Players cannot have a share in the Indian Premier League Teams

After receiving a great response from Industrialists and film actors for owning the teams in Indian Premier League
, BCCI confirmed that no currently playing cricketers can have a stake with the franchises.

No player can have stake with the teams. These statements were BCCI after the rumors that Sachin is planning to have a stake with Future group to own the Mumbai team. BCCI after listing to the rumors stated that he is a presently playing cricketer and there is no point in him having a stake in a team.

Apart from these BCCI has framed some rules for the players participating in Indian Premier League
. They have to satisfy all the rules for their participation in "Indian Premier League".

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AUSTRALIANS IN INDIAN PREMIER LEAGUE

There are many Australian taking part in Indian Premier League . After the controversies of racism with Indians in the border gavaskar test series, there was a lot of talk about the participation of the Australian cricketers in Indian premier league. But to the surprise of everyone there is a active participation from their side, many top ranked cricketers like Ricky Ponting, Adam Gilcrist, Mathew Hayden, Andrew Symonds accepted for their participation in the Indian premier league.

But there are questions that “are they doing this for bucks”. Adam Gilicrist has already announced his retirement from the international cricket. There are rumors that he did it for the sake of the participation in Indian premier league.

The bidding programme for the cricketers in Indian premier league recently showed that Indian teams are not that interested in Australian cricketers except for Andrew Symonds who got bid for astonishing 1.5million by the Hyderabad team, but his team Ricky ponting, Mathew Hayden, Shane Warne, glen McGrath were bid for a less amount compared to Symonds.

Many people had different ideas about Symonds after the racism controversy with bajji but he proved to be strong with his astonishing bid. Now there are many talks about how he is going to survive in India. Have to wait and see till April when this mega event, "Indian premier league" is going to start.

The following are the Australian cricketers listed in different teams of Indian Premier League and the amount of their bids.

Andrew Symonds - 1.5 million – Hyderabad

Adam Gilchrest - 700, 000$ - Hyderabad

Cameron white - 500, 000$ - Bangalore

Nathan bracken - 325, 000$ - Bangalore

David hussy - 625, 000$ - Kolkata

Ricky ponting - 400, 000$ - Kolkata

Mathew Hayden - 375, 000$ - Chennai

Michel hussy - 350, 000$ - Chennai

Glenn McGrath - 350, 000$ - Delhi

Shane Warne - 450, 000$ - Jaipur

Justin Langer - 200, 000$ - Jaipur

Brett lee - 900, 000$ - Mohali

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Bajji slaps Sreesanth

Kings 1X Punjab won the match against the Mumbai Indians here at Mohali in the 10 match of the Indian Premier League. Preethi Zintha and her boyfriend Ness Wadia were all over the ground congratulating the players.

Kumara Sangakara was the top scorer with an unbeaten 94 which made him the top scorer in the tournament and this will earn him a orange cap his next match.

On the other side the Mumbai Indians continue their loosing spree. Everyone is expecting Sachin to come back to the team so that he could make some difference.

Later after the match there was a bit drama on the ground when sreesanth started crying like a baby on the ground. He was slapped by the Mumbai Indians Captain Harbajan Singh after the pacemen said something to the spinner which offended him.

Later Bajji had a discussion about this with the paceman in his dressing room and was believed to have apologized for his actions.

Bajji however did not discuss about the matter at the post match press conference.

Modi said that these Kind of situations defame the Indian Premier League.

Sreesanth Crying Video

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Best Match in IPL

Deccan chargers Vs Royal Challengers Bangalore

Deccan Chargers did it again. They lost the match to the Bangalore Royal challengers with a fight. The match looked like it was going in the chargers way but in the last it was RCB who made it.

Rohith Sharma became the highest scorer in IPL with this match. Laxman and Sharma looked good with their partnership till the end. Rohith got out and Afridi, Laxman and Stryis followed his way back to the pavilion.

There were 20 runs to be scored in the last over. Singles were taken in the first two balls. Then Sanjay hit the first six, the crowd stood to their feet and were all tensed. Then to everyone’s surprise he hit another six. Chargers were back into the game. But the next ball bowled by Anil Kumble stumbled Sanjay and he was not able to take the shot and just took a single. This gave a chance for Arjun Yadav to face the last ball and only 5 runs to be scored. He was too young to take the job and obviously failed to do it.

At last the chargers lost it again and a very big disappointment to the Hyderabad Cricket fans. This Team in fact having the best of players is not able to perform up to their level. Hope this doesn’t continue and my pity to Hyderabad fans who had a lot of hopes on their home team.

The Chargers will Face the Super kings on 6th of may according the IPL schedule.

Score Card

Royal Challengers Banglore Over’s- 20 156 – 8

Batting:

W.Jaffer-44

V.Kohli-38

R.Dravid-26

M.Boucher-16

Bowling:

R.P.Singh – 3-41

P.Ohja – 2-28

Afridi – 1-23

Styris – 1-29

Deccan Chargers over’s -20 153-6

Batting:

Laxman-52

Sharma-57

Bangar-17

A.gilchrist-10

Bowling:

Praveen Kumar – 3-23

Zaheer Khan – 2-24

Jacques Kallis – 1-35

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Buy Indian Premier League Tickets

It’s really hot this summer and this heat is going to increase more as the Indian premier league is all set and is going to start from tomorrow. The people in the cities hosting this event are still more excited.

The rivalry among the Indian Premier League teams is increasing day by day. The people have started cheering for their home teams along with the players in their home team. The players have already reached their destinations and have started their practice. There are people waiting outside the hotels and stadiums to take a look at their favorite players.

This event is being broadcasted by the SET people in India. But the actual thrill and enjoyment of this short format of the game will be seen in the stadium where these matches will be held. People are really dying out there to buy the tickets and watch their Favorite players play for their home city.

BCCI has already made arrangements for the sale of tickets. They provided different counters for selling the tickets. Steps are taken to prevent the inconveniences for the Fans.

The tickets are available at leading Hotels and they will also provide transportation to the stadium from the hotels. The cost of the ticket ranges from Rs.250 – Rs.5000. All the viewers will be provided with refreshments.

Following are some of the counters provided by the BCCI for the sale of tickets for IPL.

ICICI bank
Baskin Robbins
Reliance World
Planet M

Following are some of the websites where u can buy the tickets online for the IPL.

bcci.tv
ticketpro.in/ipl
kyazoonga.com/mumbaiindians
medicinalplantsresearch.com
migrainepro.org
derivativeshome.com

You can also buy tickets from your mobile just SMS IPL to 58888

Let’s hope that this event is going to be a huge success.

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Hayden and Oram make it easy for the Super Kings

Chennai Super Kings made a 9 wicket win over the so called Favorites of the Indian Premier League, the Kolkata Knight Riders.

It was Oram who slammed two early wickets which made it easier for the Super Kings to constrict the score within 160. He grabbed totally three wickets. He had support from the other bowlers.

It was Mathew Hayden who did his job in the Batting section. Hayden and Patel gave a very good start for the innings. Later Dhoni and Hayden finished the job for the Super Kings.

This victory made the Chennai Super kings to top the points list for the Indian premier League.

Score card

Kolkata Knight Riders 20 over’s 147-9

Batting:

Shukla-42

Saha-27

Bowling:

Oram – 3-32

Amarnath – 2-29

Goni - 2-40

Chennai Super Kings 17 over’s 152-1

Batting:

Mathew Hayden – 70

M.S.Dhoni – 43

Patel – 21

Bowling:

A.A – 1-19

Ishanth Sharma – 0-26

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Indian Premier League into Contraversies

Finally the rights for the "Indian premier league" are obtained by the Sony group and World Sport group. Is this going to harm the actual game of cricket or is it going to create new standards for the game.

Cricket has not faced such a situation in recent past, the 20-20 was picking up it’s pace in recent times and the introduction of Indian premier league just increased the craze for this new game, some say that it is pure money making scheme what will remove that will remove the rich fabric of this gentlemen’s game. Some foreign cricketers expressed that this scheme of cricket will harm the original game (50 over and test cricket).

Although other’s say that this format of the game will bring new audiences and credits to the game. This format of the game has already been proved to be successful in countries like England, South Africa, and Australia and recently in India through this Indian cricket league.

Lalit Modi the chairman of Indian premier league said that this will be an exciting form of cricket. He also mentioned that this format will not damage the traditional format of the cricket.

Will this format of cricket Indian premier league survive?. We have to wait till April to know the answer for this question. Hope this will bring success to the young players in the teams and bring them new chances.

Indian premier league has framed some conditions for the cricketers. According to them the players can play this format of cricket without breaching any rules of their national cricket board. They have to produce a no objection letter from their board to participate in this tournament.

In other words a England cricketer cannot play in the Indian premier league without the acceptance of his countries board. They should provide him a NOC certificate for this participation in the tournament.

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Indian Premier League may face Media boycott

Indian Premier League may face a media boycott. It seems like the media people are not at all happy with the conditions given by the organizers of the Indian Premier League.

The last date for the discussion on this matter ended last night and both the parties did not come to an agreement. The Indian Premier League organizers did not accept any issues regarding the rules framed by them towards the media.

Previously The Indian Premier League people have restricted the right to share the images of the league to for the Internet purposes.

The Indian Premier League people sold the Internet rights to an unknown us based company. All the media people are now very hot on this topic and this may lead to a Media Boycott for the cricket inaugural IPL.

There are also a few British Newspapers which opposed the conditions framed by the Indian Premier League.

IPL is also facing threat from the Indian News Paper organization to Boycott the Indian Premier League

The Indian Premier League is all set start to from the 18th of this month. Previously the names of the Indian Premier League teams were announced and the owners are franchises are excited about this inaugural. The Media Boycott is a big Head-Ache for them.

