Cricket Cheers

Pakistan's Hall of Shame: "Cricket Criminals and Shamers" Asif and Butt Face Jail Term

2011-11-02T20:45:00.000-07:00

Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir all offered closing submissions via their lawyers on the 21st day of the spot-fixing trial in London on Wednesday, as all three hope and pray that the judge will spare them a jail sentence.It was perhaps the most explosive day yet in the trial that has spanned almost five weeks, as the agent at the centre of the fixing scandal Mazhar Majeed and Amir appeared in the dock for the first time, having pleaded guilty at an earlier pre-trial.

After Majeed said Butt had initially introduced him to the subject of arranging spot-fixing and having also heard that Majeed apparently paid £77,000 to the three players for the fix, the lawyers of the three players looked to gain sympathy from the judge Justice Cooke.

Amir's statement, read out to the court by his lawyer Henry Blaxland QC, was the most heartfelt and remorseful. Amir spoke of how proud he was the first time he was handed his Pakistan shirt and that he wanted to sleep in it.

"First I want to apologise to Pakistan and to everyone that cricket is important to," Amir said, via his lawyer who read from a prepared statement. "I do know how much damage this has done to the game, a game which I love more than anything else in the world.

"I did decide many months ago that I wanted to admit that I deliberately threw two no-balls at the Lord's Test last summer. But I know this was very late and I want to apologise for not saying it before. I didn't find the courage to do it at the beginning, and I know very well that made everything much more difficult.

"Last year was the most amazing year of my life but also it was the worst year. I got myself into a situation that I didn't understand. I panicked and did the wrong thing. I don't want to blame anyone else. I didn't want money at all, I didn't bowl the no-balls because of money. I got trapped and in the end it was because of my own stupidity.

"My dream was to be the best cricketer in the world. I'm a competitive sportsman and those two no-balls were the only moments in my cricketing life where I have not performed to the very best of my ability. And they were not moments I felt happy to be part of."

Butt's lawyer Ali Bajwa QC spoke of how his client had been very different in his behaviour over the last 24 hours since his guilty verdict was handed down and had not eaten or slept in that time. Butt has been immaculately dressed and groomed over the trial but did actually look slightly dishevelled by his own standards, unshaven and drawn. Butt's wife gave birth to their second son an hour before his verdict was read.

"He's lost the captaincy of the Pakistan cricket team and this was a job he had for five weeks, they won two Tests, and this was the greatest honour of his life," Bajwa said, adding that he has since been banned by the ICC for five years and is now "close to unemployable".

"He has gone from a national hero to a figure of contempt and his ignominy is complete," Bajwa said. "He does not want to be the cause of his family's suffering. He now has only his liberty and his family left to lose." Bajwa asked, apart from the obvious deterrent aspect, what would a prison sentence achieve? "Please do not make my family suffer any more."

Asif's plea was similar. His lawyer Alexander Milne spoke of how Asif had gone into debt by travelling to England four times at his own expense, since his arrest, to consult with lawyers. Milne spoke of how he was without his wife and baby daughter and that since his ICC ban, he was basically finished as a cricketer and he should be allowed to return to Pakistan to attempt to somehow rebuild his reputation in his country.

"Mr Asif has been punished, punished and punished again," Milne told the judge. He also alluded to the fact that Asif "had thrown away everything", was almost washed up as a player having been handed a five-year ICC ban and didn't need to be punished further with a custodial sentence.

"He will be 29 in a month and after five years out of the game, a comeback then would seem out of the question," adding, "he leaves here a broken man."

Indian Players Salary: Revised salary graded for 2011-12, Nehra kicked out by selectors

2011-10-31T06:23:00.000-07:00

The Indian cricket board rewarded Yuvraj Singh, Ishant Sharma and Virat Kohli for their consistent performance with promotion to Grade A contracts and added as many as 14 players in Grade C list for the 2011-12 season.Spinners Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja, who played a crucial role in India's 5-0 whitewash of England, have been promoted to Grade B along with batsman Rohit Sharma.

Harbhajan Singh and Suresh Raina, who were dropped from the upcoming Test series against the West Indies for their poor showing on the England tour, have been retained in Grade A along with Sachin Tendulkar, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Gautam Gambhir, Virender Sehwag, Rahul Dravid, V.V.S. Laxman. They all will continue to get the Rs.1 crore retainership.

