen matches at hand to rise in the table.
But the task is not easy as Kumar Sangakkara's men go into Tuesday's match after a 19-run loss to Chennai Super Kings last night.
The Sri Lankan was quick to highlight the need for a winning streak in the later half of the event after the crushing loss last night.
"It is pretty simple. We have six games, we have to win five of them to stay alive in this competition. It is a great challenge. We are playing well, but we have to convert that extra 10 or five per cent to try and win a game," he said.
In the slam-bang format that is Twenty20, a solid batting line-up is a must for any team and Deccan have been struggling on that front.
The likes of Shikhar Dhawan, Sunny Sohal, Bharat Chipli and Sangakkara himself have not done enough to intimidate rival bowlers. The quartet will have to rediscover its form for Deccan to have any chance of going further in the tournament.
On the bowling front, hosts would look up to Ishant Sharma, who has shown glimpses of good form after being off-colour for most part of the event, and Dale Steyn in the pace department.
Pragyan Ojha and Amit Mishra will be spearheading the spin attack.
On the other hand, Kolkata have 10 points and are second in the overall standings, having won five out of eight matches they have played so far.
The high-profile line-up of batsmen led by Gautam Gambhir, includes all-rounder Jacques Kallis, Yusuf Pathan and Manoj Tiwary, all of whom have been in decent touch.
The bowling too looks formidable with an in-form Brett Lee spearheading the pace attack rather well with Laxmipathy Balaji as an able support.
Coming off back-to-back wins, confidence is bound to be high in the Kolkata camp but playing at home would certainly work to Deccan's advantage in what promises to be an interesting contest.

Teams from

Kolkata Knight Riders: Gautam Gambhir (capt), Lakshmipathi Balaji, Pradeep Sangwan, SS Ladda, Brett Lee, Iqbal Abdulla, Jaidev Unadkat, James Pattinson, Shami Ahmed, Manoj Tiwary, Eoin Morgan, Rajat Bhatia, Yusuf Pathan, Jacques Kallis, Laxmirata Shukla, Shakib Al Hasan, Ryan ten Doeschate, Manvinder Bisla (wk), Mark Boucher (wk), Shreevat Goswami (wk).

Deccan Chargers: Kumar Sangakkara (capt & wk), Ishant Sharma, Pragyan Ojha, Harmeet Singh, Amit Mishra, Rusty Theron, Manpreet Gony, Akash Bhandari, Dale Steyn, Shikhar Dhawan, Raviteja, Arjun Yadav, Sunny Sohal, Abhinav Kumar, Bharat Chipli, Ishank Jaggi, Jaydev Shah, Kedar Devdhar, Chris Lynn, Michael Lumb, JP Duminy, Ishak Malhotra, AA Reddy, Cameron White, Anand Rajan, Daniel Christian and Ankit Sharma.

Match facts
Tuesday May 3, 2011 (day/night)
Start time 20:00 local (14:30 GMT)

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Mumbai Indians Beat Punjab by 23 runs, Go Top

