Royal Challengers Bangalore qualify for play-offs after rain abandons match against Delhi

Quick Preview: After pulling of a thrilling win over Sunrisers Hyderabad in their previous game, an upbeat Royal Challengers Bangalore would look to seal a play-off berth by beating laggards Delhi Daredevils in their last league match.
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RCB have been inconsistent in the tournament but the Virat Kohli-led side are very much in contention for a play-off berth. They are in second spot in the league table with 15 points from 13 games, behind Chennai Super Kings (16 points from 13 matches).

Delhi, on the other hand, are already out of reckoning with just 10 points from 13 games and they will play for pride only.

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Virat Kohli and Chris Gayle credit Bangalore to win in IPL thriller

Virat Kohli's 44 off 19 helped Bangalore beat Hyderabad in a rain-affected match. Here are the highlights from the match.

Virat Kohli celebrates after hitting the winning runs

Sunrisers Hyderabad 135-3 in 11/11 overs (Moises Henriques 57, David Warner 52; David Wiese 2-20, Mitchell Starc 1-26)

Royal Challengers Bangalore 83-4 in 5.5/6 overs (Virat Kohli 44 not out, Chris Gayle 35; Moises Henriques 2-3, Praveen Kumar 1-10)

Virat Kohli scored a brilliant, unbeaten 44 as Royal Challengers Bangalore beat Sunrisers Hyderabad by four wickets in the rain-shortened Indian Premier League (IPL) match at Hyderabad on Friday night.

Kohli hit a six off the second-last ball of their innings as the visitors chased down 81 runs in their six-over run chase.

Earlier in the day, Hyderabad won the toss and captain David Warner opted to bat first. The hosts posted 135 for three during 11 rain-interrupted overs, with Warner hitting 52 and fellow Australian Moises Henriques top-scoring with 57.

But with rain continuing to play spoilsport, the Bangalore run chase had to be limited to six overs.

In the end, it was enough as Kohli and Chris Gayle (35) took the attack to the Hyderabad bowlers, hitting a combined six sixes and seven fours.

The win propelled Bangalore to second spot in the IPL table and put them in a good position to qualify for the play-offs.

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Pietersen heads 'Let down' for IPL

The 29 runs that Kevin Pietersen added to his overnight score against Leicestershire, to end on a magisterial and undefeated 355, could be the last he ever scores in first-class cricket. Pietersen will fly out to India on Friday, to fulfill his obligations for Sunrisers Hyderabad in the latter stages of the IPL, after Andrew Strauss confirmed that the batsman did not figure in England's plans.

Having been told to go back to county cricket and score runs by the incoming ECB chairman, Colin Graves, two months ago, Pietersen will feel "let down in the way he's been treated", according to Alec Stewart, Surrey's director of cricket. "He's given up a £250,000 contract to play in the IPL, he's done what's been asked of him and now unfortunately from Kevin's point of view the door has been shut," Stewart said.

Stewart also suggested that Surrey could feel disappointed with the ECB. "To an extent I think the club could feel a little bit let down or short-changed," he said. "If you go back five years when he left Hampshire, he didn't have a county and the ECB said to us will you take Kevin Pietersen and we did. So, we helped the ECB to therefore help England, which, as a county, is our duty. Then, on the back of Colin Graves's comments we've re-signed him. We know he's going to help us through scoring runs, and also try and help England."

Stewart, who had been one of the contenders for the England director of cricket role awarded to Strauss, said that he would not have ruled out a return for Pietersen.

"I'd want to be able to pick from everyone available. I believe that England should be picking their best players and that would include Kevin Pietersen," he said. "Part of management is managing difficult players and difficult situations.

"It's going to be a very tough summer and I, personally, would have said: Right, we've got a good middle order at the minute. Ballance, Bell and Root are playing exceptionally well. Kevin, you're doing what we asked you to do, which is come and play county cricket, come and score runs. If you continue to do that, should there be an injury, a loss or form or a reason to make a change, you're very much in the frame. No guarantees, but you're very much in the frame.

"They haven't gone down that route, but I respect what Andrew has said and what he has done because he has to be his own man starting in this new role."

Stewart contacted Pietersen after news broke on Monday evening that he had been told he was highly unlikely to play for England again. "He was disappointed. We exchanged messages last night so I was aware that it had happened. He wanted to play for England, he was desperate to play for England. He thought the door had been opened from the incoming chairman."

Stewart also reiterated that he has had no issues with Pietersen in the Surrey dressing room over his five years involvement with the club.

"When he has been here he's been a breath of fresh air," he said. "I always say I only judge people how I find them. He's got a track record of upsetting people in other dressing rooms, or being upset in other dressing rooms. But when he's been in our dressing room we've had no problems with him.

"Everyone deals with people in certain ways. I'm not saying the way we do it here is perfect by any shape of the imagination. We do it a certain way and we've been rewarded with some fantastic batting.

"There's been a breakdown between Kevin and various parties or various people at the ECB, which means the decision has not been reversed and Kevin Pietersen is a former England player."

On Tuesday, Pietersen was only left two runs short of claiming the all-time Surrey record in first-class cricket because Matt Dunn, who contributed five to a tenth-wicket partnership of 139, was dismissed. "It was one of the best innings I've seen," Stewart said. "He's probably the only player in world cricket who could do that."

Surrey may feel they were overdue such a performance after Pietersen's mediocre spell in Twenty20 for the club last season, when he was dismissed 12 times without passing 39.

"He's fitter, that's all. His knee's back to being fit so he can stand in the field, he can bat for a day and a half with no issues and he can rock up the next day too, whereas last year he couldn't," Stewart said. "Also I think he'd admit that his mind wasn't as it should be because of what had been going on with his England career.

