Raja Ali, a former Madhya Pradesh and Railways batsman, has died of cardiac arrest in Bhopal. He was 36.
Ali started his first-class career with Madhya Pradesh in 1996-97, but moved to Railways in 2000-01 season. He played 87 first-class matches, scoring 4337 runs at an average of 38.38 with nine centuries, and 54 List A games and scored 1312 runs with one century.
"He was one of our specialist middle-order batsmen," Chandrakant Pandit, the former Test wicketkeeper who played for Madhya Pradesh, said. "A very stout and strong-minded player, he had the ability to hit the ball out of the ground at will. As a result, he was the man to go for Madhya Pradesh when it came to one-dayers. Later on, he had to move to Railways but he remained a very useful cricketer all along. It's very sad that he is no longer with us. May his soul rest in peace."
Kolkata Knight Riders played every bit like the side they were, one with nothing to lose, and in careening to their first win of the tournament, they jeopardised the hitherto undefeated Titans' chances of making the semi-finals. However, once Kolkata tried to normalise after losing the second wicket at 95 in the ninth over, they began to flounder again. And once Debabrata Das embraced the devil-may-care attitude again, both hits and mis-hits began to clear the ropes, and the resultant total was 67 more than what was enough to produce a thriller on the same pitch hours ago.
Titans were always going to struggle chasing 189 on a slightly sticky pitch, and their prospects worsened when they lost their big-hitting opener Henry Davids for 13. They tried to pinch-hit with the promoted Heino Kuhn, but once Kuhn and Martin van Jaarsveld fell to successive L Balaji deliveries in the eighth over, the game was all but over. Arguably, though, their captain van Jaarsveld had made the bigger mistake much earlier.
Van Jaarsveld knew he was taking a risk when he asked Knight Riders, who did not have a care in the world today, to bat. His decision at the toss was dictated by the overcast skies and dew expected later in the day. As it turned out, without any target or points to chase, Knight Riders played with the freedom they would have hoped to bring to more meaningful matches. On a pitch that produced a last-over thriller at around a run a ball, their top three basically threw their bats at nearly everything. It came off sensationally for Manvinder Bisla and Brendon McCullum for long enough to score 63 off 34 balls between them, but Gautam Gambhir embraced caution after McCullum's fall.
A period of 18 runs in four overs resulted in rash shots, and Jacques Kallis, Gambhir and Yusuf Pathan fell trying to hit sixes, within four runs of each other, to make it 133 for 5 in the 16th over. Das then did away with niceties and resumed swinging at anything that moved. Top edges flew over the keeper's head, swats avoided deep fielders, and in between he evened it all out with some brute hitting, including driving CJ de Villiers over long-off for a six.
Das and Manoj Tiwary added 55 off the last 27 balls to take Knight Riders to the highest total of the tournament. Batting seemed easy without the fear of consequences, but the result meant Tuesday's games were laden with consequence: three of the four teams in action will be playing for a semi-final spot.
The clouds hung heavy over Newlands but the rain that has blighted much of this Champions League Twenty20 stayed away, allowing a tight and intense encounter that ended with Delhi Daredevils moving top of the group. The headliner for Daredevils was the much-maligned Ajit Agarkar, who took two big wickets before coolly finishing off the game with the bat.
Though Perth Scorchers were eliminated after this defeat, they showed typical Australian tenaciousness to take the match to the final over. On a track where it was tough for the batsmen to time the ball, Scorchers could run up only 121, a score which is rarely defended in Twenty20 cricket and which looked even smaller given the heavyweights in the Daredevils batting. The heads didn't drop, however, and they steadily chipped away at the Daredevils.
Their appetite for a scrap was highlighted by Nathan Rimmington. In the 15th over, Virender Sehwag, nearing a half-century and the last big-name batsman remaining, slashed a chance to third man, where Rimmington fluffed the catch, and for a six too. In a low-scoring match, that seemed the slip that would seal Scorchers' fate. Instead, Rimmington hit back by removing Irfan Pathan off the very next delivery, and then getting the critical wicket of Sehwag three balls later.
