An 18-year-old girl was allegedly abducted and raped - Indian Crime News

An 18-year-old girl was allegedly abducted and raped in a moving vehicle by four youths, including a minor, after she protested their lewd remarks in Sultanpuri area of northwest Delhi late on Saturday. All the accused have been arrested, police said on Sunday.

The girl was on her way to pick up her mother, who works in a factory, when the men in a black Hyundai Accent car started passing lewd remarks at her near a bus stop in Sultanpuri.

'She protested and an argument ensued, after which she threw a bunch of keys at the car which damaged the rear window. The men then forced her into the car and allegedly raped her in the moving car,' a police officer said.

A passerby who witnessed the incident alerted the police, after which she was rescued. The medical examination report of the girl is awaited.

Police has arrested Manish, Rama and Chanderpal for rape and abduction while the minor boy has been charged under the Juvenile Justice Act.

'They are being questioned and will be produced in a court,' the officer said.

The incident comes days after a 30-year-old BPO employee was abducted and raped by four men in south Delhi and a 22-year-old woman was abducted and raped by six men in northeast Delhi last week.

Two boys, aged 12 and 10, allegedly throttled to death a five-year-old girl - Crime News

wo boys, aged 12 and 10, allegedly throttled to death a five-year-old girl in the upscale area of Alipur in South Kolkata, when their molestation attempt misfired. The boys, residents of servant quarters, were arrested on Wednesday. 

The murder took place on Monday. "They were friends who knew each other. On Monday the duo took the girl to the roof of the 17th block with the intent of molesting her," said Supratim Sarkar, deputy commissioner of police (south division). When the girl resisted their attempt and threatened to reveal the matter to her mother, an altercation followed, and then a scuffle. During the process, the girl fell and banged her head against a wall. Then she lost consciousness. 

On interrogation, the boys reportedly confessed to the crime. They will be produced at a juvenile board on Friday. The police have initiated murder charges against them. "The boys panicked and throttled her after she regained consciousness," an officer said. When the girl did not return home, her mother lodged a police complaint. On Tuesday, when a resident went to the roof, the body was discovered.

"It may be attributed to exposure to multimedia."

The cricketing gods smiled on M. S. Dhoni and his men

Hurt by the loss against Sri Lanka in the last league match, India turned on the heat in the summit clash. A few twists of fate also helped India's progress to the victor's podium as skipper M. S. Dhoni called correctly at the toss, a factor that often determines results in Sri Lanka, writes K. C. Vijaya Kumar.

The cricketing gods smiled on M. S. Dhoni and his men. The Indian team won the Asia Cup at Dambulla through a largely effective campaign that culminated in the final on June 24 where Sri Lanka was deflated. India won by 81 runs.

India bucked history and current odds to scuttle an upbeat host. India last won the Asia Cup in 1995, while Sri Lanka was the defending champion and on the verge of scoring a hat-trick of triumphs after having secured the title in 2004 and 2008.

Dhoni's men, hurt by the loss against Sri Lanka in the last league game, turned on the heat in the summit clash. A few twists of fate also helped India's progress to the victor's podium as Dhoni called correctly at the toss, a factor that often determines results in Sri Lanka.

“The toss does play a part in these parts, when we last played in Colombo (Compaq Cup) we knew that if we won the toss half the job was done though we do have to go out there and execute our plans,” Dhoni said.

The Indian batsmen then struck brief roots but it was more than enough as runs came at a steady trot while Dinesh Karthik (66, 84b, 9x4) and Rohit Sharma (41) strengthened the beginning and the end to help post a competitive 268 for six in 50 overs.

“We all had our starts but we could not go on to score big,” rued Dhoni.

However, it was heartening that the Indians managed to go past 250 while its regular talismans of hope through the tournament — Dhoni (38) and Gautam Gambhir (15) — failed to last long.

In the end, the runs proved adequate. Sri Lanka's batting thrives on the pincer attacks launched upfront by Tillakaratne Dilshan, but the moment he flat-batted a pull straight to Harbhajan Singh in Praveen Kumar's first over and was dismissed for a blob, the Indians were buzzing. The top order crumbled as Upul Tharanga had no clue to a Zaheer Khan special and Ashish Nehra (four for 40) prised out Mahela Jayawardene, Angelo Mathews and the Sri Lankan skipper, Kumar Sangakkara, to leave the host gasping at 51 for five.

