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	Packing plenty of oomph: Cameron White’s big-hitting exploits in Twenty20 cricket marks him as one to watch for Bangalore © Getty Images

Match facts

Friday, April 18, 2008Start time 20:00 local time (14:30 GMT)

The Big Picture

After months of hype, excitement, controversy and speculation the high-profile Indian Premier League kicks off in Bangalore with the Royal Challengers hosting the Kolkata Knight Riders. “Eight teams, without any players, only warriors” is the maxim for the inaugural tournament and there’s plenty riding on it. Fans from all around the world will zoom in to see players who have squared off on the international level come together to try and trump others, and many, not least the organisers who have gone to town promoting the event, will follow with bated breath. Not since Kerry Packer’s World Series Cricket has an event so divided and stirred up the fraternity. It might be too much for a traditionalist but against the backdrop of a cricket-crazy host country, and with plenty of huge names involved, there’s little going against the lucrative tournament.

Watch out for …

After the Chinnaswamy Stadium is plunged in darkness, a spotlight will focus on the rival captains, Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid. The duo has been solid for India for over well over a decade and would’ve played against each other on the domestic front but this is something completely new.Dravid and Jacques Kallis are champions for their respective countries, one recently going past 10,000 Test runs and the other soon to get there, but they’ve done little of note in Twenty20 cricket. Kallis was unceremoniously axed from the ICC World Twenty20 at home and has only played seven matches; Dravid has played only two domestic matches. Pitted together in the same team, its going to be interesting to see how they adapt.Just 21 years and six first-class games old, young Debabrata Das could be forgiven for being a bit overawed around some of his acclaimed Kolkata team-mates. But with Pakistan’s Salman Butt on international duty, Das finds himself on the verge of playing in the big opener. He’s up against fellow Bengal batsman Wriddhiman Saha, but being a wicketkeeper may go against Saha given that Kolkata have Brendon McCullum. It’s a great opportunity to impress.Not many in India would’ve followed Ashley Noffke’s career. Ushered in for Bangalore as cover for fellow Australian Nathan Bracken, he can be expected to play the first game. Noffke, 30, has played one ODI and two Twenty20s for Australia, and apart from his skills with the ball he is also a capable lower-order batsman, with two first-class centuries.

Team news

With only four overseas player allowed in a team, its unlikely that Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Cameron White will both play and White’s excellent Twenty20 record puts him ahead. With Anil Kumble ruled out through injury, White is also placed to take the lone spinner’s slot ahead of local lad KP Appanna. Kallis and Mark Boucher were expected to leave for the South African domestic Twenty20 competition but will now stay back but with Dale Steyn absent, Noffke could easily fill in. Misbah-ul-Haq will miss the opening clash because of the ongoing series in Pakistan and Shivnarine Chanderpaul is reportedly carrying an injury so another of the local boys, B Akhil or Bharat Chipli, could come into the middle order.Bangalore (likely) 1 Praveen Kumar, 2 Wasim Jaffer, 3 Jacques Kallis, 4 Rahul Dravid (capt), 5 Virat Kohli, 6 Cameron White, 7 B Akhil, 8 Mark Boucher (wk), 9 Zaheer Khan, 10 Ashley Noffke, 11 R Vinay KumarKolkata are without Butt and Umar Gul, in Bangladesh, and that opens up slots for young Das and Ashok Dinda, the Bengal medium pacer. Ganguly has said he will open, which means the explosive McCullum would come in after Ricky Ponting at No. 3. David Hussey and an in-form Laxmi Ratan Shukla strengthen the middle order. Shukla will assist Ishant Sharma and Ajit Agarkar and Murali Kartik – with Twenty20 experience in England – adds variety with his left-arm spin and handy lower-order batting. Chris Gayle has yet to arrive for the match and so his place in some doubt.Kolkata (likely) 1 Chris Gayle, 2 Sourav Ganguly (capt), 3 Ricky Ponting, 4 Brendon McCullum (wk), 5 David Hussey, 6 Debabrata Das, 7 Laxmi Ratan Shukla, 8 Ajit Agarkar, 9 Murali Kartik, 10 Ishant Sharma, 11 Ashok Dinda.

