One can expect the Sunrisers to be overwhelming favourites as they don`t have to deal with the demons of an ugly controversy that has shaken the cricketing establishment. For Rajasthan Royals and especially their skipper Rahul Dravid, it will be a challenge to go out in the field shedding inhibitions and perform to the best of their abilities.

For the Royals and their loyal band of supporters, a good performance at least can help them deflect the unwanted attention that is on them for the time being.

But there is no denying the fact that the team is under immense pressure. The two foundations of a good team: self belief and confidence in each other`s abilities has been hit badly after the controversy.

Will Rahul Dravid have the same confidence when he hands over the ball to a particular bowler? Can he change the batting order randomly without having a crease on his forehead? These are question that will only be answered tomorrow.

Therefore, it wasn`t surprising that the Royals management decided to have their last practice session ahead of the `Eliminator` in Jaipur.

Since Jaipur-Delhi is less than an hour`s flight, the squad will only arrive here in the evening. This ensures that media will be busy covering the high-profile first Qualifier between the Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings.

Talking about the cricketing aspects, Royals seem to have better balance as far as the overall composition of the side is concerned.

The Sunrisers, on the other hand, have been an unit that largely relied on its bowlers, including world`s No 1 fast bowler Dale Steyn (18 wickets), leggie Amit Mishra (20) and all-rounder Thisara Perera (19 wickets and 222 runs).

Mishra, with good support from young leggie Karan Sharma, has been brilliant in the middle overs. Not only has Mishra been successful in stemming the flow of runs but also provided lot of breakthroughs with classical leg breaks and googlies.

Batting has been a real concern for the Sunrisers as none of their willow-wielders have been able to even tally a total of 300-runs in the league stage. Parthiv Patel (293 runs) has been their top-scorer but has only managed one half-century.
Shikhar Dhawan has made a decent comeback from injury with three 50`s in nine games with a total of 278 runs but one expects more from the talented left-hander. That he will be playing at the Feroze Shah Kotla — a ground that he knows like the back of his palm — would surely give him some confidence.

Thisara and Darren Sammy`s role has been vital as their all-round abilities provide the side with necessary balance. Sammy`s two sixes helped Sunrisers get into the knock-outs as they made an easy chase look difficult. Odisha`s Biplab Samantray has also come good in the last few games while Ishant Sharma has been, at best, inconsistent despite taking 14 wickets.

Sahara, which bought the franchise for Rs 1700 crore in 2010, said it was “disgusted” by the BCCI’s attitude towards it and will not rejoin the league even if the entire franchise fee was waved off, giving a new twist to the already troubled league which has seen a spate of controversies since its inception. “…We would not keep the IPL franchisee even if the entire franchisee fee is waved off. It is firm and final decision of Sahara to withdraw from IPL,” the Sahara Group said in a lengthy statement which explained the reasons for their pull-out. Sahara said it was peeved by BCCI’s failure to initiate arbitration proceedings to lower their franchise fee despite several reminders.

“In 2010, Sahara had bid 1700 crore for IPL franchise on the basis of revenue calculation on 94 matches. It was tricky on part of BCCI to put the number in media as 94 matches for getting bigger amount. But we got 64 matches only,” it added.
Sahara claimed that the BCCI turned a deaf ear to its pleadings for arbitration and reducing the franchise fee.

“We and Kochi Team immediately protested and requested BCCI to reduce the bid price proportionately for viable IPL proposition. Nothing was heard. We waited with confidence that such a sports body should have sportsmanship spirit,” it said. “We continuously requested BCCI for Arbitration from June 2011. But BCCI is only concerned about money and not about the genuine interests of the franchisee. Thus, (when) we could not penetrate BCCI’s deaf ears, we announced our withdrawal in February 2012,” it added.

Reacting to the development, IPL Chairman Rajiv Shukla said enchasing the bank guarantee were done as per rules.

“Yes, it (Pune Warriors) has pulled out. As per the rules and procedure of the BCCI if a franchise fails to pay the fee then we encash the franchise’s bank guarantee. We are extremely sad by their decision to pull out. This should not have happened,” Shukla said.

