Bhuvneshwar Kumar took an early wicket as Sunrisers Hyderabad defeated Mumbai Indians by 15 runs in their IPL match in Dubai. Kieron Pollard hit a 48-ball 78 for Mumbai Indians but it was not enough for the winless team. Earlier, David Warner's 51-ball 65 helped Sunrisers Hyderabad post a competitive total of 172. The seam bowling of Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Dale Steyn then restricted Mumbai Indians to 157, giving Sunrisers Hyderabad their third win of the tournament.

1. 12 | HINDUSTAN TIMES, INDORE
THURSDAY, MAY 01, 2014
HIT WICKET JAYANTO
ht20INDIANPREMIERLEAGUE
1 6 A P R I L - 0 1 J U N E
Hyderabad leave Mumbai
totally parched in the desert
WINLESS Pollard’s brutal 48-ball 78 in vain as seamers clinch it for Sunrisers
DUBAI: Bhuvneshwar Kumar
had refused to be intimidated
by having to share the new ball
with the finest fast bowler in
world cricket at the moment,
Dale Steyn. Accuracy and gen-
tle movement would do well for
him, the India and Sunrisers
Hyderabadseamerhaddeclared.
On Wednesday, that was all it
required for Bhuvneshwar. The
late nip back beat Rohit Sharma
all ends up and the stumps were
disturbed. The Mumbai Indians
skipper would have hoped for
something special, to mark his
27th birthday. That was needed
to lift a team that had lost their
first four IPL games and were
looking to somehow get a win
before heading for the home leg.
Being dismissed for one run
would have dampened the spir-
its in the MI dug out. Soon after,
Steyn, the man at the other end
of thepacespectrum,neutralised
the threat of Kiwi all-rounder
CoreyAnderson.DarrenSammy
then bowled Ben Dunk. And MI,
chasing 173 for victory, were
reduced to 31 for three.
Dunk (20), the highest scorer
among the top-three batsmen,
was not the story. Mumbai
Indians had finally run out of
patience, and dumped Mike
Hussey, Chennai Super Kings’
prolific scorer till last season
but out of form since landing a
new team, and perhaps feeling
the weight of age as well.
But Kieron Pollard showed
whatMIweremissing.Steyngot
Ambati Rayudu to nick to slip
but the chance was not taken.
And the powerful Caribbean
only needed some support at
the other end before he teed off.
Pollard landed stunning blows,
the most severe ones coming
against Amit Mishra in the 17th
over. Three sixes in a row saw 27
runsflow.AndMIweresuddenly
looking at 31 off 18 deliveries.
Dhawan turned to Steyn, who
gavejustfourrunsinthe18thover
andremovedAdityaTare,leaving
Pollardfrustratedattheotherend.
And after Bhuvi got Harbhajan
caughtatcover,itwas20fromthe
last over with Pollard on strike.
AndIrfanPathanvirtuallysealed
the deal when he knocked back
Pollard’s stumps with the first
delivery of the last over.
OLD MASTER
Zaheer Khan too believes in
skill rather than pace to get the
job done. But having smashed
a juicy delivery well outside
off for four, Sunrisers skipper
Shikhar Dhawan perhaps for-
got that the man he was facing
was an expert at dismissing
left-handed batsmen, openers
in particular. The next one was
a bit too close to the body, and
bounced a tad higher. Dhawan
could only edge as he attempted
to punch through off.
Zak also accounted for the
other opener, Aaron Finch. But
DavidWarnershowedhehasset-
tled down nicely to his new role
as a middle-order batsman. His
51-ball65,andasteadyKLRahul
(40-ball 46), pulled Sunrisers to a
solid total. Warner hit one four,
butlandedheftyblowslateinhis
innings that fetched four sixes.
Warner and Rahul added
111 runs for the third wick-
et, and although the Dubai
International Stadium pitch
played well, it was going to be
difficult.
