Pietersen, Flintoff fetch record prices at IPL

England players Kevin Pietersen and Andrew Flintoff fetched $1.55 million each at the Indian Premier League auction Friday, setting a record for the highest amount paid for a player in the Twenty20 competition.

Flintoff was snapped up by Chennai Super Kings, which last year set the previous record of 1.5 million for Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni. Bangalore's Royal Challengers secured Pietersen.

Bangalore's owner Vijay Mallya said he was prepared to pay more for Pietersen.

England players were not involved in the auction last year. South African J.P. Duminy was sold for $950,000 to Mumbai Indians, more than three times his reserve price.

Australia paceman Shaun Tait was the first player auctioned, going to defending champions Rajasthan Royals for $375,000. The IPL season begins on April 10.

Three nations plan joint IPL spin-off

Australia, New Zealand and South Africa have confirmed they are planning a multi-nation franchise-owned Twenty20 tournament based on the IPL, which they hope to launch by 2011. Although the competition is still in the planning stages, the idea is to have city-based teams and schedule it at a time that would allow Indian stars to take part.

The concept will involve two separate conferences - an eastern division based in Africa and a western division in Australasia - and the top sides from each will progress to the finals. It will not replace the existing domestic Twenty20 competitions; instead it is most likely to be held in October with each nation free to also retain their state- or provincial-based tournaments.

The organisers want the competition to feed teams into the Champions League Twenty20. The southern hemisphere-based tournament, which as yet has no name, is another indication of the growing dominance of Twenty20.

The first season of the IPL was massively popular this year in India, where there is also the unsanctioned ICL competition, while England will soon be playing for US$20 million in the Stanford Super Series. Peter Young, Cricket Australia's spokesman, conceded it will be a challenge to squeeze the new tournament in but the organisers were confident it could be achieved.

"It'll be short, sharp and very focused but the exact number of games is yet to be determined,"

Young said.

"Strategically we see that there's a finite amount of Twenty20 cricket that's likely to be ideal, with a number of major global blocks."

There is still a way to go before the finer details can be finalised, including the number of teams. There is also potential for the African conference to feature sides not based in South Africa and for the Australasian division to have teams from outside Australia and New Zealand. Domestic players are likely to feature heavily but the three boards are keen to ensure international stars, from India or England, for example, take part.

"Gathering a large number of the world's marquee players into a single competition over a compressed time-frame can capture the public imagination and create new audiences for cricket,"

Justin Vaughan, New Zealand Cricket's chief executive, said.

"The challenge for the three southern-hemisphere boards is to create the stage for that opportunity to be captured in a way which complements international cricket."

Cricket Australia has been considering a franchise-based Twenty20 system for some time. James Sutherland, the chief executive of Cricket Australia, said it had become clear that to reach a critical mass, a regional approach was needed.

"The idea developed out of blue-sky Twenty20 thinking over the past 18 months,"

Sutherland said. "Regional-level Twenty20 cricket played at the level immediately below international cricket has shown it can capture the public imagination and create new audiences for cricket.

"But as we have seen in India, it needs critical mass to generate major public excitement. The regional concept we have been charged with developing provides that critical mass."

Cricket Australia is also keen to increase the international focus of its state-based Twenty20 tournament. From 2009-10 it will encourage the six state teams to recruit star players from overseas.

Adam Gilchrist to lead Deccan Chargers

Adam Gilchrist, the former Australian wicketkeeper-batsman, has been appointed captain of the Deccan Chargers, replacing VVS Laxman, who led the team during the inaugural season of the IPL. Darren Lehmann, the former Australia batsman, takes charge as coach, replacing former India player Robin Singh.

Gilchrist said it was a "tremendous thrill and honour" and looked forward to working hard and making the team successful. Gilchrist was Deccan's leading run-getter in the league's first edition, scoring 436 runs at 33.53. He led the team in eight of their 14 matches, after Laxman suffered a wrist injury.

"Adam Gilchrist commands respect within the team and right around the cricket world. He has redefined the role of wicketkeeper-batsman in modern cricket,"

Tim Wright, the Deccan Chargers chief executive, said.

