Chennai Through To Fourth Consecutive IPL Final

New Delhi:Blistering unbeaten knocks by David Hussey and Suresh Raina took two-time champions Chennai Super Kings to their fifth Indian Premier League (IPL) final in six seasons with a comprehensive 48-run win over Mumbai Indians in the first qualifier at the Ferozeshah Kotla here Tuesday.

Hussey struck an unbeaten 86 off 58 balls, with the help of 10 boundaries and two sixes, and Raina, who remained not out on 82 off 42 balls – hitting five fours and five sixes – set-up the win with their 140-run unfinished stand for the second wicket that took Chennai Super Kings to a mammoth 192 for one in 20 overs.

While chasing it looked Mumbai Indians, sans Sachin Tendulkar out with a palm injury, would pull off a stunning as Dawyne Smith gave them a flying start with a 28-ball 68 but then they suffered a middle-order collapse and their innings folded up for 144 with eight balls to spare as Super Kings reached their fourth consecutive IPL final.

Mumbai Indians will now face the winner of the eliminator between Rajasthan Royals and Sunrisers Hyderabad in the second qualifier.

It was a clinical performance by the Chennai Super Kings bowling and the pick of the lot was pacer Dwayne Bravo, who picked up three for nine and left-arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja got three for 31.

Fast bowler Mohit Sharma also got two for 32 while South African pace duo Albie Morkel and Chris Morris got wicket apiece.

Mumbai Indians lost opening batsman Aditya Tare (7) early in the second over with Murali Vijay taking a straight forward catch at mid-on off Morkel.

Followed next was a stormy innings from Smith, who tore apart the Super Kings attack with his whirlwind 28-ball knock that was studded with six fours and five sixes.

Smith broke free in the with two consecutive sixes of pacer Mohit Sharma and followed it up by spanking Albie Morkel for three fours in the next over as 56 runs came up in six overs.

Smith came down hard on Chris Morris hitting him for two sixes in the seventh over and introduction of spin also didn’t yield much as Ravichandran Ashwin came in for some harsh treatment and conceded 14 runs in his first over.

Super Kings skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s ploy to operate with pacers in the first seven overs didn’t work much as 72 runs were scored in no time.

It was left-arm spinner Jadeja, who gave Super Kings the second crucial break through by getting rid of Smith, who spooned an easy straightforward catch to Raina.

As long as Smith was batting, Mumbai Indians were on course as they were 86 for one after eight overs. But Smith’s dismissal triggered a batting collapse and Mumbai Indians lost next three wickets for just 14 runs on board.

They kept losing wickets and failed to stitch a decent partnership and were soon left struggling at 101 for four.

Kieron Pollard came up with a cameo of 16-ball 24 and hit two consecutive sixes off Jadeja but the left-arm spinner had the last laugh by getting rid of the burly West Indian in his fifth ball with Hussey taking a good low catch.

After Pollard’s dismissal the tail could add just 17 runs at the cost of six wickets before being skittled out with eight ball to spare.

Earlier, Hussey and Raina displayed some clean hitting as Super Kings set a stiff target of 193 for Mumbai Indians.

Hussey delighted the packed crowd with some clean hitting in his 58-ball whirlwind knock. The veteran Australian, nicknamed Mr.Cricket, got good support from Raina, who also struck a whirlwind 42-ball-82 studded with five fours and five sixes.

Such was the ferocity of the batting that 123 runs came off in the last 10 overs as they plundered the Super Kings bowlers at will.

Spinner Harbhajan Singh went wicket-less and conceded 26 runs from his four overs and it were the pacers Lasith Malinga and Mitchell Johnson, who bore the brunt of the attack giving away 85 runs in eight overs between them.

]]> http://www.weeklyvoice.com/cat6/chennai-through-to-fourth-consecutive-ipl-final-2/feed/ 0 http://www.weeklyvoice.com/cat6/aditya-mehta-scores147-break/ http://www.weeklyvoice.com/cat6/aditya-mehta-scores147-break/#comments Tue, 07 May 2013 15:05:53 +0000 The Weekly Voice http://www.weeklyvoice.com/?p=23469

Aditya Mehta Scores 147 Break

Bangalore: Aditya Mehta, the 27-year-old from Mumbai, became only the second Indian after Geet Sethi to score maximum 147 break in a snooker match as he achieved this rare feat during the Asian Indoor Selection Camp at the KSBA, here Tuesday.

