Chennai Super Kings settled eye more success

Runners-up, semi-finalists, champions. Thus reads Chennai Super Kings' record crossways the first four seasons of the IPL. They have been the most reliable and successful team in the league by far, and are the most settled side as well, after retain most of their squad in last year's shuffle. That they have a settled line-up was reflected in the 2012 auction, when they were willing to spend their full purse on a single acquisition:

Ravindra Jadeja. They were concerned in a fierce bidding war for Jadeja with Deccan Chargers, and eventually beat them in the tie-breaker. Even so, Super Kings cannot afford any complacency and Coach Stephen Fleming knows it. "There is a fine line between finishing first or indeed missing out on the finals," he said in an interview on the franchise's website.

They have tread that line on several occasion - in 2008 and 2010 Super Kings faced a must-win situation in their last league game to make the semis, while last year they almost difficult things for themselves by delay their launch till the very last moment in a stiff chase in the play-off against Royal Challengers Bangalore. In 2011 the batting was typically solid, with MS Dhoni, Suresh Raina, Michael Hussey, S Badrinath and M Vijay all aggregate in the vicinity of 400 runs. R Ashwin, expectedly, led the team's bowling charts with 20 wickets at 19.40 apiece.

If Super Kings have a weakness, although, it is on the fast-bowling front. Their opponents have often got off to fliers against the quicks, before Dhoni has functional the squeeze and always turned the match with the spinners. On that count, they will be happy to have the services of Australia's Ben Hilfenhaus this time around. When he arrives from the West Indies, he should form a solid partnership with Doug Bollinger, Super Kings' pace spearhead over the last two seasons. Off the field, Super Kings have been at the centre of several controversial issues - as well as a possible conflict of interest with BCCI president N Srinivasan also managing India Cements, the owners of Super Kings - but their on-field performance has been strong enough to steal the headlines and turn aside negative publicity.

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Indian Premier League5 start on April 4 in Chennai

The fifth version of the Indian Premier League will be detained from April 4 to May 27 next year with the initial match to be played in Chennai, it was announce on Friday.

The IPL leading council, after its conference, determined that player ruling, including participation of Pakistani players, and trading modalities of the sale will be discuss at the next gathering, the dates of which have not yet been announced.

"The dates of the DLF IPL 2012 were confirmed. The competition will begin in Chennai on 4 April 2012, and end on 27 May 2012. An Opening rite will be held in Chennai on 3 April, a day before the opening game," BCCI secretary Sanjay Jagdale said in a release.

"The player instruction and trading modalities will be discussed at the next assembly of the GC," it said.

Regarding the arrangement and structure of the competition, the governing council has asked the administration team to come back with options.

The governing council, which met under the chairmanship of IPL's new boss Rajiv Shukla, also permitted various prepared items for the forthcoming IPL season.

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King 'Sourav Ganguly' Comeback to IPL 4 with Pune Warriors

After disappearing unsold in the players' public sale, Sourav Ganguly on Tuesday made a theatrical come back to the IPL by signing up for Pune Warriors as replacement for Ashish Nehra.

"We were coming up for Ashish Nehra's health report and ultimately the report came on Monday. I was already in talks with Ganguly and we determined that the amount of practice that Sourav has in cricket will no uncertainty help the team. So we finalised Ganguly last night," Pune Warriors Team Director Abhijit Sarkar said referring to the finger damage that Nehra has been treatment.

Former India captain Sourav Ganguly, who played for Kolkata Knight Riders for three IPL season captain them in two editions, went unsold in the January players' sale in spite of a rather modest base price of 400,000 US dollars.

The 38-year-old refuses a mentor's role with KKR after that and there had been conjecture of a possible rejoinder through one more franchise. The left-handed batman was first required by Kochi Tuskers Kerala but their request was discarded by the IPL's Governing Council.

However, he sign on the sprinkled line for Pune on Monday, giving a leader impetus to the side which has lost six matches on the run after starting hopefully with a pair of back-to-back wins. The IPL leading council had allowed Ganguly to play after the Pune Franchise sent a submission on Monday for his signing.
"They (Pune Warriors) approach me on Monday and I have established it," said Ganguly after he was sign by Pune. Pune Warriors have missing six matches in the IPL this year.

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ICC desire to India players for WI tour

The ICC said it would be unacceptable if all of India's star cricketers skip the West Indies tour to rest after a confused schedule. Media information has said that players like Sachin Tendulkar, skipper M S Dhoni, Virender Sehwag, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan and Gautam Gambhir may be rested.

Senior players have already written to the BCCI to allow them to skip the West Indies tour, connecting three Tests and five ODIs and a one-off Twenty20 game.

The players have been playing continuously for the last two-and-a-half-months.

There was a gap of just six days between the ICC Cricket World Cup and the IPL and immediately after the end of the Twenty20 league on May 28, the West Indies tour is planned to start on June 4.

Players are keen to take rest but the ICC CEO Haroon Lorgat said it would not be good for the West Indies.

"I think it affect the brand of cricket. Everybody wants to see full strength sides. Same applies to the IPL and any of the FTP commitments. Because of the volume of cricket, every entity player has to be managed.

"One or two stars, asking for a rest is okay. If five or six stars do not want to go to West Indies, then I think, it's not appropriate execution of what has been dedicated to the FTP," Lorgat said in a news show.

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Kochi smother Kolkata in hard-fought win

Kochi Tuskers Kerala 132 for 7 (Jadeja 29, Yusuf 3-20, Shakib 3-28) beat Kolkata Knight Riders 126 for 9 (M Tiwary 46, RP Singh 2-25, Jadeja 2-25) by six runs

Kochi Tuskers Kerala won a battle of abrasion against Kolkata Knight Riders on a slow Eden Gardens pitch to move to the third place in the points table. The wicket did not play as low as it did in Kolkata's win against Rajasthan Royals, but it was just as slow, making it hard for batsmen and an enjoyment for the spinners.