"I am confident Gilchrist will unite Deccan Chargers' outstanding talent. Four members of our squad were on the India tour of Sri Lanka, more than any other IPL team, and the quality of our overseas players is well known. These players will play for Gilchrist.

"We are delighted to be giving Darren Lehmann his first post as coach and have no doubt he will be a great success,"

Wright said.

"He has already brought considerable energy into the group and has a no-nonsense approach to winning cricket matches. Lehmann is in India this week to run player trials in Hyderabad. We are looking to build a solid talent base for the future."

Robin, meanwhile, has said he will discuss his future with the franchise.

"I was aware of the discussions which had been going on for a while about some new appointments,"

he told.

"Definitely I will be featuring in some capacity in a role that is suitable and in line with what I would like to do. We will have to sit and have a mutual agreement on that."

Robin , who also holds the role of a fielding coach with the Indian team, expressed disappointment over Laxman being replaced.

"It's a bit sad about VVS, but it is for him to talk."

Deccan finished last in the inaugural edition of the league, winning only two of their 14 matches. The team's poor performance was surprising given a star-studded batting line-up, with Andrew Symonds, Shahid Afridi and Herschelle Gibbs joining Gilchrist, Scott Styris, Laxman and Rohit Sharma. While Symonds was only available for four games, Afridi and Gibbs both averaged below 20.

I had rejected IPL offer: Mashrafe Mortaza

Bangladesh vice-captain Mashrafe Mortaza said that he had rejected the offer from the management of the Indian Cricket League (ICL) to represent Dhaka Warriors.

Mahrafe Mortaza said in an interview that he had received many phone calls from the ICL, offering him to play for Dhaka Warriors but he preferred to play for his country instead of playing for the ICL.

He said it has now become the part of history and he did not think necessary to tell this thing anybody as he was not interested in that offer.

Mortaza further said that this is wrong to say that the Bangladesh players did not perform well in Australia due to the ICL offer. They made all out efforts for victory but unfortunately, lost the series 0-3 due to poor batting.

Rajasthan Royals clinch IPL championship

Rajasthan Royals clinched IPLTwenty20 championship by defeating Chennai Super Kings in IPL final at the lesser known DY Patil Stadium.

Rajasthan Royals defeated Chennai Super Kings by three wickets in the much awaited final of the 45 days Indian Premier League's extravaganza.

The grand finale saw the battle of "Greatest leg Spinner" of the world with the young Indian captain who led an inexperienced Indian team to win the first Twenty-20 world cup, however, Rajasthan Royals captain Shane Warne successfully led the team towards grand victory.

Chennai stun Punjab to qualify for IPL final

The Chennai Super Kings stunned the favourites – Kings XI Punjab – when they easily won by nine wickets to qualify for the final here Saturday in the second semi-final of the Indian Premier League (IPL) at the Wankhede Stadium.

Chasing an easy target of 113 runs, the Chennai achieved the victory by losing only one wicket with 31 balls remaining.

Parthiv Patil and Suresh Raina struck unbeaten fifties to take their team into the final of the IPL. They added 102 runs off 75 balls for an unbeaten second wicket partnership.

Patil made 51 with eight fours and Raina scored 55 off 34 balls with four sixes and as many fours.

Earlier, the Kings XI Punjab could not take the advantage of toss and were restricted by the Chennai Super Kings at 112 for eight in the allotted 20 overs.

Winning the toss and electing to bat, Punjab collapsed for 112 runs for the loss of eight wickets in the allotted 20 overs.

Their main scorers were Ramesh Powar (28 not out), Wilkin Mota (25) and opener Shaun Marsh (23).

At one stage, it was looking very difficult for Punjab to reach 100 runs but an eighth wicket partnership of 35 runs between Mota and Powar made it possible.

Main wicket-takers from Chennai were Manpreet Gony (2-14), Makhaya Ntini (2-23) and Albie Morkel (2-27) while Muttiah Muralitharan claimed one for 19.

