sachin will play county cricket

English county team Middlesex are close to signing Sachin Tendulkar.Tendulkar is waiting for permission from the BCCI to join.

Tendulkar, who completed 20 years in international cricket on November 15 will return to the England county circuit after playing for Yorkshire in 1992 as a 19-year-old. He was the county's first overseas player and scored more than 1,000 runs averaging 46.52.

Bangalore beat Delhi by 7 wickets, keep semifinal hopes alive

Jacques Kallis delivered when it mattered most as the South African cracked an unbeaten half century to guide Royal Challengers Bangalore to a thumping seven-wicket victory over Delhi Daredevils and keep their semifinal hopes alive in the Indian Premier League here today.

Kallis (58 not out) carried his bat through the innings hitting two fours and two sixes from 56 balls to steer Bangalore to their seventh win from 13 matches after Delhi elected to bat and posted 134 for seven.

Kallis first shared a 70-run stand from 69 balls for the second wicket with Rahul Dravid (34-ball 38) and then combined with Ross Taylor (12-ball 25) for 29 runs from just 14 balls for the third wicket to take Bangalore home with one over to spare.

Bangalore, now at fourth place in IPL table with 14 points to their kitty, will though need to win their last match against Deccan Chargers at Centurion on May 21 to make sure that they make it to the semifinals.

Chasing 135 for a win on a slow Wanderers pitch, Bangalore batsmen, except for Taylor, grafted for runs for most part of the match.

Robin Uthappa (1) continued his poor form but the other opener Kallis and one down Dravid stabilised the Bangalore innings.

Ponting support Symonds to make Ashes cuts

Australia captain Ricky Ponting today voiced his support for controversial all-rounder Andrew Symonds' return to the Test side for the Ashes series.

Symonds has battled controversies both on and off the field and despite not being among the best of shape, was allowed to play for the country in the one-day series against Pakistan in Abu Dhabi and Dubai recently.

However, the all-rounder seems to be finding his rhythm in the Indian Premier League where he has so far scored 174 runs in five matches for the Deccan Chargers, leading his coach Darren Lehman demanding his inclusion in the Ashes series.

Ponting too backed Lehmann's views and felt it would be a tough job for selectors to keep out the 33-year-old all-rounder when they meet on Wednesday to pick the 16-member squad for the Ashes.

Ponting said he would not be surprised if Symonds gets the nod.

"I wouldn't be surprised, he has had his share of battles over the last 12 months, obviously the well documented stuff off the field,"he added.

Remove ban on Azharuddin

In the year 2000 the BCCI appointee three-member disciplinary committee comprising of president (Dr. A. C. Muthiah) and two vice presidents (Kamal Morarka and K. M. Ram Prasad) didn't come to equal terms and 2:1 majority saw former India skipper Mohammad Azharuddin being life-banned.

"Now Azharuddin is a Member of Parliament (MP), the life ban should not have been imposed at first place. "I was deadly against the move. I had expressed my opinion in the form of a letter", Kamal Morarka said. The copy of the said letter is with Mohd. Azharuddin also. While defending his case, he had produced the same in court, it is learnt.

"I could not attend the meeting on that particular day and requested the meeting be held on some other day. They didn't listen to it and went on with the verdict. But even if I had attendend the meeting, it would not have made much of a difference as two other members wanted ban on Azharuddin", he said. There was no evidence suggesting Azhar's role in match-fixing. I would have suggested the lighter punishment (in the form of fine etc.) for him", Kamal Morarka added.

K. M. Ram Prasad, now recovering from the illness, said from Bangalore's Ramaiyya Hospital bed, "looking at the improved behaviour of the former captain, I believe the life ban should be removed". "The Indian cricket board can certainly do it". "The people from his (Mooradabad) consituency have pardoned him and sent him to the Parliament and this life-ban on him should be removed".

Kings XI Punjab beat Deccan Chargers by one run

Kings XI Punjab skipper Yuvraj Singh's took his second hat-trick, as his team beat Deccan Chargers by one run.Deccan Chargers skipper Adam Gilchrist won the toss and elected to field first.

Punjab lost its first wicket when opener Sunny Sohal attempted a cheeky flick shot to Rohit Sharma over short fine leg. Herschelle Gibbs and wicketkeeper Adam Gilchrist then combined to run out Luke Pomersbach on 1. Just 11 runs later Simon Katich hit straight to Pragyan Ojha at mid on, off an Andrew Symonds ball full of a length, to leave Punjab on 26-3.

