Australia reclaim No.1 Test ranking

NEI India Film Editing Via ESPN Cricinfo

	Australia's Ashes triumph helped them return to the No.1 Test ranking

Australia have returned to the No.1 Test ranking for the first time in nearly five years, after the ICC's annual rankings update. Despite not having played a Test since their series win over South Africa in the first week of March, the Australians have edged ahead of South Africa because the rolling nature of the rankings system means results from 2010-11 have now been dropped.

Michael Clarke's men also hold the top position in the one-day rankings, meaning it is the first time since December 2008 that Australia have been No.1 in both the Test and ODI formats. It is the first time since August 2009 that they have sat at the top of the Test rankings, having originally been displaced following their unsuccessful Ashes tour of England that year.The annual update means results from 2012-13 are reduced to a 50% weighting, so Australia's home Ashes fiasco in 2010-11 and their six Test losses across two tours of India have now either disappeared entirely from the rankings or been devalued. Their home Ashes clean-sweep over the past summer and their 2-1 win in South Africa allowed them to move ahead of South Africa, who had been No.1 since August 2012, by a fraction of a point.

India have suffered a significant fall, slipping from third down to fifth, while England and Pakistan have each gained a place, up to third and fourth respectively. New Zealand and Sri Lanka switched places, with New Zealand now ranked sixth in Tests and Sri Lanka down to seventh, while West Indies, Zimbabwe and Bangladesh remain unchanged at the bottom of the table.

However, Australia's immediate reign at No.1 could be short-lived, with South Africa facing two Tests in Sri Lanka and one in Zimbabwe before Australia's next Test series, which is against Pakistan in the UAE in October. Still, the return to the top is a significant achievement after Australia slipped as low as fifth on the Test rankings in 2010 and 2011, and then went nine consecutive Tests without a win during 2013.

"The last two years have been extremely positive in some ways and there's been a number of tough times, and for a team that makes days like these even more special," Clarke said in Sydney. "As captain of this team over the last couple of years and what we've been through, I don't think I've had a more satisfying day or feeling in my career.

"It's so satisfying because of where we've come from. The fact two years ago we were ranked No. 5 in the world, as captain of the team I remember, it's still in the front of my mind what was written and said about us once we came back from India, we were named the worst Australian team to ever tour India and as captain that's the last thing you want to hear, that breaks your heart. To enjoy today and see the other side in a pretty quick turnaround from No. 5 in the world, I'm extremely proud of that."

Clarke and the coach Darren Lehmann have often said that Australia's goal was to achieve the No.1 ranking in all three formats and while there is a significant way to go in T20, where they currently sit sixth, sitting on top in Test and ODIs is a considerable accomplishment.

"The players deserve a lot of credit. Our senior players have stood up and led the way over the past couple of years to turn things around. I've had a lot of help from [support] staff," Clarke said. "I think Darren Lehmann coming in in the last eight months has played a big part as well, his support has been fantastic. The power of within has been outstanding, to deal with what we went through in India and the Ashes and turn that around is a great feeling. And I think the public that watch us play see how close a group we are inside the camp.

"We've worked exceptionally hard to get here, we have to work even harder to stay here. The great teams have done that, the Australian team I walked into stayed at No. 1 for a long period of time and that was a sign of greatness. South Africa deserve a lot of credit for how long they've been No. 1 in the world, and we look up to teams like that so hopefully we can do exactly the same, find a way to perform at home and away from home as well."

James Sutherland, the Cricket Australia chief executive, said Clarke and Lehmann deserved plenty of credit for the results. "Everyone involved with the Australian team - players, coaches and support staff - should be incredibly proud of this achievement," Sutherland said. "There has been a huge amount of hard work and effort on and off the field to get to this point and it's something that those involved with the side should take time to savour.

"Australian cricket's team performance programme led by Pat Howard deserves considerable credit for this outcome. High praise needs to go to Michael Clarke and Darren Lehmann for their excellent leadership."

In the ODI rankings, the only change to result from the annual update was that England and South Africa switched positions, with England up from fifth to fourth and South Africa down from fourth to fifth. Australia, India and Sri Lanka still occupy the top three spots in the one-day list.

ICC Test Championship

1 May 2014

Team	Matches	Points	Rating
1. Australia (+1)	32	3950	123
2. South Africa (-1)	23	2831	123
3. England (+1)	30	3131	104
4. Pakistan (+1)	20	2064	103
5. India (-2)	23	2343	102
6. New Zealand (+1)	26	2383	92
7. Sri Lanka (-1)	22	1986	90
8. West Indies	19	1442	76
9. Zimbabwe	8	322	40
10. Bangladesh	14	287	21

ICC ODI Championship

1 May 2014

Team	Matches	Points	Rating
1. Australia	35	4020	115
2. India	53	5923	112
3. Sri Lanka	53	5890	111
4. England (+1)	36	3947	110
5. South Africa (-1)	32	3486	109
6. Pakistan	47	4716	100
7. New Zealand	31	3031	98
8. West Indies	40	3744	94
9. Bangladesh	23	1683	73
10. Zimbabwe	20	1228	61
11. Ireland	8	273	34
12. Afghanistan	9	304	34

