Tendulkar fitness crucial
to Mumbai Indians’ fortunes
MUMBAI, May
3: Rampaging Delhi Daredevils,
who have shot to the top of the table and
are firing on all cylinders, take on the
wobbly Mumbai Indians in the Indian
Premier League clash at the D Y Patil
Stadium tomorrow in hot and humid
conditions.
The home
team has sorely missed its captain and
injured icon player Sachin Tendulkar in
their first five matches and the
none-too-encouraging news is the master
batsman is still not feeling 100 per cent
fit.
A lot
hinges on Tendulkar’s availability
for the tie if Mumbai Indians are to stun
the high-flying Delhi outfit captained by
another icon player in the Twenty20
league, Virender Sehwag.
Tendulkar
played his first match yesterday, albeit
against a team made up of his own
teammates, after more than a month and
fielded for the whole of the
opposition’s 20-over innings and
also batted.
He is to
take a final call on whether he is fit to
play the match only tomorrow and the
hosts are hoping fervently he’s
available to play his first competitive
game since turning our for India against
South Africa in the first test at Chennai
in March-end.
In his
absence, the team has struggled to put
together decent totals on board and
strike at opportune times to put the
opposition under pressure. The end result
is that Mumbai Indians, for which
Reliance industries had paid the highest
auction amount among all eight teams, are
currently placed seventh.
Only a
marginally superior net run-rate is
keeping them above cellar team Bangalore
Royal Challengers.
The
batting has flopped by and large, shown
by the fact that Robin Uthappa who is yet
to make a half-century is the leading
scorer for the team with 155 runs to his
credit.
The coming
to form of West Indian all rounder Dwayne
Bravo in their previous tie at Kolkata
could not have happened at a more
opportune time for the beleaguered
team’s confidence.
But other
top-notch international stars like Sanath
Jayasuriya, bought for a little less than
a million dollars, has flattered only to
deceive at the top order. Stand-in
captain Shaun Pollock, already retired
from international cricket, has tried his
level best without much success to keep
the team going.
The
booting out of the performing Harbhajan
Singh from the tournament has left the
team short on spin skills too and it has
been left to the vastly experienced
Jayasuriya to lead the slow bowling
attack with his crafty left-arm spin.
With the
youngsters in the team failing, barring
the spunky all-rounder Abhishek Nair, the
team has scored only one victory in five
ties, against Kolkata Knight Riders,
which should galvanise it to take on the
well-balanced Delhi outfit.
Delhi, on
the other hand, have their top-order
functioning like a well-oiled machine
with Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir and Shikhar
Dhawan all coming good.
They have
a sound middle order too with the likes
of Rajat Bhatia and Mithun Manhas, two
stout-hearted performers in domestic
cricket which has won Delhi the Ranji
Trophy earlier this season, having enough
power in their tanks to bail out the team
if the top order fails to get going.
The
joining of South African batsman A B De
Villiers, who cracked a superb double
hundred against India at Ahmedabad in the
second test won by the visitors last
month, and Pakistan captain Shaoib Malik
has added meat to the already strong
batting line-up.
The pace
attack is top-class with Australian great
Glenn McGrath, a largely unwanted man at
the auction despite his fabulous record
in international cricket, and the highly
talented Pakistani Mohammad Asif
spearheading it to a nicety.
Added to
this fabulous duo are Sri Lankan Farvez
Maharoof, a genuine swing bowler, home
grown left-arm bowler Pradeep Sangwan and
Tamil Nadu’s V Yomahesh, who add
variety to the strong pace attack.
The only
area where the team seems to be lacking
is in slow bowling, especially after
Daniel Vettori left the side for national
duty, with Sehwag looking by far to be
their best bet with his wily off
spinners.
Another
factor that could play a big role is the
intense heat and humidity as the match is
to be played from 4 pm, the first in
Mumbai after two night games on April 20
and 27, against Bangalore and Deccan
Chargers of Hyderabad.
All in
all, Delhi Daredevils seem to be carrying
too much firepower for the comfort of
Mumbai Indians even in a Twenty20 clash
and are firm favourites. (PTI)
Rajasthan
Royals confident against depleted Chennai
JAIPUR, May 3: Now that the
Chennai Super Kings have lost their aura
of invincibility, a buoyant Shane Warne
and his Rajasthan Royals teammates are
optimistic of pulling off their fifth
straight win when they host the MS
Dhoni-led side in the Indian Premier
League match here tomorrow.
Having won
all their previous matches, the Chennai
side looked invulnerable till last night
when Delhi Daredevils duo of Virender
Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir tore them
apart, much to the delight of the
Rajasthan Royals.
