Born-again Bangalore has edge over depleted Rajasthan Royals

BANGALORE: Born-again Royal Challengers Bangalore will have a clear edge over an injury-ravaged Rajasthan Royals when they locks horns in the third Indian Premier League on Thursday.

The home side had a rather poor start to their IPL-3 campaign with a comprehensive seven-wicket defeat at the hands of Kolkata Knight Riders but Anil Kumble and his men showed tremendous resilience and batting prowess to tame Kings XI Punjab in yesterday's high-scoring humdinger to be back on track.

In contrast, the 2008 champion Royals have lost both their matches so far and losing Graeme Smith and Dmitri Mascarenhas has further depleted the Shane Warne-led outfit.

The hosts are on a high after chasing down a 200-plus total against Kings XI Punjab that not only boosted their confidence but also spoke volumes of their batting might.

Veteran South African Jacques Kallis has been a pillar of strength for them, contributing both with the bat and the ball.

The indefatigable all-rounder has been a tricky customer with the ball while his ability to pace his innings while batting stood his team in good stead.

Fortunately for them, Robin Uthappa also looks in great form, as is the exciting Manish Pandey.

If Bangalore have any real concern, it's in their bowling department and Kumble would have to ensure that Dale Steyns and Praveen Kumars don't bleed runs against the Royals on Thursday.

The Royals' story so far has been pretty demoralising with back-to-back defeats followed by injuries to some of its key players.

They began IPL-3 sans Shane Watson - busy on national duty - and Ravindra Jadeja, serving a ban, and losing Smith and Mascarenhas now further depletes them.

"It's a big setback for us as Smith and Dimma are very good players for the Royals and their experience will be hugely missed," Warne conceded.

"With these setbacks comes opportunity. We need some players to put there hand up and take responsibility," he said.

Warne's optimism notwithstanding, Royals would have a tough task.

Their batting is not clicking and while Yusuf Pathan's aggression remains beyond question, inconsistency remains a problem with the towering power-hitter.

After defeats against Mumbai Indians and Delhi Daredevils, the Royals are pretty much low on spirit and they would have to raise their game by a few notches to upstage their opponents from Bangalore on Thursday.

IPL: Mumbai Indians beat Delhi Daredevils by 98 runs

NEW DELHI: Batting first is generally a good bet on Indian pitches, especially in summers. The formula is to post a big total and then apply pressure on the opposition. But Delhi Daredevils had a different gameplan. They wanted to know how many runs they would have to chase to win the IPL game against Mumbai Indians on Wednesday.

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However, the newly-laid Kotla pitch turned out to be a belter and Daredevils' decision to field first backfired. Boasting of a strong batting line-up, Mumbai Indians made the most of the good batting conditions and put up a formidable 218/7 on the board.

The hosts, also boasting of a powerful batting line-up but hamstrung by skipper Gautam Gambhir's injury, could never really threaten the target, losing wickets regularly to end up at 120 in 16.3 overs. Thus, Mumbai Indians won by a whopping 98 runs to notch up their second successive win. For Delhi, it was their first defeat in three ties.

Even as Gambhir was nursing his injury in the dressing room, his counterpart, the great Sachin Tendulkar, lit up the Delhi sky with a dazzling display of strokeplay. It was Sachin's 62 off 32 balls which gave the impetus to Mumbai innings. Young Saurabh Tiwary proved to be the perfect foil, timing the ball to a nicety.

Sachin took centrestage from the word go and there were no half measures as he played his strokes with the abandon of a rookie hand. The impressive Tiwary was not of inspiration and put up 61 off 37 balls. Ambati Rayudu, another Mumbai young gun, made a quickfire 34. Kieron Pollard, the new sensation from the Caribbean, got his first hit in the IPL but played only eight balls.

Among Delhi bowlers, only Dirk Nannes could command respect.

Gambhir, had to leave the field due to a groin injury in the second over of the day itself, did not come out to bat at all. In his absence, wicketkeeper-batsman Dinesh Karthik led the side. In Gambhir's absence, T Dilshan stepped in to open the innings with Virender Sehwag but his bad run in the tournament continued.

With the score at 56/1 after six overs, Delhi looked like putting up a good fight but Dwayne Bravo deceived Sehwag with the first ball of the seventh over and the innings simply fizzled out after that. Bravo, Harbhajan and Jayasuriya all bagged two wickets each as Mumbai Indians squeezed the life out their rivals.