Stats and trivia

White has a record 55-ball Twenty20 century on the English county circuit and with a batting average of 43.90 in this format he’s clearly one to watch. He has hit 62 fours and 49 sixes in 546 balls faced in Twenty20 cricket – that’s a four or a six every 4.92 balls.

The last time Gayle played in the first match of a Twenty20 tournament, he blasted a 57-ball 117 v South Africa in the World Cup; the 10 sixes he struck is the highest in a Twenty20 innings.

In 21 overs that Kartik has bowled in Twenty20 games, he has only gone at 5.90 per over, taking nine wickets at 13.77

Quotes

“The opening ceremony is expected to only be a short function. I don’t think it will affect the game that follows. Kolkata has a good side and we are prepared with strategies for them.”
Dravid, Bangalore captain“There is no clear favourite in the shortest version of the game. Difference between teams lessens in the T20 format as the contest is too short. I consider this event as a contest between state sides with world-class players.”
Ganguly, Kolkata captain“Sourav is a very cool-headed captain. He is very experienced. We expect him to lead from the front.”
John Buchanan, Kolkata coach

Mind the ankle: Andrew Flintoff’s latest surgery should not prevent him from bowling again © Getty Images

Andrew Flintoff will return for England as a fully-fledged allrounder and not a specialist batsman after his latest ankle surgery, according to chairman of selectors David Graveney.Flintoff, who has already missed the first two Tests of the ongoing series against the West Indies and will sit out the third Test, underwent his third ankle operation in as many years last week.The injury is believed to be a result of the massive strain his large frame puts on his ankle during delivery. With a packed international schedule, it has been suggested in some quarters that he reduce his workload and play as a batsman only in ODIs to prolong his career.But Graveney was confident Flintoff would make a full recovery and play a full part with England. “It’s an interesting theory,” said Graveney. “But as far as we’re concerned Freddie is injured and has a number of weeks to get over this operation but when he comes back we would anticipate him taking part in all forms of cricket whether it is one-day or Test matches.”There has been a lot of speculation about whether Freddie will continue in the role he has been as one of the leading all-rounders in world cricket, but we believe he’ll be playing a full part for England before the end of the summer.” After the West Indies series, India are due to arrive for three Tests and a series of ODIs.”Freddie had his operation on Friday and there is nothing they found there which they weren’t expecting, although there’s some debris in his ankle,” Graveney added.England, who have named an unchanged XI for the third Test against the West Indies, are suffering from a spate of injuries to their fast bowlers; in addition to Flintoff, they are without Matthew Hoggard. Simon Jones, who was so influential in the 2005 Ashes success, has not played internationally since then and Sajid Mahmood is due to undergo a double hernia operation that will keep him out for most of the summer.

Sri Lankans 180 for 3 (Jayawardene 79) v PCA Masters XI – match abandoned
ScorecardSri Lanka’s rather faltering preparations for the NatWest Series were stymied by rain which limited their Twenty20 warm-up game against a PCA Masters XI at Arundel to 16 overs.After a week of sweltering heat in the south of England, the weather broke an hour into Sri Lanka’s innings and while the players gamely soldiered on for a few overs, they soon had to seek shelter. Although the rain did eventually stop, no more than a cursory inspection was needed to confirm that further play would not be possible.Against a PCA Master’s XI which contained nine internationals, past and present, Mahela Jayawardene shone with a 35-ball 79 after the Sri Lankans had made a faltering start, reaching 24 for 1 after five overs.Sanath Jayasuriya started to inject some pace with an assault on Chris Lewis – who had removed Chamara Kapugedera in the fourth over – and the run-rate quickly increased as Jayasuriya and Jayawardene added 75 in less than six overs.Jayasuriya was run-out when Jayawardene called him for an improbable single to Vasbert Drakes, but Kumar Sangakkara continued the assault with a flurry of boundaries before the rain came. By then, Jayawardene’s impressive innings had been ended by a faster ball from Shaun Udal.”Our players have not had a lot of Twenty20. It’s a different game and they have certainly come to the party,” Trevor Penney, Sri Lanka’s assistant coach, told The Argus. “I think Mahela got everybody going when he got out there first ball and charged down the wicket. That was just what we needed.”This Twenty20 teaches you can play your shots. Sometimes you can look after your wicket a bit too much in one-day cricket. It was a good exercise.”

