IPL POINTS ON 20/5/2012 10.12PM IST

IPL 5, 2012

		Team	P	W	D	L	NR	NRR	PTS
		DD	16	11	0	5	0	+0.617	22
		KKR	16	10	0	5	1	+0.561	21
		MI	15	9	0	6	0	-0.160	18
		CSK	16	8	0	7	1	+0.100	17
		RCB	16	8	0	7	1	-0.022	17
		KXP	16	8	0	8	0	-0.216	16
		RR	15	7	0	8	0	+0.272	14
		DC	16	4	0	11	1	-0.509	9
		PWI	16	4	0	12	0	-0.551	8

73	Tue, 22 May 2012 08:00 PM IST	DD vs KKR	Subrata Roy Sahara Stadium, Pune	To be played
74	Wed, 23 May 2012 08:00 PM IST	MI vs CSK	M.Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru	To be played
75	Fri, 25 May 2012 08:00 PM IST	T.B.C. vs T.B.C.	MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai	To be played
76	Sun, 27 May 2012 08:00 PM IST	T.B.C. vs T.B.C.	MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai	To be played

Chris Gayle

Profile

His “devil may care” style of play has come in for harsh criticism on several occasions but with his unparalleled histrionics, Chris Gayle has time and again proved his critics wrong ,and has been the batsman West Indies gamble on for those rollicking starts.

A regular member in the West Indies youth sides, Gayle caught everyone’s eye when he cracked a wonderful 141 on their Under-19 Bangladesh tour and thereafter was hand-picked to represent his hometown Jamaica aged just 19. At Jamaica, he grew in stature and just 11 months later, he played his first ODI for the West Indies and consequently made his Test debut six months later. But he succumbed to pressure and after being offered several chances, was dropped. Gayle, however, redeemed himself in 2002 with a double century against New Zealand which was followed by a fantastic away series in India and thereby sealed his place in the side. Since then he has provided some individual knocks of sheer class and brilliance. His 317 against South Africa in 2005 was breathtaking and his 2006 Champions Trophy performance provided for an icing on the cake. Offered captaincy in 2007, Gayle led the team maturely; and in an era in which West Indies cricket has rapidly declined, did reasonably well with the team at his disposal. The captaincy later changed hands and in 2010, Darren Sammy replaced him as the skipper. What followed was a bitter row with the West Indies Cricket Board in 2011, where his harsh criticism of the Board in a radio interview resulted in him being dropped for the series against India. In the meanwhile, Gayle was a surprise inclusion in the Royal Challengers Bangalore side for the 2011 IPL, which turned the tables for good, as Bangalore managed a berth in the finals, only to lose to eventual winners, the Chennai Super Kings.

One of the hardest hitters of the cricket ball in the modern game, Gayle is known to put opposition bowlers straight under pressure with his no-holds-barred style of batting. Most dangerous on the off side, Gayle’s is not a copy book style but he still has a technique which is quite effective. His darting off spinners has also proved handy in ODIs and at a time when West Indies have failed to produce even decent batsman, Gayle is naturally a silver lining.

Fast Facts

• Chris Gayle is among the few West Indian players to have scored more than 6000 runs in Test cricket.
• He is the fourth highest run getter for West Indies in ODIs.
• Gayle holds the record for most number of centuries for a West Indian in ODIs.
• He became the first West Indian to score more than 7000 runs and take more than 150 wickets in ODIs.
• Gayle also became the first player to score a triple century against South Africa.
• He has the unique distinction of scoring a 100 in all three formats of the game.
• Gayle is the first player to have scored a century on T20 WC debut.
• He finished IPL 4 as the tournament's leading run-scorer, with 608 runs, and hence bagged the “Orange Cap”.

IPL 5, 2012 POINTS TABLE ON 20/4/2012

	Team	P	W	D	L	NR	NRR	PTS
		DD	5	4	0	1	0	+1.018	8
		RR	6	4	0	2	0	+0.646	8
		KKR	6	3	0	3	0	+0.438	6
		PWI	6	3	0	3	0	+0.174	6
		CSK	6	3	0	3	0	+0.024	6
		MI	5	3	0	2	0	-0.088	6
		KXP	5	2	0	3	0	-0.633	4
		RCB	5	2	0	3	0	-0.800	4
		DC	4	0	0	4	0	-1.178	0

Dravid stands tall with another century 4th Test, 1st Innings IND 300/10 & IND 27/0 (8over)

London, Aug 21 (IANS) Rahul Dravid stood tall amid the ruins to bring up his 35th century and nudged India to 218/6 in the first innings at lunch on the fourth day of the fourth and final cricket Test here Sunday.
Giving Dravid (109) company was Amit Mishra (38), who played out 67 balls after Mahendra Singh Dhoni (17) was dismissed by James Anderson with another crafty away-going delivery.