Mumbai Indians bounced back in splendid fashion after a loss in their previous game by beating Kings XI Punjab by 23 runs and regain the pole position in the Indian Premier League on Monday in Mumbai.
Batting first, half centuries from skipper Sachin Tendulkar and Ambati Rayudu helped them score a competitive 159 for five in 20 overs. The MI bowlers then did a fine job in restricting the visitors to 136 for eight despite valiant effort from Shaun Marsh who scored 61 off just 47 balls.
Barring a fine innings from Marsh, who struck eight fours, and his 72-run second wicket partnership in 60 balls with opener Paul Valthaty (33 in 38 balls), there was little of note in the Kings XI chase resulting in their fourth defeat in seven matches.
For home team, Harbhajan Singh - who opened the attack - grabbed two for 25 along with Lasith Malinga (two for 19) and Munaf Patel (two for 18).
Man of the match Kieron Pollard, who made a brisk 20 in 11 balls and took two catches, and Andrew Symonds also grabbed a wicket each.
Earlier, asked to bat first Tendulkar and Rayudu added 95 runs in 72 balls for the second wicket to guide MI to a winning score.
While Rayudu was the more aggressive of the duo and got his runs in 37 balls with eight fours and one six, Tendulkar struck a six and three fours in his 45-ball essay.
Both were caught in the deep trying to give a charge to the KXIP bowlers.
Later, Kieron Pollard, who has hardly got a chance to bat in earlier matches, made a quick-fire 20 with two sixes and a four. Rohit Sharma made a quick 18 in 11 balls before falling off the penultimate ball.
Andrew Symonds (4) remained unconquered at the end with T Suman (0) who did not face a ball.
For the visitors, leg spinner Piyush Chawla and medium pacer Ryan Harris grabbed two wickets each while left-arm slow bowler Bipul Sharma accounted for the other wicket.
When Punjab chased, Mumbai too, like their rivals had done, commenced the bowling with Harbhajan Singh and the move succeeded. The offie trapped Gilchrist leg before when the left hander tried to sweep the bowler.
The fifth ball strike with only one run on the board put Kings XI on the back foot, but the home team suffered a setback when Rayudu was injured while fielding, appearing to have twisted his right knee. He later came back to keep wickets after first-choice stumper Davy Jacobs suffered a thumb injury and had to leave the field.
Shaun Marsh struck the first boundary of the innings by clipping Malinga off his toes and then punched the Lankan bowler through the covers off the very next delivery for his second four.
Valthaty was lucky to see his leading edge not held at point by Munaf Patel off Abu Nechim Ahmed when on three in a score of 16 for one.
Punjab could make only 24 in the first six overs Power Play period. The visitors reached 50 in 53 balls when Valthaty clouted part-time spinner T Suman over the straight field for his first six.
The right-hander clobbered Andrew Symonds, in his first over of the tournament, for another six over the straight field before being caught just inside the boundary line by a running Kieron Pollard off the very next ball when he tried to repeat the shot.
The second wicket partnership between Valthaty, who faced 38 balls, and Marsh produced 72 runs in 60 balls.
Mumbai struck another blow six runs later to pack off David Hussey through a brilliant catch by Rohit Sharma diving forward when the Australian mistimed an aerial shot off Munaf Patel to reduce the visitors to 79 for three.
Dinesh Karthik was trapped leg before by Pollard as he tried to shuffle across and turn to leg which left Kings XI at a difficult 83 for four. Three wickets had gone down for 10 runs in 28 balls.
A partnership of 30 runs in under three overs between Marsh, who was batting beautifully, and Abishek Nayar (14 in 9 balls), brought raised visions of an improbable win before Harbhajan send back Nayar with Symonds taking a good catch at cover. It was the offie's second wicket of the game.
Malinga came back to york Bipul Sharma comprehensively to leave Kings XI at a seemingly hopeless 116 for six and the match was as good as over with the departure of Marsh, caught by Tendulkar pulling Malinga, in the next over followed by that of Ryan Harris three balls later.

Brief scores
Mumbai Indians 159 for 5 (Rayudu 51, Tendulkar 51)
Kings XI Punjab 136 for 8 (Marsh 61, Valthaty 33)
Results Mumbai Indians won by 23 runs
MOM Kieron Pollard (Mumbai Indians)
Points Mumbai Indians 2, Kings XI Punjab 0

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Kochi Tuskers Kerala Thrash Delhi Daredevils by 7 wickets

A home ground is the fortress of most Indian Premier League teams - be it defending champions Chennai Super Kings or Shane Warne's Rajasthan Royals.
The Ferozeshah Kotla, though, has proved to be the mauling ground for the Delhi Daredevils this season. Virender Sehwag's Daredevils were handed their fifth defeat in six matches here, this time by the Kochi Tuskers Kerala, who cantered to a seven-wicket win with five overs to spare on Monday.
Centre-wicket or side-wicket - nothing seems to make any difference to the beleaguered home team's fortunes. Delhi have relied heavily on their opening pair of Sehwag and David Warner throughout this season but once they failed to fire it was a struggle to get to 140/6 on an easy-paced Kotla track.
The Tuskers jumped over the Devils into sixth spot with eight points from nine games. Delhi now face an unlikely prospect of winning five matches in a row to have any chance of qualifying for the knock-out stage.
The modest 141-run target for Kochi was made a mere dawdle after a tremendous assault by Brendon McCullum. The Kiwi batsmen smashed 37 off 19 balls (5x4, 2x6) and gave special attention to Umesh Yadav.
The Daredevils bowler's only over went for 23 as a waist-high full toss went off the glove to fine-leg for a six while the subsequent delivery was smashed over mid-wicket for another six.
The 50-run mark was breached in just the fourth over and although Kochi lost three wickets in a hurry, the run-rate was always well under control. Parthiv Patel (37 n.o., 31b, 5x4) and Brad Hodge (24, 13b, 3x4, 1x6) exacted sweet revenge for the defeat in Kochi on Saturday.
Sehwag looked in ominous form as he creamed the first ball for four to the short cover boundary. The alarm bells were set off when he deposited debutant Prashanth Parmeswaran's first delivery into the long-off stand.
The 25-year-old Kerala left-arm seamer had the last laugh though as he induced an edge a couple of deliveries later as Sehwag departed for 15 (9b, 2x4, 1x6).