Five defeats in five for Mumbai Indians

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Sunrisers Hyderabad 172 for 5 (Warner 65, Rahul 46) beat Mumbai Indians 157 for 7 (Pollard 78, Pathan 2-10, Steyn 2-20) by 15 runs
Sunrisers Hyderabad gritted their teeth nearly 10 overs without a boundary. David Warner was muzzled so profoundly that he was striking under 100 as late as the 15th over. But then he woke up. He used the slow start as a foundation and collected a half-century that proved the difference. But his patience might have been a mere footnote had Irfan Pathan not delivered a brilliant final over. He had 20 to defend and the first ball of sneaked through Kieron Pollard's defences and seeing the back of a man who hit 78 off 47 balls is usually enough to seal the game, and it was. Pathan only gave away four runs.
Mumbai Indians were flummoxed by the pace and swing of Dale Steyn and Bhuvneshwar Kumar. The asking rate rose north of 10 in the 5th over and at 31 for 3, recovery seemed a remote possibility. Only no one had bothered to clue Pollard in. After a jittery start, he remembered his penchant for brutality. Amit Mishra, a far cry from the one that turned up for India in the World T20, was razed for 27 in the 17th over. Rohit Sharma, who was confident today was the game Mumbai would pull off their much-needed turnaround, began contemplating an improbable victory. But much to the birthday boy's chagrin, his side just ran out of juice.
Sunrisers were conscious of their batsmen needing to provide better cover to their bowlers, and opted for Naman Ojha and Irfan to add depth. Ojha smashed the final two balls of the innings for fours and Irfan shouldered the burden of bowling the 16th and the 20th overs with consummate proficiency. Slower balls, yorkers and a refusal to hand width highlighted his two-over spell which ensured Steyn's fearsome bursts and Bhuvneshwar's control were not in vain.
In between though, Mishra braced against a clobbering at the hands of Pollard. The 13th over was biffed for 19 runs and signalled the first challenge from Mumbai. A daunting 87 off 42 was being chipped away. It didn't seem to matter whether Mishra gave the ball air or fired it in, Pollard revved up and mauled five of his six sixes off the legspinner, who ended with 0 for 54. At the other end, Ambati Rayudu ensured he wasn't lost in the slipstream during a 77-run stand for the fourth wicket. The equation was diluted to 31 off the final three overs, but that was when Sunrisers dug deep. Steyn, as ever, delivered when it mattered, ceding only four runs in the 18th, and Bhuvneshwar just seven in the next, to put Sunrisers ahead going into Irfan's final over.
Sunrisers' batting resources were lumped too tightly at the top and an early wicket prompted a change of tactic. KL Rahul's technical correctness was banked on to minimise the damage. Mumbai were adamant on not giving the batsmen any room and their fielders were no shy of hurtling after the ball if it was anywhere near their vicinity. They were desperate.
Rahul blunted the challenge, placing faith in his footwork against spin and nudges around the ground to keep the scoreboard ticking. He knew Warner was better equipped to lead the charge.
Harbhajan Singh did his best to plant doubts, constantly foiling Warner's attempts to blaze away in the early goings with a remarkable control of flight and line. Warner fronted 16 balls from the offspinner and could summon only nine runs. But as the death overs came, Warner found his touch. Batting both right- and left-handed, he inspired Sunrisers to crash 73 in the last six overs.
Pragyan Ojha was carted repeatedly over midwicket and the partnership with Rahul blossomed to 101 - Sunrisers' second hundred-plus stand of the season and that was the partnership that forced Mumbai into a position of having to win almost all of their matches in the India leg to progress in the tournament.

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Can Mumbai end Arabian nightmare?

NEI India Film Editing Via ESPN Cricinfo The big picture

There is this joke going around on social media. A judge asks a boy who he would like to stay with - his mother or his father. None, because both of them beat me, he says. "I would like to say with Mumbai Indians, as they beat no one." It has been a horror first one-third of the season for the defending champions, and they are in danger of returning home without a single win from the UAE leg of the IPL.
Till their title win, the criticism of Mumbai Indians used to be that despite having a galaxy of overseas and Indian heavyweights, they would often fall short at crucial stages of a game. But compete they would more often than not, till this season. Scores of 122, 115, 141 and 125 do not win you T20 games, unless your bowling has an exceptional day. The one time Mumbai Indians bowled first in UAE, they conceded 163.
Mumbai Indians have had running problems with the opening partnership in several seasons, and this season has been no different. By their fourth game, they realised that the man who has reinvented himself successfully as a limited-overs opener for India is also an option at the top of their order. Before that, Rohit Sharma was coming in with too much to do after the pair of Michael Hussey and Aditya Tare had failed to provide the kind of starts their side needed.
With fewer games per side this season, Mumbai Indians cannot really afford to keep piling up the losses. Sunrisers Hyderabad are in only a slightly better position with one victory. Their batting looked top-heavy coming into the season, and the fears have come true so far, with a thin middle order unable to step up when the powerful batsmen do not fire upfront. At least the strengths and weaknesses are clearer in Sunrisers' case. Mumbai Indians, as has been the case in the past too, seem to be misfiring without any standout reason.

