Dhoni confident as India embark for World T20

MUMBAI: Indian captain MS Dhoni's diplomatic skills were on display as he addressed the media prior to the team's departure to the West Indies for the ICC World T20, starting on April 30. After a hectic and draining IPL 3, both Dhoni and coach Gary Kirsten preferred put the fatigue factor on the backburner.

"Regrouping is no worry. Sometimes, we just have to respect the schedule and play with what is available. There is no point complaining. The IPL finished on the 25th and we have assembled a day later. We literally have one whole day of flying time with several connecting flights. Then we go there and have two or three days to practice. I think that's more than enough. We play together for almost 250 or 300 days in a year. Regrouping is not a concern," said Dhoni.

He must have chosen to embark upon the World T20 campaign scandal free. Interestingly, both the captain and coach's explosive "team was tired and didn't get time to regroup" comments, post the team's nightmarish campaign in last year's World T20 in England, hadn't pleased the BCCI.

In 2010, the Indian skipper has no such concerns. Even the lack of form of his biggest match-winner, Yuvraj Singh, isn't a problem for him.

"Yuvraj is a great player and is one of the biggest hitters in T20. He can also contribute with the ball. He has not scored too many runs in the IPL, but it's nothing to worry about because in T20, you are just five or 10 balls away from getting back into form."

The 28-year-old flashed his disarming smile. Was he thanking his lucky stars that everyone in his team is fit and there could be no repeat of the Sehwag and Zaheer episode in England? "As of now, we haven't received any medical report which says that any player is injured. I'm glad that nobody is injured," he said.

The IPL-winning captain is hoping that the winning touch stays with him till May 16. But for that, he will need some luck with the kind of wickets that are dished out. India will be hoping that the pitches afford turn so that Dhoni can employ the tactic of opening with spin, something that he did consistently and successfully in the IPL. Would he do the same in West Indies?

"It's definitely an option. We have a couple of players in Harbhajan Singh and Yusuf Pathan who have consistently bowled in the first six overs in the IPL. We also have very good part-timers in the team. Yusuf and Jadeja can be called specialist spinners. Hopefully, as the tournament progresses, the wickets will get slower," he stated.

IPL will get bigger without Lalit Modi: Shetty

NEW DELHI: The success of the IPL was not because of Lalit Modi alone, according to a top BCCI official, who reckons the Twenty20 league will continue to flourish without the suspended commissioner as cricket sells itself in India.

The BCCI's chief administrative officer Ratnakar Shetty said that the Board has enough competent people to take the event forward.

"The IPL will continue to flourish. The success is not only because of Modi. BCCI will put up a good team to make IPL even more successful," Shetty said.

The high-flying Modi was suspended as the chairman and commissioner of the league after the final on Sunday because of alleged financial irregularities and rigging of bids.

Modi was charged on five counts, including irregularities in the bids of Rajasthan Royals and Kings XI Punjab and in the broadcast and internet deals.

Modi's removal has raised apprehensions among the franchises many of whom openly backed the embattled former commissioner during the raging controversy.

"There is no need for the franchisees to be apprehensive. BCCI will ensure that IPL will be managed professionally. The BCCI president Shashank Manohar and interim chairman Chirayu Amin have already made it clear in this regard," Shetty said.

The scandal has tarnished the image of the BCCI to a great extent but Shetty said steps would be taken to protect the game and the Board's reputation.

"BCCI will take all steps required to protect the game and its own reputation. All these developments gave a bad name to the organisation but we will take all corrective steps," the chief administrative officer said.

Shetty, who has been given the responsibility of investigating all the missing documents related to bids and other IPL deals, said he would write to Modi to hand over all the original documents which are with him.

"We will officially write to Modi to hand over all the original documents held by him as they are the property of BCCI," he said.

Asked whether he felt the market value of IPL would go down due to the entire controversy and Modi's removal, he said, "IPL is a brand of its own and it is built around the game of cricket. It will grow further."

Shetty also vehemently denied that there was political pressure on the BCCI to take stern action against Modi after minister of state for external affairs Shashi Tharoor's resignation.

"I can tell you that there was no political pressure on the BCCI. Not at all," he asserted.

