CSK vs RCB: Chennai Super Kings beat Royal Challengers Bangalore to win IPL 4

NEW DELHI: Chennai Super Kings won their second successive IPL title by inflicting a crushing 58-run defeat over Royal Challengers Bangalore at MA Chidambaram stadium in Chennai on Saturday. 

Scorecard 

Chasing a mammoth victory target of 206 runs, Bangalore could manage 147/8 as Ravichandran Ashwin took three wickets. 

Ashwin had Chris Gayle caught behind by MS Dhoni for a duck as Bangalore got off to a disastrous start. 

Ashwin struck on the fourth ball of the RCB innings to give CSK the first breakthrough. 

Ashwin struck again in his next over when he clean bowled Mayank Agarwal by a carom ball. 

Shadab Jakati then dismissed AB de Villiers and Luke Pomersbach in his successive overs. 

Jakati first trapped de Villiers plumb in front of the wicket and in his next over took an easy return catch to dismiss Pomersbach. 

Virat Kohli hit a six and a four in his 32-ball 35 before he was trapped plumb in front of the wicket by Suresh Raina. 

Ashwin then took his third wicket by taking a return catch to dismiss RCB captain Daniel Vettori for a first ball duck. 

Earlier, Murali Vijay's 52-ball 95 and Michael Hussey's 45-ball 63 powered Chennai to 205/5. 

Sreenath Aravind dismissed Vijay and MS Dhoni off successive deliveries but that was little consolation for RCB as the damage had already been done. 

Vijay's knock was studded with 6 sixes and 4 fours and he was caught by RCB captain Daniel Vettori at mid-off. 

On the next delivery, Aravind had Dhoni caught by Virat Kohli at long-on. Dhoni, who came in at number three, hit 2 sixes in his 13-ball 22 before falling to Aravind. 

Chris Gayle dismissed Albie Morkel and Suresh Raina off successive deliveries to place CSK at 199/4 but Dwayne Bravo hit the last delivery for a six to take CSK to 205/5. 

Hussey put up a 159-run stand with Vijay before Jamaluddin Syed Mohammad had him caught by Abhimanyu Mithun at long-on off a full toss. 

The Vijay-Hussey stand is the highest partnership for any wicket for CSK in IPL. 

Hussey hit 3 sixes and 3 fours in his 45-ball 63 before falling to Syed. 

Hussey reached his fifty off 40 balls and alongwith Vijay brought up CSK's 150 in 14.2 overs. 

Vijay hit a 29-ball fifty and alongwith Hussey brought up CSK's 100 in 10.3 overs. 

Vijay's 50 is the second fastest half-century by a CSK batsman. 

Vijay and Hussey brought up Chennai 50 in the fifth over and apart from the big shots, the highlight of their partnership was their superb running between the wickets. 

The start came after Chennai captain MS Dhoni won the toss and chose to bat. 

Chennai are unchanged for the sixth game on the trot and Bangalore have also retained the eleven that beat Mumbai Indians on Friday. 

Teams: 

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

Royal Challengers Bangalore: Daniel Vettori (Capt.), Chris Gayle, Mayank Agarwal, Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers, Saurabh Tiwary, Luke Pomersbach, Sreenath Aravind, Abhimanyu Mithun, Zaheer Khan, Jamaluddin Syed Mohammad.


Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/sports/cricket/ipl-2011/news/CSK-vs-RCB-Chennai-Super-Kings-beat-Royal-Challengers-Bangalore-to-win-IPL-4/articleshow/8627350.cms

Sachin, Yuvraj and Gambhir ruled out of West Indies tour

CHENNAI: There's always a twist to the tale when it comes to national selection committee meetings these days. The Indian cricket fraternity was eagerly awaiting the result of the fitness test ofGautam Gambhir, but by the time the selectors came out of the meeting, there were a couple of more blows awaiting the fans.

Not only was Gambhir ruled out, Sachin Tendulkarand Yuvraj Singh, too, opted out of the series opening the door for the likes of Virat Kohli, Abhinav Mukund and S Badrinath.

While Tendulkar wants some time off from a hectic schedule to be with his family, Yuvraj is suffering from an upper respiratory infection, with a small patch of pneumonitis in the left lung. With Yuvi and Gambhir opting out, two openings were created in the ODI squad as well and the selectors inducted Shikhar Dhawan and Manoj Tiwary in for the five-match series.

Predictably, Suresh Raina will lead the side with Harbhajan Singh being his deputy in the ODI squad. VVS Laxman, on the other hand will be the vice-captain for the Tests.

The selectors, though, made it clear they have nothing against Gambhir for opting to play for KKR and thus aggravating his injury. "There have always been injury issues and we have to live with it. Our job is to work with the options in hand and we have done that," chairman of selectors Krishnamachari Srikkanth told TOI.

Once it was made official Gambhir won't be going, TN lefty Abhinav Mukund was drafted into the Test squad. Mukund has amassed 1,211 runs in the first-class season and the selectors felt "the time was ripe to give him the break".

It will be an all Tamil Nadu opening combination with M Vijay being the other specialist in the line-up. Parthiv Patel, who pipped Wriddhiman Saha to the post for the second wicketkeeper's slot, will be the back-up opener.