Asked if Sahara’s pull-out will also affect the Indian team sponsorship, Shukla said, “I have no information regarding that.”
Sahara’s withdrawal will not affect their players since there will be an open auction for all the players in the next edition. All the Sahara Pune Warriors will be free to join the auction.

Sahara Group said it was tempted to withdraw from the Indian cricket team’s sponsorship also but refrained from doing so in the interest of the players.

“There is a very strong urge in us to withdraw from the Indian Cricket Team Sponsorship from today only. But, interest of the players will suffer if we do so.” “We share an excellent relationship with the players and will not want such dedicated and good human beings who serve the country so committed to get harmed financially due to unsporting attitude of BCCI,” the Group said.

“So we have given time to BCCI to get the new sponsorship in place from January 2014, as we will continue the national team’s sponsorship only up to December 2013 that’s the expiry date of the present agreement.”

Riding on pyrotechnics of Mike Hussey (86) and Suresh Raina (82), CSK posted a massive 192 for one and then did well to bowl out Mumbai Indians for 144 in 18.4 overs.

Mumbai Indians` last nine wickets fell for 57 runs.

Mumbai will however get another chance to qualify for the final when they meet winner of the the second qualifier between Sunrisers Hyderabad and Rajasthan Royals.

For the record, CSK has made it to the fifth final in six editions of the cash-rich league. The only time they failed to make it to the title round was the second edition held in South Africa where they lost in the semi-finals.

En route their win, Hussey (732 runs) and Dwayne Bravo (28 wickets) also retained the Orange and Purple Cap respectively.

Dwayne Smith’s big-hitting prowess is well documented and while chasing a target of 193, one needed to be aggressive from the word ‘go’. He hit a blazing 28-ball 68 but after his fall, Mumbai lost wickets in heap.

Smith took full advantage of the field restriction as he played the lofted shot to good effect. Whether it was rookie Mohit Sharma or South African Chris Morris, Smith deposited all of them in the stands as MI started scoring at a rate of more than 10 per over.

Aditya Tare`s dismissal couldn`t deter Smith as rival skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni saw his bowlers being clobbered. Smith reached 50 off 21 balls and then Ravichandran Ashwin was brought into the attack.

Smith hit him for a straight six into the sight-screen and followed it with a boundary. Such was Smith’s dominance that in a partnership of 75 runs with Dinesh Karthik, the latter contributed only nine.

In a statement emailed to the media by his lawyer Rebecca John, the cricketer said “I have never indulged in any spot fixing and I have always played cricket in the spirit of the game”. (Also read: Police say Sreesanth shopped for clothes worth 1.9 lakhs, bought smartphone for girlfriend)

Sreesanth, who was on Tuesday remanded to further five-day police custody by Metropolitan Magistrate Soumya Chauhan, said “as a cricketer, I have learnt to take knocks along with accolades, in my stride. I recognise that I am going through a tough period in my life. (Photo gallery: From cricket to court for Sreesanth)

“I have utmost faith in our judicial process and I am confident that with time I will be proved innocent, and my honour and dignity will be vindicated and restored,” the statement said. Dressed in a blue T-shirt and jeans, Sreesanth was apparently unmindful of the huge crowd of lawyers and mediapersons in the courtroom.The police on Tuesday also invoked section 409 IPC (criminal breach of trust) against Sreesanth, his Rajasthan Royal teammates Ankeet Chavan and Ajit Chandalia and 12 other accused, including bookies and mediators.

Kumar was admitted to Kokilaben Ambani Hospital in suburban Andheri at around 4 PM and was discharged soon after, sources close to the actor said tonight.

They did not disclose the nature of the injury suffered by the 45-year-old actor, but said he was given “primary treatment” and allowed to go home.

The actor apparently hurt his leg while shooting for the untitled film produced by Vipul Shah.

The shooting of the movie is currently progressing at RFC in Hyderabad and the title “Tsunami” is under consideration for this film.Model turned actress Kriti Sanon is pairing up with Mahesh in the film.

The movie first look poster will be revealed on May 31st on the occasion of Superstar Krishna’s Birthday.

Producers Gopichand Achanta, Anil Sunkara are producing the film under 14 Reels entertainment banner. Devi Sri Prasad is the music composer for this film.