That set up a tense finale. Naman Ojha, the last recognised batsman, put away a short delivery from Brad Hogg for four, but was otherwise ill at ease. He nicked a jaffa from Nathan Coulter-Nile to the keeper in the 18th over but wasn't given out, though two balls later he edged it once more, and this time there was no need for the umpire to even raise his finger as the deviation was so clear.
Three wickets in hand, and 17 to get off the final two overs on a difficult track. Not a problem for Agarkar, who carved an inside-out lofted off drive for four in the penultimate over, before crashing a low full toss for four on the first ball of the final over to ease Daredevils towards victory.
The trickiness of the pitch was shown by Sehwag's scoring pattern. Usually a batsman who loves the boundaries, and isn't the keenest between the wickets, Sehwag had to run 30 of his 52 and was regularly looking for the quick single, instead of the massive hit out of the park. He was the only one of the Daredevils batting stars to get to double-digits: Mahela Jayawardene guided a half-volley to short fine leg, Ross Taylor missed a straighter one from Michael Beer and Kevin Pietersen miscued to backward point.
Daredevils' other overseas player, Morne Morkel, was at his best, though, as were the rest of their four-pronged pace attack. After Morkel bowled Herschelle Gibbs in the first over, Shaun Marsh and Simon Katich re-built the innings with a 73-run stand. They could step up the pace, though, and just as they looked to open out, Agarkar removed both to suck the momentum midway through the innings.
Morkel, Daredevils' bowler of the tournament in the IPL, then returned to inflict more damage. The highlight was the 19th over, when with Scorchers looking to swing at everything, he conceded just a single and dismissed the dangerous Mitchell Marsh.
Despite the batting letdown, Scorchers gave it their all but couldn't dent the chances of the only IPL team still alive in the tournament.
Auckland Aces v Delhi Daredevils, Group A, CLT20, Durban
Rain continues to follow the IPL sides
Cricket +
Auckland Aces v Delhi Daredevils Match abandoned without a ball bowled
Rain seems to be following the IPL sides wherever they go. A third successive evening game in the Champions League Twenty20 was washed out today, in Durban. While some play had been possible in the previous no-results, even the toss could not take place at Kingsmead as a persistent, but not heavy, drizzle set in. It was Delhi Daredevils' turn to be satisfied with two points, after Kolkata Knight Riders and Mumbai Indians on the previous two evenings.
While the rain had knocked Knight Riders out, and left Mumbai Indians hoping for a Yorkshire win against Lions, it did not impact Daredevils' chances as much. They were still placed second on the points table, behind Titans, and ahead on net run-rate of Auckland Aces, who also pocketed two points.
Persistent rain has now washed out successive evening games in the Champions League Twenty20. Both involved Indian sides. The first, in Durban on Wednesday, sent IPL champions Kolkata Knight Riders out of the tournament. The second, in Cape Town today, did not end Mumbai Indians' chances of making the semi-finals but it did force a no-result with the IPL side having worked itself into a strong position despite all their batsmen, barring the unbeaten Kieron Pollard, gifting their wickets away.
Despite injuries to two of their quick bowlers, Ryan Sidebottom and Moin Ashraf, and despite their spinners, particularly Adil Rashid, dishing out hit-me stuff, Yorkshire were able to limit the might of the Mumbai Indians line-up to 109 for 5 in the 15th over. Pollard and Harbhajan Singh combined to finally give the Yorkshire spinners the treatment they deserved, in a sequence of 6, 6, 4, 6, 4. To complete the chaos, Pollard was also dropped off the third ball of that sequence.
With two overs to go, Mumbai Indians would have eyed a total in excess of 180, and would feel hard done by the downpour, though the drizzle would have affected the Yorkshire bowlers adversely as well.
When Dwayne Smith walloped the second and third deliveries of Joe Root's opening over of innocuous offspin over the leg side boundary for sixes, Yorkshire looked headed for some serious punishment. But Mumbai Indians would soon begin to even the stakes by self-destructing. Sachin Tendulkar took the lead by running himself out in the third over.
