Can Hussey make comeback count like Lee, Symonds?

Bulletin by Shwe Wai

NEW DELHI: All eyes will be on David Hussey when Kolkata Knight Riders take on Royal Challengers Bangalore in the DLF Indian Premier League match on Tuesday. Would he play and emulate Australian team-mates Andrew Symonds and Brett Lee who joined their respective IPL teams, Deccan Chargers and Kings XI Punjab and immediately made their presence felt?

Hussey played 13 games last season and scored 319 runs, including two half-centuries. He was available for the Knight Riders match against Delhi Daredevils in Johannesburg on Sunday but not picked. It will be interesting to see if this Australian will make his presence count for a team that has been on a downward spiral that has baffled many cricket fans.

Symonds's entry has reinvigorated Deccan Chargers at a critical time. He announced his return to the team with a belligerent 60 off 36 balls against Kings XI Punjab and then backed it up by taking on Shane Warne in the match against Rajasthan Royals in Kimberley by making 30 on Monday. He also gives extra bowling options to Deccan Chargers skipper Adam Gilchrist.

Similarly, Lee's return from an ankle injury and Abu Dhabi breathed fresh life into the Kings XI Punjab campaign in IPL. He looked fit, bowled quick and stuck to his length and line, not giving Deccan Chargers the width to score freely. Kings XI Punjab attack had been thrashed a fair bit in the earlier games against Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals.

Bowling well may not count as much as taking wickets: Agarkar

Bulletin by Shwe Wai

JOHANNESBURG: In his own small way, Ajit Agarkar is a happy man. His knock for Kolkata Knight Riders against Delhi Daredevils in the DLF Indian Premier League on Sunday was worth more than the 39 runs that the scorebook shows -- the team’s Director of Cricket John Buchanan may finally be convinced about his batting ability.

Buchanan was coach of the Australian team when Agarkar's poor run with bat earned him the dubious sobriquet of Bombay Duck. Nearly a decade later, Agarkar's hoping Buchanan has seen his ability with the bat. “I am sure he is.... at least I hope so,'' Agarkar joked when reminded by iplt20.com about his horror run in Australia in 1999-2000.

As his luck would have, Agarkar had had a discussion on that with former Australian cricketer Greg Blewett, who is here as a TV commentator. “In any case, many remember me mostly for that run with the bat,” Agarkar said. “Everybody has forgotten my bowling on that tour pf Australia.”

It is also an almost forgotten fact that Agarkar was a member of Team India which won the ICC World Twenty20 here in South Africa. Of course, he will not be a part of the team that will set out to defend the crown in England next month. “I am disappointed. Every time an Indian squad gets chosen and I am not there, I am disappointed. But then, I haven’t been in the national squad for nearly a year and a half,” said Agarkar.

Numbers that mattered, Match No. 42

MUMBAI: Here are some interesting numbers that cropped up during Mumbai Indians’ fantastic victory over Kings XI Punjab in Centurion on Tuesday.

119 Kings XI Punjab (119 for nine) equalled their lowest total against Mumbai Indians. In the earlier encounter (in Durban on April 29), Kings XI Punjab had made 119 for eight.

70 Dwayne Bravo’s unbeaten 70 is the highest score by a Mumbai batsman in IPL 2009, bettering Sachin Tendulkar’s 68 against Kolkata Knight Riders in Port Elizabeth on April 27.

21 S Sreesanth conceded 21 runs in his only over. His figures are the worst ever in IPL history for a bowler who bowled just one over in the game. Andrew Symonds had conceded 20 runs against Kings XI Punjab in Kimberley on May 9.

11 Piyush Chawla has now conceded 11 sixes off his bowling in IPL 2009 – only Shane Warne has conceded more (13).

4 Sreesanth has bowled one over in each of his four games in IPL 2009 that fetched 20 runs for the opposing side!

2.25 Harbhajan Singh’s economy rate in the match – the best for a spinner in IPL 2009 in a complete spell of four overs. Muttiah Muralitharan had returned an economy of 2.75 for Chennai Super Kings against Royal Challengers Bangalore in Port Elizabeth on April 20.

1 The win was Mumbai’s first over Kings XI Punjab in four matches. It was also Mumbai Indians’ first in 2009 while chasing a target. They had lost all the three games before winning this one.

Sachin asked me to open and I grabbed it: Bravo

Bulletin by Shwe Wai

Michelle Jones

JOHANNESBURG: "If it wouldn't have been for Irfan Pathan, you wouldn't be talking to me," said Dwayne Bravo following his scintillating strokeplay for Mumbai Indians against Kings XI Punjab in the DLF Indian Premier League on Tuesday. Off the eighth ball of the innings, Irfan failed to hold on to a catch from his own bowling - a miss that proved too costly for Yuvrai Singh's brigade.

"I discussed it on the flight coming into Johannesburg with the coach and the captain about coming up the order. I gave my views about the batting order but it was on morning of the match when Zaheer Khan and Sachin asked me if I would open and I grabbed the opportunity with both hands," Bravo revealed.

Promoted to open the innings, the all rounder was batting to a plan. After a brisk start, the demolition act began from the fifth over, smashing S Sreesanth all over the park for over 20 runs and from then on there was no stopping the Bravo storm.