Brief scores
Delhi Daredevils 140 for 6 (Venugopal 40)
Kochi Tuskers Kerala 141 for 3 (Parthiv 37*, McCullum 37)
Results Kochi Tuskers Kerala won by seven wickets
Points Kochi Tuskers Kerala 2, Delhi Daredevils 0
MOM Prasanth Parameswaran (Kochi Tuskers Kerala)

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Knight Riders Crush Kings XI Punjab by 8 wickets, Go Top

Gautam Gambhir and Manoj Tiwary hit unbeaten 45 and 34 respectively as Kolkata Knight Riders inflicted a crushing eight-wicket defeat on Kings XI Punjab in their IPL match at Eden Gardens in Kolkata on Saturday. 
The unbeaten 85-run stand between Gambhir and Tiwary enabled Kolkata to chase down the 120-run target in 17.2 overs.
Gambhir hit 4 fours in his 44-ball 45 and Tiwary's 41-ball 34 came with the help of a six and 3 fours.
The partnership came after Ryan Harris took a superb catch at deep mid-wicket to dismiss Kolkata opener Eoin Morgan off Bhargav Bhatt.
Morgan hit 6 fours in his 15-ball 28 before falling to Bhatt.
Bhatt struck on his first delivery when he had Jacques Kallis caught by David Hussey in the covers as Kolkata got off to a bad start in pursuit of 120 runs.
Earlier, Iqbal Abdulla took 2 wickets as Kolkata restricted Kings XI Punjab to 119/6 despite a well-made 42 from Dinesh Karthik.
Karthik hit 4 fours in his run-a-ball 42 before being run out.
Kings XI Punjab lost their fifth wicket when Abdulla trapped David Hussey plumb in front of the wicket.
Abdulla gave Kolkata the third breakthrough when he clean bowled Punjab captain Adam Gilchrist from between his legs.
Gilchrist looked to pull a short-pitched delivery but the ball neither turned nor bounced and went from between his legs to hit the stumps.
Kolkata lost their fourth wicket when Abhishek Nayar was run out.
Paul Valthaty and Shaun Marsh fell in successive overs as Kings XI Punjab got off to a bad start against Kolkata Knight Riders
Yusuf Pathan gave Kolkata the first breakthrough when he had Paul Valthaty caught by Manoj Tiwary at long-on in the fifth over.
In the next over, Marsh was run out as Punjab lost their second wicket.
This was after Kolkata captain Gautam Gambhir won the toss and chose to bowl.
Kolkata have replaced Jaidev Unadkat with Rajat Bhatia.
Punjab have brought in Bhargav Bhatt in place of Shalabh Srivastava.

Brief scores
Kings XI Punjab 119 for 6 v (Karthik 42, Abdulla 2-19)
Kolkata Knight Riders 120 for 2 (Gambhir 45*, Tiwary 34*)
Results Kolkata Knight Riders won by eight wickets
MOM Iqbal Abdulla (Kolkata Knight Riders)
Kolkata Knight Riders 2, Kings XI Punjab 0

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Boucher to Replace Injured Haddin for Knight Riders