Players to watch

Rohit Sharma replaced Ricky Ponting as captain last season and led Mumbai Indians to their maiden IPL title after years of disappointment. He then had a productive Champions Trophy and has finally started to deliver on his long-standing promise for India. He has an army of advisors off the field in the Mumbai Indians support staff but his challenge is to filter the gallons of inputs he must be receiving and translate it into a turnaround quickly.
Rohit can turn to the experience of 2013 but this is new territory for Shikhar Dhawan the captain. Further, his own limited-overs form hasn't been great coming into the tournament. He had to sit out an ODI in New Zealand and was also left out for the knockout stage of the World T20. Not only will he have to revive his side's campaign as its leader, he will also have to contribute majorly with the bat, something he has not managed so far.

Stats and trivia

• Mumbai Indians have the least number of 50-plus scores this season - one, made by Rohit Sharma
• Amit Mishra's economy-rate of 9.48 is the worst this season among specialist spinners who have played more than one match 

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Indian T20 League, 20th match: Mumbai T20 v Hyderabad T20 at Dubai (DSC), Apr 30, 2014

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Mumbai T20

Hyderabad T20

Match scheduled to begin at 18:30 local time (14:30 GMT)

 

Mumbai T20 Squad

RG Sharma*, CJ Anderson, JJ Bumrah, M de Lange, BR Dunk, CM Gautam†, S Gopal, Harbhajan Singh, JR Hazlewood, MEK Hussey, Z Khan, SL Malinga, SH Marathe, PP Ojha, KA Pollard, AT Rayudu†, K Santokie, Jalaj S Saxena, P Suyal, AP Tare†, AV Wankhade

Hyderabad T20 Squad

S Dhawan*, S Anirudha, A Ashish Reddy, RK Bhui, AJ Finch, MC Henriques, JO Holder, MC Juneja, B Kumar, CV Milind, A Mishra, NV Ojha†, P Parameswaran, Parvez Rasool, IK Pathan, AG Paunikar, KL Rahul, DJG Sammy, I Sharma, KV Sharma, DW Steyn, BRM Taylor, Y Venugopal Rao, DA Warner

 

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Royals win on boundary count after tie and Super Over

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Knight Riders v Royals, IPL 2014, Abu Dhabi

Rajasthan Royals 152 for 5 (Rahane 72) tied with Kolkata Knight Riders 152 for 8 (Gambhir 45, Faulkner 3-11)
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
Super Over Rajasthan Royals 11 tied with Kolkata Knight Riders 11 and won the match on a higher boundary count
A few days ago, individual brilliance from Chris Lynn had given Kolkata Knight Riders a win from nowhere, which sparked wild celebrations. Today they experienced what it was like to be on the receiving end of such an unexpected result. Knight Riders needed only 16 off 12 balls with six wickets in hand, when their middle and lower order capsized against James Faulkner in the penultimate over.
Shakib Al Hasan forced the match into a Super Over and Knight Riders would have been confident of Sunil Narine defending 12. But with three needed to win off the last ball, Steven Smith played a smart dab into the vacant space at extra cover and ran an easy two, levelling the match again and taking Rajasthan Royals to a thrilling win on the basis of a greater number of boundaries scored in the match.
For Knight Riders, it should have never come to that stage. Faulkner hadn't had the best of times in this year's IPL and was benched for a match after ordinary outings in his first three games, but bowled an inspirational over to turn the game on its head.
Cameos from Suryakumar Yadav and Shakib had almost brought Knight Riders on the doorstep of a smartly constructed innings and a win seemed there for the taking. They had added 49 runs in 26 balls. Then, Faulkner's slower balls, so effective last year, made a sparkling re-entry.
Yadav, looking for a big hit, sliced the first ball of the 19th over to long-off to fall for a 19-ball 31. It was still Knight Riders' game, but Faulkner's fourth and fifth deliveries proved to be the icing on his birthday cake as Robin Uthappa and Vinay Kumar missed straight deliveries to be bowled. Six balls, three wickets and 12 off nine became 12 off 6. With Shakib still around, Knight Riders still had some chance - they kept up with the task as Shakib squeezed a boundary off the first ball off the last over. Kane Richardson did not bowl the best of overs, serving leg-side balls and half-volleys. Shakib failed to connect properly again in the over, but managed to tie the game. However, Smith's presence of mind off the last delivery of the Super Over that won them two points showed Royals were in no mood to spoil Faulkner's birthday party.
One of the heartening side stories for the Knight Riders to emerge despite the loss was Gautam Gambhir's return to form. Gambhir didn't set the stage on fire - the slower Abu Dhabi pitch was never going to allow that sort of strokeplay and that's not Gambhir's game anyway - but his 45 from 44 deliveries was the ideal platform for the middle-order strokemakers.
Such had been the drought that Gambhir would have been satisfied with anything of substance; he had hardly spent any time in the middle. He ended up playing the solid knock that was needed at the top of the order following the template Ajinkya Rahane, who top-scored with 72, had set in the first half of the match. A pull shot off the gentle medium pace of Stuart Binny didn't run to the boundary but was the ideal tonic for a sagging spirit.
Once he had played a few balls though, Gambhir was in familiar territory, comfortably nudging the ball into the gaps and using his feet to the slower bowlers. Familiar with Rajat Bhatia's tricks, Gambhir handled his Delhi teammate with ease, once using his feet to carve a slower delivery over extra cover in trademark fashion. But he was caught in the boundary to a sweep shot, five short of his half-century. His team's fate followed a similar course: Solid, but not being able to finish it off.