After Yusuf Pathan and Shakib Al Hasan had taken six wickets for 48 runs between them to control Kochi to 132, Kolkata's powerful batting line-up would have imaginary the modest chase. But Kochi's own army of spinners - Muttiah Muralitharan, Ramesh Powar and Ravindra Jadeja - quiet the runs although they did not get as many wickets, and ensure the pressure got to the Kolkata batsmen, who fell six runs short. 

As it transpired, the presentation against the new-ball bowlers was the dissimilarity between the two sides. Kolkata's seamers conceded 26 for 0 in their first three overs, while Kochi's fast bowlers dismiss Jacques Kallis and Gautam Gambhir, while yielding only 20 runs in their first four overs. Kallis fell to the hook for the second time running, alternation Vinay Kumar straight to deep square leg. Gambhir played inside the line of a full release from RP Singh that straighten and uproot middle stump as Kolkata began to stutter.

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Sehwag defend under pressure Irfan Pathan

 

Delhi Daredevils skipper Virender Sehwag come in defence of Irfan Pathan, after his team's 16-run overcome to Deccan Chargers in the IPL on Tuesday.

Pathan accepted 28 runs for a lonely wicket in his four overs and could score only five runs as the Daredevils worn-out to their second beat at the Ferozshah Kotla stadium, their home ground, and third in the event.

The Baroda player's presentation in the IPL so far has been anything but inspiring.

"He is coming from damage and will take some time. He is coming back after a one-and-a-half-year lay-off year and he chosen up an early wicket. He gave just about 30 runs in four overs. He is receiving better day by day," Sehwag said of the stressed all-rounder.

Sehwag also said that it was hard to chase a firm total at the Kotla wicket."Wicket has been like that for many years. It is not easy to chase 160-170 on this wicket. You have to apply manually, have to give a good start to your team, which unluckily didn't happen," he said."We did ask to get ready a couple of wickets but this is what we get," he added.

Asked about Yogesh Nagar who bowled just one over for 13 runs, Sehwag reasoned that the Delhi player is additional of a batting all-rounder. "He played as a batsman who is able to bowl," he said.

But the India opener admits that his team lacked options in bowling, particularly in the spin section. "We don't have many options, don't have sufficient experience. Hope, we can find an important person who can play for Delhi in coming years," he said.

SCORECARD :

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Kochi thrashes Chennai in rain hit match

Kochi Tuskers have beaten defensive champions Chennai Super Kings by seven wickets in a rain shortened match.

A solid all-round presentation by Kochi Tuskers Kerala helped the Indian Premier League debutants happily beat defending champions Chennai Super Kings by seven wickets with two overs to extra in an IPL match here on Monday.

This was their second win four matches after defeat last year's runners-up Mumbai Indians in the last match.

After reliable sprinkle for an hour curtailed the match to 17-overs-side affair, KTK bowlers limited CSK to 131 for four. 

Chasing 135 to win courtesy Duckworth-Lewis rain rule, Brendon McCullum (47, 33 balls, 4x4, 3x6), Parthiv Patel (34, 26 balls, 4x4, 1x6) batted in a high-handed fashion to set up the win.

Batsmen Kochi		R	B	4s	6s	SR
Brendon McCullum	c A Morkel b R Ashwin	47	33	4	3	142.42
Mahela Jayawardene (c)	c S Anirudha b R Ashwin	16	11	2	1	145.45
Parthiv Patel (wk)	c S Anirudha b D Bollinger	34	26	4	1	130.77
Brad Hodge	not out	19	14	2	0	135.71
Ravindra Jadeja	not out	16	6	0	2	266.67
Extras:	(b 0, lb 1, w 2, nb 0, p 0)	3
Total:	(3 wkts, 15 ovs)	135	RR:9.00

Did not bat: Raiphi Gomez, RP Singh, Vinay Kumar, Thissara Perera, Ramesh Powar, Kedar Jadhav

Bowling: CHENNAI	O	M	R	W	Nb	Wd	ER
Albie Morkel	2	0	17	0	0	0	8.50
Doug Bollinger	3	0	18	1	0	0	6.00
Ravichandran Ashwin	4	0	31	2	0	0	7.80
Tim Southee	3	0	38	0	0	2	12.70
Shadab Jakati	3	0	30	0	0	0	10.00

Batsmen Chennai		R	B	4s	6s	SR
Michael Hussey	c P Patel b RP Singh	8	10	2	0	80.00
Murali Vijay	lbw b T Perera	28	18	6	0	155.56
Suresh Raina	run out (T Perera)	50	40	5	1	125.00
Subramaniam Badrinath	lbw b R Gomez	19	17	1	0	111.76
MS Dhoni (c & wk)	not out	15	13	1	1	115.38
Albie Morkel	not out	9	4	0	1	225.00
Extras:	(b 0, lb 0, w 2, nb 0, p 0)	2
Total:	(4 wkts, 17 ovs)	131	RR:7.71

Did not bat: Srikkanth Anirudha, Ravichandran Ashwin, Shadab Jakati, Tim Southee, Doug Bollinger

Bowling: KOCHI	O	M	R	W	Nb	Wd	ER
RP Singh	4	0	25	1	0	1	6.20
Vinay Kumar	3	0	16	0	0	0	5.30
Thissara Perera	4	0	32	1	0	1	8.00
Ramesh Powar	3	0	24	0	0	0	8.00
Raiphi Gomez	2	0	20	1	0	0	10.00
Ravindra Jadeja	1	0	14	0	0	0	14.00

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