He also came to the defense of IPL Governing Council which failed to keep a tab on Modi's alleged wrong-doings.

Asked how much blame the Governing Council should take for the entire fiasco, he said, "To be fair to the Governing Council, in most cases the papers came for ratification and Rajiv Shukla had written about this to Shashank Manohar."

On what prompted the council to appoint Chirayu Amin as the interim chairman of the league, the CAO said, "Chirayu Amin is an experienced cricket administrator, maintains a low profile and can handle the issues in IPL."

Shetty said that Modi's response to the show-cause notice would be placed in front of the disciplinary committee.

"The reply to show cause notice will be placed before the three-member disciplinary committee of BCCI," he said.

The Disciplinary Committee comprises of president Manohar and two vice-presidents -- Amin and Arun Jaitley. The disciplinary committee will then submit its report in the General Body Meeting.

On Modi's threat to expose some of the BCCI officials in the wake of the IPL furore, Shetty shot back, "He is free to do that."

On whether he considers IPL scandal the biggest crisis in Indian cricket, he said, "It's certainly not bigger than the match-fixing scandal."

Gulbis stuns Federer at ATP Rome Masters

ROME: Latvia's unseeded Ernests Gulbis stunned an out-of-sorts world number one Roger Federer 2-6, 6-1, 7-5 to reach the third round of the ATP Rome Masters 1000 at the Foro Italico on Tuesday.

In a match littered with unforced errors -- Gulbis edged the top seed 39-38 on that score -- the Swiss maestro looked a shadow of his normal self as his game collapsed following a typically dominant opening set.

When the Wimbledon and French Open champion raced through the first set, breaking in the first and seventh games, there was no way of predicting what was to follow: steadily his game crumbled.

He gave up a break for 3-1 when he went wide with a forehand before in his next service game he missed a smash and netted a backhand to give up two break points before a wild forehand into the tramlines saw him fall 5-1 behind.

Gulbis sealed the set with an ace while Federer won only 10 percent of points on his second serve.

Another long forehand saw him broken in the fifth game of the deciding set and then Federer went wide with a backhand down the line to give up double match-point at 3-5 on his own serve.

Gulbis had a great chance to convert the second but went wildly long on the forehand.

In the next game Gulbis had four more match points on his serve but seemed to choke as he hit two double faults and went long off both flanks.

He then missed a smash and went wide with an inside out forehand to allow the world number one to break back.

But four more unforced errors from Federer saw Gulbis serve for the match for a second time and he made no mistake, courtesy of two more Federer unforced errors.

While both players made a flurry of mistakes, the big difference was in winners where Gulbis hit 33 to Federer's 20.

The defeat continued Federer's poor record here where he has reached the last four or better only three times in 10 attempts.

Earlier, world number two Novak Djokovic was barely stretched as he crushed Frenchman Jeremy Chardy 6-1, 6-1.

Djokovic showed no signs of the service problems he'd suffered recently as he claimed victory in five seconds under the hour.

It was the 22-year-old Serbian's fourth win in four meetings with the Frenchman, one year his senior, who has yet to take a set off Djokovic.

And the second seed was quite happy to get this second round match out of the way quickly.

"The sooner you finish the happier you are. I've played in this tournament many times so you don't need many hours to get used to the court," he said.

"I've been here practising five or six days so I was already used to the courts and wanted to finish as quickly as possible."

Djokovic's return of serve was particularly impressive against a player known for his big serve.

"Always in your first match in a tournament you don't know what to expect, especially playing against a player with such a hard serve, it can be difficult but I was very focused right from the first moment," he said.

"I think (the return) was one of the keys today, I knew he was going to serve well so I needed to return well to be in control of the match."

The 2008 champion here and finalist last year is playing in only his second clay court event of the season having reached the semi-finals in Monte Carlo two weeks ago.

Here in three previous appearances he has never failed to make the quarter-finals.

Olic triple sees Bayern into Champions League final

LYON: Ivica Olic netted a hat-trick as Bayern Munich defeated Lyon 3-0 on Tuesday to qualify for the Champions League final for the first time since they last won the competition in 2001.

The Croatia striker extended Bayern's 1-0 lead from last week's semi-final first leg in Munich in the first half and put the tie beyond Lyon's reach with a pair of strikes in the second period.