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Rajasthan Royals keep their calm to emerge victorious over Knight Riders in a rare Super Over tie

NEI India Film Editing Via Yahoo.com Rajasthan Royals players celebrate after winning a Super Over tie
Some clever thinking from Steve Smith and Shane Watson, and confused captaincy from KKR skipper Gautam Gambhir resulted in the Super Over result ending in a rare tie between Rajasthan Royals and KKR. RR, having scored more boundaries in the match, emerged the winner.
Chasing 153, Kolkata Knight Riders reached 152/8 after 20 overs.
In the Super Over after the tie, James Faulkner’s accuracy kept KKR’s score to only 11. A brilliant Sunil Narine then kept Shane Watson and Steve Smith to only 9 runs off the first 5 deliveries.
With 3 runs to win off the last ball, the rules clearly stated that in case of a Super Over tie, the team with more boundaries in the match would emerge victor.
Till that period RR had scored 19 boundaries, in comparison to KKR’s 15 (including the Super Over). There was a mid-pitch discussion between Shakib-al-Hasan, Gautam Gambhir and the umpires, probably about the rules in case of a Super Over tie, but Gambhir decided to keep the gaps in the field open.
Smith coolly nudged it into one of those giant spaces on the off side and completed 2 comfortable runs, clinching a victory for Rajasthan.
Champions League T20 last year saw had seen a similar tie after a Super Over when Jimmy Neesham’s heroics led to Otago Volts’ victory. In 2010, Barbados had won a tied Super Over against Combined Colleges and Campuses in a T20 match. The first ever instance of this rule being applied was in the 2010 ICC Women’s World T20 match between Australia and England, when Australia emerged victorious, having scored more sixes (the rule earlier stated counting of sixes, instead of total boundaries).

Earlier in the match, Rajasthan Royals chose to bat first and put up a competitive 152/5 on board after 20 overs. Ajinkya Rahane top scored with a 59-ball 72, while Shane Watson (33) and Sanju Samson (20) chipped in with some useful contributions.
Kolkata Knight Riders’ chase was led by skipper Gambhir, who finally got some runs against his name, having registered scores of 0,0,0 and 1 in his last four innings. Gambhir, having scored 45 off 44 before giving deep mid wicket an easy catch.
With almost 10 runs per over required off the last 5 overs, Suryakumar Yadav took charge and along with Shakib-al-Hasan, stitched a quickfire partnership which almost took them to the doorsteps of victory.
With just 16 runs to defend off the last 2 overs, Watson gave the ball to birthday boy James Faulkner, who delivered an excellent over, conceding only 4 runs and picking 3 wickets – including that of the dangerous Yadav – and missed his hat-trick by a whisker.
Having started poorly with a full-toss outside off-stump, Kane Richardson managed to concede only 11 off the last over, resulting in a tie.
BRIEF SCORES:
RR 152/5 (Rahane 72, Watson 33; Vinay Kumar 2/30) & 11/0
beat
KKR 155/8 (Gambhir 45, Suryakymar Yadav 31; James Faulkner 3/11) & 11/2
in Super Over eliminator on boundary count back rule
Man of the Match: James Faulkner
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Batting worries loom for Knight Riders

NEI India Film Editing Via ESPN Cricinfo Big Picture

After one run from four innings, the 'Wanted' posters will be all over the UAE, promising a hefty reward for Gautam Gambhir's batting form. The usually intense Gambhir has been managing a smile or two every time he has been questioned about his lack of runs, and it has helped him that Knight Riders have won two of their four matches this season despite some shaky batting.

Even if his barren spell extends, Gambhir is pretty much assured of his place in the side, since there are no reliable alternatives in the squad - Manvinder Bisla and Debabrata Das form the Indian batting back-up. Whether that will help him or not, what will certainly not help Gambhir is that he's up against Rajasthan Royals, a team that rolled over the superstar batting line-up of Royal Challengers Bangalore for 70 two days ago. Neither will the woeful form of Yusuf Pathan, who is unrecognisable from the heavy-hitting batsman whom IPL teams were clamouring for a few years ago.

Like Knight Riders, Royals also have two defeats and two wins. They have been quick to axe players who were crucial last season - James Faulkner and Brad Hodge. They turned to Tim Southee and Kane Richardson to provide the pace in the attack to complement the slower Indian bowlers, Pravin Tambe, Rajat Bhatia and Stuart Binny.

The ball has done plenty under lights in Abu Dhabi - scores so far have been 122 for 7, 135 for 6, 84 all out and 109 all out - and the toss could prove pivotal to deciding the fate of the match.

