AB de Villiers playing for the Delhi DareDevils pulled off this stunning one handed catch deep in the out field to dismiss one of the Royal Challengers Bangalore batsmen.

Doug Bollinger emulating the antics of this Aussie team mate, David Hussey, managed to keep his head as he took an impressive catch on the boundary, he then had to throw the ball into the air as he fell over the boundary rope, and still managed to recover and complete the catch.

David Hussey pulled off one of the catches in the history of the IPL. Playing for the Kolkata Knight Riders Hussey took an amazing catch to dismiss Delhi Daredevils’ Paul Collingwood for 53 runs.

Fielding on the boundary, Hussey jumps to reach the ball palms it once, twice into the air as he was about to step on the boundary rope, and dive back into the field of play to complete the catch.

David Hussey’s catch will be one of the best catches in the IPL.

Here is a video of the catch, that I found on YouTube, I’m sure a higher quality video will be uploaded soon:

Pakistan captain Younis Khan has asked his team-mates to push for better IPL contracts following their success in the World Twenty20. “These players are now world champions and highly marketable. There is a higher value to their performances,” Younis said. While many in the team turned out for their respective franchises in the inaugural season of the IPL in 2008, political tensions between India and Pakistan prevented them from playing in the second season.

Younis, who played for Rajasthan Royals, noted, however, that top players like Kamran Akmal, Sohail Tanvir, Umar Gul and Misbah-ul-Haq were now worth more than the $100,000 contracts they had signed last year.

“Now the scenario is different. These players should talk to their agents in India and ask them to go for a hike in price from the IPL franchises. I am happy if any of our players can be better packages in the IPL for next season,” Younis said.

IPL commissioner Lalit Modi had said that after Pakistan’s World Cup win he perceived no problems in the players returning to play in the IPL next year, provided both national governments were okay with it.

Eleven Pakistani players, including Shahid Afridi and Gul, the stars of Pakistan’s World Twenty20 campaign, were recruited by the Kolkata, Rajasthan, Delhi, Hyderabad and Bangalore franchises before the inaugural IPL. However, the franchises opted to retain the contracts of only four of them – Akmal and Tanvir (Rajasthan Royals), Misbah (Royal Challengers Bangalore) and Gul (Kolkata Knight Riders) – after it became clear that they would not be able to play in the second season of the league.

Younis though, turned his back on the league after announcing his retirement from the Twenty20 format soon after Pakistan won the world event.

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JOHANNESBURG: Here’s a sneak preview of the game between Chennai Super Kings and Delhi Daredevils to be played at the Wanderers ground on Saturday.

What’s at stake:Both sides would like to carry the winning momentum after registering confidence boosting wins in Centurion on Thursday. Delhi Daredevils defeated the unbeaten Deccan Chargers by six wickets while Chennai Super Kings overwhelmed defending champion Rajasthan Royals by 38 runs.

Captain vs captain:: Delhi Daredevils may have to make do without the services of their captain Virender Sehwag who needed to have four stitches to his left hand during the match against the Deccan Chargers. Mahendra Singh Dhoni will smell blood after Sehwag almost ruled himself out of the Saturday’s encounter.

Key battles:L Balaji will have to lock horns with in-form local boy AB deVilliers while Muttiah Muralitharan will try to bowl out fellow countryman T Dilshan with a ‘doorsa’. Dirk Nannes would like to repeat his match-winning performance when he faces the likes of Matthew Hayden. Another interesting battle will be between Daniel Vettori and Dhoni.

Team news: Delhi Daredevils are likely to miss the services of Sehwag.

Form guide: The Delhi Daredevils bowling has improved thanks to some excellent work by left-arm new ball bowlers Dirk Nannes and Ashish Nehra. Chennai Super Kings middle-order including the likes of Suresh Raina, S Badrinath and Dhoni has struck form and it will be a keenly-fought contest.

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DURBAN: Deccan Chargers sustained their winning run with a six-wicket victory against last year’s finalists Chennai Super Kings in a gripping game that went down to the final over at Kingsmead here on Monday. With four victories from as many games, Deccan Chargers took top spot in the table while Chennai Super Kings stays with three points from five games.

Aware that he had made a mistake in under-bowling Pragyan Ojha, Adam Gilchrist launched a stunning assaul on the Chennai Super Kings as if to make up for that. He made 44 off 19 balls (five fours, three sixes) and set his team on the way, creating a platform for the patient Herschelle Gibbs to steer the side home with three balls to spare. Gibbs responded with an unbeaten 69 not out (56 balls, six fours, two sixes) that won him the man of the match award. But more importantly, his knock held the innings from coming unstuck against some crafty bowling by Suresh Raina and Muttiah Muralitharan who finished with combined figures of three wickets for 35 runs in eight overs. There was a rash of wickets with VVS Laxman, Rohit Sharma and Dwayne Smith following Gilchrist to the pavilion but Gibbs stayed calm through the crisis and stuck a six off the first ball of L Balaji’s final over to ensure the team would get home and dry.

