Pace v spin as teams target first final

Match facts

Tuesday, May 22, 2012
Start time 2000 (1430 GMT)

Big Picture

Delhi Daredevils and Kolkata Knight Riders have easily been the best sides this IPL. It is not only the points table which tells you that. The other two sides in the playoffs have not been as dominant. Mumbai Indians have won as many games as Knight Riders have, but have not been remotely as clinical; Chennai Super Kings have had to rely on other sides' messing up to sneak in.

Neither Daredevils nor Knight Riders have made it to an IPL final before. One of them will do that tomorrow. Daredevils have traversed the entire length of the points table this season, ending on top following their last-place finish in 2011. Realising that their batting was too dependent on Virender Sehwag last season, they brought in heavyweights like Kevin Pietersen, Mahela Jayawardene and Ross Taylor. While Taylor has almost sleepwalked through the season, Pietersen's impact while he was available was huge. The arrival of David Warner has filled the void left behind by Pietersen and Jayawardene has been steady.

Knight Riders' transformation from the side once led by Sourav Ganguly is now complete. They were the target of numerous jokes for the first three IPL seasons but no one's laughing now. A run of eight consecutive defeats in 2009 has given way to six consecutive wins this season. Had Knight Riders not blown a middling chase against Kings XI Punjab at home, they would have won nine in a row.

A heavy-duty Daredevils line-up is up against the only attack to go for less than seven runs an over this season. The venue tilts the contest slightly in favour of Knight Riders. The pitch at the Sahara Stadium in Pune has been a tricky one for batsmen, as Pune Warriors' Robin Uthappa pointed out. "It's the toughest wicket we have played in the country and it's very difficult to score runs here," Uthappa said. Only Wankhede Stadium, among the regular venues, has had a lower run-rate this season, 7.11, than Pune, 7.34.

Knight Riders defended 136 quite comfortably against Warriors a couple of days ago in Pune. Daredevils had chased down 147 in 16 overs against Warriors in Pune. Should be some contest tomorrow. The loser will get another match on Friday to make the final.

Form guide

Delhi Daredevils: WLWLW (most recent first)
Kolkata Knight Riders: WWLLW

Players to watch

Despite the presence of other big guns, Daredevils have still relied, though to a lesser extent than previous season, on Virender Sehwag. Their captain has responded with 484 runs at a strike-rate of 164.62, including five consecutive half-centuries. The slowness of the Pune pitch had made no difference to Sehwag when he took the Warriors bowlers for an unbeaten 87 off 48 balls. Will he smash Sunil Narine tomorrow, like he said he would have done had he not got out early when these two sides last met?

Twenty-two wickets at 5.14 runs an over. Sunil Narine has been nearly unplayable, with even Sachin Tendulkar failing to pick him. It is very difficult to decipher from his release whether it is an offspinner or the flicked carrom ball, unlike in the cases of Ajantha Mendis and even R Ashwin. How will Daredevils tackle him?

That Gautam Gambhir has made six fifties this season and the rest of his team-mates put together have managed three says it all. Knight Riders, though, have managed to win their previous two games without a big contribution from their captain. Gambhir has made lots of runs this season on pitches where scoring them has not been easy. Will he manage to click again?

Team combination

Warner, Jayawardene and Morne Morkel should take three overseas player spots. Will Daredevils risk playing Taylor as the fourth? Will they stick with the allrounder Andre Russell, who went for 51 runs in their previous game? Or will they play Roelof van der Merwe for an additional spin option? They went in with two Indian left-arm spinners Pawan Negi and Shahbaz Nadeem when they played Warriors in Pune.

Knight Riders could stick to the same side that won in Pune and Mumbai, with plenty of spin options in Narine, Shakib Al Hasan, Iqbal Abdulla and Yusuf Pathan.

Meetings this season

Daredevils won a rain-affected game by eight wickets in Kolkata. Knight Riders restricted Daredevils to 153 in Delhi in the return match and won by six wickets with Brendon McCullum making a fifty. Jayawardene and Gambhir had a heated altercation in that game after the former was given not out when he edged Jacques Kallis to the wicketkeeper.

Stats and trivia

• Knight Riders have scored the least runs this season as a team, 2150 in 15 games compared to Daredevils' 2365 in 16.
• Knight Riders have conceded just 6.99 runs an over, by far the lowest this season. The next best are Mumbai Indians, who have gone for 7.54. Daredevils have given away 7.73.
• Warner and Sehwag have the highest strike-rates this season, 172.02 and 164.62 (min 100 runs)
  Quotes
  "I told everyone 'give this line-up a year or so and we will dominate,' and that's exactly what we have done."
  Morne Morkel isn't surprised by Daredevils' improvement this season

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More holes than Gayle could plug

Chris Gayle, AB de Villiers and Muttiah Muralitharan could only do so much. Royal Challengers Bangalore's campaign suffered because their Indian players struggled

Where they finished

	Chris Gayle and AB de Villiers played some special innings. Most of their team-mates did not © AFP  Enlarge
Related Links Series/Tournaments: Indian Premier League Teams: India | Royal Challengers Bangalore

An agonising fifth: Royal Challengers Bangalore ended level with Chennai Super Kings, who finished fourth in the league, on 17 points but missed the playoffs because of a marginally inferior net run-rate after losing their last match to eighth-placed Deccan Chargers. Royal Challengers won eight and lost seven out of 16 games, and had one washout.

