We still have a fair chance, says Gambhir

Ranchi: His team is virtually out of the play-offs race having lost eight of their 13 matches, but an optimistic Kolkata Knight Riders skipper Gautam Gambhir on Saturday said they still have a "fair chance" of making the cut in the ongoing Indian Premier League.

"At the moment, the competition is pretty open. We still have a fair chance of reaching the play-offs. For me what matters is the remaining three games and we face RCB on Sunday, which is a must-win game for us. Hopefully, we can try and deliver," Gambhir told reporters on the eve of the match.

The Virat Kohli-led RCB are coming off a win against Delhi Daredevils and asked how KKR plan to counter the likes of Chris Gayle, Kohli and AB de Villiers, Gambhir said, "We do not strategise against individuals.

"We do not discuss individuals; we will only look to do what we do best and stick to our strength."

The KKR captain is also pinning his hopes on Sunil Narine to counter the strong RCB.

"We have played on this track, a spinning one and can benefit Sunil Narine," he said.

Talking about his side`s bowling attack, he said, "KKR is not dependent only on its spin bowlers. If you see in the tournament, Jacques Kallis and L Balaji too have done well for us, which are great signs for us.

"Spinners have been successful for us, they have been different, and they have not been conventional spinners. Our bowling unit on the whole has been good."

Gambhir said his team would look to win its remaining three matches. Kolkata have to their credit 10 points from thirteen games.

"We are looking forward to win all the three matches. Be it any situation, we as a team enter the ground thinking about a victory. We do not play to participate. We will look to play some good cricket and get a win."

The city will also host the KKR versus Pune Warriors match on May 15.

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IPL 2013: RCB face KKR in Ranchi`s IPL debut

Ranchi: Inching closer to a playoff berth, Royal Challengers Bangalore will face an inconsistent Kolkata Knight Riders, who would be eyeing revenge, when the two sides clash in the city`s first Pepsi IPL game at the Jharkhand Cricket Association`s International stadium on Sunday.

It is exactly a month since the two teams clashed in Bangalore where Chris Gayle blew away KKR with a 50-ball 85 that was laced with nine sixes.

Riding on Gayle`s brilliance and some other notable performers, RCB are among the top-four in the points table while KKR are languishing in the bottom half.


Both teams will go into the match high on confidence winning their last games. While KKR comprehensively beat a hapless Pune Warriors, RCB pulled off a thriller against the Delhi Daredevils on Friday.

For RCB, Gayle`s rather quiet outings in the past few matches would be a concern. But that has more or less been compensated by the likes of skipper Virat Kohli, who was quite impressive during his 58-ball 99 in the previous match.

Also finding his feet is the fit-again Cheteshwar Pujara, who would be expected to play the sheet-anchor role given that he is not exactly a big-hitter.

In fact, batting is hardly a concern for RCB with pinch-hitters like Moises Henriques and A B de Villiers making up the lower half of their line-up.

KKR, in contrast, have been throughly exposed as a brittle batting unit. Though skipper Gautam Gambhir found some of his lost touch with a half-century against Pune but that would hardly make up for the failure of others against a team like RCB.

Veteran all-rounder Jacques Kallis has been struggling and similar is the case with expensive-buy Yusuf Pathan, who has not been able to justify the captain`s continuing faith in him.

On the bowling front, RCB came in for some thrashing on Friday night even though medium-pacer Jaydev Unadkat stood out with a fiver in four economical overs conceding just 25 runs.

But the likes of Vinay Kumar and Henriques leaked runs at 10 per over and that would certainly be a cause of concern for the team.

KKR`s bowling, on the other hand, delivered against Pune but that can hardly be a measure of how good they are given that the Warriors are a team in doldrums.

Given their current form, RCB would start outright favourites and it would be interesting to see if KKR manage to get the better off their mighty opponent.

