Champions Twenty20 League 2009

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Fixtures

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Indian govt. denies banning Akram from commentary

NEW DELHI: Organisers of the the Champions League Twenty20 tournament today rubbished media reports that Wasim Akram has been stopped from doing commentary in the event here by the Indian government, insisting that the pace legend was never a part of the commentators panel.

"Akram was never part of the panel. We would have liked to have him but then there is no Pakistani team playing in the League. We have to choose commentators from participating countries. We have seven countries and a slot of only 10 or 12 commentators," Champions League Twenty20 CEO Sunder Raman told reporters.

"We would like to have him some time in the future," he added.

Raman denied reports that Champions League organisers were under pressure from the Indian government to not have Akram on the panel for the high-profile event starting October eight.

"There is no pressure from the government.

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Maiden T20 Champions League from today

BANGALORE: Barely have we finished with the Champions Trophy than the Champions League is upon us. But the tournament that starts in Bangalore, India, this afternoon is Twenty20, not 50 overs, and for clubs rather than countries.

It also carries a rather more precious reward than the range of tailored white jackets that were given to Australia after their win on Monday. Whoever wins the final on October 23 gets to share a cool $2.5 million (about £1.6 million).

Twelve teams from seven countries are competing in this inaugural jamboree, an offshoot of the Indian Premier League (IPL). It was due to be held last December, but was postponed because of the terrorist atrocities in Mumbai.

Three come from India, the Deccan Chargers and Royal Challengers Bangalore, this year’s IPL finalists, and Delhi Daredevils, who led after the group stage of that tournament.

They are joined by the finalists from the domestic tournaments in England (Sus*** Sharks and Somerset Sabres), Australia and South Africa, plus the Twenty20 champions from Sri Lanka, New Zealand and the West Indies.

The anomaly is that this is called a Champions League, but the nation that has perhaps been most skilled at Twenty20, Pakistan, is not represented. Pakistan won the World Twenty20 final at Lord’s this summer and were narrowly pipped in the final of the inaugural World Twenty20 in 2007 by India. Yet such is the animosity between their Government and India’s that no representative side from Pakistan was invited.

This is not, in fact, the first tournament of its type. Cast your mind back to September 2005 and you may recall a Champions League-style tournament taking place in Leicester.

Snappily titled the International 20:20 Club Championship, it featured six teams: the Twenty20 champions of Sri Lanka, Pakistan and South Africa, the English finalists, Somerset and Leicestershire, and a PCA Masters XI that featured the likes of Martin McCague and Phil DeFreitas.

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Two matches in Champions League today

KARACHI: Two matches to be played in Champions League on Saturday, Geo news reported.

The first counter will take place between Cap Cobras and Otagos while IPL Champions Deccan Charges will face Summer Set in second match.

Pakistan’s first sports channel Geo Super will telecast two matches live from India.

Australian-based teams were on the top on Friday when New South Wales defeated Eagles by six wickets and Victoria easily beat Delhi Daredevils in second match.

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Somerset charge to last-ball victory

NEW DELHI: THREE years after leaving a Test tour of India in tears, Marcus Trescothick made the journey back. It was worth it, too, with the Somerset Sabres taking a big step towards the final stages of the Champions League with a last-ball victory in Hyderabad against the Deccan Chargers, the Indian Premier League (IPL) champions.

Trescothick contributed 14 runs and took two catches, but Alfonso Thomas (30 from 17 balls) and James Hildreth (25 from 24 balls) were the heroes with a 50-run stand for the eighth wicket. Although Scott Styris took two wickets in the final over, the South African-born Thomas slugged two fours through point to clinch the game.

Somerset had started well before losing their way against RP Singh and the slow bowlers. Having bunted a short ball over slip, Trescothick, inset, gave a glimpse of what England have missed with a fluent cover drive when Fidel Edwards pitched one up. And after four tidy deliveries from Singh, an errant one was guided over point.

But just as the crowd — who had never seen the Chargers win a home game — were being bullied into silence, Trescothick top-edged a pull. When the ball came down, Adam Gilchrist was under it.