Kolkata Knight Riders on Saturday named South African wicketkeeper Mark Boucher as a replacement for the injured Brad Haddin in the ongoing Indian Premier League.
Boucher, who represented Royal Challengers Bangalore earlier, will be available for the Knight Riders ahead of their clash against Deccan Chargers on May 3.
"We are fortunate to have someone like Mark Boucher as Brad's replacement. He comes with a lot of experience and a terrific track record in all forms of the game," Knight Riders CEO and MD, Venky Mysore said.
Aussie wicketkeeper Haddin's IPL campaign was cut short after a fracture was detected in his finger. An MRI in Delhi on Thursday revealed that the injury he sustained during Australia's series in Bangladesh had not healed.
He will return home and undergo a surgery. "We are very disappointed that Brad (Haddin) will be leaving the squad and will not take further part in IPL 4. In a short period, Brad had made his presence felt both on and off the field," Mysore said.
The 33-year-old Australian cricketer was unavailable for KKR's first three outings as he was busy with national duty in Bangladesh.
After joining the side, Haddin scored 18 in his only appearance for the Knight Riders in their nine-wicket loss to Royal Challengers Bangalore in Kolkata.
An injury-prone Haddin, who had missed Australia's five-match ODI series against England last year due to an elbow injury, was roped in January's auction for $325,000

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Knight Riders Look to Maintain Momentum Against Kings XI

After returning to winning ways with a hard-fought triumph over Delhi Daredevils, the Kolkata Knight Riders will be hungry for more when they take on a formidable Kings XI Punjab at home in their Indian Premier League clash here on Saturday.

After suffering two consecutive losses, the Knight Riders came back strongly to beat Delhi Daredevils by 19 runs last night.

Be it in fielding or bowling, the Knight Riders showed intensity, something that was needed after Manoj Tiwary salvaged the batting with a fluent yet combative innings.

Often criticised for not being able to provide the finishing touches in the Knight Riders close losses, the stylish Tiwary remained unbeaten in his 61 from 47 balls with three powerful sixes.

On a day the established Jacques Kallis, Gautam Gambhir, Yusuf Pathan and Eoin Morgan aggregated just 34, it proved to be a match-winning knock for the Team India fringe batsman.

Yet, the total did not look match-winning, had it not been for the die-hard efforts by the bowlers and the fielders.

Brett Lee led the attack with amazing accuracy. An inspirational penultimate over by Lee in fact nailed the last chances of the Daredevils.

With 26 needed from last two overs and two batsmen looking to go for the kill, it could have been anybody's game in the Twenty20 scheme of things.

But, Lee conceded two runs and affected two run-outs, one of them in true slam dunk fashion for the final rites of the Delhi outfit.

Kallis failed with the bat but the 35-year-old dished out a some fighting saves on the boundary to lift the morale of the side.

The win meant that the Knight Riders are at number two -- ahead of Chennai Super Kings -- at the midway stage of the Twenty20 tournament and as Gambhir pointed out, it was morale-boosting.

It remains to be seen whether Gambhir leads the pack, often in news for all the wrong reasons, to the pinnacle.

As Knight Riders launch their mission to the next stage after completing half of their league phase, it is all about maintaining the momentum from hereafter.

With three more home matches lined up -- Kings XI Punjab, Chennai Super Kings and Mumbai Indians -- it is crucial for the Knight Riders not to lose the grip of it.

At the slow Eden Gardens strip tomorrow, Gambhir will certainly give a thought about bringing in Bangladeshi skipper and left arm spinner Shakib-al-Hasan in the four-foreigner line-up.

That English southpaw Eoin Morgan is yet to hit purple patch may give Gambhir an option.

In Shakib and Iqbal Abdulla, who is doing well at the moment with a 3/25 yesterday, the Knight Riders should not worry about their bowling.

All-rounder material Laxmi Ratan Shukla cooling the benches may sound surprising and the former Bengal skipper may be considered as an option.

They may be lying low on seventh but the Kings are not in a much disadvantageous position considering that they have played only five compared to seven by the Knight Riders.

It's a situation much like that of Kolkata a couple of matches ago.

After three superb wins under their belt, Delhi outgunned Punjab in a run-fest in their previous match.

In second leading run-getter Paul Valthaty, who shot into limelight with 120 not out against Chennai, Adam Gilchrist and Shaun Marsh, Kings XI have a threatening top-order.

With David Hussey, Dinesh Karthik to follow, Kings XI have a formidable batting line-up and they will hope that the bowlers led by Praveen Kumar and World Cup winning leg-spinner Piyush Chawla do their job meticulously.