As per the sources Anasuya will be seen in a small role in the film and she will be seen as a girl friend of Pawan in his college scenes.Few sources says that She has been roped for an hot item song in the film.Whatever it may be this will be the perfect launch for this gorgeous anchor in Tollywood.So, soon she will be seen with Pawan Kalyan.

The makers of the film are planning to release the film in July, 2013.This movie is being directed by Veerabhadram of ‘Aha Na Pellanta’ and ‘Poola Rangadu’ fame.It is being produced by Nagarjuna himself under his Annapurna Studios banner.Devi Sri Prasad is composing the music.

Layout developed by Chakka Suryanarayana in an extent of 3.91 acres in survey number 166/1, Peddireddy Narayana Murthy in 5.43 acres in survey number 163, B Satyavathi, P Venkataramanamma, B Ramakrishnam Raju, PV Rama Devi, Ummidisetty Ramu and I Subba Lakshmi in 6.06 acres in survey numbers 195/2, 195/5, 2A, 3B, 205/2D, 2E, 205/4, 205/5, Peddireddy Nageswara Rao in 2.30 acres in survey number 159/2, Kapu SImhachalam, Kapu Varalakshmi, Kapu Sanyasi Rao, Kapu Lakshmi and Vanapalli Parvathi in 2.10 acres of land in survey number 138/1, Tadela Rama Devi, Indukuri Sudhakar, Gundrapu Anuradha and Reddy Nageswari in an area of 3.50 acres in survey number 185/2p, 189/2c, 188/1, 190/2p, 185/2, 190/2 were identified as unauthorised layouts.

Another layout Devavarapu Kannabbai in 1.7 acres in survey number 191/2B, Vadapalli Krishnam Raju and V Satyanarayana Raju in 4.20 acres in survey number 192/1A, 1B, 192/2A, 2B, Rokalla Varahalu, Rokalla Narasinga Rao, Rokalla Surya Kumari, B Rambabu, G V Varaparasad, Surampudi Srinu Kumar Raja, Nadimpalli Harikrishna Raju and V Sailaja in 4.39 acres of land in survey numbers 77/2B, 2C, 5C, 78/1, 77/2A and 77/5B, G Varalakshmi, AVS Krishnam Raju, J Srinu and J Padmavathi in 4.93 acres of land in survey numbers 193/2, 193,3 and 193/4, U Ramu, U Subba Lakshmi, V eswara Rao, J Chandra Kala and J Appa Rao in 4.29 acres of land in survey numbers 195/1A, 1B, 1D, 2B, 195/K1, 196/2B, 3 and 205/4, Penumuchu Nageswara Ra and Devavarapu Anand Kumar in 1.33 acres in survey number 72/1, Jagata Yega Rao in 1.43 acres of area in survey numbers 203/2 and 204/2 and layout developed by Peddireddy Veera Venkata Satyanarayana in 4.70 acres at adjoining location have not obtainied any permission from VUDA. The team, after verification of records and on field, declared them as unauthorised.

Five more unauthorised layouts were found in Krishnapalem village of Rambilli mandal. Layout developed by Rajana Appa Rao in an area of one acre in survey number 154/14,15 and 16, layout developed by Pasupathi Ramu and Raja and others ain a big area of 9.84 acres in survey numbers 143/3 (A to Q) and 144, Rajana Venku Naidu in an extent of 1.90 acres in survey numbers 174/14, Rajana Ramulamma in 2.59 acres in survey numbers 154/16, 21, 27 and 31 and another layout developed by Rajana Demudamma and Chandra Kala in 1.40 acres of land in survey numbers 142/ 2 to 6 were identified as illegal layouts having no permissions from VUDA.

The Vice Chairman of VUDA Yuvaraj cautioned public not to purchase plots from unauthorised layouts as such transactions cause troubles in regard with ownership of the land and other legal problems. Either the local body or VUDA will never give approval for further construction or development of the site obtained from unauthorised layouts. The Vice Chairman further cautioned not to purchase plots from the layouts approved only by the Panchayats and VUDA alone is the competent authority to issue Layout approvals in VUDA area spreading in Visakhapatnam, Vizianagaram, Srikakulam and East Godavari districts.