Dhoni can play against Royal Challengers: Chennai Super Kings

KOLKATA: Within hours of registering their first win in IPL-3 on Tuesday night, Chennai Super Kings were jolted by the news that they will be without captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni for at least two matches.

Dhoni was hit on the right forearm by a Shane Bond delivery during his match-winning unbeaten 66 against KKR and has been advised rest.

Dhoni, who left for Ranchi on Wednesday to recuperate at home, will rejoin the team in Chennai on Sunday, when his condition will be assessed. His return to the playing XI will depend on the outcome of the Sunday assessment.

CSK official Russel Radhakrishnan clarified to TOI that the rumour of Dhoni being out for 10 days is not true. "If he is found fit on Sunday, he could well play against Royal Challengers, in Bangalore on Tuesday."

Chennai Super Kings owner Gurunath Meyappan informed that in Dhoni's absence, Suresh Raina will lead the side and Parthiv Patel will keep wickets. CSK's next two games are against Delhi Daredevils in New Delhi on Friday and Kings XI Punjab on Sunday.

"Dhoni's absence is a big loss for us," CSK's director of cricketing operations VB Chandrasekhar said. "The team is very reliant on him. He is the skipper, he keeps wickets and is a great batsman too. It's a hard blow for us."

Dhoni is feared to have suffered severe bruising. Gurunath said that Dhoni would be paid the entire money as per his contract with the franchisee, irrespective of the period that he will be out. Dhoni's 33-ball 66 helped CSK reach a healthy 164/3 after, at one stage, even 140 looked doubtful. In the last over of the innings, the skipper collided with Badrinath mid-pitch and the latter seemed to be injured too. "Badri is fine now," Gurunath said.

Tiger still a terrific golfer: Obama

President Barack Obama Wednesday implicitly welcomed Tiger Woods' announced return to the links next month, by calling him "a terrific golfer" during a television interview.

After fielding weighty questions on domestic and international politics, Obama was told Fox News viewers were emailing to ask his view about Woods' return to the golf circuit, five months after a sex scandal put his career on hold.

"You know, I think that Tiger has acknowledged that he betrayed his family and that's a personal issue that he has got to work out," a diplomatic Obama said.

"I hope they have worked it out, I'm sure he is going to still be a terrific golfer," he added without mentioning next month's golf Masters at Augusta National Golf Club, where Woods will make his first post-scandal professional appearance.

After profuse public apologies for his infidelities, Woods on Tuesday announced that he would return to the sport he has long dominated, at the year's first major championship on April 8.

On November 27 car crash near Woods' home touched off a global scandal, leading to his admission of adultery and putting his golf career on hold while he fought his own personal demons.

Woods, who broke a racial barrier by becoming the first black major champion by winning the 1997 Masters, accepted an invitation to speak as part of pre-inauguration festivities for Barack Obama in January 2009.

Boxers bag $1 million sponsorship deal after medal haul

NEW DELHI: Indian boxers' phenomenal haul of six gold medals in the Commonwealth Championships helped them get a team and kit sponsor, for the first time ever, with the Monnet Steel group.

Monnet signed $1 million deal with boxers as kit sponsors on Thursday.

Apart from this, Percept Sports Management firm, which manages world number one Vijender, also roped in Suranjoy, Jai, Dinesh and Vijender's cousin Balwinder for a three-year brand endorsement deal.

The 19-year-old Balwinder had lost in the opening round of the tournament but is seen as a bright prospect.

"I hope the support keeps pouring in and the boxers continue to do well," said an emotional national coach Gurbax Singh Sandhu.

The gold medal winning boxers were also awarded Rs 25,000 each by Percept.

Deccan record first win, outplay Chennai by 31 runs

CHENNAI: Chaminda Vaas (3/21) ripped apart the Chennai Super Kings' top-order after Andrew Symonds and Herschelle Gibbs sparkled with the bat as Deccan Chargers beat the hosts by 31 runs to score their first win in the Indian Premier League on Sunday.

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Symonds (50) and Gibbs (45) weaved together a crucial 95-run partnership for the third wicket to lift Chargers to a handsome 190 for four.

Skipper Adam Gilchrist (38), at the top, and Rohit Sharma (19), down the order, also contributed in decorating Deccan innings after electing to bat.

The defending champions then restricted Chennai for 159 for nine at MA Chidambaram stadium.

Skipper MS Dhoni (42) and Albie Morkel (42) were joint top scorers for the hosts.

Chennai never recovered from the early blows landed on them by Vaas, who yet again gave his side a super start by ripping through hosts top order.

