Tendulkar to miss Bangladesh tri-series and Asia Cup

May 29, 2008, Sachin Tendulkar will miss the upcoming tri-series in Bangladesh and the Asia Cup that follows because he hasn't recovered fully from his groin injury.

The injury had forced Tendulkar to miss the second and third Tests against South Africa in April as well as the first half of the Mumbai Indians' campaign in the Indian Premier League.
"Tendulkar is not available for the tri-series as well as the Asia Cup on the advice of Mumbai Indians physiotherapist Nitin Patel," Niranjan Shah, the BCCI secretary, said. "He has not recovered sufficiently from the groin injury."

Tendulkar was instrumental in India winning the tri-series in Australia earlier this year, scoring an unbeaten 117 and 91 in the best-of-three finals. His IPL form, after missing Mumbai Indians' first seven games, hasn't been as good, with 188 runs at an average of 31.33 and strike-rate of 106.

Besides Tendulkar, Zaheer Khan, the fast bowler, is likely to miss out owing to the recurrence of his ankle injury, which ruled him out of the recent Test series against South Africa. Zaheer took part in the IPL, picking up 13 wickets in 11 matches before succumbing to the injury.

India will travel to Bangladesh to compete in a tri-series also involving Pakistan between June 8 and 14. The Asia Cup is scheduled to be held in Pakistan between June 24 and July 6.

Source: © Cricinfo

Rajasthan and Delhi brace for knock-out clash

Rajasthan Royals v Delhi Daredevils, 1st semi-final, Mumbai, Friday, May 30Start time 20.00 (local), 14.30 (GMT)

The irony of the Indian Premier League's first semi-final is that Delhi have Rajasthan to thank for their place in the final four. Stuck on 15 points after 14 matches, Delhi needed Rajasthan to beat Mumbai in Jaipur and only after Mumbai's final-ball choke was Delhi's spot secured.

Ironic because Rajasthan have lost to only three teams in the IPL - Punjab, in a dead rubber; Mumbai; and Delhi, their semi-final opponents, in their first match of the tournament. Rajasthan were crushed in that encounter at the Feroz Shah Kotla by nine wickets and 29 balls to spare. They settled scores with Delhi during the home game , but that victory too looked improbable until Shane Watson blitzed 74 off 40 balls.

Past IPL form, though, will count for little during the high stakes of a knock-out match and the contest could be decided by which team keeps its cool. Delhi have Glenn McGrath's tremendous experience to fall back on while Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir and Dinesh Karthik were part of the Indian squad that won several close battles during the World Twenty20 in South Africa. Rajasthan, however, will rely on Graeme Smith's experience at the top of the order and the inspirational captaincy of Shane Warne to keep emotions under control and instill self-belief in high-pressure situations.

That they have already played each other twice should leave little room for surprise but, by a quirk of circumstance, Delhi's strong top-order are yet to face Sohail Tanvir, the IPL's best fast bowler. Tanvir was on Pakistan duty in the first encounter and, for the return, was rested to give Dimitri Mascarenhas a chance. Tanvir has been deadly with the new ball and tops both the wickets and economy charts (among those who've bowled at least 10 overs) with 21 scalps while conceding only 5.97 per over.

Tournament position
Rajasthan Royals: P14, W11, L3, NRR +0.632Delhi

Daredevils: P14, W7, L6, N/R1, NRR +0.342

Watch out for ...
Tanvir against Delhi's openers, Sehwag and Gambhir.
Glenn McGrath. Rajasthan were able to score only 33 runs off his eight overs in the league games.
Yusuf Pathan and Shane Watson, who form the mainstay of Rajasthan's power-hitting arsenal.

Team news
Rajasthan toyed with their line-up for their final league game against Punjab, resting Smith, Swapnil Asnodkar, Tanvir, Ravindra Jadeja and Warne. All five are expected to return for the semi-final. Niraj Patel's excellent form against Mumbai and Punjab might see him edge Mohammad Kaif for a spot.

Rajasthan Royals (probable): 1 Graeme Smith, 2 Swapnil Asnodkar, 3 Yusuf Pathan, 4 Shane Watson, 5 Niraj Patel, 6 Ravindra Jadeja, 7 Mahesh Rawat (wk), 8 Shane Warne (capt), 9 Sohail Tanvir, 10 Siddharth Trivedi, 11 Munaf Patel.

Delhi are likely to leave out Brett Geeves, who played their final league game against Mumbai, and bring back Mohammad Asif, who missed the last three games because of a hand injury. He was seen bowling at the nets on the eve of the semi-final.
Delhi Daredevils (probable): 1 Gautam Gambhir, 2 Virender Sehwag (capt), 3 Shikhar Dhawan, 4 Manoj Tiwary, 5 Tillakaratne Dilshan, 6 Dinesh Karthik (wk), 7 Farveez Maharoof, 8 V Yomahesh, 9 Amit Mishra, 10 Mohammad Asif 11 Glenn McGrath.

© Cricinfo George Binoy is a staff writer at Cricinfo