SPORTS
Pg 18
Chelsea leapfrog Manchester United Pg. 17
CDJ Ribandar lift Ilhas Zone title Pg. 16
GOA, MONDAY, 26 APRIL, 2010
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Chennai ‘Super Kings’
Suresh Raina celebrates after catching Saurabh Tiwary at DY Patil Stadium, Mumbai on Sunday. AGENCIES MUMBAI, APRIL 25
The DY Patil stadium was stunned into silence soon after midnight. The men in yellow went berserk in the middle as MS Dhoni's captaincy had overshadowed the bravado of Sachin Tendulkar in the big final on Sunday. The Super Kings came up trumps by 22 runs in what was a cracker of a game. Suresh Raina set Chennai up with a brilliant half-century and chasing 169, Sachin Tendulkar's determined knock kept Mumbai in the hunt for a long time before Dhoni's master moves and a super effort in the field gave the clear advantage to Chennai. But, they had to survive a Kieoran Pollard avalanche that threatened to steal the game but Dhoni was not to be pipped for the second time in an IPL final. Tendulkar, who had five stitches on his right hand three
days ago, played a magnificent innings under pressure as he kept the Chennai bowling at bay and till the time he was in the middle, Mumbai knew they had an upper hand. Tendulkar along with Abhishek Nayar (27 off 26) put on 66 runs for the second wicket,
but once Dhoni ran out Nayar, the game was in the balance. However, two runs short of a well-deserved half-century, Tendulkar played a false shot and Murali Vijay accepted the catch gleefully. Tendulkar's 48 came off 45 balls that had seven boundaries.
Chennai Super Kings: M Vijay c Tiwary b Fernando 26, M Hayden c Rayudu b Pollard 17, S Raina not out 57, S Badrinath c Malinga b Fernando 14, MS Dhoni c Fernando b Z Khan 22, A Morkel run out (Rayudu) 15, S Anirudha not out 6. Extras: 11. Total: 168 for 5. Fall of wickets: 44-1, 47-2, 67-3, 139-4, 157-5. Bowling: Harbhajan Singh 4-0-30-0, L Malinga 4-0-33-0, Z Khan 4-034-1, D Fernando 4-0-23-2, K Pollard 4-0-45-1. Mumbai Indians: S Dhawan cDhoni b Bollinger 0, S Tendulkar c Vijay b Jakati 48, A Nayar run out (Dhoni) 27, Harbhajan Singh lbw b Raina 1, A Rayudu run out (Morkel) 21, S Tiwary c Raina b Jakati 0, JP Duminy c Jakati b Muralitharan 6, K Pollard c Hayden b Morkel 27, Z Khan run out (Ashwin) 1, L Malinga not out 1, D Fernando not out 2. Extras: 11. Total: 146 for 9. Fall of wickets: 1-1, 67-2, 73-3, 99-4, 100-5, 114-6, 142-7, 142-8, 143-9. Bowling: R Ashwin 4-1-24-0, D Bollinger 4-0-31-1, A Morkel 3-0-20-1, M Muralitharan 4-0-18-1, S Jakati 3-0-26-2, S Raina 2-0-21-1. Man-of-the-match: S Raina
Sehwag’s advice prompts Warner to set sight on Test UNI MELBOURNE, APRIL 25
An advice from swashbuckling Indian opener Virender Sehwag has convinced Twenty20 batting sensation David Warner that he can make into the Australia's Test squad in the next two years. ''He said you have to play as much cricket for your country,'' Warner said. ''He said you'll be playing Test cricket in the next two years and you'll be taking over my record of most runs in a day. He has scored something like 284 runs in a day and said he wanted me to get 300. ''It put a smile on my face and it's a challenge for myself. I want to play Test cricket,'' the hard-hitting left-handed batsman was qouted as saying by The Sunday Telegraph. Warner further added that Sehwag told him that he can play aggressively in longer form of the game as the field placements in Tests will provide the Australian enough chance to play his shots. ''Sehwag said in Tests you can play all your shots and if an opposition is 0-100 off 15 overs
in a Test, you'll have them run off their feet,'' Warner said. ''I said it's a good philosophy to have and if I can open the batting in first-class cricket for NSW, I'll play my attacking role but also knuckle down when the time comes. ''If I can play a quarter of the Tests 'Punter' (Ricky Ponting) has played I'll be happy.'' With the IPL now over for D e l h i D a rd e v i l s f o r w h i c h Warner plays, Australians now head to the West Indies for the Twenty20 World Championship and Warner said the ODI world champions stand a good chance of grabbing the first World Twenty20 title. ''I reckon we have got the team to go through and win it,'' he said. ''We've got four quicks who bowl over 150km/h plus and we'll be playing on wickets that don't bounce during the day. ''Spin is also a key in Twenty20 cricket, and we have two of them (Nathan Hauritz and Steven Smith), (Dave) Hussey can bowl part-time, and obviously 'Pup' (Michael Clarke) as well,'' he added.