Teams (from):

Kolkata Knight Riders: Gautam Gambhir (C), Manvinder Bisla, Yusuf Pathan, Jacques Kallis, Rajat Bhatia, Laxmipathy Balaji, Sarabjit Ladda, Brad Haddin, Debabrata Das, Iqbal Abdulla, Brett Lee, Ryan McLaren, Eoin Morgan, Sunil Narine, Sumit Narwal, Suchitra Senanayake, Pradeep Sangwan, Shami Ahmed, Shakib Al Hasan, Laxmi Ratan Shukla, Ryan ten Doeschate, Manoj Tiwary, James Pattinson.

Royal Challengers Bangalore: Virat Kohli (C), A B de Villiers, Abhimanyu Mithun, Abhinav Mukund, Andrew McDonald, Arun Karthik, Cheteshwar Pujara, Chris Gayle, Christopher Barnwell, Daniel Christian, Daniel Vettori, Harshal Patel, Jaidev Unadkat, K P Appanna, Karun Nair, Mayank Agarwal, Moises Henriques, Murali Kartik, Muttiah Muralitharan, Pankaj Singh, Prasanth Parameswaran, R Vinay Kumar, Ravi Rampaul, Rudra Pratap Singh, S Aravind, Sandeep Warrier, Saurabh Tiwary, Sheldon Jackson, Sunny Sohal, Syed Mohammad, Tilakaratne Dilshan, Vijay Zol, Zaheer Khan.

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IPL 2013: Delhi Daredevils vs Royal Challengers Bangalore- Live score

New Delhi: Already knocked out of the tournament`s play-off stage, Delhi Daredevils have just pride to play for but Royal Challengers Bangalore have a lot at stake when the two teams clash in a Pepsi IPL match on Friday.

In a complete contrast to their last year`s performance, Delhi have not looked even a pale shadow of themselves. With nine defeats from 12 matches, it has only gone from bad to worse for the home side.

In the current scenario, however, they can play without any pressure. There is no burden of expectations on the misfiring batters and out-of-sorts bowlers. They now have nothing to lose and can just go on to play party-poppers.

Delhi`s top order has failed for inexplicable reasons. Neither Virender Sehwag nor captain Mahela Jayawardene has lived up to their reputations. Australian left-hander David Warner is the only one who has done his bit.

Bangalore, who may still be recovering from a rude David Miller shock, cannot afford to take a step wrong as the fight for the play-offs is tight.

Sitting at the top, Chennai Super Kings are almost assured of a berth in the knock-out stage but there is a close battle among Mumbai Indians, Bangalore, Sunrisers Hyderabad and Rajasthan Royals for the remaining three slots for the play-offs.

In their last four matches at the league stage, Bangalore play three against teams already out of the race -- Delhi, Kolkata Knight Riders and Kings XI Punjab.

So, before they clash with strong contenders Chennai in their last match on May 18 before the play-offs, Bangalore would look to consolidate their position in these matches.

However, it may be tricky for Bangalore since laggards Delhi, who have nothing at stake, may come up with a surprise performance on their day and may spoil their chances.

Batting is not a worry for Bangalore. They have been consistently scoring in the vicinity of 200 while batting first and have chased the targets easily with Chris Gayle in his explosive best form.

But the way they were blown away by the Miller storm in their last match against Kings XI Punjab, bowling is certainly a concern for them.

For the four matches in a row, the Bangalore side have conceded more than 170 runs -- against Kings XI Punjab, Rajasthan, Pune Warriors and Mumbai Indians.

West Indies paceman Ravi Rampaul has been brilliant upfront and at the death overs but R P Singh and R Vinay Kumar have proved expensive.

The best thing for Bangalore bowlers is that they are up against a struggling batting line-up.

The Teams (From):

Delhi Daredevils: Mahela Jayawardene (C), Virender Sehwag, David Warner, Umesh Yadav, Manpreet Juneja, Ashish Nehra, Naman Ojha, Irfan Pathan, Andre Russell, Kedar Jadhav, Ajit Agarkar, Johan Botha, Unmukt Chand, Morne Morkel, Shabaz Nadeem, Ben Rohrer, Royston Dias, Muralitharan Gautam, Sidharth Kaul, Jeevan Mendis, Yogesh Nagar, Sujeet Nayak, Pavan Negi, Aristh Singhvi, Roelof van der Merwe, Venugopal Rao and Gulam Bodi.