Watch out for

Royals has a history of picking non-flashy, uncapped players. Rajat Bhatia fits the description perfectly, and he's slotted into the XI perfectly, delivering his seemingly harmless medium-pacers that are yet again proving to be hard to put away. He may have missed the boat to India selection, but he is thriving in the high-pressure environment of the IPL.

The biggest weakness in the Knight Riders' side is the lack of runs from the Indian batsmen. Robin Uthappa, who was among the most expensive players in the previous IPL cycle, hasn't hit the heights of the initial IPL years, but has had one influential innings this season. Usually a top-order batsman, Knight Riders have given him the role of a finisher this campaign, which will require Uthappa to adapt his game from what it was in recent seasons.

Stats and trivia

Knight Riders narrowly lead the head-to-head against Royals: 6-5.

Morne Morkel (51) and Sunil Narine (50) have bowled the most dot balls this season

Watson needs 29 more runs to reach 2000 runs for Royals (includes runs scored in Champions League T20)

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Indian T20 League, 19th match: Kolkata T20 v Rajasthan T20 at Abu Dhabi, Apr 29, 2014

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Kolkata T20

Rajasthan T20

Match scheduled to begin at 18:30 local time (14:30 GMT) 

 

Kolkata T20 Squad

G Gambhir*, MS Bisla†, PP Chawla, PJ Cummins, DB Das, JH Kallis, Kuldeep Yadav, CA Lynn, SS Mondal, M Morkel, SP Narine, MK Pandey, YK Pathan, V Pratap Singh, AD Russell, Shakib Al Hasan, RN ten Doeschate, RV Uthappa†, R Vinay Kumar, SA Yadav, UT Yadav

Rajasthan T20 Squad

SR Watson*, Amit Mishra, Ankit Sharma, AK Bains, R Bhatia, STR Binny, UBT Chand, KK Cooper, BCJ Cutting, JP Faulkner, BJ Hodge, DJ Hooda, Iqbal Abdulla, DS Kulkarni, VS Malik, KK Nair, AM Nayar, AM Rahane, KW Richardson, SV Samson, SPD Smith, TG Southee, PV Tambe, R Tewatia, DH Yagnik

 

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KXIP sweep UAE leg with fifth win

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Kings XI Punjab 127 for 5 (Sehwag 32) beat Royal Challengers Bangalore 124 for 8 (Yuvraj 35, Sandeep 3-15) by five wickets

In a game crippled by poor batting, Royal Challengers Bangalore limped to 124 and Kings XI Punjab were in danger of failing to chase that middling total, before they hung on to win by five wickets and leave the UAE with their fifth win in as many games. Chris Gayle, playing his first game of the season, and the rest of his team-mates failed to show up for the second game in a row and Royal Challengers lost seven wickets inside 15 overs. Kings XI also had their moments of anxiety at 88 for 5, but Rishi Dhawan and George Bailey completed the chase with seven balls to spare.

Royal Challengers showed poor game sense from the beginning, starting from Gayle's unusual approach of going ballistic from ball one. Gayle was forced to sit out the first four games due to injury and in the urge to make up for lost time, hammered 20 off the opening over by Glenn Maxwell, though not in the most convincing manner. But when attempting to dish out the same treatment to Sandeep Sharma the following over, he played one impetuous stroke too many and that started a slide Royal Challengers never recovered from.

Sandeep, the right-arm seamer, gets prodigious inswing and that helped in trapping Gayle and Virat Kohli, though he was lucky to get the latter. The swing took the ball past leg stump when the ball struck Kohli's pads but Billy Bowden was convinced it was hitting the stumps. A horrified Kohli trudged back after a pause, and the scowl hardly left his face through the game.

The top order fell to some inspired seam bowling from Sandeep and Mitchell Johnson who pitched the ball up and induced edges. AB de Villiers failed to take charge of the innings as he tamely lobbed the ball to backward point off Dhawan. The responsibility fell on the inconsistent Yuvraj Singh, and though he showed glimpses of his old self with his on-side flicks, he too fell to a poor shot. He pulled a short ball and found David Miller at deep midwicket with pin-point precision. It was a questionable shot, given the circumstances. Yuvraj was the last recognised batsman and Royal Challengers were three short of 100 with more than five overs to play.

The loss of wickets dried up the boundaries. Incredibly, Royal Challengers failed to score a boundary off the last seven overs, with only two instances of the ball crossing the ropes, via leg byes.

With a paltry 124 to defend, Royal Challengers needed quick wickets. Two brilliant catches at fine leg by Mitchell Starc gave them hope. A pick up shot by Wriddhiman Saha nearly cleared the rope but Starc hung on despite covering several yards near the edge of the rope. Maxwell tried the same shot but Starc this time hung on, diving forward. Maxwell's wicket gave Royal Challengers hope but for the second time in as many games, Kings XI managed without him.

Miller and Virender Sehwag kept Kings XI on track with a stand of 45. However, a double-strike by the legspinner Yuzvendra Chahal added a twist. Miller edged a googly, Sehwag was adjudged caught behind as well but replays showed he hadn't nicked it. It left Kings XI at a edgy 88 for 5, but they still held the edge thanks to a comfortable required rate of 5.28 and depth in batting.

