Raina, Dhoni star in Chennai triumph

Chennai Super Kings 168 for 5 (Raina 57*, Dhoni 22, Fernando 2-23) beat Mumbai Indians 146 for 9 (Tendulkar 48, Pollard 27, Jakati 2-27) by 22 runs

MS Dhoni added another feather to his captaincy hat. It was he who started the turnaround against a formidable Mumbai Indians attack, his deputy Suresh Ranina on two dropped catches to score a crucial fifty, and Chennai Super Kings defended with aggression, smartness and flair to win the third IPL. Chennai were struggling at 68 for 3 after 12 overs when Dhoni got into the act: 100 runs were added in the last eight, and Raina scored 44 at a strike-rate of 200 after the first drop. The win concluded a fourth consecutive one-sided knockout in the tournament.

Ever since R Ashwin started the defence with a maiden over, Mumbai never really threatened Chennai. Sachin Tendulkar, playing with a split webbing, played his least fluent innings of the tournament, scoring a laboured 48 off 45. Mumbai tried some strange moves: promotions for Abhishek Nayar and Harbhajan Singh bombed, and even at the fall of the fifth wicket, with 69 required off 31, Kieron Pollard was not the man making his way out of the dugout.

There were no problems with tactics for Chennai: they went with the old-fashioned approach of keeping wickets in hand, never mind the slow start, and with M Vijay breaking free, had reached a perfectly acceptable 40 for no loss at the end of Powerplay. Dilhara Fernando brought Mumbai back, removing Vijay with his split-finger slower ball in the eighth over. Pollard ended Matthew Hayden's 31-ball 17-run misery, and S Badrinath holed out in the 12th over.

South Africa to host Champions League

South Africa will host the next Champions League Twenty20, to run from September 10 to 26, the tournament's organisers have announced. The tournament chairman Lalit Modi confirmed the decision, following a board meeting in Mumbai where it was formally agreed to accept Cricket South Africa's invitation to stage the event. However Modi, under immense scrutiny over the ongoing IPL mess, was not present at that meeting, which took place at the BCCI headquarters on Saturday.

"South Africa is considered an ideal CLT20 host after successfully staging the Indian Premier League and ICC World Twenty20 tournaments in recent years, as well as the strong support shown for its domestic Pro20 Series competition," said Modi via a press release.

The venues and competing teams for the second edition of the Champions League will be announced in the near future, said the tournament management.

Indian cricket suspends IPL chief Modi for 'corruption'

India's cricket board has suspended IPL chief Lalit Modi over corruption allegations in the worst scandal to hit the Indian game this century.

The head of the Indian Premier League faces the sack when the board (the BBCI) begins a series of meetings on his fate on Monday.

Mr Modi, who is being investigated by tax officials, denies all allegations of wrongdoing made against him.

Some of the world's top cricketers play for the lucrative IPL.

BCCI president Shashank Manohar waited until the end of the IPL final on Sunday to announce Mr Modi's suspension.

Modi to go to court to stop IPL meeting

Mumbai: IPL commisioner Lalit Modi has decided to move the Bombay High Court to stop the Governing Council meeting scheduled for April 26, sources have told CNN-IBN.

And while Modi maintains that as IPL commissioner only he can convene a meeting of the Governing Council, BCCI chief Shashank Manohar has hit back saying Modi should come clean about his family interests in the teams.

Doug Bollinger wickets help Chennai reach IPL final

Doug Bollinger recorded figures of 4-13 to help Chennai Super Kings to a 38-run victory over Deccan Chargers in the Indian Premier League semi-finals.

Chennai made 142-7 from their 20 overs, with Subramaniam Badrinath (37) and Mahendra Singh Dhoni (30) top scoring after they had made a poor start.

Australian Bollinger then produced an outstanding display to help restrict Deccan to just 104 from 19.2 overs.

Chennai now face Mumbai Indians at the DY Patil Stadium in Mumbai on Sunday.

Deccan Chargers will take on Kevin Pietersen's Bangalore Royal Challengers in Saturday's third place play-off.

Pietersen was denied an IPL final appearance after his Bangalore Royal Challengers lost by 35 runs to Mumbai Indians on Wednesday.

