The Deccan Chargers (DC) and the Rajasthan Royals (RR) will both play their second last league match of IPL 2012 against each other. The dc vs rr game is scheduled to be played at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad (Deccan) on May 18. This will be the 68th match of the Indian Premier League 2012.

The match will start at 20:00 local, 14:30 GMT. The live scorecard can be seen here from 14:30 GMT.

You can also watch live streaming of the match here. 

Deccan Chargers and Rajasthan Royals are the only teams with two games each to go before the playoffs. The Chargers sit at the bottom of the table with no chance to qualify for the playoffs. But the Royals can stay in the race if they manage to win both of their remaining games.

It is extremely interesting to note that although the Chargers and the Royals sit at the bottom of the points table, both these teams have two players each in the top 10 run scorers list this season. None other teams have more than one in that list.

It is even more interesting to note that none of the players from either of the two teams could get their names in the top ten wicket takers of IPL 2012. Deccan Chargers’ Dale Steyn is the closest at number 12 in that list. This says a lot about the game of cricket: batsmen can only provide cushion, it is the bowlers who win games for their teams!

Deccan Chargers have lost the last five games they have played. Even then, three players have had an impressive run. Cameron White has hit 20 sixes, which is the second highest after Chris Gayle’s mammoth total of 44. Shikar Dhawan and Dale Steyn are the other two.

For the Royals, it has been more of a team effort. Although Rahane and Dravid at the top have propelled the team forward, there are other players like Trivedi, Watson and Tait who have played their part in the campaign so far.

Highlights videos can be watched here after the match is over.

The Olympic Flame was given to London on May 17 as a part of the ancient ceremony that took place in the Panathenaic Stadium in Athens, where the first modern Olympics of 1896 were held. London will have the unique honor of becoming the only country since the inception of the Games to host them thrice. The other two years were 1908 and 1948.

A British delegation was there to represent London and to bring back the flame to the next Olympic venue. The Princess Royal led the delegation to Athens. She was accompanied by London 2012 chairman, Lord Coe, Olympics Minister, Hugh Robertson, London Mayor Boris Johnson, former captain of the English national football team, David Beckham and five sporting youngsters from different parts of Britain. 

The Princess Royal and Karolos Papoulias, Greek President were seated on ancient thrones in the stadium. The other members of the British delegation were seated in the first row and each one was announced on the loud speaker, followed by huge cheers.

The Olympic Flame has been on a relay around the country since it was lit last week. Rower, Christina Giazitzidou, gymnast, Vasilis Tsolakidis and rower, Alexandra Tsiavou carried the flame back to the stadium. All three are world champions.

The British delegation is scheduled to fly back on May 18. They will land in Cornwall, where a special ceremony will be held to welcome the flame. The flame will then be relayed around the country for 70 days before reaching the East London’s Olympic Stadium at the opening of the London Olympics on July 27, 2012.

Michael Owen’s one year extension to the contract with Manchester United is due to expire in a few days. The 32 years old English footballer was transferred from Newcastle United to Manchester United in 2009. He was offered a two years contract at the new club. After its expiry, a one year extension was offered. 

It turns out that it was his last contract with the club. Owen is pleased at his three years stay at the club. The injury prone star himself admits that his time at United is over. Owen could manage to play only one game in premier league this season.

Michael Owen reportedly admits that he was approached by the manager at their testimonial match on Tuesday to inform his that his contract would not be extended anymore.

Owen is expected to retire if he fails to get a reasonable offer for the next season.

There were so many speculations regarding Kenny Dalglish’s future as manager at Liverpool after the team’s loss to Chelsea in the FA cup final. In this uncertain of times, Kenny himself decided to meet the the owners alongside the chairman, Tom Werner and the principal owner John W Henry. The trio flew to Boston to meet the American owners of the club, Fenway Sports Group.

The basic idea of the meeting was for Kenny to review this season’s performance and present next season’s strategy. However, things did not pan out so well for Kenny and he was sacked! 

The major reason for this decision was Liverpool’s poor league performance. Although Kenny won the club a Carling Cup and got them to a runners-up position in the FA Cup, Liverpool’s league position was disappointing. The club ended up at number eight in the Barclay’s Premier League. This is their worst league standing since 1962. In 1962, the team promoted to the first division and stood at number eight then.

The club published a press statement upon Kenny’s release. The statement goes as follows, “Kenny Dalglish is to leave his post today as manager after having his contract terminated. After a careful and deliberative review of the season, the club came to the decision that a change was appropriate. It is not a decision that was reached lightly or hastily. The search for a new manager will begin immediately.”

The Feroz Shah Kotla in Delhi will stage another exciting encounter between the table toppers, Delhi Daredevils (DD) and the ever-stunning, Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB). This will be the 67th game of this year’s Indian Premier League. The dd vs rcb game is scheduled to be played on May 17.

The match will start at 20:00 local, 14:30 GMT. The live scorecard can be seen here from 14:30 GMT.

You can also watch live streaming of the match here. 

