IPLWatson helps Rajasthan march into final

Rajasthan Royals v Delhi Daredevils, 1st semi-final, IPL, May 30, 2008
Rajasthan Royals 192 for 9 (Watson 52, Yusuf 45, Maharoof 3-34) beat Delhi Daredevils 87 (Dilshan 33, Watson 3-10, Munaf 3-17) by 105
This was Shane Watson's match. Imposing himself on the first semi-final, he boosted Rajasthan Royals with an electric fifty before rattling Delhi Daredevils' top order with an outstanding opening spell. Shane Warne had complained about being deprived of home advantage but his side adjusted perfectly to the conditions at the Wankhede Stadium, putting on a show that illustrated exactly why they have been the stand-out team in the competition.

Delhi were like a side struck with stage fright. Their bowlers were rattled by a brand of unconventional strokeplay - even the peerless Glenn McGrath went wicketless for 38 runs - before their batsmen succumbed against a disciplined attack. Virender Sehwag's decision to field may come under scrutiny but Rajasthan's ruthless efficiency might have steered them to the final either way. The farcical end to the match - when Mohammad Asif took an age to get his bat into the crease - summed it up.

The scorecard may indicate a hopelessly one-sided contest but Rajasthan had their shaky moments. Losing the toss meant facing up to McGrath and Asif on a juicy pitch and three quick wickets for Farveez Maharoof pushed them from 65 for no loss to 76 for 3.

Graeme Smith, who was aided by a runner once his hamstring injury resurfaced, and Swapnil Asnodkar, who broke a window pane at fine leg with an audacious pull, provided the early impetus but the innings could have easily lost its way with Maharoof, utilising the bounce and movement on the surface, luring the top order into loose strokes.

Watson's arrival put the innings back on track. From the moment he took 21 off the 11th over, with two ferocious pulls for six, only one team bossed the contest. With the high, straight back-lift that's been the feature of his batting in the tournament, Watson swung through midwicket and square leg. He targeted specific bowlers and went through with shots even if he wasn't to the pitch of the ball, allowing the timing to take care of the rest.

Amit Mishra, the legspinner, teased with his flight and loop but Watson was intent on spoiling his rhythm - going down on one knee, he slog-swept him over midwicket, a technique that Yusuf Pathan was to pick up later.

Such a commanding total wouldn't have been possible without the final flourish. Yusuf celebrated his recall to the one-day squad with a blistering 21-ball 45, an innings where four mighty sixes dripped off his bat. Without the Watson back-lift, without too much initial movement, he showed what brute force could do, blasting over long-on and midwicket. He spotted slower balls too, smearing McGrath over midwicket for the shot of the evening.

Delhi have their fielders to thank for avoiding further embarrassment but their effort was put in the shade by some acrobatic catching by Rajasthan. Shikhar Dhawan pulled off a diving catch to dismiss Smith but it was Tauwar Kohli's peach of a dive, throwing himself to the right of cover to latch on to a Gautam Gambhir slash, that will stick in the mind.

Watson may have top scored for his side, but his job wasn't done yet. Up against one of the most formidable opening combinations in the IPL, he cranked up his pace. Sehwag was done in by the extra bounce, holing out to deep point, Gambhir was frustrated into slashing in the air and Dhawan pulled straight to square leg. Every wicket was accompanied by an ecstatic expression - one that indicated the triumph of a well-laid plan.

Tillakaratne Dilshan's furious swinging was never going to be enough against a constantly mounting asking-rate and he kept losing partners who misread the bounce in the track. Manoj Tiwary top-edged a bouncer from Munaf Patel and Yo Mahesh struggled against a short one directed at the shoulder. The rest were clueless against Warne's fizzers.

He admitted he would have bowled first if he had won the toss but would have been pleasantly surprised at the amount of turn and bounce the surface offered. He toyed with the tailenders, mixing legbreaks and sliders as if this was a Test, and he could afford to wear an impish smile through the spell, considering the match was in the kitty.
Source: © Cricinfo Siddhartha Vaidyanathan is an assistant editor at Cricinfo