Dhawan eased the nerves with a square cut for four off Dinda and a dab to third man off Yuvraj. The captain Bailey played second fiddle and the pair sealed the win in the 19th over. Royal Challengers succumbed to their third loss, and will need a quick turnaround once the tournament returns to India.

CAB to push for Srinivasan's exclusion from ICC

NEI India Film Editing Via ESPN Cricinfo

The Cricket Association of Bihar, the petitioner in the ongoing Supreme Court case against the BCCI, says it will seek a bar on N Srinivasan representing the board at the ICC, and will even look at taking the legal fight on that front outside India. The case next comes up for hearing before the Supreme Court on Tuesday.

At the ICC, which has officially not registered any protest or public discussion on Srinivasan's latest problem, one Full Member board official said the CAB's plan "must be music to the ears" of his colleagues on other boards. The ICC and the other nine Full Members - who have deemed it an internal matter of the BCCI - are essentially looking to the Supreme Court for a direction on the issue of Srinivasan being the Indian representative at ICC board meetings.

The Supreme Court has so far held that Srinivasan "cannot come back as BCCI president" until the completion of an investigation into the alleged betting and spot-fixing scandals in the IPL. However, Srinivasan attended the ICC meeting on April 9 and 10, and is set to become the new chairman in July.

In its hearing last Tuesday, the Supreme Court had asked Justice Mukul Mudgal - who carried out the initial report which led to Srinivasan being ordered to stand down from BCCI duties - to take on a more empowered investigation because the probe panel proposed by the BCCI was mired in conflict of interest. This Tuesday, the court is likely to hear from the Mudgal panel about the terms of reference and nature of assistance needed in carrying on with the probe.

With the court due to go into its vacation break on May 11, the petitioners are likely to plead with greater urgency for Srinivasan's exclusion from the ICC.

Aditya Verma, secretary of the unrecognised Cricket Association of Bihar, said he was confident the court would be sympathetic to their plea. "This is a clear-cut technical issue. If you have been barred from the BCCI, how can you go to the ICC? The BCCI is a member body of the ICC, and you are representing BCCI only, aren't you?"

The court could, however, take the view that the ICC is an international body and doesn't fall under its jurisdiction, or even point to the absence of any protest from the ICC or any of its members against Srinivasan.

"The same happened with the BCCI," Verma said. "The BCCI members didn't stand up to Srinivasan. Similarly, if the ICC doesn't stand up, and if it doesn't fall under our court's jurisdiction, we won't shy away from going and fighting it out in Dubai, where the ICC is based."

Earlier this week, Nalini Chidambaram, one of the plaintiff's counsel, had told ESPNcricinfo that they had already made a prayer against Srinivasan's ICC role and she compared Srinivasan's insistence on being part of the ICC to "a man who is not fit to be a High Court judge but he wants to be a Supreme Court judge".

It is understood that at ICC's latest executive board meeting held in Dubai on April 9-10, some of the board directors had raised concerns - more murmurs than vocal objections - against Srinivasan's presence. However Srinivasan is believed to have responded saying it was a few disgruntled people trying to haul him up. His message, the member board official said, was passed via the chairman of another board, who was responding to the few questions that were raised.

Srinivasan's detractors say he is in direct violation of Rule 2.1 of the ICC's Code of Ethics which states: "Each Director shall act in an honest and ethical manner. In order to facilitate the transparent operation of the ICC, conduct that gives the appearance of impropriety will also be unacceptable. Directors shall not engage in any conduct that in any way denigrates the ICC or harms its public image. No funds or assets of the ICC may be used for any unlawful purpose, and no Director may engage in unlawful conduct."

According to the member board official, the ICC Code of ethic says "each of the directors have a positive obligation" to challenge Srinivasan. According to Rule 8. 3 in the ICC's Code of Ethics: "Each Director has the obligation not only to abide by the Code of Ethics, but also to report violations of the Code of Ethics when they become aware of them."

Indian T20 League, 18th match: Punjab T20 v Bangalore T20 at Dubai (DSC), Apr 28, 2014

NEI India Film Editing Via ESPN Cricinfo

 

Punjab T20

Bangalore T20

Match scheduled to begin at 18:30 local time (14:30 GMT) 

 

Punjab T20 Squad

GJ Bailey*, Anureet Singh, P Awana, L Balaji, R Dhawan, Gurkeerat Singh, BE Hendricks, MG Johnson, Karanveer Singh, M Kartik, Mandeep Singh, SE Marsh, GJ Maxwell, DA Miller, AR Patel, NLTC Perera, CA Pujara, WP Saha, Sandeep Sharma (1), V Sehwag, Shivam Sharma, SN Thakur, M Vohra

Bangalore T20 Squad

V Kohli*, VR Aaron, AN Ahmed, YS Chahal, AB de Villiers, AB Dinda, CH Gayle, SB Jakati, NJ Maddinson, T Mishra, JA Morkel, M Muralitharan, HV Patel, PA Patel, R Rampaul, S Rana, S Sandeep Warrier, MA Starc, YV Takawale, Yuvraj Singh, VH Zol

