Praveen and Bangalore upstage Yuvraj in thriller
May 2, 2009 | Cricket | Team CricketViewer | No Comments
Nerves? Perhaps. But nerves of steel. Having given up 14 runs in the 17th over, Praveen Kumar displayed admirable composure to bowl a four-run, double-wicket final over and seal an amazing eight-run win for Royal Challengers Bangalore. Two teams that met in Durban at contrasting positions in the IPL traded blows for 40 overs of a pulse-setting Twenty20 and, when it came to the crunch, Bangalore threw the biggest blow, derailing Kings XI Punjab from 70 for no loss to 137.
England’s selectors are having a busy time of it and two days after naming a new-look Test squad the ICC World Twenty20 party will be unveiled at Lord’s on Friday with all eyes on who will take the captaincy. 
The Indian board’s commitment to fight corruption in cricket has come under the scanner after it has emerged that it stayed silent for months on an ICC offer to provide full anti-corruption cover for the IPL this year, mainly because of the fee involved. The issue was raised at the BCCI’s working committee on Wednesday, when members were informed that the fee quoted then by the ICC – US$1.2 million – was too high. 
Brett Lee would consider a brief county stint to complement his IPL involvement in a bid to increase his bowling workload ahead of the Ashes. Lee will today leave the Kings XI Punjab camp and join the Australian limited-overs squad in the UAE, where he hopes to take his first competitive strides in his comeback from ankle surgery. 
Twenty20 cricket poses a greater corruption threat than the traditional forms of the game, Haroon Lorgat, the ICC chief executive, has said. However, he says he isn’t perturbed by the IPL’s decision not to employ the services of the ICC’s Anti-Corruption and Security Unit. 
Yusuf Pathan broke the IPL’s first tie and with it Kolkata Knight Riders’ hearts through clean hitting in the Super Over, to chase down 16 runs in four deliveries. It was intense drama at Newlands with the match swinging either way – from the moment Rajasthan Royals lost two wickets in the first three overs, till Sourav Ganguly’s dismissal with two runs required and one ball to go – as the excitement spilled over into the Super Over, the solution to a Twenty20 tie. 
The IPL’s new ‘tactical timeout’ is hampering the momentum of a team in a Twenty20 match, Mumbai Indians captain Sachin Tendulkar has said. The seven-and-a-half-minute break in the middle of an innings has also been criticised by Mumbai offspinner Harbhajan Singh, who told NDTV he did not like it because it “breaks the rhythm”. 
Just days after another sad chapter pushed them further onto the margins of the cricket world, Pakistan glimpse a rare opportunity to make a significant on-field statement. They take on Australia in a five-match ODI series followed by two Twenty20 internationals in Dubai and Abu Dhabi from Wednesday, a contest Younis Khan believes offers Pakistan the chance to begin another era on a brighter note. 
