IPL 2008 Points Table

IPL 2008 Points Table

Team Mat Won Lost Tied N/R Pts Net RR Chennai 3 3 0 0 0 6 +1.260 Rajasthan Royals 4 3 1 0 0 6 +0.067 Delhi Daredevils 2 2 0 0 0 4 +2.988 Kolkata 3 2 1 0 0 4 +2.117 Kings XI Punjab 3 1 2 0 0 2 +0.241 Bangalore 3 1 2 0 0 2 -2.765 Mumbai Indians 3 0 3 0 0 0 -1.268 Deccan Chargers 3 0 3 0 0 0 -1.339

Harbhajan suspended from IPL

Temperamental off-spinner Harbhajan Singh was suspended pending his explanation for slapping his Indian teammate S Sreesanth at the end of an IPL match in Mohali on Friday night and appears headed for a severe punishment which can be a minimum of a ban for five Test matches or 10 one-day internationals.

Harbhajan was earlier given a show-cause notice by the BCCI which gave him time till Monday to explain his conduct but bowing to media and public outrage, he was temporarily suspended till the disciplinary hearing before Farokh Engineer, who was the Match Referee in the tie between Kings XI Punjab and Mumbai Indians.

The suspension means Harbhajan Singh, who is the stand-in captain for the Mumbai Indians, will not be able to play for the team against Deccan Chargers on Sunday in Mumbai.

Announcing the suspension, IPL Chairman and Commissioner Lalit Modi said that based on prima facie video evidence as seen and reviewed by the match adjudicator and referee Farokh Engineer from the tapes provided by Sony & TWI, a decision has been reached to suspend with immediate effect Harbhajan Singh of the Mumbai Indians pending the inquiry into the incident on Monday, April 28, 2008.

"The inquiry into the incident at Mohali in the game between Kings XI Punjab and Mumbai Indians will now take place at the Maurya Sheraton, New Delhi on April 28th, 2008. A final verdict would be announced by the adjudicator Farokh Engineer post hearing at New Delhi", he said in a statement.

As per the ICC Code of Conduct, slapping a fellow player constitutes a level 4 offence and could lead to a life ban or a minimum ban of five Tests to 10 ODIs.

BCCI President Sharad Pawar said that he had told the IPL Chairman if there was prima facie evidence of wrong-doing on the part of any player, the IPL should take immediate action against the player.

Simaltaneously, he said, the IPL should give opportunity to both the players by hearing them and then take a final view. The IPL Committee will take a separate decision on Monday, he added.

The immediate provocation for Harbhajan's action last night appears to be Sreesanth saying "hard luck" to the off spinner who was in a bad mood following the Mumbai team's third successive loss.

Though Harbhajan, who had only recently escaped unscathed from a searing racial abuse row with Australian all-rounder Andrew Symonds, and his victim Sreesanth who cried bitterly on the field last night, tried to downplay the incident, the BCCI sought his explanation by Monday.

The IPL also asked the Match Referee and Adjudicator Engineer to hold an inquiry in Delhi on Monday when Singh would appear before him.

As the cricket world reacted with shock and condemned his behaviour, the Mumbai Indians brazenly announced late evening that Singh would captain tomorrow's match against Deccan Chargers in Mumbai in the absence of an unfit Sachin Tendulkar.

But shortly later, Modi's announcement came as a setback to the team which has already lost all the three matches in the tournament so far.

Katich guides Kings XI Punjab to victory over Delhi Daredevils

Mohali: Australian left-hander Simon Katich scored a confident 75 to steer Kings XI Punjab to an easy four-wicket win over Delhi Daredevils in their Indian Premier League match here today.

This was second successive victory for the hosts in three days and first defeat in the tournament for the Delhi team.

Chasing a modest target of 159, the Aussie playing his second match, did not lose nerves despite losing his opening partner Karan Goel (1) and Kumar Sangakkara (4) and made the run chase look easy.

The 32-year-old was in total command hitting fluent shots, with pacers Farveez Maharoof and Mohammed Asif getting the stick.

Katich took just 52 balls to produce a scintillating knock, which was adorned with 11 boundaries and a six before running himself out following a mix-up with his skipper.