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Indian Premier League schedule

The world’s leading cricketers are going to put their national allegiances for the next six weeks from today as the greatest cricket event on this planet the Indian Premier League is going to start a new era where the teams are owned by billionaires and businessmen.

The schedule for the DLF Indian Premier League is as follows

Schedule

2008 April 18:

Bangalore Royal Challengers v Kolkata Knight Riders at Bangalore

2008

April 19: Kings XI Punjab v Chennai Super Kings at Mohali

2008

April 19: Delhi DareDevils v Rajasthan Royals at Delhi

2008

April 20: Mumbai Indians v Bangalore Royal Challengers at Mumbai

2008

April 20: Kolkata Knight Riders v Deccan Chargers at Kolkata

2008

April 21: Rajasthan Royals v Kings XI Punjab at Jaipur

2008

April 22: Deccan Chargers v Delhi DareDevils at Hyderabad

2008

April 23: Chennai Super Kings v Mumbai Indians at Chennai

2008

April 24: Deccan Chargers v Rajasthan Royals at Hyderabad

2008

April 25: Kings XI Punjab v Mumbai Indians at Mohali

2008

April 26: Bangalore Royal Challengers v Rajasthan Royals at Bangalore

2008

April 26: Chennai Super Kings v Kolkata Knight Riders at Chennai

2008

April 27: Mumbai Indians v Deccan Chargers at Mumbai

2008

April 27: Kings XI Punjab v Delhi DareDevils at Mohali

2008

April 28: Bangalore Royal Challengers v Chennai Super Kings at Bangalore

2008

April 29: Kolkata Knight Riders v Mumbai Indians at Kolkata

2008

April 30: Delhi DareDevils v Bangalore Royal Challengers at Delhi

2008

May 1: Deccan Chargers v Kings XI Punjab at Hyderabad

2008

May 1: Rajasthan Royals v Kolkata Knight Riders at Jaipur

2008

May 2: Chennai Super Kings v Delhi DareDevils at Chennai.

2008

May 3: Deccan Chargers v Bangalore Royal Challengers at Hyderabad

2008

May 3: Kings XI Punjab v Kolkata Knight Riders at Mohali

2008

May 4: Mumbai Indians v Delhi DareDevils at Mumbai

2008

May 4: Rajasthan Royals v Chennai Super Kings at Jaipur

2008 May 5: Bangalore Royal Challengers v Kings XI Punjab at Bangalore

2008

May 6: Chennai Super Kings v Deccan Chargers at Chennai

2008

May 7: Mumbai Indians v Rajasthan Royals at Mumbai

2008

May 8: Delhi DareDevils v Chennai Super Kings at Delhi

2008

May 8: Kolkata Knight Riders v Bangalore Royal Challengers at Kolkata

2008

May 9: Rajasthan Royals v Deccan Chargers at Jaipur

2008

May 10: Bangalore Royal Challengers v Mumbai Indians at Bangalore

2008

May 10: Chennai Super Kings v Kings XI Punjab at Chennai

2008

May 11: Deccan Chargers v Kolkata Knight Riders at Hyderabad

2008

May 11: Rajasthan Royals v Delhi DareDevils at Jaipur

2008

May 12: Kings XI Punjab v Bangalore Royal Challengers at Mohali

2008

May 13: Kolkata Knight Riders v Delhi DareDevils at Kolkata

2008

May 14: Mumbai Indians v Chennai Super Kings at Mumbai

2008

May 14: Kings XI Punjab v Rajasthan Royals at Mohali

2008

May 15: Delhi DareDevils v Deccan Chargers at Delhi

2008

May 16: Mumbai Indians v Kolkata Knight Riders at Mumbai

2008

May 17: Delhi DareDevils v Kings XI Punjab at Delhi

2008

May 17: Rajasthan Royals v Bangalore Royal Challengers at Jaipur

2008

May 18: Deccan Chargers v Mumbai Indians at Hyderabad

2008

May 18: Kolkata Knight Riders v Chennai Super Kings at Kolkata

2008

May 19: Bangalore Royal Challengers v Delhi DareDevils at Bangalore

2008

May 20: Kolkata Knight Riders v Rajasthan Royals at Kolkata

2008

May 21: Mumbai Indians v Kings XI Punjab at Mumbai

2008

May 21: Chennai Super Kings v Bangalore Royal Challengers at Chennai

2008

May 22: Delhi DareDevils v Kolkata Knight Riders at Delhi

2008

May 23: Kings XI Punjab v Deccan Chargers at Mohali.

2008

May 24: Delhi DareDevils v Mumbai Indians at Delhi

2008

May 24: Chennai Super Kings v Rajasthan Royals at Chennai

2008

May 25: Bangalore Royal Challengers v Deccan Chargers at Bangalore

2008

May 25: Kolkata Knight Riders v Kings XI Punjab at Kolkata

2008

May 26: Rajasthan Royals v Mumbai Indians at Jaipur

2008

May 27: Deccan Chargers v Chennai Super Kings at Hyderabad

2008

May 30: First semi-final at Mumbai

2008

May 31: Second semi-final at Mumbai

2008 June 1: Final at Mumbai

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Indian Premier League second Bidding

The second bidding for the Indian Premier League
was conducted on the 11th March 2008. This bidding was conducted to bid the left over players and also the newly joined players in the Indian Premier League. The first bidding of this league was really a money mania where all the top players were bid for huge amounts.

Before the second bidding there were a few players who joined the Indian Premier League like Maskarenus, Abdur Razakk, Peter Fulton, Jeethan Patel, Chris Martin, James Franklin and there were also players who were left out in the first bidding like Ashley Prince, Shane Watson, Brad Hodge.

The second Bidding has gone smoothly without much thrill in bidding. All the players had gone for a normal amount unlike the first bidding where the bidding amount crossed the $ 1 million mark. The representatives of the respective franchises were present at the bidding unlike the first bidding of the Indian Premier League where even the owners of the franchises like Sharukh Khan, Vijay Mallaya and Preethi Zintha were present at the bidding.

The second bidding is only for those teams which have not yet crossed the maximum bidding amount. Teams like Jaipur invested very less amount in their first bid. They had a lot of scope in the second bidding had grabbed good players who joined after the first bidding.

The Foreign Players in the Indian Premier League may not be available for the whole tournament. The Australian team management has already announced that the players from their team will be available only for 20 days in the tournament. This does not include the retired players like Adam Gilcrist and players not in the team like Shane Watson and Brad Hodge.

Many of the NewZeland players are available only for a 40% of the tournament as they have a series in that season.

The participation of the England players in the Indian Premier league has been a hot topic since a long time. Many players like Flintoff and Pietersen have announced that they are not going to play in the Indian Premier League. They also stated that they are not going to cross the county cricket. But after the first bid there was a sensation in the England cricket team after joining of Dimitri Maskarenus. He got a great response from the franchises in the second bidding. He captured all the attention in the second bidding. He was bid for an amount of $100,000 by the Jaipur team.

There are a few Pakistani players in who joined after first bidding. Sohail Tanveer and MD.Hafeez were among them. There are some players like Misbah and Md.Yousuf who were not selected in the first Bid. They cached great attention in the second Bidding. Misbah cached good attention and was Bid for $125,000 by the Bangalore team.

The highest amount that was bid in this second part was $175,000 for Shane Watson by Mumbai. The next on the list is $125,000 for Misbah-ul-haq by the Bangalore team.

We have to wait and see till April 18th whether these players are going to be successful or not.

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.

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Indian Premier League team list

There are a total of eight teams in the "Indian Premier League". The Indian Premier League teams are as follows.

Mumbai Indians

The name "Mumbai Indians" will represent the Mumbai team for the Indian Premier League . The team will be lead by the master blaster Sachin Tendulkar, the iconic player of the Mumbai team.

This team was previously bought by the Reliance Industries chairman, Mukesh Ambani at the auction on the January 26th. They bought this team for the highest amount in the Indian Premier League, $111.6 million.

The colour of their costumes will be blue. The name Indians is really a blunder by the team management as it doesn’t seem to be apt for the team.

This team has successfully gained seven good players at the auction held in Mumbai for the players. This list includes the Harbajan Singh, Robin Uthappa, and Sanath Jayasurya.

It also has some all-rounders like Shawn Pollack included in the team. When it comes to the bowlers, there are a few good names in the list like Lasith Malinga and Dilshan. Ashish Nehra, ex-Indian pace bowler is also included in the team.

With this strong line-up Mumbai team is expected to perform well in the "Indian Premier League".

Lal Chand Rajputh, former Indian team manager is the coach for the Mumbai Indians. R.Balachandran will be the CEO and M.Ambani will be the President of the team.

BANGLORE ROYAL CHALLENGERS

The name "Bangalore Royal Challengers" will represent the Bangalore team in the Indian Premier League . This team is owned by the Liquor king in India Dr.Vijay Malaya. Former captain of Indian Cricket team Rahul Dravid is the captain of this team and is also the iconic player for the Bangalore Royal Challengers.

Previously the team was bought by the kingfisher group chairman Dr.Vijay Malaya for an astonishing amount of $111.6 million, which stood the second highest amount after the Mumbai team.

Malaya wanted to associate his top liquor brands McDowell’s or Royal challenge with his team but at last he selected the brand Royal Challenge for that.

Dipika Padukone and Katrina Kaif, top Bollywood actresses will be Brand Ambassadors for the Bangalore Royal Challengers.

The Bangalore Royal Challengers have quit a few top players in their List. South African All-rounder Jacques Kallis was the costliest player in the team who was successfully bid for $900,000. Other players include Indian test team captain Anil Kumble along with Praveen Kumar, Zaheer Khan, Sivanarayan Chandra Paul, Mark Boucher…

Vekatesh Prasad, the bowling coach of the Indian Cricket Team will be the coach for this team.

