Kolkata embarrassed in record rout

Shaun Pollock led a stand-out seam-bowling performance as the Mumbai Indians notched up the most convincing win of the tournament, and their fifth in a row, handing the Kolkata Knight Riders an eight-wicket drubbing at the Wankhede Stadium. None of Kolkata's batsmen came to terms with the seamer-friendly pitch, crumbling to an embarrassing 67 all out - the lowest score of the tournament and the fifth-lowest in all Twenty20 matches - before Sanath Jayasuriya hastened the finish with a 17-ball 48, as Mumbai sailed home with 87 deliveries to spare - a record in all Twenty20 games - significantly boosting their hopes of a semi-final berth.
The visitors were put in by Sachin Tendulkar, who won his second toss in a row, but even he wouldn't have dreamed of the display his bowlers served up. The pitch helped significantly, offering bounce and plenty of seam movement to each of the five bowlers who were used - in fact, so good were the conditions for seam bowling that Rajesh Pawar, the left-arm spinner who made his IPL debut, wasn't even pressed into the attack.
The start was deceptively normal, with Salman Butt moving away to club Pollock down the ground for four, and then carving Ashish Nehra for the 400th six of the IPL. From then on, only one team did all the celebrating.
Pollock led the way, bowling with impeccable control, seaming the ball both ways from a perfect length, and giving the batsmen no chance. Against a top four that has an equal mix of right- and left-handers, Pollock kept his line around off stump against both, extracting bounce and seaming the ball away to induce the edge. Butt was the first to perish to the movement, getting a leading edge while trying to flick, offering Tendulkar the first of four catches.
Thereafter, the slide was swift. Kolkata made the situation worse when Aakash Chopra was involved in his second mix-up with Sourav Ganguly in three games, charging down the pitch even as Ganguly didn't respond. Another perfect delivery in the corridor from Pollock accounted for David Hussey, and when Tendulkar decided to bowl his four overs on the trot, Pollock responded by inducing an edge off Mohammad Hafeez, which was snaffled by Robin Uthappa at a wide second slip.
Pollock was done, finishing with figures of 3 for 12, but there was no respite for Kolkata, as Dwayne Bravo continued from where Pollock had left off, getting exaggerated seam movement in both directions. Wriddhiman Saha was defeated by the bounce and movement, and slashed to Tendulkar, and Kolkata had lost half their side for 29.
With the conditions so friendly for the seamers, Tendulkar cleverly decided to use Dominic Thornely and Rohan Raje, both medium-pace bowlers, and the results came almost instantly. Raje removed the dangerous Laxmi Ratan Shukla with a superb delivery which pitched on middle and seamed away to take off stump.
Kolkata never recovered after suffering a double blow in the third over, and were eventually bundled out in less than 16 overs (click here for a bigger image) © Cricinfo

Through the destruction at the other end, Ganguly hung on patiently, hoping to weather the storm and guide Kolkata to a respectable total. He came in to bat in the third over and stayed till the 13th, but was stuck at the non-striker's end most of the time, facing only 20 deliveries as the batting line-up was destroyed at the other end. He finally perished in tame fashion, as Yogesh Takawale hung on to a catch with his second attempt as Ganguly tried to cut. With Kolkata's last hope falling, the rest followed quickly.
Kolkata's only hope of avoiding complete embarrassment was for Shoaib Akhtar to do an encore of the previous game. He began with a fiery first over, having Jayasuriya dropped at slip off the first ball, and then winning his personal battle with Tendulkar, who nibbled one to the wicketkeeper, slightly dampening the spirits of the home crowd.
Jayasuriya's response to that dismissal was emphatic, as he waded into Ishant Sharma and Shoaib in the next two overs. After clipping Ishant unconvincingly over mid-on, he found his timing perfectly in Shoaib's next over: a flick and a short-arm pull both sailed over the boundary, while two crisp drives raced through the covers in an over which leaked 23, more than one-third of the target.
The Shoaib threat was over, and the end came soon after, as Jayasuriya flicked a no-ball off Ishant for his 17th six of the IPL, the highest for a batsman in the tournament, and then finished it off next ball. Mumbai now have the best net run-rate, and with ten points from nine games, have given themselves an excellent chance of making the last four.