A jubilant Olic said: "It's incredible to win by this scoreline and to have scored three goals. This is perhaps the best match of my life, but above all it's a great overall performance by the team.

"We have to repeat this now in the final itself."

Lyon were bidding to reach their first ever European final but saw Michel Bastos and Bafetimbi Gomis spurn the best chances that came their way.

The hosts had captain Cris sent off midway through the second half after being shown two yellow cards in quick succession.

Bayern were missing France winger Franck Ribery after his dismissal in the first leg but they were barely troubled by a Lyon team that once again failed to muster a sustained attacking threat.

The German side, four-time champions, will meet the winners of Wednesday's other semi-final between Barcelona and Inter Milan in the final in Madrid on May 22.

Coach Louis van Gaal will be aiming to become just the third man to guide two different teams to Europe's top club honour, having tasted Champions League glory with Ajax in 1995.

After seeing his side outplayed in Munich, Lyon coach Claude Puel made his attacking intentions clear by naming wingers Bastos, Sidney Govou and Cesar Delgado in his line-up in support of Lisandro Lopez.

Bayern's injury problems meant Holger Badstuber had to move into the centre of defence, with 19-year-old Diego Contento taking his place at left-back, but it was the home defence that found itself under pressure first.

With barely two minutes on the clock, Olic robbed Cris wide on the right and centred for Thomas Mueller, but with only Hugo Lloris to beat he clipped his first-time shot narrowly wide from 10 yards.

Mueller then flashed a cross across goal before Bayern scored the night's first psychological blow when Mark van Bommel drew a foul from Maxime Gonalons that earned the youngster a booking and a suspension for the final.

The goal the Lyon fans dreaded arrived in the 26th minute when Robben's pass down the inside-left channel found Mueller, who teed up Olic to spin away from his marker and score.

The noise of the Bayern fans' drums replaced the roar of the home support and they grew even louder when Bastos spurned a superb chance for an equaliser by volleying wide from six yards.

Puel introduced Gomis at half-time and the former Saint Etienne striker sent a thumping volley high over the Bayern crossbar when a left-wing cross fell to him at the back post shortly after his introduction.

Bastian Schweinsteiger flashed an eye-catching half-volley narrowly over as Bayern looked to kill the game off, before Lloris produced a fine save to push away Robben's low curling effort.

Lyon's evening went from bad to worse shortly before the hour when Cris received his marching orders, picking up two yellow cards in the space of a minute for fouling Olic and then sarcastically applauding the referee's decision to book him.

The hosts responded with a stinging shot from Govou that Hans-Joerg Butt palmed away before Olic killed off any lingering hopes of a comeback by scampering onto Hamit Altintop's pass and beating Lloris with a crisp finish.

Olic secured possession of the matchball in the 77th minute when he nodded home Philipp Lahm's cross from the right.

Bookies didn't take bets on Chennai win

MUMBAI: Is it yet another match-fixing allegation or is there really more to it than meets the eye? If punters are to be believed, bookies were aware of the outcome of the final match of the IPL between the much-fancied Mumbai Indians and former finalists Chennai Super Kings.

That's why, they claim, the bookies stopped accepting bets on a CSK win even when Dhoni's boys were seemingly on the mat at the end of the twelfth over while batting first.

The entire tournament, comprising 60 matches, witnessed a mind-numbing turnover of US $11 billion, sources in the Indian security establishment said. On an average, Rs 850 crore was bet on each match.

Betting syndicates and their sponsors in the underworld raked in thousands of crores, especially in the final. A top punter said: "Several thousand crores were bet on a victory by Mumbai Indians with the odds heavily favouring a win by the local team at the start of the game. Everybody took it for granted that Mumbai would win. But when the Chennai team started making a bold comeback, the bookies were ordered by their bosses to stop accepting bets favouring a Chennai win. Since the bookies have solid support from the underworld, nobody dared protest against their unprofessional conduct. This enabled the bookies to make a huge killing."

The Pakistan-based Dawood Ibrahim gang gained the most. A big-time Pakistani bookie, known simply as Numan Miya, masterminded the operation for D Company from Karachi. Sources in the police said that "betting took place on each of the 60 matches and almost on a ball-to-ball basis".