Pragyan Ojha (2/28) and Symonds (2/29) took two wickets apiece as their contribution in team's win.

The Sri Lanka paceman dismissed Murali Vijay (3) and Suresh Raina (6) in his second over and returned to get rid of dangerous Matthew Hayden (17).

They had hardly settled that Ojha sent back S Badrinath (5) to leave Chennai innings in tatters at 32 for four.

Kemp (22) and Dhoni had an enormous task at hand but all they could manage was a 38-run stand.

As the asking rate was touching sky, Kemp stepped out and lifted Ojha for a huge long-off six to break shackles but it was left-arm spinner who had the last laugh as two balls later he foxed the big hitter and had him stumped.

Dhoni had Morkel as his new partner and they were left with no option but to got for the kill.

However, Deccan spinners bowled magnificently and did not let the two big hitters do much damage.

Symonds clean bowled Dhoni to make the task all the more difficult for Chennai. Although Morkel came up with some lusty blows in his unbeaten knock but that proved insufficient.

Earlier, Symonds, who scored his second IPL fifty, and Gibbs joined forced after Deccan had lost two quick wickets, albeit after a fiery start.

The two batsman dug in and placed the defending champions to a position from their bowlers could fight well.

Both Symomds and Gibbs were run out in the fag end but Rohit together with T Suman (10) finished the innings splendidly, taking 22 runs from the last over.

Sudeep Tyagi bowled the first five balls of the 20th over and was taken off the attack after bowling a beamer to Sharma. Kemp completed the over.

Symonds' 50-run knock came off 43 balls with three sixes and an equal number of boundaries while Gibbs took 36 balls for his 45 with the help of five fours and one six.

Earlier, Deccan were off to a flying start with Gilchrist and VVS Laxman putting on 55 within first five overs.

Gilchrist was his usual destructive self and both the opening bowlers of the hosts -- Morkel and Tyagi were in for some really good punishment.

Tyagi was hit for 19 runs in his first over with ball soaring twice over the ropes. Morkel was hit for two fours and a six in the next over as Deccan scored 41 runs from the first three overs.

The severe beating forced early introduction of Muttiah Muralitharan, who almost got Laxman (at seven that time) in his fourth ball but skipper MS Dhoni could not hold on to a tough chance behind the wicket.

Another spinner R Ashwin was pressed into service and the tall tweaker did what his side needed. He deceived a charging down Gilchrist with a turning ball and disturbed his timber.

The hosts did not believe their luck when Laxman was run out next ball and the match was now on even terms.

Two new batsmen -- Symonds and Gibbs -- were at the crease and the hosts bowlers did extremely well by conceding just one boundary from over number five to nine.

However Symonds and Gibbs ensured the hosts do not get any more wicket and steadily re-build their innings.

Symonds was more aggressive of the two batsmen. He hit L Balaji for a six and a four in the 12 over. From a precarious position, they were comfortable at 139 for two after 16 overs.

The stand ended with run out of Gibbs and Symonds too fell in quick succession but by then the Deccan innings were placed decently.

Knight Riders beat Royal Challengers by 7 wickets

KOLKATA: Angelo Mathews returned with a four-wicket haul as a disciplined Kolkata Knight Riders notched up their second successive win, beating Royal Challengers Bangalore by seven wickets in the third Indian Premier League on Sunday.

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Cheered on by Shah Rukh Khan at the jam-packed Eden Gardens, Knight Riders first restricted the Royal Challengers at 135 for seven and then rode on half centuries by Manoj Tiwary (50) and Brad Hodge (50) to overhaul the target with four balls to spare.

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Having excelled with the bat against defending champions Deccan Chargers in their last match, Sri Lankan all-rounder Mathews this time ripped the Royal Challengers apart with four for 19 to become the destroyer-in-chief.

The medium-pacer was brilliantly supported by left-arm spinner Murali Kartik as Knight Riders prevailed from the beginning.

Chasing 136 to win, Knight Riders had a flying start with Tiwary and Hodge milking the Royal Challengers bowlers as they cruised to 85 for no loss in 10 overs.

Kumble used five bowlers in the first 10 overs but they failed to get a breakthrough with Tiwary and Hodge on fire.

The duo did not let Kumble's opening bowling pair of Praveen Kumar and Jacques Kallis to settle as he brought in himself and Dale Steyn but without any success.

RCB even struggled on the field and failed to bring in an easy run out in the 3.2 overs when Tiwary had some problem in his ankle and struggled to go for a second run.

