KKR beats DD by 6-wickets while chasing a mere total of 129 runs.

Captain of KKR, Gautam Gambhir won the toss and elected to bowl first. Delhi lost its opener Unmukt Chand on the very first ball of the innings bowled by Brett Lee.

Mahela Jayawardene, captain of DD, was the only batsman who scored 66 runs, and helped his team to bring close to 130 runs in 20-overs play.

Sunil Narine, Man-of-the-match, was the pick of the bowlers for the Kolkata Knight Riders, taking 4 wickets for just 13 runs in his 4-overs spell.

Gautam Gambhir led his team from the from, making 41 runs with five fours and one huge six.

SCOREBOARD

Delhi Daredevils: Unmukt Chand b Lee 0 (1b), David Warner c Kallis b Narine 21 (19b, 4×4), Mahela Jayawardene c Narine b Lee 66 (52b, 8×4, 1×6), Manpreet Juneja c Shukla b Balaji 8 (9b, 1×4), Naman Ojha c Lee b Bhatia 9 (9b, 1×4), Johan Botha lbw b Bhatia 7 (6b, 1×4), Irfan Pathan c Tiwary b Narine 4 (7b), Andre Russell c & b Narine 4 (8b), Shahbaz Nadeem (run out) 4 (8b), Ashish Nehra c Shukla b Narine 0 (1b), Umesh Yadav (not out) 0 (0b); Extras (b-1, w-4): 5; Total (in 20 overs): 128.

Fall of wickets: 1-0 (Unmukt), 2-44 (Warner), 3-59 (Juneja), 4-79 (Ojha), 5-88 (Botha), 6-97 (Pathan), 7-113 (Russell), 8-125 (Jayawardene), 9-128 (Nehra).

Kolkata Knight Riders bowling: Lee 4-0-40-2, Kallis 3-0-23-0, Balaji 4-0-20-1, Narine 4-0-13-4, Bhatia 4-0-23-2, Shukla 1-0-8-0.

Kolkata Knight Riders: Manvinder Bisla c Chand b Nehra 4 (9b, 1×4), Gautam Gambhir lbw b Botha 42 (29b, 5×4, 1×6), Jacques Kallis c Unmukt b Nadeem 23 (20b, 5×4), Manoj Tiwary c Ojha b Nadeem 23 (23b, 2×4), Eoin Morgan (not out) 14 (15b, 1×4), Yusuf Pathan (not out) 18 (16b, 1×6); Extras (lb-2, w-3): 5; Total (for four wkts. in 18.4 overs): 129.

Fall of wickets: 1-5 (Bisla), 2-52 (Kallis), 3-93 (Gambhir), 4-99 (Tiwary).

Delhi Daredevils bowling: Pathan 2-1-15-0, Nehra 3-0-20-1, Umesh 3-0-23-0, Nadeem 4-0-22-2, Botha 3.4-0-23-1, Russell 3-0-24-0.

Man-of-the-match: Sunil Narine.

The condition of Ryder is critical suffering severe head injuries and is in intensive care in Christchurch Hospital, Police and media reports indicated.

Shockingly, the attack came just a day before Ryder was to play Twenty20 cricket in the Indian Premier League.

Ryder is in a coma due to lung damage and internal bleeding, it added.

The incident occurred on Thursday early morning at a bar in Christchurch and confirmed that Ryder had been involved.

Eye witness said that four men absolutely smashed Ryder who fought back outside a bar.

However, no reports about who are those attackers, but witness confirmed that they knew very well who Ryder was, Police said.

Ryder reportedly had with members of his the Wellington cricket team who had earlier been beaten in the semifinals of New Zealand’s domestic one-day competition in Christchurch.

The 28-year-old Ryder was not taken in New Zealand Team for international cricket due to having several alcohol and fitness issues. He last played for New Zealand in a one-day international against South Africa in February, 2012.

The minister said that there was fire of anger in the state against alleged war crimes committed by Sri Lankan armed forces against Tamils in LTTE war.