It is learnt that on the Indian side, Rajesh Jaipur, a big-time bookie based in Jaipur and known for his close proximity to a highly-controversial figure in Indian cricket circles, led the Indian betting operations this time around. "If Rajesh Jaipur and his brother Rakesh are made to undergo the narco test, then a huge betting racket in IPL matches and the role of the bigwigs will be exposed," a police source added.

Happy Birthday Sachin!!!

Sachin Tendulkar turns 37 today.

We have few of our Bollywood stars wishing the cricketing genius a long innings at the crease and expressing their love and gratitude for him.

Shilpa Shetty, owner of Rajasthan Royals IPL team says

“We Wish you a very happy birthday and we wish to see many more hundreds, many more200s actually.”

Actor Arjun Rampal said,

“I wish him that he never gets older and keeps playing for the country.”

Actress Amrita Rao said that she fell in love with the game because of Sachin.

“It’s because of Sachin I started taking interest in the game and finally fell in love with cricket. I am really, really so proud of his consistent career and I wish him all the best.” said Amrita.

Bollywoodcelebden wishes our cricket star Sachin Tandulkar a very HAPPY BIRTHDAY.

RCB, DC to fight for last Champions League slot

MUMBAI: Semifinal losses have put paid to their title hopes but Deccan Chargers and Royal Challengers Bangalore would be eyeing a slot in the Twenty20 Champions League when they take on each other in the third-fourth place play-off of the Indian Premier League on Saturday.

The team that finishes third would earn the right to join this year's finalists Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings in the September Champions League.

After the 38-run loss to the Super Kings, Chargers skipper Adam Gilchrist was confident his teammates would be up to the task of getting off the floor for one final flourish.

"We would pick ourselves up tomorrow for Saturday's match. We want to play in the Champions League again. We enjoyed playing in it last year," the retired Australian wicketkeeper said on Thursday in his post-match comments.

RCB skipper Anil Kumble said his team had two days at its disposal after losing by 35 runs to the Sachin Tendulkar-led Mumbai Indians on Wednesday.

"We have a couple of days to prepare for that match which would be a consolation victory. The main prize was the IPL final," Kumble said.

Toss is again expected to play a crucial role as the team that bats first will hold a big advantage with the wickets in the country having slowed down in the summer heat.

"Obviously I'm disappointed for not having a shot at the final. But it's becoming difficult to chase on these wickets which have become a bit tired and also slowed down though not many matches have been played here," said Gilchrist.

Royal Challengers would look forward to Jacques Kallis rediscovering his magic touch that gave them a superb run in the earlier part of the tournament.

The South African has gone off the boil after playing the sheet-anchor role to perfection for the others to revolve around him.

The Bangalore team has tried out Manish Pandey and Rahul Dravid in the opening slot to accompany Kallis with mixed results.

In the lower order, Robin Uthappa has given them a flourishing finish on a few occasions with his clean hitting. The team would look forward to the youngster with powerful shoulders to do the bidding against the Chargers along with Kevin Pietersen at the top.

The indifferent form of Virat Kohli (307 runs in 15 games) too has not helped Bangalore's cause.

The bowling attack looks potent though a bit jaded at the fag end of the 45-day tournament in which teams crisscrossed the country leading to tired bodies and minds.

Dale Steyn, who blew away rival batsmen early on, needs to make one last determined effort to give his team the breakthroughs that would peg back the Chargers line-up.

Kumble too would be relied upon to do his job in the middle overs but the big disappointment has been Praveen Kumar.

Two big guns of Chargers have failed to fire. Skipper Gilchrist has had a very poor tournament, with only one half century to show for in 15 starts, while Herschelle Gibbs has not lived up to his reputation either.

Rohit Sharma's indiscreet shot selections have led to his downfall as it happened in the semifinals while Andrew Symonds has had a mixed bag. The batting needs to pick up force in the final clash for the team.

Ryan Harris has been penetrative for the Hyderabad franchise, while the other bowlers, especially left arm spinner Pragyan Ojha (21 wickets) have also done well, but the batting has not lived up to its mark.

