The 20th match of DLF – IPL is between the two very strong teams and it is expected to be a thriller to watch Chennai Super Kings vs Delhi DareDevils. Chennai Super Kings are undefeated in the tournament and Delhi DareDevils are also on a high after winning the previous match.

Chennai Super Kings probables: 1 Parthiv Patel, 2 Stephen Fleming, 3 Suresh Raina, 4 Mahendra Singh Dhoni (capt/wk), 5 S Badrinath, 6 Albie Morkel, 7, S Vidyut, 8 Joginder Sharma, 9 Muttiah Muralitharan, 10 Manpreet Gony, 11 Makhaya Ntini.

Delhi Daredevils probables: 1 Gautam Gambhir, 2 Virender Sehwag (capt), 3 Shikhar Dhawan, 4 Shoaib Malik, 5 Dinesh Karthik (wk), 6 Manoj Tiwary, 7 Rajat Bhatia, 8 Farveez Maharoof, 9 Mohammad Asif, 10 Yo Mahesh, 11 Glenn McGrath.

Match details are –

Date – May 2, 2008 20th Match
Venue – M. A. Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai
20:00 India time.

Update : Chennai Super Kings won the toss and decided to bat first

Keep checking iplcricketlive.com for more information about the match, match videos, match score cards and an analysis of each team’s performance.

Sourav Ganguly, captain of the Kolkata Knight Riders, has dismissed Shane Warne’s criticism of his on-field behaviour, even questioning his moral right to comment about the spirit of the game. Warne, leading the Rajasthan Royals, first slammed Ganguly for taking too long to come out to bat and then condemned his attitude towards the IPL’s Spirit of Cricket agreement when he questioned a catch taken by Graeme Smith.

Ganguly, however, came down on heavy on Warne for criticising him. “Is complaining against a dropped catch against the spirit of the game? ” he told Times Now, an Indian news channel. “We just need to look at Warne’s career to understand that he has no moral right to teach what the spirit of the game is. I just want to laugh at what Warne is saying. He should not be talking about the spirit of the game.

“I told him [the umpire, GA Pratapkumar] the catch was not taken cleanly,” added Ganguly. “Referring to the third umpire was his decision.”On Warne saying he arrived late, Ganguly replied: “The umpires have not told me anything so I don’t know what Warney is trying to say.”

Kolkata Knight Riders chief executive Joy Bhattacharya defended Ganguly’s actions, saying they were well within the laws of the game. “He just appealed to the umpire to check if the catch (by Smith) was clean. We feel he was perfectly within his rights, if he had any doubt in his mind. And if the umpire on the field had turned around and said it was clean, that would have been the end of the story. He [Warne] is no stranger to controversy. For us to react would just give importance to Warne’s comments.”

Smith, who took the controversial catch at deep midwicket on the last ball of the 13th over, maintained that it was properly taken. “It was cleanly taken…..there is no doubt about that,” he said. “The replay also suggests that the catch was clean. It’s really nice to know your captain backing you during controversy.”

“I have a good relationship with Graeme Smith and I have enough respect for him,” said Ganguly. “I don’t want to drag him into it. But the thing is in cases like this, often the fielder does not realize that he had actually taken a drop catch.”

Meanwhile Pakistan fast bowler Umar Gul, who recently joined Kolkata, felt Ganguly’s captaincy in Twenty20 cricket had a way to go. “This format is new for Ganguly. He is finding it difficult,” Gul told PTI. “He has to learn a few more tricks. We also have to find the right combination and rhythm.”Kolkata have now lost three IPL matches in a row.
Source: cricinfo.com

NEW DELHI: It’s taken a Jacques Kallis, Wisden’s Leading Cricketer of the Year, to finally mention IPL and ICL in the same breath. His team, Bangalore Royal Challengers, might be struggling in the tournament, but a day after losing yet another game – this time to the Delhi Daredevils – Kallis was all praise for India’s new T20 leagues.

“The IPL and (rebel) ICL will turn out (to be) immensely beneficial for Indian cricket. It’s giving their younger players, some of whom have yet to establish themselves in even domestic cricket, a chance to rub shoulders with icons of the game in dressing rooms. It’s an immense advantage. If this had happened when I was younger I would have benefitted immensely,” he said.

The all-rounder, however, was at a loss to explain what, apart from money, the established stars of the game were gaining. “The crowds have been very good,” was all Kallis mustered, before the astute observer in him took over: “I think T20 is the future of cricket. At three hours, it’s even shorter than a baseball game. But I honestly don’t know how long the One-day format will survive.”

Kallis has been a vocal critic of player burnout and the ICC’s frenzied Future Tours Programme, but on Thursday it was his SA and Bangalore team-mate Mark Boucher who took up the cause, saying: “The IPL is huge even in SA. This tournament needs to be on schedule. I’ve seen quite a few ICC officials here who agree the tournament is an unqualified success. If so, they need to make it good for the players. Maybe the ICC and the player unions can sit down for a chat.”

Source: ipl.timesofindia.indiatimes.com

The Cola battle is getting fuzzy. By signing up as sponsor for the Mohali Indian Premier League team Kings XI Punjab, Coca Cola can now use images of Pepsi’s pinch-hitter Yuvraj Singh.
With the IPL Coca Cola has scored over Pepsi and is sponsoring the Mohali team. The deal gives Coca Cola the right to use visuals of the team, which includes Pepsi’s brand ambassador Yuvraj Singh.

“We have signed up as one of the sponsors of the Mohali team and that gives us the right of branding on t-shirt sleeves, the helmet and use images of players like Yiuvraj Singh, Sreesanth, Brett Lee and the others as a team,” Venkatesh Kini, VP-Marketing, Coca Cola India, says. Sources say Coke is considering an advertising campaign with the Mohali team. Needless to say Pepsi will be upset seeing their pinch-hitter batting on the other side.

Coca-Cola has also come out with new packaged offerings to fizz up its summer sales. For the very first time the mango-based drink Maaza will be sold in a tetra pack for Rs 12.

Source: ibnlive.com

Australian captain Ricky Ponting has urged cricket administrators to create space in the calendar for the Indian Premier League.

Ponting returned yesterday from his four-match stint with Kolkata and will join his Australian team mates in camp on Sunday to prepare for the West Indies tour.Ponting says the IPL has a place in the game.”They’d be silly if they didn’t put it on the calendar,” he said.

“I think there’s a real danger there that international players might just see the glitz and glamour of this event and not want to play international cricket anymore, which I don’t think would be great for the game, so I know that all the administrators around the world will looking into some way of finding a six week window for this tournament every season.”
Source:radioaustralia.net