The Sri Lankan collapse was much akin to what happened to India in the Asia Cup final in Karachi in 2008 when Ajantha Mendis proved to be a mystery that was hard to crack. Mendis bagged six wickets and India lost the match.

Cut to the present, Sri Lanka never recovered and though Chamara Kapugedera (55 not out) stayed firm, the rest wilted and the host was bowled out for 187 in 44.4 overs.

“We lost Dilshan early and we got a bit defensive and too many wickets fell,” Sangakkara said while giving due credit to the Indian seamers for exploiting the conditions under lights.

The two finalists had a set pattern in their approach to the summit clash as facile victories against Bangladesh and nerve-wracking triumphs against Pakistan were registered. Pakistan, in the process of re-building with a young core, was bolstered by the return of Shoaib Akhtar, who threatened to be the spoiler against India and Sri Lanka before ebbing away.

“The team is improving and what they are missing on the field, they will gain with experience,” said coach Waqar Younis.

Pakistan briefly hit the high notes with Shahid Afridi's bruising hundreds — 109 (76b, 8x4, 7x6) against Sri Lanka and 124 (60b, 17x4, 4x6) against Bangladesh — which fetched the skipper the ‘Man of the Tournament' award and an Indigo Manza. Small comfort for the fiery Pathan, who also had to endure a heart-break as his team failed to stymie India in a close contest that Dhoni's men won by three wickets.

Gambhir (83, 97b, 6x4, 1x6), Dhoni (56), Suresh Raina (34) and Harbhajan Singh's (15 not out) late surge helped India edge past Pakistan in the final over of a clash that had its share of verbal spats.

“It was an entertaining game and it is unfortunate that we lost, but India played well,” Afridi said.

The tournament's whipping boys Bangladesh slumped from one fiasco to another and captain Shakib Al Hasan said: “We are playing well individually but not as a team.”

An upset Bangladesh coach Jamie Siddons blamed his seamers for gifting away runs. The team continues to rely heavily on opener Tamim Iqbal, who at the moment seems to be the lone batsman capable of holding his head in the stormy waters of international cricket. The rest just failed to put up a fight and that is a sad augury for a team that, apart from its upset victory against India in the 2007 World Cup in the Caribbean Isles, has done little of note to justify the faith invested in it by the International Cricket Council and the fans ranging from Dhaka to Chittagong.

For India, the tournament gifted hope and belief, while the hamstring injury suffered by Virender Sehwag and the tepid show of Raina and Virat Kohli remained areas of concern.

“In the months ahead we hope to do even better and have our best players fit and available during those crucial months of the World Cup, next year,” Dhoni said.

The tournament was supposed to be another testimony for the peace and quiet in the Emerald Island after the ethnic crisis was solved, and the Sri Lankan Cricket Board officials stressed on how the Asia Cup could also spin off a positive inflow of tourists. The intentions are noble but that does not cover up the Rangiri Dambulla International Stadium's obvious flaws, the most glaring one being the poor quality of floodlights that forced the extension of the dinner break in two matches. Luckily the four captains did not make a fuss as Asian solidarity ruled!

THE SCORES

Asia Cup final: Sri Lanka v India, Rangiri Dambulla International Stadium, June 24. Result: India won by 81 runs.

India: G. Gambhir (run out) 15, D. Karthik c Jayawardene b Kandamby 66, V. Kohli c Sangakkara b Malinga 28, M. S. Dhoni c Kulasekara b Kandamby 38, R. Sharma c Maharoof b Kulasekara 41, S. Raina lbw Malinga 29, R. Jadeja (not out) 25, Harbhajan Singh (not out) 7, Extras (b-2, lb-7, w-9, nb-1) 19. Total (for six wickets, 50 overs) 268.

Fall of wickets: 1-38, 2-100, 3-146, 4-167, 5-217, 6-249.