Since
their first match defeat against the
Daredevils, Rajasthan Royals’ graph
has shot upwards and fresh from their win
against Kolkata Knight Riders,
Warne’s men are ready to come hard
on the depleted Chennai side.
"We
don’t want to be the fourth team in
the semifinal. We are looking for fifth
win and one more will place us
comfortable. Then we would like to carry
on for as many more wins as possible. Our
aim is to remain at the top," said
Darren Berry, coaching director of the
Rajasthan Royals.
The hosts
have the resources and strategy to
realise their dreams and their strategy
of surprising the opponents has paid rich
dividends too. Asking Swapnil Asnodker to
open the innings against Kolkata Knight
Riders was such a ploy that paid off
well.
South
African Graeme Smith has added to the
batting depth, while Shane Watson has
proved to a fine investment. With Yousuf
Pathan and Ravindra Jadeja lending
excellent support, the hosts’
batting looks compact.
The
bowling department does not look bad
either. Apart from Warne who has always
been threat to every batsmen, pacers
Watson, Munaf Patel, Sohail Tanveer and
Sidhartha Trivedi have proved that they
have the variations to keep batsmen
guessing.
The
support in bowling comes in shape of
Pathan, Dinesh Salunkhe and Jadeja who
have been used as surprise package by
their shrewd skipper.
In fact,
the going for Rajasthan Royals has been
so smooth that the only England player in
IPL and Twenty20 specialist Dimitri
Mascarenhas could not be accommodated in
the scheme of things despite the fact
that he is rated very highly by former
Hampshire team mate and skipper Warne.
On the
other hand, Chennai Super Kings now need
to bounce back after tasting their first
defeat. They have been dented by
departure of Matthew Hayden, Mike Hussey
and Jacob Oram even though Kiwi Stephen
Fleming is expected to bolster their
batting lineup, while Dhoni’s mere
presence is enough to intimidate the
bowlers.
Their
bowling attack boasts of names like
Makhya Ntini and Muttiah Muralitharan and
though they could not rein in the the
Sehwag-Gambhir duo last night, they would
be eager to put behind the setback when
they take to the field tomorrow. (PTI)
India
go down 0-1 to Australia
DARWIN, May 3: Jamie Dwyer’s
49th minute goal sealed India’s fate
as Australia beat them 1-0 to move into
the final of the four nation hockey
tournament here today.
Australia
will now play China in the final tomorrow
after the Chinese side tamed Korea 3-1 to
book their final berth.
India is
the only team which has not tasted a win
in the tournament so far and they would
meet Korea tomorrow hoping to record
their first win and a third place finish.
India
dominated the first half but squandered
three penalty corners which proved costly
in the end.
"We
lost a minimum of four goal scoring
chances due to strong defence by the
Australians," rued coach Joaquim
Carvalho.
"It
was also an important match for the
Australians, who played their full
strength today and moreover they had
planned to select its team for the
ensuing Champions Trophy at the end of
this tournament," he added.
After
tomorrow’s match against Korea, the
Indian players and officials bound for
Malaysia to play in the Azlan Shah would
proceed to Kuala Lumpur, while others
would return home. (PTI)
IPL
likely to shift two ties from D Y Patil
to Wankhede
MUMBAI, May 3: Two Indian Premier
League matches scheduled for May 14 and
16 at the D Y Patil stadium in Navi
Mumbai are likely to be shifted to the
Wankhede Stadium in south Mumbai,
according to cricket board sources.
"The
matches scheduled at D Y Patil on May 14
and 16 are likely to be shifted to the
wankhede stadium," the sources told.
"The
mumbai franchise owners (reliance
industries) want them to be shifted and
the d y patil authorities do not have any
objections," they added.
Mumbai
Indians, the team representing the home
team franchise owners, are to play
against Chennai Super Kings on May 14 and
then clash with Kolkata Knight Riders on
May 16. Both the matches are to be held
from 2000 hrs onwards.
Chennai
Super Kings is owned by India Cements
while the Kolkata franchise belongs to
bollywood star Shahrukh Khan’s Red
Chllies Entertainment.
According
to other sources, the franchise team were
not happy with the long commute to D Y
Patil stadium from their hotel in central
Mumbai.
"The
long commute (around 50 kms both ways),
the lack of privacy in the dressing room
and the location of the players’
dining room far away from the dressing
room are not to the liking of the
team," they said.
The
dressing rooms are at ground level with
only sliding glass doors shielding the
players from outside.
