Sachin Tendulkar plays for money not for country - Bal Thackeray

Talking to Times Now Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray once again targeted Sachin Tendulkar, and this time with a more serious allegation which no Sachin fan or even any cricket fan will agree at. In an interview Thackeray is still not able to digest Sachin’s statement that Mumbai belonged to the country. He quoted - “I will not tolerate, whoever he may be, I will not tolerate that nonsense,” he said, noting the cricketer wasn’t even born when he fought for Mumbai on the sons of the soil plank.

When told that Sachin can’t be accused of playing only for money, he retorted: “Don’t give so much of guarantee. If you need money for something, he will give you a bat. Then it gets auctioned and the money is deposited.”

I really felt bad after reading these statements in newspapers, not for Sachin but for Bal Thackeray! The old man must have got cursed from millions of Sachin Tendulkar's fans! Get well soon Mr. Thackeray!!

Here is the video of same interview where Bal Thackeray accuses Sachin Tendulkar for playing for money and not for country!

Chris Gayle scored 37 runs in 1 over in IPL 4

Chris Gayle scored 37 runs in one over, highest in the IPL, to power Royal Challengers Bangalore to a nine-wicket win over Kochi. rest noball did the difference.

The bowler in question was Prashant Parameshwaran, who got Man of the match award on his IPL debut.

The game was all but over as Bangalore reached 50 in two and a half overs.

Chris Gayle hits fastest century in IPL-4

Chris Gayle struck the fastest century in IPL-4 against Kings XI Punjab at the Chinnaswamy stadium in Bangalore. The West Indian rampage ended on 107 runs, but he crossed the hundred mark in 46 balls. It was an innings of brutal violence as Gayle went on a rampage even as the Punjab bowlers could only just look on and admire his class.

Royal Challengers Bangalore batsman Chris Gayle celebrates his century (100 runs) during the IPL Twenty20 cricket match between Royal Challengers Bangalore and Kings XI Punjab at The M.Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore.

Chennai Super Kings beat Royal Challengers Bangalore to win IPL 4

The Super Kings are the emperors of India. In the battlefield called Chepauk, Dhoni's army ambushed the Royal Challengers to defend the citadel they had clinched in Mumbai last year. The Chennai mean machine started working from Ball One with M Vijay (95 off 52 balls) and Mike Hussey (63 off 45 balls) taking over and there was no looking back.

Vijay never looked good throughout the tournament, but Dhoni stuck with him. And what a day the Chennai boy chose to come good! The right-hander, in an outstanding opening partnership of 159 runs off 14.5 overs with Mike Hussey (63), did the groundwork and built some towers on it for good measure as CSK raced away to 205.

One man who could make a match out of it was Chris Gayle. But the shrewd Dhoni brought R Ashwin in the first over and the offie got the first two balls to turn away from the left-hander. Then came the killer ball which spun in and Gayle, on the back-foot, edged it to Dhoni.

After that, it was just a matter of keeping it tight as Royal Challengers kept losing wickets at regular intervals to go down by 58 runs.

But this final will be remembered by one and all for the way Vijay batted. He is highly rated and on Super Saturday he showed why. Shots were flowing from his bat like a stream as RCB skipper Daniel Vettori simply ran out of options. The crucial phase was when Vettori brought himself on, but Vijay showed excellent temperament. Vijay has the gift of timing and it was all so flawless on Saturday evening that a champion performer like Zaheer Khan looked helpless. And while Vijay was giving the fans all the reasons to cheer about, Hussey played the role of the guiding light to perfection.

In the humidity of Chennai, it's not easy to keep it going, but the two kept pushing each other. Even the strategic time-out, which is generally taken after the 16th over, was brilliantly timed. Hussey and Vijay took it after the 13th to get their breath back and carried on with the onslaught.

As the runs flowed, the shoulders drooped in the RCB ranks with misfields and overthrows creeping in. It all added to the Royal woes and finally, when Hussey got out trying to clear the long-on boundary, the game was all but over. One would have loved to see Vijay completing his second IPL century, but that was not to be. He got out in the 17th over, trying to clear the fence, but that didn't stop CSK from easing past the 200-run mark.

