Chennai and Rajasthan look to get closer to playoffs

Follow @Harendrasingh

Chennai: The figures for a match between two very fit side and that's it! Both Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals had a good last week and the momentum is with both parties.

T20 cricket is about all the momentum and when they take each other on a sweltering afternoon Wednesday at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, this is really a battle of attrition.

"The momentum is certainly with us, and we must make the most of it. The team that wins here is close to sealing a top-four beds, while the loser starts to slip. We must be cautious in our approach, "CSK coach Stephen Fleming said.

There is another common factor between these two teams, and this is their home record. Rajasthan Royals IPL triumph was the first based on their excellent showing in Jaipur, and they do the same this time.

The Chennai Super Kings story follows a similar pattern as well and they looked invincible MA Chidambaram Stadium today. MS Dhoni has always maintained that the conditions Chepauk give them the upper hand and will not be different on Wednesday.

Royals, despite their success in Jaipur, it was not the best racers. But despite record levels of CSK beautiful house is an area where you can put a decent challenge.

The course offers a bit of a turn and the Royals skipper Shane Warne likes these conditions. This kind of attack they've got, just as good Royals.

Siddharth Trivedi likes to take the pace of the ball and the likes of Warne and Botha may just play an important role in the game.

Both was almost the best player in the Rajasthan Royals to date. The world knows he is a decent cricketer limited overs, but was brilliant with the bat so well. Botha, with Rahul Dravid are the anchors of this team and CSK search both soon enough.

"Both performance was not a surprise to me. It is a very good player and a drummer courageous. A wonderful purchase I would say Shane," Fleming said. The coach believes CSK has depth in their spin attack to fight against the Royals.

Ganguly back in IPL with Pune Warriors India

Follow @Harendrasingh

After conducting the auction unsold players, former India captain Sourav Ganguly on Tuesday made a dramatic return to the Indian Premier League by recording a struggling franchise in Pune Warriors as a replacement for injured pacer Ashish Nehra.

"We waited for the fitness report Ashish Nehra and, finally, the report came yesterday. I was already in talks with Ganguly and decided that a lot of experience that Sourav is a cricket will no doubt help the team. So Ganguly finished yesterday evening, 'Pune Warriors team director Abhijit Sarkar said, referring to a finger injury, Nehra is nursing.

Ganguly, who played for Kolkata Knight Riders IPL for three seasons captain in two versions were not sold at auction players in January, despite a relatively modest base price of $ 400,000.

The 38-year-old turned down the role of mentor with KKR and then speculated on a possible return by another franchise.

The left hand Batman was first sought by Tusker Kochi Kerala, but their request was rejected by the board of directors of the IPL.

However, he signed the paper and Pune on Monday, when a significant boost to the team that lost six games in a row, when you start a promising pair of wins back-to-back. 

Sri Lanka plans to stage IPL-style tournament

Follow @Harendrasingh

Pakistan  Shahid Afridi versatility and former New Zealand skipper Daniel Vettori has been named to head both parties provincial competition Sri Lanka Premier League Twenty20 (SLPL).

Afridi is Nagenahira while left arm spinner Vettori was elected captain Uthuru, representing the northeastern provinces have been isolated from the sport because of the war three decades.

Vettori is the captain of Bangalore Royal Challengers in the IPL tournament that also features Sri Lanka star Kumar Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardena and Tillekeratne Dilshan.

The organizers of the event, Somerert Entertainment Ventures (SEV) found a window for IPL-style tournament between tours Sri Lanka tour of England and Australia in Sri Lanka, according to the Daily Mirror.

Six national captains, four in Sri Lanka - Sanath Jayasuriya, Jayawardena, Sangakkara and Dilshan - to seven teams in the province for the next tournament.

The seventh is the former vice-captain of Sri Lanka, Chaminda Vaas. showcase Sri Lanka T20 Premier League about 35 international stars of the sport and the first of its kind in Sri Lanka.

18-day event will begin in July and will feature 24 games, including the semifinals and finals, R. Premadasa Stadium in Colombo.

Dilshan leads Basnahira, Sangakkara (Kandurata), Jayawardane (Wayamba), Jayasuriya (Ruhuna) and Vaas (UVA).

Five foreign players may be registered with the provincial team, but only four are allowed to play in the game. Sri Lanka, the selectors and national cricket authorities have agreed to blood so many young people and nearly 70 cricketers of Sri Lanka have recorded seven teams in the tournament.