Key player

By the end of the league stage, Chris Gayle was IPL 2012's top scorer, with 733 runs; Shikhar Dhawan was second with 569. Among batsmen with at least 400 runs, Gayle's strike-rate - 160.74 - was also second best; Virender Sehwag had 484 at 164.62. Gayle also had the most 50-plus scores, eight (one century, seven half-centuries) in 14 innings; Gautam Gambhir had six in 15.

Gayle hit 59 sixes; Kevin Pietersen, Cameron White and Sehwag together hit only 59. Thirteen of Gayle's sixes came during a 128 off 62 balls against Delhi Daredevils, equalling the record for most sixes in an IPL innings. He hit a six every eight balls on average during the season. He hit a boundary (sixes and fours) every four balls.

There was method to the madness as well. Gayle would often start slowly and play himself in before feeling settled enough to begin relentless hitting. For someone who scored breathtakingly quickly and primarily through the air, Gayle's performances were relatively risk-free. He contributed 31% of Royal Challengers' runs.

Bargain buy

Gayle's performance this season isn't especially surprising, though, because he was as dazzling for Royal Challengers in IPL 2011, after he was signed by them as a replacement for Dirk Nannes. What is surprising, however, is how Royal Challengers managed to retain Gayle for peanuts, relatively speaking, instead of him going into the auction pool, where he would certainly have been bought for more than the $550,000 Royal Challengers paid him. Maybe Gayle was just being loyal since Royal Challengers picked him after everyone shunned him at the 2011 auction?

Flop buy

Royal Challengers bid $1m for Vinay Kumar, making him the third most expensive purchase at the 2012 auction after Ravindra Jadeja ($2 million + undisclosed secret tiebreaker bid) and Mahela Jayawardene ($1.4 million). Vinay took 19 wickets in the league matches, fourth highest overall and the highest among Indian bowlers. Most of his wickets were of proper batsmen as well. His economy rate, however, was 8.59 over 55.5 overs, the third worst, after Amit Singh and Veer Pratap Singh, among bowlers who bowled a minimum of 30 overs this season. Royal Challengers lacked a quality fifth bowling option and Vinay's profligacy exacerbated an insurmountable problem.

When Vinay bowled in the first 15 overs of the innings his economy was 7.14 per over, and in the first six it was 6.80. When he bowled in the last five overs, though, he conceded 10.85 runs on average. Also, 11 of his 19 wickets were in the last five overs, when batsmen usually swing with abandon. Royal Challengers continued to persist with Vinay at the death, though, because he was a front-line medium-pacer and they didn't really have alternatives.

Highlight

AB de Villiers v Dale Steyn, round one, Chinnaswamy Stadium. Chasing 182, Royal Challengers needed 76 off 37 deliveries against Deccan Chargers when de Villiers began his innings. By the time Tillakaratne Dilshan and Mayank Agarwal were dismissed, they needed 39 off 18. Steyn, who had two overs remaining, had conceded only seven in his first two. What followed dropped several jaws. De Villiers nimbly used the width and depth of his crease to adapt to the world's fastest, and possibly best, bowler's line and lengths. He moved back to short balls and forward to slower ones, pulling between deep midwicket and long-on. He then moved back and towards leg to alter the length of a yorker and smite it over extra cover, before shuffling outside off to scoop over short fine leg. De Villiers took 23 runs off Steyn's third over and after that Anand Rajan stood no chance. Royal Challengers won with seven balls to spare.

Lowlight

That Royal Challengers stayed in the competition as long as they did was largely due to their overseas batsmen. The Indians, Virat Kohli and Saurabh Tiwary in particular, were below-par. Kohli, who was the only player Royal Challengers retained in 2011, scored 364 runs at a strike rate of 111.65. Combined with an average of 28, those figures are not terrible, but Royal Challengers needed much more from him, especially since Kohli was in terrific limited-overs form coming into the IPL.

Saurabh Tiwary was bought for $1.6m in the 2011 auction. He didn't do much to justify his price tag that year, and he's done lesser this year. Tiwary scored 191 runs in 11 innings, at an average of 24 and strike-rate of 112, unimpressive figures considering Royal Challengers' home venue probably had the best batting pitches of the tournament. His fielding was often clumsy for a 22-year old.

Verdict

Royal Challengers rarely found the right combination. Had their Indians been in form, they would have had excellent team balance, but because Kohli and Tiwary were struggling, their batting line-up was overly reliant on Gayle and de Villiers. And because Zaheer Khan and Vinay didn't pull their weight, and due to the lack of a quality Twenty20 allrounder, their bowling struggled to contain and took far fewer wickets compared to the competition. The upshot was that, at the business end of the league, Royal Challengers' tail started at No. 7 but the five-man specialist bowling attack wasn't very good apart from Muttiah Muralitharan.

They had tried Daniel Vettori and Murali in tandem before deciding they needed a third overseas player who could bat; so Murali was dropped. They tried using Andrew McDonald as an allrounder, and although he was economical with the ball, McDonald did not strengthen the batting enough. So Dilshan became a permanent fixture at the top of the order, and that worked to an extent. The bowling, however, was at its weakest and eventually Vettori, the captain, began to sit out to allow Murali into the XI. The Royal Challengers think-tank did not think it necessary to strengthen a misfiring pace attack by playing either Dirk Nannes, the highest T20 wicket-taker, or Charl Langeveldt, who was renowned for his death bowling during his South Africa career. The batting was too shallow to sacrifice an overseas batsman. In the end, there were more holes than plugs.

