Mumbai Indians crashed to their third defeat in a row. Shane Warne had the last laugh in the clash of titans.
Surprising how the side that looked so consistent and formidable at the start of the tournament is suddenly found wanting on slower pitches. The first three seasons witnessed the team heavily dependent on the genius of Sachin Tendulkar and to a lesser extent, Sanath Jayasuriya’s.Kieron Pollard’s bludgeoning club added heft.
IPL-Bollywood Points Table
Star Played Won Points 13 5 (1 NR) 11 13 8 16 13 7 14
IPL Commissioner, Chirayu Amin, spoke to MakeTimeForSports on the fall-out of the Gabriella Pasqualotto affair and steps taken to remedy the situation.
MTFS: What are you doing to ensure against the recurrence of a Gabriella Pasqualotto?
CA: We are extremely perturbed by the South African cheerleader’s antics and have taken steps to prevent such an event recurring. We are currently talking to the franchisees about rethinking their attitude towards Western cheerleaders and look farther east, specifically China, for pom-pom girls next year.
What he said:
“If Ganguly can do it, anyone can.”
Martin Crowe, the New Zealand batting legend, announcing a comeback at 48.
What he really meant:
“If Ganguly’s not too old to play the IPL, I’m not too old to play first-class cricket.”
What he definitely didn’t:
“I’m trying out for the IPL.”
“Saurav’s gonna give me fielding practice.”
Who the blazes is Sanjay Dixit?
Very few cricket fans could have bothered to discover who Shane Warne’s bete-noire was.
Twittering masses have focused on heaping invective on the Rajasthan administrator for his role in making the legendary leg-spinner eat humble pie.
A hefty fine of $50,000 was slapped on the ace cricketer for losing his cool and terming the IAS officer“egotistic” and “a liar”.
Adam Gilchrist came to the party exhibiting his prowess in a master-class of aggressive batting at the top of the order. In his previous 12 games he aggregated a mere 226 at a measly average of 18.33.
Combining with Shaun Marsh, the Australian great produced runs at will and with such abandon, that Virat Kohli—captaining in Daniel Vettori’s absence—was left flustered, flabbergasted and clueless.
HUMOR — It was all going swimmingly well for Shane Warne until it all went terribly wrong.
The Royals began IPL 2011 reminding supporters of 2008 glory. Then, “Dame” Elizabeth Hurley flew in from London to join the champion bowler. RR lost not a game at home.
But then, alas, Liz left for London sweeping away with her Warney’s luck.
Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee has squarely blamed Shah Rukh Khan and his Kolkatta Knight Riders for the CPI(M)–led Left Front’s abysmal showing in the West Bengal assembly elections.
“The absence of Saurav Ganguly from KKR ranks upset the general populace. There was no anti-incumbency , no tiredness with 34 years of ‘misrule’, not even Nandigram,” said the veteran political leader.
JAIPUR—
Sources within the Congress(I) and the BCCI have—in confidence—revealed that the real reason Rahul Gandhi is in police custody is because the Rajasthan Cricket Association (RCA) is miffed with the Congress’ General Secretary and are considering charging him with damaging the Sawai Mansingh cricket pitch.
It is understood that Rahul Gandhi wished to get a feel for farming before he launched his campaign supporting UP farmers. He believed that doing some ‘fielding’ on his own would lend authenticity to the Congress’ support.
Preity Zinta’s pep-up talk before the big game against Mumbai Indians worked wonders for Kings XI Punjab. The Mohali home-boys trashed their opponents sending them crashing to only their third loss this season.
Though why Sachin Tendulkar decided to field first on winning his first toss in nine games is beyond my understanding. MI have done extremely well batting first.