The Chargers made 86 for three in their first 10 overs, with VVS Laxman sacrificing the rapier for the bludgeon on his way to 46 (35 balls), but clever changes of pace and cutters from Peter Trego stymied their progress.

With Symonds going cheaply and Laxman unable to carry on, the top-heavy line-up suffered in the second half of the innings. Cameos from Rohit Sharma and Venugopal Rao took the score to 153, but on a hard and true pitch, it didn’t seem enough.

The competition had the perfect start with a down-to-the-wire encounter in Bangalore that was watched by a capacity crowd, but the turnout for subsequent games should trigger a few alarms. There were plenty of people to watch the Delhi Daredevils and the Chargers at their home venues, but also swathes of empty seats, especially for the games not involving Indian sides. With the Diwali holidays about to start, organisers will hope that there are plenty more posteriors on seats in the second week.

The Indian cricket board, which has a stake in the competition, along with Cricket Australia and Cricket South Africa, also shot itself in the foot by scheduling its own 50-over Challenger Trophy in Nagpur at the same time.

And while MS Dhoni, Harbhajan Singh and other stalwarts of the India side have played in front of empty stands, the fan watching on TV has faced a tough choice between his favourites and the glitz of the Champions League.

The presence of every high- profile Indian cricketer was one of the main reasons behind the IPL’s spectacular success. If the Champions League is struggling to create the same impact, it has a lot to do with the absence of Dhoni, Sachin Tendulkar and Yuvraj Singh.

The Cape Cobras were the first team into the next round with an emphatic 54-run win over the Otago Volts.

Despite a sterling opening spell from Dimitri Mascarenhas, Andrew Puttick (104 not out from 62 balls), aided by cameos from JP Duminy (32 from 25 balls) and Justin Ontong (37 from 14 balls), took them to 193 for four. With Rory Kleinveldt taking three for 24 and Henry Davids responsible for a stunning catch and two run-outs, the Volts fell well short.

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Champions League: New South Wales, Delhi Daredevils victorious

NEW DELHI: Sus*** lost their opening match in the Champions League, as New South Wales recorded a comfortable 35-run victory Sunday.

The Australian team batted first and despite a difficult, slow pitch with variable bounce, they made 130-2.
Phil Hughes hit an assured 62 from 64 balls and shared an unbroken 90 with Moises Henriques who hit three fours and two sixes in 51 from 33 deliveries.

Sus*** lost acting skipper Ed Joyce first ball in the opening over and could only muster 95-8.

The Australia side secured their place in the second round with their second victory, following a 53-run rout of Eagles.

Sus***, who now have to beat Eagles in their final group match on Tuesday, were without several key players.

In the second game, Virender Sehwag and Dinesh Karthik both hit half-centuries as the Delhi Daredevils claimed a 50-run win over Sri Lanka''s Wayamba XI to keep their hopes of winning the trophy alive.

Sehwag''s 66 off 42 deliveries, followed by Karthik''s 61 off 41 deliveries - including three consecutive sixes off Ajantha Mendis - helped their side to a total of 170-5.

Dirk Nannes claimed four wickets and Glenn McGrath weighed in with two more for Delhi as Wayamba could only reach 120-7 off their 20 overs, Mahela Jayawardene the only batsman to put up a serious fight with a knock of 53.

[~*Rano*~]

hmmmmmmm


sixes kab hain HK k?

[Arslan]

maza nahi aata daikhne ka matches..

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IPL champions Deccan out from Champions League

HYDERABAD: Reigning IPL Champions Deccan Chargers crashed out of the Champions League after suffering a narrow three-run defeat against Trinidad and Tobago in their do-or-die Group A match here on Tuesday.

The see-saw match witnessed pulsating action till the last ball at Rajiv ****hi stadium.

Chasing 150 to win, the hosts could manage just 146 for nine in their stipulated 20 overs.

The hosts required eight runs off the last over but they had no recognized batsman at the crease and the tail-enders could fetch only four runs.

The victory of the Caribbean side also cleared the entry of Somerset into the quarter-final league from group A.

Deccan had lost their first match to the English County Somerset early in the event.

[Dil_Dharkan]

koi bat nahi
mazeed mehnat karo