Pune's time to take forward steps

Pune Warriors started their campaign in IPL 2012 with an uplifting win against pre-tournament favourites, Mumbai Indians and followed it up with an easy win over Kings XI Punjab. But since then, they have played seven games and won only two, with a hat-trick of losses. Second from the bottom, Warriors still have a chance of qualifying for the play-off stage, but with just six games to go they will need to stay focussed.
Mumbai Indians have had five wins from nine games even though they haven't performed to their potential. Of all their big names, only Lasith Malinga has been consistent while Sachin Tendulkar and Harbhajan Singh haven't fired. Rohit Sharma is the top-scorer in the line-up but his tournament tally is half that of Ajinkya Rahane's and he has given his wicket away easily in crunch situations. Ambati Rayudu and Dinesh Karthik, though, have shown signs of form after an indifferent start to the season. Mumbai Indians have often reiterated the importance of having Tendulkar at the top to provide stability. However, he has scored 94 runs in five games and Sourav Ganguly would hope to keep the pressure on him.

Michael Clarke made an impressive IPL debut in the last game and scored his runs at a good clip with proper cricketing shots, much like Rahane. Clarke's ability should relieve Robin Uthappa of the stabilising role, allowing him to take a more aggressive stance. In their bowling department, Warriors have missed Ashok Dinda as Ashish Nehra has been expensive as a death bowler.


Players to watch
Steven Smith is the second highest run-getter for Warriors this season with 267 runs at a strike rate of 159.88. While several other top run-scorers have faced more than 200 balls, Smith has only faced 167, highlighting that he could have a greater impact if he is given more time in the middle.
Ambati Rayudu has looked in good form in recent games. While his cameo in Mohali won the game for Mumbai Indians from a difficult position, his counter-attacking 62 in Delhi kept the team in hunt after the loss of early wickets. With an inconsistent top order, the responsibility will be again on him.

Stats and trivia
Mumbai Indians' average of 21.58 runs per wicket is the lowest in this IPL. Warriors are third from the top with an average of 27.05.
Mumbai Indians scored 101 against Warriors in their last match, the second-lowest score this season after their 92 all out against Delhi Daredevils.

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IPL 5: CSK batsmen hurting team's title defence

The fifth edition of the Indian Premier League has been a poor one for the defending champions Chennai Super Kings so far, who have performed below par despite having some big players in their ranks. Once touted as favourites to complete the hat-trick of the title, Chennai are fifth in the points table and on current form, it seems difficult for them to qualify for the play-offs.
The biggest worry for CSK has been the form of their batsmen. Murali Vijay has been the poorest of the lot and has been dropped from the team. He was the one of the key members that helped CSK win the last two edition of the IPL and MS Dhoni's team has missed him for sure. Apart from Faf du Plessis, none of the players so far have really shown the mettle and consistency.


But the inclusion of Michael Hussey following Australia's tour of the West Indies is definitely going to strengthen Chennai batting line-up. However, there is very little time for Hussey to settle down as the tournament has already reached its business end and he has to start performing from the word go. Subramaniam Badrinath is another player who has been wasted so far by Chennai team management as he is still struggling to get a fixed spot. At times he has been asked to open the innings while in other matches he has played lower down the order. That for sure is going to hurt any player's confidence.
Another thing that Chennai have been missing is runs from Suresh Raina's bat. Though he has become the first man to reach the 2000-run mark in the IPL, Raina has been poor in the tournament so far. Coming in at No.3, the left-hander has to play a very important role for the team, but so far he has just managed 197 runs at average 21.88 in nine innings and has failed to capitalise on the couple of starts he has go so far.
Dhoni's reluctance to bat higher up the order is also hurting the team's chances. Dhoni needs to bat at No.4 in the order to add some stability and consistency to the batting line-up. Dhoni has played a couple of good innings batting at this spot but the continuous shuffling in the batting order has also worked against them. Allrounders Dwayne Bravo and Ravindra Jadeja have stood up to their task while bowling and fielding but have not performed with the bat so far.
Surely with six matches to be played, time is running out for Chennai to sort out their batting, and it seems an uphill task for CSK to defend their crown this time around.