Teams:

Kings XI Punjab: Shaun Marsh, James Hopes, Kumar Sangakkara (wk), Yuvraj Singh (captain), Mahela Jayawardene, Irfan Pathan, Wilkin Mota, Piyush Chawla, Ramesh Powar, VRV Singh, Sreesanth.

Chennai Super Kings: Parthiv Patel (wk), S Vidyut, Suresh Raina, Mahendra Singh Dhoni (captain), Chamara Kapugedera, S Badrinath, Albie Morkel, Manpreet Gony, Laxmipathy Balaji, Muttiah Muralitharan, Makhaya Ntini.

Rajasthan Royals v Delhi Daredevils, 1st semi-final, IPL

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 runs

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 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 Glenn McGrath and Mohammad 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 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 how the match was long gone.

Mumbai thrash Kolkata by eight wickets

The Mumbai Indians outclassed the Kolkata Knight Riders by eight wickets when they achieved the easiest target of 68 runs in only 33 balls here Friday in the 38th Twenty20 match of the Indian Premier League played at the Wankhede Stadium.

The whole match lasted 20.5 overs. Kolkata were routed for 67 in 15.2 overs and Mumbai gunned down the target off only 5.3 overs, thanks to a blitz from opener Sanath Jayasuriya.

Jayasuriya, who is in terrific form these days, smashed an unbeaten 48 runs from just 17 balls with three sixes and six fours after Sachin Tendulkar was dismissed by fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar for nought.

Shoaib Akhtar and Ishant Sharma took one wicket each.

Earlier, the Kolkata Knight Riders were routed for the lowest total in the Indian Premier League after Sachin Tendulkar won the toss and put them into batting.

Kolkata’s 67 is also the fifth-lowest total in any form of Twenty20 cricket.

The pitch did assist the seam bowlers, offering bounce and lateral movement and Pollock and the others exploited it to the hilt. Kolkata's batsmen failed to gauge the conditions quickly enough and collapsed in a heap.

Their top-scorers were captain Sourav Ganguly (15), Ajit Agarkar (15) and Salman Butt (13) and no other batsman could reach the double-figures.

Veteran pace bowler Shaun Pollock claimed three wickets for 11 runs off four overs and was declared the man-of-the-match for his outstanding spell. Dwayne Bravo and Rohan Raje got two wickets each for 13 and 16, respectively.

Mumbai made one change to their winning combination as they brought in the left-arm spinner Rajesh Pawar in place of Dhawal Kulkarni.

Kolkata dropped Murali Karthik, Tatenda Taibu and Iqbal Abdulla and brought in the veteran Ajit Agarkar and Mohammad Hafeez.

Mumbai now have the best net run rate of the tournament and leveled Delhi and Kolkata on ten points in the league table.

Balaji’s hat-trick makes Chennai beat Punjab by 18 runs

Right-arm medium-fast bowler Lakshmipathy Balaji’s hat-trick in the final over got Chennai Super Kings a 18-run thrilling win over the Kings XI Punjab here on Saturday in the 31st match of the Indian Premier League, played at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chepauk.

The Chennai Super Kings set a rather difficult target of 182 runs and the Kings XI Punjab made a brave effort to chase it but Balaji’s hat-trick, the first of the IPL, turned the tables in the final over.

Needing 25 runs in the final over, Irfan Pathan got eight runs off the first two balls from Balaji but on the next ball he was out caught by Suresh Raina at deep square-leg. Then Balaji struck two more wickets to get the hat-trick and also to get victory for his team and win the man-of-the-match award for his five for 24.

Opener Shaun Marsh was the top scorer from the Kings XI Punjab, making 58 off 38 balls with four sixes and three fours.

Later, all-rounder Irfan Pathan smashed 40 off just 18 balls with three sixes and three fours and he brought his team close to win when Balaji dismissed him.

Earlier put into batting by Punjab captain Yuvraj Sing, the Chennai Super Kings after losing two early wickets succeeded in making 181 runs for four wickets in the allotted 20 overs.

This was all due to a fourth wicket stand of 90 runs between Subramaniam Badrinath and captain Mahindra Singh Dhoni.

Badrinath made 64 runs off 47 balls with six fours and three sixes while Dhoni scored an unbeaten 60 off 43 balls with four sixes and two fours.