SAI PRASAD MOHAPATRA
HT@IPL
■ After a duck in his previous outing against Delhi Daredevils, David Warner came good once again, hitting
a 51-ball 65 to help Sunrisers Hyderabad post a competitive total against Mumbai Indians. BCCI
scorecard
■ SUNRISERS HYDERABAD
A Finch c Dunk b Khan 16 (15)
S Dhawan c Harbhajan b Khan 6 (6)
K Rahul c Gautam b Malinga46 (40)
Warner c Gautam b Anderson65 (51)
Sammy c Pollard b Anderson 10 (4)
N Ojha not out 10 (4)
I Pathan not out 1 (1)
Extras (lb 5, w 12, nb 1) 18
Total (5 wickets; 20 overs) 172
FoW: 1-21, 2-38 3-149, 4-161,
5-162
Bowling: Z Khan 4-0-26-2, Malin-
ga 4-0-28-1 P Ojha 3-0-43-0, Har-
bhajan Singh 4-0-16-0, Pollard
4-0-36-0, Anderson 1-0-18-2
■MUMBAI INDIANS
B Dunk b Sammy 20 (17)
R Sharma b Bhuvneshwar 1 (5)
C Anderson c Ojha b Steyn 1 (8)
ARayuducWarnerbPathan 35 (27)
K Pollard b Pathan 78 (48)
AP Tare c Ojha b Steyn 7 (5)
H Singh c Dhawan b Kumar 1 (3)
C Gautam not out 4 (4)
Zaheer Khan not out 1 (2)
Extras (b 2, lb 1, w 6) 9
Total (7 wickets; 20 overs) 157
Bowling: D Steyn 4-0-20-2, B
Kumar 4-0-17-2, K Sharma 4-0-33-
0, D Sammy 2-0-20-1, A Mishra
4-0-54-0, I Pathan 2-0-10-2
NUMBERED
I love Mirza Ghalib. I was a
kid when national broadcaster
Doordarshanfirstairedtheserial
on the great poet. The series was
theworkof anotherfavouritewrit-
er of mine, Gulzaar saab. At that
age I could not understand any
of the poetry but was invariably
hookedontoit.Maybeitwasthe
purityof thedepictionof Ghalib’s
character by Naseeruddin Shah
saabandGulzaarsaab.Or,maybe
it was my love for history.
I have the entire DVD set of
that masterpiece and I have seen
it more than a few times. Do I
understanditnow?Well,youdon’t
understand Ghalib, you experi-
ence it.
I’mnotanatheistbutlikesome
of Ghalib’s thoughts on religion
and God. The day before our
game against Rajasthan I was
stepping out with my friends to
visit the famous Sheikh Zayed
Grand Mosque here in Abu
Dhabi. Another KKR teammate
remarked, “Good idea Gauti,
pray hard for KKR. It seems God
is unhappy with us.”
I smiled at the suggestion of
“prayinghard”.Iamabelieverbut
I can’t recall going to a religious
placewitha“demand”.Butthese
were tough times. I had a collec-
tivescoreof oneinfourgames.My
teamhadwontwooutof four.One
more win will make it three out
of five.Itsoundedsomuchbetter.
ShouldI?ShouldInot?Iwondered
how Ghalib would have reacted.
Maybehe’dhavesaid,“JabSajdey
MeinNahinGayey,ToShikwaBhi
Naa Kiya”. This if loosely trans-
lated means that since “Since I
didn’t worship I didn’t complain
as well.”
I was at the doorstep of the
mosque. I looked up. The majes-
tic white mosque stood against
the backdrop of saffron evening
sky with glowing golden crowns
over the domes. Fountains in the
blue-colouredwaterbodiesinthe
foreground were busy creating
symphony. I wondered whether
God was a painter or a musician.
As I stepped in I once again won-
deredwhatwouldhaveGhalibsaid
if he was here.
INTROSPECTION
AsIstoodinthemainprayerhallI
observedpeoplearoundme.There
were tourists mainly exploring
themegapixelsof thecamerasof
theirphones.Ithoughtfacebook.
com will be busy place tonight.
I closed my eyes. I was trying to
concentrate on my prayers. But
thenasitnormallyhappenspast
failuresorfutureaspirationswin
thebattle.Iwentmilesawayfrom
my present. For good 40-50 sec-
onds I was watching the losing
moments of the two lost games.