The Indian Cricket League

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Indian Cricket League (ICL) is a private cricket league that runs parallel to the existing cricket league managed by BCCI. At the moment, matches in the ICL follow the Twenty20 format, though there was a ODI (50 over) championship in January 2008. Matches are held at Tau Devi Lal stadium in Panchkula, near Chandigarh, Lal Bahadur Stadium in Hyderabad and Tau Devi Lal Stadium in Gurgaon, near New Delhi. In the second edition the league has been expanded to eight teams, almost doubling the number of group stage games from 15 to 28.HistoryZee Telefilms (part of the Essel group, which is promoted by Subhash Chandra) bid for the telecast rights to the 2003 Cricket World Cup. Although the highest bid, it was unsuccessful. In 2004, Subhash Chandra again bid for telecast rights and ended up in an inconclusive court battle. He made another bid for the 2006 ICC Champions Trophy rights and once again lost. He responded by creating the ICL. “They denied us the cricket content,” says Himanshu Mody, business head of ICL and Zee’s sports, “so, we had to create our own content” . Zee Telefilms announced that it would partner infrastructure major IL&FS to create a new, ambitious cricket organisation, the Indian Cricket League (ICL) with prize money of one million US dollars in the initial edition for the winning team. The ICL was set up with a billion dollar Indian Rupee corpus, and was to initially comprise six teams playing Twenty20 cricket, with plans to expand to sixteen teams within three years and to eventually move to 50-over matches. These plans, if realised, will make ICL the richest professional league in India. On 24 July 2007, some famous international names were announced to have signed to play in the ICL, including Brian Lara [3]. Due to the unofficial nature of the league, most of the national cricket boards warned their players against joining it and as a result most of the international players who signed for the first edition were retired internationals, such as Brian Lara, Chris Cairns and Craig McMillan, or former players with little hope of breaking back into their national team, such as Chris Read and Daryl Tuffey. A notable exception was Imran Farhat, who chose to opt out of his Pakistan Central contract to sign with the League . Former Pakistan captain Javed Miandad said he was not able to understand why the PCB would not allow its players to participate in the league and why it was threatening players with a lifetime ban[citation needed]. The PCB subsequently banned players involved in the ICL from playing domestic cricket, a move that prompted some players, notably Farhat and Taufeeq Umar, to threaten court action . The opposition to the league from most national cricket boards has continued into the league's second edition, with several players who were signed to play domestic cricket for teams in the English County Championship, including Shane Bond, Rana Naved-ul-Hasan, Mushtaq Ahmed and Jason Gillespie being unable to fulfill their County Championship contracts because of their home counties cricket boards refusals to grant them the necessary paperwork to play in England .The first edition of the league commenced on 30 November 2007. The league consisted of six teams with the matches played at Panchkula, near Chandigarh. It concluded on 16 December 2007 with the Chennai Superstars winning the first title. A second edition which commenced on 9 March 2008 saw the league expanded to eight teams and matches being played at two further venues, Hyderabad and Gurgaon.

Shah Rukh would not attend IPL matches

By Khabrein.info Correspondent,
Mumbai, May 23: Shah Rukh Khan has said that he would not attend the remaining matches of the IPL due to the bar set on him by ICC. The actor owns the Indian Premier League’s (IPL) Kolkata team. He was stopped from entering his team’s dressing room by ICC officials.

A dejected Shah Rukh who has paid more than 300 crore rupees for his team said, “The Indian Premier League (IPL) has its set of rules and regulations and I am a law-abiding person. But why pick on me? Other team owners are seen near their players. Is it because I am a celebrity and vulnerable?”.

His team that has failed to qualify for the semi finals despite having star players and initially being seen as the top contender for the tournament is also marred by rumours of rift between captain and owner of the team.

But Shah Rukh Khan seems to be more concerned over the behaviour of ICC and BCCI officials. “I have paid my players to win. Will I pay them now to lose? This is illogical”, said Shah Rukh Khan.

Shah Rukh Khan was banned from visiting the players’ dressing room and dug out. The BCCI had asked the actor not to violate ICC code of conduct.
The move comes after the ICC asked the BCCI to question Shah Rukh Khan for his on field conduct.

Shah Rukh Khan has been putting in extra efforts to prop up his team and also encourage the players. It has been observed that his team Kolkata Knight Riders lost all the matches when the actor was not present during the match.

SRK while commenting on the BCCI move said, “I like to hang around with the boys. I am very energetic. I am very disappointed that the ICC has stopped me. I don’t know the rules. I’ll tell only one thing. Nobody dare stop me from coming to Calcutta. I’ll be here whenever my team plays a match at the Eden”.

The Bollywood star says that he was not happy with the performance of his team. “But this is a game and if there is a winner then there has to be a loser too,” SRK said.