Scorecard...
Mumbai Indians 68 for 2 (Jayasuriya 48*) beat Kolkata Knight Riders 67 (Pollock 3-12) by eight wickets Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsHow they were out

Harbhajan and Sreesanth

Harbhajan and Sreesanth will get along - Kirsten

Gary Kirsten, the India coach, is confident Harbhajan Singh and Sreesanth will put the slapping incident behind them and get along in the dressing room. Kirsten said both he and Paddy Upton, the mental conditioning coach and trainer, had the expertise to handle the players should any problems arise.
"The idea that it will be a problem having the two of them together in the squad is crazy," Kirsten was quoted as saying in cricketnirvana.com. "I would like to think me and Paddy [Upton] have enough management experience to cope with anything like that, if it ever did become a problem."
Harbhajan slapped Sreesanth after an IPL match between Kings XI Punjab and Mumbai Indians last month. Harbhajan was banned for 11 IPL games and five one-dayers after pleading guilty, while Sreesanth was let off with a warning. The board warned that Harbhajan could be banned for life if found guilty of another serious offence.
Kirsten said such incidents tend to happen with players who are expressive of their emotions on and off the field. "They are both very passionate cricketers who, ironically, are as similar off the field as on it. On the friendly side of the boundary rope I have found them to be extremely friendly, inoffensive and helpful people. But when they cross the line, literally, they become very passionate and committed, their blood boils quickly in the heat of battle."
Kirsten added that he had a long conversation with Harbhajan, during which he accepted his mistake and was keen to move on.
"I had a long telephone chat to him recently and he knows he made a big mistake. I think he wanted to know where he stood with me and I was able to reassure him that I wanted him in my team.
"He's still concerned but he's desperate to put it behind him and move on. He made a bad error of judgment and he's very determined that it won't happen again. And I think he realises the consequences if it does."

BCCI bans Harbhajan for five ODIs

Harbhajan Singh, who was recently banned for 11 IPL matches for slapping Sreesanth, has been handed a five-match ODI ban from the Indian board. This means he will miss India's forthcoming tri-series in Bangladesh and the start of the Asia Cup in Pakistan.

An old hand in a new world

For Sachin Tendulkar, this is 1989 all over again. Just as the old Iron Curtain was opened to let in the winds of change and an abominable wall came down, so a young boy started his journey to cricket's promised lands. At 35, after a career that has spanned 147 Tests and 417 one-day internationals, he stands poised on the threshold of a brave new world.
Tendulkar's Twenty20 passport has just the one stamp on it, from the Wanderers in Johannesburg 18 months ago. That game was succour to the Indians after they were humiliated in the ODIs but, on a night when bowlers were heroes, Tendulkar's contribution was negligible; he managed double-digits before a delivery from Charl Langeveldt was chopped on to the stumps.
Now another set of Indians, those from Mumbai who have invested in him to the tune of more than $1million a season, eagerly await his IPL bow. Half the season passed while he recuperated from a groin injury, and the Indians' fortunes have waned and then waxed. After the embarrassment caused by Harbhajan Singh, Slapgate, and four defeats on the trot, a team, led from the front by Shaun Pollock, has reeled off three consecutive victories against sides expected to make the semi-final cut.
Two home games follow and, with Tendulkar back, the buzz on the streets is of a determined push for fourth place and maybe beyond. Even before he has struck a ball in anger, the burden of expectation is squarely on his shoulders and those that have venerated him as India's Atlas won't want him to buckle now.
Twenty20 though is a very different game. Sourav Ganguly has shown signs of getting to grips with it, but other titans of the one-day game, like Ricky Ponting and Herschelle Gibbs, have struggled to impose themselves in the frenetic atmosphere. Two of Tendulkar's old sparring partners have been outstanding though, and those in blue shirts with the number 10 on their backs will hope that he follows their lead.
Glenn McGrath has continued to make grinning faces at Father Time, even as the Delhi Daredevils have lost their way in recent days. Eight games in, he sits atop the best economy-rate list, and has seven wickets for good measure. His old mate, Shane Warne, has done even better, taking 11 wickets and bamboozling the likes of Mahendra Singh Dhoni while leading the Rajasthan Royals, the rank outsiders, to the brink of a semi-final.
Everyone has been harping about Twenty20 being a batsman's game, and men like Gautam Gambhir and Shaun Marsh certainly won't argue with that. In a sense though, the bowlers' job is less taxing. While taking wickets remains important, the main objective is to keep the runs down and pressure batsmen into mistakes. Miserly overs, or maidens like McGrath managed in his first outing, are pure gold.
A new breed of batsman has flourished. And while not all of them are crude sluggers, they've managed to clear the mini-skirt-like boundaries with ridiculous ease. Those who operate within a more classical framework, like Rahul Dravid and Jacques Kallis, have struggled. Not only have they struggled to go over the top, but even the helter-skelter singles and twos have proved beyond them.
With fielding sides studying batsmen's weaknesses ever more closely, innovation has become the name of the game. In that regard, Tendulkar is unlikely to come up short. Right from the time that he revolutionised top-order batting in ODIs - few teams had ever sent their best man in first before Tendulkar's little dash at Eden Park in 1994 - he has added strokes to his repertoire, remaining a step ahead of bowlers that sought to contain him.


