Manchester City boss Roberto Mancini positive for Mario Balotelli

Former Inter Milan forward and Man City boss Roberto Mancini suggests that the career of City striker Mario Balotelli seems to have come to an end. After a humiliating defeat 1-0 at Arsenal, Balotelli was shown the door.

However, Mancini says that he is still hopeful of the Italian striker that he will be able to set the things right only after he mends his ways. The experienced manager will be having a hard time to manage the Saturday’s squad against Norwich as the services of Balotelli are to be missed dearly courtesy a red card handed against Arsenal.

Carrow Road will host City’s match against Norwich, which will be a crucial one for Man City as part of their quest for title. In fact, Mancini sees it as even more important than their future clash with Manchester United. This is because of their 100% focus whenever they are pitted against Manchester United or Chelsea.

According to Mancini, the Norwich match will be the toughest of all as they won’t be having enough time to consider after West Brom. Meanwhile, the Sunday match with Aston Villa will prove to be crucial for United as well. After the latest episode of Balotelli, Mancini was in sync with the views of Manchester United assistant coach Rene Meulensteen who said that City lacks attitude.

Meanwhile, UEFA too has come under harsh criticism from Mancini who believes that the fine of £24,740 for being late by one minute to pitch was a bit too much. He compared UEFA with European nations like Germany and Italy requiring money at the moment.

Albie Morkel plays a supernatural innings for Chennai Super Kings

South African allrounder Albie Morkel has did it for Chennai Super Kings during their IPL 2012 playoff against Royal Challengers Bangalore. Until the 19th over, it was all certain that RCB will romp back home with a thrilling victory over CSK. However, it was Morkel who made all the difference with his supernatural innings during which he scored 28 off just 7 deliveries.

The winning performance of Morkel has overshadowed the majestic innings of Chris Gayle for RCB. Faf du Plessis set the platform for CSK with his heroic efforts, which was later continued by skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni.

Virat Kohli was at the receiving end who bowled the 19th over, which went for 28 runs and that almost eased off the pressure from a no-win situation for CSK. RCB skipper Daniel Vettori was left clueless and decided to hand the ball to Vinay Kumar during the crucial final over.

West Indies allrounder Dwayne Bravo held the innings throughout and ensured no further casualties along with Ravindra Jadeja, a transfer from Rajasthan Royals scoring four runs in the last ball. During the post match conference, skipper Dhoni admitted that they have got lucky to have three allrounders in the form of Morkel, Bravo, and Jadeja.

With his stint in the IPL, Albie Morkel expects to cement his place in the South African side like his brother Morne Morkel. He is set to play for Somerset next giving him enough scope to perform and get selected for England series between July and August.

Kevin Pietersen hopes to play full season of IPL 2012 for Delhi Daredevils

English batsman Kevin Pietersen has expressed his desire to play a full season for Delhi Daredevils during IPL 2012. The South Africa born player has joined his franchise from Colombo after the end of 2nd test match against Sri Lanka. He was one of the celebrity transfers this season with the other one being Mahela Jayawardene.

The team’s opener and skipper Virender Sehwag along with the other opener Naman Ojha has set the innings for the team during its last win against Chennai Super Kings. Pietersen believes that he and Jayawardene were able to carry on well just because of the beautiful start given by both Viru and Ojha.

England’s prolific run scorer explains that Man of the Match Morne Morkel produced an exceptional spell that sealed victory for their team. Also, he opines that the valuable contributions of other players such as Shahbaz Nadeem and Roelof van der Merwe have did them in.

Also, Pietersen along with Australian opener David Warner, is expected to give a big boost to the team; the services of the latter will be missed because of Australia’s test match schedule with West Indies. The IPL 2012 will run during the months of April and May, which is set to give maximum fun for cricket lovers.

The dashing middle order batsman has been a mainstay for England during one dayers and tests. Pietersen says that he is lucky enough to have got used to the sub continent pitches after playing against in Pakistan in Abu Dhabi and Dubai, and recently against Sri Lanka in Galle and Colombo.