Steyn sails Proteas to an innings victory

Nagpur: South Africa take a 1-0 lead in the series as India losses by an innings and 6 runs. Dale Steyn took 10 wickets in the match as he cleaned up the tail for India to fold for 319 on the fourth day of the Nagpur Test on Tuesday.

Buzz up!

Trailing by 325 runs, Sachin Tendulkar’s masterly 46th Test century could not stop South Africa from bowling India out for 319.

Steyn’s seven-wicket haul in the first innings had forced India to follow-on, after his piercing line and length made sure that the home team was at some distance from the imposing South African total of 558-6 declared.

India vs South Africa, 1st Test - Scorecard

Steyn took seven for 51 runs and three for 57 in the match.

Resuming the day at 66-2, Team India lost overnight batsman Murali Vijay (32) inside the first hour of play.

Tendulkar, who hit two successive centuries during India''s 2-0 Test win against Bangladesh, defied the South African attack for close to four and a half hours before being bowled off the pad by left-arm spinner Paul Harris. Harris took three wickets for 76.

The two teams now move to Kolkata for the second and final Test of the series to be played from February 14.

India’s number one Test ranking is in danger of being handed over to South Africa if they lose the series while a draw will see them retain the top spot.

Brief Scorecard:

South Africa: First Innings 558 for six declared (Amla 253 not out, Kallis 173, de Villiers 53).

India: First Innings 233 (Sehwag 109, Badrinath 56, Steyn 7-51)
Second Innings (follow-on) 319 (Tendulkar 100, Steyn 3-57, Harris 3-76)

Royals confident against depleted Chennai

Jaipur, May 3: Now that the Chennai Super Kings have lost their aura of invincibility, a buoyant Shane Warne and his Rajasthan Royals teammates are optimistic of pulling off their fifth straight win when they host the MS Dhoni-led side in the Indian Premier League match in Jaipur on Sunday.

Having won all their previous matches, the Chennai side looked invulnerable till Friday night when Delhi Daredevils duo of Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir tore them apart, much to the delight of the Rajasthan Royals.

Since their first match defeat against the Daredevils, Rajasthan Royals' graph has shot upwards and fresh from their win against Kolkata Knight Riders, Warne's men are ready to come hard on the depleted Chennai side.

"We don't want to be the fourth team in the semifinal. We are looking for fifth win and one more will place us comfortable. Then we would like to carry on for as many more wins as possible. Our aim is to remain at the top," said Darren Berry, coaching director of the Rajasthan Royals.

The hosts have the resources and strategy to realise their dreams and their strategy of surprising the opponents has paid rich dividends too. Asking Swapnil Asnodker to open the innings against Kolkata Knight Riders was such a ploy that paid off well.

South African Graeme Smith has added to the batting depth, while Shane Watson has proved to a fine investment. With Yousuf Pathan and Ravindra Jadeja lending excellent support, the hosts' batting looks compact.

The bowling department does not look bad either. Apart from Warne who has always been threat to every batsmen, pacers Watson, Munaf Patel, Sohail Tanveer and Sidhartha Trivedi have proved that they have the variations to keep batsmen guessing.

The support in bowling comes in shape of Pathan, Dinesh Salunkhe and Jadeja who have been used as surprise package by their shrewd skipper.

In fact, the going for Rajasthan Royals has been so smooth that the only England player in IPL and Twenty20 specialist Dimitri Mascarenhas could not be accommodated in the scheme of things despite the fact that he is rated very highly by former Hampshire team mate and skipper Warne.

On the other hand, Chennai Super Kings now need to bounce back after tasting their first defeat. They have been dented by departure of Matthew Hayden, Mike Hussey and Jacob Oram even though Kiwi Stephen Fleming is expected to bolster their batting lineup, while Dhoni's mere presence is enough to intimidate the bowlers.

Their bowling attack boasts of names like Makhya Ntini and Muttiah Muralitharan and though they could not rein in the the Sehwag-Gambhir duo on Friday night, they would be eager to put behind the setback when they take to the field on Sunday.

Fit Tendulkar: Need of the hour for Mumbai Indians

Mumbai, May 3: Rampaging Delhi Daredevils, who have shot to the top of the table and are firing on all cylinders, take on the wobbly Mumbai Indians in the Indian Premier League clash at the D Y Patil Stadium on Sunday in hot and humid conditions.

The home team has sorely missed its captain and injured icon player Sachin Tendulkar in their first five matches and the none-too-encouraging news is the master batsman is still not feeling 100 per cent fit.

A lot hinges on Tendulkar's availability for the tie if Mumbai Indians are to stun the high-flying Delhi outfit captained by another icon player in the Twenty20 League, Virender Sehwag.

Tendulkar played his first match on Friday, albeit against a team made up of his own teammates, after more than a month and fielded for the whole of the opposition's 20-over innings and also batted.

He is to take a final call on whether he is fit to play the match only on Sunday and the hosts are hoping fervently he's available to play his first competitive game since turning our for India against South Africa in the first Test at Chennai in March-end.