The break came in the fourth frame of Mehta’s match with Brijesh Damani who was leading 2-1. Damani, after inducing a snooker foul from Mehta, missed a red pot and left the Mumbai player on. Mehta, the 2011 National champion, went on to sink all the 15 reds, followed by 15 blacks and the colours for a 147 break.

Responding to Mehta’s feat, Sethi, who had crafted a 147 against Nasar Latiff during the 1988 National championship in Guntur, said: “A fantastic achievement by a very dedicated player who richly deserves all the accolades. Words cannot explain my joy and happiness.”

To celebrate the achievement, a special 147 cake was ordered and Balasubramaniam, Secretary, Billiards and Snooker Federation of India, announced a cash reward of Rs 14,700 to Mehta who along with Kamal Chawla and Damani qualified to represent India in the Asian Indoor Games.

Final standings: 1. Aditya Mehta; 2. Kamal Chawla; 3. Brijesh Damani; 4. Manan Chandra; 5. Shivam Arora; 5. Rafath Habib; 7. Himanshu Jain; 8. IH Manudev; 9. Amir Hussain; 10. Neeraj Kumar; 11. Vijay Nichani.

Shane Watson

Jaipur: Shane Watson’s brilliant all-round effort and a brisk half-century by Sanju Samson helped Rajasthan Royals beat Royal Challengers Bangalore by four wickets in their Indian Premier League (IPL) match here Monday. Rajasthan Royals thus maintain their unbeaten run at home at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium.

A combined batting effort from the Royal Challengers took them to 171 for six with Chris Gayle top scoring with 34 off 16 balls. Shane Watson was the pick of the bowlers, taking three for 22.

Rajasthan Royals found an unlikely hero in Samju Samson as the pocket dynamo smashed 63 off 41 balls while Watson scored 41 off 30 balls as Rajasthan chased down the visitors’ total in 19.5 overs.

Rajasthan are now tied on 12 points with Royal Challengers but have an inferior run-rate so they remain in third position.

Samson and Watson together strung a 68-run stand for the third wicket. One might have thought Watson, who has already scored a century and an unbeaten 98, to be the aggressor but it was diminutive man from Kerala who took the attack to the bowlers.

When Samson finally got out, Rajasthan still required 56 off 34 balls. Brad Hodge’s cameo of 32 off 18 balls took the hosts to within touching distance of the target but a twist in the tale still remained.

Watson got out in the penultimate over with Rajasthan requiring 10 runs off 9 balls. Vinay Kumar dismissed Hodge in the second ball of the last over while Owais Shah (0) was run out the very next ball to create some last-minute excitement.

With Rajsthan requiring three off two balls, Stuart Binny (6 not out) hoicked Vinay Kumar for a four over mid-wicket to give his team a crucial victory.

Bangalore, put in to bat, got off to a rollicking start courtesy Chris Gayle, who once again looked in ominous form.

The visitors raced to 39 runs in just three overs with Gayle already smashing six fours and a six.

However, things took a turn for the worse as Shane Watson, who has only recently started bowling after a prolonged injury lay-off, got him to edge a delivery straight into the wicketkeeper Sanju Samson’s hands.

The Royal Challengers’ innings seemed to stagnate after the fall of the big West Indian. Virat Kohli (32 off 25), who is third highest run getter this season, failed to provide impetus to the innings.

AB de Villers (21) tried to push the run rate up but perished before he could do much damage. Moises Henriques (22) too kept the scoreboard ticking but with innings drawing to its close, the Bangalore batsman could not hit the big shots.

It was pacer Vinay Kumar (22 off 6) who showed his more illustrious batters in the team on how to hit the sixes.