Royal Challengers Bangalore: Virat Kohli (C), A B de Villiers, Abhimanyu Mithun, Abhinav Mukund, Andrew McDonald, Arun Karthik, Cheteshwar Pujara, Chris Gayle, Christopher Barnwell, Daniel Christian, Daniel Vettori, Harshal Patel, Jaidev Unadkat, K P Appanna, Karun Nair, Mayank Agarwal, Moises Henriques, Murali Kartik, Muttiah Muralitharan, Pankaj Singh, Prasanth Parameswaran, R Vinay Kumar, Ravi Rampaul, Rudra Pratap Singh, S Aravind, Sandeep Warrier, Saurabh Tiwary, Sheldon Jackson, Sunny Sohal, Syed Mohammad, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Vijay Zol, Zaheer Khan.

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IPL 6: KKR stay afloat as Pune limp to 11th defeat in IPL 6

Pune: Defending champions Kolkata Knight Riders scored a convincing 46-run win over an ever-struggling Pune Warriors here on Thursday, to keep alive their outside hopes of qualifying for the play-off stage of the ongoing Pepsi Indian Premier League.


Opting to bat, KKR first rode on skipper Gautam Gambhir`s 50 and a late surge by Ryan ten Doeschate (31 off 21) to post a challenging 152 for six, and then dished out a clinical bowling performance to bowl out Pune for 106 in 19.3 overs.

By virtue of this win, KKR has moved up to 10 points from 12 games. But in order to stand in with an outside chance of making it to the play-offs, the defending champions need to win all their remaining three games.

Pune witnessed a horrible start to their run chase as their batsmen found the going tough against a disciplined KKR attack and scored just 41 runs for the loss of three wickets at the halfway stage.

Pune lost skipper Aaron Finch, star player Yuvraj Singh and Udit Birla in quick succession.

While Finch was bowled by Jacques Kallis (2/27), Yuvraj nicked an away going Laxipathy Balaji (3/19) delivery to Manvinder Bisla behind the stumps.

Birla`s stay at the crease was a struggle which finally came to an end when Iqbal Abdulla (2/26) went through his defence.

Robin Uthappa (31 off 35) tried hard to hung in there but the ever-climbing asking rate finally took its toll on him. He was caught by Gambhir at backward point off Abdullah.

Angelo Mathews played a rearguard 28-ball 40-run knock but that was not enough to save Pune from slumping to its 11th defeat in the tournament.

Mathews decorated his innings with four huge sixes before perishing in search of quick runs.

Earlier, Pune wasted a good start by leaking runs in the death overs to allow Kolkata Knight Riders post the challenging total.

KKR were in a spot of bother at 99 for five at one stage, but Pune bowlers gave away a whopping 53 runs in the final four overs to help the visitors cross the 150-run mark.

KKR reached fifty in quick time after electing to bat, thanks mainly to Gambhir (50 off 44).

Pune bowlers, however, managed to put brakes on KKR`s scoring by picking up wickets at regular intervals.

Bisla (12) was the first to depart stumped by Mahesh Rawat off Bhuvneshwar Kumar (3/25).

Off-spinner Parveez Rasool (1/23), the first cricketer from Jammu and Kashmir to play in the IPL, leaked nine runs in his opening over.

But Rasool came back strongly in the next over and dismissed big man Kallis to pick up his first wicket of the tournament. Kallis was caught by Mathews at short cover of a fuller delivery from the off-spinner.

Gambhir, however, was steady at the other end and notched up his fifty in 43 balls with the help of six boundaries.

But Mitchell Marsh`s (2/7) two wickets in two overs changed the equation. Marsh first accounted for Eoin Morgan, who scored a run-a-ball 15, and then an over later he picked up the crucial wicket of Gambhir, caught by Mathews.

Yusuf Pathan too did not help his side`s cause as he departed cheaply. He edged one to wicket-keeper Rawat off Kumar while going for a booming cut.

With KKR in a tight corner, it took a quickfire knock from ten Doeschate, who played his first IPL match this year, to bail the visitors out.

