Warne could not resist playing Tendulkar: Barry

Durban (PTI): He was almost ruled out of rest of the IPL owing to his hamstring injury but Rajasthan Royals captain Shane Warne made a surprise appearance against Mumbai Indians as he did not want to miss possibly his only chance to play Sachin Tendulkar in the Indian Premier League here.

The previous match between the two teams was washed out by rains so with Tendulkar again on the opposite side yesterday there "no way to stop" Warne, who had his leg strapped up, says Rajasthan Royals Director of Coaching Darren Barry.

"We, Jermy (Snape), the physio, and I gave Shane every warning against playing today. You would have needed a semi trial to stop Shane from playing against the Mumbai Indians.With Sachin Tendulkar in their team, there was no way to stop him," Barry said.

"His leg was strapped up but he said he was playing. And when he says he is playing, it doesn't matter what we are saying," he was quoted as saying by the official IPL Website.

Acknowledging man-of-the-match Warne's role in the win, Barry also showered lavish praise on all his boys for their collective effort to pull off the win in the nerve-wrecking encounter.

"I think without a doubt all the players look up to him (Warne). He is one of the greats of all time. He enjoys an enormous amount of respect among our group. But, to be honest, it was actually a collective effort from all our players. He is a wonderful captain. Tactically, very good. The guys believe in him and that is important," Barry said.

On playing so many close matches, Barry said "Rajasthan Royals have played quite a few of those in the last couple of years. Last year we had two on the last ball and one on the penultimate ball against Deccan Chargers.

"Tonight (Thursday) I think, the most pleasing aspect from our point of view is that we came out on a winning side.It was also a great game of cricket. Both the sides really had a crack at it and it was fantastic. Warne vs Tendulkar – it doesn't get better than this," he added.

Barry also lauded the efforts of Munaf Patel and Rob Quiney in Jaipur winning the crucial match.

"Rob Quiney innings at the top was important. To come back into the team and get a half-century at the top was good.

"Full credit to Munaf Patel. The last over and four runs to defend with seven wickets down and he pulled it off. I think three wickets fell for just one run. It was all happening towards the end. When it came to the last over I am sure that most of the people would have had their money on Mumbai Indians. Munaf and Rajasthan Royals pulled off a great victory," he said.

Mumbai cruise to massive victory

Many a time over the last 15 years or so fans of this great game have wondered what it would be like if Sachin Tendulkar and Sanath Jayasuriya opened together in a limited-overs game and really turned it on. Today they got a glimpse.

The two masters of the limited-overs game, with a combined age of nearly 76, treated Port Elizabeth to the cleanest, purest exhibition of batting that this season of the IPL has seen. Tendulkar paved the way with a sublime innings and Jayasuriya followed suit with an explosive hand, the veteran pair combining to raise a century stand in 52 balls that flummoxed Kolkata Knight Riders. That stunning opening assault formed the crux of Mumbai Indians' 187 and though Kolkata restricted the damage with six wickets for 48 runs after the tactical break, the damage had been done. Their only realistic chance at victory rested on their explosive openers' shoulders but once they were gone inside three overs the chase was basically kaput.

Mumbai's first five overs were busy, without being spectacular. Tendulkar was beaten a couple times by Ishant Sharma but upper-cut a six and flicked a four in Ashok Dinda's first over. That set the tone for a busy innings, taken up a level when he pulled Ishant for six from outside off stump.

While Tendulkar whisked the ball off his pads and slapped through point, Jayasuriya didn't get much strike. His first shot in anger was a chip just over extra cover's fingertips and a signature clip to fine leg followed. Mumbai were 45 for 0 in five overs. What followed was carnage.

Jayasuriya, who was on 8 as Tendulkar scurried to 30, launched Sourav Ganguly's gentle military-medium stuff for consecutive sixes; Tendulkar swept Ajantha Mendis for six; Chris Gayle went for ten in six balls; Mendis was dumped for two sixes by each batsman in his second over. Tendulkar's fourth six, a deft pick-up over midwicket off Mendis, raised his fifty from 34 balls. Jayasuriya had blasted 33 from 13 balls. The 100 was up in 8.4 overs. When the tactical break was taken Tendulkar was 60 off 39 and Jayasuriya 43 off 21, Mumbai 111 for 0.

