Four of eight teams in the ongoing Twenty20 are owned or managed by individuals with links to either BCCI or IPL Commissioner Lalit Modi. Conflict of interest? Not at all, claims BCCI Secretary

New Delhi, May 10:When Commissioner Lalit Modi metaphorically describes the Indian Premier League as a “family”, he may not be too far off the mark.

Four of the eight teams in the ongoing Twenty20 tournament are owned or managed by individuals with links either with the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) or with Modi himself.
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Jaipur, May 10 (PTI) A confident Rajasthan Royals will have revenge on their minds when they take on Delhi Daredevils in the Indian Premier League match at the Sawai Man Singh Stadium tomorrow.

It was Delhi Daredevils who had beaten Rajasthan Royals in their first match and the comprehensive defeat which had strengthened the belief that Royals was a weak team.

But much water has flown under the bridge since then and Shane Warne’s men are now the table toppers with 12 points from a 6-2 win-loss record.
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Jaipur: Delhi Daredevils will have to pull up their socks and check their downslide when they face Rajasthan Royals in Indian Premier League on Sunday.

Delhi Daredevils crushed Rajasthan Royals in their first match at home, but since then the Royals have grown from strength to strength and now lead the IPL standings.

Royals have won six of their eight matches and came back strongly after losing to Mumbai Indians, handing out an eight-wicket defeat to Deccan Chargers on Friday.
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Shah Rukh Khan’s Nokia-Kolkata Knight Riders ad

Hyderabad, May 10 (PTI) Low on morale and languishing at the bottom of table, Deccan Chargers will have to reverse their losing streak when they take on Kolkata Knight Riders in a must-win match here tomorrow to remain in the reckoning.

The badly-bruised Hyderabad team which has won only two of the eight matches it has played so far are sharing the bottom spot with Bangalore Royal Challengers on four points and would have to post a few victories to remain in contention for a semi-final berth.
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Hyderabad, May 10 (UNI) The Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP) State Sports Cell Convenor C Babu Rao today threatened that the party workers would obstruct the IPL cricket match between Deccan Charges and Kolkata Knight Riders to be held at Uppal stadium tomorrow, if the ‘indecent Cheer Group’ dance was allowed in the stadium.

A press release here said, Mr Rao alleged that the cricket organisers have arranged the Cheer leaders dance without permission to earn money. The ‘westernised’ performance of the Cheer leaders was hurting the people, who respect the tradition and customs of the country.
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There will be two teams and 22 players on the field when Kolkata meet Hyderabad in Sunday’s do-or-die match. Time is running out faster for these two as compared to a few others and some eyes will be on how they try to outdo each other. Many eyes however will be on what one man does or does not.

Common passengers were surprised to see him on board in the early morning flight from Kolkata and greeted him with comments like “Welcome to India” or “Can’t wait more to see you in action”. To all this, Shoaib Akhtar had a non-committal smile. With the team low on foreign power, he has become integral in its scheme of things.
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A match that swung from one side to the other was decided by two exceptional overs from L Balaji, the India international: he first picked up two crucial wickets in the 13th over to seize the initiative for his side, then picked up the IPL’s first hat-trick in the final over to finish the match. Balaji’s performance, in front of an ecstatic home crowd, pushed Chennai Super Kings to second place in the points table and ended Kings XI Punjab’s streak of five successive wins.

Chasing a stiff 182, Punjab lost two early wickets but Shaun Marsh stayed calm at the other end, working the Chennai bowlers into the gaps for runs while picking up the odd boundaries. As the asking-rate escalated to over ten, Marsh decided to step it up, punishing Palani Amarnath for two sixes over the straight boundary and bringing up his fifty with another clean straight hit, off Balaji.
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The Chennai Super Kings are back! They lost three in a row but have ended Punjab’s five-match winning streak to move level with Rajasthan on 12 points at the top of the table. There were several terrific performances in thsi match: Badrinath’s 64, Dhoni’s 61, Punjab’s death bowling that restricted Chennai to 181 when they looked like getting 200 plus.

Marsh played an excellent innings but no other Punjab batsman got going and Lakshmipathy Balaji spearheaded Chennai’s defence. He took 5 for 24 off his four overs, including the key wickets of Marsh, Sarwan and a hat-trick - the first of the IPL - in the final over of the match.

Match No: 31
Teams: Chennai Super Kings vs Kings XI Punjabb
Venue MA Chidambaram Stadium-Chepauk, Chennai
Toss Kings XI Punjab,elected to field first
Result: Chennai Super Kings won by 18 runs
Man of the match: Lakshmipathy Balaji
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