Dhoni blasts Chennai to semi-finals

Chennai Super Kings 195 for 4 (Dhoni 54*, Badrinath 53, Raina 46) beat Kings XI Punjab 192 for 3 (Marsh 88*, Irfan 44*) by six wickets

A pumped-up MS Dhoni showed why he's one of the great finishers in the game, blasting 30 runs in the final two overs to ensure Chennai Super Kings would contest an IPL semi-final for the third season in a row. Chennai's chances seemed dim after Shaun Marsh's sparkling innings had powered Kings XI Punjab to a massive total, but meaty innings from Suresh Raina and S Badrinath set the stage for a Dhoni onslaught during a tense finish.

Punjab held the edge for most of the match, and going into the last two overs Chennai needed 29, a tough task even with Dhoni and Albie Morkel at the crease. Juan Theron had been a hero the last time the two teams met, but he couldn't save Punjab in Dharamsala.

The penultimate over, by Theron, started with two murderous hits for four from Dhoni, feasting on the length deliveries offered. He looked to repeat on the third ball, but a thick edge flew high and fast to wicketkeeper Kumar Sangakkara, who managed to get a glove on it. Theron kept it to singles for the rest of the over, leaving Chennai needing 16 off the last.

Deccan resist gutsy Collingwood to reach semis

Deccan Chargers 145 for 7 (Symonds 54) beat Delhi Daredevils 134 for 7 (Collingwood 51*, Ojha 2-16) by 11 runs

They were the IPL's nomads, they needed to win five games in a row to reach the semi-finals, and things looked heavily loaded against them. But Deccan Chargers, the defending champions, made it. On a slow pitch at Feroz Shah Kotl Andro Symonds sparkling 54 gave Deccan a defendable total, which they protected with an inspired fielding performance lead by Rohit Sharma. and disciplined bowling. Paul Collingwood kept Delhi in the chase until the end but he lacked the firepower, and support, to pull off a victory.

It boiled down to Delhi needing 17 runs in the final over and Chaminda Vaas bowled exceptionally, mixing his slower ones with near-perfect yorkers. Deccan had earlier wobbled at the start before the Symonds show and slowed to a crawl post his fall to reach 145 for 7. It was a slow pitch, better than the previous tracks in Delhi though, and the chase was unlikely to be a stroll for the hosts. And it wasn't.

Bowlers and Ganguly knock out Rajasthan

Kolkata Knight Riders 133 for 2 (Ganguly 75*, Pujara 45*) beat Rajasthan Royals 132 for 9 (Watson 44, Unadkat 3-26, Dinda 2-24) by eight wickets

Kolkata Knight Riders' bowlers knocked out Rajasthan Royals and kept their semi-final hopes alive by setting up a comprehensive eight-wicket win. They limited Rajasthan to a below-par score on a slowish pitch, and Sourav Ganguly backed them up with another significant contribution to push Kolkata to 12 points.

The effort overcame an intimidating start from Shane Watson, who began with a series of boundaries, and the loss of early wickets in the chase. Kolkata, however, face a tough task in ensuring a qualification for the knockout stage, as they have to beat a formidable Mumbai Indians in their next game and by a big margin to boost their negative net run-rate.

Watson, opening for the first time this IPL, took little time settling in to his preferred position in

Bangalore thrashed by 57 runs

Mumbai Indians 191 for 4 (Rayudu 46, Duminy 42*, McLaren 40) beat Royal Challengers Bangalore 134 for 9 (Kohli 37, Pollard 3-28) by 57 runs

Royal Challengers Bangalore's final league game was delayed by an hour due to a couple of low-intensity blasts outside the stadium. The organisers decided to go ahead with the match, and spectators were ushered into the stands amid heightened security.

Once the match began, Mumbai Indians, already in the semi-finals, sent a strong message to their rivals by crushing second-placed Bangalore, whose net run-rate took a beating but remained just high enough to make them favourites for a semi-final spot. Mumbai also brushed aside any criticism about them being overly reliant on orange-cap holder and captain Sachin Tendulkar, whose rare failure didn't prevent the table-toppers from amassing 191 on a greenish track.