Suresh Raina contributed 26 off 17 balls with four boundaries.

Sreesanth claimed two wickets for 29 runs and Pyush Chawla took one wicket.

Punjab made one change, bringing in Karan Goel for the bowler Gagandeep Singh. Sangakkara is not fit and according to Yuvraj he will take another four-five days to recover so Uday Kaul kept wicket once again.

Chennai fielded an unchanged eleven from the game against Delhi.

Teams:
Kings XI Punjab: Shaun Marsh, James Hopes, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Yuvraj Singh (captain), Mahela Jayawardene, Karan Goel, Irfan Pathan, Piyush Chawla, Uday Kaul (wk), Sreesanth, VRV Singh.

Chennai Super Kings: S Vidyut, Stephen Fleming, Mahendra Singh Dhoni (captain and wk), Suresh Rania, Albie Morkel, Chamara Kapugedera, S Badrinath, Manpreet Gony, Palani Amarnath, Muttiah Muralitharan, Lakshmipathy Balaji.

Rajasthan Royals thrash Deccan Chargers by eight wickets

A solid opening stand of 109 runs between Graeme Smith and Yusuf Pathan guided the Rajasthan Royals to an easy eight wickets victory over the Deccan Challengers in the 30th Twenty20 match of the Indian Premier League on Friday at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium, Jaipur.

Chasing 141 runs, the Rajasthan Royals achieved the target from just 16 overs for the loss of only two wickets.

Pathan smashed 68 off just 37 balls with nine fours and two sixes while Smith made an steady 40 off 43 balls with four fours. Later, Yusuf Pathan was declared the man-of-the-match.

Mohammad Kaif (17) and Shane Watson (5) remained not out.

RP Singh and Pragyan Ojha took one wicket each.

Earlier, Rajasthan Royals captain Shane Warne won the toss and put the Deccan Chargers into batting and then restricted them to 140 runs for eight wickets in the allotted 20 overs.

Deccan Chargers’ stand-in captain Adam Gilchrist smashed a quick fifty and along with Herschelle Gibbs provided a solid opening stand of 61 runs off 48 balls.

However, when Gibbs and later Scott Styris departed at 88 they were losing run-rate and the collapse began.

Gilchrist made 61 off 49 balls with nine fours and one six while other main scorers were Venugopal Rao (23), Gibbs (19) and Styris (13).

Shane Warne was the most successful bowler with two for 20 while Siddharth Trivedi, Shane Watson, Yusuf Pathan and Munaf Patel took one wicket each.

Adam Gilchrist again captained the Deccan Chargers in place of Venkat Sai Laxman, who is still unfit due to hand injury.

Deccan left out Arjun Yadav and brought in Ravi Teja while Rajasthan also made one change as Swapnil Asnodkar was replaced by Niraj Patel.

Deccan Chargers: Adam Gilchrist (captain and wk), Herschelle Gibbs, Scott Styris, Rohit Sharma, Shahid Afridi, Venugopal Rao, Sanjay Bangar, Ravi Teja, RP Singh, P Vijaykumar, Pragyan Ojha.

Rajasthan Royals: Graeme Smith, Niraj Patel, Yusuf Pathan, Shane Watson, Mohammad Kaif, Ravindra Jadeja, Mahesh Rawat (wk), Shane Warne (captain), Sohail Tanvir, Siddharth Trivedi, Munaf Patel.

Mumbai Indians win by 29 runs

In 23rd match, Mumbai Indians won the match against Delhi Daredevils by 29 runs in today’s first match of the Indian Premier League on Sunday, which started at 15:30

Earlier, Mumbai Indians gave 163-run target to Delhi Daredevils, which could not achieve it and were restricted to 133 runs. Delhi Daredevils were all out, when still seven balls were to go.

It was only Virender Sehwag who could put up some resistance against their rivals and played 40-run innings with three fours and three sixers.

Other batsmen could add up runs short of the target. Karthik 28, Shoaib Malik 24 and de Villiers could make only 21 runs.

Mumbai Indians’ Nehra bowled out three players against 25 runs. Shaun Pollock and Kulkarni preyed two wickets each.