Steyn had a brilliant throw from the rope but stumper Goswami and Dravid made a mess of it with Kallis and Kumble looking aghast at the other end.

Tiwary, however, wasn't complaining as he continued his assault smashing ace leg-spinner Kumble for 15 from eight balls including three boundaries as he cruised to 50 in 28 balls before being caught and bowled by Roelf van der Merwe.

With Knight Riders 101 for one in 11.4 overs, Ganguly joined Hodge in the middle but the agony for the Royals Challengers continued with butter-fingered Goswami dropping Ganguly when he was yet to open his account.

Hodge, in the mean time, completed his half-century and soon found himself caught by Manish Pandey off the bowling of van der Merwe as Cheteshwar Pujara joined Ganguly in the middle.

Looking to complete the formality with three runs remaining, Ganguly found himself dismissed by Praveen Kumar. The ace southpaw scored 23 runs facing 22 balls with one boundary and one six in his knock.

Earlier put into bat, Jacques Kallis anchored the RCB innings with a defiant 65 not out off 52 balls that included six boundaries.

Ray Jenning's tactics of banking on rookie Indian youngsters in batting misfired as the trio of Shreevats Goswami (8), Manish Pandey (0) and Virat Kohli (2) could only manage 10 runs.

Charl Langeveldt and Ishant Sharma tested Goswami, who opened the innings with Kallis, with pace and bounce. The stumper couldn't negotiate the short deliveries and soon became a victim of the former caught at third man.

Manish Pandey also departed in no time as RCB slided to 17 for two. In desperation to open his account, Pandey (0) dragged one onto his stumps as Mathews got his first wicket in his third ball.

Left-arm spinner Kartik then scalped two wickets from his two overs as Royal challengers were tottering at 35 for four.

Kartik first scalped Kohli (2) as he charged down the track only to find Mathews near the rope. English recruit Eoin Morgan was the next to go as in his pursuit for a reverse sweep he was castled by Kartik.

Opener Kallis, however, remained unruffled at the other end as he along with another veteran Rahul Dravid tried to make some repair work.

But thinking skipper Ganguly brought in Mathews again and he dismissed Dravid who inside-edged a low full toss to see his team slip to 73 for five.

The duo yielded 38 runs for the fifth wicket as Dravid departed for 21 from 16 balls with three fours.

With Ganguly rotating his bowlers, boundaries dried up and Mathews took two more wickets in Robin Uthappa (20) and Roelof van der Merwe (1) in his last over to emerge as the wrecker-in-chief.

Beckham faces World Cup heartbreak after rupturing Achilles

ROME: David Beckham could be ruled out of the World Cup after suffering a ruptured Achilles tendon injury on Sunday.

The 34-year-old former England captain was hurt in AC Milan's 1-0 Serie A win over Chievo at the San Siro, a win which helped close the gap on league leaders Inter.

"David's injury is bad for us," said Milan coach Leonardo, who refused to officially confirm the nature of the problem although Sky Sports Italia claimed it was a season-ending Achilles rupture.

"This was an important victory tonight, but this injury prevents us from really enjoying it. It's an important injury and we need to be able to judge how serious it is.

"David realised straightaway what had happened. He understood that it was a serious problem and he said so immediately. It's such a great shame."

Beckham, desperate to feature in Fabio Capello's England squad for South Africa and play in a fourth World Cup finals, twisted his left ankle during the final minutes of Sunday's match.

He limped off the field and was stretchered away in pain and in tears.

"This injury has been a heavy blow for him and for us. Unfortunately the party is ruined," added Leonardo.

Earlier on Sunday, Beckham had admitted he was far from certain to win a place in England's squad for the World Cup finals.

Beckham was an unused substitute in England's recent friendly win over Egypt as Capello opted to look at Theo Walcott and Shaun Wright-Phillips on the right wing instead of the veteran LA Galaxy star.

The 34-year-old joined AC Milan on loan in January in an attempt to convince Capello he could still make an impact at the highest level, but he has been left on the bench several times during his spell at the San Siro.

An injury crisis at the club, however, meant he was handed a rare start on Sunday.

Beckham is England's most-capped outfield player and has played in three World Cups.

Quoted in several newspapers in England on Sunday, former Manchester United midfielder Beckham said: "Am I banking on going to the World Cup? No, not at all.

"I am not guaranteed to go to South Africa. I have to work hard and hopefully win my place.

"There are a good few months left and plenty of games to play, but hopefully I can carry on playing well and get in the squad."