After Katich got out in the 14th over when the team score was 119, Yuvraj, who had come at the fall of Mahela Jayawardene (15), took his team to a smooth victory.

The skipper played a solid 40-run knock and hit the winning runs in the last over.

Mohammed Asif bagged two wickets while Glenn McGrath, Yo Mahesh and Shoaib Malik took a wicket each for Daredevils.

After crushing Rajasthan Royals in Delhi and Deccan Chargers in Hyderabad, Daredevils tasted their first defeat in the tournament.

Ball Sport

Rajasthan Royals defeat Bangalore Royal Challengers by 7 wickets

Australian allrounder Shane Watson hit a fluent unbeaten 61 to take Rajasthan Royals to an easy seven-wicket win with 2.5 overs to spare against Bangalore Royal Challengers in the IPL tie played at M Chimnaswamy stadium.

After putting the visitors in the right track by restricting Bangalore to a modest 135 for eight by claiming two quick wickets, the Queenslander hit his second successive half century, both match-winning knocks, to help Rajasthan earn their third successive win in four matches.

Bangalore crashed to their second defeat and now has just one win in three matches.

He added a commanding 104 for the third wicket with South African skipper Graeme Smith 49 (42b, 8x4) to give no chance for the home team to make something out of its modest score.

Watson had hit a match winning half century against Deccan Chargers just two days ago. On Saturday, the Aussie was again at his fluent best and was in charge of the Rajasthan innings playing without taking risks in the beginning and then opened out in style. He hit 26 runs off a Praveen Kumar over, cracking five boundaries and a huge six in the 14th over of the innings to take the visitors to the doorstep of a comfortable victory.

Chasing a modest 136 to win, by and large a small total in view of even 200 that is now achievable in this league as shown by Royals themselves against Laxman’s men, Royals made a negative start losing Mahesh Rawat in the first over and then lost big hitter Yusuf Pathan (21) early with Praveen Kumar and Zaheer Kahan striking in tandem.

However, their success ended at that as the Australia-South African pair took the match away from Rahul Dravid’s men, who dished out a disappointing fare.

Earlier, the Royals bowlers stuck to a good line and made maximum use of the bouncy track to restrict Bangalore to 135 for eight, with Watson and Munaf Patel claiming two wickets apiece.

Royals skipper Shane Warne marshalled his bowlers very well as his batsmen gave him no hiccups what so ever in achieving the winning target.

Chennai Super Kings humilate Kolkata Knight Riders

Chennai: Pacing their chase to near-perfection, Chennai Super Kings strolled to their third consecutive win, drubbing Kolkata Knight Riders by nine wickets in the Indian Premier League here Saturday.

After Jacob Oram's three-wicket haul that restricted Knight Riders to 147 for nine, the Super Kings, thanks to Matthew Hayden's second successive half-century (70b, 3 x 6, 6 x 4), cruised to victory that put them on top of the IPL leaderboard with six points.

The Super Kings batted sensibly taking no risks whatsoever and romped home with ease.

Hayden, who had made 81 in the previous game against Mumbai Indians, put on 66 for the first wicketwith Parthiv Patel, the highest opening stand in the tournament so far, to provide an ideal platform for skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni (43, 27b, 2 x 6, 3 x 4) to finish the game in style.

Given the relatively modest target, the Super Kings focussed on denying the Riders early breakthroughs and then had plenty in reserve to step up the pace when it was required with Hayden clubbing a few sixes.

Hayden and Dhoni added 86 runs for the unfinished second wicket even as the Knight Riders grew in frustration and started to spray the ball around.

Earlier, the Riders, having won both their previous two games, began promisingly with opener Brendon McCullum blazing away, but a twin strike by Oram broke the back of the Kolkata innings that never really recovered from these setbacks.

The Kiwi all-rounder returned with figures of three for 32, a far cry from his 0-37 and 0-53 in the two previous games both of which Super Kings won.

Oram first got rid of McCullum who top-edged a catch and off the very next delivery, out-of-form Ricky Ponting offered a tame catch with Riders on 32 in 2.4 overs.

Thereafter, it was an endless procession as the Riders batsmen in their anxiety to quicken the pace, fell to indiscreet shots.

Super Kings skipper Dhoni kept the pressure on, shuffling his bowlers and not allowing the batsmen to settle down.