In the beginning, Delhi Daredevils won the toss and elected to field first against Mumbai Indians. Delhi Daredevils’ Sanath Jayasuriya was the top scorer with 34 runs comprising six fours and one sixer. Shaun Pollock was the second highest scorer with three sixers and two fours.

Yo Mahesh was the most successful bowler from Delhi Daredevils, who showed three Mumbai Indians out into the pavilion. While, Mohammad Asif, Virender Sehwag, Shoaib Malik and Rajat Bhatia achieved one wicket each.

Geo Super telecasted the match live from DR DY Patil Stadium, Mumbai.

In the next IPL fixture Rahul Dravid will lead his team Rajasthan Royals against Chennai Super Kings captained by Mahendra Singh Dhoni in Jaipur.

Mumbai Indians: Ajinkya Rahane, Sanath Jayasuriya, Robin Uthapa, Dwayne Bravo, Shaun Pollock (captain), Abhiahek Nayar, Pinai Shah, Musavir Khote, Dilhara Fernando, Ashiah Nehra, Dhawai Kulkarni.

Delhi Daredevils: Virender Sehwag (captain), Gautam Gambhir, AB de Villiers, Shikhar Dhawan, Shoaib Malik, Dinesh Karthik, Rajat Bhatia, Yo Mahesh, Glenn McGrath, Pradeep Sangwan, Mohammad Asif.

Daredevils’ easy 8-wkt win over Super Kings put them on top

Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir’s solid opening stand of 115 runs from just 11.4 overs guided Delhi Daredevils to an easy eight-wicket victory over their arch rivals Chennai Super Kings in the 20th match of the Indian Premier League here at MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chepauk on Friday.

Thus, the Delhi Daredevils ended Mahindra Singh Dhoni’s all win IPL record.

Needing 170, Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir's century partnership took the game away from Chennai Super Kings in the first 12 overs and the Delhi Daredevils achieved the target for the loss of both their openers with one over left.

Captain Sehwag smashed 71 off just 41 balls with four sixes and seven fours while his partner Gambhir made 50 off 37 balls with five fours and one six.

Manpreet Gony and Joginder Sharma were the only bowlers to get one wicket each.
Earlier, the Chennai Super Kings after winning the toss batted first and made 169 runs for six wickets in the allotted 20 overs.

Vidyut Sivaramakrishnan top scored with 54 runs. He hit seven fours and one six for Chennai. Captain Dhoni scored 32 runs off 27 balls with two fours and one six.

Glenn McGrath, Mohammad Asif, Yo Mahesh, Rajat Bhatia and Sehwag took one wicket each.

Rajasthan Royals beat Kolkata Knight Riders by 45 runs

: The Rajasthan Royals defeated Kolkata Knight Riders by 45 runs in the Indian Premier League here on Thursday.

The bowlers and fielders of Rajasthan Royals did not let the batsmen of Kolkata Knight Riders play with full force hera at Sawai Mansingh Stadium and limited them to 151 runs in 20 overs leading to the Rajasthan’s win by 45.

Saurav Ganguly skipper of Kolkata Knight Riders made 51 runs and David Hussey 42. No other batsman could face the bowlers of Rajasthan and wickets kept falling in short intervals. Kolkata players could not even play complete 20 overs and got all out in 19.1 overs.

Siddarth Trivedi and Sohail Tanvir took 2 wickets each for Rajasthan.

Delhi Daredevils beat Bangalore Royal Challengers by 10 runs

Delhi Daredevils defeated Bangalore Royal Challengers by 10 runs in an exciting finish in the 17th match of the Indian Premier League here at the Feroze Shah Kotla ground on Wednesday.

Chasing a rather difficult target of 192, the Bangalore Royal Challengers went down fighting at 181 for five in the allotted 20 overs.

Their main scorer was Jaques Kallis, who made 54 off 44 balls with six four and one six while captain Rahul Dravid scored 38 off 30 balls with four boundaries and one six and Mark Boucher smashed unbeaten 31 off 17 balls with two fours and two sixes. He hit 19 runs in the final over bowled by rival captain Virender Sehwag.

