Girls Dieing to meet him..Who is he?

The Indian ODI and T20 captain, the Chennai skipper and the player who earned the highest bid during the IPL auction - it is MSD who gets the ladies' votes too! Actress Sophie Choudry calls him a "lion on field and I looove it! He has a fantastic and positive attitude. To be honest, IPL or no IPL, it is Dhoni for me."

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IPL T20 Semi Final Ticket Rates slashed

After the exit of Mumbai Indians, the Reliance Industries-owned team, from the Indian Premier League ticket prices for the two semi-finals and final of the Twenty20 league has been slashed.

Ticket prices of the semi-finals to be held at the Wankhede Stadium on Friday and on May 31 have been slashed from Rs 6,000 to Rs 4,000 for the MCA Guest (Vithal Divecha) Stand, the franchise owners said in a media release.

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Sachin heart broken as Chennai last team to reach IPL T20 Semis

Chennai Super Kings grabbed the last available semi-final spot in the Indian Premier League after beating Deccan Chargers by seven wickets in their last league match on Tuesday.

Chasing 148 to win, the visitors overhauled the modest target with four balls to spare, thanks to sensible batting by Suresh Raina (54 not out) and skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni (37).

The Chennai team not only sealed a semi-final place for themselves they also broke the heart of Sachin Tendulkar led Mumbai Indians team, which is now out of the tournament.

A lose of Chennai and a Mumbai win tomorrow against Bangalore Royal Challengers would have enabled Mumbai to enter the last-four stage of the tournament. Now Mumbai's last league match has been rendered inconsequential.

Daredevils thankful to Rajasthan Royals

Niraj Patel (40 not out) and Ravindra Jadeja (23 not out) turned heroes by scoring 16 runs from the match-deciding last over to guide Rajasthan Royals to an improbable last-ball 5-wicket victory over Mumbai Indians in a nerve-wrecking Indian Premier League match on Monday.

The young duo stood tall among ruins to share an unfinished 69-run stand for the sixth wicket to single-handedly decide the fate of the match though aided by some blunders by the Mumbai team.

Today's result ensured that Delhi Daredevils make it to the semi-finals with 15 points from 14 matches while Mumbai Indians (12 points from 13 matches) will have to wait the outcome of tomorrow's match between Chennai Super Kings (14 points from 13 and bottom placed Deccan Chargers in Hyderabad.

Exclusive words by Sourav Ganguly

If love, anger, bravery, mirth, compassion, aversion, amazement, fright and calm are the 'nava rasas' or the nine emotions that as per ancient Indian theory of aesthetics a quality work of art must evoke, then no modern cricketer comes close to Sourav Ganguly.

Nobody can make fans and foes alike run through the gamut of emotions as the former Indian captain. Even in the Sunday night game, he first aroused laughter and loathing among KKR fans as he ran back to drop a catch in the outfield that strictly belonged to teammate Aakash Chopra. It was typical of Ganguly to shout at the hapless fellow fielder when the mistake was his own.

And then as his solo endeavour to sign off on a winning note looked futile with wickets falling at the other end, the KKR captain turned into an object of pity. In fact, at one point, his apparent refusal to move into fourth gear prompted commentators like Arun Lal to wonder why he was delaying the onslaught for whatever it was worth.

The unthinkable happened thereafter. Despite all the shocks that Ganguly has let loose on his unsuspecting fans since his fairytale international comeback in December 2006 - beginning from a half-century on a savage Johannesburg pitch to a double century against Pakistan in Bangalore to a match-winning but already forgotten 87 against South Africa just six weeks ago in Kanpur - few were prepared for the way he batted, smashing an unbeaten 86 off 53 balls, admittedly with Umar Gul in stellar support.

But as the crowd swiveled from amazement to euphoria at Eden Gardens on Sunday, Ganguly remained the quintessence of cool. Facing up to Irfan Pathan and in need of 15 runs off six balls to clinch an unlikely win for the Kolkata Knight Riders, both his face and demeanour were a picture of Buddhist calm. The former India captain looked at peace with himself and with the world.

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knight Riders snacted an exciting tie from Punjab

Skipper Sourav Ganguly led from the front with an unbeaten knock of 86 as the Kolkata Knight Riders snatched an unbelievable three-wicket win with two balls to spare against the formidable Kings XI Punjab to finish their below-par campaign in the Indian Premier League on a high on Sunday.

Replying to the Kings XI's competitive score of 174 for 6, the Knight Riders reached their winning target of 175 losing seven wickets in 19.4 overs in a nail-biting finish before a crowd of 30,000 at the Eden Gardens.

Man of the match Umar Gul (24; 11 balls, 1x4, 3x6), who also shone with the ball with figures of 4/23, turned the game upside down during a hurricane 49-run seventh wicket stand with Ganguly after the Knight Riders seemed headed towards yet another defeat at 106 for 6.

As Irfan Pathan set out to bowl the last over, the hosts needed 15 runs, but Ganguly finished off the proceedings in a destructive manner, with a six, two, six and one to hand out the Kings XI their fourth defeat.

The Punjab side, already in the semi-finals, remained on 18 points after 13 games

Cool down Sharukh!!

The defeat of his Knights in the Indian Premier League seems to have left the team owner King Khan with a bitter aftertaste. The first season of the Indian Premier League will be now remembered for Shah Rukh Khan's tirades, which show no sign of easing.

Still apparently in a fit of sulks, Khan has lashed at the IPL, saying on Thursday that he hadn't paid his team to lose, but to win.

Khan had felt quite at home among his Knights - so much so he wouldn't budge an inch from their side. But then one fine evening he was asked by the authorities to keep his beloved team at arm's length - the actor was miffed, and swift came the first salvo in these words:

"My hanging around in the dressing room is apparently 'anti-Anti-Corruption'. I'm like, listen, don't tell me that I am corrupt...let CBI, ICC Code of Conduct team - anybody - dare try to stop me from meeting my team for every match."

Khan was then provided with a solution - following the tradition of handing out purple and orange caps to the players, IPL announced a red, all-area accreditation badge to one member of each of the eight franchisees, to be given by the ICC's Anti Corruption and Security Unit (ACSU) which gave them access to the team dugout and dressing room as well.

But Khan did not take the bait provided by the officials and was absent from the very next match.
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