Off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan applied the brakes on the Riders, conceding just 12 runs in his four overs while Palani Amarnath picked up two crucial wickets, those of David Hussey and Md. Hafeez.

Barring Lakshmi Ratan Shukla (42, 33b, 1 x 6, 1 x 4), none of the other Riders batsmen looked comfortable on a pitch that had a bit of movement and appreciable bounce, but certainly no demons lurking under the surface.

Super Kings also fielded quite well, holding the catches that came their way and giving little away on the ground.

Rajasthan Royals defeat Deccan Chargers by 3 wickets

Summary Of the Match Rajasthan Royals: 217/7 (19.5 Ovs)		Last 5 Ovs : 55/4, RR : 11, 4s : 5, 6s : 3
Shane Warne*	22(9)
Pankaj Singh	4(3)
Result: Rajasthan Royals won by 3 wickets

Run Rate	11.13
Last Wicket	Dinesh Salunkherunout 1(1) - 195/7, 18.5 Ovs
Previous Overs	4 1 1 1 1 2 | W Wd W 1 . . 4 | L1 1 W 1 W N1 1 | 2 1 4 6 6

Yusuf Pathan is the Man of the Match for his 61 off 28 balls.

Symonds says "I probably bowled the worst over in the history of 20-20" after receiving the DLF Maximum Sixes award.

Warne: "This is a very good side, got a lot of skill. Really good spirit in the team. All credit to these guys, excellent side. We know what he(Yusuf) can do, we just want him to do it more often. Fantastic knock. I wasn't thinking at all(in the last over), just thinking of hitting them in the middle, tonight was our night."

Laxman: "We batted really well. They(Royals) played better than us. Not really disappointed. Full marks to Shane Warne, the way he batted. Once we get a win, we'll have a good run."

Stay tuned for the presentation...

We witnessed a great match yesterday but this has to be the best match of the tournament. Royals, who were touted as the weakest team of the tournament have become the first team to chase a 200 plus score successfully. Everyone contributed to the win-Smith and Yusuf with quickfire fifties, a blistering cameo from Kaif and Warne's finish was the icing on the cake.

19.5 Symonds to Warne, SIX!! full outside off, belted over extra cover for a superb victory!

19.4 Symonds to Warne, SIX!! long hop, he stepped out and absolutely tonks it over mid wicket, brilliant!

19.3 Symonds to Warne, FOUR!!, charges down and clumps a full toss down the ground, didn't get all of it but just about bisected long on and long off

19.2 Symonds to Pankaj Singh, 1 run, comes down the track and takes it on the full, driving it to long off

19.1 Symonds to Pankaj Singh, 2 runs, on middle and leg, swung away to deep square leg

Andrew Symonds to bowl the last over...17 needed off it

The second ball of the 19th over was a no-ball

18.6 RP Singh to Pankaj Singh, 1 run, guides it to gully for a quick single

18.6 RP Singh to Warne, 1 run

Pankaj Singh comes to the crease

RP Singh to Warne, out Salunkhe Run Out!! drives inside out to extra cover, Salunkhe backed up far too much but Warne wasn't interested and a decent throw from Laxman found him miles short! Salunkhe run out (Laxman) 1(1)

18.4 RP Singh to Salunkhe, 1 run, full delivery, driven back to extra cover, he fails to cling in on the follow through as they sneak a single

Dinesh Salunkhe comes to the crease

RP Singh to Jadeja, out Bowled!! Fast full toss, Jadeja creates room and tries to squeeze it out but the ball makes an awful mess of the stumps! Jadeja b RP Singh 1(3)

The Royals need a boundary or two here..

18.2 RP Singh to Warne, 1 run, full and angling in, he steps outside leg and square drives to point

round the wicket to Warne...

18.1 RP Singh to Jadeja, leg byes, 1 run, moves outside leg and swings, off the pad to gully

Laxman has a long chat with RP..

Rudra Pratap Singh is back into the attack

17.6 Afridi to Warne, FOUR!!, full outside off, sliced through gully, Afridi's pumped up, wont stop yapping away!

17.5 Afridi to Warne, no run, defended down the track

17.4 Afridi to Warne, no run, tries to late cut, misses

17.3 Afridi to Jadeja, 1 run, dropped!, slog swept to wide mid wicket where Kalyankrishna spills a straightforward catch after settling under it!