Captain Yuvraj Singh added 20 runs from 18 balls before being deceived by Venugopal Rao's change of pace to be bowled. Mota's cameo innings ended when his sweep shot failed to clean long on for Harris to take the catch diving forward.

Singh bowled to a good length at the death, taking the last wicket when Irfan Pathan failed to get hold of another fuller ball to give Gibbs a routine catch.Kings XI wicketkeeper Kumar Sangakkara was the only batsman who played some good shots in his inning of 56 runs off 43 balls with four fours and a huge six.Kings XI finally scored 134 runs for the loss of seven wickets in 20 overs.For Deccan Chargers, R. P. Singh was most successful bowler with three wickets.

Chasing a victory target of 135, Deccan Chargers got to a good start and openers Adam Gilchrist and Herschelle Gibbs scored 34 runs for the first wicket. Gilchrist scored 23 runs in 13 balls with four fours and one six.Once, Chargers were standing tall at a score of 79 runs with seven wickets in hand, but Yuvraj Singh's second hat-trick put Chargers in trouble.

Yuvraj dismissed Herschelle Gibbs (26), Andrew Symonds (25) and Venugopal Rao (0), spread over two overs, to bring back Punjab in hunt.Rohit Sharma was the highest scorer with 42 runs in 26 balls with three fours and two sixes.

Yuvraj Singh was declared 'Man of the Match' for his brilliant hat-trick.

Future of Test in hands of grounds men: Pietersen

England's star batsman Kevin Pietersen has insisted that the five-day version of the game needs to be spiced up, pleading with grounds men that the future of the game is in their hands.The huge popularity of the shorter Twenty20 format and the mega cash on offer for players in the lucrative Indian Premier League have cast a dark cloud over Test cricket.Pietersen warned the only way Test cricket can survive is for pitches to be prepared in a way that will produce a result - rather than the usual boring draws, The Sun reports.

Pietersen declared: "I've talked to players all over the world about this and for the future of Test cricket grounds men must start producing result wickets. What needs to happen for Test cricket to stay at the top is grounds men need to prepare wickets which encourage a contest between bat and ball.

"Test matches need to be exciting and too many in recent months have not been. In the Pakistan versus South Africa series both sides were scoring six or seven hundred runs. That's crazy," he said.

"Then in the Caribbean when we were out there this winter it was more of the same. No one wants to watch that and it's not much fun to play in either".

"Some of the wickets we have played on recently have been too flat and very batsman friendly. I'm a batsman so I don't mind but that means long, hard spells for bowlers to bowl and field," Pietersen added.

Kolkata Knight Riders lose again

Deccan Chargers took a stride towards reserving their semi-final berth as they pipped Kolkata Knight Riders by six wickets in a last-ball thriller.

Put into bat first, Kolkata scored a competitive 160 for five, built largely around 17-ball 43 by David Hussey and Brad Hodge's sedate 41-ball 48, but Deccan Chargers overwhelmed the target in the last ball.

Adam Gilchrist's 31-ball 43 gave the Deccans good start, but the Hyderabad side suffered some mid-innings slump before Rohit Sharma's 13-ball 32 guided them to the win.With 14 runs needed from last four balls, Sharma hit a four off Mortaza and then hit another for maximum to wrap up the issue as they reached 166 in 20 overs.

Earlier, Kolkata openers Brenden McCullum and Sourav Ganguly were never at ease as the Deccan's new-ball pair of Australian Ryan Harris and RP Singh extracted sharp bounce from the pitch that was otherwise looking a good batting track.

Harris inflicted first blow to Kolkata side as skipper McCullum (20), who was earlier dropped by Herchelle Gibbs, failed to negotiate a rising delivery as Tirumalsetti Suman ran backward to pouch a well-judged catch.

Chennai Super Kings beat Mumbai Indians by 7 wickets

Riding on yet another superb innings by Matthew Hayden (60), Chennai Super Kings assured themselves of a semifinal berth while ending Mumbai Indians' hopes with a seven-wicket triumph.

Set a target of 148 by Mumbai built largely on JP Duminy's knock of 62, Chennai once again relied heavily on Hayden to romp home with five balls to spare.Hayden was not his usual explosive self to start with but soon cut loose to help Chennai recover from a rather wobbly start.

