KKR beat RCB by 9 wickets to stay in hunt for semis berth

Bangalore, Sept 29: Kolkata Knight Riders kept their chances of qualifying for the semi-finals alive by comfortably beating Royal Challengers Bangalore by 9 wickets in a Champions League Twenty20 match here on Sep 29, Thursday.

Chasing a challenging target of 170, the KKR top-order batted beautifully to knock off the runs in only 17.3 overs.

The most heartening fact was skipper Gautam Gambhir''s return to form as he clobbered the RCB bowlers to score an unbeaten 55 off 31 balls (3x4, 4x6) and added 109 runs with the ever-consistent Jacques Kallis for the undefeated second wicket. Kallis scored another fluent half century remaining undefeated on 64 in 47 balls with four boundaries and six.

Brad Haddin who played his first match blasted his way to a 27-ball 42 and released the initial pressure as Jacques Kallis also started playing shots at the other end.

Haddin was in a mood to spoil the party for young left-arm seamer Sreenath Aravind who was selected to play for India, was tonked for 19 runs in one over including two huge sixes and a four.

The duo added 62 runs in 7.1 overs before RCB tossed one up and Haddin gave a simple catch to Virat Kohli in the covers.

In walked skipper Gautam Gambhir and looked far more determined than what he had looked in recent months. He concentrated hard, ran the singles and twos well and also hit a few crisp boundaries. Gambhir-Kallis added 50 runs in only 31 balls to lay the foundation of an impressive victory.

The best part was sixes that Gambhir hit. One was off Vettori over deep mid-wicket while the next one was straight over Dirk Nannes'' head over long. Just to make a point he moved towards off-stump and lifted Nannes over deep fine leg to complete his 50 off 30 balls.

Earlier, a splendid rear guard action by skipper Daniel Vettori helped Royal Challengers Bangalore post a challenging 169 for nine.

  

CSK beat Cape Cobras by four wickets

Chennai, Sep 28: Chennai Super Kings beat Cape Cobras by four wickets in a Champions League Twenty20 match here on Sep 28, Wednesday.
Brief scores:

Cape Cobras: 145 for 7 in 20 overs (Owais Shah 45, J P Duminy 29; Albie Morkel 2/26, Dwayne Bravo 2/23).
Chennai Super Kings: 146 for 6 in 19.4 overs (Dwayne Bravo 46, Mike Hussey 29, Suresh Raina 20; JP Duminy 4/20, Vernon Philander 2/36).

Shah, Duminy take Cobras to 145/7 against Chennai

Chennai, Sep 28: Owais Shah and J P Duminy chipped in with useful contributions as Cape Cobras set Chennai Super Kings a modest target of 146 in their Champions League Twenty20 match here today.

Cobras, who at one stage looked set to score over 170, were done in by pacer Albie Morkel, who put the breaks on the visitors'' scoring rate by claiming two important wickets.

At the end of 16th over, Cobras were comfortably placed at 124 for three, thanks to some brisk batting by Shah and Duminy, but once the former (45 off 38 balls) fell to Morkel, Cobras lost the plot, losing wickets at regular intervals.

Off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin got rid of Richard Levi (6) off his first delivery when he had the opener trapped to provide Chennai their first breakthrough.

The Cobras slumped to 40 for two in the fifth over as Herschelle Gibbs (18) too departed, miscuing a Doug Bollinger delivery, but not before playing some exquisite strokes.

After the departure of both the openers, Dane Vilas (18) and Shah kept the scoreboard moving with occasional fours as the South African T20 champions crossed the 50-run mark in the seventh over.

As the batsmen were settling down, Dwayne Bravo bowled Vilas with a slower one that straightened after pitching.

Vilas struck a four and a six in his 19-ball knock.

But the loss did not stop Shah from taking risk as he first plundered two consecutive fours off Bollinger in the 11th over and then hit slow left-arm orthodox Shadab Jakati for a huge six over long-on to keep the scoreboard tickling.

Shah and J P Duminy (29), who came at the fall of Vilas, took the team past 100 in 12.4 overs.

Teams:

Chennai Super Kings: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (Capt.), Michael Hussey, Murali , Suresh Raina, S Badrinath, Albie Morkel, Dwayne Bravo, Wriddhiman Saha, R Ashwin, Doug Bollinger, Shadab Jakati.

Cape Cobras: Justin Kemp (Capt.), Richard Levi, Herschelle Gibbs, Jean-Paul Duminy, Owais Shah, Dane Vilas, Vernon Philander, Justin Ontong, Robin Peterson, Dale Steyn.

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South Australia beat KKR by 19 runs

Hyderabad, Sep 27: Callum Ferguson scored a majestic unbeaten half-century to power South Australia Redbacks to a convincing 19 runs win over Kolkata Knight Riders in a Champions League Twenty20 match in Hyderabad on Sep 27, Tuesday.