Charu Sharma will be the CEO and Vijay Malaya will be the president of this team. Former New Zealand captain and cousin of Hollywood actor Russell Crowe will be the Advisor for this team.

CHENNAI SUPER KINGS

The name "Chennai Super Kings" will be representing the Chennai team in the Indian Premier League . This team was previously acquired by the Indian cement group for an amount of $91 million for the next ten years.

This is team which acquired the highest paid player of the Indian Premier League Mahender Singh Dhoni. He is made the captain of the team as there is no iconic player for this team.

Former India test player Kris Srikanth, Tamil Actor Vijay and Actress Nayana Tara are the brand ambassadors for this team.

Even this team has some great players in their list apart from Mahender Singh Dhoni. This list includes top players like Muralidharan, Mathew Hayden, Mike Hussey, Stephen Fleming and all-rounder like Albe Morkel, Jacob Oram… who performed well in the T20 World Cup. This team will also have players from Kerala and Railways.

Former Indian Opening Batsman V.B.Chandra Shekar will be the chief selector and Kepller Wessels will be the coach for this team.

Delhi dare devils

The names “Delhi dare devils” will be representing the Delhi team in the Indian Premier League. Indian opening batsmen Virender sehwag is the iconic player for this team.

Previously this team was bought by the GMR group for an amount of $84 million at the auction conducted on 26th January.

The Delhi team has grabbed quite a few big names to their team list. The iconic player Virender Sehwag will be the captain of the team. The team also has Top Indian Players like Gautam Ghambir, Murali karthik. It also has some great names like Glenn McGrath, Shoaib Malik etc.

The GMR group has recently announced that the Bollywood actor Akshay Kumar will be the Brand Ambassador for this team.

Yogesh shetty is the CEO. The Delhi team picked up Greg Sheppard as their team coach.
Delhi Feroz Shah Kotla ground will be the Home ground for this team.

Deccan Chargers

The name “Deccan Chargers” will be representing the Hyderabad team in the Indian Premier League. There is no iconic player for this team.

Previously this team was bought by the Deccan Chronicle group for an amount of $107 million. This was the third highest amount after the Mumbai Indians and Bangalore Royal Challengers.

This team has a very strong line up. VVS laxman will be the captain of this team. This team has some great names like Australian all-rounder Andrew Symonds, wicket-keeper Adam Gilcrist, Indian Young stars like Rohith Sharma. It also has some experienced players like Sanath Jayasurya, Chamindha vaas.

The team is still in a search for a Brand Ambassador. Everyone is expecting a Tollywood star for that.

J Krishnan will be the CEO for this team and the Uppal stadium in Hyderabad will be the home ground for this team.

Kolkata Knight Riders

The name “Kolkata Knight Riders” will be representing the Kolkata team in the Indian Premier League. Indian ex Captain Sourav Ganguly is the iconic player for this team.
This team was previously bought by the Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan for an amount of $75.09 million at the auction conducted on 26th January.

Shah Rukh has selected very good players for his team. First among them is the Australian captain Ricky Ponting. Indian upcoming super star Ishath Sharma is also there in the team. He was bid for the highest amount in the team.

Shah Rukh himself and actress Juhi Chawla will be the brand Ambassadors for this team.

The Ceo and President for this team are not yet announced and the home ground for this team will be the Eden Gardens which has a huge capacity to facilitate around 88,000 people.

John Buchanan, the former Australian coach will be the head coach for this team.

Kings IX Punjab

The name “Kings IX Punjab” will be representing the team Mohali for the Indian Premier league. Indian all-rounder Yuvraj Singh is the iconic player for this team.

This team was previously bought by the Bollywood Actress Preethi Zintha and her Boy friend for an amount of $76 million at the auction conducted on 26th January.

This team has a few quite a good players in it. Yuvraj Sigh is the captain foe this team. Australian fast Bowler Brett Lee is also included in this team. This is team is completely swadesi except for a few foreign players.

The CEO and President for this team are not yet announced. Former Sri Lankan coach Tom Moody will be the head coach for this team.

The Punjab Cricket Stadium in Mohali will be the home ground for this team.

Rajasthan Royals

The name “Rajasthan royals” will be representing the team Jaipur in the Indian Premier League. There is no iconic player for this team.

This team was previously bought by the Emerging Media group for an amount of $67 million at the auction conducted on 26th January. This team was bid for the lowest amount in the Indian Premier League.

Shane Warne is the captain of this team. It also has some good players in its list like Grame Smith, Justin Langer, Irfan Pathan’s brother Yousuf on its list.
Shane Warne is the Brand Ambassador for this team.

Fraser Castellino is the Ceo for this team. Shane Warne will be he head coach for this team.

The Jaipur cricket stadium will be the home ground for this team.

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Indian Premier League Teams

MUMBAI INDIANS

The name "Mumbai Indians" will represent the Mumbai team for the Indian Premier League . The team will be lead by the master blaster Sachin Tendulkar, the iconic player of the Mumbai team.

This team was previously bought by the Reliance Industries chairman, Mukesh Ambani at the auction on the January 26th. They bought this team for the highest amount in the Indian Premier League, $111.6 million.

The colour of their costumes will be blue. The name Indians is really a blunder by the team management as it doesn’t seem to be apt for the team.

This team has successfully gained seven good players at the auction held in Mumbai for the players. This list includes the Harbajan Singh, Robin Uthappa, and Sanath Jayasurya.

It also has some all-rounders like Shawn Pollack included in the team. When it comes to the bowlers, there are a few good names in the list like Lasith Malinga and Dilshan. Ashish Nehra, ex-Indian pace bowler is also included in the team.

With this strong line-up Mumbai team is expected to perform well in the "Indian Premier League".

Lal Chand Rajputh, former Indian team manager is the coach for the Mumbai Indians. R.Balachandran will be the CEO and M.Ambani will be the President of the team.

BANGLORE ROYAL CHALLENGERS

The name "Bangalore Royal Challengers" will represent the Bangalore team in the Indian Premier League . This team is owned by the Liquor king in India Dr.Vijay Malaya. Former captain of Indian Cricket team Rahul Dravid is the captain of this team and is also the iconic player for the Bangalore Royal Challengers.

Previously the team was bought by the kingfisher group chairman Dr.Vijay Malaya for an astonishing amount of $111.6 million, which stood the second highest amount after the Mumbai team.

Malaya wanted to associate his top liquor brands McDowell’s or Royal challenge with his team but at last he selected the brand Royal Challenge for that.

Dipika Padukone and Katrina Kaif, top Bollywood actresses will be Brand Ambassadors for the Bangalore Royal Challengers.

The Bangalore Royal Challengers have quit a few top players in their List. South African All-rounder Jacques Kallis was the costliest player in the team who was successfully bid for $900,000. Other players include Indian test team captain Anil Kumble along with Praveen Kumar, Zaheer Khan, Sivanarayan Chandra Paul, Mark Boucher…

Vekatesh Prasad, the bowling coach of the Indian Cricket Team will be the coach for this team.

Charu Sharma will be the CEO and Vijay Malaya will be the president of this team. Former New Zealand captain and cousin of Hollywood actor Russell Crowe will be the Advisor for this team.

CHENNAI SUPER KINGS

The name "Chennai Super Kings" will be representing the Chennai team in the Indian Premier League . This team was previously acquired by the Indian cement group for an amount of $91 million for the next ten years.

This is team which acquired the highest paid player of the Indian Premier League Mahender Singh Dhoni. He is made the captain of the team as there is no iconic player for this team.

Former India test player Kris Srikanth, Tamil Actor Vijay and Actress Nayana Tara are the brand ambassadors for this team.

Even this team has some great players in their list apart from Mahender Singh Dhoni. This list includes top players like Muralidharan, Mathew Hayden, Mike Hussey, Stephen Fleming and all-rounder like Albe Morkel, Jacob Oram… who performed well in the T20 World Cup. This team will also have players from Kerala and Railways.

Former Indian Opening Batsman V.B.Chandra Shekar will be the chief selector and Kepller Wessels will be the coach for this team.

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IPl is over - back to buisiness now

If you are a regular reader of this blog then you will find nothing related to the Indian premier league in this post. I’m writing this post for the promotion of my next blog. I’m making quite a good income by giving people information they need and in turn getting traffic from. So now I decided to share the information on how to make money online.

I entered this profession a long back and had passed many hurdles before I actually started making money. It’s very important for a person to stand still and not give up. I did the same and now I’m making a good living. There are many blogs maintained by people from all around the world which gives us information on how to make money online. But many of them are bogus and cannot be trusted. If you are reading this then you are lucky that you are going to get the right guidance.

In my research I came to know that people from Asian countries mainly India are more interested in making money online. But the process of making money online is not the same in all countries. There are only a few programmes available in Asian countries and especially India so to earn online in India may be a bit tougher than that in other countries. The main and simplest way to make money online is through Adsense and that is available in India and that’s enough to make a good living. So follow the right guidance before you start your business.

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Kingfisher Airlines Grabbed the Umpiring Rights for the Indian Premier League

Kingfisher Airlines, the five star airlines in India has grabbed the Umpiring rights for the Indian Premier League . Their brand label will be pasted on the costumes of the umpires and also for all the third umpire decisions. They grabbed these rights for $106 million for a period of five years.

The chairman for the Kingfisher group Dr. Vijay Malaya felt really happy for grabbing the umpiring rights. He stated that the brand value for their Airlines will increase with this advertisement. He said that he will present the umpires with unique costumes to present their brand style.

Lalit Modi, the chairman of DLF "Indian Premier League" said he is happy that country’s five star Airline Company is sponsoring the Umpiring rights for the Indian premier league.