The medium pacer tonked three massive sixes in the last four balls to give his team the push they needed for posting a fighting total on a good batting wicket.

World No.1 Lee Lauds Prannoy

New Delhi: H.S. Prannoy may have lost his men’s singles quarterfinal of the India Open Friday but he gained the respect of World No.1 Lee Chong Wei, who lauded the Indian’s performance.

After winning the match 21-14, 21-19, the top seeded Malaysian said Prannoy is a spirited fighter and one of India’s upcoming talents.

“This is the first time I played him and he played very well. He is a spirited fighter. I think he is one of India’s upcoming talents. In the second game Prannoy played very well to lead the game most of the time,” said Lee.

Lee also lauded Indian shuttlers saying it is great for India to have seven quarter-finalists in the home tournament.

“I know Saina Nehwal lost yesterday but you had seven Indian players in the quarterfinals which I think is very good. This is possibly India’s best outing in a Super Series tournament. Indian shuttlers are doing very well,” said the 30-year-old, who earlier this month became a father.

Asked if the tournament was an easy outing for him, Lee said: “No match is easy because you always have to fight. I tried my best in today’s match. I am not really playing my best as I did not prepare well for this tournament. You have to remember my son was born recently so I did not get any time to practice.”

Saina Nehwal

New Delhi: Olympic bronze medallist and top seed Saina Nehwal advanced to the second round of the women’s singles event at the $200,000 India Open Super Series badminton here Wednesday.

The World No.2 beat Belaetrix Manuputi of Indonesia 21-12, 21-15 in 33 minutes at the Siri Fort Sports Complex to improve her career head-to-head to 2-0. She had earlier beaten the Indonesian at the All England Open in March.

In the men’s Former Olympic champion Taufik Hidayat of Indonesia saved a matchpoint to beat home favourite and fifth seed Parupalli Kashyap in a nail-biting men’s singles first round contest.

Taufik won 13-21, 23-21, 21-18 in exactly an hour at the Siri Fort Sports Complex. The Indonesian said he tried to stay focussed when he was match point down in the second game.

“When I was match point down in the second game, I did not think I would win the match. At that time I was thinking, if I lose it will be okay but I just tried to focus which helped me to win three straight points and level the match. Kashyap is a good player but today he was not so lucky,” he said.

Taufik said he always enjoys the Indian hospitality.

“It is always nice playing here in India. I get a lot of support which I enjoy. Even today a lot of people supported me in spite of playing against (Parupalli) Kashyap who is from India,” he said.

K. Srikanth, 20, caused one of the biggest upsets by defeating Danish fourth seed Jan O Jorgensen while former national champion Chetan Anand made a first-round exit from men’s singles.

Playing the Danish World No.6 for the second time, the unseeded Indian Srikanth took only 45 minutes to close the match 21-7, 18-21, 21-12 at the Siri Fort Sports Complex here. The Indian had earlier lost to the Dane in the Swiss Open Grand Prix Gold last month.

Veteran Anand’s campaign came to an end as he lost to Sourabh Verma 13-21, 8-21 in a little more than half an hour in men’s singles.

Meanwhile, Malaysian top seed Lee Chong Wei advanced to the second round by destroying Scott Evans of Ireland 21-16, 21-5 in 23 minutes in the $200,000 tier two tourney.

Mixed doubles pair V. Diju and Jwala Gutta moved into the second round by beating England’s Chris Langridge and Heather Olver 19-21, 21-15, 21-16 in 53 minutes. They will next face Thai fourth seeds Sudket Prapakamol and Saralee Thoungthongkam in the next round.

However, both Jwala and Diju lost their women’s and men’s doubles matches, respectively.

Japan’s Misato Aratama and Megumi Taruno beat Jwala and Prajakta Sawant 21-19, 21-10 while Diju and Alwin Francis’ journey came to an end against Takeshi Kamura and Keigo Sonoda of Japan losing 18-21, 14-21.

Amit Mishra Hat-tricks Pune Warriors

Pune: Amit Mishra picked up four wickets in one over to take Sunrisers Hyderabad to a sensational win over Pune Warriors in the Indian Premier League here Wednesday.