Age is just a number for Sachin: Harbhajan

Master blaster Sachin Tendulkar turns 37

NAGPUR: Saturday is a very special day not only for Sachin Tendulkar, who celebrates his 37th birthday, but for all Indian cricket fans. Of course, 37 is not a number sportsmen like: it is an age when most of them are in the evening of their careers.

However, Tendulkar somehow has managed to disprove the norm, still retaining his child-like enthusiasm and commitment for the game. With the bat, he seems to be getting better with every outing.

One of his close admirers, teammate Harbhajan Singh, says that for him, Sachin will always remain the excitable 17-year-old. "Age is just a number for Paaji," Harbhajan said, "Just look at his wealth of accomplishments in the last six months. The way he is going about his business is just unbelievable. His hunger for runs is getting bigger by the day and he is also very consistent. He is still enjoying his game and it will be no exaggeration to say that he is leaving all the youngsters behind. To me Sachin is just like a 17-year old. And I want him to be around for as long as possible."

Harbhajan says Tendulkar is his "guru, friend, philosopher and guide". That is also the reason why Bhajji knows what the best gift will be for his Mumbai Indians captain: a win in the IPL final on Sunday. "It will be a wonderful gift from the team and a beautiful way of saying thanks," Harbhajan said.

Harbhajan also paid rich tributes to the little champion for his hands-on captaincy. "Paaji is a great leader. It is a treat to watch him handle the youngsters. He has a knack of taking youngsters along with him.

"Given his larger-than-life image, youngsters are initially in awe of him but Sachin himself takes the lead in breaking the ice and making them feel comfortable. He keeps things simple and is always encouraging the younger players. For every youngster in the side, he is just a phone call away. It says a lot about the person."

On a more personal note, Harbhajan threw some more light on the close bond he shares with Tendulkar. "I can count on him during my good and bad times because I know he will give me the best advice. When I am in trouble, and there have been quite a few occasions, he is the first person I look up to because I know he will guide me through the turbulent period. He is one person I can trust blindly. I am privileged to know him as a friend. And, to be honest, without him around I don't think I would have come this far in my career. I owe a lot to him."

Another person who has been immensely influenced by Tendulkar is the Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who joined his colleague Harbhajan in talking about the Tendulkar Effect. "As you know, I started playing cricket because of Sachin and he continues to be a huge source of inspiration in everything he does. As far as his career is concerned, he seems to have got the reverse gear going. I have joked before that there is a good chance that I might retire before Tendulkar," Dhoni said.

While Dhoni himself is a Rafael Nadal fan, he knows Tendulkar's liking for the one and only Roger Federer. Interestingly, the Indian captain underlined one big difference between the two legends. "While Federer's one big wish is to see his twin daughters watch him play at a Grand Slam tournament, Sachin's son Arjun has already had the privilege of watching his father from the stands. That says a lot about his skill and endurance."

Lalit Modi to skip Champions League meeting: Sources

NEW DELHI: All is not well for embattled IPL commissioner Lalit Modi, as BCCI continues to rub salt on the former's wounds. Sources told TIMES NOW that a Champions League T20 Governing Council meeting will take place in Mumbai on Saturday (April 24) and added that the Champions League chairman Lalit Modi will skip the meeting.

Cricket Australia Sutherland and CEO of Cricket South Africa Majola will be present at the Champions League meeting, where a decision on the venue for the T20 tournament will be taken.

Earlier on Saturday, the BCCI top brass on Saturday held a series of meetings to draw up a strategy for Monday's crucial Governing Council meeting amid intense speculation that beleaguered IPL commissioner Lalit Modi is being persuaded to step down voluntarily from the high-flying post.

BCCI president Shashank Manohar was closeted with secretary N Srinivasan, IPL vice-chairman Niranjan Shah and chief administrative officer Ratnakar Shetty to discuss the raging IPL controversy.

Union Minister and BCCI heavyweight Sharad Pawar, who is also here, is expected to meet the BCCI top brass during the day.

There was no official word as to what was being discussed at the meeting but a BCCI source indicated that it was just a "routine discussion" ahead of the Governing Council meeting.

The meeting also discussed the possibility of forming a three-member core committee to oversee the running of the league in its subsequent editions. The BCCI has already made it clear that it would not consider Modi's plea to postpone the meeting by five days.

