Mumbai rounded off their IPL campaign with a comfortable win over the Bangalore Royal Challengers in a match reduced to 18 overs a side by rain. Sanath Jayasuriya and Sachin Tendulkar weren’t troubled by the damp conditions and added 96 in 69 balls after Dilhara Fernando restricted Bangalore to 122 with controlled spells of bowling that fetched him four wickets.

After winning the battle of wooden spoon with a five-wicket victory over Deccan Chargers Sunday, Bangalore Royal Challengers captain Rahul Dravid said a captain was as good as his side and the team management will have to ponder how to make an impact in the next edition.

“A string of early losses put paid to our hopes. But these are part and parcel of cricket. If you don’t reach the semifinals then you naturally will have to improve. All those involved will have to think over what to do next (in next edition),” Dravid said at the post-match press conference here.
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Rajasthan have virtually secured a semi-final spot by winning their eighth match out of ten. Today’s victory has been emphatic, by a margin of 65 runs. They set it up with a sold batting performance - Smith and Asnodkar scored fifties and Watson contributed as well to set a target of 198.

Their bowlers came out strongly and reduced Bangalore to 5 for 3 to effectively end Bangalore’s challenge. Dravid played a sole hand - scoring 75 off 36 balls . Kallis’ painful 20 off 29 balls was the next highest score.

Bangalore were appalling today: their bowling was haphazard, they bowled far too short and on both sides of the wicket. They managed to take only one Rajasthan wicket but they could have had a few more if their fielding and catching wasn’t so sloppy. Their batsmen came out without a plan and didn’t even begin to make a fight of the chase.

Dravid wins the award for the most sixes.

Dravid: “We were outplayed. It was a great effort from them to get to 197. I don’t think we fielded or bowled well. We needed a start like they got and after we were 5 for 3 we were always chasing the game.”

Warne receives the purple cap for becoming the highest wicket-taker of the tournament. He thinks Watson is the player of the tournament so far and credits Smith and Asnodkar for a fantastic partnership at the top.

Graeme Smith is the Man of the Match for his 75 off 49 balls. He batted through the 20 overs in the extreme heat. No wonder he didn’t come out to field at the start of the run-chase.

M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore
Bangalore has offered to host Sunday’s IPL game against Jaipur, which was rocked by bomb blasts on Tuesday. Vijay Mallya’s team, which lost to Team Mohali on Monday, is still camped in Chandigarh.

“We have said we could host Sunday’s game but it’s up to the IPL,” chief cricket officer Martin Crowe told HT on Tuesday. “We’re waiting for (IPL commissioner) Lalit Modi to get back to us. We’re going to Delhi on Wednesday and will stay there a bit but would prefer to go back to Bangalore rather than proceed to Jaipur under the current circumstances.”
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The bomb blasts in Jaipur has cast a shadow of uncertainty over Saturday’s IPL match between the Rajasthan Royals and the Bangalore Royal Challengers in the city. Bangalore have offered to host the game at the Chinnaswamy Stadium.

“We have conveyed our decision to the IPL council,” Martin Crowe, the Bangalore coach, told Cricinfo from Chandigarh, where the rest of the team is currently staying. “The franchises are discussing the issue. A final decision will be made tomorrow. We are going to Delhi tomorrow and will probably head over to Bangalore after a night’s stay in Delhi.”
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Mr. Mallya has emerged as the most sore looser among all the IPL team owners. But the man can drink to even this dubious distinction as he has enough liquor for perhaps all the joys and afflictions in this world.

His team has firmly ensconced itself at the very bottom of the IPL points table with seven defeats in nine matches. Acres of print and electronic space have been dedicated to strictures of the team’s baffling composition. Now the liquor baron himself has opened a verbal front against his team’s captain, encumbering him with all the blame for the Royal Challenger’s IPL debacle. But then this isn’t the time to play the blame game as the Bangalore Royal Challengers are still playing for pride for that will help them retain some public support.

By washing the Challengers’ dirty Lenin in public, the liquor magnet is sending all the wrong signals to the people who now have one more reason to despise the BRC team. The recent remarks by Vijay Mallya and the Charu-Sharma-pink-slip episode are a colossal PR faux pas. Given Mallya’s glaring lack of public relations virtuosity, I think the team’s PR guy is also terribly out of form. I think Mallya has just reinforced the belief that there is a rift in the side. Also he comes across as a sore looser.
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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: 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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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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KOLKATA: The DLF-Indian Premier League (IPL) on Friday announced that it had fined Royal Challengers Bangalore $1,000 for slow over-rate in the game against Kolkata Knight Riders at the Eden Gardens, here on Thursday.

Kolkata Knight Riders too was fined $500 for the same offence by the match referee, Farokh Engineer.
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