Mishra took all his scalps, including the hat-trick, in the 19th over of the Pune innings which ended at 108 — 11 runs short of Hyderabad’s 119 for eight. The leg-spinner also made 30 crucial runs after his side was tottering at 44 for six.

The hosts needed 25 runs off 24 balls with six wickets in hand before Mitchell Marsh’s dismissal triggered a dramatic batting collapse.

Mishra removed opposition skipper Angelo Matthews (20), Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Rahul Sharma and Ashok Dinda to propel the Hyderabad team to a memorable win. His first hat-trick in IPL came in 2008 and he repeated the feat in the 2011 edition.

Hyderabad now have four wins out of their six matches, pushing them to second spot in the standings. Pune, who shocked Chennai Super Kings Monday night, are placed second from bottom with four losses in six games.

It seemed the match would get over before time when Pune raced to 38 for no loss in four overs.

Medium pacer Thisara Perera provided Hyderabad the breakthrough, removing the dangerous Aaron Finch (16) and Robin Uthappa (22) in successive balls.

Mathews and Steven Smith (17) hung around for a while and the target looked very much within reach. The match witnessed a massive turnaround following the fall of Marsh’s wicket which made it 101 for five.

It was all Mishra thereafter.

Earlier, Bhuvneshwar Kumar rattled the Hyderabad top order with high quality swing bowling with Ashok Dinda giving him good support.

Kumar bowled Parthiv Patel (12) through one that swung enough to hit the off-stump and then foxed Cameron White with an inswinger castling his stumps.

His third wicket was of Hanuma Vihari, who eded another moving ball to first slip.

Another couple of dismissals spelt huge trouble for the visitors, leaving them at 44 for six in the 11th over.

A gritty knock from Biplab Samantray (37) and a 40-run partnership between Mishra and Ashish Reddy (19 not out) took Hyderabad to a fighting total.

Boxer Vijender’s Drugs Tests Negative

New Delhi: Olympic medallist Vijender Singh can heave a sigh of relief after the sports ministry announced Tuesday that the boxer’s samples tested negative for drugs.

The boxer was alleged to have consumed recreational drugs with sparring partner Ram Singh. The Beijing Olympics bronze medallist had submitted his blood and urine samples to the National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) after being directed by the ministry.

“Vijender Singh along with four others was subjected to an out of competition test for banned substances. A full menu test was conducted which included testing for psychotropic substances. Tests were only carried out on blood and urine samples.

“The Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports is glad to announce that on the basis of these tests none of the boxers were found to have used any banned substances in the recent past,” said the ministry release.

Vijender’s name had cropped up in a drug haul case where the Punjab Police on March 7 recovered 26 kg of heroin from non-resident Indian (NRI) Anoop Singh Kahlon’s house in Zirakpur. The car of Vijender’s wife, Archana, was found by the police near Kahlon’s house.

Misbah, Hafeez Deny Reports Of Rift

Lahore: Pakistan Test and ODI skipper Misbah-ul-Haq and Twenty20 captain Mohammed Hafeez Wednesday denied reports of rifts between them and said that such rumours are taking a toll on the team’s performance.

Following the team’s poor performance in South Africa, which the media attributed to the differences between Misbah and Hafeez, former Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) president Ijaz Butt added fuel to the controversy by saying Hafeez has teamed up with coach Dav Whatmore to isolate Misbah. “Both Hafeez and Whatmore support and back each other and that has put great pressure on Misbah, affecting his performance,” Butt was quoted as saying by The Dawn.

Misbah and Hafeez, speaking at a joint press conference held here Wednesday, refuted the allegations and said allegations by Butt were damaging the country’s cricket. “Ijaz Butt is a senior and respected person. He should have thought once before making such statement, because it affects a country’s image,” said Hafeez, who was sitting alongside Misbah.

Misbah, who had earlier also denied reports of rifts in the team, said Pakistan were outplayed by South Africa. Pakistan were whitewashed 0-3 in the Test series and 2-3 in the ODI series. “I have said this earlier in South Africa also and now I am again repeating myself that we lost because South Africa were a better team. Reports of rifts in the team are baseless,” said Misbah.

