Photo: Cricket.COM
Well this just shows you the immense depth in talent in Australia. Heck, Marsh and Pomersbach still can’t make the national team! It’s a real treat having them here to show off their talents and credit to Marsh especially for playing another flawless innings. Thanks to him, Punjab have notched up their sixth victory.

One suspects the knives will be out in the Bangalore camp. They really don’t look like budging from their 8th spot. Even if they win the next five, they will only end up with 14 points, which is what Rajasthan have right now.

Postmatch Presentation
Dravid: “They played great cricket, restricting us to 140 was a great effort. We kept getting the momentum and losing wickets. We needed 175-180 but we were well short of that. We have to keep raising our game.”

Yuvraj: “Big relief after the last game. Great stuff by Marsh and Pomersbach. I thought I hit the ball harder. These shots were something else. This win gives us a lot of confidence.”

Shaun Marsh is the Man of the Match: “It’s good that me and Luke finished it off. We just got out there and watch the ball. As long as the team wins, it’s all that matters. My dad (Geoff) says he has played shots like this but I reckon he didn’t!”

Match No: 34
Teams: Kings XI Punjab vs Bangalore Royal Challengers
Venue: Punjab C.A. Stadium, Mohali
Toss: Bangalore Royal Challengers (Elected to bat)
Result: Kings XI Punjab won by 9 wkts
Man of the match: Shaun Marsh
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NEW DELHI: In a bid to build a sizeable, loyal fan base, Indian Premier League (IPL) franchisees are turning to internet in a major way. While every franchisee’s website has blogs, feedback zones, player video sections et al, some like Redchillies Entertainment (owners of Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR)) have gone ahead to include cricket editorials and online games. KKR online boasts of 37,000 registered users, Royal Challengers (RC) 10,000 and Delhi Daredevils (DD) 30,000.

Says Knight Riders Sports Private Limited finance head Blesson Oommen: “We have had 37,000 registered users and an average of 1-lakh page views a day since April 15 when we started the website. The website is the most prominent platform for building a loyal fan base, especially post-IPL season.” The company has tied up with Zapak Digital Entertainment and Contests2win.com for providing content on its website.
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Match No: 34
Teams: Kings XI Punjab vs Bangalore Royal Challengers
Venue: Mohali
Date: May 12th, 8 PM IST

Preview:
With six losses in eight games, the Bangalore Royal Challengers are rotting at the bottom of the standings. Rahul Dravid has said that his team has nothing to lose and they will play for pride from here on end. They face a tough task as they take on the Kings XI Punjab who are being touted as genuine contenders for the title

Mini-Battles: Bangalore speedster Dale Steyn will pose a few question to in-form Marsh while Anil Kumble will face a tough ask when he bowls to big-hitting Yuvraj Singh.
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Viewership share has gone up to 19.94% from 6.63%, with 36.7 million viewers in the state of West Bengal alone

SET MAX never had it so good. A heady cocktail of money, glamour and a fast-paced game have ensured that 131 million viewers have at some point already watched the Indian Premier League, or IPL, matches the television channel is broadcasting, much to the chagrin of other TV genres including news and general entertainment.

The Twenty20 cricket matches, played and aired live on prime time between 8pm and 11pm through the week and also on weekend afternoons between 4pm and 6pm, have seriously dented viewership of rival channels.

A viewership analysis by MindShare Insights has revealed that the percentage of people watching sports has jumped to 19.94% between 4 April and 12 April from 6.63% between 18 April and 26 April.
General entertainment channels that air Hindi programmes and include Sony, Star Plus and Zee TV, have seen their viewership share decline to 13.93% from 16.72%.
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New Delhi: Controversy refuses to leave the Bangalore Royal Challengers. First, team owner Vijay Mallya sacked the team’s chief executive Charu Sharma. Now, Mallya has taken potshots at team captain Rahul Dravid.

Mallya was quoted by a national daily as saying, “My biggest mistake was to abstain from the selection of the team. Though, I watch a lot of cricket whenever possible, I am no cricket expert at the end of the day.”

“I had a separate list of players that I wanted. But since Dravid is such an iconic player I trusted his judgment. And Charu Sharma also backed him. After seeing the final list, my friends told me it looked like a Test team. But I backed both of them thinking that they advised me properly,” Mallya added.
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