Cheerleaders in IPL

More than cricket, cheerleaders bollywood and underworld matters in IPL. Let  us look at some cheerleading moments at IPL tournaments.

Sunanda Pushkar Surrenders IPL Stake

In an effort to save Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor from getting the sack, Sunanda Pushkar, his executive friend said in a statement, that was read out in Dubai by her lawyer Ashish Mehta, that she was “deeply distressed at the vile and malicious reporting of recent days surrounding her role in Rendezvous, the successful bidders for the Kerala IPL team.''

The statement, accessed by The Hindu, said: “As a woman professional, I am shocked to find how easily certain parties with vested interest questioned my credentials merely because I am a woman. I, therefore, voluntarily offer to return to Rendezvous the sweat equity they had offered me.''

Mr. Tharoor had denied the charge that he had any financial stake in the Kochi team and claimed that he was only “mentoring'' it being an MP from Kerala.

Mr. Tharoor, MP from Thiruvananthapuram, was once the country's candidate for the position of the secretary-general of the United Nations. The Opposition on Sunday night hailed Shashi Tharoor's resignation as Union Minister saying his position had become “untenable” in the wake of the Kochi IPL ownership controversy.

“Tharoor's position had become untenable and it was only appropriate that he resigned. There was so much evidence against him. The lady giving back her equity does not absolve him of the charges,” said BJP spokesperson Nirmala Sitharaman.

CPI leader D. Raja said the exit of Mr. Tharoor became inevitable and the Congress should have taken a decision long back when the controversy exploded. The reported decision of Ms. Sunanda surrendering her stake is itself “an admission of guilt,” he said.

The entire IPL functioning and its accountability needed to be probed and the role of the Sports Ministry will have to be redefined so that a regulator is created to monitor the IPL, Mr. Raja demanded. Congress spokesperson Jayanti Natarajan said the government had taken the “correct moral stand.”

“The Congress has nothing to do with the IPL. It was an issue of an individual Minister. The party has acted with the utmost restraint. It went through a very decent process by which it collected facts and a final view was taken by the Prime Minister,” she said.

Deccan Chargers Keep Semifinals Hopes Alive

Defending champion keeps the semifinals hopes alive. Rohit Sharma of Deccen Charges scored his eighth IPL fifty and slammed six fours and three sixes in his rapid-fire 38-ball inning to keep semifinals hopes alive for the defending champions.
Mahela Jayawardene (93 not out) and skipper Kumar Sangakkara (52) scored fifties apiece to help Kings XI Punjab post 174/3 against Deccan Chargers.

Jayawardene ended the Kings XI innings in style adding 86 runs off 51 balls with Yuvraj Singh (20) to set up a respectable 175-run target against Deccan.

Jayawardene slammed 13 fours and 2 sixes in his 62-ball blitzkrieg whereas Yuvraj hit 1 four and a six in his 20-ball stay on the crease before getting out in the last over.

After losing Shaun Marsh (0) in the first over, Jayawardene and Sangakkara put on 86-run partnership for the second wicket to resurrect the Punjab innings. Punjab spinner Rahul Sharma dismissed Sangakkara in the twelfth over after the left-hander slammed nine fours and a six in his quick-fire 37 balls inning.

Deccan pacer Ryan Harris struck in the first over to dismiss Shaun Marsh (0) to reduce Kings XI to 1/1 in 0.5 overs.

Rohit Sharma (68 not out) and Tirumalsetti Suman (43) lead Deccan Chargers to five-wicket victory over Kings XI Punjab in the Indian Premier League match at HPCA stadium, Dharamsala on Friday.
Deccan lost Andrew Symonds (4) and Tirumalsetti Suman (43) in consecutive overs after a decent 66-run partnership between Suman and Sharma.

Suman hit three fours and three sixes in his 31-ball quick-fire inning before Piyush Chawla dismissed him in the fourteenth over.

Kings XI pacer Vikramjeet Malik trapped Monish Mishra (20) LBW in the seventh over after Irfan Pathan struck in the second over to get rid of Adam Gilchrist (9).

Deccan skipper Adam Gilchrist won the toss and decided to field against Kings XI.

Mumbai Indians Beat Deccan by 41 Runs

Mumbai Indians moved to the top spot with a comprehensive 41-run win over Deccan Chargers in their Indian Premier League match at the DY Patil Stadium in Nerul-Navi Mumbai on Sunday. Deccan Chargers skipper Adam Gilchrist won the toss and opted to bowl against Mumbai Indians in the at the D Y Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai. "I just think the wicket has a tinge of softness and hopefully," said Gilchrist, explaining his decision.

