MONDAY, APRIL 11, 2016 (PAGE 12) DAILY EXCELSIOR, JAMMU Knight Riders roar past Daredevils IPL strugglers KXIP seek positive India survive anxious moments start against Gujarat Lions before prevailing over Canada MOHALI, Apr 10: in both batting and bowling. IPOH (Malaysia), Apr 10: With six points from three in season opener They have explosive bats- outings, India are now third in They endured a disastrous men in Brendon McCullum, KOLKATA, Apr 10: raced to 24 in just 13 balls with India squandered numerous the round-robin league stand- run the last time around to finish captain Suresh Raina, Aaron scoring chances before two late ings. On top of the table are Knight Riders having some ini- at the bottom of the heap and Finch and a plenty of top-notch A clinical Kolkata Knight tial hiccups. goals sealed their 3-1 victory Australia with nine points from Kings XI Punjab would be aim- all-rounders in Dwayne Bravo, over Canada in the 25th Sultan three successive wins, followed Riders handed Delhi Daredevils Quinton de Kock looked ing to make amends this season Ravindra Jadeja and James a nine-wicket drubbing to begin imperious when he unsettled Azlan Shah Cup hockey tourna- by New Zealand on eight from when they begin their campaign Faulkner. ment here today. four outings. their Indian Premier League Umesh Yadav's line with succes- against newbies Gujarat Lions These T20 specialists can be campaign in style here today. sive four and a six. Failing to exert pressure Earlier in the day, Australia in their IPL opener here tomor- dispersed through the order and despite taking an early lead, outplayed Pakistan 4-0, while Knight Riders shot out a The Knight Riders bounced row. some of them like Raina and lacklustre Delhi for 98 before back in the next over with India hung on grimly against New Zealand defeated Japan 4- Kings XI Punjab did not Bravo can anchor or attack. several threatening Canadian 1. cantering home in 14.1 overs Russell giving twin break- make any big buys this year and Bravo, along with Faulkner, is a with openers skipper Gautam throughs of de Kock (17 from 10 raids to clinch their second vic- India's defence came under a Gambhir (38 not out) and Robin balls) and Shreyas Iyer (0) Today's Fixture tory in three outings. lot of pressure today against Uthappa (35) sharing a brisk 69- before Hasting tightened things Kings XI Punjab Vs Gujarat Lions (Mohali) 8 PM Chandana Thimmaiah Canada, who like India are run stand. up the other end. opened the Indian account in the drawn in Group B of the have a new captain in South high-quality, death-overs third minute, but Keegan Pereira Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. Andre Russell (3/24) and 45- Introduced only at midway African David Miller in place of bowler as well. year-old Brad Hogg (3/19) were stage, Knight Riders spin equalised for Canada in the 23rd Goalkeeper Harjot Singh Australian George Bailey who But the weak link for the minute to be 1-1 level at half- made a blunder of conceding the the star bowlers for the home armoury, without their ace Gautam Gambhir hops up as he flicks one to the leg side in was released after leading the Gujarat side could be the pace- time. first penalty corner, but made a team after Gambhir put the weapon Sunil Narine, lived up to an IPL match against Delhi Daredevils at Kolkata on Sunday. side to the last place in the pre- bowling department as they opposition in. the expectation as Hogg and Harmanpreet Singh convert- few good saves before he was SCOREBOARD vious season. don't have any big name -- ed a penalty corner in the 41st replaced by Akash Chikte in the While the two-time champi- Piyush Chawla foxed a clueless Virender Sehwag has also Indian or overseas -- except for ons made an ideal start to the looking Daredevils batting line- Delhi Daredevils: minute and Talwinder Singh second quarter. Both the goal- M Agarwal c Hogg b Russell 9 retired and he will only be the South African Dale Steyn. capitalised on a Sardar Singh keepers saved four good cracks season, a fresh squad, mentored up. team mentor this season. The side's pace department by Rahul Dravid, did not change Pawan Negi (11) and Sanju Q de Kock c Pathan b Russell 17 cross into the circle in the 67th at the Indian citadel from the S Iyer lbw b Russell 0 The Preity Zinta-owned side are made up most of by medium to seal the fate of the match. Canadian strikers. (PTI) the fortunes of Delhi who fin- Samson (15) tried to repair