Yorkshire's misfortune now decided to restore the equation in favour of Mumbai Indians again. In his second over, Ryan Sidebottom pulled up with what appeared to be a stiff hamstring and left the field, after manfully completing the over. He did return later to bowl one more.
To Yorkshire's horror, Moin Ashraf, who replaced Sidebottom, did his hamstring after sending down three deliveries of the sixth over, and left the field too.
Yorkshire captain Andrew Gale grimaced and brought back Root in the eighth over, and Smith promptly heaved him for successive sixes. Probably Mumbai Indians felt for Yorkshire's situation, for they went back to self-destructing.
Smith received a leg-side full toss from Root and swung it straight to deep square leg to depart for 37 off 26. Rohit Sharma, having smacked Azeem Rafiq's offspin for six the previous ball, contrived to try and squeeze a flighted yorker to third man only to see his stumps rattled. Dinesh Karthik outdid Rohit next ball, the first of the 12th, hitting a very wide Rashid delivery to short cover. Ambati Rayudu stepped out to Rafiq and found short cover again.
Rashid, bowling a mix of long hops, wide deliveries and assorted poor stuff, was fortunate to go for just under eleven runs an over. With Pollard finding his range, Yorkshire could have suffered more, but the rain grew from a drizzle to a steady downpour to limit the comedy of errors to 17.5 overs.
Delhi Daredevils have looked the best IPL side in the tournament, and they will be the favourites against Auckland Aces, but many a team has learned the hard way that you take Aces lightly at your own peril.
If Daredevils win, though, and win it big, they will be pretty close to qualifying for the semi-finals. They have carried good net run rate from the big win against Kolkata Knight Riders, and a second win will put them in a strong position in the group. Kevin Pietersen, who had left for meetings with England team director after the win against Knight Riders, is expected to be back in time for this game, and he will be buoyed by having settled his differences with the England team.
Aces, on the other hand, had their excellent run of wins rudely interrupted when they came up against group leaders Titans. They have won many a fan by winning both their qualifiers, and also their first game, but they can ill afford a defeat. Having camped in the Highveld well before the tournament, they have played there as if it's their own backyard, but they struggled in Durban. They will hope they catch their opponents similarly unawares when Daredevils play their first game at Kingsmead.
Watch out for...
Azhar Mahmood, with 137 runs at 68.5 and 10 wickets at an economy rate of 6.57, has been Auckland's highest wicket-taker and their highest run-getter, and easily one of the best players in the tournament. Auckland will look to him to provide inspiration against the much-fancied opposition.
Daredevils' top order has been the talk of the town, but Morne Morkel is equally important to their chances in the tournament. He leads an attack that can look weak without him, and will be pretty handy under the lights in Durban.
Stats and trivia
This is Simon Taufel's 92nd match as a Twenty20 umpire, more than anyone else.
With 10 wickets, Mahmood is the leading bowler in the tournament.
Quotes
"Keep it simple, focus on our strengths and try and execute a good game plan. And results will take care of themselves. We need to focus. We are not going to win matches by just turning up, we need to keep performing, we have to be consistent and win that. So we have to try and do that." Delhi Daredevils captain Mahela Jayawardene doesn't want to get ahead of himself
Deccan Chargers's hopes of returning to the IPL received another blow after the Bombay High Court, on Saturday, overruled the arbitrator's ruling that the BCCI termination be stayed. On Friday, the franchise owners had failed to meet the deadline stipulated to raise the Rs 100-crore bank guarantee ($19 million),a condition set by the court to keep the Chargers alive in the IPL, thereby reviving the BCCI's original termination order. However, in a countermove, the Chargers immediately approached CK Thakkar, the court-appointed arbitrator, who put a stay on the termination order passed by the High Court.