“The Government of Tamil Nadu will permit IPL matches to be held in Tamil Nadu only if the organizers provide an undertaking that no Sri Lankan players, umpires, officials or support staff would participate in these matches”, she told Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in a letter.

In this surcharged atmosphere, she urged Center to restrict Board of Cricket Control of India (BCCI) to prevail upon the IPL to not allow any Sri Lankans to take part in the tournament in the state, reports said.

The sixth season of the IPL remains doubtful on heels of Sri Lankan Issue. Now wait is of BCCI decision before get a kick start on the series.

Being upset and refused to play, Former Sri Lankan spinner Muralitharan told reporters, “If IPL asks us not to play, we will not play. Cannot comment as no one from IPL has contacted yet”.

This is not new for Jayalalithaa to stroke cancellation, earlier she had cancelled the 20th Asian Athletics Championships and also following amid protests over the alleged brutal killing of slain LTTE chief V Prabhakaran’s son.

If Sri Lankan players would be allowed in Tamil Nadu, then expected that an already surcharged atmosphere would aggravated which would resulted in mass agitations, hunger strikes, self-immolations and large-scale spontaneous in from of protest against the Sri Lankan action against the Tamils.

Now, the cricketer Yuvraj Singh announced the release of his memoir, The Test Of My Life.

The newly launched book has all the success stories of Yuvraj Singh’s fight with the deadly disease. Yuvi said, “so that someone else can feel they are not alone when the chips are down.”

During the launch of the book, Sachin Tendulkar, MS Dhoni, Virender Sehwag and Virat Kohli recalled the moments spent with him after master balaster Sachin Tendulkar launched the book formally at a city hotel on Tuesday evening.

But, it was Sachin who left everyone wiping when he recalled how he was scared of breaking down in front of Yuvraj when he had met him in London after his treatment in the US.

Sachin Tendulkar said, “When I went to meet him in London, I was telling my wife (Anjali) that I don’t want to break down when I see him. I met him and gave him a tight hug. We enjoyed a meal and from the way he (Yuvraj) ate, I was convinced that he is back on track.”

Master blaster said, “When I saw my wife discussing medical terms with Yuvraj, I realised what he has been going through. He is like my younger brother and I would ask God why it (the illness) had to happen to Yuvraj.”

Further, team Indian captain, MS Dhoni recalled how he was shocked when someone told him about Yuvi’s illness. Dhoni said, “When his test reports came, someone told me he had cancer. I just said ‘are you sure’. The person repeated what he had said. I was shocked.”

Further, Yuvraj Singh said, “Dhoni does not talk too much while batting. But when he got out against Australia in the quarterfinals, while going back he told me ‘shaabash Yuvi, jitake aana’”

Then, Dhoni remembered how Yuvraj greeted him when the present captain first joined the Indian team back in 2004-05.

“Are bhai kya chal raha hai, sirf chakke maarne se kuchch nahi hota, match jitaane se jyada appreciation milta hai.” Dhoni recalled, “First, I used to refer to him as aap. From then it came down to tum and now it is just tu.”

The new hero of team India, Virat Kohli said, “I asked him why are you coughing so much. And he replied that he had cancer. I thought it’s his habit of fooling around with people. I told him not to joke and I left the room.”

When the anchor asked Yuvraj how did Kohli get the nickname ‘Chickoo,’ he said, “When he came to the team I thought he resembled a baby bulldog. But now he has surpassed me in all departments, including being the most eligible bachelor.”

Harbhajan Singh also had his share of fun. “During Yuvi’s illness, I never spoke on that subject.”

Australia had now called Brad Haddin as cover for wicket-keeper Matthew Wada, who has sprained his right ankle and is in doubt for the third Test starting on March 14.

Talking to media, Cricket Australia said in a statement, “Cricket Australia (CA) advises that Matthew Wade’s scans have confirmed a sprained right ankle. Given the uncertainty of Wade’s availability, Brad Haddin will fly from Australia to Mohali today to join the squad.”