the continues to lack the team bal- pacers. ished seventh out of eight teams damage with a 20-run partner- K Nair c Pandey b Hastings 3 S Samson c Uthappa b Hogg 15 ance as it has not added any sig- It will also have to be seen in 2015. ship but Hogg brilliantly set up P Negi st Uthappa b Hogg 11 nificant player, only snapping whether Steyn will make the Jamie Dwyer dazzles as Cricket returned to Eden the former with two dot balls C Brathwaite lbw b Chawla 6 the likes of all-rounders Farhaan final eleven tomorrow, consid- Gardens on the same strip exact- before deceiving the left-hander C Morris b Chawla 11 Behardien and Marcus Stoinis, ering his poor form in the T20 ly a week after West Indies rode with his flight to have him N Coulter-Nile not out 7 seamer Mohit Sharma and left- format recently. Besides, only Australia outplay Pakistan on Carlos Brathwaite six-hitting stumped. A Mishra c Gambhir b Hogg 3 arm spinner Swapnil Singh. four overseas players are IPOH (MALAYSIA), Apr 10: goals in successive minutes fea- heroics to lift their second World Coming at No 7, Carlos Z Khan c Pandey b Hastings 4 Last season, their batsmen allowed in the line-up. Twenty20 title and the 25,000- Brathwaite received a thunder- turing Dwyer took the fight out Extras (WD-12) 12 lacked consistency and whenev- For Kings XI Punjab, a big Jamie Dwyer's dazzling of them. odd Knights fans could not have ous applause from the KKR sup- Total (all out in 17.4 overs) 98 er they did well, the bowlers let responsibility would lie on the a better start for Knight Riders, porters as the World T20 hero stickwork inside the circle Dwyer set up the second Bowling: A Russell 3-0-24-3, U Yadav 3-0-21-0, J Hastings 2.4-1-6-2, C the side down. shoulders of the likes of Miller, spurred Australia to a 4-0 victory Australian goal when he sent a the two-time champions. lived up to the hype with a sec- Munro 1-0-7-0, B Hogg 4-1-19-3, P Chawla 4-0-21-2. On the other hand, debutants Maxwell, Shaun Marsh, Murali Gambhir and Uthappa made ond-ball six but only to be over Pakistan in the 25th Sultan reverse back-pass to Thomas Kolkata Knight Riders innings: Gujarat Lions have a balanced Vijay and Mitchell Johnson. Azlan Shah Cup hockey tourna- Craig, who had worked up his batting look easy during the trapped plumb deceived by a Robin Uthappa c Morris b Mishra 35 side with top-class performers (PTI) ment here today. way on the left side and made no chase as the team completed a Chawla googly two balls later. Gautam Gambhir not out 38 World champions Australia mistake in shooting past goal- convincing win. Gambhir was Earlier, de Kock was Manish Pandey not out 15 stayed on top of the round-robin keeper Imran Butt in the 41st solid in his 41-ball knock, col- deceived by the bounce and took Extras (B 2, W 8, NB 1) 11 league standings with nine points minute. lecting five fours while Uthappa a top edge that Yusuf Pathan Total (1 wicket; 14.1 overs) 99 smashed seven boundaries almost fumbled at mid off with Bowling: Nathan Coulter-Nile 4-0-32-0, Zaheer Khan 2.1-0-24-0 , from three successive victories. A minute later, Dwyer including a couple of delightful the ball popping out before tak- Chrish Morris 4-0-21-0, Carlos Brathwaite 2-0-9-0, Amit Mishra 2-0-11-1. Defending champions New applied the finishing touch to a straight drives. ing in his third attempt. Daredevils failed to overcome and what was needed was smart Zealand, who today defeated long through ball from Chris Earlier, a brilliant bowling He trapped Iyer lbw in his from the twin setbacks with their rotation of strikes but the likes Japan 4-1, are in the second spot Ciriello as the deflection gave effort enabled Knight Riders to last ball while at the other end, young Indian batsman showing of Mayank Agarwal (9) and with eight points from four out- the custodian no chance. dismiss Daredevils for a paltry Hastings bowled a tidy over little application. Karun Nair (3) perished playing ings. Aran Zalewski rounded off total. with five dot balls giving away Their run-rate was well expansive shots. (PTI) Pakistan put up a stiff resist- the Australian scoring in the Pacers Russell and John just one run as boundaries sud- above eight after the third over ance despite Australia taking the 52nd minute as he hustled past Hastings (2/6) triggered the col- denly dried up with two new initial lead through a 24th one defender on top of the circle lapse before the spin duo of batsmen at the crease.