This was followed by another
highlight package of my own
dismissals–0,0,0and1.Iwanted
this to change. “The chandeliers
are breathtaking,” a remark by
another visitor crash landed me
into the present.
I closed my eyes again and
this time prayed like I always
did. No “praying hard”, no self-
ish demands just honest prayers
to the Almighty: please bless me
withthewisdomtohandlesuccess
and patience to handle failure. I
wanted to be consistent. I think
Ghalib saab would have done the
same.
On Tuesday when we were
chasing Rajasthan’s 152 the visit
totheMosquehadblurred.Ionly
thought about it after we lost the
game on boundary counts. Will
I change? Will I pray harder?
Perhaps not. I will work harder
and pray the same way. God has
his own way of doing things.
Isatbackinthedressingroom
withmyplateof daalandchawal.
I looked at the positives: young
Surya Kumar Yadav batted bril-
liantly, Shakib Al Hasan was fan-
tastic all-round, KKR continued
to be at number four position on
points table and I got some runs.
Most importantly: I was having
daal chawal, have a good life as a
cricketer,alovingfamilyandafew
dear friends. And, of course, like
Ghalib saab I had not borrowed
money from anyone.
KAIZEN MEDIA SOLUTIONS
The writer is the captain of KKR
Youliveforthe
fightwhenit’sall
thatyou’vegot
G-FORCE
GAUTAM GAMBHIR
›I’M NOT AN ATHEIST
BUT LIKE SOME
OF MIRZA GHALIB’S
THOUGHTS ON
RELIGION AND GOD
›I AM A BELIEVER
BUT I CAN’T
RECALL GOING TO
A RELIGIOUS PLACE
WITH A “DEMAND”
HT Correspondent
■ sportsdesk@hindustantimes.com
NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court
on Wednesday directed the
court appointed commissioner
to announce the controversial
Rajasthan Cricket Association
election results, pending since
December, on May 6.
Brushing aside the cricket
Board’s submission that if
bannedformerIPLcommissioner,
Lalit Modi, is elected, the state
body’s disqualification process
would begin, a bench headed by
JusticeARDaveverballytoldthe
BCCIcounsel,senioradvocateCA
Sundaram,thatitwasatlibertyto
take action under its rules.
The court directed the SC reg-
istry to send the results, filed in
a sealed envelope before it, back
totheobserver,Justice(retd)NM
Kasliwal, to declare the result. It
said anyone aggrieved about the
outcome can challenge it before
an appropriate authority.
SC had on November 20, 2013
made Justice Kasliwal principal
observertooverseetheelections
and he accepted Modi’s nomina-
tion. The elections were held on
December19.Modi’srivalcandi-
date,RampalSharma,movedthe
SCchallengingJusticeKasliwal’s
decision to permit Modi to con-
test. The BCCI too sought the
court’s intervention.
The cricket board said Modi
wasbannedforlifefromBCCIon
September 25 last year after its
disciplinarycommitteefoundhim
guiltyoneightcountsof ‘indisci-
pline and misconduct’. Modi, it
added, would find his way back
intoBCCIif electedtheRajasthan
unit president.
The disciplinary committee
comprising Arun Jaitley and
JyotiradityaScindiahadsubmit-
teda134-pagereportinJuly,2013,
finding Modi guilty of financial
irregularities, indiscipline and
committing“actionsdetrimental
to the interest of the BCCI”.
MODI ELATED
Modi was delighted. “Extremely
grateful to honourable Supreme
Court for allowing the opening
of RCAelectionsballots.Looking
forward to results now being
opened,” he tweeted.
Hislawyer,MehmoodMAbdi,
slammed the BCCI for trying to
derail the election process. “The
SupremeCourtrefusedtocancel
thenominationof LalitModi,and
didnotrestrainModifromtaking
chargeastheRCApresident,if he
isdeclaredelected.Indoingthis,
the court prevented BCCI from
directlytakingoverthecricketing
activities in Rajasthan.”