Earlier the television rights for the Indian Premier League were grabbed by the Sony group for $1 billion for the next 10 years and the franchises were bought by Industrialists like Malaya, Ambani and film actors like Shah Rukh Khan, Preethi Zinta.

The Indian Premier League is all set to start on April 18th and will last for around 44 days with a total of 59 matches. The matches are going to be conducted in afternoon and evening times to encourage the stadium viewers.

There will be a total 117 hours of family entertainment all this summer through this Indian Premier league. The matches are scheduled on the basis such that each team will play 7 matches at their home ground.

There will be a total of seven teams from which four teams will be selected to the semifinals that will fight for the finals and the winner in the finals will grab the cup along with huge prize money.

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New Zealand supports the Indian Premier League

There are many New Zealandars participating in the Indian Premier League, the list of players include the former captain Stephan Fleming, the present captain Daniel Vettori and many more of them. There were a few cricketers from the New Zealand who joined the Indian Premier League after the completion of the first biding like Peter Fulton, Chris Martin.

They recieved a great response from the teams owners at the auction conducted for the players. Players who joined after the first auction participated in the second auction and were bid for good amounts.

New Zealand cricket board has also got on to the list of supporters for the Indian Premier League. They said that the BCCI is managing the league preventing all the controversies and clashes with other cricket boards.

New Zealand cricket Board has allowed it’s players to join their tour of england on may 1st so that they can play a few matches in the Indian Premier League. Previously there were rumors that the players are going to miss the tour as they are scheduled to play in the Indian Premier League. New Zealand cricket board consulted all their players and came to a decision that they will join the tour lately on march 1st after playing a few matches in Indian Premier League.

The New Zealand cricket board stated that the decision taken by them is fair and will produce more cricketing outcome. It also stated that this agreement is accepted by the england and wales cricket board.

The New Zealand players will join the tour on may 1st i.e., 14 days before the start of the test series against England. The players participating in Indian Premier League will be missing the match against the kent.

New Zealand cricket board stated that all their players will be present on or before 1st of and may and they will have two weeks time for their practise. Before the test match there will be two practise matches held.

The New Zealand cricketers participating in the Indian Premier League are Daniel Vettori ,the captain of the team, Brendon Mccullum(vice captain), Jacob oram, Ross Taylor and Kyle Mills.

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No more Hopes for the DC in IPL

The Chargers did it again they lost to the Kolkatha Knight Riders here at Hyderabad. They were already at the last position in the table and they did it again.

All the cricket experts are completely surprised with this performance by the Deccan Chargers. DC were one among the Hot favorites when IPL started. But now it is in the last position.

The Knight Riders started of well with some good partnership from Ganguly and Chopra later on mike Hussuy took the responsibilty with some grest shots.

The Chargers seemed good with Gilly but after his dismisal there was no hope for the Chargers. Venu Gopal Rao did a good job in the end but was not worth to win the game. He scored 69 from just 42 balls with 5 sixers on the card. He hit the maximum sixers in the match.

It was for the first time in the IPL that a man batting a 6th poistion scored a half century. All the credit goes to Venu Gopal Rao but he was not able to bring the match for the Chargers.

Score Card

Knight Riders

Batting:

Ganguly-91
Hussy-57
Chopra-24

Bowling:

Singh – 1-59
Vijay – 1-21
Vaas – 1-36

Deccan Chargers

Batting:

Rao – 69
Sharma – 33
Gilly – 24

Bowling:

Dinda – 3-33
Ganguly – 2-25
Gul - 1-43

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Sharukh, Preethi, Mallaya, Ambani win the Indian Premier League Bids

The most awaiting 20-20 cricket championship The Indian Premier League received a great response from top Indian actor Sharukh Khan, top industrialists like Mukesh Ambani and Vijay Mallaya who won the bids for the Indian Premier League.

Mukesh Ambani won over Vijay Mallaya for the team Mumbai for $111.9. However Mallaya got away with the Bangalore team for an amount of $111.6.

Sharukh Khan along with his friends Juhi grabbed the kokatha tem and Preethi Zinta along with her Boy friend Industrialist Ness Wadia grabbed the Mohali team.

The others who were in the list are Deccan Chronicle which grabbed the Hyderabad team, GMR which grabbed the Delhi team, Emerging media group which grabbed the Jaipur team.

The others who lost the bids were Sahara, future group, ICICI…

There were rumors that Sharukh was doing this to promote his films. When Modi was asked about it he replied that he loved the game and that’s why he invested in it, there is no question of promoting his films.

The IPL competition will start on April 18th. The matches will be broadcasted on Sony max and SET.

The Bid amounts for the teams are as follows:

Mukesh Ambani - $111.9 million for the Mumbai team.

Vijay Mallaya - $111.6 million for the Bangalore team.

Deccan Chronicle - $107 million for the team Hyderabad.

India Cements - $91 million for Chennai team.

GMR Group - $84 million for the Delhi team.

Sharukh Khan - $75.09 million for the Kolkatha team.

Preethi Zinta -$76 million for the Mohali team.

Emerging Media - $67 million for the Jaipur team.

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Sony takes away the Indian Premier League rights for $1 Billion

The Sony group which broadcasted the 2003 and 2007 world cups along with the world sport group jointly grabbed the rights for the Indian premier League cricket for the next 10 years for an astonishing amount of $1 Billion.

This deal gives the Sony Company the right to broadcast the series for the next 10 years. The matches will be broadcasted in the set and Sony max channels which broadcasted the ICC world cup.

The rights were actually given as a part of showing them the sympathy for the great loss occurred during the 2007 world cup as a result of the early departure of the Indian team from the world cup. The Sony people had a loss of about $100 million.

The new deal gives the Sony groups the right to broadcast the Indian premier League matches in the south Asia. The world sport group has the international media rights for internet, mobiles etc…

The Sony group had grabbed the rights from ICC to broadcast their events from 2000-2007. The CEO of set India had announced that they are not going to take any more rights from ICC and concentrate more this short form of the game.

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Sri Lanka trying to make it's way to the Indian Premier League

Sri Lankan cricket board asked the Pakistani cricket board to postpone the series with them in order to prevent the clash with the Indian Premier League .

The Sri Lankan cricket board said that their top players like Jayasurya, Dilashan may not be available for the series as they are participating in the Indian Premier League which is going to start from April 18th.

This series was scheduled after the cancellation of the series with the Australia. This series is scheduled with five One-day matches starting from April23rd to May5th, but as these dates are coinciding with Matches scheduled in Indian Premier League players may not be available for the series.

Previously the Pakistan cricket board offered $800,000 to the Sri Lankan cricket board for the participation in this series, but only in the presence of the whole team.

The Sri Lankan cricket board has already stated that they have released their players for the participation in the Indian Premier League and they cannot cancel it now.

BCCI secretary Niranjan Shah has already expressed his displeasure about the series against Pakistan.

The "Indian Premier League" is all set to start from April 18th. The teams in this league include top players from different countries in their line up. All the players in the teams are previously auctioned and are bought by different teams with their costs ranging from $100,000 to $1.5million.

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Symonds and Dhoni go for highest bids in IPL

The owner’s of the teams spent lavishly at the auction for the players of "Indian premier league", with mahender singh dhoni captian of Indian team at the top of the list. On the day of auction the bidding of 77 players reached over 40 million, which turned out to be a big sensation for the players in Indian premier league.

The TV rights were sold for an astonishing 1billion $ for next ten years, and the teams were sold to $723 millions.

Chennai won over Mumbai in the race for the Indian captain "Mahendar Singh Dhoni". The people started cheering when the bid crossed the 1million mark. The south Indian team grabbed dhoni for an astonishing amount of $1.5 million.

Dhoni after hearing this news gave an interview to the indiatimes website saying that he was happy about the bid and never felt tensed or lost sleep for the sake of this bid. He is presently captaining the Indian team in the tri series against Australia.

Australian all-rounder Andrew Symonds was next in the list in the Indian Premier League after Dhoni who crossed the 1 million mark. He was bid for $1.35 million by the Hyderabad team.

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The Money Mania: Indian Premier League

The Indian premier League has not yet started but it can be said that it is going to be a huge success. It’s like a Billion Dollar Baby for the BCCI. It brought up a lot of money into their Treasure.

Initially the craze started when the top Industrialists like Mukesh Ambani and Celebrities like Shah Rukh khan participated in the auction and successfully won the bids for owning the franchises in the Indian Premier League. The highest amount in this auction was for the Mumbai team. This team was successfully bid for an astonishing amount of $111.9 million by Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani. The next highest was for the Bangalore team which was successfully bid for $111.6 million by the liquor king Vijay Malaya.

Then the craze got stimulated during the auction conducted for the players. All theIndian Premier League teams participated in this auction. The highest amount in this bid was $1.5 million for Indian Team captain Mahender Singh Dhoni.

The TV rights for the Indian premier League were gone for an astonishing amount of $1 billion. These rights were successfully bid by the Sony and World Sport group for the next ten years.

The Umpiring rights for the Indian premier League were gone for $106 million. These rights were bought by the Kingfisher Airlines group. The Kingfisher people will be having their brand mark on the umpire costumes and also on the third umpire decision.

BCCI grabbed all the above money. They are using this money in a right way. The total prize money for the Indian Premier League is Rs. 12 crore. The winner in the final will get Rs.4.8 crore and the runner up will get Rs.2.8 crore. The teams which got till semifinals will get 1.2 crore.

This huge amount of money was never seen in the history of cricket. The prize money announced was three times the prize money of a cricket world cup. This is the main reason why the cricketers from all around the world are trying to make their place in the Indian Premier League.

