Mumbai Indians win by 8 wickets

If Twenty20s are meant to be short and sweet, this was certainly an ultra-short affair. Mumbai did nothing wrong today and it started off well for sure. Sachin Tendulkar won the toss and put the opponents to bat, his bowlers were bang on target and the pitch helped them really well. Shaun Pollock delivered the deadly punches and Kolkata just couldn't recover as they were left floored on the mat. It was just a formality for the Mumbai batsmen to knock off the required few, Sanath Jayasuriya continued from where he had left that memorable evening. The Mumbai fans would be delighted and the Kolkata supporters would walk back with gloomy faces. Certainly, this is a huge setback to the Knightriders' side and they will have to bounce back hard to stay in contention for the Semi spot.

Spotlight on Jayasuriya, Akhtar in key IPL clash

The focus will be on Shoaib Akhtar and Sanath Jayasuriya when Kolkata Knight Riders and Mumbai Indians face each other in an exciting clash in the Indian Premier League (IPL) Twenty20 match at the Wankhede Stadium here Friday.

Going by the last performances, Shoaib shone for the Knight Riders while Jayasuriya single-handedly won Mumbai Indians a match against Chennai Super Kings Wednesday night.
Both Mumbai Indians and Kolkatta Knight Riders will be hoping that the big guns continue to fire as the fight for the semi-final stage hots up.

For Mumbai Indians, the return of Sachin Tendulkar's will also boost their chance despite the captain failing on his debut outing. The opening pair of Jayasuriya and Tendulkar need to be at their best if they hope to see off the challenge posed by Shoaib who is backed by talented Ishant Sharma and Ashok Dinda.

Mumbai Indians are still languishing in sixth spot with eight points, while Knight Riders are two points ahead in the fourth spot and a victory Friday is crucial that will help both the teams to strengthen their claims for a berth in the knockout stage.

The toss also would be crucial as the side that wins would, in all probability, put the rival team to bat on what's expected to be another track offering copious bounce as was the case last night when there was a lot of pace and lift for the speedsters.

Both the teams are currently riding high, with Knight Riders having won their last three matches while the host team with its four-match winning streak would be looking to put their strengths to optimum use.
Mumbai Indians are unlikely to make any change in their winning combination and it should be same with the Knight Riders as well.

The teams (from):

Mumbai Indians: Sachin Tendulkar (captain), Sanath Jayasuriya, Luke Ronchi (wicketkeeper), Ajinkya Rahane, Robin Uthappa, Dwayne Bravo, Shaun Pollock, Loots Bosman, Dominic Thornely, Manish Pandey, Abhishek Nayar, Ashish Nehra, Aniket Chavan, Siddharth Chitnis, Gaurav Dhiman, Dilhara Fernando, Musavir Khote, Dhawal Kulkarni, Rajesh Pawar, Saurabh Tiwary, Ashwell Prince, Rohan Raje, Pinal Shah (wk), Swapnil Singh, Yogesh Takawale (wicketkeeper) and Vikrant Yeligati. Coach: Lalchand Rajput.

Kolkata Knight Riders: Sourav Ganguly (captain), Akash Chopra, Salman Butt, David Hussey, Tatenda Taibu, Laxmi Ratan Shukla, Wridhiman Saha (wicketkeeper), Iqbal Abdulla, Ishant Sharma, Ashok Dinda, Shoaib Akhtar, Ajit Agarkar, Murali Kartik, Mohd Hafeez, Sidharth Kaul, Umar Gul, Debabrata Das. Coach: John Buccanan

Chennai equal world Twenty20 record

A total of 16 sixes were hit by Chennai Super Kings batsmen against hosts Kings XI Punjab in the Indian Premier League (IPL), equalling a world record for maximum sixes in a Twenty20 game. Chennai won by 33 runs.
Both teams Chennai (16) and Punjab (9) - which is the second best in Twenty20 history, next only to the 26 in the game between Central Districts (10) and Auckland (16) at New Plymouth on Jan 30, 2008.

I am excited to play with Tendulkar: Jayasuriya

Former Sri Lankan opener Sanath Jayasuriya is looking forward to play with Sachin Tendulkar in the upcoming live ipl t20 match, starting here on Sunday.

"I am very happy I will play with Sachin Tendulkar. Besides I will get an opportunity to start the innings with him," said Sri Lanka's former skipper with a chuckle to the media persons here on Wednesday.
After a long pratice session at Bandra Kurla Complex facility, he said, "I got the first opportunity to play with Sachin during a charity match in England. Now IPL has given another opportunity to play with him."

When asked about how he felt playing with youngsters at the age of 38, Jayasuriya shot back," I do not think so. I am still a young player both on and off the field."

The Lankan hero said his team Mumbai Indians was all prepared for the IPL.

"We know our strengths and weaknesses. We are also preparing to counter the opponents in every match. We will try to keep Mumbai flag high,"

Kolkata pull off a sensational win

Kolkata Knight Riders rode on a sensational opening spell from Shoaib Akhtar to pull off a fine 23-run win over Delhi Daredevils.
Shoaib, much in the headlines for all the wrong reasons, showed why he is rated so highly, and shattered the much-vaunted Delhi top-order, removing skipper Virender Sehwag, tournament top-scorer Gautam Gambhir, AB de Villiers and Manoj Tiwary in a span of three overs.
Laxmi Ratan Shukla also did his bit, claiming the last three Delhi wickets in just five balls to end the proceedings.For Delhi, Tillekeratne Dilshan and Amit Mishra showed some fight but nothing else worked as they slid to their fourth straight defeat.
Earlier, Kolkata never got off the ground against a sustained Delhi bowling and finished with a very moderate 133-6 in their 20 overs.
Sourav Ganguly welcomed Shoaib Akhtar to his playing XI, and then decided to give him a breather, as the hosts batted first.In an effort towards that, Ganguly called up Shoaib to bolster his bowling, while young left-arm spinner Iqbal Abdullah also came in, in place of Murali Kartik.

Kolkata fined !

The Kolkata IPL team were fined for slow over-rate after the Shahrukh Khan-led squad was found two overs behind schedule in their Sunday night's tie against the Hyderabad team.
Match Referee Talat Ali of Pakistan fined Kolkata $1,000 for slow over rate in the match which they won beating their hosts at the Rajiv Gandhi Stadium by 23 runs.
The IPL is being played as per the ICC Playing Conditions and Rules, and is set to follow the guidelines in letter and in spirit. Accordingly, any team found guilty of slow over rate is fined $500 per over by the Match Referee.
In their previous match too, the Kolkata outfit was fined $500 for slow over rate, while their opponents Bangalore Royal Challengers copped twice the amount.

Nanavati to submit report on Monday

The Harbhajan hearing over the slapping pacer Shreesanth, conducted by Sudhir Nanavati is over. Nanavati will be submitting a detailed report on Monday. The hearing had began at 2:30 in the afternoon at the Law Society building. During the hearing Nanavati heard both the parties in detail and took note of every detail. The session was also recorded in-house.
The incident had taken place after a match between Kings XI Punjab and Mumbai Indians on 25th April. Nanavati had stated earlier that he was shocked to see the footage of the match.
Harbhajan has already been banned for rest of the IPL series after match referee Farokh Engineer found him guilty of slapping Sreesanth. Nanavati, an Ahmadabad-based lawyer has already recorded the statements of umpire Amish Saheba and Engineer. He was appointed under the Rule 32 of the BCCI under which the Board president has the power to appoint a Commissioner to assist its disciplinary Committee.
Source:iplnewsonline