Category: Sports

Royal Challengers Bangalore scored the highest T20 score ever as Chris Gayle slammed a record 30-ball century at the Chinnaswamy Stadium on Tuesday evening. The team eventually defeated Pune Warriors by 130 runs. The win is Bangalore’s sixth in eight matches and puts them on top of the points table.

Bangalore scored a mammoth 263 for five wickets in their 20 overs against Pune who lost wickets at regular intervals during their reply. No batsman however could even remotely replicate the stunning display of power hitting from Gayle who had scored an unbeaten 175 off 66 ball, an innings studded with a record 17 sixes and 13 fours.

“It was one of those days. It was a good wicket and we needed a good total,” Gayle said after his brutal innings.

Gayle was in super touch, middling the ball from the very start after the match was interrupted briefly by a sharp shower. His century came off just 30 balls and contained 11 sixes and 8 fours. The Jamaican erased the record of Australian Andrew Symonds, who had cracked a 34-ball T20 century for Kent….

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New Delhi:
It was easy to get carried away watching Chris Gayle’s knock of 175 not out in the first match on Tuesday (April 23), but fans who came in to the Feroz Shah Kotla expecting something similar from Virender Sehwag and Delhi Daredevils in the second match, went home disappointed. Kings XI Punjab cruised to a five-wicket win with three overs to spare to give them their fourth win in seven matches in the Pepsi Indian Premier League 2013.

Darren Lehmann, the Punjab coach, expected more from his foreign players and they delivered at a crucial stage. David Hussey (20) and David Miller (34 not out) put together a vital 40-run stand for the fifth wicket, and in doing so, they didn’t only eased a sense of panic that had grown at one stage, but also did well to not expose a jittery lower order that looked light on experience. (Also read: Punjab add to Delhi’s woes, stats from the match)

Earlier, Delhi ended up with a modest 120 for 7 in 20 overs after being asked to bat. David Warner, who came in at No. 4, top-scored with a 36-ball 40, while other batsmen fell to a rash of misguided and miscued strokes. Virender Sehwag, coming off a blistering 95 off 57 balls in the previous game, teased the crowd with two fours and a six en route to 23, but the pressure of losing quick wickets upfront consumed him. With the next best score being 14, Delhi never had any sort of momentum. (Watch NDTV analysis: Gavaskar feels Delhi can only be party spoilers now)

The all-round bowling effort by Punjab was led Harmeet Singh, making his first appearance this year. His triple strike, including the prized scalp of Sehwag and the in-form Kedhar Jadhav, broke Delhi’s back while Praveen Kumar, who picked up two wickets, started the slide with Mahela Jayawardene’s wicket in the first over….

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Chennai:
Two Australians, Shane Watson and Mike Hussey, dictated the play when Chennai Super Kings hosted Rajasthan Royals at the MA Chidambaram Stadium on Monday (April 22), but it was Hussey who eventually had something to show for it, helping Chennai get across the line in a remarkable chase. It rendered Watson’s knock of 101, the first century of this season, futile. Even 186 was not enough. Read match stats.  So far, in this tournament, talk has been about how Rajasthan’s prowess is based on the balance of their team and not on outstanding individual performances. However, Watson delivered. His knock was helped by a shabby bowling display by Chennai, as apart from R Ashwin, the rest of the attack crumbled against some violent hitting. Ravindra Jadeja, in particular came in for a bashing, his three overs going for 45 without a wicket to show for his troubles. Ashwin was exemplary, though, and it prompted Mahendra Singh Dhoni, the captain, to use him up in a single spell. Had it not been for his 2 for 20, Chennai could have been much worse off. Read how Watson found form in a losing cause….

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Bangalore:
Royal Challengers Bangalore pacer Zaheer Khan wants to bowl at Super Over in the IPL as he is excited at the prospect of two good deliveries ending a contest.  “I will take wickets. We just have to take two wickets to get the team out. Let’s look at it that way,” Zaheer, who is yet to play in this season’s IPL, said.  “Honestly I have never been part of Super Over. So it is interesting for me to see how it goes and you can’t plan anything. That is the way I look at it. You have to back yourselves and back your instinct. You know the batter is going to come at you,” he said….

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Charleston:  Serena Williams earned her 49th career singles title and third of the year by rallying to beat former world number one Jelena Jankovic in the final of the Family Circle Cup on Sunday.  The world No.1 Williams and former Charleston winner Jankovic got into a testy verbal exchange early in the second set after Williams accused Jankovic of trying to rush her on the service return.  After the exchange, Williams won 12 of the final 14 games.  “I am definitely happy to have another win under my belt. Excited to hold my title,” said Williams, of her 3-6, 6-0, 6-2 victory on the green clay surface.  Williams successfully defended her title by claiming her third overall Charleston crown one day after routing her sister Venus in the semi-finals.  She has won 22 consecutive clay court matches at WTA Tour events and Fed Cup and 15 straight matches in Charleston. That includes titles last year and 2008.  Bad blood between the two surfaced early in the second set with Jankovic serving after having just won the first set….

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Turin, Italy:  AC Milan striker Mario Balotelli has been suspended for three matches by the Italian league’s disciplinary committee on Tuesday after insulting an assistant referee.  The Italy international was given a one-match ban after picking up a fourth yellow card in last Sunday’s 2-2 draw against Fiorentina.  He was banned for a further two games after insulting a linesman at the end of the match, the league said in a statement.  Balotelli turned on the official who was watching the forward having an animated discussion with Fiorentina goalkeeper Emiliano Viviano.  The suspension means he will miss Milan’s next two big matches against Naples and league-leaders Juventus plus the encounter with Catania….

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