In the ensuing legal thrust and parry, the BCCI filed for an "urgent" hearing challenging Thakkar's ruling today in the High Court. "We moved an urgent appeal in front of the Bombay High Court this morning against the learned arbitrator's ruling, because we felt it was not within his jurisdiction as he is not a superior tribunal to the learned judge of the High Court," a BCCI official told ESPNcricinfo. Thakkar, a retired Supreme Court judge, had been appointed by the High Court to determine the legitimacy of the grounds of the Chargers' original termination.
It is understood the judge, Justice RD Dhanuka, ruled in favour of the original termination. "The judge passed an order staying the order passed by the learned arbitrator on the ground that it was a self-operating order of the High Court, and on the eventuality of the bank guarantee not operating, the termination will take effect. The result of that is, now, the termination has already taken effect," the board official said.
The only avenue left open to the Chargers now is to file an appeal in the Supreme Court, challenging the High Court's order.
Meanwhile, in its first formal response on the development, the BCCI welcomed the move of the Hight Court. "The termination of Deccan Chargers franchise was challenged in the Hon'ble Bombay High Court by the DCHL pending the arbitration. A Conditional Order of stay was granted by the Hon'ble High Court pending arbitration on 1st October 2012. The condition to give BCCI a Bank Guarantee of a Nationalised Bank for Rs 100 Crores by 5 pm on 12.10.2012 to cover expenses of IPL 6, was breached by DCHL.
Notwithstanding the Hon'ble High Court's refusal to extend time to DCHL, the Learned Arbitrator passed the Order of Status quo last evening (12.10.2012). BCCI moved an appeal against the Order of Arbitrator and the same was heard this morning. The Hon'ble High Court was pleased to stay the Order of Arbitrator after hearing both the parties. Thus, the termination of DC Franchise stands," Sanjay Jagdale, the BCCI secretary, said in a media release.
After the Chargers' owners had dragged the issue into the court, the BCCI had to put off floating a tender for a new franchise(s). However, now the BCCI is free to invite bidders for a new franchise, but it is understood the board does not want to take a step in haste and would instead like to see the Chargers' issue end completely before they make their next move.
The BCCI has floated a tender, inviting bidders for a new IPL team following the termination of the Deccan Chargers franchise.
Leading Indian newspapers on Sunday carried an advertisement from the BCCI which read, "Under this invitation to tender, the winning bidder will be granted the right to own and operate a new team which will compete in the IPL in each year from and including 2013 onwards and will have the opportunity (if applicable and subject to qualification) to compete in each and any CLT20 which is staged from 2013 onwards." The deadline for submitting the bids is noon on October 25.
The bids have been invited with respect to 12 cities, including Hyderabad where the owners of the Deccan Chargers franchise were based. The others are Ahmedabad, Cuttack, Dharamsala, Indore, Kanpur, Kochi, Nagpur, Noida, Rajkot, Ranchi and Vizag.
The termination of the Deccan Chargers franchise was confirmed on Saturday when the Bombay High Court rejected its independent arbitrator's ruling that the BCCI's decision to dissolve the franchise be stayed. The only avenue left for Deccan Chargers is to appeal against the High Court decision in India's Supreme Court.
The saga, which culminated in the termination, can be traced back to June this year when reports suggested that Deccan Chargers Holdings Limited (DHCL), the owners of the side, were exploring the possibility of selling the franchise. In August, the BCCI gave DHCL until the end of the month to pay its player dues, and a month later the owners put the franchise up for sale after approaching the Indian board for help. After DHCL refused the sole bid it received at the September 13 auction, the BCCI terminated the franchise, triggering a legal battle.
The BCCI will be keen on finalising a new, ninth team before the next edition of the IPL in 2013, as it will, otherwise, result in reduced franchise fees and TV rights payments. Following a ten-team IPL in 2011, the Kochi Tuskers Kerala franchise was terminated last year in September. Two other franchises - Kings XI Punjab and Rajasthan Royals - are still involved in litigation with the BCCI, and the IPL is on the lookout for a new title sponsor after DLF Ltd ended its five-year association with the tournament.