Fast-medium bowler Glenn McGrath bowled extremely well and grabbed four wickets for 29 runs while Daniel Vettori took one wicket. McGrath was declared man-of-the-match after the match ended.

Earlier, Dravid won the toss and invited the opponents to bat first who made 191 for the loss of five wickets in the allotted 20 overs.

The architects of their total were opener Gautam Gambhir and Shikhar Dhawan who added 98 runs for the second wicket.

Gautam Gambhir played an outstanding innings of 86 runs off 54 balls with eleven fours and one six and Dhawan made 50 off 33 balls with four fours and three sixes.

Jacques Kallis took 2 wickets while Dale Steyn and Zaheer Khan got one wicket each for Banglore Royal Challengers.

Harbhajan out from IPL in slapping row

India spinner Harbhajan Singh was handed a 11-match ban from a domestic Twenty20 tournament on Monday after being found guilty of slapping national team-mate Shanthakumaran Sreesanth.

The bowler could also face further punishment from the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), which announced a separate probe into the incident that took place in Mohali on Friday night.

Harbhajan, 27, allegedly slapped Sreesanth, 25, soon after a match, leaving the young paceman weeping inconsolably in full view of television cameras.

Harbhajan, who was leading Mumbai, later apologised to Punjab's Sreesanth and the two appeared to have made up by calling each other "brothers."

But match referee Farokh Engineer held a hearing on Monday after the Punjab team management lodged a formal complaint against Harbhajan to tournament officials. Engineer, a former India Test wicket-keeper, imposed a 11-match ban on Harbhajan, which means the off-spinner can play only if Mumbai make the semi-finals.

"The referee studied video tapes of the incident and found the assault by Harbhajan was totally unprovoked," tournament organiser Lalit Modi said.

The BCCI on Monday appointed lawyer Sudhir Nanavati to probe the charges against Harbhajan, who is on its payroll as a centrally contracted player.

Nanavati will submit his findings within 15 days after which the BCCI will decide on further action against the bowler, a release from the cricket body said.

Harbhajan could be charged by the BCCI under level 4 of the International Cricket Council's Code of Conduct which deals with assaulting a fellow player.

If found guilty, he could be banned for life or five Test matches or 10 one-day internationals.

"The BCCI will not hesitate to take action against Harbhajan just because he has already been punished by the tournament organisers,"

said Ratnakar Shetty, the BCCI's chief administrative officer.

"We want to show that such acts of indiscipline will not be tolerated."

Harbhajan was banned for three Tests earlier this year after being found guilty of making racist remarks against Australian all-rounder Andrew Symonds, but was let off with a fine following an appeal to the ICC.

Kings XI Punjab beat Delhi Daredevils by four wickets

Kings XI Punjab beat Delhi Daredevils by four wickets in the first match of Indian Premier League on Sunday at Punjab Cricket Association stadium in Mohali.

Simon Katich sealed Punjab’s win with brilliant 75 including 11 fours and a six. Yuvraj Singh was another top contributor of Kings XI Punjab innings with undefeated 40.

Muhammad Asif captured two wickets for 39 runs for Delhi. McGrath, Shoaib Malik and Mahesh took one wicket each.

Earlier, Delhi Daredevils won the toss and batting first managed a total of 158 runs. Manoj Tiwary's battling innings of 39 were the highlight of Delhi innings. Kings XI attained the target with loss of six wickets in the final over with three deliveries remaining.

David Morgan defends premature sidelining of Malcolm Speed

International Cricket Council (ICC) newly elected president David Morgan has defended governing body decision sidelining chief executive, Malcolm Speed prior to his tenure of employment.

He confirmed that the decision to put Malcolm Speed on forced leave for the last two months of his contract as CEO was as a result of a ‘fundamental breakdown’ in the relationship between him, Ray Mali, the president, and some of the Executive Board members.

