Gambhir faces ban for 1 Test

Indian opener Gautam Gambhir, suspended for the fourth and final Test against Australia by ICC match referee Chris Broad for tangling with Shane Watson on the first day of theShane Watson third Test here, will appeal, the Indian cricket board said Friday.

After the four umpires jointly charged the double centurion with not playing “within the spirit of the game (and) the laws of cricket”, he was hit with the ban following an extended hearing on Thursday.

Gambhir had elbowed Watson while taking a second run on Wednesday after facing verbal provocation as he ran down towards the bowler. He pleaded guilty to the Level 2 offence. Broad had held back announcing a decision on Gambhir after he fined Watson 10 per cent of his match fee for his role in the altercation following Thursday’s hearing.

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Deccan ChargersTakes Chennai

The IPL could well be a tournament decided by momentum shifts. Deccan Chargers seven-wicket win against Chennai Super Kings here on Tuesday was a tribute to their self belief.

The way the team moved in the field told the tale. There was a spring in the step that hardly indicated their tournament record thus far. This was the best chance for Chargers to stage their comeback bid.

Adam Gilchrist and his men would for a moment have thought they were in Uppal rather than in distant Chepauk as the crowd cheered every boundary or six that flowed from the blade of the Chargers.

After restricting the Kings to 144 for 7, the Chargers rode on Gilchrist’s 36-ball 54 to overhaul the target with two overs to spare. The IPL looks wide open now. Every side will now fancy their chances of making the final. Adam Gilchrist had a promise to keep. “We will do justice to the inspiring name you provided the team,” Gilchrist had said to S. Nandakumar who had won the ‘Predict the name’ contest and he did just that.

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Bhajji gets 11 game ban

Harbhajan Singh was handed an 11-match ban after pleading guilty to slapping his India teammate Shantakumaran Sreesanth at the end of the Mumbai Indians versus Kings XI Punjab Indian Premier League match in Mohali on April 25 before adjudicator and match referee Farrokh Engineer here on Monday.

The length of the ban means that the spinner is out of the inaugural edition of the IPL unless Mumbai reach the semifinals of the tournament, which seems quite unlikely now.

Harbhajan is also likely to face action at the hands of the Board of Control for Cricket in India as he is a centrally contracted player. The BCCI has appointed a lawyer, Sudhir Nanavati, to conduct the preliminary inquiry.

The temperamental off-spinner was also fined 100 per cent of his match fee from the third match onwards in the IPL, while Mumbai Indians coach Lalchand Rajput was penalised 50 per cent of his match fee for not restraining Harbhajan after the game at Mohali. The spinner’s contract was for 14 matches for the 2008 IPL season, out of which he will receive the match fee for the first two matches he played.

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It was Devils’night out

Virender Sehwag slammed a swashbuckling unbeaten 94 to guide Delhi Daredevils to a comfortable victory over Deccan Chargers in the IPL game at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium here on Tuesday.

“If it is my day, no one can stop me,” said Sehwag who closed the match with three sixes and three fours in one over.

Set to chase a modest 142 in 20 overs, the visitors started in style with captain Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir blasting the ball around. The Chargers could not scuttle the rapid-fire rate at which the runs flowed from the Delhi willows as they overhauled the target with nine wickets and seven overs to spare.

Nothing went right for the Chargers, who kept losing wickets at regular intervals to put up a low score after electing to bat. It would have been worse but for the brilliance of Rohit Sharma, who accelerated the innings towards the end.

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Heroes beat Superstars, enter final

Hyderabad Heroes breezed into the finals of the ICL 20s tournament in a close breath-taking encounter with the Chennai Superstars in the first semifinal at Lal Bahadur Stadium on Wednesday.

Chris Harris won the toss and decided to bat first. While the packed stadium expected their Heroes to start from where they finished in their last match here, Heroes' opening pair failed to live up to it. James Maher, who had given the Heroes flying starts in previous matches, struggled to get into his usual self. He missed a few balls before Ganapathi Vignesh blew away his middle stump in the fourth over for a mere 16 runs.

Abdul Razzaq, who had guided the Heroes to a seven-run victory over Mumbai Champs earlier, was soon run out. Ambati Raydu and Nicky Boje, however, added 55 runs in the third-wicket stand.

Just when Heroes started looking for a big score, another blow awaited them. Rayudu hit two sixes off Arnold in the 11th over but couldn't keep the momentum going and fell in the next over. Nicky Boje, who made 47, hit some big shots, along with Stuart Binny, to guide the Heroes through. But Boje was sent back to the pavilion in the 17th over when Heroes were struggling at 116/5.

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