The Deccan Chargers rolled over and let the Rajasthan Royals clinch their sixth win from eight games with ease. Deccan put up no fight to defend their below-par total and looked spiritless as Rajasthan chased the target with more than four overs to spare.

Deccan’s fielders, perhaps hindered by the dust-storm blowing across the stadium, failed to save runs and even conceded a boundary instead of supporting their bowlers in putting pressure on Rajasthan.

Rajasthan Royals kept their cool and reversed Deccan Chargers’ aggressive start into a below-par total with disciplined bowling and sharp fielding in Jaipur. At the toss, Adam Gilchrist said his batsmen had the challenge of putting up a total that his bowlers could defend. But clearly Gilchrist was the only one game for the task; Deccan added only 43 after he was dismissed in the 14th over.
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Match No: 30
Teams: Rajasthan Royals vs Deccan Chargers
Venue Sawai Mansingh Stadium, Jaipur
Toss Rajasthan Royals , elected to field first
Result: Rajasthan Royals won by 8 wickets
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Ahmedabad: The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) appointed Appeals Commissioner Sudhir Nanavati on Friday met Harbhajan Singh and S Sreesanth and recorded their statements on the slapping of the Kerala pacer by the Indian off-spinner after a Mumbai Indian vs Kings XI Punjab Indian Premier League (IPL) match on April 25.

After the hearing Nanavati said he is satisfied with the statements of both Harbhajan and Sreesanth and added that he would not need to cross-examine either player or any more witnesses.

“I am not authorised to forgive anyone. I have got all the answers and I am satisfied by the statements that the two players made. I spoke to Harbhajan for about 11/2 hours and for about 30 minutes with Sreesanth. Both were questioned separately,” Nanavati said after the hearing.
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Karachi: Bangalore Royal Challengers sacked its CEO Charu Sharma for benching Misbah-ul-Haq while coach Venkatesh Prasad saved his job by apologising for ignoring the Pakistani player, according to media reports here.

The Jang claimed the decision to keep Misbah on the bench in some of the IPL matches led to Sharma’s ouster and according to the report, Prasad too was on his way out before he tendered an apology and escaped a similar treatment.

According to the daily, Prasad was sacked by the owner of the Bangalore team, Vijay Mallya, but the coach later apologised and agreed to set things right due to which his termination orders were taken back.
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Match No:30
Teams: Rajasthan Royals vs Deccan Chargers
Venue: Sawai Man Singh stadium,Jaipur
Date: 9th May 2008, 8PM IST

Preview:
The stage is set for the clash between two teams, both of whom have performed very differently from what was expected of them. While the Rajasthan Royals were written off as bottom feeders before the IPL began, the Deccan Chargers were pipped as title contenders. But at the end of one round of matches,the Rajasthan Royals find themselves at second place in the standings while the Chargers are languishing at the seventh spot. Rajasthan captain Shane Warne has said that the defeat to the Mumbai Indians in their last match was a timely wake up call, and Warne expects his team to bounce back strongly.The Deccan Chargers, on the other hand, have won only two of their last five matches and will look to get some sort of winning streak going from here on.
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Hours before the start of Jaipur’s IPL match against Hyderabad here on Friday, the Sawai Man Singh stadium was locked from inside owing to a dispute between the Rajasthan Cricket Association and Rajasthan Sports Council.

The Rajasthan Sports Council locked the stadium after traffic authorities of the city issued a challan on the stadium. Officials were engaged in talks to resolve the matter before the game gets underway.

The IPL, though producing fierce rivalry on the field, has been shrouded in controversy ever since it began.
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Itching to make his Indian Premier League debut after missing seven matches in a row with a groin injury, Sachin Tendulkar today said he is hoping to be a part of the Mumbai Indians XI when they play Bangalore Royal Challengers on Saturday.

Watching his teammates fight it out
against the Rajasthan Royals in tonight’s IPL tie, the regular
skipper of the home side said he would take to the field only if he
was fully fit. “I can tell you roughly that I’m
targetting the next match,” Tendulkar said. “If I’m in the middle, I should be able to compete, for if I’m not able to compete, I’ll be letting down the team,” said the Mumbaikar.

 Tendulkar also gave a thumbs up to IPL,
dubbing it the biggest event ever in the history of cricket, besides
being a step in the right direction for globalisation of the game.

“Without a doubt (this is the
biggest event in cricket’s history). It has taken the game virtually
to all the households in the world. If cricket is looking forward to go global, this is the format. It’s a three-hour entertainment, which the entire family can watch together,” he said.
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