Congress leaves Pawar to fend for himself

As Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar found himself in the midst of IPL controversy, Congress today left him to fend for himself amid opposition demands for his resignation.
"Sharad Pawar is a valuable ally. These questions you have to put to him in all fairness," Congress spokesman Abhishek Singhvi told reporters in response to a volley of questions over BJP demand for the NCP leader's resignation from the ministry. The BJP demand came as Pawar and his daughter Supriya Sule, Member of Parliament, faced allegations that they were stakeholders in a company that made a failed IPL bid for the Pune team.
Pawar has denied his or his family's association with the bid and said the Citi Corp company's Managing Director Aniruddha Deshpande had done so in his individual capacity.
Asked whether any top executive of a company could bid for IPL in his individual category or if some changes have been made in the eligibility criteria, Singhvi said "I am not going to change my comment. You have to ask the person concerned. Why don't you ask him?"
The Congress spokesman refused to say anything further, pointing out the probe by the government was already on.

Modi to be stripped off his security cover?

A day after Lalit Modi was shown the door by the BCCI, he is all set to lose his security cover too. If reports are to be believed, Modi's security cavalcade will be a thing of the past. Mumbai police officials are considering withdrawing his police protection, which incidentally he had been getting for free for the past year. A senior police officer confirmed the move, saying, "We are awaiting the reports from the local police station, Crime Branch and Special Branch on threat perception to Modi and his family. If the report is negative, we will immediately pull out the policemen provided for his security." Free of cost Modi had been given police protection free of cost, thanks to a powerful neta, who apparently made a phone call to a senior cop, asking that Modi and his family be provided security. Five cops were immediately sent to give day-night protection to Modi and his family. For the past two months, this number has increased to 10. The estimated cost of this protection works out to almost Rs 15 lakh (at the rate of Rs 600 per constable per day, for a year). MiD DAY had reported about police security for Modi on April 2, 2009 'Lalit Modi and family live under threat'. Police officials attached to the protection branch admitted to receiving verbal instructions initially on Modi's security cover and subsequently provided him with two armed constables (one on each shift). His wife and children were entitled to one constable each for 12 hours. Cop cover The number of policemen was gradually increased after Modi wrote a letter to Mumbai Police Commissioner D Shiva-Nandan on March 2, 2010 (a copy of which is with MiD DAY), in which he thanks the police department for doubling his security and also asks for more protection for his family. Accordingly, a few days later the protection department doubled the manpower for Modi and his family. Modi was provided 2+2 (two constables in day and two at night) armed with carbines and his family was provided with one constable each (12-hr shift) for 24 hours. "Even if Modi stayed out of Mumbai or India during the above period, he was still under the police cover and officials from protection branch were in constant touch with his personal security guards, knowing his movements and details," said a police officer. Advocate M P Vashi, who had earlier filed a PIL in the Bombay High Court on unwanted police protection given to political leaders, said, "The police should not have wasted 10 of their men for Modi and his family. They do not deserve such treatment. They enjoy such luxury for free only due to their nexus with certain political leaders."

Knight Riders beat Royal Challengers by seven wickets

Kolkata: Kolkata Knight Riders beat Bangalore Royal Challengers by seven wickets in the Indian Premier League match at the Eden Gardens here Sunday. PL 2010  Chasing 136 runs for victory, Knight Riders were given a flying start by their openers Brad Hodge and Manoj Tiwary, both scoring 50 runs. Roelof van der Merwe took two wickets for 27 for Royal Challengers.

IPL:Knight Riders Ra.1

Knight Riders begins well

The scores:

Kolkata Knight Riders: M. Tiwary c R. Sharma b C. Vaas 0, B. Hodge c Gibbs b Jaskaran 13, S. Ganguly c Anirudh b Vaas 0, C. Pujara c Ojha b R.P. Singh 10, O. Shah (not out) 58, A. Mathews (not out) 65, Extras (lb-8, nb-1, w-6): 15; Total (for four wkts. in 20 overs): 161.