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Watson Stars in the Rajasthan Royals Victory

The match between the Kings 11 Punjab and the Rajasthan was really a great experience for the viewers all over the ground. It provided everything to them.

The Punjab 11 had batted well but in the end the end the beautiful batting by Shane Watson brought the victory for the Royals. He is the top scorer of the match with an unbeaten 76 in just 49 balls which included 5 sixes. He was the man of the match and also the most six hitter of the match.

Score Card

Kings 11 Punjab 20 over’s 166-8

Yuvraj-57

Goel-26

Chawla-20

Sangakara-20

Shane Warne - 3-19

Trivedi – 2-25

Rajasthan Royals 18.1 over’s 168-4

Shane Watson-76

Jadeja-36

Kamran Akmal-15

Brett Lee – 1-35

Sreeshanth – 1-38

Hopes – 1-33

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Watson Stars in the Rajasthan Royals Victory

The match between the Kings 11 Punjab and the Rajasthan was really a great experience for the viewers all over the ground. It provided everything to them.

The Punjab 11 had batted well but in the end the end the beautiful batting by Shane Watson brought the victory for the Royals. He is the top scorer of the match with an unbeaten 76 in just 49 balls which included 5 sixes. He was the man of the match and also the most six hitter of the match.

Score Card

Kings 11 Punjab 20 over’s 166-8

Yuvraj-57

Goel-26

Chawla-20

Sangakara-20

Shane Warne - 3-19

Trivedi – 2-25

Rajasthan Royals 18.1 over’s 168-4

Shane Watson-76

Jadeja-36

Kamran Akmal-15

Brett Lee – 1-35

Sreeshanth – 1-38

Hopes – 1-33

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Tennis - Point-by-point guide to Murray's decisive game

Here is a point-by-point guide to the remarkable decisive game in which Murray earned and lost three championship points and Djokovic squandered three break points before the Scot triumphed to end Britain's 77-year wait for a Wimbledon men's singles champion.

* Having brilliantly broken for a 5-4 lead Murray looks calm and collected as he lines up to serve the most important game of his life.

* Djokovic sends his backhand opening return beyond the baseline: 15-0.

* After netting his first serve Murray gets into a rally and after running down yet another ill-advised Djokovic drop shot he steers home a forehand winner: 30-0.

* Djokovic sends a service return long and suddenly Wimbledon is in dream land - three championship points for a British player: 40-0.

* A tense 12-shot rally ends with a crisp Djokovic volley: 40-15.

* Murray's tentative second serve comes flying back past him before he can react: 40-30.

* Another missed first serve and a long backhand means the lead has gone. More groans all round. Deuce.

* Murray looks tight and nets a forehand as the Serb top seed walks back to his mark with a wry smile. Advantage Djokovic.

* Murray responds with a big serve: Deuce.

* Djokovic plays another drop shot, this one catches the tape and crawls agonisingly over the net to drop dead and elicit a huge groan from the Centre Court crowd: Advantage Djokovic.

* A brilliant angled cross-court forehand by Murray brings it back to Deuce.

* Djokovic conjures up another unfeasible angle to flick another winner and bring up his third break point: Advantage Djokovic.

* Murray confidently dispatches a volley winner. Deuce.

* Another long rally, with rising oohs and ahs from the edgy crowd, ends with Djokovic netting a volley to give Murray a fourth championship point and lift the hordes on Henman Hill to their feet. Advantage Murray.

* No mistakes from Murray this time as he keeps the ball in play and Djokovic nets a backhand to give the Briton victory.

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Tennis - Radwanska marches through in Stanford

The Pole kicked off her campaign at the Californian event - her first since losing to Sabine Lisicki in the semi-final at Wimbledon - after having received a bye directly into the second round.

Radwanska, who earlier in the week had to defend her decision to pose nude for a sports magazine following criticism in her home country, showed no signs of distraction as she dominated the contest and put herself in a winning position early on.

World number 59 Schiavone, once ranked fourth - a position Radwanska currently occupies - did manage to put a run games together in the second set, but by that time Radwanska was all but home and dry.

She will now meet American sixth seed Varvara Lepchenko, who downed Tamira Paszek of Austria 6-4 6-4.

Samantha Stosur, the second seed, crashed out of the tournament a day earlier to improve Radwanska's hopes of winning a third WTA title this season.

Stanford Classic results

Round two

1-Agnieszka Radwanska (Poland) beat Francesca Schiavone (Italy) 6-4 6-3

5-Sorana Cirstea (Romania) beat Coco Vandeweghe (U.S.) 6-3 6-3

6-Varvara Lepchenko (U.S.) beat Tamira Paszek (Austria) 6-4 6-4

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Tennis - Serena brushes aside Tatishvili in Bastad

Williams barely broke a sweat, dropping only five games in a match that lasted just over an hour.

It was the first time that the two had faced each other with the world number one and top seed coming through against the world number 104 in typically brutal fashion.

The 31-year-old American struggled with her serve throughout the match, making just 58% of her first serves and was broken 3 times by her Georgian opponent.

Although red-hot favourite, Williams is now in a stronger position with 2nd seed, and world number 23, Simona Halep retiring hurt in her match against Italy’s Flavia Pennetta.

WTA Bastad round two results

1-Serena Williams (U.S.) beat Anna Tatishvili (Georgia) 6-2 6-3

Flavia Pennetta (Italy) beat 2-Simona Halep (Romania) 4-6 7-5 2-0 (Halep retired)

Richel Hogenkamp (Netherlands) beat 6-Lesia Tsurenko (Ukraine) 6-1 2-6 6-3

WTA Bad Gastein round two results

2-Annika Beck (Germany) beat Mandy Minella (Luxembourg) 2-6 6-4 6-4

Yvonne Meusburger (Austria) beat 3-Irina Begu (Romania) 6-3 6-3

Elina Svitolina (Ukraine) beat 6-Chanelle Scheepers (South Africa) 7-5 1-6 6-1

Patricia Mayr-Achleitner (Austria) beat Petra Martic (Croatia) 6-4 6-4

Arantxa Rus (Netherlands) beat Estrella Cabeza Candela (Spain) 5-7 7-5 6-3

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Tennis - Serena brushes aside Zakopalova to make Bastad final

Williams’ early dominance was total as she rattled off the first eight games to bagel her Czech opponent and open up a two game advantage in the second set.

Zakopalova did manage to fashion a break of her own to tie the second set at 2-2 but Williams, who lost to Sabine Lisicki in the last-16 of Wimbledon, broke back to take the set and the match just shy of an hour and ten minutes.

Williams will face home hope Johanna Larsson in Sunday’s final.

The Swede came from behind to overpower her Italian counter-part Flavia Pennetta 2-6 6-3 6-4.

WTA Bastad semi-final results

1-Serena Williams (US) beat 3-Klara Zakopalova (Czech Republic) 6-0 6-4

8-Johanna Larsson (Sweden) beat Flavia Pennetta (Italy) 2-6 6-3 6-4

WTA Bad Gastein semi-final results

Andrea Hlavackova (Czech Republic) beat Elina Svitolina (Ukraine) 7-5 6-7(1) 6-4

Yvonne Meusburger (Austria) beat 8-Karin Knapp (Italy) 6-4 6-3

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Tennis - Serena too strong for Karatantcheva in Bastad

The world number one and top seed was too strong for Sesil Karatancheva of Kazakhstan as she raced to a 6-1 6-2 victory.

Williams is the red-hot favourite for the tournament with the second seed in the event – Romania's Simona Halep– being ranked only 23rd in the world.

Still it is a popular event on the tour and was voted WTA's tournament of the year in 2012.

A packed crowd watched Serena in action but the contest last only 64 minutes as world number 131 Karatancheva found the step up in class a little too much.

Next up for Williams is a clash with Georgia's Anna Tatishvili, who defeated Swiss wild card Belinda Bencic in three sets.

WTA Bastad round one results

Andrea Gamiz (Venezuela) beat 4-Tsvetana Pironkova (Bulgaria) 6-1 6-3

1-Serena Williams (U.S.) beat Sesil Karatantcheva (Kazakhstan) 6-1 6-2

6-Lesia Tsurenko (Ukraine) beat Anastasia Grymalska (Italy) 6-3 5-7 6-1

Richel Hogenkamp (Netherlands) beat Lara Arruabarrena Vecino (Spain) 6-3 6-3

3-Klara Zakopalova (Czech Republic) beat Ellen Allgurin (Sweden) 6-1 6-1

Nina Bratchikova (Russia) beat Lesley Kerkhove (Netherlands) 6-3 6-1

Anna Tatishvili (Georgia) beat Belinda Bencic (Switzerland) 2-6 6-4 6-4

Teliana Pereira (Brazil) beat Dinah Pfizenmaier (Germany) 3-6 6-2 7-5

Alexandra Dulgheru (Romania) beat Caroline Garcia (France) 7-6(2) 6-1

Mathilde Johansson (France) beat Julia Cohen (U.S.) 6-2 6-3 

WTA Bad Gastein round one results

Petra Martic (Croatia) beat 4-Andrea Petkovic (Germany) 6-7(5) 7-5 6-3

Patricia Mayr-Achleitner (Austria) beat Tereza Mrdeza (Croatia) 6-4 6-3

Alexandra Cadantu (Romania) beat Maria Joao Koehler (Portugal) 6-2 6-4

Mandy Minella (Luxembourg) beat Dia Evtimova (Bulgaria) 6-2 2-6 6-3

2-Annika Beck (Germany) beat Shahar Peer (Israel) 7-5 6-3

6-Chanelle Scheepers (South Africa) beat Anna Karolina Schmiedlova (Slovakia) 6-1 6-4

Andrea Hlavackova (Czech Republic) beat Eleni Daniilidou (Greece) 6-3 6-1

Elina Svitolina (Ukraine) beat Michaela Honcova (Slovakia) 6-2 6-2

Lisa-Maria Moser (Austria) beat Elena Bogdan (Romania) 7-6(6) 2-6 6-4

Viktorija Golubic (Switzerland) beat 5-Kiki Bertens (Netherlands) 6-2 6-2

Estrella Cabeza Candela (Spain) beat Tadeja Majeric (Slovenia) 6-1 6-3

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Tennis - Stosur stunned in Stanford

The Australian, playing her first match of the US hardcourt season after having received a first-round bye, dropped to a shock 6-2 6-4 defeat to her 83rd ranked opponent from Belarus.

