Franklyn Rose deported to Jamaica from New Zealand

Franklyn Rose, the former West Indies pacer, was deported to Jamaica from New Zealand on Tuesday (April 12) for overstaying on a work visa, according to a stuff.co.nz report. He spent five weeks in prison before the deportation since the visa had already expired in 2012.
Rose played 19 Tests and 27 One-Day Internationals (ODIs) for West Indies since making his debut in 1997. In total, he picked up 82 wickets in international cricket.
He moved to New Zealand in 2011 and was granted a work visa after receiving an offer to become the University of Auckland's Cricket Club's coach. He had also worked as a volunteer cricket coach at some schools in Auckland.
He received a deportation notice in 2014 and his "special direction" order to stay back on "humanitarian circumstances" was declined by Craig Foss, the Associate Minister of Immigration.

Old mates turned new rivals face off in clash of debutants

Loyalties have bifurcated. The trade secrets of the most successful formula, that for long was hidden among a chosen few, is no longer a patent of one side as the two new teams of the Indian Premier League (IPL) - Gujarat Lions and Rising Pune Supergiants lock horns on Thursday (April 14). MS Dhoni, the man who ran the show for so long, will look to outwit his Man Friday - Suresh Raina - in a battle of supremacy that starts way before the two sides take field.
Gujarat Lions, who are set to play their first home match of the 2016 edition at the Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Rajkot, started their maiden IPL campaign with a comprehensive five-wicket win. Even as their two most destructive batsmen - Raina and Brendon McCullum - failed to make a big impact, the form of Aaron Finch, who has recovered well from his injury, has served as a good news. However, the biggest plus for them turned out to be the way the bowlers managed to curtail a rampaging Kings XI Punjab side in the death overs.
Rising Pune Supergiants may not boast of a strong line-up of all-rounders like their rivals, but they have a power-packed top order to intimidate any T20 outfit. Ajinkya Rahane, Faf du Plessis and Kevin Pietersen proved enough to annihilate Mumbai Indians in the opening encounter. With Steve Smith and Dhoni to follow, there will be little worry for the visitors as far as the top order is concerned.
What, however, remains a cause of worry for them is the fact that the lower middle order, barring Mitchell Marsh, doesn't paint a menacing picture. With international cricket's two most sort-after death bowlers - James Faulkner and Dwayne Bravo - and the wily Praveen Kumar to deal with, they will need their star-studded top order to be busy longer at the crease.
But beyond just the on-field battle, sans the Trojan Horse striding through the guarded gates, expect some secret leaks in the boardroom discussions.
When: April 14, 2016, Match 6, 8:00 PM IST
Where: Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium, Rajkot
What to expect: Even as the temperature touches as high as 45 degrees Celsius during the day time, expect it to fall to 28-32 degree Celsius by the time the match gets underway. Humidity will be around 29-55% during the course of the match.
Stats:Suresh Raina and MS Dhoni have played 129 matches together in IPL - the most by any duo. This match will see them go against each other first time in T20 cricket.
Dhoni needs 12 more runs to become the seventh batsman to reach 3000 runs in IPL.
Raina needs 53 more runs to become the first Indian and fifth overall to reach 6000 runs in T20 cricket.
Rajkot will become the 32nd venue to host an IPL match. It will be the 21st Indian venue. JSCA stadium, Ranchi was the last Indian venue.
Quotes:Suresh Raina, Gujarat Lions captain: They (Rising Pune Supergiants) will be also playing their first game against us, so it (the pressure) is the same for both the teams. They have a matured team, I have played with them in IPL and country. As far as IPL goes, certain things are not in your control and you have to do just what you can do as a player. We will play positively against them. This is our first game in Gujarat, home support will be there. Pressure will be there on the opposition, but MS (Dhoni) is the type of captain who has earned respect everywhere. We too have some players who are respected everywhere, so it is going to be quite an interesting game.
Heath Streak, Gujarat Lions bowling coach: He (Ravindra Jadeja) is an important player for India and for us (Gujarat Lions) in the IPL. He can bat, bowl and give you good runouts. He has good brains to read the game. He bats as per situation at No.7. He is local boy and he has a lot of information about the wicket and local conditions. He is a key member and one of the first members to take feedback from.
Teams:Gujarat Lions: Suresh Raina, Brendon McCullum, Ravindra Jadeja, James Faulkner, Dwayne Bravo, Aaron Finch, Dale Steyn, Dwayne Smith, Dinesh Karthik, Andrew Tye, Dhawal Kulkarni, Pravin Tambe, Praveen Kumar, Pradeep Sangwan, Shadab Jakati, Paras Dogra, Ishan Kishan, Eklavya Dwivedi, Shival Kaushik, Sarbjit Ladda, Umang Sharma, Akshdeep Nath, Jaydev Shah, Amit Mishra
Rising Pune Supergiants: MS Dhoni (c&wk), Baba Aparajith, Ravichandran Ashwin, Rajat Bhatia, Deepak Chahar, Faf du Plessis, Jaskaran Singh, Irfan Pathan, Kevin Pietersen, Ishant Sharma, Steven Smith, Adam Zampa, Ankit Sharma, Murugan Ashwin, Ankush Bains, Scott Boland, Ashok Dinda, Peter Handscomb, Mitchell Marsh, Ishwar Pandey, Thisara Perera, Ajinkya Rahane, RP Singh

