Ishant five-for wrecks Kochi
If you needed a punctuation mark to describe this game, you'd choose a big, bold exclamation mark and colour it a deep crimson red. Kochi Tuskers Kerala's scorecard was stunningly woeful at the end of four sensational overs: 0, 4, 0, 0, 0, 0 were the scores of the batsmen sucker-punched by Ishant Sharma, who harassed them with seam and bounce. And Kochi never recovered from that soul-crushing spell.
His hair bobbed up and down in characteristic fashion as Ishant ran in, fingers behind the seam and wrists snapping at the release, and the length was nearly always full. The first has been an ever-present theme with him in good and bad times, the second image hasn't always been consistently repeated, and the third was a pleasant surprise.
Ishant entered the scene after Dale Steyn took out Brendon McCullum in the first over with a delivery that jagged away to take the outside edge. It was the beginning of Kochi's nightmare as Ishant stunned them with a triple strike. Parthiv Patel stabbed at a delivery that bounced and seamed away from him to the keeper, Raiphi Gomez (what was he doing at No. 4?) was taken out for a first-ball duck by a sharp incutter, and Brad Hodge combusted off the fifth delivery. He played a loose and ambitious off drive, wafting outside the line of the full delivery that cut in to rearrange the furniture.
Kochi were 2 for 4 then and all their hopes rested on their opener and captain Mahela Jayawardene, who was a forlorn figure in the middle, watching the destruction unfold in front of him. Ishant wasn't done yet; he reserved his best for Jayawardene. After trapping Kedar Jadhav in front with a sharp incutter in the fourth over, he produced a brute of a delivery to knock out Jayawardene, and Kochi, in the same over. It screamed up from back of a good length, held its line and kissed the edge of the defensive prod en route to the delighted Kumar Sangakkara. Jayawardene gave an inquisitive, and accusing, look at the pitch before he turned and departed the crime scene.
Ishant's figures read an incredible 5 for 6 and Kochi were 11 for 6 from four overs, and though there were a couple of face-saving contributions from Ravindra Jadeja and Thisara Perera, they were rapidly heading along a cul-de-sac.
In retrospect, the middle-over massacre led by Sangakkara - Deccan recovered from the depths of 37 for 3 after 10 overs to reach 105 for 3 in 16 - lulled one into a false perception about the nature of the track. In hindsight, Kochi will be ruing a no-ball from Sreesanth that allowed Sangakkara to break free. Sangakkara was on 5 when Sreesanth produced a jaffa - it bent back in from the off stump line to knock out the middle stump - but the third umpire confirmed the on-field umpire's suspicion that it was a no-ball.
It was the 11th over, bowled by Perera, that changed the landscape. Both Sangakkara and Cameron White, who was on 6 from 17 balls, pulled two short deliveries to the boundary to take 11 runs in that over. It wasn't your massive "big over" that the IPL throws up on a daily basis but it was the spark that ignited Deccan, and Sangakkara in particular. In the 12th over, he dragged Vinay Kumar for two leg-side boundaries and threw in the conventional and the upper cut to collect two more fours in the 14th over, off Perera. He continued to slash and heave and even unfurled a paddle-swept boundary off Sreesanth but the next over over from Vinay brought Kochi back.
Vinay had White holing out to deep midwicket off the fifth delivery and induced Sangakkara to edge a slower one off the next. The lower order couldn't produce anything substantial and the question lingered at the end of their innings: Was 129 going to be enough? Ishant answered it in some style.
Classy Badrinath stars in easy win
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| Batting in the IPL can be a thing of beauty |
Who said there is no room for a purist in the IPL? S Badrinath walked into a tricky situation, took ownership of the chase of 142 without playing a single ugly shot, and finessed Chennai Super Kings to No. 2 in the IPL table. His effort came after Chennai's seamers made exemplary use of the extra bounce on the DY Patil strip to restrict Pune Warriors to an under-par score, despite a well-paced 62 from Yuvraj Singh.
Badrinath's virtuoso effort made the total seem woefully inadequate though Chennai dawdled listlessly until he came in. Badrinath isn't your typical IPL hero. His upright stance, clean feet movement, classical backlift and high-elbow follow-through are all made for Test cricket. Yet, he has managed to find a niche for himself in Chennai's muscular top order. Today he unfurled an IPL innings of rare beauty: there were no cross-batted slogs, no cheeky lap-scoops to deliveries landed outside off, and not once was he caught napping on the front foot to a short ball.
Chennai are not fond of chasing, and today it was evident why. M Vijay and Michael Hussey began too cautiously and the result was 14 dot-balls in the first four overs. Hussey then heaved Murali Kartik to midwicket where Manish Pandey took a tumbling catch. Badrinath earned a promotion ahead of the out-of-form Suresh Raina, and the swap helped both batsmen.