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James Pattinson close to full fitness

James Pattinson, the Australia fast bowler, has said he is recovering well from a back injury that ruled him out midway through the tour of the West Indies last month. Pattinson will train at Australia's Centre of Excellence in Brisbane from Tuesday, and he expects to bowl at 100% intensity by the end of next week.

Pattinson hurt his back while fielding during the third day of the second Test in Trinidad. He was making a comeback after suffering a foot stress injury during the second Test against India at the SCG in January. He bowled 11 overs and took a wicket in the first innings, but didn't bowl in the second. Though he isn't back to full fitness, he was named in the squad for the ODIs against England and Ireland in June-July.

"I'm bowling about three times a week now at about 80% intensity and building that up and hopefully (I'll have) three weeks of going 100% in the nets before getting over to England," Pattinson told AAP.

"I'm looking for a bit of match intensity, so hopefully I can get out there in the middle. It'll mostly be white-ball practice with the one-dayers coming up."

The emergence of Pattinson and Pat Cummins has increased the pool of Australia's fast bowlers and the competition for places in the squad. Australia's coach, Mickey Arthur, hoped the Pattinson-Cummins combination would make their attack a force during the Ashes in 2013.

With an Australia A tour of England later this year, Pattinson wants to get used to the conditions before the Ashes, if picked.

"It's an exciting time for Australian cricket at the moment with a lot of young guys coming through," Pattinson said. "I don't think we've played in these conditions before so it'll be a great learning curve before the Ashes next year.

"Hopefully it gives us a bit of an edge over the Poms and we can go over to the Ashes with one up over them."

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Sammy leaves Gayle door ajar

West Indies' captain Darren Sammy did nothing to quash the theory after his side's defeat at Lord's thatChris Gayle should be invited to strengthen his side in the rest of the Test series against England, as well as the one-day matches that follow.

Gayle's involvement in IPL is over after Royal Challengers Bangalore were eliminated from the tournament and such has been his troubled relationship with the WICB that any emergency dash to the UK in time to play in one or both of the remaining two Tests seems hard to imagine.

But Sammy refused to close the door on the possibility after West Indies' five-wicket defeat against England at Lord's put them 1-0 down in the series, suggesting that both he and the coach, Ottis Gibson, would be content to accommodate Gayle's late arrival.

"Whatever happens outside this squad takes its own course," Sammy told Sky Sports. "Whoever comes in we will welcome them into the team and hopefully they will help. It is up to the selectors to select the team.

"I think Chris has said he is available for Test cricket, one-day cricket and T20 so it is up to the selectors. We have been having some difficulties at the top of the order and if he comes in we would all welcome him, myself, Ottis and all the guys."

One change West Indies will consider for the second Test at Trent Bridge on Friday, and one which needs no political machinations, is the inclusion of Shane Shillingford, the Dominican who took ten wickets in his last Test, against Australia on his home ground in Roseau in April.

Shillingford, according to Sammy, had been omitted at Lord's partly because he could not cope with the cold weather - and with higher temperatures forecast in the build-up to Trent Bridge that could change.

"Shane was experiencing a bit of difficulty gripping the ball but in the course of this Test match he has done some work and hopefully his fingers will be warm enough and ready for him to play for us in the next match," Sammy said. "He played a crucial role in the last series and once he is ready to master the cold we will have him in."

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WICB wants to mop up 'residual matters' with Gayle

The West Indies Cricket Board has asked Chris Gayleto specify a date on which he can meet with it and regional officials, to mop up 'residual matters' related to their seemingly concluded spat. In a statement on Thursday, the WICB said it was pleased that Gayle had confirmed his availability for West Indies selection, but prior to matters moving further along, another meeting between the two parties was necessary.

"Directors of the West Indies Cricket Board recently met by teleconference and are pleased that consistent with his previous commitment Mr Chris Gayle has made himself available for selection to the West Indies team," the WICB statement said. "The board believes that Mr Gayle's stated commitment to West Indies cricket will be an asset to the team and looks forward to his contributions in that regard.

"The board looks forward to Mr Gayle's indication of his date of availability to meet with the WICB along with Prime Ministers Honourable Baldwin Spencer [who is the Antigua and Barbuda prime minister, and chairman of CARICOM's Prime Ministerial Sub-committee on cricket] and Honourable Ralph Gonsalves [St Vincent and the Grenadines' prime minister] as had been agreed to clear up residual matters prior to his return to the team."

Earlier this month, Gayle had pulled out of his Twenty20 contract with English county Somerset, declaring he was committed to playing for West Indies in all forms of the game. The move was believed to smooth the way for Gayle to return to the West Indies side for the limited-overs leg of the upcoming tour of England, ending a year-long standoff between Gayle and the WICB that stemmed from comments he made about the board in a radio interview last April.

Gayle's declaration had followed his request to Ernest Hilaire, the WICB chief executive, asking the board whether he would be selected for the ODI leg of the England tour in June; this, he said, was to help him clarify his availability for Somerset. Hilaire, in his response, had accused Gayle of "reneging" on the undertaking the player had given that he would make himself available to play for West Indies over Somerset during CARICOM's (the Caribbean Community) attempts to patch things up between Gayle and the board in early April.

The CARICOM-brokered deal's success was expected to be tested by an ongoing lawsuit - to which Gayle is a party - between the West Indies Players' Association (WIPA) and the board, which is likely to be one of the 'residual matters' to come up for discussion.