 

Sources :
NEI India Film Editing
http://www.neiindia.com
http://www.bbmedia.co.in
https://www.facebook.com/NEIIndia.Filmediting?ref=hl

 

 

Chennai leave it late, but win again

Chennai Super Kings 146 for 5 (Smith 66, McCullum 40) beat Sunrisers Hyderabad (Finch 44, Mohit 2-27) by five wickets

NEI India Film Editing Via ESPN Cricinfo

Chennai Super Kings 146 for 5 (Smith 66, McCullum 40) beat Sunrisers Hyderabad (Finch 44, Mohit 2-27) by five wickets
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details

Agarkar: 'Chennai were always in control'

It seemed at the halfway point that Chennai Super Kings would face a challenging chase. Two big overs at the death had propelled Sunrisers Hyderabad to 145 on a slow Sharjah pitch, which had seemed difficult to play big shots on. Sunrisers had gone into the match with five specialist bowlers, each different from the other, all of them capable of exploiting the conditions.

But as early as the first over of Super Kings' innings, delivered by Dale Steyn, something seemed to have changed. Dwayne Smith only took six runs off it, but he middled every ball, despite Steyn delivering most of them with a scrambled seam.

After a close shave in the next over, off Bhuvneshwar Kumar, when the ball narrowly missed the top of middle stump after hitting his inside edge, Smith continued timing the ball beautifully, raced away to a 46-ball 66, and put on 85 for the first wicket with Brendon McCullum, who was hitting it just as crisply. Dew had come into play, and the ball was coming nicely on to the bat.

When Super Kings lost Suresh Raina, they had eight wickets in hand and 36 balls in which to get 32 runs against a Sunrisers attack that was reaching for the towel stuck in the umpire's waistband with increasing frequency. The chase seemed well in control.

Just then, when everything was stacked against them, Sunrisers came back into the game. Suresh Raina mistimed a big hit off Ishant Sharma, turning a poor over into a reasonable one. Bhuvneshwar Kumar took two wickets in one over, including a lucky break when Smith hit a full-toss straight to long-off. Steyn bowled a superb last over, giving away just four, and Bhuvneshwar followed it up by giving away just five in the next one.

Ishant Sharma, who had gone for 33 in his first three overs, got his leg-cutter to work all of a sudden, bowling Ravindra Jadeja off his pads and beating Mithun Manhas twice in two balls. Four runs off that over left Super Kings needing six off the last over.

Sunrisers hadn't used anyone apart from their five specialist bowlers, and they stuck with that plan, handing Amit Mishra the task of bowling the last over. Only two runs came off the first two balls, but the dew, the pressure of defending four off four balls, and the fact that MS Dhoni was on strike came together for a high full-toss to slip out of Mishra's fingers. Dhoni swatted it away to the midwicket boundary, and a result that had seemed a formality five overs earlier had now belatedly come to pass.

Having chosen to bat, Sunrisers never recovered after losing two wickets inside the first three overs. Shikhar Dhawan pulled Ben Hilfenhaus straight to the midwicket fielder, and David Warner fell victim to a poor umpiring decision two balls later.

The ball, from Ben Hilfenhaus, was short, pitched well outside leg stump, and hit Warner high on the pad with the batsman on the hop. Umpire Vineet Kulkarni gave it out, and Super Kings had sent back two-thirds of Sunrisers' heavy artillery. The third member of that trio, Aaron Finch, was now forced into circumspection.

Super Kings' bowlers, for their part, did everything in their power to make life difficult for the batsmen. Their three seamers, Mohit Sharma in particular, made clever use of the slower ball, and the best strategy against R Ashwin's around-the-wicket line, at times, seemed to be to let the ball go and hope for wides. No one, barring Ravindra Jadeja on a couple of occasions, gave the batsmen any width.

Finch and KL Rahul put on 52 at just over a run a ball, and Venugopal Rao made 13 off 15 before he was out off the last ball of the 15th over. Sunrisers were 98 for 4, and their hopes of getting to a competitive total rested on Finch and Darren Sammy. Finch fell in the 18th over, foxed by one of Mohit's back-of-the-hand offerings, but Sammy and Karn Sharma tonked 36 off the last 16 balls to propel the score to 145. It shouldn't have been, considering how much of an effect the dew was to have, and it wasn't in the end, but they almost made it look like a big enough total.

Royal Challengers look for the up elevator

Kings XI v Royal Challengers, IPL 2014, Dubai

NEI India Film Editing Via ESPN Cricinfo

Match facts

April 28, 2014
Start time 1830 local (1430 GMT, 2000 IST)

Big Picture

A team wanting to make it to the knockout stage of the IPL can only afford a few horror matches in the season. Royal Challengers Bangalore have already had a couple of them, one after the other, early in their season. A campaign that started with encouraging wins now needs to shake off the bad inertia. It can only be a good thing that they face Kings XI Punjab, the strongest team on current form, next; win this and get the anaesthetic you need to numb the wounds from last two losses.