But Tendulkar and Yuvraj's decisions to opt out came as a bolt from the blue for the selectors and that put them in a bit of a tricky situation. They didn't know beforehand that these two players won't be going and that's why it took them a while to finalise the Test squad. But the selectors don't think the team will do badly in the series. They feel that there's a nice combination of youth and experience and most of the new boys like Kohli and Badrinath will get to play in the first XI.

"The tour will provide us with the perfect platform to see how these boys shape up," Srikkanth said. The pace quartet for the Tests comprises Zaheer Khan, Sreesanth, Ishant Sharma and Munaf Patel, the three spinners are Harbhajan Singh, Amit Mishra and Pragyan Ojha.

Test squad: MS Dhoni (capt), VVS Laxman (vc), M Vijay, Abhinav Mukund, Rahul Dravid, Virat Kohli,
S Badrinath, Harbhajan Singh, Ishant Sharma, Sreesanth, Amit Mishra, Pragyan Ojha, Zaheer Khan, Munaf Patel, Suresh Raina, Parthiv Patel (wk).

Limited-overs squad: Suresh Raina (capt), R Ashwin, S Badrinath, Harbhajan Singh (vc), Virat Kohli, Praveen Kumar, Amit Mishra, Munaf Patel, Parthiv Patel (wk), Yusuf Pathan, Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Ishant Sharma, Rohit Sharma, Vinay Kumar, Manoj Tiwary, Shikhar Dhawan.


Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/sports/cricket/series-tournaments/india-in-west-indies/top-stories/Sachin-Yuvraj-and-Gambhir-ruled-out-of-West-Indies-tour/articleshow/8612447.cms

No tension between Dhoni & me: Yuvraj

MUMBAI: Yuvraj Singh was a star long before MS Dhoni made his debut for Team India. But in the years since then, Dhoni's career has followed a relentlessly upward trajectory while Yuvraj's has waxed and waned. 

Does Yuvi ever feel resentful? Is there any truth to the talk of there being a strained relationship between the two? 

We put the question to Yuvraj, and he dismissed it immediately. "MS and I have a very good relationship. He's always backed me and I've always supported him. So I don't understand where all this speculation comes from." 

Was it true that he and Dhoni were once interested in the same young woman, a popular Bollywood actress? "I read that too" he quipped. 

Yuvraj went on to effusively praise Dhoni. "He's one guy who grasps things very quickly and has really transformed his game. Youngsters can learn a lot from him. And I think he has handled the captaincy really well." 

However, Yuvraj added, jokingly, that he did have a grouse against Dhoni. "He never invited me for his wedding! I tease him about it at least 10 times a day. I told him when I get married, I will invite the whole team but I will make sure he will be dancing outside the gate," chuckled Yuvraj.


Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/sports/cricket/interviews/No-tension-between-Dhoni-me-Yuvraj/articleshow/7930554.cms

My New Found Love.

Yes,you read the title right,I have found a new love along with Cinema. Another word that starts with C. Cricket. 


Well first of all,me paying attention to Cricket started with the Tollywood T20 matches. I found it  fascinating to see movie stars play cricket. I watched the games and they were longgggg. But I enjoyed it cause it was fun and tense to see. So then I let go of Cricket for a bit. A couple of weeks ago I saw the commercial for the ICC World Cup with the song De Ghumake sung by Shankar Mahadhevan. Then I asked my parents to order The PPV(Pay Per View) channel for the matches. 


After that I started watching all of the Indian matches, so far I have seen India vs. England and India vs. Ireland. It was a tie in the England one and India won in the second one. I also watched the Sri Lanka vs.Pakistan one where PK won. 

My favorite players are:Sachin Tendulkar,M.S Dhoni,Yuvraj Singh,Sehwag,Yusuf Pathan,Zaheer Khan,and Piyush Chawala for now. As I watch the matches I might like more :) A lot of people tell me Sreesanth is a good player,so I'm gonna try to find youtube videos of him playing :D .

‘Endhiran’ attracts LOST Creator to India

Now this is the power of Shankar AND Rajinikanth!!!! :D makes me proud! :D :

The 'Endhiran' enthusiasm is visibly taking over USA. And that’s more than the crazy record breaking advance booking the film saw a few days ago. It’s more than that.

Damon Lindelof, the popular co-creator and executive producer for the television series 'Lost', is coming to India. And for what you know?

The famous writer has tweeted "Hello. I am on a plane to India. Why, you ask? Oh... it MIGHT HAVE SOMETHING TO DO WITH THIS!!!!," giving a link to the trailer of 'Endhiran' on the web.

While Lindelof has said his visit to India may have some thing to do with ‘Endhiran’, some sources say he may also double up the visit for discussing a huge budget film directed by Shankar and produced by Sun Pictures.

After unveiling ‘Endhiran’ it was everybody’s view that Sun Pictures is capable doing a Hollywood film by itself. Whatever it may be so. Hollywood and Damon Lindelof just could not resist ‘Endhiran’. Another first for Super Star.

Trailer:

Source: http://www.indiaglitz.com/channels/tamil/article/60349.html