Controversies in IPL - Warne Takes on Ganguly

In another incident in IPL, controversy opened up between Warne and Ganguly. Warne accussed Ganguly of using delay tactics.

In the post match interview, the angry Warne said that he was disappointed over Ganguly's behavior. While batting, he came late to the crease and Warne was not sure what was happening. He asked the umpire, who was also not sure.

Also, while fielding, Warne's Rajasthan Royal team waited for 5 minutes in the hot sun and nothing happened. He did not come to the ground. Warne said, the captains have agreed that they will have to bowl the quota of 20 overs in 80 minutes. Not sure wha kind of delay tactics is being used by Ganguly.

Warne Disappointed over Ganguly!

Also, he said that as per the captains agreement, the game should have played in the spirit of the game. He should not have forced the umpire to refer the third umpire when he was caught by Smith, who is an international captain.

Ganguly said, "Look, who is talking. If you look at his career and the incidents that he has got into, it will give you the answer."

Ganguly hits back!

I am not personally sure why Ganguly is dragging the past into the incident. Warne was talking about this specific match where he delayed and pushed the umpire to go for TV replay. Though Warne's point of going with Smith as he is an international captain, I do not agree with that because Ponting was a well respected captain and he and his team claimed two catches that they did not take.

Following this dispute, the IPL asked match referee Farooq Engineer to look into the issues and take action appropriately. In both the incidents, unfortunately, he was the match referre.

Ganguly and Warne fined 10%

After the hearing, match referee fined both Ganguly and Warne 10% of their match fee. Ganguly was charged for forcing the umpire GA Pratap Kumar to rever the third umpire Asad Rauf, which is against the code of conduct.

Warne was fined for openly speaking, which is also against the code of conduct.

Umpire GA Pratap Kumar suspended!

In the meantime, the match umpire GA Pratap Kumar was suspended for a match for accepting the player's appeal for referring to the third umpire. He listened to Ganguly and asked for TV replay. Either he should have done it on his own or taken a decision himself.

Click here to read the Harbhajan and Sreesanth Slapping Incident!

Match 10: Lee's Spell Helps Kings XI to Win; Mumbai lost 3 in a Row!

What a bowling by Lee? He bowled every delivery like hitting with a fireball with full of positive energy and fire in the belly. He was economical and was responsible for taking a wicket and for the run out of Ronchi. His bowling figures were 4-0-9-1.

In his 2nd over, he took the wicket of Jayasuria, caught and bowled. It was a straight drive hit back to Lee, who took a good catch in the follow up. In the next delivery, Uthappa played soft and called for a single which Ronchi responded. But, Lee was quicker than Ronchi, who spirinted through the follow up, picked the ball and hit the stumps directly. The loss of two quick wickets in the same over put Mumbai Indians in the back foot with both the openers back in the pavilion.

Chasing a target of 183 which seemed easy in the Mohali wicket, down with 2 wickets, Mumbai never bounced back. They lost wickets at regular intervals. Uhappa and Bravo played sensibily and added 47 for the 3rd wicket, the only big partnership in the Mumbai Indian innings. Bravo tried to hit Chawla and missed it completely in the flight and was bowled. Uthappa was out in the next over caught by Sarwan off VRV Singh.

The only hope was Pollock, who contributed 22 off 21 balls with 2 fours and a six. But, no one gave him company and were losing their wickets. Tiwari was bowled by Chawla for 17, Nayar was caught by Chawla of Pathan for 2, Harbhajan was leg before to Pathan for a duck in the next ball of the same over. The hatrick was prevented by Khote.

With 82 required of 30 balls, Pollock has to slog every delivery. Yuvaraj took a stunning one-handed catch at extra cover. The first ball was a four and the next ball was a full toss and Pollock tryed to hit over extra covers. The ball was in the air where Yuvaraj jumped in the air, with his natural left hand going for the ball and it sit perfectly in his palms. It would definitely be one of the few competitors for the catch of the tournament. With that, the hopes of Mumbai Indians crashed.

Mumbai Indians finished their innings with 116 on the board and losing the match by 66 runs.

Both the teams losing their two previous matches and looking for their first win. Put into bat, Kings XI Punjab's innings was given a chance to fight by the 94 from Sangakkara. In his 73 runs partnership for the 2nd wicket, he scored 54 in 24 balls.

He reached his 50 in 23 balls with 9 fours and a six. In the 5th and 6th over bowled by Pollock and Kulkarni, he scored 18 and 17 runs respectively. Those two overs proved vital for building the innings.

Harbhajan was the pick of the bowler for Mumbai Indians picking 3 wickets.

Sangakkara was declared man of the match for his wonderful 94 with 13 fours and 1 six in his 56-ball innings. Skipper Yuvaraj Singh scored 18 of 9 balls with a four and a six. Bravo took a good forward diving catch at long off to send Yuvaraj back to pavilion.

Score:

Match 10
Venue: Mohali
Date: April 25, 2008
Teams: Kings XI Punjab v. Mumbai Indians
Captains: Yuvaraj Singh and Harbhajan Singh
Toss: Mumbai Indians and decided to field
Result: Kings XI Punjab won by 66 runs
Man of the Match: KC Sangakkara of Kings XI Punjab (Sri Lanka)
Points: Kings XI Punjab-2; Mumbai Indians-0
Score:
Kings XI Punjab 182 all out in 20 overs (K Goel 18, IK Pathan 6, KC Sangakkara 94, Yuvraj Singh 18, RR Sarwan 7, DPMD Jayawardene 12, S Sohal 0, B Lee 16 not out, PP Chawla 0, S Sreesanth 0, VRV Singh 4, Extras 7--b 1, lb 1, wide 4, nb 1, SM Pollock 4-0-40-1, A Nehra 3-0-22-2, DS Kulkarni 4-0-37-2, Harbhajan Singh 4-0-32-3, DJ Bravo 3-0-27-0, MA Khote 2-0-22-0) beat Mumbai Indians 117 for 9 in 20 overs (L Ronchi 11, ST Jayasuriya 1, RV Uthappa 21, DJ Bravo 23, SS Tiwary 17, SM Pollock 22, AM Nayar 2, Harbhajan Singh 0, MA Khote 8, DS Kulkarni 2 not out, A Nehra 2 not out, Extras 7--lb 1, wide 4, nb 2, B Lee 4-0-9-1, IK Pathan 4-1-19-2, VRV Singh 4-0-40-1, S Sreesanth 4-0-31-2, PP Chawla 4-0-16-2)