Shoaib Akhtar: a dedicated follower of fashion? © AFP

What a difference a week makes. Seven days ago Pakistan cricket was buoyant. Test and one-day whitewashes at home to Bangladesh had been followed by back-to-back wins over South Africa in the first two games of their five-match one-day series. Seven days – and three straight defeats – later, the all-too-familiar concerns and criticisms are back.The rumour-mill is in full swing. Stories have circulated that several players embarked on a late-night drinking binge hours before Sunday’s deciding ODI at Rawalpindi, which Pakistan lost by seven wickets; Shoaib Akhtar and Shoaib Malik were supposedly sighted at a fashion show late on Saturday evening; and Pakistan’s batting, which was often suspect against Bangladesh, was torn to shreds in the fourth and fifth ODIs and the subject of fierce media criticism.To add to the troubles Inzamam-ul-Haq, their new captain, tore a hamstring on Friday and is now doubtful for Friday’s first Test. “It was disappointing to lose three matches in a row and the series in this way,” he told reporters. “We were not expecting it to end this way. We need to now pay special attention to our batting and will need more experience for them.”Inzamam was cautiously defensive when asked about the presence of the two Shoaibs at the fashion show. “Our curfew timing is 11pm,” he explained. “I think they were back then but if anyone breaks the discipline, action will be taken against him.”With Yousuf Youhana another doubt for the first Test – again with a hamstring strain – in normal circumstances Rashid Latif would be favourite to regain the captaincy which he was stripped of last month – but he has publicly said that he intends to miss the two-Test series. That would put Younis Khan and Abdul Razzaq in the frame as likely stand-in skippers.

ScorecardOnly 50.2 overs were possible in the New Zealander’s match against Worcestershire at New Road. In that time, Ben Smith, Worcestershire’s captain, scored 72 not out to help his side to 163 for 3.Smith chose to bat, and when play finally got underway, Worcestershire were in early bother at 29 for 2 after Daryl Tuffey took two wickets in four balls. However, Smith came to the rescue, and put on a stand of 69 with Graeme Hick, who scored 36, and an unbroken partnership of 65 with Kadeer Ali, who was 26 not out.For New Zealand, Shane Bond, who is on his way back from a back injury, bowled only nine overs, for 38 runs. It was Tuffey who impressed, though, making the first breakthrough when Stephen Moore was caught behind driving, and then Stephen Peters, spooned a simple catch to Mark Richardson at midwicket.Daniel Vettori then removed Hick later in the day when Bond clung on to an difficult chance at mid-off. However, Smith and Ali played out till bad light forced an early finish.

Paultons boosted their chances of avoiding relegation from Division One of the New Forest Indoor Cricket League with a 9 run victory over bottom of the table Swan Green.Sorry Swan fell to their eighth consecutive defeat, although they pushed Paultons hard in this match and might well have won had John Murray received better support from his fellow batsman.Chasing Paultons’ 102 for 5, Murray was left unbeaten on 33 as Mark Weaver’s two wickets helped restrict Swan to just 93 for 5. The result means that Paultons now require just one point from their final match to finish outside the bottom two.The other Division One match saw Cadnam beat Esso by two wickets. John Doe was Esso’s most successful batsman, scoring 28 in a total of 111 for 4, but this wasn’t enough as Mike Caffyn (30no) and Neil Kerley (25no) guided Cadnam home with six balls to spare.In Division Two, champions Cadnam Seconds dented Esso Seconds’ promotion hopes with a 19 run victory. Alan Dunning (35no) and Neil Garvey (22) batted well for Cadnam and enabled their side to reach 141 for 4. Although Tony Shelley (28no) and Alan Kellett (32no) battled gamely, Esso fell well short as Cadnam completed their fixtures with an unblemished record.Brockenhurst threw themselves a lifeline at the bottom with an 11 run win against Ringwood. Simon Naylor (30no) and Mickey Williams (29no) were the heroes for Brock who scored 135 for 4. Graham Bowater (29), Terry Cooper (26) and Alan Gregory (23) gave Brockenhurst a few anxious moments before the Ringwood reply was finally held at 124 for 5.The win lifts Brock out of the bottom two and they now face fellow strugglers Lymington in their final match this Sunday.Bashley Seconds and Pylewell Park Seconds also face a showdown this Sunday to decide the destination of the Division Three title. Bash, currently just 5 points behind, enhanced their title hopes with a four wicket victory against Esso Fourths.Tight bowling has been a feature of Bashley’s game all season and once again the opposition were kept well under tabs as only young Callum Earl (29no) threatened in an Esso total of just 88 for 3.Chris Plummer then timed the Bash reply to perfection, scoring an unbeaten 25 as his team reached their target with five balls to spare.New Milton Seconds’ hopes of promotion were blown away by Burley Seconds. Milton’s 100 for 4 (Jamie Snellgrove 24) wasn’t enough as Les Browning (26no) and Robert Trotter (27no) took just eight overs to ensure a four wicket victory for the men from the Forest.