Ferguson produced a blistering 40-ball 70-run unbeaten knock and together with Daniel Christian (42) added 84 runs
off just 48 deliveries for the fourth wicket to help South Australia post a challenging 188 for five in their 20 overs.

And then the Australian team produced a disciplined bowling and fielding effort to restrict KKR to 169 for nine.

Manoj Tiwary top-scored for KKR with 40 off 31 balls while Ryan ten Doeschate (32 off 16) played a useful handful
towards the end. Gary Putland (3-31) and Daniel Harris (3-42) shone with the ball for South Australia sharing six wickets between them.

For KKR, it their second consecutive defeat after having lost to Somerset by five wickets in their tournament opener.
On the other hand, the win opened South Australia's account in the tournament following their 50-run loss to Warriors in the opening match.

Chasing the steep target KKR were never in the hunt as they lost wickets at regular intervals. KKR's chase started on a shaky note, losing three wickets including captain Gautam Gambhir, inside the 50-run mark.

Opener Manvinder Bisla (13) showed promise hitting Nathan Lyon for three fours in the first over before he was cleaned up by Kane Richardson in the next. Shakib Al Hasan (13) and Gambhir (9) failed to live upto their reputation and were dismissed cheaply as KKR slumped to 51 for three after seven overs.

Jacques Kallis (20) and Tiwary raised visions of a fightback stitching 35 runs off 25 balls for the fourth wicket before the former was snared caught and bowled by Harris. Big-hitting Yusuf Pathan (5) and Tiwary then departed in consecutive overs to make life difficult for KKR.

Earlier Ferguson's scored a unbeaten half-century while Christian made a quickfire 42 to help South Australia post a challenging 188 for five.

Ferguson mixed caution with aggression to anchor the South Australia innings with a majestic 40-ball 70-run unbeaten knock. He struck five boundaries and four sixes.

The 48-ball 84-run fourth-wicket stand between Ferguson and Christian was the highlight of South Australia innings as the partnership consolidated their position at a slow Rajiv Gandhi stadium wicket.

Christian matched his partner stroke for stroke and hit four fours and two sixes during his 27-ball stay. For KKR, Laxmipathy Balaji picked up two wickets for 27 runs.

Opting to bat, captain Micheal Klinger and Daniel Harris gave a brisk start to South Australia's innings raising 40
runs in just five overs. But just when it was time to capitalise both the batsmen gave away their wickets.

While Harris miscued a cross-bated heave to give a simple catch to Iqbal Abdullah off Laxmipathy Balaji's bowling, Klinger was run out in search of a risky single.

Cameron Borgas (14 off 13) too departed early, caught by Balaji at deep square leg off Pathan.

Ferguson, however, grabbed with both hands the lifeline he got in the 13th over on individual score of 18 when Jacques Kallis dropped him in the long-on boundary off Pathan. Ferguson added salt to Pathan's wound by spanking him for three boundaries and a six to pick up 20 runs of his next and innings' 15th over.

Christian was not to be left behind as he hit Abdullah for a four and six to notch up 15 runs of the next over. Both the batsmen used their long handle to great effect towards the end to score a mammoth 50 runs of the last three overs.


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Mumbai Indians look to continue winning run

 Bangalore, Sept 25: Having clinched a nail biting victory over Chennai Super Kings, the Harbhajan Singh led Mumbai Indians will be hoping to continue their winning run in the Champions League Twenty20 tournament when they take on Trinidad and Tobago here tomorrow.

Mumbai Indians looked pale for most part of the game against Chennai yesterday, but Lasith Malinga's heroics saved them the blushes.

The Sri Lankan was the star of the night as he claimed three wickets and scored a quick fire 18-ball 37 in the death overs.

Malinga's cameo helped Mumbai Indians snatch a thrilling three wicket victory in what could be a morale booster of sorts for the depleted outfit, handicapped by the absence of Sachin Tendulkar and Rohit Sharma.

For Trinidad and Tobago, Malinga will be the man to watch out for as the maverick Lankan import will be hoping for an encore of sorts.

However, Darren Ganga's men cannot be taken lightly as they have the ability to spring a surprise, having come through the qualifying matches with a clean slate, winning both their games impressively.

This time around, T&T, the 2009 finalist, will be aiming to go one better and lift the trophy. Trinidad and Tobago have the players who can deliver in the shortest version of the game.

Kieron Pollard, who opted to play for Mumbai Indians despite being part of the Trinidad side, will look to pull off all his tricks to upset his Caribbean mates. Interestingly, Pollard led T&T to the final of the CL T20 tournament two years ago in India.