The touring side is down be 0-2 against India and Wade had injured his ankle while playing basketball on Saturday in Mohali.

Australian team physiotherapist Alex Kountouris said, “Matt has a complex ankle injury which has been confirmed by the scans and at this stage is in doubt for the Third Test starting on Thursday. A final decision on whether he will be available for the third Test will be made closer to the match.”

Wicket-keeper Wada is doubtful for the third test. He has been Australia’s first choice since April last year when Haddin left the series midway.

Young batsman Steve Smith has been recalled along with pace bowler Mitchell Starc and offspinner Nathan Lyon, while Brad Haddin will take over for Wade behind stumps.

Australia: Michael Clarke (capt), David Warner, Ed Cowan, Phil Hughes, Steve Smith, Brad Haddin, Moises Henriques, Peter Siddle, Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon, Xavier Doherty.

The information was given to media by Australian media.

The Australian media on Monday reports that Australian coach Mickey Arthur and team manager Gavin Dovey made the much unlikely decision on Monday afternoon as Australian team kept on doing practice for the third test after loosing the first two Tests to India.

Reports state, apart from vice captain Watson, fast bowler James Pattinson as well as Usman Khawaja and Mitchell Johnson were also dropped from the team for the third Test, starting in Mohali on Monday.

It is said that all the four cricketers failed to deliver a presentation, asked by the team management following the shameful innings defeat to India in Hyderabad test.

The Australian cricketers had been asked to outline three points on what they bring to the team by e-mail or in person, and given them five days to complete the task. Four players did not complete the task by the given deadline.

Team India will play their remaining two Tests against touring team Australia in Mohali and New Delhi.

In a meeting, the BCCI has on Thursday announced the 14-member Indian cricket team for last two Tests against Australia, Border-Gavaskar Trophy, which India lead 2-0.

However, the final selected team was not unexpected as Sehwag just scored 27 runs in the three innings he played against Australia.

In has last 21 Innings, Sehwag has just one hundred under his belt and two fifties.

During England’s tour to India in 2012, he scored 25, 30, 9, 23, 49, 0, 19, 2 and 6. In last five years, Sehwag has 67 runs as his best score outside country with an average of just 22.73.

Meanwhile, no replacement was made in the team, which means the uncapped Delhi batsman Shikhar Dhawan will now open for team India with Murali Vijay.

Though, Ajinkya Rahane is also in the squad and could come into the frame for the Mohali Test starting March 14. The final Test is in Delhi on March 22.

India Test squad:

MS Dhoni, Murali Vijay, Cheteshwar Pujara, Sachin Tendulkar, Virat Kohli, Ravindra Jadeja, Harbhajan Singh, R Ashwin, Pragyan Ojha, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Ajinkya Rahane, Ashok Dinda, Shikhar Dhawan, Ishant Sharma.

India bests Australia by 8 wickets in the first test match played at Chennai, R Ashwin took 12 wickets in that match and captain MS Dhoni made brilliant 224 runs in the first innings.

Talking to media, Ashwin said, “We did well in Chennai. It was a clinical performance and I think we will go out with not thinking too much about what happened previously.”

While talking about team India’s strategy in the second test against Australia, he said, “We have not spoken honestly about it. It is just a result and numbers don’t go too much into head. We will have to remain positive about it inside the dressing room.”

The cricketer was sharing his views with media during the practice session at the Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium at Uppal here.

He said 8-wickets in Chennai will surely help them in Hyderabad as well.

He said, “I have not seen the wicket yet. Obviously when you go there, you will have good feel of the wicket. It is a different soil.”

Ashwin said, “I seriously don’t know much about the preparation of the wicket but by the look of it you can make out what it is going to do. I think it will be a good wicket for the first couple of days.”

However, he said playing XI would be decided before the match and he has no idea that if there is any change in the team or not.