He plays the paddle-sweep, to pace and spin alike, perhaps better than anyone has done, and Brett Lee could tell you about the bunt over the slips that tormented him in Australia earlier this season. The inside-out shot over cover is also frequently unveiled, but it's the neat tuck off the pads and the gorgeous straight drive that have been the defining strokes of an unparalleled one-day caree

He plays the paddle-sweep, to pace and spin alike, perhaps better than anyone has done, and Brett Lee could tell you about the bunt over the slips that tormented him in Australia earlier this season. The inside-out shot over cover is also frequently unveiled, but it's the neat tuck off the pads and the gorgeous straight drive that have been the defining strokes of an unparalleled one-day career.
The skills are not in doubt, but his performances as the tournament nears its business end will come in for minute scrutiny. Warne can concede 27 in an over, and put it behind him in time for the next game. A Tendulkar nought is quite different. The Indian media may be gentle when it comes to analysing Adam Gilchrist's stop-start season, but Tendulkar will expect no such leeway.
A couple of low scores and TV channels will wheel out the same hackneyed question: Is Tendulkar finished? If he does score, but gets out a few balls before victory is clinched, the debates will centre around how he's no finisher. In many ways, it's a lose-lose situation, but the man who has been a winner for 18 years will surely find his way.

Tendulkar set to return against Chennai

Sachin Tendulkar has confirmed he is fit and will lead the Mumbai Indians in their next game on Wednesday against the Chennai Super Kings. The news is a shot in the arm for Mumbai who played the first half of the Indian Premier League (IPL) in the absence of Tendulkar, forced to sit out due to groin injury.
But Tendulkar announced today that the rehabilitation process had been successful and there was no "discomfort" and that he would open Mumbai's innings along with Sanath Jayasuriya.
"I will be playing on May 14. It's looking very good and I'm feeling very positive," Tendulkar said after a two-hour long batting session at the Wankhede Stadium. He said it was really "tough" for him to sit out but acknowledged the support of the fitness staff who had "really worked hard, especially the physio and the masseur".
Tendulkar first picked up the injury during the CB Series in Australia and it got worse after the first Test against South Africa in Chennai, forcing him to miss the final two matches of the series. He was unable to recover for the start of the IPL, missing Mumbai's first seven games.
Though Mumbai lost their first four games, Tendulkar was careful not to return before he was completely fit. "It was disappointing to miss the two Tests against South African and then seven IPL games. But during the first half of the rehabilitation I had to completely rest and followed it by strengthening of the muscles and working out a bit. With the help of the fitness staff all the things went fine and I'm feeling strong now and there is no discomfort."
In his absence Harbhajan Singh led Mumbai for the first three games and after he was banned for an on-field row with Sreesanth, Shaun Pollock came in as the stand-in captain. Asked if it would be difficult for the side to have another new captain especially when Pollock was proving to be successful, Tendulkar said the players had supported each other through it all and they understood each other well.
"I will be the captain. Shaun was a makeshift captain and he did a terrific job and the other senior players have also contributed well. It's not about who the captain is but it's about helping each other and that's what Mumbai Indians have been doing and will continue to do."
Despite his minimal exposure to the Twenty20 format - he has played only five games so far - Tendulkar was looking ahead to the challenge ahead. "I always try hard and I've always given my best." Mumbai are currently placed sixth in the points table, just above the Deccan Chargers and the Bangalore Royal Challengers.