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Cook and Bell earn five-wicket win

West Indies had commanded respect and, for a fleeting moment, they even invited hope among their long-suffering supporters but at the end of the Lord's Test it was a familiar tale of defeat. Two early wickets briefly raised West Indies' expectations that a startling victory might be in their grasp but they were summarily dashed as Alastair Cook and Ian Bell swept England to a comfortable five-wicket victory.

From 57 for 4, still 134 short of victory, Cook and Bell should have been under pressure, but they gambolled along at roughly four runs an over in a stand of 132. It ended with England two short of victory when Cook chopped Darren Sammy to gully. Ian Bell, who is already beginning to look like his old self again after a torrid winter, flicked Marlon Samuels through mid-on for the winning boundary in the next over.

The sun that is now finally promised after a raggy-arsed spring will have been a relief for West Indies, but it shone upon on an England victory that has put them 1-0 up in the series with two to play.

West Indies have now won just two of their 31 Tests since they dismissed England for 51 in Jamaica in 2009. They have only a few days to reassess before the second Test begins in Nottingham on Friday. All manner of theories will be bandied around about which absent players might have made them better, but the debate should not be about absent individuals, it should be about the reason most of them are absent - and that debate is about how the financial lure of IPL is threatening Test cricket, and Caribbean cricket in particular. There must be a window, a compromise, a solution. Instead what we have is a short-sighted flexing of muscles.

Apart from Kemar Roach, no West Indies bowler was able to build much pressure. England will feel stronger for having to answer a few questions and Tim Bresnan, who does not much look like a lucky mascot, which tend to be cuddlier and fluffier, now has 12 Test wins in 12. Mascot or not, it is about the identity of their third seamer at Trent Bridge that England's own debate will most centre.

There were no 4am queues as there had been at Lord's for the final day against India a year earlier but expectancy was high and there were officially 7,000 in the ground for a final day that many had assumed would not happen. West Indies had given England a fiery four overs on the fourth evening but they needed early wickets to stir the imagination a second time.

Smart stats England's five-wicket win is their sixth in their last seven Tests at Lord's, and their 14th in 25 Tests here since 2000. Their win-loss ratio of 4.66 is among their best inhome venues during this period. For West Indies, the Lord's defeat is their 43rd in their last 58 Tests in overseas or neutral venues (excluding Tests in Bangladesh and Zimbabwe). They have only won two of those matches. The 132-run partnership between Alastair Cook and Ian Bell is the second-highest fifth-wicket stand for England in the fourth innings of a Test. Kemar Roach's match haul of six wickets is his highest in an overseas Test. Only twice has he taken more wicketsin a Test match. Cook's 79 is his fifth 50-plus score in 23 fourth-innings efforts. For Bell, it's his sixth half-century in 19 innings.

They got them too: Jonathan Trott and Kevin Pietersen removed with the new ball still hard. On each occasion, a West Indies fast bowler responded to a boundary by delivering something better.

Roach, West Indies' main hope, set things moving in his third over of the morning. Trott steered him deliberately through the slips for four, and had a similar outcome in mind from the next ball, but this time it gripped up the hill and Darren Sammy took a good catch to his left at second slip.

Pietersen had fulsome strokeplay in mind to get England out of a tight corner. He had memories of a big hundred in Colombo to sustain him, and the adulation of IPL. It was not long before he was met by a debutant, Shannon Gabriel, and the temptation to break his nerve immediately must have been high.

Gabriel, a 24-year-old Trinidadian, dragged his third ball down short and wide and Pietersen pulled it haughtily to the midwicket boundary for four. The next ball was also short, but straighter, and Pietersen was cramped as he again sought out midwicket's open spaces and succeeded only in bottom-edging to the wicketkeeper.

At 57 for 4, even though one of the wickets was the nightwatchman Anderson, England were under the cosh. But the wicket was still sound and England accepted opportunities to press ahead quickly. Cook kept England's innings moving forward with several controlled drives and West Indies turned to Samuels' off spin. It was delivered at a saunter with no suggestion that a Test was in the balance and Bell's late cut in his first over brought up the 50 stand in only 12 overs.

Roach apart, West Indies' attack offered little. Edwards was out of sorts, Gabriel's accuracy wavered and Sammy lacked menace. Cook's pull shot against Sammy, followed up by a crisp late cut against Samuels to bring up his fifty, smacked of restored England authority. England rustled up 121 runs in 28 overs in an enterprising morning's batting with Cook, still to score at start of play, reaching his half-century in the penultimate over before the break.

Quite why Samuels was still bowling after lunch was a mystery. The idea that in the absence of Shane Shillingford, who took 10 wickets in his last Test, Samuels might spin them to victory was a Caribbean fairy story.

To turn to Roach was more appropriate but his threat had diminished. It was eight overs into the afternoon before Ian Bell advanced to drive Samuels for the first boundary of the session, but England had picked off 28 runs of the further 60 they needed in the meantime. Bell gloved a bouncer from Roach to fine leg for another boundary as victory became inevitable, Roach limped from the field at the end of a stout-hearted effort and it was not long before his team mates followed

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IPL 5 Play offs LIne up

Qualifier 1: Daredevils v KKR at Pune 

May 22, 2012 (20:00 local | 14:30 GMT | 19:30 PKT)

Eliminator: Super Kings v Mum Indians at Bangalore 
May 23, 2012 (20:00 local | 14:30 GMT | 19:30 PKT)

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No need for immediate post-mortem - Ganguly

Sourav Ganguly, the Pune Warriors captain, has said the side does not need an immediate post-mortem after their disastrous IPL season ended on Saturday with a ninth consecutive defeat, to Kolkata Knight Riders. Warriors won only four matches in 2012, the same as in their maiden season in 2011, out of 16 and finished last.

