Can Mumbai reduce Gayle to a sideshow?

Big Picture

In the circus that is IPL 2011, Mumbai Indians have been the trampoline artistes. They soared through the first half of the season, putting more than daylight between themselves and the rest. Then they lost steam, and began hurtling towards terra firma. At one point they even had to deal with the possibility of missing the play-offs but, almost inevitably, they bounced back with two nerve-shredding wins against Kolkata Knight Riders.

Trampoline acts are fine, but can get repetitive after a while. Meanwhile, Royal Challengers Bangalore have provided real entertainment in their corner of the circus, led by the ringmaster Chris Gayle. He has done everything for them - he has twirled his whip to tame the wildest bowling attacks, and he has juggled batting and bowling duties without breaking a sweat, all without losing the inimitable strut and swagger that are part of his persona. He has rarely failed to entertain this season, and Chepauk will love to be regaled one final time on Friday evening. If Gayle's still in town on Saturday, though, they won't be rooting for him. Chennai Super Kings are already in the final, and will have the crowd behind them for the big game.

This virtual semi-final can best be seen through the prism of various mini-battles that will make up the contest: the battle of the tenses - the present, Tendulkar v the future, Kohli; the battle of the storms - Gayle v Blizzard; and the battle of the coloured caps - Gayle v Malinga. On a flat track, and in humid conditions that could herald a dewy night, the battle that matters most could be when the coin is spun.

Sri Lanka rebuild after England strike back

The opening stages of the first Test continued to be closely fought as Sri Lanka refused to buckle despite favourable conditions for England's pace bowlers. The home side clawed back ground with a wicket apiece for the dangerous James Anderson and Chris Tremlett, but Thilan Samaraweera survived some tricky moments to lift Sri Lanka to 207 for 4 at lunch on the second day.

The visitors hadn't added a run to their overnight score of 133 for 2 when England made the first breakthrough of the day as Mahela Jayawardene edged Anderson to Andrew Strauss, who held a superb catch diving to his right behind second slip. The wicket was brought about by trademark swing bowling from Anderson who began by probing Jayawardene's outside edge with a series of outswingers before bring one back into him. Jayawardene tried to drop his hands but couldn't react in time.

Runs continued to be hard to come by as Anderson strung together four testing maidens and Stuart Broad was a little more threatening than the first day as he located a better length although he remained inconsistent. Broad was replaced by Tremlett, the pick of the quicks yesterday, and he immediately had the batsmen in two minds with an awkward length.

He struck Paranavitana a painful blow on the inner thigh which required some attention from the physio and in his next over Tremlett found his inside edge to end a determined 191-ball innings. In the previous over against Broad, Paranavitana had survived a huge appeal for lbw which Strauss opted not to review and it was again the right decision with not enough of the ball hitting leg stump to get it overturned.

Paranavitana had only managed to add eight to his overnight total but had shown the same good judgement and resilience that characterised his effort on the opening afternoon. However, it was due reward for Tremlett who continued to look dangerous and benefited from a hint of uneven bounce when he struck Samaraweera a nasty blow on his arm.

Samaraweera lived a little dangerously as he played away from his body but also collected some confident boundaries including a straight drive off Anderson. Whenever the England bowlers strayed onto his pads he was quick to pick them off although he wasn't far off edging to third slip when the ball just eluded a diving Alastair Cook. Still, it was comfortably Samaraweera's best effort on British soil having failed to reach double figures in his previous four Test innings.

Prasanna Jayawardene, batting a place higher than normal at No. 6 to allow Sri Lanka to field five bowlers, accompanied Samaraweera until lunch with a sparky innings that kept the scoreboard ticking over. He twice gained boundaries to third man through the slip cordon but batsmen deserve some fortune when the ball moves and the fifth-wicket stand was worth a valuable 48 by the interval.