Fall of wickets: 1-0, 2-0, 3-31, 4-31.

Deccan Chargers bowling: Vaas 3-1-22-2, R.P. Singh 4-0-35-1, Jaskaran 4-0-35-1, Ojha 4-0-19-0, Symonds 4-0-26-0, Suman 1-0-16-0.

Deccan Chargers: A. Gilchrist c Tiwary b Hodge 54, V.V.S. Laxman c & b Kartik 22, H. Gibbs c Mathews b Langeveldt 19, A. Symonds c Ganguly b Ishant 5, Rohit c Hodge b Mathews 13, Anirudh c & b Shukla 14, T. Suman (not out) 7, C. Vaas b Langeveldt 0, Jaskaran (not out) 4, Extras (b-4, lb-1, nb-2, w-5): 12; Total (for seven wkts. in 20 overs): 150.

Fall of wickets: 1-61, 2-99, 3-102, 4-116, 5-128, 6-141, 7-142.

Knight Riders bowling: Langeveldt 4-0-26-2, Ishant 4-0-31-1, Shukla 3-0-30-1, Kartik 3-0-17-1, Mathews 4-0-27-1, Hodge 2-0-14-1 

Kolkata Knight Riders' Angelo Mathews 

MUMBAI: Deccan Chargers stumbled at the first hurdle, stunned by Kolkata Knight Riders in the opening game of the DLF-Indian Premier League 2010.

The 2009 champion lost the way despite a superb 54 from captain Adam Gilchrist, scoring 150 for seven in the face of a spirited show from the Knight Riders bowlers.

Chargers lost by 11 runs chasing the 162-run target set by Sourav Ganguly's side. Ganguly used six bowlers, all of them chipped in with wickets at the D.Y. Patil stadium.

Charl Langeveldt got two for 26 and the others managed a wicket each as KKR held its nerve when defending.

Taking into account the dropped catches under pressure and lapses in the field, the turnaround was remarkable against a side boasting of big-hitting batsmen.

V.V.S. Laxman, opening for Chargers, tried to tune into the T20 wavelength with a swatted six over long-on, then let captain Gilchrist show how bowlers can be tamed. 

The Aussie got cracking with two sixes, number one off Langeveldt over mid-wicket and bettered the effort next time with a straight six, stepping out against L.R. Shukla.

Gilchrist's mastery

Two dropped catches did not diminish Gilchrist's mastery, spotting the length early for clean hits, sending the ball soaring in a 35-ball 54 (3x4, 3x6). Hodge got him eventually, caught by Manoj Tiwary on the fence. Rohit Sharma (13 off 12 balls) took on the scoring duties, a late cut to third man and an on-drive. He fell for the bait from Mathews, chopping a short delivery towards short mid-on for Hodge to run across and do the rest. Knight Riders recovered from early upsets to post 161 for four. Mathews flexed his arms for an unbeaten 65 (46b, 5x4, 4x6) and saved his team from embarrassment.

The Sri Lankan, taking charge at number six, put on 130 runs in a fifth-wicket stand with England's Owais Shah 58 not out (46b, 3x4, 3x6). Shah used the pace of the wicket to stroke the ball, Mathews re-arranged his footwork to smash anything within range.

Vaas strikes

Vaas removed Tiwary with his first ball, the opener stunned when an attempted flick ended in Rohit Sharma's hands at square-leg. Skipper Sourav Ganguly was deceived by late swing, edging to Anirudh in the slips three balls later.

Cheteshwar Pujara broke the shackles with a crisp cover drive, but hit an uppish drive off R.P. Singh. Jaskaran Singh Bhuttar overcame stage fright in his first over with the valuable wicket of Brad Hodge off the next, inducing the Aussie to slash into Gibbs's hands at point, and then came up with a leg-cutter to leave the cautious Mathews in a tangle.

Deccan Chargers pressed slow bowlers Pragyan Ojha and Andrew Symonds into the attack from the seventh over.