For a man who has only played one international Twenty20, Tendulkar batted with amazing fluency. He got the wrists into play superbly, pulling and cutting hard, and used his crease to negotiate the pacers. Mendis wasn't even allowed to settle; Gayle was effortlessly reverse-swept.

There were no crude shots, no cross-batted slogs from Tendulkar and Jayasuriya. This was clinical hitting - each veteran knew the field and backed himself to pick the gaps. It was the experience of 1138 combined international games coming together in a mesmerizing mosaic of boundaries. In between clearing his front leg to lift Mendis there were clever late dabs from Tendulkar, neat tickles from Jayasuriya.

That assault was in stark contrast to the second half of Mumbai's innings, when Kolkata regrouped. The scoring slowed after the break and Tendulkar fell to Laxmi Shukla, looking to take the ball from off stump and work it to leg. Harbhajan Singh strode in, clubbed 18 from 8 balls, and sent a full toss to deep midwicket. Jayasuriya looked for width but instead chipped to cover for 52 from 32 balls. Then Abhishek Nayar was run out, Dwayne Bravo top-edged to the deep, and Shikhar Dhawan edged Ishant. Gayle bowled a decent last over and Mumbai were unable to end on with a flurry.

Kolkata needed almost 9.5 runs an over inside a stadium rumbling like a Jay Z amplifier, and the pressure of chasing a large total under lights affected the Kolkata openers early in their innings. Brendon McCullum shouldered arms to his first ball before he steered Lasith Malinga to point. Gayle thumped Bravo for the 152th six in the IPL only to edge his West Indian team-mate to slip.

Sourav Ganguly wasn't allowed to come onto the front foot and so he used his feet to loft Bravo down the ground for six and four, and with that try for some momentum. But Ganguly struggled to find the boundaries thereafter and Brad Hodge never really threatened with 24 off 22 balls. Both were to fall against the tidy seam-up bowling of Nayar in successive overs, the last nail firmly hammered into Kolkata's coffin.

Nayar, Bravo, Zaheer Khan and Malinga didn't have to do much but keep it near the stumps and wait for an urgent shot. Each struck rather easily and the rest of the batting card made for disappointing reading as Kolkata fell short by 92 runs. From 71 for 3 when Hodge fell, Kolkata folded for 95 in 15.2 overs.

A powerful batting display was followed by an efficient, shining effort in the field, aptly demonstrating that Mumbai pretty much have all the bases covered.

Mumbai Indians v Rajasthan Royals IPL

The defending champions have made a disastrous start. But that's what they did last year too, and that was the only straw Shane Warne clutched after Rajasthan Royals' humbling defeat to Bangalore Royal Challengers on Saturday.

Mumbai, last year's middle-rankers, had a dream start - and Sanath Jayasuriya didn't even fire for them - and head into this game as hands-down favourites. They have a dream opening combination in Sachin Tendulkar and Jayasuriya, the form man in JP Duminy and what worked as a perfect fire-and-ice bowling combination in Lasith Malinga and Harbhajan Singh. Not to mention Zaheer Khan and Dwayne Bravo.

Going by big names, Rajasthan should be out of their depth. Right? Wrong. That was the case last year too, and teams will do better than to write off Warne's team just on the basis of one poor performance. Even last year, Rajasthan lulled other teams with a poor performance first up. They had to wait for a long time for another average game.

Both teams will look to improve their batting - their bowlers were mostly spot on and in any case they will be playing on one of the bouncier pitches at Kingsmead. Given the young Rajasthan line-up, Mumbai - with the presence of Jayasuriya, Duminy and Bravo - will always threaten a big lusty innings.

Player form guide
Mumbai: Tendulkar could well have defined a role for himself through his patient fifty in the first game: try to bat for at least 15 overs, and give the big hitters most of the strike. Let the Jayasuriyas, the Bravos hit around Tendulkar. Malinga and Harbhajan look good with the ball, and should pose a test for Rajasthan.