Stosur's outing at the tournament in California was serving as a warm-up for her tilt at the upcoming US Open, which she won in 2011.

But Stosur's current form is a far cry from that which landed her a first and only singles Grand Slam title two years ago, and Govortsova was able to run away with victory.

The Belarusian won the first four games of each set while Stosur double-faulted 10 times.

The Australian's attempted fightback late in the second was too little too late and Govortsova sealed victory to ease into the third round, where she will now meet either Sorana Cirstea or Coco Vandeweghe.

Top seed Agnieszka Radwanska has a tough opening match against Francesca Schiavone in the second round.

Stanford Classic results

Round 2

Olga Govortsova (Belarus) beat 2-Samantha Stosur (Australia) 6-2 6-4

Round 1

7-Urszula Radwanska (Poland) beat Christina Mchale (U.S.) 6-1 6-3

Daniela Hantuchova (Slovakia) beat Yanina Wickmayer (Belgium) 6-2 4-6 6-0

Vera Dushevina (Russia) beat Marina Erakovic (New Zealand) 6-2 6-1

Coco Vandeweghe (U.S.) beat Monica Niculescu (Romania) 6-0 6-3

Tamira Paszek (Austria) beat Alla Kudryavtseva (Russia) 6-1 6-7(4) 3-0 (Kudryavtseva retired)

6-Varvara Lepchenko (U.S.) beat Michelle Larcher de Brito (Portugal) 6-2 6-4

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Tennis - Williams wins fourth clay title of season in Bastad

It made it 28 clay court wins in a row for Serena with five of her seven 2013 titles coming on the surface - four on red clay and one on green clay (Charleston).

Larsson got off to a good start in her home tournament, breaking in the opening game, and was 3-1 in front early but the eight seeded Swede only went on to win two more games as Serena took control.

It was the 53rd WTA title of Williams' career and puts her level with Monica Seles for ninth on the all-time list in the Open era.

Meanwhile in Bad Gastein, Austria, Yvonne Meusburger delighted the home fans by winning the first title of her career against Andrea Hlavackova of Czech Republic 7-5 6-2 .

Meusburger is ranked only 86th in the world but enjoyed a fantastic tournament – not dropping a single set all week.

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Tennis - WTA rankings

points

1. (1) Serena Williams (United States) 11705

2. (2) Maria Sharapova (Russia) 9235

3. (3) Victoria Azarenka (Belarus) 8825

4. (4) Agnieszka Radwanska (Poland) 5965

5. (5) Li Na (China) 5555

6. (6) Sara Errani (Italy) 5100

7. (8) Petra Kvitova (Czech Republic) 4435

8. (7) Marion Bartoli (France) 4365

9. (9) Angelique Kerber (Germany) 3970

10. (10) Caroline Wozniacki (Denmark) 3660

11. (11) Roberta Vinci (Italy) 3220

12. (12) Maria Kirilenko (Russia) 2976

13. (13) Samantha Stosur (Australia) 2965

14. (15) Kirsten Flipkens (Belgium) 2886

15. (16) Sloane Stephens (United States) 2870

16. (14) Jelena Jankovic (Serbia) 2865

17. (17) Ana Ivanovic (Serbia) 2740

18. (18) Sabine Lisicki (Germany) 2650

19. (20) Carla Suarez Navarro (Spain) 2430

20. (19) Nadia Petrova (Russia) 2306

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Wimbledon - Bryan brothers win doubles title, make Grand Slam history

The top-seeded twin brothers lost the first five games of the match but fought back strongly to outclass the Croatian/Brazilian duo and extend their Grand Slam record number of titles to 15.

The 35-year-old Bryans, who also won the Olympic gold medal last year, got the measure of their 12th-seeded opponents through the telepathic understanding which has brought them 91 career doubles titles.

They made the decisive break in the ninth game of the fourth set and Bob Bryan served out for victory which he sealed with an ace, prompting a trademark chest-pump by the brothers.

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Wimbledon - Cameron backs knighthood for victorious Murray

Murray defeated Serbia’s Novak Djokovic 6-4 7-5 6-4 on Sunday to delight a country that has waited so long for a successor to Fred Perry.

The world number two, who also holds the US Open and Olympic titles, has quickly been installed as the 1/20 favourite to win the Sports Personality of the Year award but there is also speculation he could earn recognition in the New Year honours list.

While Cameron has no influence over what is an independent process, the Conservative Prime Minster believes Murray is deserving of being knighted, saying on Monday: "Frankly, I can't think of anyone who deserves one more.”

Cameron, who watched Murray’s victory from the royal box at Wimbledon, added that the moment of sporting glory "lifted the spirits of the whole country".

He added: "It was a fantastic day for Andy Murray, for British tennis and for Britain … We were wondering yesterday morning, 'Do we dare to dream that this is possible?' and he proved absolutely that it was."

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Wimbledon - Champion Murray in a blur after historic triumph

The British number one produced a stubborn display that underlined his mental toughness and increasing self-belief to beat world number one Novak Djokovic 6-4 7-6 6-4.

He came out to serve for the title as a far from reserved roar, an unleashing of national frustration after so many years, reverberated around the hallowed Centre Court.

Murray quickly established three Championship points and then squandered them all.

He then saved three break points before producing a brilliant winner to set up another chance, which he finally took to end Britain's 77-year wait for a men's singles winner.

The British number one now holds the Olympic, US Open and Wimbledon titles - and, at just 26, is still at the peak of his powers meaning there is surely more to come.

"Winning Wimbledon is the pinnacle of tennis. Those last few points were the hardest of my life and I worked so hard in that last game," said Murray.

"I just can't get my head around it, I can't quite believe it.

"It's all a bit of a blur, from 4-2 down in the third set to holding the trophy, I don't know what to say.

"Mentally, that last game was the toughest game I will play in my entire career. I can't really believe that it's happened. This one will take a while to sink in."

Murray paid special tribute to coach Ivan Lendl, himself a two-time beaten finalist at Wimbledon, who has perhaps added a decisive missing ingredient to the world number two's entourage since his appointment early last year.

"He told me he was proud of me, which coming from him means a lot," added Murray.

"He doesn't smile too much in public but away from the cameras and crowds he is a very different character.

"He'd have loved to win here but this was the next best thing for him, he's stuck by me through some tough losses, he's been very patient and I'm happy I managed to do it for him.

"Ivan has made me learn more from my losses. He is extremely honest with me, if I work hard then he is happy. If I don't, he's disappointed and will tell me.

"He's got my mentality slightly different heading into these big matches."

Murray also paid tribute to the crowd - normally the most reserved on the Grand Slam circuit - who waved their flags and raised the roof with the sort of chanting you normally only find at the Davis Cup.

"It was a different atmosphere to the past, it was incredibly loud," he said.

"It does make a difference and it really helps when the crowd is like that. It's especially good in a tough matches, when it's extremely hot and there are long, brutal rallies. It helps get you through."

Murray admits to feeling strange that his entire career has been contrasted with a player, Fred Perry, who died when he was just seven years old.

And he hopes that he won't be held up as a similar example for those that will surely be inspired by his Wimbledon victory.

"It's an incredibly difficult tournament to win, so it's possible it could take a long time but I would hope not that long," said Murray.

"I think with the amount of money that is invested in the sport in this country, then it shouldn't take 70 odd years."

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Wimbledon - Djokovic predicts more to come from Murray

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Wimbledon - Father's methods pay off as Bartoli does it her way

That player was his daughter Marion whose punchy double-handed forehands and backhands, quirky moves and almost maniacal focus took her through the Wimbledon draw without losing a set.

Her 6-1 6-4 victory over Germany's Sabine Lisicki completed a remarkable journey for the 28-year-old and finally vindicated her father's faith in doing things his way.

"I'm no tennis player so maybe my ideas were completely new, that's why a long time ago I was disturbing everybody," Walter, who introduced his daughter to tennis aged six after studying the style of Monica Seles, told reporters on a sun-splashed balcony alongside Centre Court.

"The tennis players thought this guy is crazy, these ideas are completely stupid but I kept believing in myself and Marion and me found our way to do things."

Bartoli has been consistently in the top 20 of the WTA rankings for six years but after a difficult season in which she had not gone past the quarter-finals at any tournament she was well down the list of potential Wimbledon winners.

She even stopped being coached by dad, working instead with former Wimbledon champion Amelie Mauresmo, but she sought him out for a warm embrace after firing down an ace to claim the title.

After some worrying time when she says she hit "rock bottom" everything finally fell into place - the ultimate reward for daring to be a little different.

"That's always been a part of my personality to be different," she told a new conference. "I think being just like the other one is kind of boring.

"At the end of the day, when the spectators were looking at 10 matches they will remember this girl that was doing something different, playing inside the court or whatever."

"It was the perfect day. It was sunny. It was beautiful. Centre Court Wimbledon, it was packed," added Bartoli, the first French player to win a slam since Mauresmo in 2006.

"I won in two sets. I didn't drop a set for the whole championship. Even in my perfect dream I couldn't have dreamed a perfect moment like that. That is beyond perfection."

Bartoli's style is based on taking the ball extremely early and being aggressive on every ball.