Bangalore beat Mumbai by 43 runs,

If one thought law of averages would eventually catch up with Chris Gayle, Friday wasn’t the day. Mumbai Indians found it the hard way. The West Indian giant was at his lethal best, smacking the Mumbai bowlers all round the park on his way to a 47-ball 89 to help Royal Challengers Bangalore post a comfortable win over Sachin Tendulkar’s team at the MA Chidambaram Stadium.

In the second qualifier, Gayle blasted nine fours and five sixes in his 47-ball innings and shared a 113-run opening partnership with Mayank Agarwal (41) in 10.4 overs to set the foundation for a big score for Bangalore. They made 185 for four. Mumbai were never in the match and ended up at 142 for eight losing by 43 runs.

Tendulkar was the highest scorer for Mumbai, having made 40 off 24 balls but he did not have enough support from the other end. Mumbai also did not have good partnerships which were the hallmark of the Bangalore innings.

Tendulkar’s decision to bowl first backfired as Gayle took the Mumbai attack by the scruff of its neck and helped RCB amass 111 in first 10 overs. Mumbai came back strong in the second half and dismissed four of their batsmen in quick succession and did well to restrict the Royals inside the 200-mark.

Gayle gave Bangalore a blistering start, accumulating 27 runs in the first over off Abu Nechim, studded with three fours and a six, besidesfour wides. Taking a cue from Gayle, young Agarwal also clobbered Harbhajan Singh for a couple of boundaries through short third man in the second over.

Tendulkar then turned to Lasith Malinga but there was no respite for Mumbai as Gayle smashed his first ball through covers and then flicked one across the fine leg boundary.

Mayank brought up teams 50 in 3.2 overs with a huge six over long on off Harbhajan and followed it up with a nice-looking four through point as Royal Challengers reached 57 in four overs.
Munaf Patel also rolled his arms but there was no difference in the result as Gayle clobbered him for a boundary between mid-on and mid-wicket and managed to pick up another four across short fine leg.

Mumbai Indians beat Kolkata Knight Riders by 4 wickets

Harbhajan Singh hit thewinning six for Mumbai Indians, roared, and all but thrust his boot towards theKnight Riders’ dugout. It was his way of telling everybody the kind offrustration his team has endured so far and how they have come out fighting.

Mumbai Indiansshould have won the contest easily. They however made it tougher for themselves,barely managing to reach the modest target of 148 only in the last over at theWankhede on Wednesday.

The IPL Eliminator went all the way down tothe wire even though, at one stage, MI were cruising at 81 for no loss in 7.5overs. After losing the hard-hitting Aiden Blizzard for 51 (30 balls, 7x4, 2x6),they lost three quick wickets to land in a familiar position.

Royal Challenger Banglore beat Chennai Super Kings by 8 wickets

Royal Challengers Bangalore crushed Chennai Super Kings by eight wickets in an IPL game here today, courtesy an unbeaten 75 off 50 balls by Chris Gayle.

RCB thus emerged at the top of the 10-team table with 19 points from 14 games.

Skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni smashed an unbeaten 70 off only 40 deliveries to help Chennai Super Kings reach 128 for eight against Royal Challengers Bangalore in an IPL match here today.

Dhoni hit three fours and six sixes in his knock as he hardly got any support from other batsmen save Wriddhiman Saha (22, 30 balls, 1×4, 1×6).

Earlier, Royal Challengers Bangalore captain Daniel Vettori won the toss and elected to bowl against Chennai Super Kings in their Indian Premier League match here today.

Royal Challengers Bangalore beat Kings XI Punjab by 85 runs

Chris Gayle hammered a century and grabbed three wickets to power Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB)to score an emphatic 85-run win over Kings XI Punjab in their Indian Premier League (IPL) match at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium here last night.
Put in to bat first, RCB, piled up 205 for six from their 20 overs, the highest total in the current edition of the T20 tournament, thanks a superb 107 by Gayle.


In response, Punjab could make only 120 for nine from their quota of 20 overs, with Gayle taking the wickts of Paul Valthaty (21), Dinesh Karthik and Piyush Chawla. The West Indian deservedly got the Man of the Match award for his all-round display.


Ryal McLaren topscored for Kings XI Punjab with 28. Karnataka left-arm pacer Srinath Arvind was the most successful bowler for the hosts with 4 for 14 from his four overs.