Sri Lanka bowling: Kulasekara 9-0-44-1, Malinga 10-0-57-2, Maharoof 6-0-41-0, Mathews 3-1-16-0, Muralitharan 10-0-34-0, Kandamby 7-0-37-2, Dilshan 5-0-30-0.

Sri Lanka: U. Tharanga b Khan 16, T. Dilshan c Harbhajan b Praveen 0, K. Sangakkara c Zaheer b Nehra 17, M. Jayawardene c Dhoni b Nehra 11, A. Mathews c Dhoni b Nehra 0, T. Kandamby (run out) 31, C. Kapugedera (not out) 55, F. Maharoof c Dhoni b Zaheer 10, N. Kulasekara st. Dhoni b Jadeja 20, L. Malinga c Jadeja b Nehra 7, M. Muralitharan c Dhoni b Jadeja 2, Extras (b-4, lb-3, w-9, nb-2) 18. Total (in 44.4 overs) 187.

Fall of wickets: 1-5, 2-31, 3-50, 4-50, 5-51, 6-104, 7-132, 8-168, 9-177.

India bowling: Praveen Kumar 9-1-29-1, Zaheer Khan 8-2-36-2, Nehra 9-0-40-4, Harbhajan Singh 9-0-30-0, Kohli 3-0-16-0, Jadeja 6.4-0-29-2.

The IPL is set to unveil its two new franchises in Chennai

Two new owners for two new city teams of the Indian Premier League (IPL) cricket will emerge from a list of 14 probables on Sunday when the BCCI announces the names of the successful bidders. Stiff competition between the buyers however could make their deal over-priced with some experts pegging the winning bid at around $400 million, as against the base price of $225 million.

During the tender process held earlier this month, Videocon Industries and Adani Group are believed to have put in bids of around $250-275 million each. However, these bids were cancelled after the IPL governing council decided to call for a re-tender.

“It does not make sense to buy a franchise for more than $300 million because that’s financially unviavle. However, the competition among the bidders may push the acquisition cost up,” said Hiren Pandit, managing partner at GroupM, a leading globl media investment management firm.

The city franchises up for bids include Nagpur, Pune, Ahmedabad, Kanpur, Dharamshala, Indore, Cuttack, Gwalior and Visakhapatnam. Two cities which recieve the highest bids will emerge as the two new IPL teams that will participate in the league from the fourth season onwards.

Several interested parties had raised concerns over the pre-condition of bidders having a networth of $1 billion and producing advance bank guarantee of $100 million. Under the new tender process, the bidders are expected to pay a $10 million guarantee before the tender documents are opened. The winning bidders then pay 10% of their bid amount within 48 hours.

Sources close to the development said that the real competition is between Videocon group promoter Venugopal Dhoot in consortium with Bollywood stars Saif Ali Khan and Kareena Kapoor who are is vying for the Pune franchise, Gautam Adani for Ahmedabad, filmmaker Priyadarshan along with Abu Dhabi’s Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed al-Nahyan for a Kerela team and Sahara Group and Dainik Jagran, Jaypee Group and a consortium led by City Corporation’s Anirudh Despande for Pune.

Fourteen potential franchise owners are said to have bought the Rs 5 lakh tender document which have to be submitted by 10 am on Sunday, in Chennai. Following this, the IPL governing council will announce the winners.

Holder Deccan Chargers pulled off a 10-run win over Delhi Daredevils

Holder Deccan Chargers pulled off a 10-run win over Delhi Daredevils at the Barabati stadium here on Sunday night for its third straight win and moved to the second position on the points table of the IPL III.

Deccan Chargers had choked in the final stage of the match in the last season against the same rival but this time it was the Daredevils' turn to fumble after a fine start provided by David Warner (57, 33b, 3x4, 4x6) in a punishing innings.

AB de Villiers looked like taking charge before he fell to the guile of leg-break bowler Rahul Sharma.

Karthik (46, 27b, 4x4, 2x6) stepped up his attack but his men failed to keep the other end intact.

Andrew Symonds held a fine return catch to end the Delhi Daredevils captain's innings and removed Amit Mishra in the same over to effectively finish the DD innings.

Delhi lost to Deccan after winning the last four matches of the IPL played between the two so far. This is its third straight loss in five games.