Shane Warne, right handed bat, comes to the crease

Afridi to Smith, out Caught by Kalyankrishna!! Smashes a full down Kalyan's throat at deep mid wicket! Smith c Kalyankrishna b Afridi 70(45) [4s-9 6s-2]

17.2 Afridi to Smith, wide, down the leg side

Ravindra Jadeja comes to the crease

Afridi to Kaif, out Caught by Symonds!! Steps outside leg and tries to clear long on, doesn't time it right and Symonds holds on to it easily! Kaif c Symonds b Afridi 34(16) [4s-2 6s-3]

Shahid Afridi is back into the attack

16.6 Vaas to Smith, 2 runs, dropped! overpitched and driven back powerfully, pops right out of his hand and ricochets down the ground

16.5 Vaas to Kaif, 1 run, swings and misses, the inside edge rolls away into the leg side

16.4 Vaas to Smith, 1 run, creates room and hammers a full delivery to long on, fielded on the bounce

16.3 Vaas to Kaif, 1 run, moves outside leg and pushes it to cover

Lot of field changes, the mid wicket falls back to wide mid wicket

16.2 Vaas to Smith, 1 run, dug in shorter, makes room and mistimes a slap to cover

Chennai Super Kings defeat Mumbai Indians by 6 runs

In a repeat show of the Twenty20 World Cup final, Joginder Sharma lived up to captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni's expectation and sent down a crucial final over as Chennai Super Kings pipped Mumbai Indians by six runs in a thrilling Indian Premier League tie here tonight.

Harbhajan Singh (28) and Abhishek Nayar's (45 not out) spectacular rearguard action had the Mumbai side needing 19 off the last over when Dhoni tossed the ball to Joginder.

The bowler conceded two fours in a row and bowled a no ball as well. But he kept his cool in the end and kept it tight as Mumbai Indians eventually finished on 202 for seven.

Chasing 209, Mumbai looked in dire straits with its top order firing blank. The Abhishek-Harbhajan duo, however, refused to give up and waged a grim battle.

They stuttered early in the chase with Luke Ronchi (2) falling cheaply and Sanath Jayasuriya (20) departing just when he was looking dangerous.

Robin Uthappa (43), however, took the Chennai attack by the scruff of the neck and milked 19 runs from a Jacob Oram over to spice things up.

Mumbai seemed back on the track but Joginder retained his penchant to rise on the occasions and castled Uthappa to deal a deadly blow. Uthappa's 36-ball knock included six fours and a six.

Shaun Pollock (17) too sizzled for a while and so did Dwayne Bravo (24). With the asking run rate skyrocketing, Harbhajan and Abhishek threw bat at everything that resulted in some lusty shots as well but it was too late by then.

Earlier, Matthew Hayden blasted 81 and featured in a century stand with Suresh Raina (53) as Chennai Super Kings amassed 208 for five.

With a 46-ball knock that was studded with 12 fours and two sixes, Hayden once again proved the thorn in the flesh for Harbhajan, who led the Mumbai side in absence of their regular captain Sachin Tendulkar, down with a groin injury.

Harbhajan, finally, found some solace when his direct throw caught Hayden short of ground towards the end of the innings.

Put into bat, the Chennai Super Kings got off to a rollicking start with Parthiv Patel (14) and Hayden putting on 34 runs in the first three overs before Ashish Nehra applied the brake.

Nehra had Parthiv caught behind and five runs later, Mike Hussey (5) too was back in the hut after dragging a Dhaval Kulkarni delivery onto his stumps.

In Raina, Hayden found an able ally and the duo scored at a brisk rate. Raina was fluent as he smote Dwayne Bravo, Harbhajan Singh and Abhishek Nayar over the ropes to keep pace with Hayden, who was his aggressive self at the other end as they put on a century stand. Special: English Premier League

Hayden, however, maintained the momentum and though Harbhajan pressed into service as many as eight bowlers, including himself, runs came thick and fast.

Dhoni (30) chipped in with a 16-ball cameo to take the side past the 200-mark.