Board top brass skips awards night

	Lalit Modi wants more time to prepare his documents for the meeting © AFP
Related Links News : Meeting valid, no conflict of interest - Manohar News : BCCI talks tough on action over IPL News : Modi mails take the fight to BCCI In Focus: The IPL Mess Series/Tournaments: Indian Premier League Teams: India

The IPL Awards Night was held at a Mumbai hotel on Friday evening with several senior BCCI officials missing, in another sign of the deepening rift between IPL commissioner Lalit Modi and his colleagues in the BCCI. There were unconfirmed reports that Modi had requested a postponement of Monday's IPL governing council meeting but the BCCI did not appear inclined to entertain any such request.

The awards ceremony went ahead in the absence of BCCI president Shashank Manohar, secretary N Srinivasan and IPL vice-chairman Niranjan Shah. Those who attended included team owners Vijay Mallya (Royal Challengers Bangalore), Preity Zinta (Kings XI Punjab), Shilpa Shetty and Raj Kundra (Rajasthan Royals), Gayatri Reddy (Deccan Chargers) and Jai Mehta (Kolkata Knight Riders). Sunil Gavaskar, a member of the IPL Governing Council, attended, though many of his colleagues did not.

At the awards Modi thanked the BCCI, among others, for making his "seven-year-old dream" come true. "I thank the BCCI, the franchises, the players, the sponsors and most of all the millions of fans for helping create the most successful cricket league in the world, for making the IPL what it is today."

Shah indicated that the BCCI would take a hard line with Modi. "The IPL is far bigger than any one individual," he told BBC Sport. "Everyone has to fall in line with the rules of the institution. The meeting is on, whether Mr Modi is there or not. We need to draw a line under this matter."

A PTI story quoted sources as saying Modi had, for the second time in three days, sought a postponement of Monday's meeting, citing his hectic schedule of the past few weeks leading up to Sunday night's tournament final. The meeting was called to address the wide range of allegations of financial impropriety against the league and its commissioner and it is widely speculated that Modi will be ousted from his post at the meeting.

"I need to prepare the documents to support my replies to all the questions," the report quoted Modi as saying in a mail to the BCCI. "I have worked for you (BCCI) for five long years without taking any money, consider giving me just five days for the documents."

Modi had made a similar request on April 21, which was firmly turned down by BCCI president Shashank Manohar. A BCCI source told Cricinfo there would be no change in that stand.

There were also reports - which Modi has denied - that he was contemplating taking the BCCI to court over the legality of the meeting.

If Modi skips the meeting, the governing council meeting is expected to pass a resolution to remove him from the post of IPL commissioner and chairman. He had insisted through the week that he would not resign in the wake of the controversy tarnishing the IPL.

The IPL jury awards:

Best Debut Performance - Kieron Pollard (Mumbai Indians), Best Batsman - Sachin Tendulkar (Mumbai Indians), Best Bowler - Pragyan Ojha (Deccan Chargers), Best Dramatic Performance - Harbhajan Singh (Mumbai Indians), Most Consistent Performer - Jacques Kallis (Royal Challengers Bangalore), Best Breakthrough Performance 2008 - Brendon McCullum (Kolkata Knight Riders), Best Breakthrough Performance 2009 - Anil Kumble (Royal Challengers Bangalore), Best Fielder - AB de Villiers (Delhi Daredevils), Best Ground - Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore, Best Stadium Experience - DY Patil Stadium in Mumbai.

1st Semi-Final: Royal Challengers Bangalore v Mumbai Indians at Mumbai, Apr 21, 2010

Bangalore

Mumbai Indians

Live cricket score and commentary for Indian Premier League, 1st Semi-Final: Royal Challengers Bangalore v Mumbai Indians at Mumbai, Apr 21, 2010

Match scheduled to begin at 20:00 local time (14:30 GMT)

Current time: 15:57 local, 10:27 GMT

	Royal Challengers Bangalore squad
A Kumble*, B Akhil, KP Appanna, MV Boucher†, R Dravid, D du Preez, SP Goswami†, JH Kallis, V Kohli, B Kumar, P Kumar, A Mithun, EJG Morgan, MK Pandey, KP Pietersen, SPD Smith, S Sriram, DW Steyn, LRPL Taylor, RV Uthappa, RE van der Merwe, R Vinay Kumar, CL White