India, having already lost the first three Tests, are 373 runs behind England's huge first innings score of 591/6 declared.
The visitors, resuming at 103/5, lost Dhoni after addition of just 32 runs before Mishra lent support to Dravid at the other end.

Dravid, the lone Indian batsmen to put up a fight in the series, scored his third century of the innings which took him past Sunil Gavaskar's 34th career ton. He is now fourth in the list of number of centuries scored after Sachin Tendulkar (51), Jacques Kallis (40) and Ricky Ponting (39).

The 'Wall', beginning the day on 57, brought up his century with a cut off Tim Bresnan. He took 168 balls and struck 15 fours.

Dravid and Mishra scored 81 runs at a brisk pace with the latter freeing his arms against the spinners.

Mishra hit six fours and came out a long way to send Graeme Swann soaring over the long on boundary for a straight six on the last ball before lunch.

England took an unassailable 3-0 lead in the four-match series,against India

Birmingham, Aug 13 (IANS) India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni admitted that his team didn't play to its potential as the visitors surrendered their World No.1 Test crown to England after a humiliating an innings and 242-run loss with a day to spare in the third cricket Test here Saturday.

As England took an unassailable 3-0 lead in the four-match series, Dhoni said it was one of those series where nothing clicked for his team. It was also the first series loss for India under Dhoni.
'I congratulate England for the win and being the No.1 Test side. We were not up to our mark and the margin of defeat got bigger and bigger with every match. We have not really played to our potential. I think we played just 60 percent to what we are capable of. There are certain areas where we need to improve and our batting and bowling did not click. We have to be consistent,' said Dhoni.

On India's sloppy fielding, Dhoni said: 'We need to see what limitations we have. A few of our players are not great fielders and we're not the best looking fielding side in the world. But we are really proud of our bowling and batting.'

Asked why didn't the bowling click, Dhoni said: 'It is difficult to explain. We have not been able to keep good deliveries out. It is a major area of concern. We need to see out the good ones and make use of the loose deliveries.'

Despite three massive defeats, Dhoni said he was proud of his team.

'A couple of defeats doesn't change anything. I am still proud of my team. When you play for India, there is a lot of expectation and people expect us to win everything but that's not possible. Being No.1 or not is not important, it's all about being consistent. I've been quite happy with the preparation but it's one of those series where nothing has really clicked for us.'

On Rahul Dravid's dismissal in the second innings, Dhoni said: 'When Rahul came back to the dressing room he said he heard a noise. So he was in doubt and didn't go for a review. Rahul said since he heard a noise, he thought it would have been an edge. But I think in such cases we should take the help of technology and go for review.'

Asked whether some players in his team are over the hill, Dhoni said: 'They are still the best in the world. There is plenty of cricket left in them.'

Dhoni also said that it was not possible for India to win every series.

'This is first series loss for us un two and a half years. It is not possible to win every series. It is basically a game of cat and mouse and we have to be at our best. Being No.1 is not as important as being a consistent team,' he said.

Dhoni also said that youngsters in the team should make the best of the chances that ar coming their way.

'We have to back the youngsters keeping in mind the future of Indian cricket. But they have to make the most of the opportunities that they are getting,' said Dhoni.

Cook powers England to 422-run lead over India

Birmingham, Aug 12 (IANS) Alastair Cook stood rock solid to reach 266 as England took a massive 422 runs lead at tea on the third day of the third cricket Test against India here Friday.

India got the wickets of Eoin Morgan (104), Ravi Bopara (7) and Matt Prior (5) in the second session after going wicketless at lunch. But England reached 646/6 with Cook looking set for a triple century

Suresh Raina had Morgan caught at cover, breaking the 222-run partnership between Cook and Morgan.

Leg spinner Amit Mishra then trapped Bopara leg before and dismissed Prior, who top edged a slog sweep and was well caught by Sachin Tendulkar.

Cook, however, batted with resolve and surpassed his best of 235 that he scored against Australia in the Ashes last year. His marathon 518-ball innings had 29 fours.

Morgan scored his second Test century after the 130 against Pakistan last year. He played 199 balls and struck 11 fours.

Earlier, India went wicketless in the morning session and looked listless on the ground, though Praveen Kumar again bowled with a big heart and got good purchase from the conditions. Praveen bowled six overs giving only 12 runs.

Resuming at 456/3 and 232 runs ahead of India, England added 47 runs in 18 overs after a delayed start and early finish to the first session due to rain.

Cook got to his double century, his second of the career, with a clip of his leg off S. Sreesanth.