Chennai had crawled to 39 for 1 in eight overs when Badrinath decided to counter-punch. He trotted out to Kartik and launched him for four through long-off. Kartik tossed the next ball further up, and Badrinath carved him inside-out for a six. Badrinath came out again later in the over, hoodwinking Kartik into dropping short, and then glided him to third man. The over went for 16, and in next over, Badrinath opened up the off side again, lofting Yuvraj for six more. Seventy-seven required off 60, and Chennai did not look back from there.
Rahul Sharma thought he had got Badrinath to edge the first ball of the 11th behind, but the umpire gave it not out and replays were inconclusive. Vijay managed to swipe Jesse Ryder over midwicket but his scratchy innings ended in typical fashion when he holed out against a slow legcutter. Badrinath carried on as if nothing had happened, angling near-yorkers to third man and drilling half-volleys to the straight boundary. Suresh Raina ended the contest in the 18th over, muscling Jerome Taylor for sixes over long-off.
In reality, Pune lost the match in the first half itself. Ryder fell top-edging an effort ball from Doug Bollinger that rose quickly from short of a length. Mohnish Mishra perished to the pull as well, not bothering to adjust to the length after plonking his front foot forward. Nuwan Kulasekara then dismissed Mithun Manhas with a trademark inducker that squeezed between bat and pad to disturb the leg bail. Manish Pandey departed to a replay of Mishra's brain-fade, cross-batting Tim Southee off the front foot straight to mid-on, as Pune stumbled to 41 for 4.
Yuvraj survived a loose flail at a Kulasekara offcutter first ball. He thumped the next delivery, one of the few over-pitched by Kulasekara, through cover. Thereafter he settled in carefully, and set himself for a late assault. Meanwhile, Robin Uthappa tried to dominate spin, and managed to cart R Ashwin for sixes before falling to his carom ball for the second time in three days. Yuvraj opened up after Uthappa's fall, lifting Ashwin with the angle over midwicket before launching Doug Bollinger straight for the shot of the afternoon. He slammed Tim Southee for two sixes in the last over as Pune finished their innings with a flourish. Their last five overs yielded 50, but it was not good enough. What Pune missed was a batsman with the technical excellence and mental fortitude of Badrinath to support Yuvraj.
Kochi and Pune fee reduction demand rejected
The BCCI's Working Committee has rejected Kochi Tuskers Kerala and Sahara Pune Warriors demand for a reduction in their their franchisee fees. The two new franchises, which made their debuts this season, had sought a 25% waiver on the grounds that the BCCI had stated in the bidding document that each team would play 18 league matches in a season, but the schedule was later pared down to 14 matches per team.
The two teams have already paid 75 per cent of this year's installment and wanted the balance waived. They argued that the reduction in matches was a breach of the terms of the Invitation to Tender the board issued before the two new teams were bought. Since they had based their bid on the number of matches to be played, a reduction in matches should therefore be accompanied by a reduction in the franchise fee. However, the committee voted to turn down the request at its meeting in Mumbai today.
In March 2010, the Sahara group bid $370m to became owners of the Pune franchise while a consortium of five companies called Rendezvous Sports World offered US$333.33m for Kochi. The amount is to be paid in installments over 10 years.
Chennai Super Kings
| Player | Auction Price($) |
|---|---|
| MS Dhoni | Retained |
| Suresh Raina | Retained |
| Albie Morkel | Retained |
| Murali Vijay | Retained |
| Michael Hussey | $ 425,000 |