Punjab scored a comfortable seven wicket victoryover Services at the Model Sports Complex inDelhi. After Services captain Sanjay Verma won thetoss and elected to bat first, his team wasbundled out for 147 in 45 overs. Struggling at 76for 8, the Services team was lucky to get to theireventual score. SV Ghag coming in at number tenmade a fighting 41 including five fours and onesix. But for his innings, Services would havesuffered a much worse fate.As it were, the Punjab team had no trouble inoverhauling the mediumsized total. Former Indiaopener Vikram Rathour made an unbeatenmatchwinning 64 (144 minutes, 89 balls, 5 fours)while the rest of the batsmen chipped in. SandeepSharma, the mediumpacer has made a name forhimself with the bat in recent times. Promoted forhis clean hitting, Sandeep Sharma made 24 off just30 balls, with four boundaries in his position atone drop.Dinesh Mongia coming in at number five wasunbeaten on better than run a ball 17 when Punjabwon the match by seven wickets with over fourteenovers to spare.

Newcastle United are not Victor Osimhen’s ‘first choice’ in the Premier League, transfer insider Dean Jones has told Give Me Sport.

The lowdown

Napoli smashed their transfer record to sign Osimhen from Lille in 2020, forking out £67.5million (their previous record was the £45million they paid PSV for Hirving Lozano).

Osimhen has gone on to score 23 goals in 54 appearances for the club, including 13 in 24 this season.

Sky Italia journalist Mario Giunta claims that Newcastle explored a possible deal in January and could return this summer.

Giunta says that The Magpies are one of the few clubs who can afford to meet Napoli’s demands.

The latest

Jones didn’t rule out the move but says St James’ Park isn’t one of Osimhen’s preferred destinations.

He told GMS: “When you can show ambition and huge investment, then anything is possible, I guess, but from what I’ve heard, Newcastle wouldn’t be his first-choice club if he was to come to England.”

The verdict

Osimhen was the hero again for title-chasing Napoli last weekend, scoring both goals in a 2-1 victory over Hellas Verona. He even started ‘flexing his camera skills’ after finding the net, in the words of Bleacher Report.

The confident 6 foot 1 Nigerian goalscorer, hailed as ‘phenomenal’ by Cagliari coach Walter Mazzarri, has even been compared to Mohamed Salah by Serie A legend José Altafini, in terms of the players’ importance to their sides.

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And while he may be out of the Magpies’ reach, it’s clear at this point that Eddie Howe wants to bring in a young striker this summer – they’ve also been linked with Benfica’s Darwin Nunez (22) and could reportedly reignite their pursuit of Reims teenager Hugo Ekitike.

It will be interesting to see which one they truly firm up their interest for.

In other news, Mark Douglas maps out what the summer window could look like for NUFC.

	The IPL is set to be well-covered by the media after several restrictions in the media guidelines were toned down © Hampshire County Cricket Club