The win took RCB to the fourth position in the 10-team league and in line for a spot in the semi-final play-off. They now have five wins and three losses, apart from a no-result.
Punjab, on the other hand, have only three wins from eight games and are in the last but one spot in the league.


The target of 206 was daunting by any standard, and Punjab made it even more difficult for themselves when they lost skipper Adam Gilchrist to the first ball of the innings, a blow from which they never recovered.
Gayle's century included ten boundaries and nine sixes. He added 111 runs off just 59 balls for the second wicket with Virat Kohli (27). AB de Villiers also made an unbeaten 27. Gayle has now become the only batsman to score two centuries in the same edition of IPL.

Delhi Daredevils beat Deccan Chargers by four wickets

Virender Sehwag smashed 119 as Delhi Daredevils beat Deccan Chargers by four wickets in the Indian Premier League here Thursday.

Chasing 176 for victory, Daredevils reached the target in 19 overs.

Earlier, Jean-Paul Duminy slammed 55 off 31 balls while captain Kumar Sangakkara contributed 44.

Dale Steyn and Ishant bowled for the Chargers well but the target was set up easily by the Daredevils captain for the batsmen to follow. 

Delhi Daredevils play their next match against Mumbai Indians at the Wankhede on May 7.

Kochi Tuskers Kerala beat Kolkata Knight Riders by 17 runs

Opener Eoin Morgan's halfcentury went in-vain as Kochi Tuskers Kerala produced a clinical bowling displayto beat Kolkata Knight Riders by 17 runs in an Indian Premier League match onThursday.

KKR paid theprice for a poor final over bowled by Brett Lee that cost them 22 runs withman-of-the-match Brad Hodge (35 not out, 3x4, 2x6) hitting a couple of sixes andboundaries.
Chasing 157 for victory, Morgan and Jacques Kallis (45,41 balls) got 69 in the first 10 overs but Raiphi Gomez dismissed Kallis andrival skipper Gautam Gambhir (0) off successive deliveries to bring the hometeam right back in the match.
It was Gomez's spell of two for 14that became the turning point. He was brilliantly backed up by India discard RVinay Kumar (2/28) and some tidy work by the fielders.
Morganfinally came good with the bat as he smashed eight fours and two sixes in his51-ball knock to provide solidity to Kolkata's run chase at the Nehru stadium.
It was the middle overs where Kolkata frittered as KTK bowlers kepta tight leash on them. The boundaries were difficult to come by adding to thepressure.
Having watched Morgan hit two boundaries off pacer RPSingh in the first over, Kallis got into the act, hitting the same bowler forcouple of more boundaries.
Gomez who bowled wicket to wicketbreached Kallis's defence when he played inside the line to get bowled. Gambhirtried to make room in order to hit over extra-cover but was holed out by hiscounterpart Mahela Jayawardene.
But the loss of two crucial wicketsdid not stop Morgan from taking chances as he clobbered RP Singh for a four andsix in the 12th over and then picked Vinay Kumar for special treatment, hittinghim for two fours. However he failed to up the ante after that.
In-form Manoj Tiwary (1) too departed as he was caught by BrendonMcCullum at midwicket off pacer Vinay Kumar.
Morgan somewhat triedto break the shackles in the 17th over, clobbering Sreesanth for a four and sixto accumulate 13 runs of the over.
With 31 required of last twoovers, Morgan and Yusuf Pathan (17) tried to accelerate the innings but onlyended up in a terrible mix-up resulting in Morgan's run out. Pathan followed thesuit with Mahela taking a brilliant catch as KKR's hopes were completely dashed.
Earlier, put into bat, skipper Jayawardene led from the front, ashis gutsy half-century helped KTK post a challenging 156 for five.

Mumbai Indians beat Pune by 21 runs

Chasing the Mumbai Indians' score of 160 runs for the loss of seven wickets, the Pune batsmen managed 139 for the loss of seven wickets.

Pune received a massive jolt to the run-chase as they lost the wicket of stylish Kiwi opener JD Ryder (0) in the first ball of the innings.

M Pandey gave Pune some amount of momentum with his 59 runs from 47 balls.
But the rest of the batting lie up failed to maintain the momentum.