Finance and media committee chairman Rajiv Shukla, who is also a member of the Governing Council, is expected to reach here in the afternoon and join in the deliberations.

Most of the other Council members are expected to reach here either tonight or by Sunday morning.

With very little support within the Governing Council, Modi's future appears to be grim and there was a distinct possibility that he could be removed from his post as IPL chairman and commissioner.

Governing Council meeting as per schedule: BCCI sources

IPL Governing Council meet as per schedule: BCCI sources

See photo

NEW DELHI: The BCCI top brass is in no mood to consider embattled IPL commissioner Lalit Modi's plea to defer the Governing Council meeting by five days and made it clear that it will go ahead as per schedule.

The BCCI has already told Modi that it would not change the date of the meeting as allegations of financial irregularities and the entire controversies related to IPL were far too serious to differ the meeting any further.

Modi had on Friday sought five days time to prepare himself for the Governing Council meeting which is expected to take a hard stand and even press for his removal.

"I need to prepare the documents to support my replies to all the questions... I have worked for you (BCCI) for five long years without taking any money... consider giving me just five days for the documents," Modi had said.

A top BCCI source said that there was no question of postponing the meeting and it was upto Modi to attend or not.

"Modi can come to the meeting and plead his case. If he doesn't have the relevant documents to defend himself, he can tell the Governing Council members at the meeting. We know he has been busy with IPL but that doesn't mean he cannot even attend the meeting," the source said.

"It is better for him to come to the meeting and explain his stand rather than keeping it. If he has nothing to hide why is he seeking five days time," the source said.

The "Anti-Modi" mood within the BCCI is quite clear with the entire top brass and most of the Governing Council member boycotting the award function in Mumbai last night. The BCCI officials are also planning to skip the IPL final on Sunday.

There have been unconfirmed reports that former BCCI president and NCP leader Sharad Pawar has asked the BCCI president Shashank Manohar to give Modi some time to defend himself by postponing the meeting by five days. But no BCCI official confirmed the development.

Modi's decision not to move court, questioning the validity of the April 26 meeting has also raised speculation that a compromise formula is being worked out. But with the mounting pressure of BCCI to take a hard stand and clean up the entire IPL mess would make it tough for Modi to find an escape route this time around.

Pawar is expected to meet the top brass of BCCI in Mumbai on Saturday to take stock of the situation in the wake of the raging controversy. The top BCCI officials will also apprise him of the steps that they are contemplating to restore their image.

Modi has already been sent feelers to step down voluntarily from the post of IPL commissioner and chairman to tide over the crisis but in case he refuses to do so, BCCI may be forced to pass a resolution and oust him.

The BCCI source said that the president is empowered to remove him as per the board constitution and there would be no legal hassles in case such an option is exercised.

Modi's style of functioning has not gone down well with the BCCI officials and the Governing Council members. BCCI's media and finance committee chairman Rajiv Shukla, who is also a Governing Council member, had questioned his style of functioning and had even pointed it out to president Manohar.

In a letter in January, Shukla had expressed concerns about Modi's functioning and how things related to IPL were being finalised without taking the Governing Council into confidence.

"The reason I am saying this is that I being a member of the Governing Council, I am neither informed nor consulted about any deal and I have got to know such information through press releases.

"I am quite confident that such commercials are neither discussed with the Governing Council members because had this been the case the committee would have actually decided together," Shukla said.

Tendulkar named best batsman, Ojha best bowler

MUMBAI: Mumbai Indians captain Sachin Tendulkar was named best batsman while Deccan Chargers' Pragyan Ojha bagged the best bowler honour at a glitzy IPL Awards Night on Friday.

Tournament's most prolific batsman, Tendulkar, who turns 37 on April 24, has 570 runs in his kitty from 14 matches with five fifties.


In pics: IPL Awards Night
He beat competitions from Royal Challengers' batsmen Jacques Kallis (553 runs from 15) and Robin Uthappa (374 from 15) and Chennai Super King's Suresh Raina (463 from 15) and Murali Vijay (432 from 14) for the Jury Award for best batsman.