The standoff between the Indian Premier League and the media over controversial guidelines for covering the inaugural tournament looks set to ease after a meeting between officials of both sides on Monday. The IPL has toned down some of its earlier restrictions, especially benefiting the print media, though it has not relaxed its ban on websites covering matches from the ground, nor its ban on news agencies supplying websites with images.It was also disclosed that the date for submitting accreditation forms would be extended beyond the original April 8 deadline.”We have successfully concluded with them [media representatives] the way forward and there are no issues on the table,” Lalit Modi, the IPL commissioner, said after the meeting in Mumbai. “New media guidelines are being issued this evening, and will be published [on the IPL website].””It was two-way traffic at our discussions and it was a happy ending,” Pradeep Vijayakar, vice-president of the Sports Journalists Federation of India (SJFI), said.Barry Parker, South-East Asia bureau chief of Agence France Presse (AFP), told Cricinfo that he and the international media coalition that also includes AP and Getty Images are waiting for the written version of the new guidelines before they decide on their next step. Parker had earlier said the terms and conditions as existed “don’t allow us to cover the event.”The day’s bad news was reserved for websites, whose representatives will be granted accreditation for the tournament but not match tickets, enabling them to report on pre- and post-match activity but barring them from the press box during play. This, IPL officials said, is because the league wishes to protect the portal rights it has sold to an American firm.The other contentious clause that remains is preventing news agencies from selling their pictures to websites, who will have to source images from the IPL database. Modi said the IPL’s planned photo database would integrate resources that can take about 10,000 photographs on a single day at various venues.”That makes things difficult,” Parker commented. “There’s more than one issue as far as the AFP is concerned.”However, there was resolution on other major contentious issues, largely surrounding use of images. Contrary to the earlier guidelines, the IPL will not have the rights, free and without restrictions, to all photographs taken at the matches; and news organisations will not have to upload on the IPL site, within 24 hours, all images taken at the ground. The IPL has also allowed newspapers with their own web publication to upload six different pictures on their online photo galleries in addition to the pictures published in print.

	The other contentious clause that remains is preventing news agencies from selling their pictures to websites, who will have to source images from the IPL database

The IPL also relaxed its limit of accreditations for each organisation – there will now be two accreditations each for reporters and photographers from any media house.”There has been a misunderstanding to a certain extent as far as the guidelines and there was no clarity on the guidelines,” Modi said.The original guidelines, published last week, had provoked widespread outrage in the media. The influential Editors’ Guild of India criticised the “prohibitive conditions” that it said were “unprecedented and unacceptable to the Indian media.”The SJFI had also issued a statement expressing “alarm and concern” over the IPL’s conditions and asked that the “unfair and unethical restrictions being placed on the media be withdrawn unconditionally”.

Manoj Tiwary’s shot at an Indian cap will have to wait © AFP

Manoj Tiwary could not wait to get that India cap but now the man who had refused to recognise pressure or fear will have to learn a new, perhaps tougher trait – patience. While he sits and ponders, he can reflect on what Ravi Shastri said in Kolkata when Rahul Dravid got injured in the nets. “Getting injured is a part of the enjoyment process. This is not a game of marbles; it is a sport and you are bound to get injured.” But so soon?At the preparatory camp in Kolkata, Tiwary had impressed both Dravid and Shastri with his eagerness and enthusiasm. Ironically, it is that same enthusiasm which cost him his debut. Watching the incident, at Tuesday’s outfielding practice drill, at close quarters, one could immediately sense that Tiwary had had a bad fall. Yuvraj Singh had twice taken it easy and hadn’t risked his braced knee by diving to save a similar boundary. Tiwary, though, too young and fast to contemplate the consequences of a false move, dived to save that ball as if four runs were required off the last ball of a match.He saved the four all right but as he fell things slowed down. Unsuspecting team-mates shouted, “Manoj, char ja raha hai!. (It’s going for four!)” Tiwary didn’t get up, and waited for John Gloster to come and attend to him. Initial applause for the effort was slowly replaced by concern. That boundary didn’t really matter. His tour, now, for all practical purposes, has ended, as Cricinfo reported yesterday and Dravid confirmed today. “He probably won’t be available for the series. It’s really disappointing and we feel for the youngster. It’s sad for a kid to be selected and to have an unfortunate injury like this. We feel for him.”Tiwary’s attitude during the domestic championships had been a breeze of fresh air; he had talked big, saying he did not fear anything; he enjoyed bowlers sledging him; he seemed to love the big challenge. His international debut, therefore, was much anticipated; this was his chance to walk his talk. But all he can do now is wait, as Dravid said, “He is in good hands [Gloster’s[. The board will be behind him and hopefully he can get through this and come back for more… He has a lot of cricket ahead of him.”