A win will take them to the play-off zone -- the top-four of the table.

Off the field, it will also be a battle between the hit Bollywood screen couple -- Shah Rukh Khan and Preity Zinta -- the team bosses of Knight Riders and Kings XI respectively.

In the points table, the Knight Riders have eight points, while Kings have six.

Teams from

Kolkata Knight Riders: Gautam Gambhir (capt), Jacques Kallis, Shreevats Goswami (wk), Manoj Tiwary, Yusuf Pathan, Eoin Morgan, Ryan ten Doeschate, Brett Lee, Laxmipathy Balaji, Iqbal Abdulla, Jaydev Unadkat, Shakib-al-Hasan, Brad Haddin (wk), James Pattinson, Laxmi Ratan Shukla, Pradeep Sangwan, Shami Ahmed, Rajat Bhatia and Manvinder Bisla (wk).

Kings XI Punjab: Adam Gilchrist (capt & wk), Paul Valthaty, Shaun Marsh, Dinesh Karthik (wk), David Hussey, Abhishek Nayar, Sunny Singh, Ryan Harris, Piyush Chawla, Praveen Kumar, Shalabh Srivastava, Ryan McLaren, Stuart Broad, Love Ablish, Amit Yadav, Bhargav Bhatt, Bipul Sharma, Siddharth Chitnis, Paras Dogra, Vikramjeet Malik, Mandeep Singh, Nitin Saini.

Match facts

Saturday April 30, 2011 (day/night)

Start time 20:00 local (14:30 GMT)

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Rajasthan Royals Thump Deccan Chargers by 8 wickets

Johan Botha (67 not out) helped Rajasthan Royals thrash Deccan Chargers by 8 wickets in their Indian Premier League match at Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad on Saturday.
Chasing a modest 138-run target, Botha hit a six and eight boundaries in his quick-fire 47-ball 67 innings to lead the Royals run-chase as they achieved their target with seven balls to spare.
Botha added match-winning unbeaten 58 runs for the third wicket with Ross Taylor. Taylor hit two huge sixes and a four in his 14-ball 21 innings.
Dale Steyn clean bowled Dravid in the thirteenth over to halt the Royals run-chase. Dravid played patiently for his 35-ball innings as he hit just two boundaries. Dravid also added a vital 52 runs for the second wicket with Johan Botha.
Steyn gave Chargers crucial breakthrough in the sixth over as he dismissed Amit Paunikar after Royals openers started their innings confidently as they added 31 runs.
Earlier, Siddharth Trivedi (3-15) and Shane Warne (2-21) helped Rajasthan Royals restrict Deccan Chargers to 137/8 in their Indian Premier League match.
Trivedi was peak of the bowlers for Royals as he took three crucial wickets and conceded just 15 runs in his four overs.
Royals captain Warne too contributed handsomely as he struck two crucial wickets as he dismissed JP Duminy (14) and Ishank Jaggi (25).
Earlier, Rajasthan Royals won the toss and elected to bowl first against Deccan Chargers in the second match of the IPL 4 at Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad.

Brief scores
Deccan Chargers 137 for 8 (Ravi Teja 28, Trivedi 3-15)
Rajasthan Royals 141 for 2 (Botha 67*, Steyn 2-18)
Result  Rajasthan Royals  won by eight wickets

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Royal Challengers beat Kochi Tuskers by Six Wickets