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IPL 5: Nervous Punjab hold on to beat Ban

Kings XI Punjab kept their nerves towards the end of their chase to register a four-wicket win over Royal Challengers Bangalore in an Indian Premier League (IPL) nail-biter at the Chinnaswamy Stadium on Wednesday. Chasing 159 to win, the visitors were on their way to an easy win at one time with just 13 runs needed to close out the match, but a flurry of wickets, especially three run-outs, took the match into the last over.
With five runs required in the last over to win, Piyush Chawla smashed Vinay Kumar for a six off the fifth ball to see his team home.


Nitin Saini (50), David Hussey (45) and Mandeep Singh (43) played crucial hands in the chase. This was Punjab’s second successive win and now they lie fourth in the standings with five wins in 10 matches, while Bangalore lost their second successive match to be 6th.
Punjab got off to a good start with Mandeep and Shaun Marsh adding 38 off 28 balls. Mandeep did the bulk of the scoring in a 38-run partnership that was ended by Andrew McDonald, who cleaned up Marsh for 8. Mandeep was impressive during his innings before being trapped in front of the stumps by K Appanna. His wicket gave Punjab some hope but Saini and captain Hussey were determined to take the team over the line, especially Saini who showed a lot of nous during his stay. He and Hussey added 73 to take the visitors within 13 runs of victory. But those 13 runs took a lot of getting with Saini falling to Zaheer Khan and the run-outs of Abhishek Nayar, Hussey and Azhar Mahmood.
Earlier, after being put into bat, Bangalore lost Mayank Agarwal early as Aussie Ryan Harris – playing his first match this season - sent his off-stump cartwheeling with only seven runs on the board. Virat Kohli joined Chris Gayle and began a partnership that at one time threatened to take the game away from the visitors. Parvinder Awana and Chawla in particular were at the receiving end as Gayle played some mutilating shots. Both added 119 runs off 83 balls as the team headed for a big total but Punjab’s Pakistani import Mahmood came back to end the West Indian’s innings with a well-aimed bouncer in the 16th over.
Gayle scored 71 off 42 balls with six boundaries and four sixes to take his IPL tally to 407 runs in nine matches this season. One of his sixes travelled 111 metres, an IPL 5 record. Chawla then got in on the act and accounted for Kohli in the next over. The India batsman made 45 off 42 balls and played a perfect foil to Gayle. The twin blow reined in the hosts’ innings. The Mahmood-led Punjab bowling came up trumps yielding just 36 runs in the last five overs. Mahmood, who also has the citizenship of England, sent back McDonald and AB de Villiers in the last over to restrict Bangalore to 158 for 5, which was at least 20 runs fewer.

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IPL 5: Watson's wicket was special: Negi

Jaipur: Young Delhi Daredevils left-arm spinner Pawan Negi, who shot to limelight with a four-wicket haul against Rajasthan Royals in an Indian Premier League match on Tuesday, termed Shane Watson's scalp as the prized one.
The 19-year-old orthodox spinner played a stellar role in Delhi's comprehensive six-wicket win over Rajasthan with impressive figures of 4 for 18 from his four overs.


"I was just trying to stop the flow of runs. It was a good wicket and they (Rajasthan batsmen) played a few bad shots too. The wicket of [Shane] Watson was the prized one because he is such a good player," said Negi who also accounted for the wickets of Ajinkya Rahane, Brad Hodge and Ashok Menaria apart from Watson.
Asked to bowl after six overs with Rajasthan comfortably placed at 56 for no loss, Negi ripped apart the home team's batting line-up to restrict them to a modest 141 for 6.
Asked whether skipper Virender Sehwag gave him any specific instruction before coming on to bowl, Negi said, "He [Sehwag] told me that Rajasthan batsmen play a lot of inside out shots over extra cover. So he asked me to keep balls a bit short so as to not allow them to go for such shots. This worked to perfection."