Those early days when she learnt her strokes on an indoor court with no space behind the baselines are still evident because the Frenchwoman always moves forward.

So is the intense focus that became an ingrained habit thanks to Walter's novel use of different coloured tennis balls, "some very speedy, some very low" he explains of one of the various unconventional coaching methods he introduced.

Sometimes she stands two metres inside the baseline to receive serve - a skill that requires incredible hand-eye coordination and Walter made use of video to study the way balls bounce.

The perpetual motion mannerisms, the imaginary swings behind the baseline, the running on the spot, the fist-pumps, are also key to the Bartoli blueprint.

"I told her to be a good player you have to have a routine and stick with it," said Walter, a doctor by profession. "The thing is for her not to be passive on the court. With her (double-fisted style) it's very difficult to come back in a rally, that's why she wins lots of quick rallies."

There have been "pain and tears" during her journey and heartache too when she missed the Olympics because of her decision not to play Fed Cup in protest at her father not being allowed to work with the team.

All that was forgotten on Saturday, even if Walter never imagined his daughter could one day be a Grand Slam champion.

"For sure I was thinking that she was a talented player and can have some fun on the tennis court and that's all," he said.

"She asked to be a champion and I helped her to be one. She used to say dad I want to improve my serve, have more speed, and I'd find each time a new exercise."

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Wimbledon - Hsieh becomes Taiwan's first Grand Slam title winner

Hsieh and China's Peng, the eighth seeds, took the first set in a tie-break and romped through the second against their 12th-seeded Australian opponents to claim their first Grand Slam crown.

Peng is the third Chinese to win a Grand Slam doubles title.

It was the third time Dellacqua finished runner-up in a women's doubles final at a Grand Slam. However, she did win the 2011 French Open mixed doubles title with American Scott Lipsky.

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Wimbledon - Judy Murray fears for British tennis despite Andy's triumph

Andy ended a 77-year wait for a British men’s champion at SW19 on Sunday against Novak Djokovic and celebrated with a kiss for his mum.

However Judy, who is coach of the British Fed Cup team, told the BBC’s Newsnight programme that she fears the wave of optimism will break under a lack of facilities at grassroots level.

"The country will go tennis crazy. Kids and adults will want to try tennis and not all of them will get the opportunity," she said.

"The key is to make sure there are as many public courts in as many communities we can put them in if we're going to tap into this great imagination…

"I'd like it to become way more inclusive. I think it still is [too elitist]. Some moves have been made to make things better but there's still such a long way to go and there are huge swathes of the country where you can't find tennis courts.

"You need to build courts in areas where they currently don't exist for it to become a much more inclusive sport…

"We need to get into rural areas and disadvantaged areas and get tennis to people that haven't had the opportunity to play.”

However Tom Gibbins, head of education at the Lawn Tennis Association, refuted the notion that tennis is inaccessible.

"We're trying to dispel lots of myths about tennis and one is that it has to be an expensive sport to play. The average weekly membership of a tennis club is less than £1.50 a week for a junior to play,” he told BBC London.

"Andy gave British tennis its greatest moment ever and it's our job to capitalise on that interest and inspire more kids and adults to play tennis.

"There are 20,000 tennis courts up and down the country, 1,500 of which are free. Tennis isn't an expensive sport especially at beginner and recreational level."

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Wimbledon - Karlovic: I didn’t know my name

Karlovic:”I didn’t know my name”

Ivo Karlovic has stated that he didn’t ‘know his name’ or ‘what year it was’ as he recovers from viral meningitis.

The 6’ 10” Croatian, who makes his long-awaited return to the tour in the Hall of Fame Tennis Championships on Friday, says that he now feels lucky to even be competing again after doctors stated that they weren’t sure whether he would ever fully recover.

The 34-year-old was preparing for an event on the Challenger Tour in April when the symptoms first occurred.

“I woke up and my arm was numb,” Karlovic recalled. “Then my wife [Alsi] asked me I don’t even remember what. I was slurring, so she called the paramedics.

“They gave me IV [therapy] and I felt good. But when they left, I began to vomit a lot and had headaches, so I went to hospital.

“They released me after one hour, but later that evening the numbness and pain returned. I became less and less conscious. I returned to hospital again. I don’t know what happened after that.”

“The doctor’s didn’t really know if I would recover 100 per cent. I was unconscious for a long time. I didn’t know my name or what year it was. I was in a lot of pain. My right arm and my face was numb.

“Headaches lasted almost 10 days. I recalled my name after four days and the numbness disappeared after five days.”

After making a recover from the illness, Karlovic has since struggled getting back to full match-fitness.

“The toughest part was fitness, and the fact that I didn’t know if it would happen again because there was still a virus in my head,” he added.

“I took to the practice court after one month. Five minutes one week and then every day. I really didn’t know that I would be back, so now it is good feeling because I feel no stress.

“It’s like a bonus. Every day now that I’m actually in a match, the atmosphere is like a bonus. I really like it now a lot more.

“I’m not fearful any more. The goal is just to be healthy and here. So it’s fun.”

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Wimbledon - Lisicki still smiling after final meltdown

The German clearly found her first Wimbledon final a difficult experience and she looked to be heading for an embarrassing 6-1 6-1 defeat before winning three games in a row to bring some respectability to the scoreline.

She sobbed on court during her second set meltdown but recovered her composure in time to face the world's media.

"I felt fine this morning but it's an occasion that you don't get every day," she told a news conference. "So it's something completely new for me.

"The walk on court is different. You walk on with the flowers. You walk on together. Everything is a little bit different. The feeling, the atmosphere is different."

Lisicki beat defending champion Serena Williams and last year's runner-up Agnieszka Radwanska on the way to the final and, on her favourite surface, was favourite to beat the 15th-seeded Bartoli.

But she was never able to produce consistently the booming serves and thumping forehands which took her to the final and made a string of costly unforced errors.

"I will learn and take away so much from it," Lisicki, seeded 23rd, said after her first Wimbledon final, having reached the semi-final in 2011.

"I've done that in the past. Experience has always helped me so much.

"When I was in the quarters here the first time, when I was in the semis for the first time, and now in the final for the first time. I've always gained my experience here, which is good.

"I hope that next time it will help me to do that one step further."

Lisicki, 23, agreed that the 28-year-old Bartoli, who did not drop a set in the tournament, had more energy left for the final after an easier run.

"Having so many hard matches is draining in the end of the day. I think Marion was fresher today. I think that made a big difference too," she said.

Lisicki was taking plenty of positives from her performances at Wimbledon.

"It's still been a great tournament," she said. "It's been an amazing two weeks.

"I've played my best tennis here. I had to take out the champion and runner-up from last year, so I think that's pretty big. This tournament definitely made me a better player."

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Wimbledon - Murray tames Djokovic to end 77 years of British hurt

Scotland’s world number two unsettled Serbia’s 2011 champion Djokovic from an epic opening game, coming back from breaks down in the second and third sets, before fending off a brave fightback while serving for the match as he claimed his finest career victory.

Murray won last year’s US Open to end what was then a 76-year wait for a British male Grand Slam champion; he is now the first Briton of either gender to win Wimbledon since Virginia Wade in 1977, and the first male since Fred Perry in 1936.

"It feels slightly different to last year," Murray said in reference to his tearful defeat in the 2012 final. "I don't know how I managed to get through that last game - losing three match points was unbelievable. It was hard to watch but imagine playing it!

"Novak has come back so many times from similar positions and he almost did it again."

The beaten world number one was typically sportsmanlike at the trophy presentation.

"Congratulations to Andy, who absolutely deserved this win - you played incredible tennis," Djokovic said. "I know how much it means to all of you guys, the whole country, well done.

"I'm aware of the pressure he gets, although I cannot imagine the extent not being in his shoes.

"It was an absolute pleasure and an honour to be part of this final."

Murray was exceptional at times but, by contrast, Djokovic had one of his worst games on Centre Court.

On the hottest day of the year in Britain, with the mercury soaring toward 30 degrees Celsius, the world's two best players produced some scorching sinew-stretching action from the start and the first three games alone lasted 20 minutes.

The opening salvo of the Centre Court clash lasted 20 strokes as Murray went up 0-40 on the Serb's serve but Djokovic produced staunch defence to stave off his opponent's attack.

The duo did trade breaks in the third and fourth games, with each Murray winner being greeted by a chorus of 15,000 roars.

Second seed Murray got another chance to break to love in the seventh game and this time he pounced as the 2011 champion surrendered his serve by slapping a backhand into the net.

A set that initially looked like lasting forever ended exactly on the hour mark as Djokovic whipped a service return wide to give Murray, runner-up to Roger Federer last year, the one-set cushion.

The battle between the two players who were born seven days apart in 1987 intensified in the second set as they went toe-to-toe from the baseline with 25-shot rallies being par for the course.

Djokovic, who survived a four hour 43 minute semi-final epic against Juan Martin Del Potro two days ago, showed his super-human ability to recover quickly as he ran down everything Murray could throw at him.

The Serb rattled Murray by going for the lines and broke for a 3-1 lead when Olympic champion Murray flicked a forehand into the net.

Even when Djokovic slipped and skidded flat on to his stomach while trying to chase down a Murray winner, the six-times Grand Slam champion appeared unfazed as he quickly got back on to his feet to extend his lead to 4-1.

But Murray, who trains in the intense Miami heat, showed off his iron-man conditioning as he stormed back to level at 4-4, a Djokovic double fault on break point down handing him the break back in the seventh game.

While the cheering crowd, which included British Prime Minister David Cameron, got behind a pumped up Murray, Djokovic simply exploded in anger in the 11th game.