Chennai Super Kings captain MS Dhoni was left with few options after Manpreet Singh Gony and Joginder Sharma together conceded 34 runs in one over each. He was left hoping for some firepower upfront to stop Deccan Chargers, who themselves had Fidel Edwards in top form.

He was also left wondering why his team was unable to build on the 64-run stand that Matthew Hayden and Suresh Raina strung together after Parthiv Patel’s dismissal to the second ball of the match. He could zero in on himself as one of those who could have got the team to a bigger score. Pragyan Ojha scalped him and Hayden in one over to pull his side back into the game.

Gilchrist admitted he got his calculations wrong, allowing his best bowler Pragyan Ojha just two overs and pulling him out of the attack when Jacob Oram and Albie Morkel were at the crease. That allowed Chennai Super Kings to pick up 20 runs off young fast bowler SM Shoaib to lift their score to 168 off 20 overs and give their bowlers something to bowl with.

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Cape Town: A thrilling encounter is on the cards with the tactful Shane Warne’s Rajasthan Royals challenging win-hungry Kings XI Punjab in the Indian Premier League match here on Sunday.

The Rajasthan Royals pulled off a win via ‘Super Over’ in a nerve-wrecking tie against the Kolkata Knight Riders, putting behind their two successive losses to emphasise that they are in a serious business to defend their title in the eight-team tournament.

Warne fulfilled his promise to hit back strongly after it had collapsed to the lowest IPL total of 58 runs in their opening match while their second match had been washed off by rains.

The Jaipur brigade would now try their best to build on their success and improve the run rate to fire up their title defence instead of slipping below the fourth position from here on.

With all-rounder Yousuf Pathan coming of age and rookie pacer Kamran Khan living up to Warne’s expectation, Rajasthan have also showed they were not anymore missing services of their inaugural edition heroes Shane Watson and Sohail Tanvir, who are missing the tournament for various reasons.

Kings XI Punjab, also with just a single win in their pocket, would require to be extra cautious as they bump into Rajasthan Royals, who would be again waiting to surprise his opposition by flinging yet another surprise after baffling Kolkata Knight Riders in their previous match.

Punjab skipper Yuvraj Singh, on his part, would rely on another stint of apt execution of plan, especially by his bowlers to tame the Rajasthan Royals by causing their yet another batting fiasco.

“We experimented with the bowling, shuffled it around and it worked in the end. We bowled and batted well and stuck to our plans. I’m happy with the result,” Yuvraj had said after their seven-wicket win over Royal challengers Bangalore on Friday.

Riding on the heroics of their new revelations young England batsman Ravi Bopara, who hammered a match winning knock of 85 runs, and bowler Yusuf Abdullah, the Preity Zinta-owned team would hope to climb the rungs on team standing table, where they are languishing at lowly sixth among eight contenders.

Besides, Yuvraj Singh and Co would also be praying that rain may not play a spoilsport as they bid to continue with their winning ways.

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As Andrew Flintoff prepares for his latest trip to the operating table Kevin Pietersen, England’s other million-dollar IPL star, admitted it was a massive blow for England, but said players can’t be stopped from joining the event.

“It’s going to be very difficult for boards to pull players out of tournaments like this when you’re playing with the best players in the world,” Pietersen told the Guardian. “You can’t have one rule for some and another rule for others. But it’s a huge blow come the summer for England.”

Flintoff flew home yesterday to have surgery on a torn meniscus in his right knee which is set to keep him out of action for up to six weeks and means he misses the series against West Indies.

There was months of negotiations between the ECB and Professional Cricketers’ Association before the players were finally released for the IPL, with the board eventually conceding to the demands to allow an extra week at the event despite England’s crammed schedule.

Following an 11-week tour of the Caribbean, Pietersen and Flintoff – along with Paul Collingwood and Owais Shah who were also in West Indies for the duration – had a week at home before heading to South Africa. Those who don’t get injured are due to return next week, shortly before the first Test against West Indies which is the beginning of a hectic summer.

Flintoff had an injury-interrupted tour of West Indies when he returned to England for two weeks to recover from a hip problem before returning for the one-day series. His latest problem is not as serious as some of his previous ailments, but means there will be some major changes to England’s early-summer planning.

Dr Derek Bickerstaff, the renowned knee surgeon who operated on Michael Vaughan, told Cricinfo that although the operation is a fairly simple procedure the recovery needs to be carefully managed. “There are different levels of this sort of injury,” he said. “But the recovery period should also be pretty rapid. There will probably be a week of rest followed by two weeks on the bike in the gym and by four weeks he should be training again and be ready to play after about six if everything goes well.