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IPL 5: Pietersen exits IPL as Clarke makes debut

New Delhi: Delhi Daredevils' Kevin Pietersen flew home on Wednesday after a highly successful stint in the Indian Premier League (IPL) as Australia captain and Pune Warriors' batsman Michael Clarke made his debut in the Twenty20 tournament.
Pietersen, who left midway through the league to prepare for England's home series against the West Indies, scored 305 runs at an average of 61.00 in his first season with the Delhi Daredevils. He played eight matches for the top-of-the table side, featuring a brilliant innings of 103 not out off 64 balls against the Deccan Chargers on April 19


Pietersen, who had in the past played for Royal Challengers Bangalore, will miss the last six league matches. "Sad day leaving India today," the England star tweeted. "Will be back soon. Special thanks to Delhi Daredevils. And another thank you to the people of India.
Clarke, who had shunned the four previous editions of the cash-rich tournament, signed up with the Pune Warriors this year for an undisclosed amount to play after Australia's recent tour of the West Indies. The Australian skipper shrugged off jetleg after the long journey from the Caribbean to strike 41 off 31 balls on Tuesday night, but could not prevent Pune from suffering a 13-run loss at the hands of bottom-placed Deccan Chargers in Cuttack.
Clarke has six more league games to help Pune, led by former India captain Sourav Ganguly, finish among the top four in the nine-team competition and qualify for the play-offs. Pune, owned by the Sahara group, are currently lying seventh in the table with four wins and six defeats.
"Clarke is a class act and it's great to have him with us," said Ganguly, whose international career featured many fierce, competitive clashes with the Australians.

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IPL 5: Smith to replace Johnson at Mumbai Indians

New Delhi: West Indies allrounder Dwayne Smith has signed up with Mumbai Indians as a replacement for Australian pacer Mitchell Johnson and would be joining the IPL team on Thursday. Smith, who had played for Mumbai Indians during the inaugural edition of IPL and represented Deccan Chargers in the next two editions, was roped in after Johnson failed to
recover from a toe injury and was ruled out of IPL 5.


"Mumbai Indians have signed West Indies allrounder Dwayne Smith as replacement for Mitchell Johnson. The Australian fast bowler was ruled out to play IPL by Cricket Australia due to injury," a Mumbai Indians statement said. "Dwayne Smith is expected to join Mumbai Indians team on Thursday, 3rd May 2012," it added.
Johnson, who represented Australia in 47 Tests, 107 ODIs and 28 Twenty20 internationals, had undergone a surgery in his left foot recently.

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Chris Gayle boycotts county contract, will join national team

New Delhi: Former West Indies captain Chris Gayle scrapped his deal with Somerset county and made himself available for the national team and virtually ended his year-long stand-off with the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB).
But Gayle, who is playing in the Indian Premier League (IPL) for Royal Challengers Bangalore(RCB), in a statement said that he is committed to West Indies cricket and told Somerset that he will not be honouring the contract. Gayle told the West Indies selectors that he will be available for the ODI series in England after the IPL.


"I wish to advise that as of today, May 2nd, 2012, I have written to Somerset CC and advised them that I will not be honouring the commitment I made to them when I signed a contract with them for the 2012 Friends Provident Championship. I made it clear to them that my decision was made because of my commitment to West Indies cricket and to West Indies cricket fans, and because: ...I believe that it is time for the WICB to make a decision which will provide a clearer view of my own future," Gayle said.
"I understand that by making this decision, it may place me in a position of considerable risk, since I am foregoing a signed contract, without any guarantees whatsoever, with only the hope that I will be selected to play for the West Indies again. I have now satisfied all of the requests of the WICB and their selection panel, with whom I met via teleconference yesterday, and to whom I reiterated previous assurances given to the Board regarding my availability. So that there is no doubt, I confirmed to the selectors that I was available for West Indies duty in all forms of cricket, immediately following the conclusion of my contractual obligations to my IPL franchise, Bangalore.
"This has been a difficult time, and I wish to sincerely thank everyone who has supported me, my family and friends, and in particular cricket fans worldwide who have continued to show appreciation for me wherever I have played. I look forward once again to put on the maroon, and resuming my international career and my service to West Indies cricket," Gayle said.
Gayle last played for the West Indies during the 2011 World Cup in March before falling out with the WICB after he criticised the chief coach Ottis Gibson during a radio interview in Jamaica.

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IPL 5: KXIP is growing in confidence now, says Hussey

Bangalore: With his side jumping to fourth place with Wednesday's thrilling four-wicket win, Kings XI Punjab skipper David Hussey said that his side is confident now and keen to better in the remaining matches. Punjab almost lost the match from a winning position but Piyush Chawla held his nerves to smash a six off the penultimate ball to steer his side home while chasing 159 against Royal Challengers Bangalore.
"We tried to clutch defeat from the jaws of victory .. but a win is a win. We have confidence now. We need to go back and perform in front of our home crowd," Hussey said. "Momentum is a big part. We did well against Chennai and now we want to do even better when we go to Mohali for the next game," he said.