If the Royal Challengers Bangalore bowling doesn’t get you, the batting will. That was the message sent out by the semifinalists of the last edition in their opening tie against IPL newcomers Kochi Tuskers Kerala.
Set a stiff 162 to get at 8.1 an over, the RCB batting might came to the fore to eclipse not just their own modest bowling show but also that of the Kochi batsmen, who had earlier given their strong home supporters a lot to cheer.
They won with six wickets and eight balls to spare but it was not as if RCB had it easy all the way. In fact until KTK skipper Mahela Jayawardene inexplicably brought on local lad Raiphi Vincent Gomez with RCB requiring 33 from the last three overs, the match could have still gone the hosts’ way.
The young man did consume Saurabh Tiwary (26, 25b, 2×4) but then with AB De Villiers around, he still conceded 20 off his only over to hand the momentum and eventually the match to RCB. At that point, Sreesanth, RP Singh and Vinay Kumar had still an over each to go.
De Villiers (54 not out, 40b), who had initially allowed RCB’s young opener Mayank Agarwal (33, 24b, 2×4, 2×6) to set the tempo after the early loss of T Dilshan, after having smashed five sixes and a lone boundary, then watched another young man Asad Pathan smash Vinay Kumar to the fence to bring about the win.
For Kochi earlier, it wasn’t quite mayhem but nearly so as Brendon McCullum found the form that has eluded him in New Zealand colours. The faster that Dirk Nannes bowled, the faster McCullum slammed him. The left-arm quick’s first three deliveries produced 4, 4 and a huge six over midwicket.
With fellow opener VVS Laxman being in his elements too, it was a two-pronged attack. That the wristy Hyderabadi used more than just those famous wrists, bringing on some rarely seen brute power as well, as when he smashed Abhimanyu Mithun for a six over long on, sent the already excited crowd into further raptures.
RCB captain Daniel Vettori had to ring in the changes in an effort to get a grip back on the proceedings. The bowling changes didn’t immediately help, for where Nannes conceded 16 in his first over, Mithun gave away 19. It was left to Dilshan to draw first blood for RCB, Laxman (36, 28b, 2×4, 2×6) holing out at mid wicket. Virat Kohli then had McCullum (45, 32b, 4×4, 2×6) skying a scoop shot.
The openers, with a 55-ball 80-run start had laid the base though and from thereon it was matter of kicking on.
But with Vettori the captain putting aside the frustration and allowing the bowler in him to take over and conceding a meagre 17 from his four overs, Kochi didn’t quite get as much they would have hoped for. And on the night it wasn’t quite enough either.

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IPL 4: Gambhir to lead Kolkata Knight Riders

India batsman Gautam Gambhir was on Monday named captain of Kolkata Knight Riders team for the Indian Premier League season four starting next month. Announcing Gambhir’s appointment as KKR captain, the IPL team described him a thorough professional and praised his leadership qualities.
“We are delighted that Gautam Gambhir will be leading our team. He is a thorough professional and his performance and leadership qualities speak for themselves,” KKR CEO & MD Venky Mysore said in a KKR release.
Gambhir said he was looking forward to leading the team in IPL 4.
“It’s a pleasure and an honour to lead the KKR team. I believe that the KKR management has put together a terrific team. I am looking forward to the season and feel very optimistic,” said Gambhir, who was Delhi Daredevils captain last season.
He was bought by KKR for a record-breaking USD 2.4 million (Rs 11.04 crore) in the IPL auction held in Bangalore in January.
Along with Gambhir, six members of the KKR squad are currently playing in the World Cup. They are Yusuf Pathan, Jacques Kallis, Brett Lee, Brad Haddin, Ryan ten Doeschate and Shakib al Hasan.

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List of Players of Kolkata Knight Riders

  

Player Name	Nationality
Gautam Gambhir	India
Yusuf Pathan	India
Jacques Kallis	South Africa
Brad Haddin	Australia
Shakib Al Hasan	Bangladesh
Brett Lee	Australia
Eoin Morgan	England
Manoj Tiwary	India
L Balaji	India
Jaidev Unadkat	India
Ryan ten Doeschate	Netherlands
James Pattinson	Australia

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List of Players of Royal Challengers Bangalore

Player Name	Nationality
Virat Kohli (retained)	India
Tillakaratne Dilshan	Sri Lanka
Zaheer Khan	India
AB de Villiers	South Africa
Daniel Vettori	New Zealand
Saurabh Tiwary	India
Dirk Nannes	Australia
Cheteshwar Pujara	India
Charl Langeveldt	South Africa
Luke Pomersbasch	Australia
Abhimanyu Mithun	India
Johan van der Wath	South Africa
Rilee Rossouw	South Africa
Nuwan Pradeep	Sri Lanka
Jonathan Vandiar	South Africa

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List of Players of Rajasthan Royals

Player Name	Nationality
Shane Warne (retained)	Australia
Shane Watson (retained)	Australia
Ross Taylor	New Zealand
Rahul Dravid	India
Johan Botha	South Africa
Paul Collingwood	England
Shaun Tait	Australia
Pankaj Singh	India

                                       

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