NEW DELHI: Chairman Lalit Modi said that Indian Premier League will conduct a random dope test on the players participating in the Twenty20 tournament. After a report in the Nation , which claimed that Shoaib Akhtar was questioned about a large number of syringes in his baggage prior to leaving for Mumbai earlier this month at the Karachi airport, the IPL commissioner announced that the test will be conducted in 2 to 3 days.

However, the Pakistan Cricket Board has played down a report in a section of the media that fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar was questioned at the Karachi airport.

A report in the Nation said that prior to boarding the flight to Mumbai en route to Kolkata the custom officials had questioned Shoaib on an inordinately large supply of syringes in his luggage-reportedly as many as three dozen in number.

The fast bowler, who is playing for Shah Rukh Khan’s Kolkata Knight Riders team in the Indian Premier League, told the custom officials that he needed the syringes because he was a diabetic, the report said.

The first time one has heard off the fast bowler suffering from this ailment. When a senior official of the board was asked about the incident, he said it was no big deal as the syringes were empty and contained no substances.

Shafqat Naghmi, chief operating officer also showed ignorance over the medical history of Shoaib saying he would have to check up to find out if the fast bowler was a diabetic.

But he made it clear that Shoaib had gone to India to play in the IPL and currently he was under the preview of the IPL rules and regulations.

When reminded about Shoaib’s past record of having tested positive for a banned substance, nandrolone in 2006 with team-mate Mohammad Asif, Naghmi said the IPL was recognised by the International Cricket Council but it was not an ICC event.

“I don’t thing it is a big deal. The syringes were empty and first we have to confirm if the report has got all the facts right. There is no question of the Pakistan Board contemplating any action against Shoaib for this,” he said.

Shoaib is playing in the IPL after the three-member appellate tribunal, hearing his appeal against the five-year ban imposed on him, suspended the ban for a month to allow him to play in the cash-rich Twenty20 competition.
Source:ipl.timesofindia.indiatimes.com

Today was a match between Kolkata Knight Riders and Mumbai Indians in the DLF – IPL. This was the 38 match of the league. Mumbai Indians won the toss and decided to bowl. They were given a target of 67 runs which was a very small target and Sanath Jayasuriya and Sachin Tendulkar opened the batting for Mumbai Indians and took the score to 6 before Sachin Tendulkar was out.  Sanath Jayasuriya was the top scorer and thus helped the team to won the match by 8 wkts

Match Notes Are :

• Kolkata Knight Riders innings
• Kolkata Knight Riders: 50 runs in 11.5 overs (76 balls), Extras 6
• Innings Break: Kolkata Knight Riders – 67/10 in 15.2 overs (AB Dinda 1)

• Mumbai Indians innings
• Mumbai Indians: 50 runs in 4.1 overs (28 balls), Extras 4

Today was a match between Mumbai Indians and Kolkata Knight Riders in the DLF – IPL. This was the 38th match of the league and the match is played at Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai. Mumbai Indians won the toss and decided to bowl first. Salman Butt and Aakash Chopra opened the batting for Kolkata Knight Riders and took the score to 16 before Salman Butt was out. In the end the team scored 67 runs in 20 overs.

Today Match 38 – Scorecard – Mumbai Indians vs Kolkata Knight Riders

Match 38 – Mumbai Indians vs Kolkata Knight Riders

Mumbai Indians (probables): 1 Sanath Jayasuriya, 2 Sachin Tendulkar (capt), 3 Robin Uthappa, 4 Dominic Thornely, 5 Dwayne Bravo, 6 Shaun Pollock, 7 Abhishek Nayar, 8 Yogesh Takawale (wk), 9 Dhawal Kulkarni, 10 Rohan Raje, 11 Ashish Nehra.

Kolkata Knight Riders (probables): 1 Salman Butt, 2 Aakash Chopra, 3 1 Sourav Ganguly (capt), 4 David Hussey, 5 Mohammad Hafeez, 6 Laxmi Ratan Shukla, 7 Wriddhiman Saha (wk), 8 Shoaib Akhtar, 9 Ishant Sharma 10 Murali Kartik 11 Ashok Dinda.

Date – May 16, 2008 Match-38
Venue – Mumbai
20:00 India time.

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

New Zealand fast bowler Chris Martin is hoping to attract the eye of the Indian Premier League teams with a successful series in England.

The 33-year-old is the most experienced of the Black Caps not to be involved in the inaugural competition, with Daniel Vettori, Brendon McCullum and Jacob Oram all involved before heading to England.

And having seen his team-mates get involved in the competition, Martin is keen to play a part as the IPL continues to grow.

Martin said: “It inspires me to get myself over there.

“As far as a New Zealand player goes it is an important financial incentive to get yourself into India.

“For a young guy coming up, playing cricket in New Zealand it is a passage you should be following.

“It’s a superannuation plan: if you can get your name up in lights and somebody with a wad of rupees is willing to spend money on you to play cricket in their country it is not something to turn down.

Energy

“It is a supplement to your career and means you focus even more time and energy on playing for your country.”

Martin, though, will need to work on his batting if he is to play some part in the IPL with an average of 2.55 from 40 Tests unlikely to have many side’s paying out big money for his services.

However Martin insists a bombardment of bouncers from England Lions bowler Chris Tremlett at the Rose Bowl has worked in his favour.

“That has woken me up to the fact that it’s important to get bat in front of the ball instead of the body,” said Martin.

“For me double figures has always been pretty good.

“Relaying the message from what I see to my hands and my feet has always been a bit of a problem.

“There is a slight mental block as well with my batting – when I was younger I know I wasn’t as handicapped as I am now.

“I also understand that playing at this level that there is not a lot of room to move if you have limited ability.
Source:skysports.com