Windies rage as Gayle chooses IPL over country

West Indies opener Chris Gayle has chosen the lucrative Indian Premier League (IPL) over his country, officials said on Wednesday, prompting a damning reaction from his cricket board back home.
The attacking batsman will turn out for Royal Challengers Bangalore, owned by Indian billionaire Vijay Mallya, as a replacement for the injured Dirk Nannes.
Gayle, 31, had been under a treatment programme run by the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) after a strain suffered during the World Cup, but he signed up for the Bangalore outfit on Tuesday for the remainder of the IPL event.
The former West Indies captain had earlier refused a West Indies' central contract but was still in contention for later games during Pakistan's tour of the Caribbean, which starts on Thursday.
He was not bought at the IPL player auction in January because franchises feared he would be unavailable because the IPL clashed with Pakistan's visit.
"It's official now. The explosive Chris Gayle is now a part of the RCB squad," Mallya wrote on his Twitter page.
Pakistan will play one Twenty20, five ODIs and two Tests against West Indies during their tour.
The WICB said it had reluctantly cleared Gayle to play in the IPL.
"The WICB does not accept Gayle's reason for making himself unavailable but as he has already clearly made his choice and has travelled to India, the WICB does not wish to stand in his way," it said in a press release.
Gayle played for the Kolkata Knight Riders in the first three editions of the IPL.
"The WICB is most disappointed in the manner in which Gayle has handled the entire situation, especially given the mature and cooperative manner in which two other players who refused contracts - Dwayne Bravo and Kieron Pollard - made themselves available for selection and agreed to an understanding in the best interest of West Indies cricket."
The statement added: "The WICB was surprised to learn that Gayle had been making arrangements to play cricket in India, when the WICB was under the clear impression that he was recovering from injury and was undergoing rehabilitation work and about to resume training.”
"It is therefore not accurate, as has been insinuated in some quarters, that Gayle was not selected for the entire Pakistan series."
Both Pollard and Bravo are currently playing in the IPL and along with Gayle and fellow veterans Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Ramnaresh Sarwan were not considered for the Thursday's Twenty20 International against Pakistan or the first two ODIs on Saturday and Monday.

SC gives split verdict on BCCI rule change on IPL and T-20

A two-judge bench of the Supreme Court today delivered a split verdict on a petition challenging amendment in BCCI regulations to exclude IPL and T-20 tournaments from its perview and referred the matter to the chief justice for allocating it to a larger bench.
The petition, filed by former BCCI president A.C. Muthiah, had alleged that the amendment was brought to favour the cricket board's secretary N Srinivasan who owns the T-20 team Chennai Super Kings.
With the division bench comprising justices J.M. Panchal and Gyan Sudha Mishra giving the split verdict, the petition has been referred to the chief justice for allocating it to a larger bench.
While Justice Panchal dismissed the petition filed by Muthiah, challenging the validity of the amendment in clause 6.2.4, Justice Mishra allowed the petition holding that a BCCI officer bearer cannot have stake in the IPL team.
"If Srinivasan opts to hold interest in the IPL team, he shall be able to do so but restrained to hold any office in BCCI," Justice Mishra said.
Muthiah, in his petition, had alleged that amendment in the regulation was brought without following proper procedure.
Srinivasan, however, alleged that Muthiah had filed the petition with malafide intention and that he had no locus standi. Muthiah had appealed against the Madras High Court's order upholding the validity of the amendment alleging that "the new regulation was brought only to favour N Srinivasan" who was the treasurer of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) when he was bidding for the Chennai team.
Muthiah had contended that under the un-amended clause, no administrator of BCCI could have had, directly or indirectly, any commercial interest in the matches or events conducted by the cricket board.
On the other hand, Srinivasan had submitted there was nothing wrong in the administrator donning the role of the Secretary, contesting the post of President and owning an IPL team CSK.
Muthiah had said there is a conflict of interest as the Chennai team is owned by Indian Cement Ltd in which Srinivasan is a share holder, Vice President and Managing Director.
Muthiah had informed the court about the sequence of events from the start of IPL in 2007 to the amendment of the clause in September 2008 to buttress the point that the change in the rule was brought out in an illegal manner to benefit Srinivasan as there was a conflict of interest.
He had contended the decision to exclude IPL and T-20 tournaments from the purview of the Board's regulation was "illegal and opposed to public policy." Muthiah had said while Srinivasan was bidding for the Chennai team in January 2008, he had made a complaint to BCCI citing the regulation that no member of the board will have commercial interest in IPL.
Muthiah had further said the amendment was brought at the BCCI's AGM on September 27, 2008, without bringing the issue on the agenda for which a notice would have to be given 21 days in advance.