Both teams made three changes each and the youngsters brought in did their duty well.

Rohit Sharma came good and with T. Suman lifted the Deccan Chargers to a respectable total through a 60-run stand for the sixth wicket.

Suman had some big hits as the innings was coming to an end. Though the run rate was not high in the last two overs, the total finally saw the team through in an important match.

Andrew Symonds was adjudged Man of the Match for his all-round effort (35 and three wickets).

The scores: Deccan Chargers: M. Mishra b A. Mishra 1 ( 4b), A. Gilchrist c Karthik b Ladda 24 ( 14b, 4x4, 1x6), H. Gibbs c Henriques b Nagar 31 ( 26b, 2x4, 2x6), A. Symonds c de Villiers b Henriques 35 ( 24b, 3x4, 2x6), Rohit c de Villiers b Nannes 45 ( 30b, 3x4, 3x6), T. Suman (not out) 29 ( 19b, 3x4, 1x6), Y. Venugopala Rao (run out) 1 ( 2b), C. Vaas (not out) 3 ( 3b); Extras (lb-1, nb-1): 2; Total (for six wickets in 20 overs): 171.

Fall of wickets: 1-3, 2-44, 3-72, 4-103, 5-163, 6-168.

Delhi Daredevils bowling: A. Mishra 3-0-12-1, Nannes 4-0-39-1, Nagar 3-0-28-1, Ladda 2-0-20-1, U. Yadav 4-0-36-0, Henriques 4-0-35-1.

Delhi Daredevils: D. Warner (run out) 57 ( 33b, 4x4, 4x6), V. Sehwag c Gibbs b P. Ojha 3 ( 7b), AB de Villiers b Rahul 27 ( 26b, 2x4), D. Karthik c and b Symonds 46 ( 27b, 4x4, 4x6), M. Manhas c Suman b Rahul 8 ( 8b), M. Henriques c R.P. Singh b Symonds 11 ( 5b, 2x4), Y. Nagar b Vaas 1 ( 6b), A. Mishra c Gilchrist bt Symonds 0 ( 1b), U. Yadav (not out) 3 ( 4b), S. Ladda (run out) 0 ( 1b), D. Nannes (not out) 1 ( 2b); Extras (b-1, lb-2, w-1): 4; Total (for nine wickets in 20 overs): 161.

Fall of wickets: 1-34, 2-85, 3-98, 4-112, 5-132, 6-156, 7-156, 8-158, 9-158.

Deccan Chargers bowling: Vaas 4-0-21-0, R.P. Singh 3-0-31-0, P. Ojha 4-0-36-1, Rohit 1-0-7-0, Rahul 4-0-42-2, Symonds 4-0-21-3 .

Yuvraj Singh reverse swept Muttiah Muralitharan to give the visitors their first win in IPL III

The match of the tournament so far produced terrific twists and turns, then a tie and finally a Super Over, until Kings XI Punjab, almost no-hopers at one stage, pulled it off having to chase 10 runs in 6 balls against Chennai Super Kings on Sunday.

Yuvraj Singh, who had found some form earlier, played an audacious reverse sweep off the fourth ball of Murali's Super Over to bring up the winning runs after Mahela Jayawardene had hit a six off the first ball.

This was after Chennai had managed 9 off their 6-ball eliminator, with Hayden dismissed off the second ball from Juan Theron.

The Punjab outfit would have been relieved to notch up their first win of IPL 3, and Chennai will be cursing themselves for having let slip a match they were in total control of at one stage. They were chasing a modest 137 and seemed well on course.

Delhi Daredevils bulldozed its way to victory with ample to spare

Virender Sehwag's heavyweight display fashioned Delhi Daredevils' triumphant march against a completely out of sorts Rajasthan Royals in the DLF-IPL III league match here on Monday. Set a target of 142 at a fraction higher than seven an over, the Daredevils bulldozed its way to victory with ample to spare.

Dimitri Mascarenhas's double strike that ejected Gautam Gambhir and T. Dilshan off successive balls did not deter the rampaging Sehwag from scoring 75 of the 99 runs that Delhi Daredevils tallied by the last ball of the 10th over.

