BCCI rewards Ashwin with Grade A contract - dawn

MUMBAI: Rising Indian off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin on Friday replaced out-of-form senior tweaker Harbhajan Singh in the top bracket of BCCI’s list of central retainership contracts, while struggling pacer Ishant Sharma was also demoted from Grade ‘A’ to ‘B’.

Harbhajan and Ishant have spent the better part of this year out of the team struggling for form in whatever chances they have been handed.

The elite Grade ‘A’ features nine players this year, three down from the last season.

With the retired duo of Rahul Dravid and Vangipurappu Laxman out of the equation Ashwin was only new name in the top bracket, the players in which are paid an annual retainership of Rs1 crore.

The likes of Sachin Tendulkar, skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir and  Zaheer Khan retained their Grade ‘A’ contracts. Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina and Yuvraj Singh completed the top category, all three retaining their contracts.

In Grade ‘B’, the BCCI has offered contracts to eight players, three more than last season with Rohit Sharma being the only one to have retained his contract.

Irfan Pathan has been given a contract along with young players such as Ajinkya Rahane, Cheteshwar Pujara and Umesh Yadav, all of whom have been elevated from Grade ‘C’.  The players in Grade ‘B’ are entitled an annual retainership of Rs50 lakh.

In the Grade ‘C’ list, a demoted Ravindra Jadeja has replaced S. Sreesanth. Yousuf Pathan, Lakshmipathy Balaji and Ashok Dinda have come in replacing the likes of Jaydev Unadkat.

In all, the BCCI has offered contracts to 37 players, which is the same as last year.

Contracted players:

Grade ‘A’: Sachin Tendulkar, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Zaheer Khan, Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Suresh Raina, Yuvraj Singh,

Virat Kohli, Ravichandran Ashwin.

Grade ‘B’: Harbhajan Singh, Ishant Sharma, Pragyan Ojha, Rohit Sharma, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Irfan Pathan, Umesh Yadav.

Grade ‘C’: Ravindra Jadeja, Amit Mishra, Vinay Kumar, Munaf Patel, Abhimanyu Mithun, Murali Vijay, Shikhar Dhawan, Wriddhiman Saha, Parthiv Patel, Manoj Tiwary, S. Badrinath, Piyush Chawla, Dinesh Karthik, Rahul Sharma, Varun Aaron, Abhinav Mukund, Ashok Dinda, Yusuf Pathan, Praveen Kumar, Lakshmipathy Balaji.—Agencies

DELHI DAREDEVILS won by 7 wickets

Delhi Daredevils (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

DELHI DAREDEVILS won by 7 wickets

Maximum sixes award: Harbhajan Singh. 

Best catch of the match award: Ross Taylor.

By virtue of this victory, Delhi move to the top of the table with 6 points from 4 matches. Mumbai stay at 4th, with 6 points from 5 games.

A comprehensive win for Delhi. Thrashing Mumbai by 7 wickets and 31 balls to spare. Mumbai were never in the game. After being shot out for 92, the Mumbai bowlers came out with any fight and Delhi cruised through. Sehwag is showing signs of coming back to form and thet could be good for Delhi later on in the tournament. Surprisingly, Harbhajan did not bowl at all.

Everything fell in place perfectly for Delhi, right from winning the toss, as they bundled out the hosts for a paltry 92, the lowest team total of the current edition, and then overhauled the target by losing just three wickets with 5.1 overs to spare.

Chasing a meagre total, skipper Virender Sehwag top scored for Delhi with a patient 32 off 36 balls while Mahela Jayawardene remained unbeaten on 17 in company of Kiwi batsman Ross Taylor (11).

Taking full advantage of the MI batsmen's rash display with the bat, the Delhi bowlers attacked from the first over to reduce the hosts to a sorry-reading 44 for six by the 12th over to make it a virtual no-contest at Wankhede Stadium track, offering good bounce.

Host skipper Harbhajan Singh made a counter-attacking 33 off 22 balls, with five fours and a six, after Rohit Sharma prospered a bit while making a chancy 29 off 27 balls with five fours, but the rest of the batsmen self-destructed.

The below-par score was MI's second-lowest aggregate in five seasons of IPL, slightly better than the 87 they made against Kings XI Punjab last year, and the first sub-100 score by any team this season.