It doesn't sound easy and it's going to be even more difficult in reality. After two good wins, question marks have now been pasted all over on Royal Challengers' batsmen. It now seems that only the inclusion of Chris Gayle can perk the team up. However, there is still no conclusive news on his fitness. Irrespective of Gayle's availability, the rest of the batsmen, especially the middle order, will need to shrug off the uncertainty that has set in. Royal Challengers' bowling is better placed at the moment and they are likely to bring back the impressive Varun Aaron after resting him from the previous game.

Kings XI would have been extremely satisfied with their win against Kolkata Knight Riders. First time in the tournament, their batting came under pressure with the early exits of Glenn Maxwell and David Miller, but their bowlers responded with sustained intensity. Mitchell Johnson has said that he is slowly finding his best after missing out on cricket for a month due to a toe infection and that gives the attack a well-rounded look. Johnson fires it quick, Sandeep Sharma likes to nip it around, L Balaji loves bowling those legcutters and Akshar Patel's left-arm spin is gaining traction.

Watch out for

One thing is for sure that the moment Yuvraj Singh steps out, George Bailey is going to unleash Mitchell Johnson on him. Rewind to October 2013 to trace the beginnings of Yuvraj's slide. Johnson served up a 150-plus short ball to send Yuvraj back for 7 in an ODI in Pune. Another short ball in Mohali and Yuvraj edged it to fall for a first-ball duck. In Nagpur, Yuvraj expected the short ball, but left a mighty gap between the pad and the bat to be bowled for a two-ball duck. Life hasn't smiled at Yuvraj since then (except on the IPL auction day) and Johnson is no happy news.

AB de Villiers did score an unbeaten 45 in Royal Challengers' second win but his last two outings are a cause for concern for his team. Against Knight Riders, he, along with Yuvraj, let the game drift away to the last over before being dismissed, albeit to an exceptional catch by Chris Lynn. Against Rajasthan Royals, he walked in early in the third over in a scenario that should have allowed him enough time to build. Instead, he fell for a duck playing a loose shot to an innocuous delivery. His patchy form seems to have extended from the World T20 where he managed a single half-century. With their campaign floundering a bit, Royal Challengers need the cushion of the old de Villiers.

Stats and trivia

• The batsmen from Kings XI and Royal Challengers, along with Delhi Daredevils, have hit the most centuries - five each. The last of them was a 38-ball 101 by David Miller, against Royal Challengers
• Virender Sehwag's 37 in the match against Knight Riders was his highest score from his last 13 IPL innings

Devashish Fuloria is a sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo

Jolted teams seek winning momentum

Royals v Royal Challengers, IPL 2014, Abu Dhabi

NEI India Film Editing Via ESPN Cricinfo

Big Picture

Two teams jolted by recent defeats will be eager to get back the winning momentum. Royal Challengers Bangalore have just a day to shake off a stunning defeat at the hands of Kolkata Knight Riders, for it was a game they weren't meant to lose. Any team needing 25 off 18 balls with seven wickets in hand would back itself to seal it, but a combination of nerves, intelligent death bowling from Vinay Kumar, and a blinder of an outfield catch from Chris Lynn turned the match on its head.

It was Royal Challengers' first defeat in three games, but more importantly, it was the wake-up call they needed to ward off complacency. Chris Gayle's likely return will perk them up, but the opening position is not their worry, for they have managed well without him. Yuvraj Singh has scores of 52*, 0 and 31 but he won't be very satisfied with his strike-rate. Virat Kohli cannot be expected to win them every game, which means the others around him have to be more consistent.

Still, the Royal Challengers may not be as concerned about form as the Rajasthan Royals will be. The team succumbed to Glenn Maxwell defending 191 and against Chennai Super Kings, they failed to chase 141. They could not pin down Super Kings at 74 for 5, and despite restricting them to a middling total, the batsmen never really asserted themselves. It begs the question of whether Shane Watson should move up the order, with Abhishek Nayar struggling. If Watson can take control at the top, it relieves the pressure on the middle order.

Watch out for

Varun Aaron had to endure negative press coming into this IPL, after he leaked 74 off only 7.5 overs in an ODI against Bangladesh in the Asia Cup. Fortunately, he has managed to turn that around with economical spells. He took 1 for 9 off three overs against Delhi Daredevils and his best performance was 3 for 16 against Knight Riders. That he has managed to be penetrative without compromising on his pace is a bonus for Royal Challengers and himself.

Rajat Bhatia joked that the Dubai pitch was slower than his bowling. The experienced medium-pacer has been hard to get at because of the pace he takes off the ball, forcing the batsmen to use extra muscle to clear the long boundaries. He makes the batsmen play to his tunes and that explains his economy rate of 6.63. He was at his miserly best against Super Kings, giving away just 13 off four overs and picking up two wickets.

Stats and trivia

• Among current players, Shane Watson is the leading run-scorer in matches between Royals and Royal Challengers, with 210 runs. The record, though, is held by Rahul Dravid (323) who has retired.
• Virat Kohli has a below-par record against Royals, with only 158 runs at a below-par strike rate of 92 and an average of 17.55