The IPL has entered the stage where all the pundits are only talking about who will qualify for the playoffs. There are four match days to go before the playoffs start.

The RCB has swung from the status of confidently through to the playoffs, to not so much! They will now have to win both their remaining games to have a realistic chance of qualifying. The difficult part is this game. They have to beat the table leaders and the team that became the first one to qualify for the playoffs this year.

The daredevils are in a much comfortable position. They are currently at the top spot in the league. They are the first team to have qualified for the playoffs this season. They are now aiming for the top two spots in the league. A win here will confirm that. Even if that doesn’t happen, they will have another chance against the Kings XI Punjab at Punjab’s home, where the home team has mostly struggled.

The race for the top two spots ensures two chances at qualifying for the finals, unlike the third and fourth teams, who will instead have to win two out of two playoff games to fo through.

Highlights videos can be watched here after the match is over.

The 66th match of the Indian Premier League 2012 will be played between the Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) and the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) at the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association Stadium in Dharamsala. This will be the first game of this year’s IPL in Dharamsala. The kxip vs csk game will be played on May 17.

The match will start at 16:00 local, 10:30 GMT. The live scorecard can be seen here from 10:30 GMT.

You can also watch live streaming of the match here. 

This is CSK’s last league game of the season. They’ll have to win this one to be among the top four sides which qualify for the playoffs. A loss here would not eliminate them from the playoff race, but it will restrict their chances. They will then depend on the results of other teams.

History might repeat itself from two years back. The situation was similar then. CSK came into that game with hopes of qualifying to the playoffs. They won at Dharamsala and went on to become the IPL champions that year.

The Kings XI however are in some trouble when it comes to qualifying for the playoffs. They are placed at number seven on the points table with two games to go including this one. Their defeat against the Daredevils have made it a tough fight for them.

The Punjabis will need to win both the remaining games against in form teams. They will play their last game against the table toppers, Delhi Daredevils, who just defeated them a couple of days ago.

Another factor that might unsettle the Kings XI is that both these games are in Dharamsala. These are the only two games to be played there this season. The unfamiliar ground might add to their problems.

Lastly, both these games are home matches and Kings XI’s strong point this season has been the away record.

Highlights videos can be watched here after the match is over.

England’s home series against the West Indies will start with the first test match at Lord’s Cricket Ground. The match is scheduled to be played from May 17 to May 21.

The eng vs wi match will start at 11:00 local, 10:00 GMT. The live scorecard and commentary can be seen here from 10:00 GMT. 

England is the clear favorite for this test match and the series at large. They are the top ranked test team playing at home. The West Indies on the other hand are ranked third last among the test playing nations. They come into this series with a record of losing every overseas test series for the past 17 years, except when playing against the smaller sides like Bangladesh and Zimbabwe.

The cricket pundits are predicting a whitewash by the English team unless the weather intervenes. Although the West Indies team includes the number one ranked test batsmen, they are no competition to the English bowling at seaming wickets at home. England has three bowlers in the top ten test bowlers. Two of these, Andersen and Broad are good fast bowlers.

West Indian pace attack consisting of Roach, Rampaul and Edwards, is good. The trio might be able to exploit the England’s top order weakness. Both openers, Strauss and Cook have been out of form in the county season. However, the home team’s batting depth is expected to come out as winners.

In the other battle i.e. the West Indian batting versus English bowling, is expected to be far easier. This is where the West Indians need to work as a team. Their middle order should support Chanderpaul. Darren Bravo comes up as a key player in that respect. But facing Andersen, Broad and Swann in English conditions is going to be huge challenge. Here one can also blame the team politics. Chris Gayle might have been handy in such a situation. A brisk start by Gayle might have provided West Indian team with a reinvigorated spirit and an inspiration that they require.

The second placed Mumbai Indians (MI) will take on the third placed Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in a bid to decide the next team to qualify for playoffs after the Daredevils became the first one to do so. The mi vs kkr game will be played at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on May 16. This will be the 65th match of the Indian Premier League 2012.

The match will start at 20:00 local, 14:30 GMT. The live scorecard can be seen here from 14:30 GMT.

You can also watch live streaming of the match here. 

Although the two team are just one point apart on the points table, they are on opposite ends as far as their current form is concerned.

The Knight Riders have lost two in a row after an unbeaten run of seven games. As opposed to that, the Mumbai Indians havewon their last two games, including a comfortable win against KKR.

Mumbai Indians showed their strength and depth of batting in the last two games. After scoring 182 for 1 against KKR, they were 51 for 5 in the other. But they still managed to chase RCB’s target of 171. Gibbs, Sharma, Rayudu and Pollard have been the high scorers in these two games.

Sachin might miss this game because he has to take the oath as a new member of parliament.

The KKR has the most lethal spinner of IPL 2012 in their team. Sunil Narine has taken 17 wickets at an economy rate of less than six runs an over. Gautam Gambhir would also be aware of Mumbai’s track record at the Wankhede. Mumbai has lost four out of the seven matches played at home.

Highlights videos can be watched here after the match is over.