R. Uthappa (34) remained the second-highest scorer for the Pune outfit as they could manage 139 runs for the loss of seven wickets in their quopta of 20 overs.

Earlier, Mumbai posed 160 runs on the board with most of their batsmen doing well with the willow.
Suman remained the highest scorer for the side with his 36 runs.

 

Ganguly joins Pune Warriors

Sourav Ganguly, the former India captain, has been signed by Pune Warriors as a replacement for Ashish Nehra, who was ruled out for the remainder of the 2011 season with a finger injury. Ganguly's contract is for a period of one year and is an IPL lifeline to the batsman after he went unsold at the player auction in January, where his base price was $400,000.

Ganguly will be vice-captain to Yuvraj Singh and is likely to join the Pune squad ahead of their match against Mumbai Indians at the Wankhede Stadium on May 4.

"We were waiting for Ashish Nehra's fitness report and ultimately the report came yesterday," Abhijit Sarkar, Pune's team director, told PTI. "I was already in talks with Ganguly and we decided that the amount of experience that Sourav has in cricket will no doubt help the team. So we finalised Ganguly last night.

"He is playing in IPL not for money but to prove a point. Our team think-tank felt that Sourav Ganguly is the best possible option available so we went for him. He has been a fighter and a master of comebacks. We are very much confident that he will prove his worth."

Ganguly played for Kolkata Knight Riders in the first three seasons of the IPL and led the team in two of them, while Brendon McCullum was captain for the other. Kolkata fared poorly in those years and are the only franchise not to make the semi-finals. Kolkata did not bid for Ganguly in January despite his name coming up for sale twice, as they revamped their squad entirely, and the batsman later refused a mentoring role with the franchise.

Pune Warriors are bottom of the ten-team league at present, having lost six consecutive matches after winning their first two. Ganguly has an average IPL record - 1031 runs at an average of 28 and strike-rate of 110 - and could strengthen an under-performing and short batting order.

Kochi Tuskars beat Delhi Daredevils by 7 wickets

Tuskers Kerala registered a massive seven-wicket wicket over Delhi Daredevils in the Indian Premier League (IPL) here on Monday.Kochi Tuskers easily achieved the target of 141 runs with five balls to spare after Brendan McCullum and Parthiv Patel scored 37s each at the Feroze Shah Kotla.

It was a clinical performance by the visitors, who took sweet revenge of their loss at home against the Delhi side on Saturday. Kochi are now sixth in the league with eight points from nine matches while Daredevils are eight with six points from as same number of matches.

Kochi Tuskers captain Mahela Jayawardene was spot on with his decision making right from the toss, when he decided to put in the Daredevils.

A disciplined performance by the Kochi Tuskers bowlers restricted the Daredevils to 140 for six. Y.Venugopal Rao was the top scorer with 40 while Travis Birt made 27.

The Daredevils top order, David Warner (13), Virender Sehwag (15), Naman Ojha (13) and Yogesh Nagar (18), all got starts but couldn't convert them into a big score.

Rudra Pratap Singh and the temperamental Sreesanth picked up a wicket each and were economical as well. Prasanth Parameswaran and R. Vinay Kumar picked up two wickets each.
In contrast, the Daredevils bowlers were wayward and had to suffer the fury of McCullum, who scored a 19-ball 37.

A wayward Irfan Pathan bowled a nine-ball first over that gave 13 runs and they couldn't contain the Kochi batsmen, specially McCullum.
The Kiwi batsmen whipped Morne Morkel for three fours in the second over, that again saw 13 runs coming off from it.

Pacer Umesh Yadav had the worst in store form him as McCullum again smashed him for two sixes and two fours as 23 runs came off the fourth over.

Michael Klinger (18), though he found the odd boundaries, was struggling to match McCullum's scoring rate.

Morkel struck in the sixth over to get rid of Mccullum and Roelf van der Merwe dismissed Klinger in the eighth.
Jayawardene (7) didn't last long and was run out in the 10th over.From then on, Patel and Brad Hodge, who scored 13-ball 24, then added an unbeaten fourth-wicket stand of 52 runs to take the team home safely.

Mumbai Indians beat Kings XI Punjab by 23 runs

Paul Valthaty had just slapped Andrew Symonds for a straight six and was threatening to cut loose after a sedate start. Symonds bowled a similar delivery again and the opener repeated the stroke only to discover that long on fielder Kieron Pollard had moved a few steps to his left and was in a perfect position to take the catch.