Sehwag struck 13 big blows (eight 4s and five 6s); sufficient to guide his team to its second successive win of the tournament.

Pathan's failure

Sehwag's pyrotechnical display proved to be adequate compensation for Yusuf Pathan's failure with the bat. The game of cricket in any form can be at times very cruel. Though not every seat at the Sardar Patel Gujarat Stadium was occupied, Motera was ready to witness another explosive knock from Pathan.

The rage of the competition because of his 37-ball century against Mumbai Indians at the Brabourne Stadium, the Baroda dynamite did not open his account. He faced five balls — one from leg-spinner Amit Mishra and four from Farveez Maharoof — and departed slogging Maharoof to A.B. de Villiers wide of long-on.

Pathan's dismissal in the last over of the power play altogether choked the supply of runs for Rajasthan Royals.

Eventually Royals was bailed out by Abhishek Jhunjhunwala's conventional approach. His last-ball boundary took him to 53 off 45 balls with five fours and one six. Himachal Pradesh's Paras Dogra promised much but fell at 29.

Aggressive intent

Openers Swapnil Asnodkar and Graeme Smith showed aggressive intent whipping up the big shots against Maharoof. Once Asnodkar and Naman Ojha fell, the Royals needed a big undertaking from either Smith or Pathan.

Daredevils leg-spinner Sarabjeet Ladda making a fine first impression in his quota of four overs.

The scores: Rajasthan Royals: S. Asnodkar c Dilshan b Nannes 5 ( 4b, 1x4), G. Smith c Sehwag b Sangwan 18 ( 17b, 4x4), N. Ojha b Mishra 24 ( 14b, 4x4, 1x6), Y. Pathan c de Villiers b Maharoof 0 ( 5b), A. Jhunjhunwala (not out) 53 ( 45b, 5x4, 1x6), P. Dogra (run out) 29 ( 26b, 1x4, 2x6), D. Mascarenhas (run out) 3 ( 3b), A. Uniyal (not out) 4 ( 6b); Extras (w-5): 5. Total (for 6 wkts in 20 overs): 141.

Fall of wickets: 1-14, 2-45, 3-46, 4-50, 5-110, 6-115.

Delhi Daredevils bowling: Maharoof 4-0-32-1, Nannes 4-0-27-1, Mishra 4-0-34-1, Sangwan 4-0-20-1, Ladda 4-0-28-0.

Delhi Daredevils: G. Gambhir c Smith b Mascarenhas 9 ( 8b, 1x4), V. Sehwag c Smith b Patel 75 ( 34b, 8x4, 5x6), T. Dilshan c Ojha b Mascarenhas 0 ( 1b), A.B. de Villiers c sub b Warne 15 ( 24b), D. Karthik (not out) 24 ( 26b, 2x4), M. Manhas 11 ( 10b, 1x4); Extras (b-1, lb-2, w-5): 8. Total (for 4 wkts in 17.1 overs): 142.

Fall of wickets: 1-42, 2-42, 3-99, 4-114.

Rajasthan Royals bowling: Mascarenhas 4-0-31-2, Tait 4-0-27-0, Patel 3-0-32-1, Uniyal 2-0-25-0, Warne 4-0-22-1, Jhunjhunwala 0.1-0-2-0 .

Deepika Padukone arrived in a blaze of lights and revved up the crowd

As opening ceremonies go, this was less than singularly impressive. The energy was conspicuously absent until Deepika Padukone arrived in a blaze of lights and revved up the crowd, but otherwise, this wasn’t quite the start the third edition of the IPL would have hoped for.

The teeming air-taxis that ferried anyone and everyone falling into the ‘big-wig’ category had triggered expectations of a grand welcome to the Twenty20 bash, but those expectations remained largely unfulfilled.

The DY Patil stadium wasn’t anywhere near filled to capacity by the time the dignitaries ascended the dais at 6.40 pm. That the biggest cheer during the one-hour show on Friday evening was reserved for when Sachin Tendulkar walked up to affix his signature on the MCC – Spirit of Cricket banner is indicative of exactly what the gathering thought of the act that followed.