	Mumbai Indians squad
SR Tendulkar*, AN Ahmed, DJ Bravo, S Dhawan, JP Duminy, CRD Fernando, Harbhajan Singh, ST Jayasuriya, Z Khan, DS Kulkarni, R McLaren, C Madan, I Malhotra, SL Malinga, AG Murtaza, GR Napier, AM Nayar, KA Pollard, AT Rayudu, R Sathish, KS Sahabuddin, R Shukla, AP Tare†, SS Tiwary

Road to the semi-finals: MI

Full Match: IPL 2010 MATCH51 - KXIP vs DC, 2010-04-16

Government says all aspects of IPL under scrutiny

	The Kochi controversy has snowballed into a major political issue, prompting a massive probe into all aspects of the IPL © Indian Premier League
Related Links News : Modi aims to resolve crisis, meets Kochi chairman News : Indian minister quits over Kochi franchise deal News : Rescheduled BCCI meeting to probe allegations Match home : Kochi franchise shareholding controversy Series/Tournaments: Indian Premier League Teams: India

A day after the resignation of Indian minister Shashi Tharoor, the IPL and the BCCI remain at the centre of a growing political and financial controversy that echoed in the national Parliament. Amid a growing call for closer regulation of cricket in India, and reports of various government agencies investigating the IPL's financial transactions in a coordinated operation, the BCCI has rescheduled its working committee meeting to May 2.

In Parliament the finance minister, Pranab Mukherjee, made a brief intervention in a heated debate on the IPL controversy to say that the "concerned department" - which is probably the income-tax department - was already looking into the IPL's funding. "Some members raised the issue of the IPL and wanted to have the probe in all its aspects. In fact, I want to assure them that all aspects of the IPL, including the source of funding, how they have been invested, will be looked into," Mukherjee said.

Media reports have suggested that the Corporate Affairs ministry is also planning, pending the cabinet's approval, an investigation of the manner in which the IPL franchises are run. This ministry's involvement will be mandated given that there are several listed companies among the IPL franchise owners; it is also expected to look at the mechanism of the Kochi deal.

Three years since its inception, the IPL has been a money-spinner on many counts. The first set of eight franchises were sold in a high-profile auction that earned $700 million. Those numbers were trumped by the two new franchises added this year, that fetched over $700 million between them. Additionally, the BCCI signed a contract worth $1.63 billion for the sale of TV rights, in 2009. The league was recently valued at a mind-boggling $4.13 billion. All components that add up to this figure are now set to come under the scanner.

CNN-IBN, quoting Government sources, reported that the Revenue Secretary and Enforcement Directorate will be briefing Income Tax officials on Monday on how to speed up investigations. The outcry against the IPL came on a day a leading financial daily published a report leveling allegations against Modi, a report Modi has denied.

The speed of the developments suggests that the BCCI could have taken a decision - or be presented with a fait accompli - before it meets on May 2. That meeting will be preceded by one of the IPL's governing council, where the first moves will be taken to set the house in order.

"The working committee meeting has been postponed because all things have to be discussed in the governing council meeting first," Rajiv Shukla, the BCCI's media and finance committee chairman, told PTI. "There is no point in having a working committee meeting before that. All the allegations and other issues will be discussed in the governing council, the date for that meeting will be announced soon."

Modi's fate could be decided by his mentor Sharad Pawar, nominally the head of the Mumbai Cricket Association but whose influence in the game extends beyond even his other avatar as the ICC's president-elect. When contacted by Cricinfo, Pawar said he was part of the ICC and could not comment on the BCCI or the domestic league. When it was put to him that he had been the BCCI president when the IPL was set up, Pawar said: "That was three years ago, now I'm with the ICC."

The BCCI's first official response to the controversy, which broke last weekend when Lalit Modi disclosed the details of the Kochi franchise ownership, was a statement on April 13 that a meeting of the IPL Governing Council would be convened "within 10 days to discuss all the issues and take a decision". It is now clear that deadline will not be met, though no explanation has been given for the delay.