DD vs KKR: It's Sehwag vs Gambhir at Kotla

Good pitch, mate, good carry. Nice work." Brett Lee of the Kolkata Knight Riders was all praise for the Ferozeshah Kotla pitch while having a bat at an adjacent strip a day ahead of the clash against Delhi Daredevils. He was promptly reminded by groundstaff that the track had slowed down a bit. "You should have been here the day the first match was played," someone quipped, and Lee winked. "That's all right, this'll do."

It's almost uncanny, this deluge of praise pouring in for a grassy side strip at a venue notorious for producing low, slow pitches that don't facilitate strokeplay. That said, three matches within a span of six days might be too much of a burden for even the side strip to bear.

It was apparent the track had slowed down a bit on Tuesday night in the game against Royal Challengers, and even though DD skipper Sehwag said after that game "the ball is not coming on to the bat as well as it did earlier (against KXIP)", Virat Kohli of the RCB felt it was the best Kotla track he had ever played on. The DD team management has decided to stick to the same strip for the match against KKR, though, and the grass has been brushed a bit and the watering kept to a minimum. This is the closest thing DD have to a Kotla belter and they're reluctant to let go.

That sets the stage up nicely for a match-up between teams led by India's Test openers, another clash between Delhi boys who finds themselves on the opposite side of the IPL fence. Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir are extremely familiar with each others' thought processes, and KKR coach Dav Whatmore implied that could only lead to "some good cricket on a good pitch".

Funnily enough, the Daredevils seem to be running into one disgruntled Delhi cricketer after another. If it was Kohli on Tuesday, it might well be Gambhir - who is still smarting after being ignored by the owners at the auctions - on Thursday night. "They (Sehwag and Gambhir) know each others' game very well, they will share the secrets with their respective teams. There is a good contest on the cards."

Both teams are hoping to get their campaigns back on track. DD's lack of foresight at the auctions, their problems with team combination and their reliance on the top order has been discussed ad infinitum. They are second from bottom after yet another defeat but KKR only have two points more after having lost their last two games. Whatmore, though, was right on the money when he suggested that in the IPL, it was all about what transpired on the day.

Key Clashes

Mornel Morkel vs Jacques Kallis

This is a nice South African subplot to the Gambhir-Sehwag clash. Extremely familiar with facing each other at nets, can Morkel surprise the usually rock-solid Kallis into nicking or misreading a delivery? Or will Kallis pre-empt Morkel's every move? Whoever emerges winner will set the tone for his team.

Gautam Gambhir vs Virender Sehwag

Make no mistake, Gambhir is incensed at having been ignored by the Delhi team owners at the auctions. He will be coming out all guns blazing, itching to take his team across. Sehwag, thrust with a team short on experience and lacking match-winning potential, better watch out.

Pune Warriors face tough task against Royal Challengers

Having lost four games on the trot in the fourth edition of the Indian Premier League, Pune Warriors will have to pull up their socks and perform as a team when they take on a confident Royal Challengers Bangalore at the M Chinnaswamy stadium here on Friday.

The eight-wicket defeat to Chennai Super Kings at Mumbai in their previous game has put the Warriors in a tricky position.

With barely two wins from six matches and languishing at the ninth position with only four points, they can't afford to lose anymore matches.

Warriors now require to approach the next three games with a must-win attitude if they harbour hopes of qualifying for the semifinal play-offs.

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Three successive wins would ensure that they have ten points from nine games before the competition turns stiffer for the top four positions.

Having a well-rounded and resourceful team with a good sprinkling of stars, makes the side look unbeatable on paper.

But performance is what matters and that is something that Yuvraj Singh would have to drive into his beleaguered boys.

Back-to-back defeats to Mahander Singh Dhoni's Chennai Super Kings has undoubtedly demoralised the team that was gathering steam and confidence at the start of the cash-rich tournament.

Except for Yuvraj Singh and Robin Uthappa, the rest of the batsmen haven't really got going. The top order has been an absolute failure with Monish Mishra, Jesse Ryder and Manish Pandey have done precious little in the last two games against the Super Kings.

Scores of 122 (vs Mumbai Indians), 128 and 141 (against Chennai Super Kings) in the last three matches reflects their batting woes.

Only if they perform as a batting unit, can the Warriors hope to keep themselves in the race for the play-offs.