Shoaib sought Rs 35 million for rights to cover his walima? AGENCIES KARACHI, APRIL 25
Pakistan cricketer Shoaib Malik has reportedly demanded a whopping Rs 35 million for the rights to cover his reception and walima ceremony in his hometown Sialkot af ter his wedding to Indian tennis star Sania Mirza. Shoaib asked his private security guards to keep the media away from both ceremonies as none of the TV news channels had agreed to cough up the huge amount demanded by the cricketer and any deal was not yet struck, Dunya News channel reported. The channel claimed it had obtained an invitation card for the walima to be hosted by Shoaib in Lahore's Pearl Continental Hotel on April 27 by paying Rs 10,000 (about USD 125) to a relative of the cricketer. On the other hand, the administration of Pearl Continental Hotel has asked journalists to
leave the premises. Dozens of reporters, especially those from TV news channels, have been thronging the hotel since the couple arrived there two days ago. "The hotel administration took the step on behalf of Shoaib," journalist Hina Farooq claimed. Shaoib has already requested the government of Punjab province to provide the couple and his guests from India "foolproof" security. Shoaib and his brother-in-law Imran Zafar have criticised the media after Sania and her mother Nasima Mirza were jostled and pushed by an unruly
crowd after reaching the Pearl Continental Hotel. The incident brought tears to Sania's eyes. "Please spare us," was the request from both Shoaib and Zafar. "For God's sake, leave us alone. You are trying to fix cameras in our rooms," an angry Zafar shouted at the media. Before leaving for Sialkot, Shoaib, Sania and her parents and relatives visited the shrine of Hazrat Ali Hajvary Data Ganj Bakhsh and offered prayers. Meanwhile, Sialkot district police chief Waqar Ahmed Chohan said an official order on serving only one dish at wedding receptions will be enforced in letter and spirit. "We will not allow even Shaoib to violate the ban," he said. The Punjab government introduced the one-dish rule for weddings and receptions last year as part of a series of austerity measures.
Harbhajan Singh's promotion up the order did not work as he fell for one. Saurabh Tiwary (zero) and JP Duminy (six) buckled under pressure. Mumbai surprised everybody by keeping Kieron Pollard in the dugout till the end. When Pollard walked into the middle, 55 runs were needed off just three overs. But Pollard relished the situation it seemed as he launched into Doug Bollinger to pick 22 runs. Mumbai looked to pull off a miracle stage but Albie Morkel bowled a super over as Ambhati Rayadu (21 off 14) and Pollard (27 off 10) both fell. Mumbai needed 27 runs in the last over, and that was never going to happen with Bollinger bowling to the Mumbai tail. Mumbai Indians ended up with the score of 146-9. Earlier, the whole of Mumbai breathed a sigh of relief as Sachin Tendulkar walked out to the middle for the toss but it was MS Dhoni who had the luck with the toss as Chennai elected to bat for the crucial game. Raina plonked an unbeaten half-century to set the Mumbai Indians a challenging 169-run target. After keeping a tight lid on Chennai for the first half of the innings, Mumbai slipped at the death as Raina went berserk to hit 57 not out off just 35 balls. Mumbai bowlers kept Chennai in check but Matthew Hay-
den (17 off 31) and Murali Vijay (26 off 19) were off to a sedate start. Vijay smashed two sixes before Dilhara Fernando snared him in the eighth over. Chennai scored at less than six-runs-aover for most part of their innings. Hayden's vigil in the middle when he miscued Kieron Pollard and soon Subramanium Badrinath too fell in a similar fashion. Chennai were in tatters at 67-3 in the 12th over. But when you have MS Dhoni on the other side, expect the unexpected. Dhoni launched a brilliant counterattack to shift the momentum. The skipper blasted two sixes, one of which was a sensational one-handed flourish in his 15-ball 22. Raina too turned on the heat from the other end as the duo smashed 72 runs off just 45 balls to set up Chennai. Mumbai did themselves no favour by dropping Raina twice (on 12 and on 28) in two overs, which proved decisive in the end with Mumbai running the Chennai total close. Suresh Raina was declared the man-of-the-match. Meanwhile, embroiled in a raging row with IPL chairman and commissioner Lalit Modi, top BCCI functionaries, including president Shashank Manohar and secretary N Srinivasan skipped the Indian Premier League's summit clash at the DY Patil Stadium here today.
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1) Sahid Kapoor seen in action during the closing ceremony of IPL III. 2) Bipasha dancing on the title track of her movie 'Race' to set the pulse racing for the spectators. 3) A dancer seen performing at the closing ceremony.
Glitzy closing ceremony PTI MUMBAI, APRIL 25
A sparkling closing ceremony, splashed with glitz and glamour preceded the IPL summit clash between Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings here today. The 40-minute long ceremony at the DY Patil Stadium was choreographed by the Oscar-winning composer AR Rehman. Though embattled IPL chairman and commissioner Lalit Modi was present at the venue, he did not address the capacity
crowd -- about 55,000 -- and the ceremony was purely a dance and music show. Re h m a n e n t h r a l l e d t h e packed gathering by belting out his mega-hit songs -- Chale Chalo from the movie 'Lagaan', 'Vande Maataram' and ended with Oscar-winning 'Jai Ho' from Slumdog Millionaire. There were other brief dance numbers performed by Bollywood stars Bipasha Basu and Shahid Kapoor. Bollywood diva Bipasha danced on the title track of her
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movie 'Race' as she set the pulse racing for the spectators while Shahid Kapoor did his bit, shaking his legs to a song from his movie on the makeshift stage erected on the ground. Before the ceremony, Modi spoke to the official broadcasters about the success of the Twenty20 league. Modi tried to show that he was not perturbed by his confrontation with the BCCI top brass and even spoke about the brand new auction for the next season.