The controversy was triggered by an update on Lalit Modi's twitter account that questioned the ownership structure of the Kochi consortium, particularly the nature of equity owned by Sunanda Pushkar, who is a friend of Shashi Tharoor, a cabinet minister in the Indian government. Pushkar has since given up her stake in the franchise, while Tharoor was forced to resign from his office, over allegations of conflict of interest in his mentoring of the consortium.

One fallout of Modi's Twitter revelation was to swing the spotlight on the IPL's financial dealings, and on Sunday the BCCI said it had received a summons from the income-tax department to furnish complete details of all eight original Indian Premier League franchises, who were successful bidders for the city-based teams in January 2008, on April 23. The taxmen have already carried out inspections of the IPL's offices and Modi's residence in Mumbai and also the Kings XI Punjab franchise office in Mohali.

"Day before yesterday they had asked for details only about the two new franchises - their shareholding patterns, addresses, player auction and bidding process. Now they want us to furnish all the details about the eight other franchises too," the BCCI's chief administrative officer, Ratnakar Shetty had said.

PCA investigates claim that players took call to play

	The bomb blast did not lead to the game being called off © Associated Press
Related Links News : IPL semi-finals moved to Mumbai News : Eight injured in blasts outside Chinnaswamy stadium Players/Officials: Eoin Morgan | Kevin Pietersen Matches: Royal Challengers Bangalore v Mumbai Indians at Bangalore Series/Tournaments: Indian Premier League

The Professional Cricketers' Association is investigating claims that players were left to take the decision to go ahead with Saturday's IPL match between Royal Challengers Bangalore and Mumbai Indians following two low-intensity bomb blasts outside the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore.

The Daily Telegraph quoted Ian Smith, the PCA's legal adviser, as saying the PCA were looking for more details about what led to Saturday's match going ahead, and were looking at a claim from a non-Indian player that the decision was left to the players themselves.

"The immediate worry for us, and I have heard this direct from one of the players, is that after the initial explosion and a sweep of the stadium, the decision that the game should go ahead was taken by the players," Smith said. "From what I have been told, the Indian guys said very quickly that they felt unfazed. But the foreign guys then felt under pressure to agree with their colleagues. The idea that you can determine whether conditions are safe by a referendum of the players is outrageous.

"They were out in the middle warming up when the bomb went off. We don't know who provided them with the information on which they made their decision."

JP Duminy, who plays for Mumbai, told Cape Times that Bangalore "were upset with the situation". "We were told to go back into the change rooms [after the blasts], and the security tried to keep everything low-key," he said. "They said everything was fine and that the game will go ahead. Bangalore were upset with the situation and had to be convinced to play the game. My team was always going to play."

Smith said he hadn't been able to speak to any of the six English players - Paul Collingwood, Eoin Morgan, Owais Shah, Michael Lumb, Kevin Pietersen and Ravi Bopara - involved in the IPL, but had been in email communication and advised them wait for a full report from the ICC's security experts Nicholls Steyn Associates and Reg Dickason, security adviser to the Federation of International Cricketers' Associations.

The semi-finals of the IPL have now been moved out of Bangalore and will be played at the DY Patil Stadium in Mumbai instead. While pleased with the shift, the PCA said it wasn't happy about the relocation being announced before the players had left Bangalore.

"Players I have spoken to today are experiencing quite a few problems and some are currently caught up in traffic trying to reach the airport, which isn't ideal," Angus Porter, the PCA chief executive, told Cricinfo. "We are pleased that the semi-finals have been moved to Mumbai, but making it public before the players have left Bangalore has left us a little uneasy. We will be very glad when they reach Mumbai.

When asked if the events of the last 48 hours went against pre-tournament agreements, Porter said, "The security plans have varied with how they have been implemented and we are concerned with how some aspects have been delivered.

"But what I do want to add is that this isn't a time to hit the panic button about the 2011 World Cup. Security around international teams is generally easier to deliver, rather than when individual players are out there representing sides such as at the IPL."