Perhaps, in some ways, that’s how it should be, because the IPL is more about cricket than anything else. Having said that, this domestic competition with an international flavour has been touted as the coming together of cricket and entertainment or, as the tag-affixers like to call it, cricketainment. On that count, the opening ceremony barely passed muster.

Neither UB40’s Ali Campbell nor Bjorn Again, the ABBA Revival team that swayed to ‘Dancing Girl’ managed to enthuse the crowd with the first couple of acts after the eight skippers signed the Spirit of Cricket oath and the tournament was declared open by IPL chairman and commissioner Modi.

Indeed, the brief video collage that depicted the ‘Journey of IPL’ to the background score of Jai Ho was more compelling than the preceding ‘entertainment’ packages, though the crowd finally found its voice, and feet, when Padukone danced and twisted her way through ‘Twist’, among other numbers.

The highlight of the evening was a juggling act by hoola hoop artists armed with LED glow sticks who captured and retained eye balls, before making way for one final performance by Lionel Richie, whose ‘Dancing on the Ceiling’ didn’t exactly bring the roof down. Bring on the cricket, we say!

IPL cricket matches is getting entertaining with each season

"Now I am getting nervous for the match. Hope I can sleep," King Khan tweeted 20 hours before his Kolkata Knight Riders took the field against defending champions Deccan Chargers in the inaugural match of IPL-3.

His top-order batsmen perhaps had a sleepless night as they made a hasty retreat to the pavilion before Angelo Mathews and Owais Shaw staged a spirited fight back even as the superstar, who never misses a KKR match, was conspicuous by his absence.

But the thousands in the D Y Patil Stadium in Mumbai where the match took place and those who checked out live cricket on multiplexes across city had their fill as cricket's largest extravaganza got off with a grand opening ceremony.

“The management on ground and the style in which the event was flagged off was outstanding. IPL is clearly getting bigger and better each year,” said Hiren Pandit, managing partner of media agency GroupM, who was in the stadium cheering Deccan Chargers.

“IPL is getting entertaining with each season, I enjoyed the buildup to the game,” yelled Shiv Datta, another Chargers supporter amidst the deafening roars of the crowd.

Reeba Shetty, meanwhile, was not too bothered about wickets and sixes. “Watching Lionel Richie performing Dancing on the Ceiling live in a stadium was a dream come true,” she said, although she thought the finale of the last season was better than this year’s opening ceremony.

If the atmosphere in the stadium was electric with an excited crowd chanting and cheering players and cheerleaders amid heavy security, the scene was somewhat more sober in multiplexes that entered the new world of live streaming of cricket on Friday with about 40% seats occupied.

But the big screen guys are excited about the opportunity and many of them are creating an in-stadium ambience with cheerleaders and even special food menu.

“We are also introducing a season pass wherein a person can watch his favourite team play till the semi final matches,” said an executive of BIG Cinemas.

PVR Cinemas will have face painters and DJs playing music in many of its theatres. “The screening of IPL matches will mark the beginning of a new trend that will help multiplexes to increase footfalls during lean days, Monday to Thursday,” said Gautam Datta, CEO of CineMedia, PVR.

Vishal Kapur, COO of Fun Cinemas, said it is expecting initial occupancies of around 40% and house-full shows for the semi finals and final.

UFO Moviez, which has the theatre rights, has tied up with 350 public venues and over 700 screens to supply a digital feed with no advertisements, its founder and managing director Sanjay Gaikwad said. The company has roped in United Spirits as partner for the public venues.

Pubs and malls, which are spending Rs 1 lakh to Rs 15 lakh for feed depending on the number of outlets and seating capacity, too are ready with special IPL menus and packages. “We have worked out interesting food and beverages packages around the IPL theme and we are marketing our pubs across the country as a place to watch IPL with an HD feed without advertisements,” said Rohan Jaitley of Bistro Hospitality, which runs TGIF out-lets in India.

The company has roped in sponsors like Coca-Cola and Adidas to be part of the IPL theme nights where it will offer packages ranging from Rs 699 to Rs 999.

Hotel chains like ITC-Welcomgroup and Taj Group are screening the matches at most of their restaurants and pubs. A spokeswoman for ITC-Welcomgroup said the chain is screening the matches across all its hotels, Dublin and Golf Bar with special packages.