Deccan Chargers will remain terminated after the Bombay High Court on Thursday overruled the arbitrator's decision to impose a status quo on their expulsion from the IPL. The BCCI had terminated the franchise after it had failed to meet the deadline stipulated to raise the Rs 100-crore bank guarantee ($19 million). The Chargers immediately approached CK Thakkar, the court-appointed arbitrator, who put a stay on the termination order passed by the High Court. However, it was quashed on Thursday by Justice RD Dhanuka.
"The arbitrator had no jurisdiction to grant a status quo," Justice Dhanuka said. "On the same day (October 12), the high court had denied extension of time to DCHL to furnish Rs 100 crore bank guarantee as directed by the court on October 1."
In another petition filed by DCHL, the court refused an interim stay on the termination of the franchise.
"DCHL has still not furnished a bank guarantee. Hence there is no change in the circumstances to grant relief to DCHL. No case is made out for interim relief for granting stay on termination. The application seeking stay is a gross abuse of law," Justice Dhanuka said.
The only avenue left open to the Chargers now is to file an appeal in the Supreme Court, challenging the High Court's order. The franchise stands terminated, unless the arbitrator finds the grounds of termination were not valid and can prove that.
The Supreme Court on Friday rejected Deccan Chargers' plea to put a stay on the Bombay High Court order which upheld the BCCI termination of the franchise from the IPL.* The chief justice of India, Altamas Kabir, heard the case but refused to grant a stay to the franchise owners, who approached the apex court immediately after the Bombay High Court yesterday overruled the arbitrator's order to put a stay on the expulsion.
The development means the Chargers are now completely out of the IPL. The only way they can now make a comeback is if the Bombay High Court-appointed arbitrator CJ Thakkar finds the grounds of the termination were not correct .
The BCCI had terminated the franchise after it had failed to meet the deadline stipulated to raise the Rs 100-crore bank guarantee ($19 million). The Chargers immediately approached Thakkar, who put a stay on the termination order passed by the High Court. However, it was quashed on Thursday by Justice RD Dhanuka.
"The arbitrator had no jurisdiction to grant a status quo," Justice Dhanuka said. "On the same day (October 12), the high court had denied extension of time to DCHL to furnish Rs 100 crore bank guarantee as directed by the court on October 1."
Meanwhile, the BCCI floated a tender on October 14, inviting bidders for a new IPL team following the termination of the Chargers franchise. The bids were invited for 12 cities, including Hyderabad where the Chargers were based. The others are Ahmedabad, Cuttack, Dharamsala, Indore, Kanpur, Kochi, Nagpur, Noida, Rajkot, Ranchi and Vizag.
The BCCI will be keen on finalising a new, ninth team before the next edition of the IPL in 2013, as it will, otherwise, result in reduced franchise fees and TV rights payments. Following a ten-team IPL in 2011, the Kochi Tuskers Kerala franchise was terminated last year in September. Two other franchises - Kings XI Punjab and Rajasthan Royals - are still involved in litigation with the BCCI, and the IPL is on the lookout for a new title sponsor after DLF Ltd ended its five-year association with the tournament.
The ICC has approved the newly constructed HEC International Stadium in Ranchi, which will host its first international match on January 19 - the fourth ODI between India and England. The ICC inspection team, headed by David Boon, inspected the stadium a fortnight ago and was satisfied with the facilities, security and location. A three-member ECB team also visited the venue on Thursday and gave it a green signal.
Ranchi is the hometown of MS Dhoni, the India captain. The ground is yet to host a first-class or List A game.
"The ICC had given the green signal to hold the ODI four days ago. The last time Jharkhand had hosted an ODI was in 2006 against England (in Jamshedpur)," Jharkhand State Cricket Association (JSCA) president Amitabh Choudhary said. "And there is every possibility of Dhoni leading India on his home soil for the first time."
Kolkata Knight Riders, the IPL champions, became the first side to be knocked out of the Champions League Twenty20 when their third game, against Perth Scorchers, was washed out in Durban with only 14 overs having been bowled in the first innings. Knight Riders, who had lost their first two games in the tournament, needed a win to remain in contention for a place in the knockouts.