Kolkata get consolation win against second-string Mumbai

Kolkata Knight Riders 135 for 1 (McCullum 57*, Ganguly 42) beat Mumbai Indians 133 for 8 (Tiwary 46, Kartik 2-20, Bond 2-24) by nine wickets
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out

	Brendon McCullum starred with an unbeaten 57 © Indian Premier League
Related Links Features : Kolkata fail to live up to promise Matches: Kolkata Knight Riders v Mumbai Indians at Kolkata Series/Tournaments: Indian Premier League Teams: India | Kolkata Knight Riders | Mumbai Indians

As soon as Dwayne Bravo, leading Mumbai Indians in the absence of a resting Sachin Tendulkar, chose to bat Kolkata Knight Riders were officially knocked out, the only team to have not made the semi-finals in any of the IPLs. If they had batted first and beaten Mumbai by around 175 runs, Kolkata could have improved their net run-rate and entered the last four. In their last league match, with little to play for, Kolkata produced their biggest win of the season, smartly using the slow pitch to keep Mumbai to a below-par target. Sourav Ganguly then played the cleanest innings on the tricky surface to take them home without hiccups.

In the only dead rubber of the 56-match league, Mumbai rested five first-choice players, and their second-rung side struggled right from the first over. Shane Bond removed the openers for not much, and the back-up bowlers assumed control with clever variations of pace. Saurabh Tiwary's 37-ball 46 and Ambati Rayudu's 15-ball 27 were exceptions in the general go-slow innings that struggled to stay above six runs an over.

Bond's extra bounce consumed Aditya Tare and Shikhar Dhawan in the first three overs, both batsmen edging while going for the upper-cut. In partnership with JP Duminy, who struggled against the slower cutters, Tiwary provided some momentum. Yet Duminy's struggle meant only 63 runs came in 10 overs while Tiwary was at the wicket. After Murali Kartik's spin, Jaydev Unadkat and Ashok Dinda harassed Duminy with slower ones. Finally in the 13th over, with the score on 77, Duminy swung wildly and was cleaned up by Unadkat.

Match Meter KKR Bond takes two in two overs: On a slow pitch, Bond beats the Mumbai openers for the bounce, sending them both back inside three overs. KKR Duminy, Saurabh fall quickly : After a steady partnership, both Duminy and Saurabh Tiwary fail to push the run-rate and are dismissed in the 13th and 14th overs. KKR Wickets fall at the death: In the last three overs, Kolkata manage to get three wickets, which means Mumbai never get the fillip they are looking for. KKR Ganguly, McCullum finish it off: With a 97-run first-wicket stand, Ganguly and McCullum ensue their season finishes on a high. Advantage Honours even

Saurabh, though, managed to get power and timing behind his shots and had adjusted to the pace of the pitch. But with the run-rate still hovering at six, he tried to go for the big hit, and hit Kartik straight to midwicket. The score was still 77. Bravo didn't make much of the opportunity, and was stumped soon.

The way Rayudu responded to 89 for 5 after 15.4 overs belied the way other batsmen, except for Saurabh, had made the pitch look difficult. He clipped, cut, chipped and lofted with ease, but the lower order struggled around him, and Mumbai were still defending a below-par total.

It was Ganguly, though, who played the ideal innings on the sluggish surface. He committed early to few shots, and made sure all poor deliveries were scored off. And Ali Murtaza helped him with one in the first over of the chase: a long hop that Ganguly hoisted for six. With Harbhajan Singh absent, Mumbai went to quicker bowlers in the Powerplay overs. In the fourth over, Ganguly played his trademark inside-out lofts off Dilhara Fernando, one for a four over extra cover, the next for six over mid-off.

Ganguly was once again at his best when he chipped Duminy for two inside-out fours over extra cover in the 10th over, moving to 38 off 27, taking Kolkata to 71. Brendon McCullum, 30 off 29 by then, hadn't looked comfortable, struggling to get the timing right. Yet he slugged it out, never mind an inconsequential match, and after Ganguly got out in the 14th over, McCullum made sure he was there till the end, getting only his third IPL fifty since that 158 in the first-ever IPL match.

Ganguly may have not seen Kolkata all the way, but it was his positive innings that set up the tricky chase, and he got a healthy applause when he walked back. He took a moment to raise his bat to his beloved crowd. Could this be his last innings for Kolkata Knight Riders?