Hafeez, who took over the T20 captaincy from Misbah last year, said such reports are not taking Pakistan cricket anywhere. “Such baseless reports of differences do not help,” said Hafeez.

Misbah hoped Pakistan will do well in the eight-nation Champions Trophy in England in June.

“Pakistan have done well in England so I am quite hopeful that we will achieve good results in the Champions Trophy,” he said.

Pakistan are clubbed with India, South Africa and the West Indies in one group while defending champions Australia, England, Sri Lanka and New Zealand are in the other pool.

Virat Kohli

Bangalore: Skipper Virat Kohli struck a blistering 93 not out and carried the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) to a splendid seven-wicket win over Sunrisers Hyderabad in the Indian Premier League (IPL) tie here Tuesday. It was Sunrisers’ first defeat in three matches in IPL-6.

Kohli’s classy batting (47b, 11×4, 4×6) saw RCB making light of Sunrisers’ 161/6. The Hyderabadis’ total was made possible courtesy a 44-ball 80-run partnership between Thisara Perera (40, 24b, 1×4, 4×6) and Cameron White (52, 34b, 3×4, 3×6). The hosts, thanks to Kohli, replied with 162/3 in just 17.4 overs.

The evening certainly belonged to Kohli, who blasted his way in style while also exposing the bareness of the Sunrisers’ bowling that simply fell away when the RCB skipper went hell for leather to notch his highest score in the IPL.

Such was Kohli’s onslaught that the early departure of Chris Gayle (13) was hardly felt as he galloped from 51 to 93 in a mere 15 deliveries as he added 66 runs for the unfinished fourth wicket with Moises Henriques, who contributed just seven. RCB thus avenged their Sunday night Super Over defeat while also recording their second win in three outings.

There was little hint of Kohli’s blitzkrieg that he uncorked in the very first over after the time-out ahead of the 15th over. He tore into leg-spinner Amit Misra and then waded into Perera before turning the heat on Ishant Sharma, the pick of Sunrisers bowlers, to finish off the match in great style.

At one stage, the Sunrisers appeared to be in control when they got rid of openers Mayank Agarwal (29), Gayle and AB de Villiers (15), but then their attack ran out of steam.

Sunrisers skipper Kumar Sangakkara must have felt the absence of a fourth quality bowler and in fact, used seven in the first 10 overs, but barring Steyn and Ishant Sharma, none looked like making an impact.

Earlier, the Sunrisers innings progressed in fits as the visitors lost wickets at regular intervals with the batsmen tossing away their wickets in a bid to break the grip that the RCB bowlers exerted. In the process, Akshath Reddy (12), Parthiv Patel (20) and Sangakkara (23) perished by the 11th over with the score on 62 with RCB right on top.

However, White and Perera, after taking a while to get their bearings, opened up in splendid fashion, smashing the RCB bowlers all over the park with a series of sixes and boundaries.

The Sunrisers innings took off in the 15th over when left-arm seamer Jaydev Unadkat was slammed for 14 runs, Henriques, bowling the 16th, conceded 18 and Vinay Kumar was carted for 19 in the 17th.

Just as the Sunrisers looked good for a massive total, they lost a clutch of wickets as Perera, White and Ashish Reddy (3) were dismissed in consecutive overs and the visitors finished on 161/6.

Sweden Defeat Canada For World Curling Title

Victoria (Canada): Sweden has become the first country to win the World and European men’s curling championships in the same season after defeating Canada 8-6 in the final.

In front of the Victoria, British Columbia, crowd, Niklas Edin’s team denied the Canadians a fourth straight title and earned Sweden’s first World triumph since 2004.

“It’s been a wonderful week,” Edin said on the tournament website Sunday. “The final we played here, it was almost perfect. We executed our plan perfectly, and I’m so proud of my team.”

Sweden was in control throughout, taking two off the first end and going 4-1 up in the third.

The world championships are the last edition of the tournament before the Winter Olympics in Sochi in February 2014.