Simmons ruled out of IPL 2016, Guptill named replacement

Mumbai Indians (MI) suffered a big blow on Wednesday (April 13) as Lendl Simmons, the opener, was ruled out of the remainder of Indian Premier League (IPL) 2016 due to a lower back issue.
Martin Guptill, the New Zealand batsman who was unsold in the IPL auction, has been named as the replacement for the injured 31-year-old.
The West Indian batsman had missed the majority of the recently-concluded World Twenty20 2016 due to the back problem, before joining the team ahead of the semi-final against India. However, the injury resurfaced for the Mumbai top-order batsman, who only played the opening game of the 2016 edition, before being ruled out of action for a period of eight to 10 weeks.
This is the second injury blow for Mumbai Indians, who are without the services of Lasith Malinga, their premier pacer, at least for the first half of the tournament.

Kolkata Knight Riders vs Mumbai Indians, 5th Match - Live Cricket Score, Commentary

Rohit and Parthiv Patel are at the crease. Rohit is on strike. A Russell will open the attack

The players are back out in the middle as we are ready to go again. KKR have their customary huddle. On the other hand, MI certainly need a rollicking start from the Pocket Rocket, Parthiv Patel and Rohit Sharma. Russell has the new nut in his hand. He will look to befuddle the opening pair with his box of tricks. He has a slip in place

A 100-run second wicket stand between Gambhir and Pandey laid the foundations for KKR after the early loss of Uthappa. The duo took their time early on, before picking up pace and cracking half-centuries. Gambhir was blessed with a couple of reprieves and cashed in on it to build on his good work from the previous game. Pandey, the more fluent of the two today, took calculated risks and never let the pressure build. Russell, promoted to no. 4, blitzed away to 36 off 17 balls and propelled the home side to an intimidating score. MI's bowlers took a bit of tap, with the exception of McClenaghan who thrived with his cutters. Can they now rally on to threaten this target?

Gambhir: "It is not easy to chase down at Eden Gardens and we have got 187. Hopefully, the bowlers will do the job for us. All that matters for us is where we are in the points table."

Playing in India helps Kane Williamson learn

When Brendon McCullum announced his retirement from international cricket, he shocked the world with the timing of it. The ICC World Twenty20 in India was just three months away and the onus fell upon Kane Williamson to lead the side in the all-important tournament.
Not many expected Williamson to lead the team the way he did. The manner in which he led the side showed that he's keen to carry forward McCullum's legacy. "It was like a transition. It still is," Williamson told iplt20.com. "The work that Brendon did with the side was incredible. I was learning from him as well and I was very fortunate to be able to do so.

"It was certainly a different kind of experience. To lead a side in a World Cup, the guys gelled well and the performances were good as well. Every time you come to India, you learn so much. There was a lot of planning to be done and that certainly helped me as a player."

Williamson has not only matured as a leader but is widely considered as one of the best batsmen playing international cricket right now along with Virat Kohli, Steve Smith and Joe Root.

Williamson praised India's Test captain and acknowledged that their style of play is quite similar. "He's certainly a special player," he said. "He isn't a bully batsman, which some people are in T20 cricket. I'm not a bully batsman either, so you are trying to work out a way. T20 cricket is all about how you score at a good rate and how he does is up to the player. Whether it's by hitting sixes or by hitting twos, you are achieving what's needed.

"To me it's the same. A lot of us don't have the luxury of that extreme power game. The fundamentals of the game remain the same no matter what format you play. If you are in order, then it's much easier to adapt. If you are in control of your game, then making those adjustments become a little more easier. It's a challenge. The best players are the one who learn very quickly," he said.

Mumbai bat, no Narine for KKR

Times Now tweets: "Major earthquake measuring 6.8 on Richter scale hits Northeast: National Centre for Seismology (PTI)."

Oh, hello! Where did this come from? Nah, nah! No more bad news from Kolkata. Just when I was about to pick my players for the fantasy league, our correspondent Kritika Naidu shoots a terrible news: "Tremors felt in Kolkata press box." Hope it ain't serious. Stick around for further updates

For Kolkata it's the swap of Yadavs - Kuldeep in for Umesh.