Convinced that Murray had gone long mid-rally at 15-15, he screamed at umpire Mohamed Lahyani "Why? What's going on?" as he gesticulated wildly to show what he thought the linesman had failed to see.

Murray ignored the uproar to break the fuming Serb and soon had the fans roaring when he wrapped up the 69-minute second set with a 125mph thunderbolt ace.

The third set initially seemed a formality for Murray, who broke Djokovic early and almost sealed a double-break.

But two sloppy drop shots allowed the Serb to break back, with a rejuvenated Djokovic holding before winning the subsequent Murray service game as the Briton seemed to lose momentum.

Murray, however, has incredible mental and physical reserves and cancelled out that break with some intense hustling at the net, bringing it back with serve, which he held with a wonderful diving forehand off the baseline.

That was followed by a magnificent break for Murray, which boasted two astounding last-gasp winners, leaving him serving for the title.

Initially Djokovic saved three championship points as a nervy Murray’s serve deserted him, and the Serb even had three break-back points thanks to an unforced error to net from the Briton, a wonderful drop-shot off the net-cord and then a beautiful diving winner across the net.

But Murray saved them all, bringing up his fourth match point with some incredible fight at the baseline, his forehand pass forcing Djokovic to net a volley.

And, after his next serve was returned just inside the baseline, Murray was a spectator as Djokovic netted the follow up, sending Centre Court and an entire nation into raptures.

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Wimbledon - Murray goes two sets up against Djokovic in final

Follow the match HERE!

Murray, who took the first set 6-4, came from a break down to clinch the second, breaking Djokovic's serve again at 5-5 before holding to love.

The world number two would be the first British male to win the Wimbledon title in 77 years.

Murray won his first Grand Slam title at the US Open last year.

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Wimbledon - Murray tames Djokovic to end 77 years of British hurt

Scotland’s world number two unsettled Serbia’s 2011 champion Djokovic from an epic opening game, coming back from breaks down in the second and third sets, before fending off a brave fightback while serving for the match as he claimed his finest career victory.

Murray won last year’s US Open to end what was then a 76-year wait for a British male Grand Slam champion; he is now the first Briton of either gender to win Wimbledon since Virginia Wade in 1977, and the first male since Fred Perry in 1936.

"It feels slightly different to last year," Murray said in reference to his tearful defeat in the 2012 final. "I don't know how I managed to get through that last game - losing three match points was unbelievable. It was hard to watch but imagine playing it!

"Novak has come back so many times from similar positions and he almost did it again."

The beaten world number one was typically sportsmanlike at the trophy presentation.

"Congratulations to Andy, who absolutely deserved this win - you played incredible tennis," Djokovic said. "I know how much it means to all of you guys, the whole country, well done.

"I'm aware of the pressure he gets, although I cannot imagine the extent not being in his shoes.

"It was an absolute pleasure and an honour to be part of this final."

Murray was exceptional at times but, by contrast, Djokovic had one of his worst games on Centre Court.

On the hottest day of the year in Britain, with the mercury soaring toward 30 degrees Celsius, the world's two best players produced some scorching sinew-stretching action from the start and the first three games alone lasted 20 minutes.

The opening salvo of the Centre Court clash lasted 20 strokes as Murray went up 0-40 on the Serb's serve but Djokovic produced staunch defence to stave off his opponent's attack.

The duo did trade breaks in the third and fourth games, with each Murray winner being greeted by a chorus of 15,000 roars.

Second seed Murray got another chance to break to love in the seventh game and this time he pounced as the 2011 champion surrendered his serve by slapping a backhand into the net.

A set that initially looked like lasting forever ended exactly on the hour mark as Djokovic whipped a service return wide to give Murray, runner-up to Roger Federer last year, the one-set cushion.

The battle between the two players who were born seven days apart in 1987 intensified in the second set as they went toe-to-toe from the baseline with 25-shot rallies being par for the course.

Djokovic, who survived a four hour 43 minute semi-final epic against Juan Martin Del Potro two days ago, showed his super-human ability to recover quickly as he ran down everything Murray could throw at him.

The Serb rattled Murray by going for the lines and broke for a 3-1 lead when Olympic champion Murray flicked a forehand into the net.

Even when Djokovic slipped and skidded flat on to his stomach while trying to chase down a Murray winner, the six-times Grand Slam champion appeared unfazed as he quickly got back on to his feet to extend his lead to 4-1.

But Murray, who trains in the intense Miami heat, showed off his iron-man conditioning as he stormed back to level at 4-4, a Djokovic double fault on break point down handing him the break back in the seventh game.

While the cheering crowd, which included British Prime Minister David Cameron, got behind a pumped up Murray, Djokovic simply exploded in anger in the 11th game.

Convinced that Murray had gone long mid-rally at 15-15, he screamed at umpire Mohamed Lahyani "Why? What's going on?" as he gesticulated wildly to show what he thought the linesman had failed to see.

Murray ignored the uproar to break the fuming Serb and soon had the fans roaring when he wrapped up the 69-minute second set with a 125mph thunderbolt ace.

The third set initially seemed a formality for Murray, who broke Djokovic early and almost sealed a double-break.

But two sloppy drop shots allowed the Serb to break back, with a rejuvenated Djokovic holding before winning the subsequent Murray service game as the Briton seemed to lose momentum.

Murray, however, has incredible mental and physical reserves and cancelled out that break with some intense hustling at the net, bringing it back with serve, which he held with a wonderful diving forehand off the baseline.

That was followed by a magnificent break for Murray, which boasted two astounding last-gasp winners, leaving him serving for the title.

Initially Djokovic saved three championship points as a nervy Murray’s serve deserted him, and the Serb even had three break-back points thanks to an unforced error to net from the Briton, a wonderful drop-shot off the net-cord and then a beautiful diving winner across the net.

But Murray saved them all, bringing up his fourth match point with some incredible fight at the baseline, his forehand pass forcing Djokovic to net a volley.

And, after his next serve was returned just inside the baseline, Murray was a spectator as Djokovic netted the follow up, sending Centre Court and an entire nation into raptures.

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Wimbledon - Murray wins Wimbledon: 11 key moments

MURRAY 0-1 DJOKOVIC: The Scot wins the first three points of the match, but Djokovic slams the door in his face winning the next five to hold serve.

MURRAY 2-2 DJOKOVIC: Murray finally converts his eighth break point of the match to take a 2-1 lead, but the Serbian immediately hits back to level the set.

MURRAY 4-3 DJOKOVIC: Undaunted, Murray races to 0-40 on the Djokovic serve and the number one seed nets a backhand to the delight of the home crowd - it proves crucial as Murray goes on to win the first set 6-4.

MURRAY 6-4 1-3 DJOKOVIC: The expected Djokovic response arrives, as he sets up two break points after a 30-shot rally before converting to take the edge in the second set.

MURRAY 6-4 3-4 DJOKOVIC: An uncharacteristically sloppy game from the Serb, who gives away his serve with a double fault and the momentum shifts back to Briton's way.

MURRAY 6-4 6-5 DJOKOVIC: Controversy as Djokovic tries to challenge a call, only to be told he has none remaining - the replay shows Murray's shot was in anyway, but an unsettled Serb gifts his serve away again, allowing Murray to claim the second set 7-5.

MURRAY 6-4 7-5 1-0 DJOKOVIC: The finish line is in sight as Murray, on a run of eight games out of nine, breaks yet again - he clinches the game via a successful challenge when Djokovic slices a backhand long.

MURRAY 6-4 7-5 2-4 DJOKOVIC: But hold on a minute! Murray's level drops at the same time as his opponent steps it up, and consecutive breaks of serve appear to put Djokovic in total command of the third.

MURRAY 6-4 7-5 3-4 DJOKOVIC: Another twist, as Murray finds inspiration and turns the tide, and a delirious centre court crowd roar him on to another break and parity in the third set.

MURRAY 6-4 7-5 5-4 DJOKOVIC: Surely not? Andy Murray will serve for the Wimbledon title after a game of thrilling brilliance, including an astonishing forehand pass on the run.

MURRAY 6-4 7-5 6-4 DJOKOVIC: Murray races into a 40-0 lead before passing up three championship points, then saving tewo break back points amid heart-stopping drama. Djokovic eventually nets and Murray sinks to his knees.

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Wimbledon - Nestor and Mladenovic win mixed doubles title

Canadian Nestor and Frenchwoman Mladenovic, the eighth seeds who were runners-up at last month's French Open, dropped the first set to the Brazilian and American pairing and saved two match points in the third set before claiming their first grand slam title together.

Wimbledon singles champion Marion Bartoli, a close friend of Mladenovic's, watched the match from the stands before heading off for the champions ball.

It was the 40-year-old Nestor's third grand slam mixed doubles title and he has also won eight major men's doubles crowns, including two at the All England Club, and the 2000 Olympic gold medal.

The 39-year-old Raymond has won four grand slam titles in women's doubles and seven in mixed, including last year's crown at Wimbledon in partnership with compatriot Mike Bryan who won the men's doubles title with his brother Bob on Saturday.

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Wimbledon - Sharapova names Connors as new coach

The WTA world number two confirmed the split from Hogstedt on Thursday, having gone out of Wimbledon in round two against Michelle Larcher de Brito.

The Russian said Hogstedt was “not able to travel in the near future”, and two days later the 26-year-old made public her new coach will be the 60-year-old Connors via her official website.

"I am really excited about our new partnership and looking forward to the upcoming tournaments," she said.

"After almost three years of working together, Thomas Hogstedt and I decided to part ways.

"I am very thankful for all his work, and wish him much success in the future."

Connors won five US Open men’s singles titles, as well as Wimbledon twice and one Australian Open, and topped the ATP rankings from July 1974 to August 1977.

Connors has worked with Sharapova in the past, during her preparations for the Australian Open in 2008.

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