If the two
ties are shifted to the Wankhede stadium
it would mean that the regular
international venue, set to undergo a
revamp soon for the 2011 World Cup final,
will be hosting seven IPL matches in all
- including two semi finals and the June
1 final - after none were scheduled to be
held there initially.
Originally,
the Mumbai franchise owners had been
offered the Cricket Club of India’s
Brabourne Stadium and the D Y Patil
stadium as their home venues.
However,
CCI backed out because as per the
agreement between the IPL authorities and
franchise onwers, the latter would
command 80 per cent of all seats,
including those in the clubhouse, a
condition the club could not fulfill as
it flouted its constituion.
Then D Y
Patil and Wankhede Stadium were pencilled
in as the two venues after the plans for
refurbishment of the latter were not
approved by the authories as per an
earlier schedule.
The ten
matches to be hosted by Mumbai Indians
outfit got divided equally with Wankhede
scheduled to host the first tie on April
20 and D Y Patil set to organise matches
on April 27, May 4, 7, 14 and 16 before
the action was to switch back to the
senior venue.
But with
the likely change in plans, the
55,000-capacity state-of-art D Y Patil
stadium - touted as one of the
alternative venue to host the
India-England test this year-end if cci
is unavailable - looks set to organise
only three IPL ties this season. (PTI)
New
Dream Land School strikes double in
Baseball C’ship
Excelsior
Sports Correspondent
JAMMU, May 3: New Dream Land
Higher Secondary School proved their
supremacy by clinching both boys and
girls titles in the District Baseball
Championship which concluded at Sports
Stadium, Ganderbal.
Rashid
Akbar and Faiza Manzoor were adjudged
best players in the respective
categories.
According
to Sheikh Majid Shafi, secretary,
District Baseball Association, Ganderbal,
total 16 teams (8 boys and 8 girls) from
different clubs and educational
institutions competed in the tournament.
He further
said 16 players have also been selected
during the championship for the
forthcoming 3rd State level championship
to be played in Srinagar.
A R Lone,
Additional District Development
Commissioner, Ganderbal was the chief
guest on the occasion who gave away
winner and runner-up trophies to the
teams.
MIER
celebrates Gujarat Day
Excelsior
Correspondent
JAMMU, May 3: Model Institute of
Education and Research (MIER) in
collaboration with "Mission
2020" today celebrated Gujarat Day.
A
colourful cultural programme was
presented on the occasion by 25 member
Venubharati cultural group (Gujarat)
thereby depicting the diverse culture of
the Gujarat state.
Dr Renu
Gupta, Director, MIER was the chief guest
on the occasion. Dr Adit Gupta, Joint
Director, Dr Surinder Kour Co-MR, Usha
Gadoo, Vice-Principal and members of the
voluntary organisation alongwith other
staff members and students of the
institution.
Earlier,
Dr Adit introduced the organisers of the
event and highlighted the importance of
their mission in promoting cultural
interaction between various regions of
the country.
Anjali,
Princy bag top honours on Day 1
Excelsior
Sports Correspondent
JAMMU, May 3: Anjali Adhikari
clinched youth girls title while Princy
Choudhary bagged top honours in sub
junior girls on the opening day of the
8th J&K State Sport Climbing
Championship commenced at MNDP School, R
S pura today.
Gurpreet
Kour and Radha Kumari secured second and
third positions in youth girls category
while Bindiya Sharma, Sakshi and Monika
finished second and third respectively in
sub junior girls.
In all,
250 climbers drawn from Reasi, Udhampur,
Samba, Anantnag, Bijbehara, Srinagar,
Poonch, Rajouri and hosts Jammu are
taking part in the championship.
Earlier,
Ruby Sharma, W/o B R Sharma, Chief
Electoral Officer declared open the
tournament.
Annual
Birth Anniversary of Master Beli Ram
celebrated
Excelsior
Correspondent
JAMMU, May 3: The Annual Birth
Anniversary of Late Master Beli Ram
Lalhal was celebrated in the premises of
Government Higher secondary School,
Palyalag today.
On this
occasion, the meritorious students were
honoured by the trust.
They were
Rajinder Kumar (Govt Higher Secondary
School, Dullangal), Subash Chander (Govt
Higher Secondary School, Bani), Bharat
Bhushan (Govt High School, Panyalag) and
Romesh Kumar.
Hari Lal
Lalhal, Chairman, Master Beli Ram
Memorial and Charitable Trust briefed
about the aims and objectives of the
Trust.
Earlier, a
large number of people paid floral
tributes to the son of the soil during a
simple ceremony.
A
colourful cultural programme was also
presented by the students of Government
High School, Palyalag and Saraswati
Public School.
|