So here are the changes, for Mumbai: IN - Southee, Suchith, Parthiv Patel. OUT - Lendl Simmons, Shreyas Gopal and Vinay Kumar.

Teams:

Mumbai Indians (Playing XI): Rohit Sharma(c), Parthiv Patel(w), Jos Buttler, Ambati Rayudu, Kieron Pollard, Hardik Pandya, Harbhajan Singh, Suchith, Mitchell McClenaghan, Tim Southee, Jasprit Bumrah

Kolkata Knight Riders (Playing XI): Gautam Gambhir(c), Robin Uthappa(w), Manish Pandey, Colin Munro, Yusuf Pathan, Suryakumar Yadav, Andre Russell, John Hastings, Piyush Chawla, Kuldeep Yadav, Brad Hogg

Gambhir: "We got a pretty balanced side. we are playing 3 spinners today and hopefully we will bat well today. We have got only one change today. Kuldeep comes in place of Umesh Yadav. Kuldeep did well in the past and let's see what he can do today."

Rohit: "We are gonna bowl first. We felt the wicket is not gonna change must. There might be dew factor as well. Feels good coming here. It's been always a happy hunting ground. As a team it is important to get a win. We got a great opportunity to play in front of Calcutta crowd. Simmons is injured. Tim Southee in place of Vinay Kumar. Suchith comes in for Shreyas Gopal."

Mumbai Indians have won the toss and have opted to field

PITCH-buzz: If a few reports are to be believed, spinners should enjoy bowling on this track. Could be a 150-160 track. "Win toss and bowl first" pitch to be precise

* MI have a lead of 11-5 over KKR in head-to-head matches in IPL. Till 2013, MI had a 10-2 lead but KKR has a 3-1 advantage in the last two seasons.

* Yusuf Pathan will be playing his 200th T20 - fourth Indian after Suresh Raina, MS Dhoni & Rohit Sharma. He has also hit 199 sixes so far in his T20 career.

* Rohit Sharma averages 61 and strikes at 152 per 100 balls in his seven IPL matches for MI at Eden Gardens with a hundred and two fifties.

* Sunil Narine went wicket less in five out of his last six IPL matches at the Eden Gardens.

* Rohit Sharma needs three more sixes to reach 150 sixes in IPL - third player after Chris Gayle (230) and Suresh Raina (152).

* Harbhajan Singh & Piyush Chawla both have 111 wickets in 112 IPL matches each - second most for an Indian player after Amit Mishra's 112 wickets.

Sunil Narine who missed out in the last game (went to perform last rites for his father) is back but will they vamp the winning combo? The news from the grapevine is that Lendl Simmons might not play this game with Parthiv Patel coming in at the expense of Vinay Kumar. So, Corey Anderson should be a straight swap for Simmons. Kieron Pollard who hasn't bowled since 22 November 2015 is deemed fit to bowl. Harbhajan Singh and Eden Gardens are best friends (assuming you know the history). Will his good run-of-form continue? Mind you! Mumbai Indians are renowned as slow-starters, but who knows a loss here might come to haunt them later. KKR will start as firm favourites but this contest will surely be a bonzer. Before we head to the toss, here's our stat-superman Deepu Narayanan with his usual mind-boggling numbers...

Both teams had a contrasting first game. Mumbai Indians were humbled in their own backyard by the newcomers of IPL - Pune Supergiants. Delhi Daredevils revamped the squad, changed the skipper and the addition of Carlos Brathwaite seemed too imposing. Not for KKR though. Scrambled the visitors with spin and put DD in quicksand as Russell, Hogg, and Chawla stomped them with some canny bowling. KKR, however, will be mindful regarding Mumbai Indians and Rohit Sharma, in particular, who both have a very good track record at the Eden Gardens.

Kolkata Knight Riders vs Mumbai Indians

Rohit Sharma:

We want to win as many games as possible in the first half. It was just one bad day. We didn't bat well and then it was too much to expect from the bowlers when you have only 120 on a wicket like Wankhede. The only way we could have won that game was by taking early wickets which we didn't too. It's still early days and we don't want to panic as a team. We want to focus on what lies ahead. Playing KKR on their home ground, it will be a good game, they know their conditions better and play well. We have to combat the challenges and we are up for it.

Brad Hogg:

Narine is a class bowler and he's been sorely missed. It's disappointing with what's happened with him personally with his action, but it's part and parcel. As individuals, we train hard and want to be on the park, but as a team, me is got to fit into the we. It's a team game and there are close to 28 people in the squad and when we get our opportunity, we'll play our role. We know what our job is and want to contribute. It's good having Sunil here too, putting the pressure on. We put pressure on each other to perform and it's good, respectful competition between us. We know what he can do without the restrictions. We know he can do it legitimately. He's a class act and he's got a skill that's been missed in the T20 World Cup.