Ambati Rayudu has been the best of the ICL returnees this season, and added to his growing reputation with another power-hitting cameo that jumpstarted Mumbai after a dawdling start. Kieron Pollard briefly showed why he was so sought-after during this year's auction, after which JP Duminy's clinical finishing silenced the home crowd, as it had when he lashed an unbeaten 99 in the Champions League.

Warne consoles Shahrukh Khan, asks him to hang on

New Delhi, Rajasthan Royals skipper Shane Warne had some words of consolation for Bollywood megastar Shah Rukh Khan after his Indian Premier League (IPL)team Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) failed to make it to the semi-finals for the third year in a row.

Warne wrote on social networking site Twitter: “Hey buddy you’re a champion and your charisma is something (that) I’m sure inspires a lot of people. Hang in there, sport is cruel sometimes.”

“Congrats the way you conduct yourself, I know it’s tough re (regarding) KKR… I am feeling for you, but it’s a pleasure to live the journey of life,” Warne tweeted.

Shah Rukh, on the same forum, had apologised for KKR’s failure.

Bomb strikes IPL cricket match in Bangalore, police say

A bomb has exploded outside a cricket stadium in the southern Indian city of Bangalore, police say.

Five people - four policemen and a security officer - were injured.

The blast happened shortly before the start of an Indian Premier League (IPL) cricket match. Police say the device was hidden in the perimeter wall.

The match was scheduled to begin at 1600 (1030 GMT) with about 40,000 people in the stadium. It has now got under way.

The Chinnaswamy Stadium is staging a match between the Bangalore Royal Challengers and the Mumbai Indians.

The team's captains were walking out on to the pitch to toss the coin to decide who would ba

Mumbai soar higher as Bangalore lose big

Bangalore: The Mumbai Indians continued their surge as they drubbed the Royal Challengers Bangalore by 57 runs at the Chinnaswamy stadium on Saturday.

Mumbai posted an impressive 191-4 and then restricted Bangalore to 134-9.

Bangalore could have restricted the visitors to a lower score but JP Duminy's sensational 42 not out off just 19 balls set Bangalore a steep target. In their chase, Bangalore were never in the hunt as they kept losing wickets regularly.

After a 30-run opening stand, Kevin Pietersen (22 off 16) and Rahul Dravid (16 off 11) kept Bangalore in the game but only for a brief while as the home side crumbled with the asking rate jumping up.

Virat Kohli (37 off 24) took some rearguard action but it was too late in the day for a fightback.

Earlier, Mumbai got off to a sedate start the Bangalore pacers keeping with McLaren and Sachin Tendulkar in check. When Jacques Kallis sent back Tendulkar (19 off 18), Mumbai were going at less than six-a-over with the powerplay period over.

Gambhir toils for hard-fought victory

20 overs Delhi Daredevils 113 for 4 (Gambhir 57*, Bollinger 2-24) beat Chennai Super Kings 112 for 9 (Badrinath 30*, Nehra 3-26, Sehwag 2-18) by six wickets

Chennai Super Kings were restricted to their lowest total of the season at the MA Chidambaran stadium, and yet they threatened to defend it. On a pitch that offered bounce and sharp turn Delhi Daredevils lost three wickets for a song before Gautam Gambhir and Mithun Manhas batted with determination, fighting dehydration, to secure a valuable victory. It wasn't until 17.1 overs that Delhi's run-rate touched six for the first time in the chase and they overhauled 112 with eight balls to spare.

Delhi had lost to Punjab on a similar surface at home, although the Kotla surface was slower, and they had to contend with the humidity of Chennai as well after MS Dhoni chose to bat. However, their fast bowlers Ashish Nehra and Dirk Nannes, back after a finger injury, made vital incisions into the Chennai line-up, an advantage their spinners capitalised on. Chennai were 39 for 3 after the Powerplay, 55 for 6 after ten overs, and only an eleventh-hour boost propped them past three figures. Doug Bollinger hit the only six of the innings - in the 18th over - and it turned out to be the only one of the match.

IPL tax raid: mystery woman removes papers

New Delhi: In a shocking revelation, income tax sources have told CNN-IBN that CCTV footage has shown a woman taking bid documents from IPL commissioner Lalit Modi's office at the Four Seasons Hotel in Mumbai, just 30 minutes before they carried out searches there on Thursday.