Almost all Pakistani national cricketers will be invited to play in SLPL.

In addition, Chris Gayle and Bravo cousins (Dwayne and Darren) from the West Indies, the Pathan brothers (Irfan and Yousuf), India, Herschelle Gibbs, David Warner and Shaun Tait are seen as a function of the ground in Sri Lanka.

Availability of retired great Muttiah Muralitharan has not yet been confirmed, but some unconfirmed reports have revealed that he is willing to play in the series.

Milind Rege, the tournament director in 2011 Cricket World Cup will be responsible for all matters of the cricket tournament. Rege, a former Ranji Trophy captain of Mumbai and the Tata Group recently retired CEO of a committee member.

Kochi vs Bangalore: De Villiers stars as Bangalore win by 6 wickets

Follow @Harendrasingh

AB de Villiers scored an unbeaten 54 as Bangalore and Kochi got six wickets in their match of IPL in Nehru Stadium in Kochi on Saturday. Scores

Chasing 162 - a difficult task - Bangalore dedicated to their forgettable opener Tillakaratne Dilshan go beyond the second inning. Away from the front edge of S Sreesanth has been very busy keeper Brendon McCullum, who dived and took a low catch. Dilshan fell to 1 and Bangalore fell 7 / 1

Post box opens Mayank Agarwal and vir € ~ Kohli has forged a partnership 41 runs before Vinay Kumar Kohli trapped leg before on 23.

Mayank Agarwal, who is averaging confident the whole time, finally leaving the 33 trying to play in and out of Ravinder Jadeja. He could not cross the boundary off Long even Vinay Kumar took a fine catch to reduce Bangalore 85 / 3 on the last ball in the 10th above.

Then came the trip to Bangalore in South Africa at the importation and Saurabh Tiwary AB Villiers to come to the fore. Both Fly, Fly like asking operating rate increased with each dot ball.

They wanted to continue, but this has not happened so Tiwary fell trying to crawl away Raiphi Gomez in the 18th Mahela Jayawardene down the line, taking his catch in the deep. E 'drop at 26 and went to the Bangalore 137 / 4

But Bangalore fortunes took a turn in the 19 over when AB de Villiers and Asad Pathan was at the crease. Pathan hit four consecutive Vinay Kumar to lead his team to victory.

Kochi innings

Opener Brendon McCullum and VVS Laxman put on 80 points in the first window that appears Kochi 161 / 5 in the game of their IPL team debut.

Captain Mahela Jayawardene Kochi won the toss and decided to bat, a final decision, taking into account their work VVS Laxman and Brendon McCullum in accordance with the law strikes immediately. The two jet away from the borders and six years in the country and the opposition bowlers struggled.

Finally, if Sir Lanka, Tillakaratne Dilshan with the breathing space needed to break their partnership in Bangalore claiming Laxman on the last ball of the ninth above. It fell to 36 after a first wicket stand with 80-run McCullum.

But McCullum was still at the crease and left his business with ease. And only after much effort by the opposition bowlers gave McCullum. The upper edge of Virat Kohli has been taken by Dirk Nannes to third man. It has risen from 45, when the team total was 93.

Post lost its captain Mahela Jayawardene Kochi wicket when the total was 124 but there was a lot of joke to come up with the likes of Ravindra Jadeja and Parthiv Patel in their ranks.

Jadeja scored unbeaten 23 to help Kochi fined 161 / 5 on board their 20 overs.

Government mull Bharat Ratna for Sachin Tendulkar

Follow @Harendrasingh

After 21 years of cricket, 99 international centuries and now The World Cup, the country's highest civilian honour might be the next feather in Sachin Tendulkar's Cap.
 
The Home Ministry is seriously considering the rising chorus for the batting maestro to be bestowed with the Bharat Ratna, sources said.
 
The demand to honour the batting maestro with the Bharat Ratna had gained momentum after he scored a double ton in the ODI series against South Africa last year. 
 
Headlines Today was the first channel to initiate a campaign for a Bharat Ratna for Sachin.
 
Now Tendulkar's name for the honour has been recommended by a number of politicians as well.
 
In fact, the Maharashtra assembly has passed a resolution requesting the central government to confer the Bharat Ratna on Tendulkar. The BJP too has demanded highest honour for the players.
 
If Sachin is conferred with the honour, it would be another first. No other sportsperson has ever been given the Bharat Ratna.
 