Rooney rules Old Trafford on landmark afternoon

LONDON: Wayne Rooney scored his 31st and 32nd goals of the season to lead Manchester United to a 3-0 home win over Fulham that nosed the champions back in front in the Premier League title race.

United officials buried a time capsule near the tunnel before Sunday's kickoff to mark 100 years at Old Trafford and Rooney etched his name ever deeper into the club's fabric with another unstoppable display.

At this rate the England striker could well surpass the 42 goals scored by Cristiano Ronaldo in the 2007-8 season.

On a day when United laboured to answer the victories for Chelsea and Arsenal that had dropped them down to third, Rooney provided the spark with a display that illustrated why England's World Cup hopes rest so heavily on his shoulders.

His instinctive first goal, 30 seconds into the second half punctured Fulham's resistance and his second with six minutes remaining settled some jitters against a dogged London side for whom Bobby Zamora fluffed two great chances.

To cap his afternoon Rooney's raking diagonal pass then instigated a move that ended with Dimitar Berbatov adding a third goal in the final minute as United, bidding for a fourth consecutive title, moved to 66 points with eight games remaining, two points ahead of Chelsea and Arsenal.

Surprisingly Rooney hardly got a kick during the opening 20 minutes as Fulham stifled the home side although he did burst into life with a snap shot that was well saved by Mark Schwarzer.

Fulham, beaten in the Europa League by Juventus on Thursday, could have taken the lead when striker Bobby Zamora left United's central defensive duo of Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic for dead but his attempted lob cleared the crossbar.

A frustrated Rooney went off at halftime complaining about a penalty that was not awarded but he lifted the mood straight after the re-start when he found space in a congested area to beat Schwarzer with a side-foot finish.

Zamora wasted another chance when he delayed too long when clean through, allowing Vidic to make a block and shortly afterwards Rooney sealed the points with a sweeping right-foot finish after great wing play by Berbatov.

Berbatov then headed in a Park-Ji sung cross to reach double figures for the season.

Later on Sunday, Manchester City face Sunderland as they continue their quest for a top-four finish.

Chandhok's F1 debut ends in disappointment, Liuzzi wins points

SAKHIR: Karun Chadhok's F1 debut didn't last long but Vitantonio Liuzzi's ninth place finish earned Force India two invaluable points from the season opening Bahrain Grand Prix which was eventually won by Ferrari's Fernando Alonso, on Sunday.

While the best Karun could have achieved was to complete the race, Adrian Sutil's 10th place on the starting grid had raised Force India hopes for a good finish.

The German driver, however, dropped out of point race after an opening lap scramble to eventually finish 12th and it was his Italian team-mate Liuzzi who took the onus on himself to ensure that the Vijay Mallya-owned outfit gained something from the season opener.

In contrast, Hispania driver Karun's Formula One debut was a blink-and-miss affair with the Indian forced into an early exit by a bump in the circuit.

"It was only my fifth lap of the circuit here and I found a bump I didn't know was there before and it launched me off," rued the Indian.

The 2010 season opener got off to a chaotic start and Sutil's VJM03 was among the cars that spun in the start, pushing the Force India driver down to the second last position.

Sutil tried to claw his way back and rose through the cluttered mid-field but that was not enough to finish among the points.

Fernando Alonso began his Ferrari career with a victory ahead of team-mate Felipe Massa and Lewis Hamilton of McLaren.

Alonso was ecstatic after with a splendid start to the season and with his new team.

"It is a great win today. It is very special to be back on a podium, but really special with Ferrari. There is no better way to start a good relationship.

"We managed to finish 1st and 2nd with the team. We have a very good base. We have to keep working and it is time to push," Alonso said.

Massa, who had suffered a nasty crash last season, was also happy with the result and also praised team strategy.

"Thanks to God I am fine and very happy. The race was really good and fantastic for us. I lost a position to Fernando in the first corner. The car is perfect and I was on soft tires and I was fast later on hard tires.

"It was not easy race. The team did a great job. Montezemolo was pushing very hard. I am very happy and this is my best start of the season. It is a fantastic start. Our engineer was speaking to me every lap to save fuel and this helped a lot over 25 or 30 laps," he said.

Hamilton said the turn four laps hurt him today.

"Congratulations to Fernando and Felipe. For us I lost a bit of ground at turn four. I was in a very bad position and Rosberg passed me. It is very difficult to follow here. Nevertheless I am very happy. We need to continue to push even if the team did a great job already," he said.