According to other media reports, a senior I-T official, on condition of anonymity, said the woman had already been identified but her name could not be divulged. The official added that the woman was someone who was very closely associated with one of the eight original IPL franchisees.

The officials were certain that the papers, documents and electronic data were kept in a room on the 33rd floor, but they found nothing relevant. The I-T sleuths had entered the hotel at 4:30 pm, just half hour after the woman left with a laptop and a bag of files.

Meanwhile, the IT department is likely to finish its IPL scrutiny on Saturday. Sources have told CNN-IBN that notices are likely to be issues to all IPL franchisees next week.

The I-T department had asked for the bid documents from Lalit Modi's office. While Modi had provided them with some, the officials were still waiting for the remaining documents.

Mumbai take on resurgent Bangalore

Bangalore: The top two teams in the points table take on each other as the action shifts down south where Mumbai take on Bangalore at the Chinnaswamy stadium. While Mumbai have maintained a certain degree of consistency throughout the tournament and have been at the top of the table, Bangalore have fallen prey to inconsistencies despite having made a good start.

The Mumbai Indians are already in the final four and Bangalore, currently on 14 points, would like to win this one and put themselves in a similar position. A loss though does not put them out of contention as their run-rate is still on the higher side as compared to the other teams, but they would like to avoid last-minute palpitations. For Mumbai though, this will be a good game to test out some of their bench strength before playing the all-important semi-finals.

The two teams match each other in the batting department. While the Mumbai batting boasts of master blaster Sachin Tendulkar, Sourabh Tiwary, Ambati Rayudu and Dwayne Bravo, Bangalore match them with Jacques Kallis, Robin Uthappa, Rahul Dravid, Kevin Pietersen and Manish Pandey. The one worry for Bangalore would be the form of Kieron Pollard. The Trinidadian has started to show his true colours and a cameo from him has the potential to spoil the home side's party plans.

Calm Rohit outdoes Jayawardene beauty

Deccan Chargers 178 for 5 (Rohit 68*, Suman 43) beat Kings XI Punjab 174 for 3 (Jayawardene 93*, Sangakkara 52) by five wickets

Rohit Sharma avoided a repeat of the choke against Rajasthan Royals, and Deccan Chargers bit another bullet on route to a fourth consecutive win, one that gave them an even chance in the semi-final race. Deccan's bowlers did plenty to lose this one, but a graceful yet lethal 68 off 38 balls from Rohit took them home. Apart from the falling wickets, Rohit had to make up for another ordinary finish by Deccan's bowlers: 76 runs off the last five overs, during which time Mahela Jayawardene scored 57 off 18.

Put in on a difficult pitch, Kings XI Punjab were 98 after 15 overs, Deccan reached 98 in 11. Deccan bowled tripe in the last five to reconfirm their reputation of being worst at the death, and their batsmen kept getting out regularly to bowling that was not extraordinary.

That they reached 98 in 11 overs was thanks to some clean golf-like swinging from T Suman and Rohit who swung the momentum Deccan's way. After Adam Gilchrist failed to last the Powerplay yet again, both Suman and Monish Mishra struggled against short deliveries on a tricky pitch.

Pietersen powers Bangalore's royal win

Jaipur: Kevin Pietersen returned to sublime form to power the Royal Challengers Bangalore to a five-wicket victory against the Rajasthan Royals at the Sawai Man Singh stadium on Wednesday. The convincing win almost guarantees a semi-final berth for Bangalore, who regained their second position in the points table.

Bangalore restricted the Rajasthan Royals to 130-6 and then Pietersen smashed 62 off just 29 balls to put Bangalore on course to an easy win.

After Jacques Kallis fell to Kamran Khan for no score, the stage was set for another miracle evening for Shane Warne's soldiers. But Pietersen ensured nothing magical happened as he launched into the Rajasthan batting with disdain.

Kamran was pummeled for three boundaries and one six and then Adam Vogues was taken for 17 runs in his only over.

Pietersen added 60 for the third wicket with Robin Uthappa (26 off 21) before the latter's attempt of a switch-hit, with its inventor on the other end, brought his downfall.