Addressing a press conference at Lord’s, Morgan briefed on chief executive Malcolm Speed’s premature leave. He said that the Board’s caretaker president Ray Mali and Malcolm Speed had with mutual agreement finalized this that Malcolm Speed would go on leave in the last two months of his tenure of employment. When quizzed on Zimbabwe cricket, David Morgan said that this was the issue on which Board’s president and chief executive had differences. Malcolm Speed was unhappy over ICC not taking action against the Zimbabwe Board for misappropriations in Zimbabwe cricket accounts. He clarified that Malcolm Speed was neither sent on forced leave for his being Australian nor related to ICL or IPL.

Chennai Super Kings cruise to easy win over Kolkata Knight Riders

Chennai Super Kings cruised to an easy victory by nine wickets against Kolkata Knight Riders in the eleventh match of the Indian Premier League on Saturday.

Chasing a moderate target of 148 runs, the Chennai Super Kings achieved it in 16.5 overs when captain Mahindra Singh Dhoni struck a six off Murali Kartik.

After losing the only wicket of Parthiv Patel (21) at the score of 66, opener Matthew Hayden and Dhoni took the score to 152 to get their team win the match by nine wickets here at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chepauk.

Hayden made 70 off 48 balls with six fours and three sixes while Dhoni scored 43 off 27 balls with three fours and two sixes. Both remained not out.

Kolkata captain Sourav Ganguly tried seven bowlers but none of theem could take any wicket except fast-medium bowler Ajit Agarkar who claimed the only wicket of the Chennai innings.

By winning their all three matches in the IPL, the Channai Super Kings is now leading the points table with six points where as the Kolkata Knight Riders lost for the first time after winning two successive matches in the tournament.

Earlier, Kolkata Knight Riders won the toss and elected to bat first but could not bat confidently as the Chennai Super Kings with their fine bowling and superb fielding restricted Kolkata Knight Riders at 147 runs for nine wickets in the allotted 20 overs.

Their top scorer was late-order batsman Laxmi Shukla, who made 42 off 33 balls with four boundaries and one six while wicketkeeper batsman Prasanta Saha scored 27 and opener Brendon McCullum contributed 24.

Mohammad Hafeez (16), Captain Saurov Ganguly (12) and Ajit Agarkar (11) were the only other batsmen who got into double figures.

Fast-medium bowler Jacob Oram captured three wickets for 32 while pacers Palany Amarnath and Manpreet Gony took two wickets each. Renowned off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan could not get any wicket but he conceded only 12 runs in four overs.

Rajasthan Royals crush Bangalore Royal Challengers by seven wickets

Rajasthan Royals easily defeated Bangalore Royal Challengers by seven wickets in the 12th match of the Indian Premier League here on Saturday.

Chasing an easy target of 136 runs, the Royals completed their victory in 17.1 overs for the loss of three wickets at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium.

Shane Watson and Graeme Smith were the architects of the victory as they added 104 runs for the third wicket stand.

Watson remained unbeaten on 61 runs off 41 balls with eight fours and two sixes while opener Smith made 49 off 42 balls with eight fours.

From the Royal Challengers, Zaheer Khan, Sunil Joshi and Praveen Kumar took one wicket each.

Earlier, Shane Warne, captain of the Rajasthan Royals winning the toss put the Bangalore Royal Challengers into batting and restricted them at 135-8 in the allotted 20 overs.

Bangalore batsmen could not make a big score and were restricted at 135 runs for the loss of eight wickets at the.

Ross Taylor top scored with 44 runs off just 20 balls. He hit six fours and three sixes. The second top-scorer was Praveen Kumar, who made 34 off 30 balls with three sixes and two fours.

Shane Watson and Munaf Patel both claimed two wickets for 20 runs each from the Rajasthan Royals.

No dispute with Sreesanth, says Harbhajan

Indian spinner Harbhajan Singh has said the incident between him and Sreesanth Shanthakumaran was over. "It is not such a big issue the way people are making it out to be," he told television channels.

The Indian media had reported that Harbhajan had slapped the young fast bowler.

"Harbhajan came back to the dressing room and apologised to Sreesanth,"

Mohali captain Yuvraj Singh told reporters.

Meanwhile, Sreesanth has said Harbhajan is like his elder brother.

Television pictures showed Sreesanth sobbing at the end of t