Bangalore skipper Daniel Vettori said that they were some runs short despite some good batting by Chris Gayle (71) and Virat Kohli (45) as they put on 158 for six. "The last five overs of both innings were interesting, lots of wickets lots of pressure. Only scoring 30 runs off our last five overs really hurt us," he said.
"We've got some big games coming up, we need to get back on that roll of winning and make the semis," he added. Azhar Mahmood, who took three wickets including that of Gayle, was adjudged Man-of-the-Match. "Love it, I'm enjoying my cricket. Two big wins. quite pleased with the performance. We just believe in ourselves, we like each other's company, each others' success. Everyone's working hard, it's paying off," he said.

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IPL 5: Can't afford to lose next two games, says Vettori

Bangalore: Royal Challengers Bangalore skipper Daniel Vettori said that his team fell short by 50 to 60 runs despite Chris Gayle (71) and Virat Kohli (45) putting on 118-run second wicket stand together and laying a solid platform against Kings XI Punjab in their last IPL match.
"We lost momentum in the last five overs of our innings. The way they [Kings XI Punjab] bowled demoralised us and we could not score 50 or 60 runs in the slog overs," Vettori said at the post-match press conference in Bangalore. Vettori said that the team wasted the advantage that Gayle and Kohli provided by taking the RCB to 122 for 1 by the 15th over on a pitch

that was assisting the bowlers initially.

"RCB could have done better by setting 180-run target for the visitors to chase. It was difficult batting first up as the ball was doing a bit initially. Praveen Kumar bowled exceptionally well in his four overs, giving away just eight runs," said the skipper.

The New Zealander also said that the Bangalore have reached a stage where they couldn't afford to lose another match. "We don't want to lose our next two games against Deccan Chargers and Pune Warriors. Losing those will take us to a point of no return. We want to do things we did in the last couple of overs of the Kings XI's innings [effecting three runouts]," he said.

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IPL 5: Injured Sreesanth out for five months

New Delhi: An injured Shanthakumaran Sreesanth will be out of action for five months as he needs two surgeries on his toes. He last played for India in August during the team's tour of England and has featured in only one first-class match.
The fast bowler opted for ayurvedic treatment than going for surgery and had thought earlier of being fit for the CB series in Australia. Late last month, Sreesanth went to the Nation Cricket Academy [NCA] in Bangalore for rehabilitation after initially being part of Rajasthan Royals. Rajasthan team management hoped that he can return to the team after spending a week at the NCA but this season they have to manage without him.

This is the second injury blow for Rajasthan after allrounder Kevin Cooper was ruled out of IPL 5 due to a fractured knee.

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KKR gag on players' media interaction

Kolkata: Ahead of their keenly-awaited IPL clash with the Sourav Ganguly-led Pune Warriors India, the Kolkata Knight Riders management has placed a gag order on their players for interacting with the media. "We have some rules and regulations that we are following," Knight Riders' Bangladeshi recruit Shakib Al Hasan said when contacted.
The team had signed with a PR firm to arrange players' interaction with media, but the agency now says they are helpless as the KKR management has stopped responding to their queries. "We had sent a list of media requests for players' interviews, but the management says that no player is available now or [they are] not getting time. I can't help. I am just waiting for the tournament to get over. I feel we have no role [to play] now," said an official of the PR firm.


Despite inviting sports journalists in a promotional party on Wednesday night, the KKR management did not allow them to interact with its players. As a result, a section of the media boycotted the event as they were denied a possible opportunity to interact with Manoj Tiwary, Laxmipathy Balaji, Eoin Morgan, Brendon McCullum and Ryan ten Doeschate.
After a lot of persuasion by the PR agency, team director Joy Bhattacharya allowed Tiwary to interact, but that too for just two questions. Repeated attempts to take the matter to franchise’s CEO Venky Mysore went in vain.
The excitement and interest for Saturday's clash is palpable, with city's cricket idol, Ganguly, in the visitors’ camp.

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