Brad Hodge plays an important role for Kolkata Knight Riders as opening batsman and has proved how valuable he is to his Indian Premier League team when he got them off to a smooth start against Royal Challengers Bangalore in Kolkata on Sunday. Hodge and Manoj Tiwary put on 101 for the first wicket after Bangalore were restricted to 135 for seven. The Victorian, who last played for Australia in 2008, slammed seven fours in his 50 before Kolkata beat Bangalore by seven wickets for their second win in
the tournament.

Excerpts from an interview:

On Ind-Aus tensions caused by assaults of Indians Down Under:
The people from both countries love each other; ditto the cricketers. The acts of hooliganism in Melbourne were very bad, very wrong and unwanted. I definitely condemn this and the culprits must be punished. Believe me, there are no bad relations between two countries, but a few stray incidents have taken place and my country's reputation has gone down. There is no room for racism and I want to see those hooligans punished.