"Any post-mortem that needs to be done should be done after some time," Ganguly said. "Right now, the boys need to get away from here and go back to their respective homes. It's very hard for them too. They have been selected to win matches and that hasn't happened. It's a new franchise and things will only get better from here on. We need to look at a lot of things like team selection."

Wayne Parnell, the South Africa and Warriors fast bowler, said that wrong selection and injuries to key players were major reasons for the franchise's poor showing. "There are a number of factors. We have missed Yuvi [Yuvraj Singh]. We have had key guys injured throughout the season. Graeme Smith has been injured. [Ashok] Dinda started off really well, picked up an injury and has been out for some time. I think Murali Kartik's back stiffened up; Alfonso Thomas is injured as well. That combined with probably picking the wrong teams for certain pitches.

"At the end of the day we are professional cricketers and on every wicket we need to try and win games but this season we have been really, really poor. I thought last year we had injuries to local players, especially fast bowlers, which set us back a bit. I honestly thought we would do better [this season]. We showed that in our first few games. We then lost a few tight games and it went pear-shaped from there."

Robin Uthappa, the Warriors wicketkeeper and highest run-getter this season, believed that the Pune pitch also added to the side's woes. "It's the toughest wicket we have played in the country and it's very difficult to score runs here. Hopefully, it gets better and we have belters next season."

With his side struggling, Ganguly's individual performance also drew criticism. He scored 268 runs from 15 innings but was unable to accelerate with a strike-rate of 98.89. Parnell said that while having Ganguly's experience in the squad had been "massive", it did not matter who played as long as he performed. "It does not matter who you have in the team, whether you have Sourav Ganguly or a 20-year old Indian guy, if he is going to score runs or take wickets you got to pick him."

Uthappa said Ganguly had done the best he could do. "You have to respect his age well. It's the format that is most challenging for someone of his age," Uthappa told iplt20.com. "He has done a wonderful job for us in whatever capacity he could."

Uthappa also said Warriors were involved in several close games but could not finish them. "There were so many games where we won 35 overs out of 40 … we played close games this year, but on the whole, we were bad. As a unit, we never felt we were not up to the mark. We had quality players, we were a very strong side, but somehow results never showed that. Even the atmosphere in the dressing room was very positive. We lost games by five runs or seven runs, even by one run. Those kinds of defeats hit you hard. We couldn't come back from there.

Warriors had let their supporters down, Uthappa said, after they came out in large numbers in Pune despite their franchise losing consistently. "We want to apologise to the people in Pune. Even the afternoon games were full and they didn't mind coming to support us in insane heat. There were so many times that we kept telling ourselves that lets win games for them, they sit in so much heat and support us

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'I've played my last game of cricket' - Gilchrist

Adam Gilchrist, the Kings XI Punjab captain, has said his playing career looks to be over. Gilchrist, who retired from international cricket in 2008, captained Deccan Chargers to the IPL title in 2009 and took over the leadership of Kings XI in 2011. The defeat against Delhi Daredevils in Dharamsala on Saturday, he said, was his last game, and added he would consider a full-time coaching role with Kings XI if offered; he'd been carrying the dual responsibility of captain and coach/mentor this season.

"I would say I've played my last game of cricket just there," Gilchrist said after the match. "I'll go away and have a think about it and talk to the franchise. If the franchise is still keen to keep me involved as coach, which is a role I've really enjoyed, I find that I still enjoy being around the group. To be honest I didn't miss the cricket that much.

"I loved the fact that I could play the last couple of games, but I didn't have the horrible desire that I was missing out. There isn't that fire burning in my belly quite like it used to. I have to think about it but I just feel I won't be playing."

Kings XI were shut out of contention for a place in the playoffs after they were beaten in their final league game by Daredevils. Gilchrist missed nearly a month of the IPL action this season due to a hamstring injury. "To miss the playoffs was disappointing. But there were some positives, especially the performance of some of the domestic players. Mandeep Singh, Gurkeerat Singh, Parvinder Awana... They've all done well and the exciting thing is that there's still scope for them to learn, improve, develop and make that adjustment to the next level."

Gilchrist has played 67 IPL games, scoring 1775 runs at 27.73 and a strike-rate of 140.20. He's scored two centuries and 10 fifties. Of his IPL experience, Gilchrist said: "The IPL will feature prominently in my memories of cricket. To come with a team that was last the previous year and win the title was very special (Deccan Chargers). One of the great memories of my cricket career was at this ground last year -- that partnership (206 against Royal Challengers Bangalore) with Shaun (Marsh). So yeah, it has been a great experience

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Ajmal not keen on developing new variations

Saeed Ajmal is known for his straight talk and has a tendency to make big, carefree declarations at press conferences. On Saturday though, which was the last day of Pakistan's preparatory camp in Lahore, he was rather cautious while fielding the media's questions. On the tour of Sri Lanka, he said, he will look to keep things 'simple'.

Does he have another new delivery to unveil, following the 'teesra' that he dished out against England in the UAE earlier this year? "There is no need to introduce any new delivery, let us keep things simple," Ajmal said. "Mastering any new delivery takes time and a lot of work is involved in it. With more varieties, more complications are created [for the bowler]. So I would like to just take control of my conventional spin, which is giving me results."