Rajasthan: Warne rolled back the years, with flight, dip, big break, and also the fiery flipper. Ask Virat Kohli and B Akhil. Dimitri Mascarenhas proved to be the surprise element with the ball. With the odd quick delivery out of nowhere, Kamran Khan showed a glimpse or two of what Warne might have seen. It's the batsmen who are the worry - the Asnodkars and the Pathans, who played like kings on flat Indian pitches last year. Graeme Smith will have to run into some pretty good form pretty soon. It should help that Mitchell Johnson is in Dubai. Just get past old nemesis Zaheer Khan and he should be fine.

Watch out for
Warne v Tendulkar: Perhaps the biggest gift from this new format. It happened only once last season because Tendulkar was not fit for their first match. Even though they went at it for just six balls, they did put up a show. Tendulkar tried his trademark paddle first up, tried coming down the track and was pushed by a flatter delivery, and six balls yielded six runs, with no clear winners. Here's hoping for a longer duel this time. Just don't get out, Sach, before Warnie comes on to bowl.

Friendly fire
Smith v Pollock: The incumbent v his predecessor. Too bad Shaun Pollock will only be plotting from outside, and not bowling himself. Maybe they should get him to bowl just for one match.

Team news
Necessity spells only one change for Mumbai: Dhawal Kulkarni in place of Rohan Raje, who went for 15 in his one over. Apart from that, they wouldn't want to fiddle too much with a settled-looking line-up.

Mumbai Indians (probable) 1 Sanath Jayasuriya, 2 Sachin Tendulkar (capt.), 3 Shikhar Dhawan, 4 JP Duminy, 5 Dwayne Bravo, 6 Abhishek Nayar, 7 Harbhajan Singh, 8 Zaheer Khan, 9 Pinal Shah (wk), 10 Lasith Malinga, 11 Dhawal Kulkarni/Rohan Raje.

Don't expect wholesale changes with Rajasthan, but don't count out an odd rabbit out of Warne's hat either. Warne, Mascarenhas, Smith and Henderson should continue to be the four foreign players. Niraj Patel is the man most likely to be under pressure.

Rajasthan Royals (probable) 1 Graeme Smith, 2 Swapnil Asnodkar, 3 Niraj Patel/anybody, 4 Tyron Henderson, 5 Ysuf Pathan, 6 Dimitri Mascarenhas, 7 Ravindra jadeja, 8 Shane Warne (capt.), 9 Mahesh Rawat (wk), 10 Munaf Patel, 11 Kamran Khan.

Head-to-head record
Mumbai gave Rajasthan one of their rare hidings last year when they first met, bowling the eventual champions out for 103. Rajasthan set things right in the return game, though, with a thrilling last-ball win. Before Niraj and Jadeja bailed Rajasthan out, they were 77 for 5, chasing 146. Maybe reason enough to give Niraj another game.

Sachin Tendulkar excited about IPL in South Africa

Noida (UP), Apr 15 (ANI): Indian cricket team's star batsman Sachin Tendulkar avoided debate over the venue of this year's edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL).

Further, he asserted that as the skipper of Mumbai Indians, he is eager to regale the supporters of his team despite the matches being played in South Africa.

When persisted by journalists for his comments on the government's inability to provide security for the IPL extravaganza, Tendulkar said, "I am sure the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and the concerned guys must have tried their best. It's just coincided with the elections. I don't think by shifting the tournament
to South Africa there will be any less interest. The interest is terrific."


He said this while interacting with media persons at a reception hosted by Jaypee University of Technology at Noida here last evening.


The BCCI wanted to stage the event overseas after failing to get government clearance for security cover as certain dates of fixtures clashed with the general elections.

The IPL was a huge success in its inaugural edition in cricket-crazy India last year, primarily because it was structured around city-based franchises with a fan base in home and away matches.

However, Tendulkar wasn't a part of the winning Indian side in the ICC Twenty-20 World Cup held in South Africa 2007 due to injury.

And reportedly he has expressed his inability to be a part of the national side which again plays in England this June.

On this score, he said that he does not wish upset the team's combination that has shaped well over the last two years.

"I would have loved to be there (England). But I feel, it would be unfair to disturb the combination and that's the only reason I have stayed out of the team," added Tendulkar. (ANI)