New Delhi: In a big blow to Delhi Daredevils, their star batsman Kevin Pietersen was today ruled out of the upcoming Indian Premier League due to a knee injury which he sustained during the ongoing New Zealand tour.
The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) said Pietersen experienced knee pain while fielding in preparation for the four-day game in Queenstown ahead of the Test series, which has failed to resolve satisfactorily.
Delhi Daredevils have traded Ross Taylor to Pune Warriors India for Ashish Nehra, the BCCI has said in a statement.
Delhi had acquired Taylor, the former New Zealand captain, from Rajasthan Royals in last season's trading window. We are elated to have a batsman like Ross Taylor in our ranks. He will add muscle, panache and of course, experience, to our middle order in the forthcoming season, Sushanto Roy, Managing Director, Sahara Adventure Sports Ltd, said in the statement.
Mumbai: Delhi Daredevils will play two of their home matches in IPL 6, to be held in April-May, at Raipur while Rajkot and Ahmedabad have been shortlisted as alternative venues for Jaipur to host the home matches of Rajasthan Royals.
Delhi Daredevils had requested for Raipur, so we have given two matches to Raipur. Chhattisgarh Cricket Association was also very keen to host IPL matches, so we have given to them, said IPL chairman Rajiv Shukla after a meeting of the T20 League's Governing Council here today.
With the ongoing differences between Rajasthan Cricket Association and the state's sports council threatening to derail IPL 6 matches being held at the Sawai Man Singh Stadium in Jaipur, the BCCI is looking to host them at alternative venues in Ahmedabad and Rajkot.
Durban: Livid after Delhi Daredevils went down meekly to Highveld Lions in the Champions League Twenty20 semifinal, skipper Mahela Jayawardene said his team did not have the right attitude and was bogged down by nerves and
pressure.
Jayawardene dropped himself from the line-up to accommodate the aggressive David Warner in the playing XI but the move didn't pay off as Delhi fell short by 22 runs in a chase of 140 last night.
We play very good cricket throughout but when it comes to those big matches, we don't seem to find the right attitude. It could be put down to nerves and pressure. Because it has happened to us in the past, it probably goes through our minds when we're playing a big game, Jayawardene said after the match in which only three Delhi batsmen hit double-digit figures.
Durban: Delhi Daredevils captain Ross Taylor blamed their semifinal defeat against Highveld Lions to poor fielding which cost them 25 extra runs.
We let ourselves down in the field, Taylor said at the post-match presentation ceremony.
We gave 20-25 extra in the field. I felt that the target was definitely gettable, but they bowled really well. Credit to Highveld Lions. But I believe we should have got the 140. We gave it all, but we were not good enough, a dejected Taylor said.
Asked about the way forward, he said, We have IPL coming up in a few months, hopefully, we can learn from these mistakes.
Durban: Kevin Pietersen waged a lone battle but Delhi Daredevils simply lacked the firepower as they lost to Highveld Lions by 22 runs in the first semifinal of the Champions League Twenty20 here yesterday.
On a bouncy Kingsmead pitch, Highveld Lions got a decent 139 for five which was par for the course and then restricted Daredevils to only 117 for nine.
With Daredevils' defeat, the challenge of IPL teams in this edition ended on a disappointing note.
The Daredevils batsmen save Pietersen, who scored 50 off 44 balls, looked in utter discomfort against Lions attack especially pacer Chris Morris. Morris bowled fast and straight as he gave away only seven runs in four overs taking prize wickets of David Warner and Pietersen.