For now, Ajmal said, he is focussing on just bowling at his best and displacing South Africa's Dale Steyn as the world's No. 1 Test bowler. "Presently my focus is to win the series [in Sri Lanka] for Pakistan. The goal is to archive the No. 1 spot [on the rankings], for that I am putting in a lot of hard work."

Ajmal did not have much of an impact the previous time Pakistan played in Sri Lanka, as the visitors went on to lose both the Tests and ODIs. This time, Ajmal is looking to compensate for that below-par showing. "Things are going in my way [recently], I will try to extend my recent form. I am ready to take on the Sri Lanka challenge once again."

"My body is fully fit and ready to cope the heat [in Sri Lanka], and I know onus will be on the spinners. We[spinners] have to bowl more overs than the fast bowlers because of the heat. But I think we have fast bowlers who can provide a breakthrough even in shorter spells, and they will be equally important. [Abdur] Rehman I make a good pair, and we are ready to bowl longer spells."

While wary of the likes of Thilan Samaraweera and Kumar Sangakkara, Ajmal said Pakistan is quite confident. "We have been practicing assuming that we will be playing on batting [batsmen-friendly] pitches there. We have been doing well for quite a long time now, so I don't think plans will be difficult for us to execute. They have got some good batsman like Sanga and Samaraweera, who had scored runs against us the last time in the UAE, but we still produced good results against them."

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Smith and Tendulkar crush Rajasthan

Mumbai Indians tried out their eighth different opening combination for the season and it clicked - Dwayne Smith and Sachin Tendulkar, with the help of a large dose of luck, put on the highest stand for the first wicket in the tournament to crush Rajasthan Royals in Jaipur.

At the halfway stage of this inconsequential match, the omens were good for Royals. Since Shane Watson's arrival, Royals' form has closely mirrored his batting form. Each time Watson has fired Royals have won, and every failure with the bat has led to defeat. He top scored with 45, lifting the Royals to 162. They have never lost a home game when they have scored more than 160.

All that was brushed aside, as Smith and Tendulkar set up only the fifth ten-wicket victory in IPL history. It looked like a completely one-sided encounter but the opening pair had plenty of close calls.

Smith was beaten plenty of times early on and his swipes repeatedly landed in non-man's land. There were several clear-cut chances as well - Ajit Chandila shelled a caught-and-bowled chance, Dishant Yagnik couldn't collect cleanly after Smith was beaten by a Brad Hogg wrong 'un, Siddharth Trivdedi caught him off a no-ball, and Tait couldn't even get his hands on a top-edge skier.

Tendulkar, too, wasn't at his elegant best; he was put down by Watson at midwicket, and then a paddle-sweep was top-edged over the keeper and slip, and wasn't exactly comfortable through much of the innings.

In between, there were some clean hits as well from the openers. Tendulkar got going with a front-foot cover drive off Tait, and Smith repeatedly played the short-arm pull behind square leg for boundaries. The match really began to slip away from Royals in the 11th over, when Smith clubbed Chandila for consecutive sixes to take Mumbai Indians close to their first century opening stand of the season.

A couple of overs later, Chandila let a ball through his hands to concede a boundary, leaving Rahul Dravid shaking his head. Besides the poor fielding, the bowling also gave away too many free runs - 15 wides and a no-ball sliced 10% from the target.

If it ended badly for Royals, it hadn't begun well either. Mumbai fast bowler Dhawal Kulkarni, playing his first match of the season, cut short what could be Dravid's final competitive innings. Kulkarni also added the scalp of Ajinkya Rahane, Royals' most prolific scorer this season, later in the Powerplay.

Once again it seemed Royals were looking to Watson for acceleration. He wasn't timing it as well as he would have liked, but the burden wasn't entirely on him as Stuart Binny chipped in with a free-swinging 30. The innings got a jumpstart when Binny caned Harbhajan Singh for 22 runs in the 10th over, slog-sweeping him over square leg for six, and also picking off three fours in the over. Watson joined the fun as he connected well on his third swipe at Smith, sending the ball for six over his favourite deep midwicket region.

Binny was then run-out through an athletic bit of footwork from Kieron Pollard in his follow-through, and a couple of overs later Watson miscued a heave off Pollard, leading to a loss of momentum. Owais Shah and Ashok Menaria, though, capitalised on some indisciplined bowling from Mumbai Indians to take Royals to what seemed a competitive total.

It didn't prove near enough as Mumbai Indians went into the playoffs with a extra shot of confidence. The questions for them will be about their combination after a couple of their experiments worked. Do they stick with the same openers or revert to Tendulkar-Gibbs? Also, does Kulkarni deserve another chance or should they go back to the experience of Munaf Patel

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England in for test of nerve and character

Sometimes it is a delight to be proved wrong. Before this series, many of us had assumed that it would require a minor miracle for West Indies to win. Yes, their recent performances had shown signs of promise. Yes, cricket is a gloriously unpredictable game. And yes, England endured a chastening winter. But West Indies have not won an overseas series, Bangladesh and Zimbabwe aside, since 1995. They are missing some of their top players. They have won only eight out of their last 80 Tests, while England, striving to retain their No.1 ranking, have an excellent record in their own conditions. It was hard to be wildly optimistic.