| Wriddhiman Saha | $ 100,000 |
| Dwayne Bravo | $ 200,000 |
| Doug Bollinger | $ 700,000 |
| R Ashwin | $ 850,000 |
| S Badrinath | $ 800,000 |
| Scott Styris | $ 200,000 |
| Ben Hilfenhaus | $ 100,000 |
| Joginder Sharma | $ 150,000 |
| Nuwan Kulusekara | $ 100,000 |
| Sudeep Tyagi | $ 240,000 |
| Suresh Randiv | $ 80,000 |
| George Bailey | $ 50,000 |
| Francois du Plessis | $ 120,000 |
| Abhinav Mukund | Outside of Auction |
| Anirudha srikkanth | Outside of Auction |
| Ganapathi Vignesh | Outside of Auction |
| K Vasudevdas | Outside of Auction |
| Shadb Jakati | Outside of Auction |
| Vijaykumar Yomahesh | Outside of Auction |
| Tim Southee | Outside of Auction |
Kolkata Knight Riders
| Player | Auction Price($) |
|---|---|
| Gautam Gambhir | $ 2.4 million |
| Yusuf Pathan | $ 2.1 million |
| Jacques Kallis | $ 1.1 million |
| Brad Haddin | $ 325,000 |
| Shakib Al Hasan | $ 425,000 |
| Brett Lee | $ 400,000 |
| Eoin Morgan | $ 350,000 |
| Manoj Tiwary | $ 475,000 |
| Laxmipathy Balaji | $ 500,000 |
| Jaidev Unadkat | $ 250,000 |
| Ryan ten Doeschate | $ 150,000 |
| Iqbal Abdulla | Outside of Auction |
| Laxmi Ratan Shukla | Outside of Auction |
| Manvinder Singh Bisla | Outside of Auction |
| Pradeep Sangwan | Outside of Auction |
| Rajat Bhatia | Outside of Auction |
| Sarabjit Ladda | Outside of Auction |
| Shami Ahmed | Outside of Auction |
| Shreevats Goswami | Outside of Auction |
| James Pattinson | Outside of Auction |
| Mark Boucher | Outside of Auction |
Kochi Tuskers Kerala
| Player | Auction Price($) |
|---|---|
| Mahela Jayawardene | $ 1.5 million |
| VVS Laxman | $ 400,000 |
| Brendon McCullum | $ 475,000 |
| S.Sreesanth | $ 900,000 |
| RP Singh | $ 500,000 |
| Parthiv Patel | $ 290,000 |
| Ravindera Jadeja | $ 950,000 |
| Steven Smith | $ 200,000 |
| Muttiah Muralitharan | $ 1.1 million |
| Romesh Powar | $ 180,000 |
| Brad Hodge | $ 425,000 |
| Thisara Parera | $ 80,000 |
| Vinay Kumar | $ 475,000 |
| Steven O'Keffe | $ 20,000 |
| Owais Shah | $ 20,000 |
| Michale Klinger | $ 75,000 |
| John Hastings | $ 20,000 |
| B Akhil | Outside of Auction |
| Chandan Madan | Outside of Auction |
| Deepak Chowghule | Outside of Auction |
| Kedar Jadhav | Outside of Auction |
| Raiphi Gomez | Outside of Auction |
| Sushant Marathe | Outside of Auction |
| Tanmay Srivastava | Outside of Auction |
| Y Gnanswara Rao | Outside of Auction |
| Yashpal Singh | Outside of Auction |
| Prashant Padmanabahan | Outside of Auction |
| Prashanth Parameswaran | Outside of Auction |
Deccan Chargers
| Player | Auction Price($) |
|---|---|
| Kevin Pietersen | $ 650,000 |
| Camerron White | $ 1.1 million |
| Kumar Sangakkara | $ 700,000 |
| JP Duminy | $ 300,000 |
| Shikhar Dhawan | $ 300,000 |
| Ishant Sharma | $ 450,000 |
| Dale Steyn | $ 1.2 million |
| Pragyan Ojha | $ 500,000 |
| Amit Mishra | $ 300,000 |
| Daniel Christian | $ 900,000 |
| Manpreet Gony | $ 290,000 |
| Chris Lynn | $ 20,000 |
| Juan Theron | $ 85,000 |
| Akash Bhandari | Outside of Auction |
| Anand Rajan | Outside of Auction |
| Ankit Nagendra | Outside of Auction |
| Arjun Yadav | Outside of Auction |
| Ashish Reddy | Outside of Auction |
| Bharat Chipli | Outside of Auction |
| DB Ravi Teja | Outside of Auction |
| Harmeet Singh Bansal | Outside of Auction |
| Ishank Jaggi | Outside of Auction |
| Ishan Malhotra | Outside of Auction |
| Jaydev Shah | Outside of Auction |
| Kedar Devdhar | Outside of Auction |
| Sunny Sohal | Outside of Auction |
| Michael Lumb | Outside of Auction |
Pune Warriors India
| Player | Auction Price($) |
|---|---|
| Yuvraj Singh | $ 1.8 million |
| Graeme Smith | $ 500,000 |
| Robin Uthappa | $ 2.1 million |
| Tim Paine | $ 270,000 |
| Angelo Mathews | $ 950,000 |
| Ashish Nehra | $ 850,000 |
| Nathan McCullum | $ 100,000 |
| Callum Ferguson | $ 300,000 |
| Wayne Parnell | $ 160,000 |
