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Johannesburg: Murali Vijay and Mike Hussey cracked a sparkling half-century each as Chennai Super Kings were crowned the Champions League Twenty20 winners with their eight-wicket victory over Warriors in the grand finale. Vijay (58 off 53 balls), who was let off when on 34, cracked his third half-century of the tournament while the other opener Hussey played sheet anchor and remained not out on 51 as Chennai chased down the small target of 129 with one over to spare. Spinners Muttiah Muralitharan (3/16) and Ravichandran Ashwin (2/16) shared five wickets as Chennai restricted Warriors to 128 for seven after the South African champion side elected to bat at the New Wanderers Stadium. Vijay underlined his emergence as a fine Twenty20 batsman by becoming the highest run getter of the tournament with 294 runs from six matches, eight more than Warriors captain Davy Jacobs. Vijay's 53-ball innings was studded with six fours and two sixes while Hussey hit only three fours from 46 balls in ...

Chandigarh, Sep 24 : Australia spinner Nathan Hauritz on Friday admitted that it would be a "tough challenge" to bowl against Sachin Tendulkar in the upcoming Test series but said the champion batsman too is vulnerable to mistakes. "He (Tendulkar) is the world's best batsman, he is unbelievable. I am looking forward to bowl to him, in what I know, is going to be a tough challenge. But people make mistakes and Tendulkar too can make mistakes," Hauritz told reporters ahead of the three-day practice match against Board President's XI starting here tomorrow. Hauritz, who made his Test debut against India at Mumbai six years ago and took the prized wicket of Tendulkar in that match, will be leading the Australian spin attack during the two-Test series starting here on October 1. "I would be looking to bowl in the right areas but lot depends on the wicket as it has been raining here. Generally, the wickets don't turn much here after the first two days,...

Islamabad, Sept 24: Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi said the tour of England was the most difficult of his cricket career and he struggled to cope with the fallout from the off-field controversies. The Pakistan team returned early Friday after a scandal-filled tour in which spot fixing allegations against its cricketers overshadowed England's victories in the test and limited-overs series. "It was tough because of the controversies and became very difficult to cope with. Every time we went out of the hotel people passed remarks against us," Afridi told reporters in the southern port city of Karachi on Friday. The International Cricket Council suspended three Pakistan cricketers pending an investigation after a British tabloid accused the trio of accepting bribes to bowl no-balls at specified times in the Lord's test against England. Another Pakistani cricketer, Wahab Riaz, was questioned by British police over the spot fixing allegations. Riaz was also involved in a co...

BANGKOK (AP): Thailand has given Rafael Nadal a welcome more suitable for royalty than a tennis player upon his arrival for a tournament in Bangkok. Nadal will take part in the Thailand Open beginning Monday. Fresh from his U.S. Open victory, Nadal was greeted with flower garlands at the airport and was led through throngs of reporters by tennis officials and police. The world's top player had been a late withdrawal from the tournament the previous two years, but is injury free for this year's event. After a few days at a beach resort, Nadal will meet Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva and visit Parliament next week before turning to tennis.

London: An ugly altercation between Pakistani fast bowler Wahab Riaz and England batsman Jonathan Trott threatened to spoil cricketing ties between the two countries, reports the Mumbai newspaper DNA. The report says, the two players grabbed each other by the throat amid continuing tension over match-fixing allegations. The incident took place a day after Pakistan Cricket Board chief Ijaz Butt said England players deliberately threw the third one-day international at the Oval. Riaz, who was questioned by the Scotland Yard for his alleged involvement in the spot-fixing scandal, was walking past Trott during a training session when the England batsman reportedly taunted him. "How much are you going to make from the bookies today?" Trott reportedly asked Riaz. An enraged Riaz reacted with a comment against Trott's family. The two players then threw their pads at each other before grabbing each other by the throat in public view. The squabbling pair had to be separated by En...

Johannesburg: Bangalore Royal Challengers' top-order fired in unison as they humbled the Lions by six wickets to reach the semifinals of the Champions League Twenty20 tournament here on Tuesday. In a virtual quarterfinal, Royals first restricted the Lions to 159 for six and then achieved the target with six balls to spare to become the first IPL team to reach the last four stage of the T20 tournament. Openers Manish Pandey (44) and Rahul Dravid (33) set the tone for a successful runchase with the former India skipper turning out to be the main aggressor. Virat Kohli then hit a whirlwind 29-ball 49 in pressure cooker situation to see the team through. Earlier, Alviro Petersen smashed a 29-ball 45 while Robert Frylinck provided the late charge to help Lions post a competitive 159 after they decided to bat first. Pandey started the proceedings for RCB, hitting Deacon for the first boundary. Soon Dravid got into the act and blasted consecutive boundaries off O'Reilly in the second ...

Port Elizabeth, Sep 21: Jolted out of their comfort zone by their super-over loss against Victoria Bushrangers, Chennai Super Kings face a do-or-die battle when they take on unbeaten Warriors in the Champions League Twenty20 Group A match here on Wednesday. Chennai notched up two easy wins -- against Central Districts and Wayamba XI -- in their first two matches before losing to Victoria Bushrangers in the Super Over and they now need nothing less than a win in their last group match tomorrow to make it to the semifinals. Warriors, on six points after winning all their three matches, would also want to register a win though they may sneak into the last four in case of a narrow loss tomorrow. With a net run rate of plus 0.975 as against plus 0.366 of Victoria, who also have six points from four matches, Warriors can make it to the semifinals in case of a narrow loss and in that case Victoria will be out of the tournament. In terms of net run rate, Chennai, on four points now, are sittin...