But West Indies have played some fine cricket. They are not the finished article - few teams ever attain that - but, after some truly miserable years, they have given their supporters renewed reason for pride, for joy and for hope. Few, be they from Bridgetown, Brisbane or Birmingham, will resent that. If this proves to be another step on West Indies' journey back towards the top of world cricket, then the game will be all the richer for it.

Let us not get ahead of ourselves. This match is not over. The pitch remains flat and, with Graeme Swann now coming in at No.11, England's batting line-up is deep. West Indies have flattered to deceive a few times of late and they may yet rue the absence of a frontline spinner. But whatever happens on the final day - and the fact that either side could still win is a joy in itself - West Indies have shown they are progressing. On a ground on which England have won five of their last six Tests (and drawn the other), the tourists have proved they are a force with which to be reckoned.

If West Indies do go on to win - and whatever happens, they should take encouragement from this performance - it will prove a cruel result for Stuart Broad. After claiming seven wickets in the first innings, Broad claimed four more in the second to claim his first 10-wicket match. He may yet have a role to play in winning this Test with the bat, but there is little more he could have done to win it with the ball.

It is one of the enduring ironies of a team game that individual excellence is often celebrated more than team success. In years to come when tour parties are shown around Lord's, they will see the honours board and conclude that Broad's performance must have been head and shoulders above that of his colleagues.

	While England have come a long way since the debacle of Jamaica in 2009 it is worth noting that five of England's top seven here also played in that game

It is not entirely true. Broad, who became the first England bowler to claim ten wickets in a match here since Ian Botham in 1978, certainly bowled well. But he did not bowl so much better than James Anderson. Not eight wickets in the match better, anyway. Anderson beat the bat as often as anyone and, by conceding fewer than two an over, maintained pressure throughout. Tim Bresnan, too, who conceded 100 for the first time in his Test career, bowled somewhat better than his figures suggested, while Swann claimed the two key wickets - Darren Bravo and Shivnarine Chanderpaul - on a pitch offering him little. The truth is that England bowled as a unit and, on this occasion, Broad reaped the rewards.

It is, however, worth reflecting on Broad's progress over the last ten months or so. Before July 2011, Broad possessed a modest Test bowling record, with 107 wickets at an average of 36.25. Since then, he has claimed 51 wickets at 17.27. He is finally developing into the bowler his talent always suggested he could be. He is still only 25, too.

The improvement is not coincidental. Broad has learned his trade and matured. Where once he would respond to adversity with a barrage of short balls and an outburst of temper, he has learned that it is smarter to maintain a fuller length and continue probing around the top of off stump. He has always been able to move the ball in the air and off the pitch; he has always gained bounce. It is just that he now knows how to use those weapons. His best delivery is probably no better than it ever has been. It is just that he bowls it more often with fewer poor deliveries in between. He is still some way from becoming the Glenn McGrath style bowler to which he aspires but he is heading in the right direction. Indeed, McGrath's bowling average on his 26th birthday - 27.01 - is perhaps closer to Broad's - 30.12 - than might be expected. The best could still be ahead of him.

The fourth day offered a reminder of how Test cricket used to be. With the run rate struggling to climb over two-and-a-half an over and the England attack struggling to gain the movement we have come to expect from them, they were instead obliged to rely on the timeless virtues of discipline, control and patience.

Perhaps England could have bowled just a little straighter to Chanderpaul; perhaps they could have bowled just a little fuller to Marlon Samuels, but these are carping criticisms. They bowled well on a pitch offering little assistance. West Indies just batted admirably.

This was another impressive performance from the tourists. While Chanderpaul's defiance was no surprise - what else would you expect from him? - the contributions of Samuels, Denesh Ramdin and Darren Sammy were less anticipated. They may yet come to rue the run-outs they suffered in both innings and the ninth-wicket stand between Swann and Ian Bell, but the margins between these sides are not nearly as large as the Test rankings might suggest.

The pressure is now on England's shoulders. An England side that was bowled out for 72 when chasing 145 less than four months ago. The pitch at Lord's tends to remain true but, if England win, it will be the fourth largest run chase in a Test at Lord's. And, while England have come a long way since the debacle of Jamaica in 2009 when they were bowled out for 51, it is worth noting that five of England's top seven here also played in that game. Their nerve and their character will be tested on day five

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Roach blows hurt England in pursuit of 191

Six minutes before tea on the fourth day, Shivnarine Chanderpaul finally cracked. Another Test innings of monumental patience ended when he swept at Graeme Swann and Marais Erasmus raised his finger for the lbw decision that England begged. Even then Chanderpaul made them wait, and the Lord's crowd with them, as he called for a review, but technology granted no clemency: the ball was shown to be striking leg stump.

The result of his painstaking resistance was a victory target for England of 191, a dominant position certainly, but not an impregnable one. That much was made painfully apparent for England in an awkward four overs batting in murky light in which Andrew Strauss and the nightwatchman James Anderson both succumbed to Kemar Roach, whose mini-burst would have had great West Indies fast bowlers of old purring in appreciation.

Strauss, a first-innings century-maker, succumbed for a single as he edged Roach to Kieran Powell, the finer of two gullies. Roach hit 90mph and Anderson was caught at the wicket, the ball brushing his glove and Anderson deciding, quite rightly, that a review would be untoward now that Sky's high-quality cameras have brought new efficiency to Hot Spot - a message here for the ICC. It could have been worse for England if Jonathan Trott had fallen first ball; Aleem Dar turned down an lbw appeal, West Indies appealed to DRS, but Trott had got millimetres outside the line.