"From the Big Bash through to what we've seen yesterday he's playing as well as he's ever played. In the nets he hits the ball as cleanly as ever. People have to understand that it's nothing to do with his cricket. Everyone still agrees that he's still good enough to play but there's the trust issue which obviously the ECB believe there is no trust between the two of them so they feel they can't select him."

After Pietersen's IPL stint, Stewart hopes he will return for two more Championship games - against Lancashire at the Kia Oval and Leicestershire, who will hope they do not encounter him in this mood again, at Grace Road - before his stint in the Caribbean Premier League. But nothing is certain.

"Whether we see him play again for Surrey, I hope so, but it's got to be right for us and it's got to be right for Kevin," Stewart said. "I hope it's not the last first-class innings we'll see in a Surrey shirt."


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McCullum, Smith pummel Mumbai Indian

Aakash Chopra: Two Man of the Match awards in three games for Ashish Nehra…well done, mate. Still one of the best Indian pace bowlers. #CSK #IPL

G Rajaraman: Who will stop CSK? And, who will lift Mumbai Indians now? No point blaming their bowlers since they didn’t manage the attack well. #MIvCSK

Dean Jones: The @ChennaiIPL completely , @mipaltan tonight!!! #IPL

Harsha Bhogle: I’m afraid this was a knockout. 183 was not a score to be tossed away nonchalantly. But it was. #CSKvs#MI #PepsiIPL

Freddie Wilde: That was brutal from #CSK. Meanwhile, #MIs bowling was as concerning as their batting. #IPL #MIvCSK

Nehra: ‘I am just working hard. T20 is a format where you don’t get wickets when you are bowling well. It’s important to pick wickets with the new ball. You have to be aggressive if you want to pick wickets. It is a batsman’s game, but I still believe bowlers are the ones who win you matches. If you bowl a good line and length up front, you set the tone. I just try to do the things which I am good at.’

Nehra is the Man of the Match for his bowling figures of 4-0-23-3.

Dhoni: ‘I was more worried about my bowling because it’s a good wicket. We don’t really get surprised if the opposition promotes someone up the order. Bhajji batted well in the last game and maybe that’s why they promoted him. Our plan was to bowl dot balls at him. At times you want to bat first if the unit wasn’t clicking. The reason why we wanted to bowl was because of the dew factor. I felt the first few overs were brilliant from our bowlers. We just want the guys to stay in a positive frame of mind.’
This is a big win for CSK. They’ve made a mockery of a big run chase and won the game with 20 balls to spare. Rohit Sharma and Co. didn’t have answers to the onslaught from McCullum and Smith. The deadly duo muscled the ball to all corners. The fact that even the likes of Malinga was smashed for 33 runs in his first two overs tells about their brutal hitting. Smith completed his fifty off 22 balls and although Harbhajan removed both the openers in the same over, CSK had the match in their bag with the start they got. Raina then got some runs and sealed the game alongside Bravo. CSK were 90/0 in 6 overs, the second best powerplay score in the history of IPL.

Rohit: ‘Pretty disappointed with the way we bowled and our attitude on the field wasn’t right. I thought 183 was a good score, but we didn’t execute our plans with the ball. There’s no way they could score 90 runs in the first six overs. I think that’s where we probably lost the game. We’ve been trying and possibly doing everything but it’s not coming off, but they played well too. At the end of the day you need to get the combination right, that’s what we were trying to do. I know it’s not working out. We know we’ve got to find the right balance. If you don’t win, nothing counts. Pretty disappointed to lose the game. We are not thinking anything right now, relax, take it easy and then think about our next match.’

KKR threaten to pull out of IPL if Narine is not allowed to play: Reports

The BCCI are insisting that Sunil Narine undergoes another test in order to clear his action. © Getty

IPL season 8 is only nine days away and a fresh controversy has starte brewing.
Kolkata Knight Riders are on a collision course with the BCCI regardingoffspinner Sunil Narine's participation in the tournament Narine was banned for his suspect action during the 2014 Champions League Twenty20 and he could not play in the final against the Chennai Super Kings, which KKR lost by eight wickets . He was not picked for the West Indies tour to India in November and he opted out of the 2015 ICC Cricket World Cup. He modified his action and was cleared by the ICC during his biomechanical test in Loughborough. However, in Narine's case, the ICC did not organise the test as he was not called during an international match. He was called during the Champions League Twenty20, a tournament that is run by the BCCI. According to the rules in the BCCI, since he was called for a second time, he was banned from bowling in any BCCI-organised tournament.

According to a report in the Mumbai Mirror, the BCCI has refused to accept the report submitted by the ICC and has insisted the offspinner undergoes another round of testing at the Sri Ramachandra University in Chennai. However, according to sources, KKR is contemplating legal action against the BCCI. Reports also say that if Narine is not allowed to play in the IPL, KKR might pull out of the tournament.

The team is pointing out that since the bowler was cleared by the ICC, there is no need for a second test and the management is firm that it will not force Narine to undergo another test. The team has met BCCI president Jagmohan Dalmiya and have told him that Narine has been 'targeted'.

They pointed out that Narine was not called for chucking during the IPL but his action was suddenly found illegal in two consecutive matches in the CLT20. Dalmiya's office has confirmed that the matter has reached the president's table and that a decision could be taken in a day or two. KKR chief executive officer Venky Mysore has refused to confirm or deny the reports about his team speaking to Dalmiya.

Meanwhile, in another development, KKR have gotten in Johan Botha and Azhar Mahmood as replacements for Chris Lynn and Jimmy Neesham. Neesham will miss the IPL due to a stress fracture in his back while Lynn is in doubt for the whole tournament due to a hamstring injury. Mysore tweeted about this development on his twitter handle






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