“There is a small risk that the operation could leave the knee susceptible to further problems because some of the shock-absorbing tissue has been removed, but it’s unlikely to be a factor in the life-time of a fast bowler like Andrew Flintoff although he may suffer later in life. It shouldn’t prevent him returning to action effectively.”

Source: Cricinfo

The Indian Premier League matches scheduled for the Wanderers stadium in Johannesburg will go ahead as planned with officials of the Gauteng Cricket Board reaching a solution with IPL bosses.

The Wanderers is scheduled to host eight IPL matches – six regular season matches between May 2 to 19, a semi-final on May 23 and the final on May 24 – but the venue was in doubt due to a row over VIP suites at the stadium.

The IPL had demanded exclusive use of the suites at the stadium, but suite-holders had refused and Alan Kourie, the chief executive of the GCB, said: “We are happy and proud to have reached an amicable resolution with the IPL.”

He added: “It now clears the way for hosting the business end of one of the best cricketing leagues in the world.

“Gauteng cricket fans will now be able to witness some truly amazing cricketers in action at our very own Wanderers Stadium,” he said.

IPL chairman and commissioner Lalit Modi was equally happy.

“We are extremely pleased with the co-operation of the Gauteng Cricket Board and in particular the assistance received from Alan Kourie,” he said.

“I am glad the fans in Johannesburg will now be able to witness the IPL.”

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Chris Gayle played a belligerent innings as the Kolkata Knight Riders secured an 11-run win on the Duckworth/Lewis method over Kings XI Punjab in a rain-affected Indian Premier League match at Kingsmead, Durban today.

Gayle, dropped on two and again on 32, briefly dispersed gloomy weather conditions with an unbeaten 44 off only 26 deliveries before rain had the final say.

The Kings XI had made 158 for six and Kolkata had reached 79 for one in 9.2 overs when their innings ended prematurely.

Gayle was dropped on two by Tarun Goel off Yusuf Abdulla in only the second over and again by wicketkeeper Kumar Sangakkara off Piyush Chawla when on 32.

By the time the rain came down, Gayle had smashed four sixes and two boundaries while putting on 57 for the opening wicket with skipper Brendon McCullum (21).

The Knight Riders also had their moments with the ball and began ominously, with Ishant Sharma turning in a miserly first over – he conceded only one run – under overcast skies.

Ashok Dinda followed up with four dot balls in his first over before Ravi Bopara broke the shackles with consecutive boundaries off the last two deliveries.

Ishant then got rid of the dangerous Goel in his second over, provoking the opener into edging to Gayle at slip, but Goel’s replacement, Irfan Pathan injected some momentum into Kings XI’s batting by smashing 32 off only 17 deliveries.

Former captain Sourav Ganguly swung momentum back Kolkata’s way with two strikes in his first over. Ganguly got rid of Pathan and then snared Bopara (15) two deliveries later.

Skipper Yuvraj Singh (38) then joined Sangakkara (26) and the two began to rebuild Kings XI’s innings.

An extended strategy break due to a touch of rain worked in favour of the Kings XI this time as Yuvraj and Sangakkara began to hit out.

Ganguly, who had conceded only four runs in his first two overs, leaked 14 in his third and Gayle, struggling with a wet ball, conceded just as many in his only over.

Yuvraj and Sangakkara put on 56 runs for the fourth wicket before Sangakkara ran himself out.

A fluent cameo from Mahela Jayawardene (31 not out) got the Kings XI to a competitive total but their depleted bowling attack struggled to rein in Gayle.

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Cape Town: Wanderers hosting the Indian Premier League (IPL) matches, including the second semifinal and the final, is still in doubt as the organisers and the local cricket association have not been able to resolve the issue of VIP suites at the Johannesburg stadium.

Cricket South Africa (CSA) has reportedly even threatened not to use Wanderers, the largest stadium in the country with 10,000 more seats than any other venue.

The dispute between the IPL and the Gauteng Cricket Board (GCB) is over the IPL’s demand for all the suites in the main pavilion to accommodate its VIP guests including Bollywood stars during the six league games, one semi-final and the final scheduled to be held there.

The IPL organisers and local cricket authorities at the other venues have resolved the dispute over suites without much of a hassle.

There is still time for the matter to be resolved as the first match at Wanderers, between Chennai Super Kings and Delhi Daredevils, is to be played only on May 2.

GCB said it had complied with the initial IPL request to make 2,400 suite seats available for the semifinal and the final, including the use of the prestigious Long Room President’s Suite.

GCB cited contractual obligations with its suite holders which did not allow it to accede to the IPL request.

“We have considered the IPL’s request, but we regret it is not possible to release all the suites,” the report quoted GCB.

The IPL has offered to provide free tickets in the main pavilion of Wanderers for suite holders as well as a demarcated area for their refreshments, but it appears that CSA would have to foot the bill for this from the 30 million rands it is reportedly getting for hosting the series.

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