Chanderpaul's birthing pains have set up a great finale. He batted for nearly ten-and-a-half hours in this match. He followed an unbeaten 87 in the first innings with 91 second time around before his laborious resistance, characterised by furtive flicks into the leg side, was finally broken. It was an innings so introspective that it turned all those who watched it into introverts, increasingly wrapped up in their own thoughts as they respectfully observed an innings of rare discipline.

It was not solely about Chanderpaul because alongside him Marlon Samuels summoned one of his most disciplined Test displays, 86 from 172 balls, as West Indies resisted with great dedication. Chanderpaul's placid refusal to quit communicated itself to his partner, who can rarely have batted so judiciously for his country.

Until the grand climax, it was a largely monotonous day, decidedly chilly, too, with a brisk northerly wind. If this abysmal weather continues much longer egg-and-bacon overcoats will be de rigueur in London NW8. But it was a day from which West Indies could draw pride. With their resistance at its height, a couple of players ventured on to the balcony to convey their support for an immensely worthy innings and wore white towels over their heads. If Chanderpaul had batted much longer England's bowlers would soon have been looking for white flags.

Smart stats Shivnarine Chanderpaul scored a half-century in both innings. It is the eighth instance of a West Indian batsman making two fifty-plus scores in a Lord's Test. Chanderpaul remains the only batsman to do so twice (2004 and 2012). Chanderpaul was dismissed in the nineties for the fourth occasion. There have been two other occasions when he has remained not out in the nineties. Four other West Indian batsmen have been dismissed more often than Chanderpaul in the nineties. This is Marlon Samuels' 14th half-century in Tests to go with two centuries. The 86 is, however, his highest score against England The 157-run stand between Samuels and Chanderpaul is joint-seventh on the list of top fifth-wicket stands for West Indies against England. It is the highest fifth-wicket stand for West Indies at Lord's. Stuart Broad became the 8th England bowler to pick up 11 or more wickets in a match against West Indies. Broad's performance is the third-best by an England bowler against West Indies in Lord's Tests. For only the tenth time against top teams (excluding Bangladesh and Zimbabwe), West Indies managed to score over 300 in their second innings. It is their highest second-innings score in England in the same period. Since 1990, England have failed to chase sub-200targets on only three occasions. None of them is in home Tests but one defeat (1994) came against West Indies in Trinidad when they were bowled out for 46 chasing 194.

At the start of play, West Indies trailed by 35 with six wickets intact and forecasts abounded that the game would be up by lunchtime. But the pitch remained slow, it was too cold to swing, and England were again faced with the problem of how on earth to rid themselves of Chanderpaul's silent resistance. Shiv was Shiv, engaged in an extensive exercise in problem solving. His fifty came in 151 balls and three-and-three-quarter hours as he inside-edged Bresnan past leg stump. It was one of his few errors. He raised his bat as if disgusted with himself.

They began by bowling wide at him, as they had on Saturday, the repetitive cricket causing spectators to bury themselves dejectedly into their overcoats. When they were driven into bowling straighter, Chanderpaul routinely worked them behind square. England might have been better posting a leg gully, anything to suggest that the shot had an element of risk. They were reluctant to bowl fuller with the old ball because there was no movement but as Chanderpaul was as likely to sing a song as drive down the ground their reluctance was hard to fathom.

There was always the chance of a run-out because Chanderpaul is so immersed in his own game that he is often oblivious to the needs of his partner. He might have been run out by Kevin Pietersen's underarm flick from short mid wicket on 38 when Samuels wanted a single. On another time he ambled halfway down the pitch on the assumption of a single to mid-off and had to retreat quickly. His offended glare at Samuels at least found some use for the anti-reflective war paint below his eyes. He did not say anything: like most introverts, he deals in non-verbal cues.

Alongside Chanderpaul, Samuels grew in authority. The lesson about how to construct a Test innings, and fight for your team, was seeping in. He was struck on the shoulder by a short ball from Broad and concluded that it was time to adopt a more aggressive approach, pulling him thunderously through midwicket. England will remain convinced that he is shaky on the short ball.

The second new ball, due one over into the afternoon session, was not the panacea for which England had hoped - but it did account for Samuels. They took it gratefully at 212 for 4, after suffering a wicketless morning, and it was into its sixth over when Stuart Broad had Samuels caught at second slip. It ended a fifth-wicket stand of 157 runs in 54 overs and Broad puffed out his cheeks in relief. The afternoon session leaked only 53 runs in 28 overs, grim fare indeed.

England's seamers had little luck on a pitch that became a little livelier as the day progressed, more reason for West Indies optimism. Tim Bresnan, previously an economical but unthreatening third seamer, found seam movement, Broad occasionally flogged life from a sedate surface and with Anderson also passing the edge at regular intervals without reward, England's frustration became increasingly evident.

After Chanderpaul became the sixth wicket to fall, the Test shifted tempo. West Indies added a further 84 in 25 overs with Darren Sammy, the antithesis of Chanderpaul, providing a freewheeling 37 from 47 balls and taking a particular liking to Bresnan, who he struck for four boundaries in eight balls.

Sammy fell, though, to an outrageous carve, high above his head, at Broad who also had Kemar Roach caught at backward point to finish with match figures of 11 for 163. Denesh Ramdin's resistance ended when Anderson removed his off stump and Shannon Gabriel was bowled, slogging at Swann. England, on the ropes at the close, will have been grateful he did not get out 20 minutes earlier

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