  
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I didn't cheat anyone, don't know about Akhtar's claims: SRK,

Mumbai, Sept 24: IPL team Kolkata Knight Riders owner Shah Rukh Khan says he has no clue about the allegations levelled against him by retired Pakistan pacer Shoaib Akhtar, who has claimed that he should never have listened to the Bollywood star while joining the IPL.

Shoaib, in his autobiography 'Controversially Yours', has claimed that he was betrayed by the IPL then as he made him agree to joining KKR for money which was less than what he was offered in the now defunct ICL.

The pacer goes on to say that he should not have taken the advice offered by Shah Rukh on the matter.

Reacting to this, Shah Rukh pleaded ignorance on the matter.

"I don't know all this. I did not cheat anyone," said the actor.

In his book, Akhtar has said, "Shah Rukh and I talked about my not being happy with the money settled on me. Shah Rukh and Modi got me to agree. I should have never listened to Modi and Shah Rukh."

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Warriors beat RCB by 3 wickets

Bangalore, Sep 23: Warriors beat Royal Challengers Bangalore by three wickets in their Champions League Twenty20 match here today.

Brief Scores:

Royal Challengers Bangalore: 172 for 8 in 20 overs (Virat Kohli 34, AB de Villiers 31, Saurabh Tiwary 28, Mohammad Kaif 26, Chris Gayle 23; Rusty Theron 4/29).

Warriors: 173 for 7 in 20 overs (Ashwell Prince 74, Johan Botha 42; Daniel Vettori 2/26, Abhimanyu Mithun 2/25).

RCB post challenging 172 for 8 against Warriors

Useful contributions from the batsmen helped Royal Challengers Bangalore post a challenging 172 for eight in their Champions League Twenty20 match against Warriors here today.

Sent into bat, RCB got off to a flier despite the early loss of opener Mayank Agarwal, with the big-hitting Chris Gayle going after the bowlers in his customary style from the word go.

After Gayle got out while trying to hit Parnell after scoring 23 off 14 balls, Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers kept the scoreboard moving by playing some effective shots.

While Kohli scored 34 off 29 balls with the help of four boundaries, de Villiers contributed 31 off 25 and hit two sixes and a four.

Thereafter, Saurabh Tiwary made a breezy 28 that came off only 15 deliveries.

During his whirlwind knock, Tiwary smashed two sixes and as many fours before falling to Nicky Boje.

Earlier, the Warriors were off to a perfect start as Lonwabo Tsotsobe removed Agarwal with the fourth delivery of the match.

Gayle along with Kohli then steadied the innings with a 33-run stand before the later got out.

Thanks to Gayle''s approach, the fifty was up in the sixth over, with the first powerplay producing 57 runs, though, for the loss of two wickets.

However, the partnership that gave RCB the much-needed impetus in the middle overs was the one between Kohli and De Villiers. Their association yielded 52 runs and came off 41 balls, with the team''s hundred coming in the 12th over.

After the dismissal of Tiwary, Mohammad Kaif blazed away to a 20-ball 26 during which he hit two sixes and a four before Rusty Theron cut short his stay at the wicket.

Theron was the most successful bowler with figures of four for 29 in three overs.

Somerset beat Auckland by four wickets in CLT20

Hyderabad, Sep 20: Auckland Aces were knockout of the Champions League Twenty20 tournament after they suffered a four-wicket defeat against Somerset in a nail-biting qualifying match here today.

Electing to bat, Auckland could never recover from their disastrous start where they lost three wickets for 14 runs in 3.1 overs and were restricted by Somerset to 125 for seven in their stipulated 20 overs.

Lou Vincent provided some resistance with an unbeaten run-a-ball 47, laced with three fours and a six, but with wickets tumbling on the other hand, he could do very little.

Somerset batsmen then achieved the target in the last ball of the match to keep their hopes alive of qualifying for the main tournament. They will take on Kolkata in a virtual knock-out tomorrow.

Chasing 126 to win, Somerset opener Chris Jones blasted three quick fours before a stunning catch at point by Jimmy Adams off Kyle Mills ended his innings.

RE van der Merwe and Peter Trego then took Somerset across the fifty mark but Ronnie Hira struck in the ninth over, removing the former to reduce them to 52 for two.

Michael Bates then struck twice in two balls, dismissing Trego and Nick Compton, as all of sudden Somerset slipped to 54 for four in 9.2 overs.

Fifteen balls later, Chris Martin removed Arul Suppiah (3) as Somerset lost half their side, still needing 62 off 49 balls.

James Hildreth and Steve Snell then joined hands and stitched 61 runs off 48 balls to take Somerset on the threshold of victory.

Hildreth was run-out in the second last delivery of their innings when he tried to steal an extra run but it didn''t have any bearing on the results as next batsman Thomas scored the winning runs in the last ball of the match.

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