Chennai Super Kings seal semi-final spot

Mahendra Singh Dhoni lost the toss but everything else went right for his team, beginning with some tight bowling, as the Chennai Super Kings won the match against the Deccan Chargers and a spot in the semi-finals at the expense of the Mumbai Indians. Chennai will face Kings XI Punjab, whom they have defeated twice, in one semi-final, while Rajasthan Royals take on Delhi Daredevils in the other.

Chennai had conceded 211 against Rajasthan in their previous game but the bowlers were up to the task this time as Deccan’s final attempt to win at home win went awry. Chennai’s opening bowlers were on the mark from the start: Makhaya Ntini bowled with pace and got good bounce and carry, while Manpreet Gony, the team’s leading wicket-taker, stuck to an impeccable length on off-stump and bowled through his four overs for 21. And they reaped the rewards soon, as both Herschelle Gibbs and Adam Gilchrist found the fielder at third man – Gibbs with a slash, Gilchrist with a thick outside-edge.

Deccan’s early runs came mainly in singles and Scott Styris, who’s had a terrible tournament, looked to be getting into rhythm with boundaries in the arc between midwicket and mid-on till he was bowled by Muttiah Muralitharan while trying to hit one across. At 57 for 3 after 10.1 overs, Deccan needed a partnership and Venugopal Rao and Ravi Teja came up with a 76-run stand that lent respectability to the eventual total. Muralitharan was hard to get away but the two went after Balaji in the 14th over, which cost 14.

They managed to up the run-rate with a boundary every over, and Rao, often at the centre of Deccan’s rearguard actions, hit one to bring up the 100 in the 16th over. There was a flurry of runs, Teja slashing one high into the stands off Ntini in an over where he was taken for 15 runs. That he ended with figures of 1 for 24 off his four told the full story.

That burst was followed by a flurry of wickets, including three – one of them a run-out – in three balls in the 19th over. The crowd had chanted Shahid Afridi’s name but he lasted two balls as Deccan limped to 147.

Deccan, and Mumbai, needed a wicket early and RP Singh nearly got the breakthrough as Stephen Fleming fended at one that swung away, but both Gilchrist and Styris were late to react. Fleming and his fellow left-hand opener Parthiv Patel cashed in when the bowlers erred: short and wide deliveries were dispatched for fours. P Vijaykumar then decided to go round the wicket, and it worked, as Fleming got a thick outside-edge while trying to force a drive through the covers.

In came Suresh Raina and he soon found his rhythm, slapping one riskily in the air through the covers, before punching one through the same region. Afridi was brought into the attack as early as the fifth over, and he put a brake on the scoring. At the other end, Raina got consecutive boundaries in Sarvesh Kumar’s first over, but the pressure applied from Afridi worked as Parthiv played straight to cover in Sarvesh’s next, Afridi taking the catch.

Raina was joined by Dhoni, and the 55-run stand between the two put Chennai on course for victory. Dhoni started with two streaky boundaries – he hit one straight to Sarvesh first-up, who fluffed a chance, and a thick outside-edge flew to the third-man boundary. With left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha and Styris managing to curb the runs, Dhoni decided to take a few risks. He stepped out to deposit Ojha over long-on, and after a miscued pull nearly landed in Gibbs’ hands at midwicket, he cut Styris for four. Afridi came back with 52 needed off 42 balls, and Dhoni hit one dead-straight for four, before Raina powered a shorter delivery over midwicket for six.

Chennai were cruising towards the target, but had a brief wobble after Dhoni found Gibbs at long-on. That Ojha over, the 16th, went just for three, and when Styris conceded the same in the next, Chennai were left needing 28 off 18. Another tight over and Deccan could have still been in the hunt, but Raina found the gap at midwicket as Ojha bowled a full toss. He was dropped by RP in the 19th over, and hit the winning six – which brought up his fifty – as Chennai reached their target with four balls to spare.

While Dhoni and Co were relieved and celebrated the win, Gilchrist looked ahead after a disastrous first season, in which last-placed Deccan won just two of their 14 games. “I do not have any excuses. It depends which way you look it.,” he said. “It’s not end of the world. We should settle down, make a self-assessment and think over where we went wrong and plan for the future.”

Manchester United could report Real over Ronaldo

Manchester United say they may report Real Madrid to Fifa over their public pursuit of Cristiano Ronaldo. The Premier League and European champions are upset at comments from the Spanish club they perceive are designed to unsettle their Portugal winger.

A club statement said: “Manchester United has watched with growing irritation the comments attributed to Real Madrid over their alleged desire to sign Cristiano Ronaldo. The facts are: the player is on a long-term contract and his registration is held by Manchester United; The player is not for sale.

“The club will have no alternative but to report Real Madrid to the world governing body, Fifa, if it continues to behave in this totally unacceptable fashion. These public attempts to unsettle the player are completely against the regulations and the club will not tolerate them any longer.

“In addition, the club is certain that they are a distraction for the Portuguese national squad as they prepare for the European Championships. No one should be in any doubt that Manchester United will do everything in its power to keep its best players.”

Bernd Schuster, the Madrid coach, today confirmed Ronaldo is his club’s number one summer transfer target. But Sir Alex Ferguson, the United manager, is sure to be infuriated by Schuster referring to the 23-year-old in a manner that would suggest the signing has virtually been completed.

“There are other players we have been looking at but everything has slowed down a little due to all this Cristiano Ronaldo business, seeing as he is the big priority for the club,” Schuster said.

“The English way has been a perfect education for a player with such exceptional individual talent. There he has learned to enjoy his football as a complete professional. This means we would get a Cristiano who would arrive here with his lessons learned.”

He added: “Cristiano would help us in a lot of ways, without a doubt, but we can’t stop with just him. He’ll be expensive and we’ll have to pay a lot of money, but we need more players because he won’t be enough.”

Last week, Ferguson launched a scathing attack on Spanish club accusing them of having no morals over their relentless pursuit of Ronaldo and reiterating that the Portugal forward will not be sold at any cost.

Paes, Bhupathi to clash in French Open mixed doubles

Squabbling former partners Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi are pitted against each other in the opening round of the mixed doubles at the French Open.

While Paes will team with Russia’s Nadia Petrova, Bhupathi will partner China’s Jie Zhang.

Both teams are unseeded.

Meanwhile, in the men’s doubles draw, released on Tuesday, Paes will play alongside Czech Lukas Dlouhy, after parting ways with Australian Paul Hanley.

The duo, seeded ninth, have been handed a first-round match against the unseeded Thai pair of Sanchai and Sonchat Ratiwatana.

Fourth seeds Bhupathi and his Bahamian partner Mark Knowles have also been drawn against an unseeded team, Australian Stephen Huss and Brit Ross Hutchins.

Paes and Bhupathi, who have been at loggerheads for years now, were embroiled in a fresh war of words after Bhupathi wrote to the All India Tennis Association, saying he wants to team with Rohan Bopanna in the Beijing Olympics instead of Paes.

Meanwhile, Bopanna and his Pakistani partner Aisam-ul Haq Qureshi have a tough opener as they take on top seeds Americans Bob and Mike Bryan.

With Sania Mirza rendered out of action due to a wrist injury, the Indian challenge at the clay-court Grand Slam has been restricted to doubles only.