That was nothing spectacular but Mumbai Indians hardly needed any out of the box performance to beat Kings XI Punjab by 23 runs and regain the top spot in the league standings at the Wankhede stadium on Monday.
Sachin, Rayudu shine
With the afternoon sun beating down, the wicket was never conducive for big hitting and it was clear the outcome of the match would depend on how the teams exploited the new ball.
Sachin Tendulkar (51 in 45 balls) and Ambati Rayudu (51 in 37 balls) ensured the bowlers would have enough runs to defend after KXIP skipper Adam Gilchrist put the hosts into bat.
The last year’s finalists lost Davy Jacobs in the third over but Rayudu again took the pressure off his skipper by quickly getting off the blocks and Tendulkar responded with a few innovative shots of his own.
But it was the 12th over from Praveen Kumar that allowed the Mumbai Indians to break free when Rayudu hit the medium pacer for a six and two boundaries off consecutive deliveries.
The rest of the Mumbai Indians innings was devoid of any spark. Even Kieron Pollard, promoted up the order, flattered to deceive. He managed to hit two sixes in his 11-ball knock but never looked like dominating the bowling.

Chennai Super Kings beat Deccan Chargers by 19 runs

Fielding made the difference between Deccan Chargers and Chennai Super Kings on Sunday. While the Chargers had to pay for dropping a few genuine chances from the bats of Mike Hussey and Suresh Raina, CSK were brilliant in the field, refused to give up and made it difficult for the Hyderabad players to chase down a formidable target of 166.

The Chargers, who had beaten CSK twice here before, failed to carry on after a rock-solid start and lost by 19 runs at the MA Chidambaram Stadium on Sunday.

Though the Chargers' hard-hitting opener Sunny Sohal (56; 30b 4x6, 6x4) showed tremendous intent, DC's star-studded middle-order failed to rise to the task.

Bharat Chipli (17), Kumar Sangakkara (15), Cameron White (13) and JP Duminy (17) all got starts but failed to get going. Albie Morkel (3-38) was the most successful bowler for CSK, who scripted the most amazing comeback in the second half of the game.

Earlier, the Chargers' Sri Lankan captain Kumar Sangakkara took a cue from Dhoni when he opted to open the Chargers' bowling with part-time spinner Duminy. Though the move took the Chepauk crowd by surprise, Duminy did not disappoint and helped restrict CSK in the initial stages.

Shrugging off the initial hiccup, CSK came back to score165 for five in their stipulated 20 overs. Raina (59; 35b, 4x6, 2x6), Hussey (46; 41b, 4x5) and Morkel (19; 6b, 3x6) made full use of their opponents' fielding lapses and guided CSK to a massive score.

Sangakkara used his bowling resources accurately as Ishant, Daniel Christian, Harmeet Singh, Ojha and Amit Mishra maintained a tight line. But they conceded extra runs at the death which proved crucial.

Kolkata Knight Riders beat Kings XI Punjab by 8 wkts

Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) won their second consecutive match in a row as they defeated Kings XI Punjab by eight wickets and 16 balls to spare at a league level match of the Indian Premiere League (IPL) at the iconic Eden Gardens stadium here on Saturday night.

Chasing the visitors score of 119 runs for the loss of six wickets, KKR reached the winning score of 120 runs for the loss of only two wickets in just 17.2 overs.

After receiving some initial blows from the Punjab bowlers as young left arm spinner BA Bhatt picked up the crucial wicket of J. Kallis in the first ball of the very second over of the match.

But the tension period normalised to a greater extent as EJG Morgan (28) and Gambhir continued to bat freely in the match.

Morgan kept on hitting boundaries, keeping the Punjab bowlers under pressure in the match.

He hit six boundaries in the match before losing his wicket to Bhatt.

Australian Ryan Harris dived to take a superb catch near the boundary and make Eoin Morgan return back to the pavilion.

Audience at Eden Gardens and celebrities like Priyanka Chopra, Sanjay Kapoor and team owner Shah Rukh Khan might have felt some nerve-cracking moments at that point of the match with KKR needing 85 more runs to win the match.