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Their bowling has come good in the last three games. They made Mumbai Indians sweat for a last ball win when they were chasing a measly 122.

Alfonso Thomas, Jerome Taylor, Murali Kartik and Rahul Sharma had done well to keep the Super Kings on tight leash. But their effort needs to be complemented by their batsmen.

On the other hand, Royal Challengers, who struggled at the start of the championship, have gained confidence from their victories over Kolkata Knight Riders and Delhi Daredevils.

With the likes of Chris Gayle, Tillakaratne Dilshan, AB de Villiers, Virat Kohli and Saurabh Tiwary in its rank, the RCB has got a power-packed batting line up, which can raise alarm bells in any opposition camp.

But with pace spearhead Zaheer Khan looking out of sorts, the team's bowling continues to remain the weakest link. Though captain Daniel Vettori has been a standout bowler, domestic recruits Syed Mohammad and Sreenath Arvind have performed reasonably well. Yet the Bangalore team lacks a genuine wicket-taking bowler.

With seven points from seven games, Daniel Vettori's boys would be looking to score their third successive win and strengthen their chances of qualifying for the all-important play-offs.

But in a game of uncertainty, they cannot afford to take Pune Warriors lightly.

Teams:

Pune Warriors: Yuvraj Singh (C), Robin Uthappa (WK), Murali Kartik, Abhishek Jhunjhunwala, Bhuvaneshwar Kumar, Deeraj Jadhav, Eklavya Dwivedi, Ganesh Gaikwad, Harpreet Singh Bhatia, Harshad Khadiwale, Kamran Khan, Mithun Manhas, Mohnish Mishra, Rahul Sharma, Sachin Rana, Shrikant Wagh, Shrikant Mundhe, Imtiyaz Ahmed, Jesse Ryder, Graeme Smith, Wayne Parnell, Alphonso Thomas. Tim Paine, Callum Ferguson, Mitchell Marsh, Jerome Taylor, James Faulkner.

Royal Challengers Bangalore: Daniel Vettori (C), Mayank Agarwal, Sreenath Aravind, Arun Karthik, BN Bharath, Raju Bhatkal, AB de Villiers (WK, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Nuwan Pradeep, Muralidharen Gautam, Chris Gayle, Mohammad Kaif, Abrar Kazi, Zaheer Khan, Virat Kohli, Charl Langeveldt, Abhimanyu Mithun, Ryan Ninan, Asad Pathan, Luke Pomersbach, Cheteshwar Pujara, Rilee Rossouw, Jamaluddin Syed Mohammad, Saurabh Tiwary, Johan van der Wath, Jonathan Vandiar.

Afridi not happy with ICC ranking system

Pakistan's limited overs captain Shahid Afridi on Thursday said that he is not satisfied with the One-day rankings system, presently applied by the ICC.

His unhappiness stems from the recent announcement by the ICC that even if Pakistan, which lead the five-match ODI series 2-0 against the West Indies, manage to whitewash the series, it will not earn them a single rating point and they will still be placed at its current ranked sixth position.

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"I can't understand this system. There should be some advantage for the visiting sides as winning a series is never easy for them no matter who they're playing against," Afridi told a newspaper from Bridgetown.

Afridi questioned the system that offers little reward against lower-ranked opponents. Even a 4-1 or 3-2 win against the ninth-placed West Indies means a drop in points for Pakistan since they are expected to beat the hosts.

"It's really difficult to prosper under the current ranking system. I have little clue what it is based on," Afridi said.

Afridi is not the first captain to criticise the ICC Ranking System, which also drew criticism from former Sri Lanka captain Kumar Sangakkara who termed it as 'unfair'.

Afridi, however, said that despite the disappointment over the ratings system, his team remained focused on winning the series against the West Indies.

IPL 2011

"We'll give our best to seal the series, which is our main focus. It will boost the morale of the young team."

He also expressed his satisfaction over the performance of the youngsters on the tour.

"I'm happy with the performance of the young players and they are stepping up to the challenge," said Afridi.

Afridi said he is hoping for a better show from left-arm fast-bowler Junaid Khan, who made his international debut on the ongoing tour and has played two ODIs and a Twenty20 but is yet to take a wicket.

"It's not appropriate to expect a youngster to become a star overnight. He needs time and hopefully he would improve in the remaining matches."