CSA declare their final team

CRICKET SOUTH AFRICA (CSA) on Monday named their final 15-man squad for the ICC T20 World cup to be played in England in June.

The squad consists the main players who won the two T20 Internationals against Australia earlier this year and contains no new caps.

“Our cricket is entering an exciting period,” commented selection chief Mike Procter. “We are top of the ODI rankings but have never won a major trophy and this presents the opportunity to do so in a limited overs format.

“The players are all in good form and it is particularly pleasing to have so many quality all-rounders at our disposal. As always there are a couple of unlucky players and that emphasizes the excellent competition we have for places.

“I am delighted with the squad the selectors have given me,” commented national coach Mickey Arthur. “It is a team with plenty of options – great depth to the batting and plenty of bowling options. It is also an outstanding fielding unit.”

South Africa squad: Graeme Smith (capt), Johan Botha (vice-capt), Yusuf Abdulla, Mark Boucher, AB de Villiers, JP Duminy, Herschelle Gibbs, Jacques Kallis, Albie Morkel, Morne Morkel, Justin Ontong, Wayne Parnell, Robbie Peterson, Dale Steyn, Roelof van der Merwe.

The team will gather for a training camp at the end of the month.

IPL franchisees may make 4-5 time additional

Depositor who paid top dollar to own a part of the Indian Premier League (IPL) opportunity are now on a good wicket. Franchise owners expect to earn around four-five times more this year than they did during the inaugural season of the 20-over league in 2008, thanks to a deluge of sponsorships and brand associations, according to estimates put together by Mint after speaking with franchise owners and media buyers.

This comes after initial reports that sponsors and advertisers were skeptical about IPL 2009’s success, when it had to be moved to South Africa after the Indian government said it could not provide security cover to the league during the election season, and that many had walked away from earlier commitments.

The team owners will also earn significantly more from the new broadcast deal the IPL management signed with sports marketing company World Sports Group (WSG) and Multi Screen Media Pvt. Ltd (MSM) this year. Last year, the deal had been signed for around Rs4, 000 crore for 10 years, while this year it was renegotiated at Rs8, 200 crore for nine years.

Yuvraj hat-trick for Punjab fall short to discontinue Bangalore

A fine all-round performance by Yuvraj Singh was not enough to prevent Kings XI Punjab slumping to an eight-run loss against the Bangalore Royal Challengers in the Indian Premier League (IPL) Friday.

Punjab captain Yuvraj took a hat-trick to help restrict Bangalore to 145 for nine at Kingsmead before blasting a superb half-century only to see his side lose two wickets in the last over of their innings to finish on 137 for seven.

Punjab began the last over of their innings needing 13 runs to win but medium pacer Praveen Kumar held his nerve to allow a single boundary and capture two wickets.

Yuvraj earlier removed Robin Uthappa (19) and Jacques Kallis (27) with the fifth and sixth balls of the 11th over before trapping Mark Boucher lbw with the first ball of the 13th for the first hat-trick of this season’s IPL and the fourth overall.

India’s Yuvraj claimed figures of 3-22, while left-arm seamer Yusuf Abdulla captured 4-36 making him the leading wicket-taker in this year’s IPL with 13 wickets in six matches.

Royal Challengers settle last-over exciting tale

For KKR, venues keep changing but the end result stays the same. Wednesday was no different as the Shah Rukh Khan-owned team went down to Royal Challengers Bangalore by five wickets at the Kingsmead in this Indian Premier League.

The Knight Riders would be a dreadfully let down lot as this was their best chance to turn the tide, what with the rival too sailing in the same boat. The match, however, had all the ingredients of a thriller with the Royal Challengers winning off the second-last ball, thus breaking their four-match losing streak and taking their points tally to four.  The unlikely hero was opener Sreevats Goswami, the youngster from Howrah, who made the most of a rare start to anchor the innings and add some fizz to Vijay Mallya’s team.

It was Mark Boucher who provided the final flourish though. The South African wicketkeeper was at his menacing best, slamming two boundaries and a huge six during his unbeaten 25-run innings, which came off just 13 deliveries.

The desperation was all too evident in the Knight Riders’ camp as they had an extended practice session (lasting till about 30 minutes before the scheduled start) with the support staff working overtime to iron out flaws. But once on the field, the batsmen ran out of steam.

Pathan, Smith power Royals

Rajasthan Royals co-owner Shilpa Shetty flashed her crossed fingers before the start of the match of IPL 2009, her team members handed over RR flags to a few fans.

On the other side, the Delhi Daredevils team owners’ box was rather quiet before the start, only to get noisier when the umpires called play. Whistles were distributed to a section of the crowd and with every shot played the decibel level increased. Virender Sehwag started things off, hitting Dimitri Mascarenhas over square-leg.

The hoots swung according to the moments of the match. It was loudest when the ball was sent cracking to the advertisement boards; fluctuated up and down when there was a danger of losing a wicket, going rhythmically with the drum beats as the bowler walked to the top of his mark, and dead silent when a wicket fell.

The Daredevils’ 143 for 7 gave the Royals a tricky target. For the kind of form and the (poor) starts Royals have been getting in the tournament, the Daredevils had the edge. But Graeme Smith found an able ally in number seven Yusuf Pathan, who played yet another destructive innings and forced a drastic turnaround. Pathan’s sixes silenced the whistles in the crowd, handing the Daredevils their first defeat, by five wickets in this Indian Premier League.

Find out from the opponent

They belong to different teams, but if Pragyan Ojha has struck a purple patch in the Indian Premier League (IPL) so far, it has a lot to do with New Zealand skipper Daniel Vettori.

Ojha has used all the tricks of the trade that he picked up from Vettori and that has helped him become a more potent bowler in the tournament.