Strategic break

Gilchrist took the first strategic break after eight overs with Knight Riders scrambling to 50 off 50 balls. Shah and Mathews attacked the slow bowlers, bold hitting taking the team past the 100-run mark off 94 balls.

Deccan Chargers took the second break after 16 overs and Vaas was brought back for his final burst. Shah and Mathews lashed sixes in a 100-run stand off 75 balls.

Knight Riders opted for Mathews, Hodge, Langeveldt and Shah among overseas players, resting Sri Lanka spinner Ajantha Mendis.

Deccan Chargers fielded all foreigners available in Symonds, Vaas, Gibbs, apart from captain Gilchrist.

Left-handed batsman Anirudh Singh made his IPL debut for Deccan Chargers, while Knight Riders opted for experienced hands.

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IPL:glamour for jamboree's opening night

The IPL's Season Three promises to be bigger and better, and not just because a UK- based brand evaluation firm has pegged the value of cricket's biggest circus at Rs 18,999 crore ( more than double of what it was last year). When it opens at the D. Y. Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai on Friday evening, the glam quotient of IPL is set to touch a new high.

The entertainment extravaganza takes off with the opening ceremony featuring international performers such as Lionel Richie, Ali Campbell of UB40 and Bjorn Again. Bollywood actress Deepika Padukone will give them company with a troupe of 40 dancers. But there's going to be more to this IPL than dance and music.

Kings XI Punjab has launched an online fan club -the KXIP Lion's Den- and released a series of funny animation films featuring their mascots Rocky and Ranjit ( these will be shown on YouTube and Facebook, and in stadiums as well). Fan club members- as many as 13,322 people have already registered - will enjoy a host of benefits, from hefty discounts on match tickets and merchandise to opportunities to meet and party with the cricketers.

Rajasthan Royals, who lifted the trophy at the inaugural IPL, has come out with two new looks for their player jerseys. For the first time in the history of IPL, a team will have two jerseys, one for home matches ( blue with golden sleeves) and another for those played away from home ( golden with blue sleeves).

The Kolkata Knight Riders, who in the earlier two editions turned out in black and gold jerseys, will now be seen in purple and gold. Team co- owner Shah Rukh Khan said he was hoping the purple jerseys would attract more women fans to his team. 'I'm told girls like the colour,' he said.

There's IPL action happening elsewhere too. Apart from watching the matches on television, viewers will have a whole lot of options. They could either catch the matches on giant screens in restaurants - some like Freeze in Rajouri Garden are even complementing the IPL experience with drinks named after the teams - or see them at multiplexes. UFO Moviez, a digital distribution company, will telecast all 60 matches live across theatres in the country. In Delhi, some multiplexes that the company has tied up with are PVR Cinemas, DT Cinemas and Movie Time.

For the first time, IPL has tied up with vRock Mobile to be its Value Added Services ( VAS) partner. It means, apart from getting SMS and MMS updates, users can tune in to commentaries by cricket experts on their mobiles - an experience limited so far to television and radio. If being online is your preferred mode of communication, you can log on to YouTube, which will live stream all 60 IPL matches with a time lapse of only five minutes.

Fans can also catch the cricketing fever by downloading the IPL application on their iPhones or by tackling the official IPL T20 game that has been launched by IndiaGames on Facebook. The online media, meanwhile, is buzzing with activity.

An analysis by The Nielsen Company using Nielsen Online BuzzMetrics, which has measured online posts on message boards, blogs, discussion groups and Twitter across all cricket- following nations, have found that the overall buzz about IPL in social media is almost twice as high this year.

The analysis shows that Kolkata Night Riders is the most discussed team online, a distinction it had in 2009. Among the players, Ricky Ponting is the most discussed online, like he was last year.

This year, the IPL management is also out to prove that it is not only about fun and games. It has partnered with the UN Environment Programme to make cricket fans across the world more eco-sensitive.

Through this long- term partnership, the IPL joins the ranks of global events such as the Olympics and the FIFA World Cup, and even the 2010 Commonwealth Games, which are working hard to project themselves as 'green' events. IPL has grown, and how!