The Australian opener, who is currently the leading run-scorer of the tournament, hit his fifth fifty of the event in the process. Hayden also shared a match-winning 87-run partnership with skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni (23).

The burly left-hander hit Harbhajan Singh for a massive six in the 17th over to complete his fifty. In fact, that one Harbhajan over turned the match in Chennai's favour as the temperamental off-spinner conceded 17 runs in it.After their bowlers did a fine job to restrict Mumbai to 147 for five, Chennai's chase didn't get off to a very good start as Parthiv Patel was dismissed off the very first ball by Lasith Malinga, who trapped the Indian leg-before.

Suresh Raina did not last long either and was brilliantly caught and bowled by Dwayne Bravo after a quickfire 20 off 12 balls that included two fours and an equal number of sixes. Earlier, electing to bat after winning the toss, Mumbai was dealt an early blow when Dwayne Bravo's (5) stumps were knocked off by Albie Morkel in the second over.

Sanath Jayasuriya then played out a blistering 30-run knock that came off just 17 balls. Sri Lanka's ageless warrior, who had been slightly off-colour with the bat, smashed three fours and a couple of sixes before top-edging a Sudeep Tyagi delivery to Suresh Raina at cover. Jayasuriya's dismissal slowed down Mumbai's scoring rate and the team went into the strategy break with 72 runs in their first 10 overs.

Mumbai suffered another setback after the break when skipper Sachin Tendulkar (11) holed out to Lakshmipathy Balaji at deep midwicket off a Raina delivery.It was left to J P Duminy, yet again, to steer the innings and he lived upto the task with a 54-ball 62.Of the bowlers, Muttiah Muralidaran was not among the wickets but bowled a miserly spell, giving away just 19 runs in his four overs.

Flintoff may miss World Twenty20 tournament

England all-rounder Andrew Flintoff is unlikely to be fit for next month's World Twenty20 due to the slow response of his right knee to an operation performed last month. Flintoff, had keyhole surgery on April 28 after damaging his knee playing for Chennai Super Kings in the Indian Premier League.

At the time, the England and Wales Cricket Board issued a bullish statement saying they expected him to return for the World Twenty20, which begins on June 5. Yet Flintoff, in an interview with Sky Sports due to be shown on Saturday, has cast doubt on that prognosis.

"I'm making progress, and I've been on the bike for 45 minutes. But I'm still a while away from running - maybe a week and a half or so. One of the things we've got to be careful about is swelling, which is why we're constantly icing and monitoring it after one session before I can do the next one," he told.

England's opening game in the World Twenty20 is against Holland at Lord's in 19 days' time, but Flintoff's presence there always looked far from optimistic despite his selection in the 15-man squad.

Bangalore Royal Challengers beat Chennai Super Kings by two wickets

Bangalore Royal Challengers beat Chennai Super Kings by two wickets in their IPL match here on Thursday.

Chennai Super Kings skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni won the toss and elected to bat first. Chennai got to a good start after openers Matthew Hayden and Murali Vijay added 32 runs for the first wicket.Hayden once again played a fine knock and scored 60 runs off 38 balls with four fours and three sixes.

Apart from Hayden's inning, no other player could bat for a long time at the crease.
The only partnership of substance for Chennai was of 45 runs that came between Hayden and captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni for the third wicket.Dhoni scored 18 runs off 20 balls with one four hit to the fence.Chennai Super Kings scored 129 runs for the loss of seven wickets in 20 overs.

For Royal Challengers, skipper Anil Kumble, R. Vinay Kumar and Jacques Kallis took two wickets each.Chasing a victory target of 130, Bangalore Royal Challengers got off to a poor start when opener Jacques Kallis was adjudged leg before wicket off Albie Morkel.Royal Challengers had lost three wickets at a total of 30 runs, but Virat Kohli and Ross Taylor took their team to a total of 86 runs. Kohli and Taylor added 56 runs for the fourth wicket.

Kohli scored 38 runs off 35 balls with four fours and two sixes. After Kohli's dismissal, Royal Challengers lost wickets on quick succession.R. Vinay Kumar took two runs on the third ball and hit the fourth delivery of the last over for four to register a thrilling victory.