Ten Doeschate used his long handle to great effect and smashed Mathews for a six and two fours to pick up 17 runs off the 17th over.

Ten Doeschate and Manoj Tiwary added 38 runs in 3 overs to provide some momentum to KKR`s innings.

Ten Doeschate finally perished, caught by Krishnakant Uphadyay off Kumar but not before decorating his 21-ball knock with three fours and one six.

Towards the end, Tiwary (15 not out off 10) and Rajat Bhatia (13 not out off 5) played short cameos to help KKR.

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IPL 2013: Rajasthan beat Kings XI by 8 wkts, inch closer to play-offs

Mohali: Kevon Cooper scalped three vital wickets before Ajinkya Rahane scored an unbeaten half century to help Rajasthan Royals beat Kings XI Punjab by eight wickets and inch closer to securing a play-off berth in the ongoing Pepsi Indian Premier League here on Thursday.


By virtue of this win, Rajasthan have moved to the second position in the team standings with 18 points from 13 games behind table toppers Chennai Super Kings (20 points).

Opting to field, Cooper picked up the wickets of Adam Gilchrist (42), Shaun Marsh (77) and danger man David Miller giving away just 23 runs off his four overs to help Rajasthan restrict Kings XI to 145 for six.

The visitors then rode on Rahane`s unbeaten 59 off 49 deliveries and useful contributions from Sanju Samson (47 not out) and Shane Watson (31) to chase down the target with an over to spare.

Rajasthan`s chase, however, did not start on a good note as they lost skipper Rahul Dravid early when he was cleaned up by left-arm spinner Bipul Sharma.

Rahane and Watson then shared 65 runs off 50 balls for the second wicket to set the platform for Rajasthan`s chase.

Just when it seemed the duo would run away with the game, Piyush Chawla went through Watson`s defence. The Australian all-rounder laced his 25-ball innings with three boundaries and one huge hit over the fence.

But that was all Kings XI could manage as Rahane and Samson played sensibly thereafter and mixed caution with aggression to guide Rajasthan home without any further damage.

While Rahane struck three fours and as many sixes during his knock, young Samson`s knock came off just 33 balls with the help of five hits to the fence and one over it.

Earlier, Rajasthan bowlers maintained discipline despite an attractive half-century by Marsh and an equally useful contribution from Gilchrist, to restrict Kings XI Punjab inside the 150-run mark.


Marsh and Gilchrist added 102 runs for the second wicket but Rajasthan bowlers, led by Cooper (3/23), put the brakes during the death overs.

The last seven overs of the innings produced only 45 runs and Kings XI lost five wickets in the process.

Ajit Chandila got a breakthrough in the first over when Mandeep Singh (0) lobbed a simple return catch to the bowler with not a run on the board.

Gilchrist, who had dropped himself from the playing XI, however, batted positively from the onset. He started off with a cover-drive off S Sreesanth.

A flurry off boundaries followed from Gilchrist's bat as he struck two meaty blows off Sreesanth's next over. When left-arm seamer James Faulkner came into bowl, he steered successive deliveries to the boundary with the home team taking off after the first over dismissal.

Marsh, who had come in after Mandeep's dismissal, was boosted by Gilchrist's counter-attack as he lofted Chandila for a six and followed that with a boundary. 14 runs came off the seventh over.

The 100 came up in the 13th over while Marsh duly reached his 50 off 44 balls as he played Faulkner towards fine leg.

However, soon after the century stand, Gilchrist was dismissed by West Indian Cooper as he committed early to a slower delivery. He faced 32 balls and hit six fours.

David Hussey (1) was castled by Watson but there was no stopping Marsh as he hit Faulkner over long-on for his second six and followed that with a cover-driven boundary.

When Cooper bowled Marsh with another slower delivery, he had faced 63 balls and hit six boundaries and two sixes.

Man of the moment, Miller, was also snapped up by Cooper with Rahane taking a catch at deep mid-wicket. The momentum was lost as Kings XI finished much below what was expected of them after being 100/1 after 13 overs.

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