| Mitchell Marsh | $ 290,000 |
| Jerome Taylor | $ 100,000 |
| Alfonso Thomas | $ 100,000 |
| Jessy Ryder | $ 150,000 |
| Murali Kartik | $ 400,000 |
| Abhishek Jhunjhunwala | Outside of Auction |
| Bhuvenshwar Kumar | Outside of Auction |
| Dheeraj Jadhav | Outside of Auction |
| Ganesh Gaikwad | Outside of Auction |
| Harpreet Singh Bhatia | Outside of Auction |
| Harshad Khadiwale | Outside of Auction |
| Kamran Khan | Outside of Auction |
| Manish Pandey | Outside of Auction |
| Mithun Manhas | Outside of Auction |
| Mohnish Mishra | Outside of Auction |
| Rahul Sharma | Outside of Auction |
| Sachin Rana | Outside of Auction |
| Shrikant Wagh | Outside of Auction |
| Shrikant Mundhe | Outside of Auction |
| Imtiyaz Ahmed | Outside of Auction |
| Sourav Ganguly | Outside of Auction |
Royal Challengers Bangalore
| Player | Auction Price($) |
|---|---|
| Virat Kohli | Retained |
| Tillakaratne Dilshan | $ 650,000 |
| Zaheer Khan | $ 900,000 |
| AB de Villiers | $ 1.1 million |
| Daniel Vettori | $ 550,000 |
| Saurabh Tiwary | $ 1.6 million |
| Dirk Nannes | $ 650,000 |
| Cheteshwar Pujara | $ 700,000 |
| Charl Langeveldt | $ 140,000 |
| Luke Pomersbach | $ 50,000 |
| Abhmanyu Mithun | $ 260,000 |
| Johan Van der Wath | $ 50,000 |
| Rille Rossouw | $ 20,000 |
| Nuwan Pradeep | $ 20,000 |
| Jonathan Vandiar | $ 20,000 |
| Mohammad Kaif | $ 130,000 |
| Arun Karthik | Outside of Auction |
| CM Gautham | Outside of Auction |
| Abrar Kazi | Outside of Auction |
| Mayank Agarwal | Outside of Auction |
| Bharath Narayan | Outside of Auction |
| Raju Bhatkal | Outside of Auction |
| Sreenath Aravind | Outside of Auction |
| Ryan Ninan | Outside of Auction |
| Asad Khan Pathan | Outside of Auction |
| Chris Gayle | Outside of Auction |
Kings XI Punjab
| Player | Auction Price($) |
|---|---|
| Adam Gilchrist | $ 900,000 |
| Shaun Marsh | $ 400,000 |
| David Hussey | $ 1.4 million |
| Dinesh Karthik | $ 900,000 |
| Stuart Broad | $ 400,000 |
| Abhishek Nayar | $ 800,000 |
| Praveen Kumar | $ 800,000 |
| Ryan Harris | $ 325,000 |
| Piyush Chawla | $ 900,000 |
| Dimitri Macheranus | $ 100,000 |
| Nathan Rimmington | $ 20,000 |
| Bhargav Bhatt | Outside of Auction |
| Bipul Sharma | Outside of Auction |
| Love Ablish | Outside of Auction |
| Mandeep Singh | Outside of Auction |
| Nitin Saini | Outside of Auction |
| Paras Dogra | Outside of Auction |
| Paul Valthaty | Outside of Auction |
| Shalabh Srivastava | Outside of Auction |
| Siddharth Chitnis | Outside of Auction |
| Sunny Singh | Outside of Auction |
| Vikramjeet Malik | Outside of Auction |
| Amit Yadav | Outside of Auction |
| R McLaren | Outside of Auction |
Delhi Daredevils
| Player | Auction Price($) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Virender Sehwag | Retained | ||||
| Irfan Pathan | $ 1.9 million | ||||
| David Warner | $ 750,000 | ||||
| Naman Ojha | $ 270,000 | ||||
| James Hopes | $ 350,000 | ||||
| Morne Morkel | $ 475,000 | ||||
| Aaron Finch | $ 300,000 | ||||
| Matthew Wade | $ 100,000 | ||||
| Ajit Agarkar | $ 210,000 | ||||
| Ashok Dinda | $ 375,000 | ||||
| Umesh Yadav | $ 750,000 | ||||
| Roloef van der Merwe | $ 50,000 | ||||
| Venugopal Rao | $ 700,000 | ||||
| Andrew McDonald | $ 80,000 | ||||
| Travis Birt | $ 20,000 | ||||
| Colin Ingram | $ 100,000 | ||||
| Robert Frylinck | $ 20,000 | ||||
| Aavishkar Salvi | Outside of Auction | ||||
| Prashant Naik | Outside of Auction | ||||
| Rajesh Pawar | Outside of Auction | ||||
| Robin Bist | Outside of Auction | ||||
| S Sriram | Outside of Auction | ||||
| Tejashwi Yadav | Outside of Auction | ||||
| Unmukt Chand | Outside of Auction | ||||
| Varun Aaron | Outside of Auction | ||||
| Vikash Mishra | Outside of Auction | ||||
| Vivek Yadav | Outside of Auction | ||||
| Yogesh Nagar | Outside of Auction | ||||
| Shahbaz Nadeem | Outside of Auction |