In his absence, the team has struggled to put together decent totals on board and strike at opportune times to put the opposition under pressure. The end result is that Mumbai Indians, for which Reliance Industries had paid the highest auction amount among all eight teams, are currently placed seventh.

Only a marginally superior net run-rate is keeping them above cellar team Bangalore Royal Challengers. The batting has flopped by and large, shown by the fact that Robin Uthappa who is yet to make a half-century is the leading scorer for the team with 155 runs to his credit.

The coming to form of West Indian all rounder Dwayne Bravo in their previous tie at Kolkata could not have happened at a more opportune time for the beleaguered team's confidence.

But other top-notch international stars like Sanath Jayasuriya, bought for a little less than a million dollars, has flattered only to deceive at the top order. Stand-in captain Shaun Pollock, already retired from international cricket, has tried his level best without much success to keep the team going.

The booting out of the performing Harbhajan Singh from the tournament has left the team short on spin skills too and it has been left to the vastly experienced Jayasuriya to lead the slow bowling attack with his crafty left-arm spin.

With the youngsters in the team failing, barring the spunky all-rounder Abhishek Nair, the team has scored only one victory in five ties, against Kolkata Knight Riders, which should galvanise it to take on the well-balanced Delhi outfit.

Delhi, on the other hand, have their top-order functioning like a well-oiled machine with Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir and Shikhar Dhawan all coming good.

They have a sound middle order too with the likes of Rajat Bhatia and Mithun Manhas, two stout-hearted performers in domestic cricket which has won Delhi the Ranji Trophy earlier this season, having enough power in their tanks to bail out the team if the top order fails to get going.

The joining of South African batsman A B de Villiers, who cracked a superb double hundred against India at Ahmedabad in the second Test won by the visitors last month, and Pakistan captain Shaoib Malik has added meat to the already strong batting line-up.

The pace attack is top-class with Australian great Glenn McGrath, a largely unwanted man at the auction despite his fabulous record in international cricket, and the highly talented Pakistani Mohammad Asif spearheading it to a nicety.

Added to this fabulous duo are Sri Lankan Farvez Maharoof, a genuine swing bowler, home grown left-arm bowler Pradeep Sangwan and Tamil Nadu's V Yomahesh, who add variety to the strong pace attack.

The only area where the team seems to be lacking is in slow bowling, especially after Daniel Vettori left the side for national duty, with Sehwag looking by far to be their best bet with his wily off spinners.

Another factor that could play a big role is the intense heat and humidity as the match is to be played from 4 pm, the first in Mumbai after two night games on April 20 and 27, against Bangalore and Deccan Chargers of Hyderabad.

All in all, Delhi Daredevils seem to be carrying too much firepower for the comfort of Mumbai Indians even in a Twenty20 clash and are firm favourites.

Yuvraj leads jittery Kings XI on the ramp

Chandigarh, May 3: They can wreck opponents with the ball or set a stadium alight with batting pyrotechnics but the Kings XI Punjab cricketers learnt that walking down the ramp and making a fashion statement is a different ball game altogether.

The boyish shyness and reluctance was more than evident when some of the players took to the ramp, organised by a leading fashion brand in the lawns of a city hotel in Chandigarh on Friday night.

Apart from captain Yuvraj Singh, Irfan Pathan, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Shaun Marsh, Mahela Jayawardene and VRV Singh were among those who participated in the event.

The fashion show did not have a great beginning when a model fell down not realising the ramp had ended. After that other models walked the ramp showcasing the brand's spring summer collection 2008.

Later, with popular Punjabi numbers playing in the background, it was the turn of the cricketers to take the centrestage.

However, nervousness and reluctance was writ large on the faces of many and they even tried to seek shelter behind their captain.

Wearing a brown printed T-shirt and white trousers, Sarwan had to be pushed twice on to the ramp by Yuvraj and though VRV was himself terribly shy when his turn came, he also joined his skipper to push the West Indian batsman.

Sarwan had barely walked two steps when he came back and hid behind Yuvraj. Dressed in green shirt and a jeans, medium pacer VRV had barely walked half the ramp, which was already about half the size of a normal ramp, when he smiled at the audience down below and swiftly turned back to be in the comforting company of his teammates.

Wearing a white T-shirt and jeans, Sri Lankan Mahela Jayawardene also did not look comfortable in walking down the ramp and was quick to beat a hasty retreat. Left-handed medium pacer Irfan Pathan may have participated in fashion shows earlier but he too did not look that confident and was eager to return to his the company of his teammates.

The saving grace for the Punjab team was their captain Yuvraj, dressed in light cargo pants and dark shirt, walked the ramp with grace and ease.

Unlike others, he did not find himself out of place. Shaun Marsh, Australian import in the team, also looked confident in his striped light-green shirt and walked the ramp with perfection.

Later, the cricketers greeted the audience in Punjabi and invited them to witness Saturday night's match at Mohali against Kolkata Knight Riders.