Ojha has been a consistent performer for Team Hyderabad, and his spell of 3-21 helped his team win the game after Mumbai Indians had taken charge.

Ojha may again have a talk with the New Zealand skipper when he gets a chance during the course of the tournament. “I’ll surely ask him to take a look at my bowling and ask him for further inputs,” the spinner added.

But won’t that take a little bit away from the contest? “I don’t think so. Once on the field, we’ll be fierce competitors. But unless you learn from your seniors off the field, how will you improve?” Ojha stresses.

The left-armer seems to be a fast learner and did not look like a fish-out-of-water during his first visit to South Africa.

With such performances in the tournament so far, he must be eyeing a spot in the ICC World T20 squad?

Knight Riders stimulating up for a revolution

There’s a lot on Shah Rukh Khan’s plate at the moment and it’s not about his team registering a few wins here in the Indian Premier League (IPL). There’s a major storm brewing inside the Knight Riders camp and one is not even talking about the mystery blogger here.

If the Baazigar doesn’t get his act together quickly, his dreams of KKR being crowned Baadshahs of IPL 2009 could alter into a Knight mare. The players inside the team are learnt to be bracing themselves for a revolt. It’s not a question of if.

It’s when. The players are just looking for someone to stand up and speak. Knight Riders have sent two of their players Aakash Chopra and Sanjay Bangar back to India, saying they do not fit in their scheme of things any more.

Joy Bhattacharya, the team director stressed that there won’t be any more re-enforcements. The players find this a ridiculous theory because Knight Riders’ coach John Buchanan had backed Chopra big time and played him at the crucial No. 5 slot ahead of the more fancied Laxmi Ratan Shukla.

Now, both the coach and the captain have egg on their faces. “Laxmi can at least go and hit big if he gets the time to stay there. With Chopra, it was a blunder right from the start. And when he (Buchanan) finally dropped Chopra, who does he pick? Bangar! And for which position? Number six? Pull out his (Bangar’s) career stats and tell me when was the last time he set the field on fire, especially when the team is 70-4 with 10 overs remaining” two players from the KKR camp clash.

Kings XI Punjab beat B’lore Royal Challengers by seven wickets

The evening before the weekend was a good time for the people of Durban to come to the ground in numbers, enjoy the atmosphere, the beer and the fun. They didn’t disappoint the organisers, turned up in thousands and enjoyed everything they could along with the cricket.

“I want Bangalore to win. They haven’t won anything after the first one,” said Des Naidu, a spectator with roots in Andhra Pradesh. His teenage daughter Chanel was rooting for the Kings XI because she is a Yuvraj Singh fan. Her hero didn’t do much but she went home happy.

On Friday he played the innings which, apart from making him Priety Zinta’s darling, got her team its first win of the competition after two defeats.

It wasn’t an easy target considering that locals reckon chasing under lights at the Kingsmead to be tricky. The old virtue of preserving wickets in the days of going hammer and tongs from the start came in handy for Kings XI. They had enough men in the dugout ready to bat when the time came to take risks. So when 60 was needed off five overs, they could have a go at the ball.

Bopara’s effort overshadowed a brilliant innings by Jacques Kallis who became the latest entrant to the club of ageing players to have shown in IPL 2009 that T20 is not necessarily for the young and restless. Unfortunately for the South Afcrican stalwart, the exuberance of youth had the last laugh. Chanel, for one, wasn’t complaining.

Rajasthan Royals script a Super Over victory over Knight Riders

It could not have got better than this! A Super Over contest was needed to identify a winner in the thriller between last year’s champions Rajasthan Royals and Kolkata Knight Riders at Sahara Park Newlands on Thursday.

After a heady contest in Durban where Delhi Daredevils won by nine runs from Chennai Super Kings, it needed a battle like this to keep the adrenalin flowing in the DLF Indian Premier League. The teams tied scores at 150 each in 20 overs and it was the platform on which a rookie paceman Kamran Khan was launched into limelight.

The teenager from Azamgarh in Uttar Pradesh first took three for 18 in his four overs to help Rajasthan Royals bowl out Kolkata Knight Riders for 150 despite a gallant 46 by Sourav Ganguly. He then bowled a 16-run over and dismissed Chris Gayle to set the stage for Yusuf Pathan to steal the thunder.

One of the heroes of Rajasthan Royals’ title run last season, Yusuf Pathan struck Ajatha Mendis for two sixes and a four off the first four balls off the mystery spinner’s Super Over to clinch a fantastic win for Rajasthan Royals to bring the tournament alive.

IPL is getting more interesting day by day; Chargers charged on Challengers

Review of the 8th Indian Premier League match between the Deccan Chargers and the Bangalore Royal Challengers at Newlands, Cape Town: a scorching start by Gilchrist (71) and Sharma (52) took the Deccan Chargers to a tournament best total of 184.

The Bangalore Challengers couldn’t match up, managing 160 runs. they lost by 24 runs. Gilchrist was named man of the match.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.

On Other hand, For the first time in IPL 2009 these two teams(DD & CSk) will face each other. The two most explosive batsmen of India will lead their teams against each other. However in IPL1 the score wasn’t settled. In first match Delhi Daredevils won by 8 wickets whereas, in second match Chennai Super Kings won by four wickets. So till now score is 1-1. Lets see who wins this match.

In IPL-1 Rajasthan has defeated kolkata for all the matches played. In IPL-1 in first match Rajasthan Royals won by 6 wickets and in second match Rajasthan Royals won by 45 runs. So this time kolkata will strive for a win, they’ll try anything to win this match.Till now Kolkata has won 1 of 2 matches where as Rajasthan has lost one match and 2nd match was abandoned due to rain.
The Match will start at 8:00 PM IST 23rd April, lets hope that there are no rains in both of two matches.