Meanwhile, former Indian Skipper Rahul Dravid has said that Sachin is already a Bharat Ratna for the country. 
 
Indian captain M.S. Dhoni too has backed the batting genius for the nation's highest civilian honour.

"Sachin deserves the Bharat Ratna. He has done great things for the country," Dhoni said.

Coaching India Most Cherished Moment Of My Life, Says Kirsten

Follow @Harendrasingh

Gary Kirsten on Tuesday officially stepped down as the coach of the Indian cricket team and said that working with M.S. Dhoni and his boys had been one of the most cherished moments of his life.

"Coaching the Indian team has been one of my most cherished moments. This Indian team is in a very healthy position. It has been a massive privilege to be a part of Team India," Kirsten said at a press conference.

"My goal while coaching India had been to make it the No. 1 team in the world," he said.

Kirsten lavished praise on Indian cricketers, especially captain Dhoni and Sachin Tendulkar. "Dhoni is the best captain in the world. He always gives his 100 per cent," he said.

Asked if he saw Sachin playing in the 2015 World Cup, Kirsten said: "It would be great to have him around. I hope Sachin keeps going as long as he enjoys it. One never knows how long that could be."

Kirsten said the Indian team's fielding had shown immense progress. "I was surprised to see how the players fielded during the knockout games at the World Cup," he said, making a special mention of Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina and Virat Kohli.

He said Kohli was now ready for Test cricket and Ishant Sharma was a star of the future.

Kirsten said he had been overwhelmed by the love the players and fans had shown for him. "It has been one of the hardest goodbyes I have had to make," he said.

IPL 4 Teams, Squad - All 10 Teams Players List for 2011 IPL, IPL4 Squads

Follow @Harendrasingh

2011 Indian Premier League - IPL4, is going to start after 6 days of 2011 Cricket World Cup, and almost all the teams completed their players and declared the captains. All the teams have selected new players and made new captains after two new franchises, Pune Sahara Warriors and Indi Commandos Kerala added in the 4th edition of IPL and auction was held on 8th-9th January 2011.

“Find the list of players for all the 10 teams participating in 2011 Indian Premier League.”

Chennai Super Kings Team/Squad for 2011 IPL4:

MS Dhoni (Cap), Suresh Raina, Murali Vijay, Michael Hussey, Scott Styris, Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Albie Morkel, Tim Southee, Subramaniam Badrinath, George Bailey, Doug Bollinger, Dwayne Bravo, Faf du Plessis, Ben Hilfenhaus, Shadab Jakati, Joginder Sharma, Suraj Randiv, Nuwan Kulasekara, Srikkanth Anirudha, Yo Mahesh, Sudeep Tyagi, Abhinav Mukund, Kuthethurshri Vasudevadas, Ganapathi Vignesh

Mumbai Indians Team/Squad for 2011 IPL4:

Sachin Tendulkar (Cap), Kieron Pollard, Andrew Symonds, Rohit Sharma, James Franklin, Harbhajan Singh, Lasith Malinga, Munaf Patel, Davy Jacobs, Clint McKay, ADilhara Fernando, mbati Rayudu, Dhawal Kulkarni, Ali Murtaza, Abu Nechim, Aiden Blizzard, Yuzvendra Chahal, Moises Henriques, Sarul Kanwar, Rajagopal Sathish, Tirumalasetti Suman, Pawan Suyal, Aditya Tare (wk), Santosh Yadav, Suryakumar Yadav

Royal Challengers Bangalore Team/Squad for 2011 IPL4:

Daniel Vettori (Cap), Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Saurabh Tiwary, Cheteshwar Pujara, Mohammad Kaif, Abhimanyu Mithun, Zaheer Khan, Charl Langeveldt, Dirk Nannes, Ryan Ninan, Asad Pathan, Luke Pomersbach, Rilee Rossouw, Johan van der Wath, Jonathan Vandiar, Mayank Agarwal, Sreenath Aravind, Arun Karthik, BN Bharath, Raju Bhatkal, Abrar Kazi, Nuwan Pradeep, Muralidharen Gautam

Delhi Daredevils Bangalore Team/Squad for 2011 IPL4:

wag (Cap), David Warner, Naman Ojha (wk), Irfan Pathan, James Hopes, Colin Ingram, Andrew McDonald, Morne Morkel, Roelof van der Merwe, Venugopal Rao, Umesh Yadav, Ajit Agarkar, Varun Aaron, Travis Birt, Robin Bist, Unmukt Chand, Ajit Chandila, Ashok Dinda , Aaron Finch, Robert Frylinckl, Yogesh Nagar, Rajesh Pawar, Aavishkar Salvi, Sridharan Sriram, Vikas Mishra, Matthew Wade, Tejashwi Yadav, Vivek Yadav, Shahbaz Nadeem

