IPL Cricket Match | ICC world cup Update: Sachin Tendulkar

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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

Royal Challengers Bangalore winoking

Mumbai Indians were better placed on the points table than Royal Challengers Bangalore before the start of this crucial clash at the Wankhede Stadium. And that might explain Bangalore's commitment and intent - in all three departments of the game - and Mumbai's lack of it. As a result of the difference in attitude as well as Bangalore exploiting the pitch better than the hosts, the tone was set early on. Despite a comprehensive Bangalore win by nine wickets, Mumbai stayed in third spot, while the visitors moved into fourth.

It was a strange pitch for Mumbai to have prepared for a home match, with appreciable bounce and carry from the start. And with Bangalore bowling first, Zaheer Khan, R Vinay Kumar and Harshal Patel were in business straightaway. James Franklin and Rohit Sharma fell early. Sachin Tendulkar played and missed a fair bit as Mumbai stuttered to just 12 after the first five overs, and then just 25 at the end of the six powerplay overs.

Tendulkar did find his bearings after that, but fell to a top-edged pull off Patel for a 27-ball 24. The task of consolidation was left to Dinesh Karthik and Ambati Rayudu. Scoring was tough, but the two fought hard, scoring at just over a run a ball to bring the innings back on track.

Despite that, it looked unlikely that Mumbai would cross 125 till Harbhajan Singh and Kieron Pollard got together. In the 19th over of the innings, Harbhajan struck two fours off Zaheer, and then in the last over, Pollard went over the square-leg boundary twice to take the hosts to 141 for six. Not big, but competitive. Or so it seemed.

As far as the Bangalore reply was concerned, it was always a matter of batting sensibly and staying abreast of the asking rate. Chris Gayle ensured that was the case, even though his opening partner Tillakaratne Dilshan fell in the ninth over for a rather sedate 25-ball 19. Virat Kohli came in and, like he has throughout this year's Indian Premier League, grafted for his runs.

Things remained relatively quiet till it came to the 11th over of the innings, bowled by Pragyan Ojha. The first four balls went well and then he dished out a leg-stump full toss. Six. The next one was another full toss - a no-ball above the waist - and was dispatched for another six. The extra delivery was over-pitched and easily dispatched over long-off. Pollard bowled his three overs at an economy rate of 11.00, and the die was clearly cast.

Kohli wrapped things up off the last delivery of the 18th over, a big straight six off Rohit Sharma. A huge win, and one that worked wonders for Bangalore's net run rate, while sending Mumbai back to the drawing board with two qualification spots still left to play for.

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I was confident of winning the match: Smith

Dwayne Smith

Dwayne Smith had told RP Singh that he could win the match for Mumbai Indians if the paceman could manage to give him strike to face the last three balls.

Mumbai needed 15 off the final four balls when Singh got a single to give the strike back to Smith. And the big-hitting West Indian kept his words by hammering a six and two fours to help Mumbai register a thrilling two-wicket victory over title holders Chennai Super Kings. "I just backed myself. I know as long as I can watch the ball I can do it. I just asked RP [Singh] to give me the three balls that were left. I knew I could do it from there," Smith said after the match.

Smith, who smacked an unbeaten 24 off nine balls, got the Man-of-the-Match award. Smith also credited Sachin Tendulkar for giving him the confidence when he went to bat at no. 6. "He [Tendulkar] said the wicket was good. He told me to back myself and he was true. It paid off. It's a big win and we really deserved it as well. I will put it [this innings] up there as one of my best," he said.

Smith said he had done a similar feat for Barbados in a domestic competition. "I remember winning a game for Barbados. It went into the Super Over after we needed 12 to tie the game. I got two sixes off the last two balls," he said.

Smith said he was awaiting the call from an IPL franchise. "I actually thought that I was going to be here with one of the teams from the beginning, but that didn’t happen. But I am happy to be here now and win some games for Mumbai.”

"I was playing club cricket in Trinidad. I keep practising all the time. We have club cricket in Barbados too. So, I always keep playing," he added.