Sai Prasad Mohapatra
■ sportsdesk@hindustantimes.com
DUBAI:KamranAkmalstrugglesto
takehisgazeawayfromthegiant
hoarding near the Al Maktoum
BridgeinDubai.ViratKohli’slarg-
er than life portrait, advertising
a fairness cream, leaps out of it.
The timing of the hoardings
being erected across Dubai is a
no-brainer. There are many such
hoardings featuring captains of
eachIPLfranchise,linedupclose
toeachother.ButforthePakistan
‘keeper, they serve as a reminder
of histimewithRajasthanRoyals.
Heturnsatouchnostalgictoo.The
strained relationship between
India and Pakistan following the
2008 terror strikes in Mumbai
prompted the IPL franchises to
keep out Pakistani players. That
has only meant prolonged frus-
tration at not being a part of the
richestleague,thattoonextdoor.
It has been six years now, but
for Kamran, in Dubai these days
toplayinalocalT20tournament,
the hoarding reminds him of
what he is missing. Many of his
Pakistan team mates —Younis
Khan, Naseer Jamshed, Asad
Shafiq, and out-of-favour Imran
Nazir—arealsoinDubaitoplay
in the less fancied tournament.
The matches are played at
the ICC cricket academy, barely
two kilometres from the Dubai
International cricket stadium
where the IPL matches are being
played.Whilekeepingatoneend,
Kamran can see the stadium,
imposing and brightly lit up in
the evening. He can perhaps feel
the reverberation too, caused by
theboisterousfans,mostof expats.
The hurt of Pakistan players
stillbeingkeptoutof IPL,andthe
desire to play in it, comes across
ashefiresinhisquestions.“What
will it take and how long will it
take for the IPL to start consider-
ingPakistanplayersagain?”“Isit
governmentpolicyorIPLpolicy?”
“WhyhaveSriLankaplayersnot
beenpicked(thistime)?”“Howcan
it be a truly global cricket league
withoutthepresenceof Pakistani,
SriLankanandEnglishplayers?”
One is not sure who can provide
answers to the barrage of ques-
tions, and when.
Modirow:SCsets
dateforpollresults,
uncertaintyinRCA
Kamran: Wistful, frustrated and playing in a lesser league
PIC’D
■ Mumbai Indians Kieron Pollard has a crack at young Lokesh
Rahul. Good choice, given that the other Sunrisers Hyderabad
batsman at the crease was David Warner. BCCI
›EXTREMELY
GRATEFUL TO
HONOURABLE SUPREME
COURT FOR ALLOWING
THE OPENING OF RCA
ELECTIONS BALLOTS.
LALIT MODI, ex-IPL commissioner
thedoosra
Tony Shehzad is a hit amongst
the commentators at the Dubai
International Stadium. The
chef-in-charge of the commen-
tators and media dinner lounge,
Tony specialises in grills and
barbeque. Working at a restau-
rant called ‘Barbecue Delights’,
he has struck a rapport with the
former cricketers and keeps
updating the menu with ‘what
will you have today’ queries.
Originally from Karachi, he is
also a favourite amongst Indian
celebrities who visit this high-
end restaurant in Dubai. Hrithik
and Honey Singh are regulars.
“Your Honey Singh comes with
a hood all the time, hiding his
face to avoid being mobbed by
the crowd. He can’t eat peace-
fully, constantly looking around
see if he is being noticed, he
eats fast,” said Tony.
ANOTHER ROUTE
TO FRIENDSHIP
While the Mumbai Indians were
training before the match on
Wednesday, Sachin Tendulkar
picked up a bat and pair of gloves
to knock a few balls, and asked
MI manager and former India
teammate Rahul Sanghvi to send
down a few deliveries. Suddenly,
everyone in that part of the
stand rushed to the ledge to
have a glimpse of him batting,
and phones were fished out to
take some quick pictures.
There was unprecedented security
at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium for
the last match between Mumbai
Indians and Sunrisers Hyderabad.
The presence of Sheikh Mohammad
bin Rashid al Maktoum, vice-presi-
dent and prime minister of the
UAE, led to the army being pressed
into service. Also, armed elite
troopers on bikes kept vigil on the
movement of people and sanitised
the area before his cavalcade
arrived. Earlier, the Sheikh’s per-
sonal security did a recce of every
single passage through which he
was to pass.
