Harbhajan 11-match ban

Harbhajan Singh has been slapped with a 11-match ban for slapping Shantakumaran Sreesanth. Thus, he will virtually be out of action from the first edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) unless Mumbai Indians reach the semifinals.

Harbhajan has also been fined 100 per cent of his match fee. Lalit Modi, commissioner of the IPL, revealed that he will be paid only for the first two matches and will have to forfeit all his fees from the third game onwards. Indeed a costly price to pay for an instinctive act of immaturity.

Harbhajan also faces a separate action from the board. The BCCI has appointed lawyer Sudhir Nanavati to conduct a preliminary inquiry and submit a report in 15 days.

If found guilty, he could be banned for life or five Test matches or 10 one-day Internationals.

Meanwhile, Sreesanth was let off with a warning. Although it has been found that Sreesanth did not provoke Harbhajan, the warning is based on his growing habit of provoking his opponents.

Strangely, Lalchand Rajput, the coach of the Mumbai Indians team, has been fined 50 per cent of his match fee for making no effort to stop Harbhajan's misconduct.

IPL Match Results Report 1

1st Match

Bangalore Royal Challengers vs Kolkata Knight Riders

Kolkata Knight Riders won by 140 runs

Man of the Match: Brendon McCullum

2nd Match

Kings XI Punjab vs Chennai Super Kings

Chennai Super Kings won by 33 runs

Man of the Match: Michael Hussey

3rd Match

Delhi Daredevils vs Rajasthan Royals

Delhi Daredevils won by 9 wkts

Man of the Match: Farveez Maharoof

4th Match

Kolkata Knight Riders vs Deccan Chargers

Kolkata Knight Riders won by 5 wkts

Man of the Match: David Hussey

5th Match

Mumbai Indians vs Bangalore Royal Challengers

Bangalore Royal Challengers won by 5 wkts

Man of the Match: Mark Boucher

Win for Kolkata Knight Riders

The inaugural of the Indian Premier League (IPL) Twenty20 tournament got off with a 45-minute glitz and glamour show before the clash between Bangalore Royal Challengers and Kolkata Knight Riders as a near-full M. Chinnaswamy Stadium roared 'Welcome to Bengaluru'.

Soon after, the trio of Shankar-Ehsan-Loy had the almost full 55,000-capacity stadium foot tapping with fast-moving mix of Hindi film and pop music.

Shankar Mahadevan regaled the audience with popular Hindi film song "Jhoom barabar..." and it was followed by lots of fancy fireworks.

The stadium began to fill nearly six hours before the show began at 6.30 p.m. Hundreds of people had begun queueing up around noon to get the vantage seats.

IPL opening match:

McCullum’s record century boosts Kolkata Knight Riders

A brilliant innings from Brendan McCullum who scored 158 runs out of a total of 222 for the Kolkata Knight Riders.

McCullum hit 13 sixes, 10 fours to chalk up his record of the highest total. A tall task ahead for the Royal Challengers.

In reply, the Bangalore Royal Challengers were in trouble losing skipper Rahul Dravid, Virat Kohli, Jacques Kallis and Wasim Jaffer in quick succession. After 6 overs their score was a meagre 26 for 4.

Meanwhile, the world's leading news agencies boycotted coverage of the mega Indian event.

Update:

Kolkata Knight Riders won the IPL inaugural match against Bangalore Royal Challengers by 140 runs.

The Challengers in reply to Knight Riders' 222 for 3 were all out for 82 runs in 15.1 overs.

For the Challengers led by former India skipper Rahul Dravid, it was an abject surrender of their batting line-up. Bowler Praveen Kumar was the only one who could get into double figures, being unbeaten with 18 runs in 15 balls