The skies had gone overcast before the toss happened, and Gautam Gambhir, with one eye on the expected rain, chose to bowl on what his counterpart Marcus North called a "bat-first wicket". Knight Riders' bowlers stuck to their goal of restricting Perth Scorchers to a reasonable total till the rains came down.
Brett Lee had Herschelle Gibbs caught at cover-point off the fifth ball of the game. Yusuf Pathan, bowling for the first time in the tournament, used the turn and bounce available on a brown Kingsmead surface to get through three tight overs of offspin.
The usually free-flowing Shaun Marsh was more circumspect but built Scorchers' innings in a 70-run second-wicket stand with a belligerent Simon Katich, who was put down twice off difficult chances.
Katich hit Jacques Kallis for consecutive fours in the fifth over, but L Balaji came in and bowled three stingy overs to ensure Scorchers did not get away. Marsh did try to break free in Yusuf's last over, slog-sweeping him for six, but was given out leg-before in the next over, the eleventh, off Kallis, despite the full delivery striking his boot outside the line of leg stump.
Sunil Narine, who had three overs left, came back to concede just four off the 14th over, but by then the rain had got heavy enough to stop proceedings, and ultimately play a decisive role.
Knight Riders will play their final game against current group toppers Titans in Cape Town on October 21. Scorchers, who also have the same number of points as Knight Riders, have an extra game in hand.
The asking rate for Lions hit 10 an aver at the end of the seventh over, they had no momentum and they looked rather like cubs in the headlights, but over the next 13 overs they kept up with the rate without a hint of panic.
Gulam Bodi, who seemed to possess just one shot - the pick-up over midwicket - now began to drive through extra cover to end with 64 off 46. Neil McKenzie stayed cool as he had done in chasing a similar total against Mumbai Indians, but needed Jean Symes' equally cool 39 off 23 finish the chase with three balls to spare.
While Lions were tigerish in the field to keep sending back well-set Chennai Super Kings batsmen before they could cause irreparable damage, their opponents bowled two crucial no-balls and were guilty of bowling length balls during the tense chase. The first no-ball arrived just after Doug Bollinger and Ben Hilfenhaus had bowled the first six overs for just 24 for 2. Bodi had been struggling for 15 off 23 just before the over with the no-ball began.
Bodi first played his release shot - the six over the leg side - and Albie Morkel responded by overstepping. The six off the free hit marked a huge change in the momentum. From 33 in eight overs, Lions went to 96 in 13. Morkel then pulled things back for Super Kings, inducing an edge from Bodi, but it turned out that enough damage had been done by then.
McKenzie, who was happy watching Bodi's hitting until then, got a little more busy, but Super Kings seemed to have put it past Lions when Suresh Raina dismissed McKenzie with a superb running catch from long-on. In that same over, though, Ashwin bowled a no-ball. The consequent free hit went for four, and Chris Morris sent him off with a huge slogged six. Ashwin: four overs for 42.
The asking rate, once again, was 10 for the last three overs. And on quick outfields and smallish grounds of South Africa, you can't defend that by bowling length. Eleven of the next 15 balls were pitched between the yorker and bounce length. Three others were low full tosses. That death bowling was just not good enough, and Symes and Morris sailed home with a partnership of 44 in 3.1 overs.
Unlike Lions, almost every Super Kings batsman left the job unfinished. Six of their batsmen crossed 20, but only MS Dhoni went past 30. Dhoni finally came in to bat at No. 4, giving himself enough time to bat like a proper batsman, and it was his partnership with S Badrinath, worth 50 off 26, that took them away from what threatened to be a middling total.
Aaron Phangiso continued to star in the field: he removed the free-flowing Faf du Plessis with a superb catch, then took the wickets of the set M Vijay and Ravindra Jadeja, and conceded just 17 in four overs. Du Plessis' wicket was the most crucial: he was in the same dream form that had knocked Dhoni's team out of the World Twenty20, but his falling for 25 off 20 set a trend Super Kings couldn't buck until Dhoni and Badrinath began their partnership. That, though, was to prove inadequate.
