Shane Warne quit professional cricket after leading Rajasthan Royals to a 10-wicket win

Australian leg-spin wizard Shane Warne quit professional cricket on Friday after leading Rajasthan Royals to a 10-wicket win over Mumbai Indians in his farewell Indian Premier League match.Rajasthan, already out of contention, rode on Shane Watson's all-round show to achieve a 134 run target and finish their campaign with six victories in 14 games of the Twenty20 tournament.Australian Watson smashed six sixes and nine fours in his explosive 47-ball knock, while Rahul Dravid remained unbeaten with a 32-ball 43.Mumbai, with eight wins in 13 matches, now need a victory in their last game to make sure of the play offs.A capacity crowd at the Wankhede Stadium also witnessed Warne's last battle with another legend, Indian batting superstar Sachin Tendulkar, their first encounter being in the Sydney Test in 1992.Skipper Tendulkar, the world's leading run-getter in both Test and one-day cricket, was batting on 18 after having survived two confident lbw appeals, when Warne came on to bowl in the ninth over.The Australian conceded just two singles to Tendulkar in his opening over and five off as many deliveries in his next, which included two dot-balls.When Warne came for his third over, Tendulkar had already been dismissed, caught by Watson at third-man while attempting to cut seamer Amit Singh.The Australian conceded just five runs in that over and a fan flashed a placard, reading "Bowling Shane, thanks for the magic Warnie".Warne's fourth and last over in competitive cricket was eventful as he nearly grabbed a wicket with his first delivery but Ashok Menaria dropped top-scorer Rohit Sharma at long-on.He did not have to wait long for his first success as he had Sharma stumped with his fourth delivery, with the batsman losing his bat in the process while trying to attempt a big shot. Warne finished with 1-30.Tendulkar was the first to pay tribute to the Australian great.Warne is a true champion, a wonderful friend. I have not been privileged to play with him in the same team, but it's been a real treat to play against him," Tendulkar said at the toss."Congrats Warne for a wonderful career and I wish him all the luck for his future."Warne's team-mates then gave him a guard of honour, standing in two lines to salute the legend.Warne, who quit international cricket in 2007, spent four seasons with Rajasthan who will always remember his contribution as a spinner, captain, coach and mentor.He led a bunch of no-hopers to the title triumph in the inaugural edition in 2008 before eventually ending his IPL career with 57 wickets in 55 matches.

Haq replaces Afridi as Pakistan captain for ODIs

Shahid Afridi has finally paid the price for his public outbursts against his team coach Waqar Younis and failing to follow the decorum of a captain. Through a shocking decision, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) appointed Misbah-ul-Haq as the captain of the Pakistan team for the One-day series against Ireland. This brings to an end Afridi's reign as One-day captain.Afridi, through his comments to the media after the World Cup and against Younis was putting Pakistan Cricket Board in an embarrassing position. Interestingly, no official reason was given by the PCB regarding the removal of Afridi from the captaincy. 

It was strange considering the fact that Afridi had led Pakistan to two bilateral series win and even guided the team to the semi-final of the World Cup. He had led Pakistan in 34 One-dayers and won 18 and lost 15.To add to Afridi's humiliating exit, Ijaz Butt, the chairman of the PCB in a television interview went on to comment that "I haven't given any assurances to Afridi on retaining him as skipper for the oncoming One-day international series against Ireland".Soon after Butt heard about Afridi's comments against coach Waqar Younus, he had said that the PCB will take strong stance against player power.He had said: "To crush player power I penalised even prominent players like Younus Khan, Afridi, Shoaib Malek and Kamran Akmal without showing any reluctance which in the past had damaged the team spirit."It is understood that Butt has acted to remove Afridi following a report from manager Intikhab Alam.The difference between Afridi and Younis had commenced in West Indies One-day series which Pakistan won 3-2. Afridi stated that Younis was interfering with the selection of the final eleven.The PCB acted immediately and sent a showcause notice to Afridi. It is understood that PCB had warned Afridi from making public criticisms even during the New Zealand tour.Afridi was officially made the One-day captain only in June last year just before the Asia Cup.He had upset the PCB when he walked away from Test captaincy on the tour of England resulting in the role landing with Misbah-ul-Haq.Afridi is a member of the 16-member squad for the two One-day series on May 28 and 30 against Ireland.

Squad

Misbah-ul-Haq (capt), Younis Khan, Taufeeq Umar, Mohammad Hafeez, Asad Shafiq, Azhar Ali, Shahid Afridi, Mohammad Salman (wk), Saeed Ajmal, Abdul Rahman, Umar Akmal, Umar Gul, Wahab Riaz, Tanvir Ahmad, Junaid Khan, Hammad Azam

Gambhir guides Kolkata into IPL knockouts

Captain Gautam Gambhir cracked an unbeaten half-century as Kolkata Knight Riders thrashed Pune Warriors by seven wickets on Thursday to book a place in the Indian Premier League playoffs.The left-hander hit seven fours in his 54-run knock off 46 balls as Kolkata overhauled a modest 119-run target with 20 balls to spare at the D.Y. Patil Stadium.Gambhir promoted himself to the opener's slot after Jacques Kallis picked up an injury while bowling earlier in the game, and anchored the innings following the first-over dismissal of Shreevats Goswami.Manoj Tiwary chipped in with a run-a-ball 24 and Yusuf Pathan scored 29 to help Kolkata register their eighth win from 13 games.IPL debutants Pune, already out of contention for a place in the final four, slumped to their ninth defeat in the Twenty20 competition.Kolkata spinners struck early, removing Pune's top five batsmen cheaply after Gambhir won the toss and decided to bowl on a slow, turning track.Pathan gave Kolkata the first breakthrough when he dismissed Jesse Ryder (one) in the second over before returning to send back Robin Uthappa, caught superbly by Brett Lee near the ropes for 12.Left-arm spinnner Shakib Al Hasan heaped further misery on Pune, accounting for Callum Ferguson and former Kolkata skipper Sourav Ganguly, who was tentative for most part of his innings.Ganguly struck 18 off 22 balls, including the only six of Pune innings off left-arm spinner Iqbal Abdullah.Yuvraj (24) tried to go for a late counter-attack but nicked behind the wickets off paceman Lakshmipathy Balaji (2-7) in the final over.