Harbhajan Singh provided the first breakthrough to Mumbai Indians when he scalped Deccan Chargers skipper Adam Gilchrist in the IPL encounter. Gilchrist edged the ball to the slip where Tendulkar took a one hand stunner just few inches from the ground. Initially Harbhajan scored an aggressive 49 and took three wickets.

Rohit Sharma of Deccan charges fought a lone battle with a 28-ball 45-runs before being cleaned up by Zaheer Khan in the 17th over.

It was the team from Mumbai's fifth win in six matches and their second against the team from Hyderabad in five matches. For the Deccan Chargers, it was their third defeat in six games.

Deccans Monish Mishra(13) and Herschelle Gibbs(27) combined well to steady the innings, putting on 47 runs for the second wicket. The South African soon displayed his aggressive streak smashing Zaheer Khan for successive sixes, the first over long-on and the second over long-off, in the fifth over. However, Zaheer had the last word, having Gibbs caught by Pollard at cover point.

Mumbai Indians had slumped from 64 for one in the eighth over to 93 for six at the start of the 14th. However, Tendulkar went on to complete his seventh IPL fifty, his fourth in this edition, with a couple off Symonds. As the teams headed to their dug outs - for the second timeout 9after 16 overs) - Mumbai Indians were reeling at 110 for six.

And in the fourth ball after resumption, RP Singh accounted for Tendulkar for his third wicket of the innings. The Master Blaster, having hit a clever boundary over short third man in the previous ball, went for an encore. Only it was a failed attempt.

Tendulkar's 43-ball 55 was inclusive of nine hits to the fence and was a significant contribution in the Mumbai innings.

Final Score:

Mumbai Indians: 172/7(20.0 ov)
Deccan Chargers: 131/10(17.4 ov)

Kolkata Knight Riders beat King XI Punjab

Kolkata Knight Riders beat Kings XI Punjab by 39 runs at PCA Stadium in Mohali on Saturday. Sourav Ganguly hit a 37-ball 50 soon after Kolkata Knight Riders crossed the 100-run mark. This is Ganguly's first IPL 50 after 16 inings and came when his team needed it the most. Ganguly's 50 came after Shalabh Srivastava had Mandeep Singh caught by Brett Lee at mid-on as Kolkata Knight Riders lost their second wicket.


This was Srivastava's second wicket in as many overs. Manvinder Bisla took a superb catch at deep square leg as Kolkata Knight Riders lost Chris Gayle in the third over.

Gayle mistimed a pull off a Srivastava delivery and Bisla running from deep mid-wicket, dived and plucked the ball out of thin air to take the catch just in front of the ropes.

Gayle's dismissal brought some relief to the Kings XI camp as the swashbuckling batsman had already hit 3 fours in his 12-ball 14 after Ganguly won the toss and elected to bat.

Kolkata have dropped Murali Kartik, Ishant Sharma, Chetweshwar Pujara, Harpreet Singh and brought in Ajit Agarkar, Manoj Tiwary, Iqbal Abdulla and David Hussey.

Punjab have dropped S Sreesanth, Mohammad Kaif and Juan Theron and brought in Vikramjeet Malik, Karan Goel and Brett Lee.

Preity Zinta along with Ness Wadia and others own the Mohali based King XI Punjab team where as Shah Rukh Khan has a stake in Kolkatta Knight Riders.

IPL Starts at Mumbai

Shah Rukh Khan’s IPL team, the Kolkata Knight Riders, won the first IPl match of 2010. Although SRK’s team triumphed in the end at the D Y Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai, they didn’t start out smoothly at all. The Knight Riders lost early wickets, including captain Saurav Ganguly who was out for a duck. That must have led to some real tense moments for Shah Rukh Khan. But it all turned out well in the end for the superstar’s team, and he posted on his Twitter account, “yippeeeeee.finally got to see my kids & the boys in kkr smiling.inshaallah the smiles will continue.still miles to go. but we will get there. SRK tweeted a little later, “dada said so sweetly...aapko smile karte hue dekhkar achha lagta hai. am so happy my team loves me so...and i do the same.”


Shah Rukh also said that he was looking forward to the Mumbai Indians versus Rajasthan Royals match on March 13. Another tweet from him read, “shane & sachin. wow...will watch the match and enjoy it...no stress when ur team is not playing... “

Meanwhile, the opening ceremony of the third edition of the IPL tournament was a star-studded affair with performances by celebs including Deepika Padukone, Akon, Lionel Ritchie, and Ali Campbell of UB40. Watch more at IPL Kick Starts report.