The wickets were shared by the five Delhi bowlers -- Shahbaz Nadeem taking two wickets in his first two overs to start the slump, which was later feasted on by Morne Morkel (2-22), Ajit Agarkar (2-27), Umesh Yadav (2-11) and Irfan Pathan (1-12).

Openers Sehwag and Naman Ojha started the run-chase on a sound note by putting on 34 before the latter became the first of two victims of left arm pacer Rudra Pratap Singh, also getting his first chance to play this season.

Singh sent back Ojha, after the batsman had struck two fours off Clint Mackay for two successive fours, as a mistimed pull ended his innings. He also got rid off Kevin Petersen to finish with 2 for 22.

Sehwag was lucky when on 16 in a team score of 45 for 1 to be let off by third man Levi off a slash that he played against Singh. He put his team well on path to victory though he was not there to score winning runs.

When MI batted, they got off to a shock start by losing both their South African openers with only five runs on the board. Jacobs tried a cross-batted heave against left-arm spinner Nadeem and was bowled comprehensively for a duck in the second over.

His compatriot Levi too did not prosper much and was also guilty of trying an audacious pull off Nadeem and under-edged the ball on to the stumps to leave MI reeling in the fourth over after being sent in to bat.

Rohit Sharma tried to attack from the first ball and played a couple of glorious lofted off drives but was also lucky that three other ambitious shots were top-edged to the boundary, two of those off Morne Morkel.

Even as Rohit was settling down he saw the backs of Ambati Rayudu (4), out to a very poorly judged and attempted single, and key batsman Kieron Pollard.

Rayudu scampered for a non-existent run after being struck on the pads by Ajit Agarkar who was given his first match of the season. Partner Rohit never budged from the non-striker's spot. The batsman was so far down the pitch that even a misdirected throw by fielder Yogesh Nagar could not help him regain the crease.

Tottering at 30 for 3, things became worse when Pollard was caught trying to cart Umesh Yadav out of the ground and getting a leading edge for the catch to drop into the waiting hands of Ross Taylor. The Kiwi then caught Rohit off Agarkar in the next over to leave MI at 41 for five.

Dinesh Karthik too played poorly as his attempted pull off Yadav resulted in a dolly catch to mid on fielder Kevin Petersen as the ball hurried on to the batsman and at 44 for 6 in the 11th over, MI's tail was exposed.  Skipper Harbhajan Singh used the long handle to good effect by slamming Agarkar for two fours and a six in the 12th over that yielded 17 runs to help MI pass the 50 mark.

But for the MI captain and his stand of 34 runs with McKay, who was playing his first game of IPL 5, the total would have been even more pathetic.

Delhi Daredevils

2nd Innings

Naman Ojha    c Harbhajan Singh b RP Singh    13

        5.1  OUT! Caught! The combination of Singhs gets rid of Ojha. Short ball outside off, 131.7 kph, Ojha goes for the pull but it climbs onto him and he gets a top edge. The ball goes high in the air and Harbhajan calls for it from mid-wicket and takes it easily. Ojha departs for 13, DD 34/1 in 5.1 overs!

Virender Sehwag   c Richard Levi b Pragyan Ojha    32

       12.1  OUT! Caught! A bit late in the game but a wicket nevertheless. Flighted outside off, 76.9 kph, Sehwag jumps out of his crease and lofts this miles in the air. Does not get the distance and Levi takes it with ease at long on. DD 74/3 in 12.1 overs!

Kevin Pietersen    c Davy Jacobs b RP Singh      9

         7.6  OUT! Straight to the man! Short ball outside off, 132.3 kph, Pietersen goes for the pull but mistimes it and hits it straight to Jacobs at mid-wicket. Pietersen departs for 9, DD 52/2 in 8 overs! RP finishes with figures of 4-0-24-2.

Mahela Jayawardena    not out    17

       

Ross Taylor     not out      11

Yogesh Nagar

Irfan Pathan

Ajit Agarkar

Morne Morkel

Umesh Yadav

Shahbaz Nadeem

Extras (b 0, lb 5, w 6, nb 0)    11

link : Without Malinga-Tendulkar no magic For Mumbai Indians

Thanks : yahoo cricket