Team News

Kolkata Knight Riders

• Taylor shocks Knight Riders into submission
• Quick Recall 41: Royal Challengers Bangalore beat Kolkata Knight Riders

View all

Kings XI Punjab

• Kings XI shot-selection was pretty poor: Moody
• Please leave me alone, let me play cricket: Sreesanth

View all

Mumbai Indians

• Quick Recall 42: Mumbai Indians beat Kings XI Punjab
• Harbhajan delighted to get match award

View all

Deccan Chargers

• Sneak Preview 43: Delhi Daredevils vs. Deccan Chargers
• Quick Recall 40: Deccan Chargers beat Rajasthan Royals

View all

Royal Challengers Bangalore

• Taylor shocks Knight Riders into submission
• Quick Recall 41: Royal Challengers Bangalore beat Kolkata Knight Riders

View all

Chennai Super Kings

• Chennai Super Kings rise to top with sensible approach
• Badrinath attributes comfort to Hayden's presence

View all

Delhi Daredevils

• Sneak Preview 43: Delhi Daredevils vs. Deccan Chargers
• Daredevils continue to showcase sense of purpose relentlessly

View all

Rajasthan Royals

• Deccan Chargers take the game away from Rajasthan Royals
• Quick Recall 40: Deccan Chargers beat Rajasthan Royals

Botha's doosra ruled illegal by ICC

South Africa news

Bulletin by Shwe Wai

	Johan Botha has been cleared to bowl at the World Twenty20 © Getty Images

Johan Botha, the South African vice-captain, has been given the green light to play in the World Twenty20 despite his doosra testing almost twice the legal elbow flexion limit. Botha's doosra was measured at 26.7 degrees by the ICC's appointed biomechanist, Bruce Elliott, and will be banned until the bowler can prove he can deliver "the other one" at a flexion limit of less than 15 degrees.

But the offspinner will be able to continue bowling at domestic and internatioinal level, after his offbreak (12.2 degrees) and arm-ball (11.1 degrees) measured within the ICC's parameters.

"I have been through the same thing before, where after a while (the doosra) was retested and then allowed to carry on with it," Botha told Cricinfo. "But for me it is just a great relief to be cleared at last and able to play for South Africa at the World Twenty20.

"With this kind of situation, you're 90% sure that you'll get through, but there is always that little bit of doubt until you finally receive the answer. I have not yet heard about the final results and the measurements, but I know they have said that I am not allowed to bowl the doosra at the moment."

Botha was reported by umpires Rudi Koertzen, Brian Jerling and Asoka de Silva after the fourth one-day international between South Africa and Australia for a suspect quicker ball and doosra. The spinner was subsequently tested at the University of Western Australia by Elliott; the same biomechanist who examined Botha's action when he was last cited in 2006.

Elliott has since submitted his report on Botha to the ICC, and recommended the bowler "review his own ... action on a regular basis to ensure his elbow flexion levels are minimized and kept within legal limits." Botha can submit himself for a re-assessment of the doosra after he has modified it in accordance with ICC guidelines.

Though happy to abide by the decision preventing him from bowling the doosra, Botha said he was still unsure as to the circumstances in which he was reported in the first place. He insisted he did not bowl the doosra in the Port Elizabeth match against Australia, and only once in the previous ODI in Cape Town.

Karthik lifts Delhi to 173

Deccan Chargers v Delhi Daredevils, IPL, Durban

The Bulletin by Shwe Wai

Delhi Daredevils 173 for 7 (Karthik 44*, de Villiers 44, Ojha 2-26) Deccan Chargers
Live scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out

	Karthik scored 44 off 23 to take Delhi to 173

Deccan Chargers checked into second-chance saloon today, but unlike his more illustrious team-mates Dinesh Karthik didn't provide them with any opportunities, and carried Delhi Daredevils to a challenging total. Deccan dropped three catches from three destructive batsmen, got away completely with one, and although Tillakaratne Dilshan played a flashy cameo and AB de Villiers managed a responsible 44, they looked like keeping Delhi to a manageable total.

Enter Karthik, who smote an unbeaten 23-ball 44, and 43 came off the last three overs. Karthik played proper cricketing shots, choosing to go mostly over extra cover and midwicket, and hurting Chaminda Vaas the most. The last over of the innings bowled by Vaas included two dot balls, and yet went for 23, comprising two huge sixes and a delightful boundary over extra cover.

It was surprising that the impetus to the Delhi innings came from Karthik. With Virender Sehwag back, the batting line-up looked imposing, and Adam Gilchrist chose to take the bull by the horns by sending Delhi in. His bowlers responded to the call, Vaas getting David Warner in his first over (Sehwag batted at No. 5) with a slower offcutter. RP Singh could have extended his lead as the holder of the purple cap when he got Dilshan to lob one straight to Rohit Sharma at gully. Straight out it came, and Dilshan punished Deccan after that.

Shoaib Maqsusi was the victim, bowling inside the Powerplay, as Dilshan scooped him for a four and a six in consecutive deliveries. He managed two more boundaries down the ground in what was tied with the most expensive over of the tournament, at 24 runs.

Thanks to Dilshan, Delhi moved to 56 for 1 by the end of the Powerplays. Dilshan was responsible for 37 of them, and only three of them were run. Andrew Symonds ended the carnage when he got Dilshan in the seventh over, and with Gautam Gambhir and de Villiers looking to consolidate some respite followed. Pragyan Ojha came on and provided Deccan with another wicket when Gambhir looked to open his arms in the 10th over. Things would have been even better for them had Ravi Teja caught de Villiers at the wide long-on boundary when he was just 7.

Sehwag looked as out of touch as he has looked through the tournament, and was dropped by Symonds first ball. It didn't prove too costly as he presented Symonds with another opportunity, soon after hitting the first boundary for Delhi in 29 balls. From 56 for 1 in six overs, Delhi had slowed to 103 for 4 in 14 when de Villiers started to hurt Deccan.