Then there are those who enjoy cricket most at home. Mihir Bijur, for instance, has made it a ritual to turn his home into a stadium with his friends. “We get together to watch the opening match every season. We like the idea of making home our stadium, cheering and wearing jerseys,” he said.

Bangalore-based Sirish Chander, meanwhile, is planning to catch live action on the Internet. “I can’t leave work early to watch the match on television. So YouTube was a great option for me,” he said. Many cricket fans working late would agree.

The Kolkata Knight Riders began IPL 3 with a bang

The Kolkata Knight Riders began IPL 3 with a bang, recording an exciting 11-run victory over defending champions the Deccan Chargers in the opening match at the DY Patil Stadium here on Friday.

Sri Lankan Angelo Mathews played the all-rounder’s role to perfection, smashing an unbeaten 65 that lifted the Knights’ total to 161 for 4, and then returned to claim one for 27.

England’s Owais Shah played a crucial knock of 58 while sharing an unbroken fifth-wicket stand of 130 runs with Mathews.

The Chargers were off to a brisk start with captain Adam Gilchrist (54) and VVS Laxman (22) putting on 61 runs for the opening stand. But the wheels came apart after the dismissal of the Australian swashbuckler and they just about managed to reach 150 for seven.

The win marked a true turnaround for Shah Rukh Khan’s side that consistently ended on the wrong side of close results last year in South Africa.

More than the skills, it was the character that was notable in the Knights’ performance. And there was the familiar sight of Sourav Ganguly ending up as a winning captain.

Sourav failed with the bat, but his leadership skills were on full display as he coolly plotted the rivals’ downfall, ringing in the right bowling changes at the right time.

On the other hand, Gilchrist had reasons to worry as his batsmen, without exception, fell to poor shots to innocuous balls.

The Knights’ start was nothing but a disaster as they lost Manoj Tiwary and captain Sourav in the very first over for nought.

Chaminda Vaas provided a spectacular start to the tournament that has been dogged by off-field controversies when he had Tiwary caught at mid wicket off the first ball.

The Sri Lankan veteran, exploiting the bounce and carry, then induced an outside edge from Sourav three balls later.

The Chargers struck another double blow when they had Cheteshwar Pujara and Brad Hodge in three balls.

Mathews began with a top edge six to third man, but thereafter played some shots of authority. He even improvised to play scoop-sweeps.

Shah, at the other end, played a percentage innings but did not hesitate to punish an erring Andrew Symonds, sweeping him for a six over square-leg fence.

Mathews then opted for the long handle as he clubbed Vaas, Tirumalasetti Suman and RP Singh all for a six each.

The last four overs cost the Chargers 58 runs with Vaas being the most expensive, conceding 18 runs in his third over.

Despite the late onslaught, the Knights couldn’t maintain the momentum and let the Chargers get off to a flying start.

Gilchrist survived a chance when his outside edge off Ishant Sharma, on two, was grassed by Hodge at second slip. But he soon settled down to play one of his typical knocks. A six off Langeveldt in the third over helped him get into groove and another off Laxmi Ratan Shukla saw him firmly set.

Laxman was in an unfamiliar role as an opener (he has opened only five times in ODIs) and adopted an unfamiliar style. To see him under-cut Ishant Sharma was very un-Laxman-like.

He perished attempting a slog sweep, Murali Kartik taking a good catch off his own bowling.

Gilchrist eventually fell trying to pull Hodge and ended up being caught in the deep.

From there on the procession followed, with Herschelle Gibbs and Andrew Symonds quickly returning to the pavilion.

That set the stage for Rohit Sharma, who has been in and out of the Indian team, to play a match-winning knock. But the Mumbaikar played a shot that he would regret for his life, a tennis smash against a bouncer from Mathews that popped into Hodge’s hands at mid off.

Suddenly, the target began to look insurmountable with 34 needed from 20 balls.

Anirudha Singh and Chaminda Vaas fell going for the big shots, leaving 20 to be scored off the last nine balls, which proved to beyond Suman and Jaskaran Singh.