Kolkata Knight Riders Bangalore Team/Squad for 2011 IPL4:

Gautam Gambhir (Cap), Yusuf Pathan, Jacques Kallis, Brad Haddin (wk), Brett Lee, Shakib Al Hasan, Eoin Morgan, Jaidev Unadkat, Lakshmipathy Balaji, Iqbal Abdulla, Sarabjit Ladda, Rajat Bhatia, Manvinder Bisla, Shreevats Goswami, James Pattinson, Pradeep Sangwan, Shami Ahmed, Laxmi Shukla, Ryan ten Doeschate, Manoj Tiwary

Deccan Chargers Team/Squad for 2011 IPL4:

Kumar Sangakkara (Cap/wk), Kevin Pietersen, Cameron White, Jean-Paul Duminy, Shikhar Dhawan, Michael Lumb, Ishant Sharma, Dale Steyn, Rusty Theron, Pragyan Ojha, Amit Mishra, Ashish Reddy, Anand Rajan, Ankit Sharma, Akash Bhandari, Bharat Chipli, Daniel Christian, Kedar Devdhar, Manpreet Gony, Harmeet Singh, Ishank Jaggi, Chris Lynn, Dwaraka Ravi Teja, Jaydev Shah, Sunny Sohal, Arjun Yadav, Ishan Malhotra

Kings XI Punjab Team/Squad for 2011 IPL4:

Adam Gilchrist (Cap/wk), Shaun Marsh, David Hussey, Stuart Broad, Piyush Chawla, Ryan Harris, Dinesh Karthik (wk), Praveen Kumar, Dimitri Mascarenhas, Abhishek Nayar, Ryan McLaren, Love Ablish, Siddharth Chitnis, Vikramjeet Malik, Nathan Rimmington, Nitin Saini, Shalabh Srivastava, Sunny Singh, Amit Yadav, Bhargav Bhatt, Bipul Sharma, Mandeep Singh, Paras Dogra, Paul Valthaty

Rajasthan Royals Team/Squad for 2011 IPL4:

Shane Warne (Cap), Shane Watson, Ross Taylor, Shaun Tait, Rahul Dravid, Paul Collingwood, Johan Botha, Swapnil Asnodkar, Deepak Chahar, Aakash Chopra, Aditya Dole, Ashok Menaria, Pankaj Singh, Ajinkya Rahane, Abhishek Raut, Siddharth Trivedi, Dishant Harendra Yagnik, Ankeet Chavan, Nayan Doshi, Samad Fallah, Dinesh Salunkhe, Amit Singh, Stuart Binny, Deepak Chahar, Faiz Fazal, Sumit Narwal, Amit Paunikar, Pinal Shah

Pune Warriors Team/Squad for 2011 IPL4:

Yuvraj Singh (Cap), Robin Uthappa, Graeme Smith, Jesse Ryder, Callum Ferguson, Murali Kartik, Ashish Nehra, Nathan McCullum, Angelo Mathews, Wayne Parnell, Jerome Taylor, Tim Paine (wk), Dheeraj Jadhav, Ganesh Gaikwad, Abhishek Jhunjhunwala, Kamran Khan, Harshad Khadiwale, Mitchell Marsh, Shrikant Mundhe, Alfonso Thomas, Eklavya Dwivedi, Mohnish Mishra, Manish Pandey, Sachin Rana, Rahul Sharma, Imtiyaz Ahmed, Harpreet Singh, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mithun Manhas, Shrikant Wagh

Kochi Tuskers Kerala (IPL Kochi) Team/Squad for 2011 IPL4:

Mahela Jayawardene (Cap), Brendon McCullum, Michael Klinger, Owais Shah, VVS Laxman, Brad Hodge, Steve O'Keefe, Ravindra Jadeja, Balachandra Akhil, Deepak Chougule, Gnaneswara Rao, Raiphi Gomez, Parthiv Patel (wk), Muttiah Muralitharan, John Hastings, Sreesanth, Thisara Perera, Ramesh Powar, RP Singh, Steven Smith, Kedar Jadhav, Chandan Madan, Sushant Marathe, Prasanth Padmanabhan