But it was cool and composed Gautam Gambhir and the in-form local lad Manoj Tiwary who batted sensibly to take their side to the winning score of 120 runs.

Manoj continued his good form as he scored a much needed 34 runs from 41 deliveries.He hit three boundaries and a huge sixer in the match, driving the match away from the Punjab players.

Skipper Gambhir scored a captains knock of 45 runs from 44 deliveries as he guided his side to their consecutive victory in this middle stage of the tournament.

Earlier, the Kings XI Punjab players could only score 119 runs on a spinner friendly Eden track where the little rain before the match was helping the spinners well.

KD Karthik who scored 42 from 42 deliveries remained the highest scorer of the match.

However, things were not looking so easy for the KKR men as opener Gilchrist was timing the ball quite well, hitting the KKR bowlers all around the park.

Gilchrist hit three boundaries and an over boundary in his 26 runs innings from 27 deliveries before losing his wicket to I.Abdulla.

Abdulla bowled the ball of his life as Gilchrist missed the ball completely and it went between his legs to bowl him out.

Abdulla picked up two wicket in the match and remained the  key bowler for the Knights.

Despite a victory and Bollywood actor Priyanka Chopra cheering for the home side, the much-talked about moment of the night was of course the presence of Indian cricketing icon and local hero Sourav Ganguly in the stadium.

The entire Eden gained momentum and cheered aloud 'dada' as they felt his presence at the stadium.

The electronic scoreboard at the Eden Gardens also flashed 'Welcome Dada' as the 'Mexican waves' gained more heights and life in the significant 37th IPL encounter on Saturday night which ended with KKR's victory and accession to the first position in the points table once again.

Pertinently, Sourav was replaced by Gautam Gambhir as captain of KKR this year.

Chennai Super Kings beat Pune Warriors by 8 wickets

Chennai Super Kings beat Pune Warriors by eight wickets getting their second consecutive win over Yuvraj’s men, who have lost four matches in a row.

Subramaniam Badrinath (63*) was the mainstay of Chennai batting and he was supported well by Murali Vijay (31) and Suresh Raina (34*).

In the first half of the game, riding on a gritty half-century by captain Yuvraj Singh, Pune Warriors India posted 141/6 against Chennai Super Kings at the DY Patil stadium.

A vital partnership between Yuvraj and Robin Uthappa got the team to a respectqable total after a slew of wickets made it difficult for the visitors to blast off with an array of fours and sixes.

Yuvraj mended the mistakes of the last game and clicked at the right time, managing to stay till the end of the stipulated overs for his team.

Yuvraj Singh had won the toss and elected to bat against Chennai Super Kings.

Chennai made two changes to their side, bringing in Tim Southee and Nuwan Kulasekara in place of injured Albie Morkel and Suraj Randiv. Both of them were on cue, taking a wicket at crucial times.

For Pune, Mitchell Marsh came in place of Nathan McCullum.
Teams: Pune Warriors: Yuvraj Singh (C), Jesse Ryder, Manish Pandey, Mithun Manhas, Robin Uthappa, Mohnish Mishra, Murali Kartik, Rahul Sharma, Jerome Taylor, Alfonso Thomas and Mitchell Marsh.
Chennai Super Kings: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (C), Murali Vijay, Mike Hussey, Suresh Raina, S Badrinath, Srikkanth Anirudha, R Ashwin, Nuwan Kulasekara, Doug Bollinger, Shadab Jakati and Tim Southee.

Royal Challengers beat Delhi Daredevils by 3 wickets

The Royal Challengers Bangalore moved to the second spot at the IPL 4 points table with a three-wicket victory over the Delhi Daredevils in a crucial match in Delhi tonight.

Earlier, Royal Challengers Bangalore won the toss and elected to field first. The Daredevils posted 160/6 in 20 overs, thanks to Sehwag (25), James Hopes (54) and Venugopal Rao (24). For RCB, Abhimanyu Mithun took two wickets.

Chasing a victory target of 161, The Royal Challengers fought hard and reached 161/7 in 19.3 overs to win the match by three wickets. Virat Kohli was the top scorer with 56, while Gayle made 26. Skipper Daniel Vettori remained unbeaten on 18.

For Delhi Daredevils, Morne Morkel took three wickets. Virat Kohli was declared 'Man of the Match.