ONE LAST KNOCK
FOR SACHIN
■ Sachin Tendulkar
■ Pakistan wicketkeeper-batsman Kamran Akmal is in Dubai to play in
a local T20 tournament. GETTY IMAGES
KumarDharmasenawasliterallyin
thelineoffirewhenafull-blooded
drivebyDavidWarnersmashed
intohisshoulderbeforehecould
takeevasiveaction.Inthesetrou-
bledtimes,itisalwaysbettertobe
safethansorry.Isn’tit?
VICTORY OVER KKR
IS A HUGE STEP
FORWARD: DRAVID
NEW DELHI: Rajasthan Royals
mentor Rahul Dravid feels that
to come up trumps in a thrilling
‘Super Over’ finish is a “huge
step forward” towards getting
the team together for a com-
mon goal which is to win the
seventh edition of the Indian
Premier League. “Last night’s
win was a huge step forward
for the team. A win like this
works wonders for the team
spirit and bonding.The best part
about the UAE leg is the fact
that we have won more match-
es (three) than we have lost
(two),” Dravid told mediaper-
sons during a promotional
event here on Wednesday.
Pujara takes time off IPL
to cast his vote
RAJKOT: Kings XI Punjab bats-
man Cheteshwar Pujara took
time out from his hectic IPL
schedule to cast his vote here
on Wednesday. Pujara, who
scored 10 in Punjab’s five-wick-
et win against Royal Challeng-
ers Bangalore on April 28 flew
back to his hometown to exer-
cise his voting rights. Rajkot
city and the state Election
Commission had roped in
Pujara, 26, as both its “icon”
and “brand ambassador” for
the parliamentary polls in the
district.
Watson as cool and calm
as Dravid: Rahane
ABU DHABI: Ajinkya Rahane
rose to prominence while play-
ing under Rahul Dravid in
Rajasthan Royals and the right-
handed batsman feels current
skipper Shane Watson is as
“cool and calm-headed” as his
predecessor. “He (Watson) has
been wonderful. In so many
ways he is very similar to Rahul
bhai as captain. Like him,
Shane too is very calm in the
middle and makes his decisions
with a cool head,” Rahane said
after playing a key role in
Rajasthan’s thrilling Super Over
win against Kolkata Knight Rid-
ers in IPL-7 here on Tuesday.
ipltrack
G MAXWELL
300runs
30x4s, 17x6s
HITS AND HAULS
SUNIL NARINE
9 wickets
20ovs107runs
BASKETBALL
NBA PLAY-OFF
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live on Sony Six.
■ 5.00am(Friday),Oklahoma City
v Memphis, live on Sony Six.
GOLF
PGA TOUR
■ 12.30am (Friday), Wells Fargo
Championship, live on Neo
Sports.
FOOTBALL
COPA LIBERTADORES
■ 5.30am (Friday), Unión
Española vs Arsenal, live
on Neo Sports.
todayontv
@ProfDeano: We have con-
verted @sachin_rt to GOLF!
He loves it! What take him
long to get down to scratch
knowing him!
— Dean Jones, former
Australia batsman talks
about giving golf lessons
to Sachin Tendulkar
standings
Team P W L Pts
MOHALI 5 5 0 10
CHENNAI 5 4 1 8
JAIPUR 5 3 2 6
KOLKATA 5 2 3 4
BANGALORE 5 2 3 4
DELHI 5 2 3 4
HYDERABAD 4 1 3 2
MUMBAI 4 0 4 0
cyberbuzz
CANDID A rare peek into an out-of-form
batsman’s mind reflecting the inner turmoil
gautisays
DAVID WARNER
65 OFF 51 BALLS
Strike rate 127
Behind square
4 runs
Front of
square
23 runs
Long-on
6 runs
Off-side 49%
Long-off
6 runs
Behind square
11 runs
Front of
square
15 runs
On-side 51%
WATERTIGHT SECURITY
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