Tendulkar, who is uncertain to lead Mumbai Indians in Sunday's IPL final against Chennai Super Kings after splitting his right hand webbing during the first semifinal on April 21, was also named best batsman and best captain in the Viewers' Choice category.

Left-arm spinner Ojha is the most successful bowler of IPL 3 with 21 wickets in his kitty from 15 matches. He beat competition from his team-mate Ryan Harris, Ravichandran Ashwin (Chennai Super Kings), R Vinay Kumar (Royal Challenger Banaglore) and Zaheer Khan (Mumbai Indians).

Delhi Daredevils' AB de Villiers was declared best fielder while West Indian Kieron Pollard was named for best debut performance for his superb all-round performance with the bat and ball.

Among other Jury Awards, Kallis, who also have 11 wickets from 15 matches, was named for the most consistent performance award. The jury consisted of Lalit Modi (chairman), Sunil Gavaskar, Brian Lara, Javagal Srinath, Simon Taufel and Harsha Bhogle. The Awards Night was boycotted by the top brass of the BCCI.

BCCI President Shashank Manohar, Secretary N Srinivasan, and IPL vice-chairman Niranjan Shah stayed away from the event while team owners Vijay Mallya (Royal Challengers Bangalore), Preity Zinta (Kings XI Punjab), Shilpa Shetty and Raj Kundra (Rajasthan Royals), Gayatri Reddy (Deccan Chargers) and Jay Mehta (Kolkata Knight Riders) turned up. The entire IPL Governing Council, barring Sunil Gavaskar and IS Bindra, also shunned the event though most of the players came to attend the ceremony.

IPL Awards
Jury Awards:
Category	Nominations	Winner
Best Batsman	Jacques Kallis, Sachin Tendulkar, Suresh Raina, Murali Vijay, Robin Uthappa	Sachin Tendulkar (MI)
Best Bowler	Ryan Harris, R Ashwin, Pragyan Ojha, Harbhajan Singh, R Vinay Kumar, Zaheer Khan	Pragyan Ojha (DC)
Best Debutant	Michael Lumb, Ambati Rayudu, Kieron Pollard, Faiz Fazal, MD Mishra, Shaun Tait, Doug Bollinger	Kieron Pollard (MI)
Most Dramatic Performance	Yusuf Pathan, Juan Theron, Harbhajan Singh, David Warner, Murali Vijay, Shane Warne and Robin Uthappa	Harbhajan Singh (MI)
Most Consistent Performance	Shane Watson, Harbhajan Singh, Irfan Pathan, Kieron Pollard, Andrew Symonds, David Warner, Jacques Kallis	Jacques Kallis (RCB)
Best Fielder	Suresh Raina, Keiron Pollard, Abhishek Jhunjhunwala, AB de Villiers, Yusuf Pathan and David Warner	AB de Villiers (DD)
Best Breakthrough Performance	Adam Gilchrist, Brendon McCullum and Sohail Tanvir (for 2008)	Brendon McCullum (KKR)
Best Breakthrough Performance	Adam Gilchrist, Brendon McCullum, Sohail Tanvir and Anil Kumble (for 2009)	Anil Kumble (RCB)
Best Stadium Experience	Bangalore, Chennai, Delhi	DY Patil Stadium
Best Ground	Bangalore, Chennai, Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai - Brabourne Stadium, Mumbai - DY Patil Stadium, Mohali, Ahmedabad, Jaipur and Nagpur	M Chinnaswamy Stadium
Viewers' Choice Awards:
Best Catch	David Hussey (KKR)
Best Batsman	Sachin Tendulkar (MI)
Best Captain	Sachin Tendulkar (MI)
Best Bowler	Pragyan Ojha (DC)
Best Commentator	Ravi Shastri
Most Stylish Player	Robin Uthappa (RCB)
Most Fan-Friendly Cricketer	Adam Gilchrist (DC)
Best Fielder	Suresh Raina (CSK)
Statistical Awards
IPL Captains’ Award
Maximum Runs Scored in Boundaries	Virender Sehwag (DD)
Most Economical Bowler	Ravichandran Ashwin (CSK)
Fastest 100	Yusuf Pathan (RR)
Captains to choose which Indian Cricketing Legend they would want in their team	Kapil Dev