Not quite a ‘happy birthday’ for Misbah

Misbah, who turned 34 on Wednesday, would have desperately wanted to celebrate his birthday with a good contribution for the Bangalore team, reports Amol Karhadkar.

Even before the drizzle stopped at the Chinnaswamy Stadium and the teams had started their warm-up session, a section of the crowd near the dressing room seemed completely disinterested in the pop music that was being dished out by Neha Bhasin and her troupe.

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The 15-odd enthusiasts were more interested in wishing Pakistan batsman Misbah-ul-Haq ‘Happy birthday’. Finally their efforts bore fruit as the ‘home’ team star acknowledged the good wishes after about 10 minutes and waved at them from the players’ gallery.

Misbah, who turned 34 on Wednesday, would have desperately wanted to celebrate his birthday with a good contribution for the Bangalore team. However, it didn't really turn out to be that way as his birthday turned out to be a sad day.

The first ball he faced was edged to Sachin Tendulkar in the slips. And there ended the birthday celebrations!

Fleming to miss rest of IPL

Mumbai: STEPHEN FLEMING, the New Zealand cricketer, will not be available to the Chennai IPL team for their remaining fixtures. He will be travelling back to New Zealand on Thursday for personal reasons, to attend to the birth of his child.

Fleming's departure just two days before Chennai's semifinal match against Punjab means that Parthiv Patel will have a new opening partner, most likely one of S Vidyut or S Aniruddha.

It is not clear if the Chennai team will be looking to fly in a replacement for Fleming but that option is open to them should they choose to exercise it. However, they don't have much time to act with their next match being on Saturday.