The England batsman's explosive innings ended with him exploding on young Virat Kohli after he was run out due to a mix up. Kohli refused to respond to Pietersen's call and both batsmen ended on the same end, leaving Pietersen furious. But it was too late for Rajasthan to make a comeback as the visitors got home with more than five overs to spare.

After Rajasthan elected to bat, early wickets rocked their innings with their top three batsmen back in the hut for 21 runs in the fourth over. And when an unusually sedate Shane Watson (22 off 25) perished, the home side were looking down the barrel.

Yusuf Pathan (11 off nine) smashed two back-to-back boundaries before Dale Steyn cleaned him up.

An unbroken 58-run stand between Adam Vogues (28 off 27) and Abhishek Raut (32 off 20) lifted them to a half-decent score on a sluggish surface but it was no match for Bangalore's strong batting line-up.

India minister in IPL cricket row

An Indian minister and the head of the Indian Premier League (IPL) have traded claims over the ownership of a new team in the lucrative cricket tournament.

Junior foreign minister Shashi Tharoor said IPL chief Lalit Modi had tried to persuade the owners of Kochi to drop their bid in favour of another city.

On Sunday Mr Modi leaked names of Kochi shareholders and their stakes. He has yet to respond to Mr Tharoor's claim.

Kochi was sold to Rendezvous Sports World Limited for $333m at auction.

Doug inspires Chennai

Doug Bollinger has played a pivotal role in the Chennai Super Kings' commanding nine-wicket victory over the Kolkata Knight Riders at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in the Indian Premier League.

The Australian quick snared the match's most economical figures of 2-15 from four overs, including the only maiden of the game, to help restrict Kolkata to 8-139 before Suresh Raina (78 not out) and Murali Vijay (50 not out) guided Chennai to 1-143 in reply with 39 balls to spare.

The result helped the Super Kings stay in contention for a spot in the IPL final four.

The Knight Riders opted to take first strike, but off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin landed massive blows and although Angelo Mathews helped the side recover with a run-a-ball 48, the visitors ended with a measly total.

Raina then made short work of that total, while Vijay chipped in with a handy knock too as the Super Kings cantered to victory.

Bangalore and Rajasthan eye crucial win

A win on Wednesday, for either side, will be a huge step towards a spot in the final four. Rajasthan Royals and Royal Challengers Bangalore are coming off painful losses, during which they failed to grab key opportunities, and both are tied on 12 points after as many games. Whoever loses this encounter will then have to win their final game convicningly, and will still need other results to go their way. So tight is the points table that neither Shane Warne nor Anil Kumble would want to leave the fates of their sides to outside chance.

The stakes are higher for Rajasthan, given that their position is weaker thanks to a net run rate of -0.288 that currently leaves them fifth in the points table. Their fortunes have changed remarkably since their first meeting with Bangalore. The defeat in that game was Rajasthan's third in a row, and their campaign looked in shambles. Since then, they strung together four consecutive wins before dropping two, followed by a win and a loss. Through their topsy-turvy tournament, they have remained in contention thanks in no small part to the leadership of Shane Warne, who has again managed to get a lot out of his inexperienced players. Now it is crunch time and it'll take more than the odd canny bowling change or inspired field placement to take them further.

Rajasthan's main area of concern going into the match will be the state of their batting. In their previous match they failed to put up a fight in a stiff chase against Mumbai, after losing three crucial wickets to run-outs. To avoid another such mishap, they need their batsmen to regain control and Yusuf Pathan, in the midst of a slump, at his aggressive best. Their chances will also depend on the batting of the openers and the all-round abilities of Shane Watson.

Bangalore's campaign has also lost steam after a strong start, and both batsmen and bowlers are to be blamed. In the last match, the batting approach was quixotic, with Jacques Kallis' slow-coach ways in contrast to Rahul Dravid's fluency. It was down to Robin Uthappa's clean hitting to lift the middle order after four wickets fell in consecutive overs. Too much was left on his plate and he fell just when he seemed to be scripting a classic. In the losses before that game, the bowlers lost the plot, failing to defend 184 against Deccan, and conceding as many against Delhi. The strong batting line-up has been patchy, often putting too much pressure on Kallis who cannot shift gears easily. The side that was branded a Test team in 2008 seems to slipping towards that label.