Impressive perfomers in the series against England, batsman Ajinkya Rahane and speedster Varun Aaron have been given Grade C contracts.

Munaf Patel, Shikhar Dhawan, Wriddhiman Saha, Parthiv Patel, S. Badrinath, Manoj Tiwary, Piyush Chawla, Dinesh Karthik, Jaydev Unadkat, Umesh Yadav, Rahul Sharma and Abhinav Mukund were also given Grade C contracts.

Mukund's name was missing from the original list issued after the board meeting, but later in the evening the BCCI in a statement said: 'Abhinav Mukund's name was missing from the list of the players contracted by the BCCI for the 2011-12 season, sent earlier today (Saturday). Mukund is in Grade C.'

Opening batsman Murali Vijay has dropped to Grade C from B and left-arm pacer Ashish Nehra, who has not played since his injury in the World Cup semifinal against Pakistan, is the only player from the previous list to miss out on a contract.

The number of cricketers, who made the grades approved by the Board of Control for Cricket in India at its working committee meeting Saturday, has inncreased from 24 to 36 (Grade A-12, Grade B-5, Grade-C 19).

Players graded for 2011-12 season:

Grade A (Rs.1 crore): Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Gautam Gambhir, Virender Sehwag, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, V.V.S. Laxman, Suresh Raina, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Yuvraj Singh, Ishant Sharma, Virat Kohli.

Grade B (Rs.50 lakh): Praveen Kumar, Pragyan Ojha, Ravichandran Ashwin, Rohit Sharma, Ravindra Jadeja.

Grade C (Rs.25 lakh): Shantakumaran Sreesanth, Amit Mishra, Cheteshwar Pujara, Abhimanyu Mithun, Vinay Kumar, Ajinkya Rahane, Munaf Patel, Murali Vijay, Shikhar Dhawan, Wriddhiman Saha, Parthiv Patel, S Badrinath, Manoj Tiwary, Piyush Chawla, Dinesh Karthik, Jaydev Unadkat, Umesh Yadav, Rahul Sharma, Varun Aaron, Abhinav Mukund.

Previous Revised Salary For Indian Cricket Players after 2011 World Cup win

Check out the old Indian Cricket Players salary

Don't force players to play, I played the World Cup with injuries - shewag

2011-10-31T06:17:00.000-07:00

Virender Sehwag, the India opener, has said the only way to prevent fast bowlers from picking up injuries is by giving them regular breaks. India are currently without their leading fast bowler, Zaheer Khan, who is still recovering from ankle surgery. They have included 24-year-old Umesh Yadav and 22-year-old Varun Aaron in the Test squad to play West Indies, after the pair impressed with their pace in the recent one-day series against England.

"It's important that the team management ensures they don't play too many matches," Sehwag told television channel Aaj Tak. "Fast bowlers are prone to injuries and when they get injured their pace goes. Besides, when you are injured, your comeback becomes very difficult."

Sehwag was picked in the squad for the first Test squad against West Indies after recovering from a shoulder injury for which he had surgery towards the end of the IPL. He was rushed back to play the last two Tests of India's disastrous series in England earlier this year, but admitted his return was a mistake. "I knew I was needed. I tried my best but I realised I hurried my comeback in England. It was a difficult time in England for the whole team... so many injuries."

India's selectors have rested players for various series and have had distinct teams for Test and limited-overs games in the recent past. Sehwag said a player could therefore ask to be rested if they needed a break. "A cricketer's passion is to play for the country. If somebody says he's tired, he can talk to the team management. [MS] Dhoni was not given rest on his request, because there were too many injuries in the team."

He also rejected the notion that players now prefer the IPL to Test cricket and said the whole club versus country debate was a silly one. "Tell me one cricketer who has said that? It's a perception that the media and ex-cricketers have. Every youngster dreams of playing Tests. There is not a single Indian or for that matter international cricketer who has taken retirement from Tests and ODIs to play IPL.

"I played the World Cup with injuries, Sachin played when he had a fractured toe or other injuries. People are not aware of this."

Sehwag also felt the future of Indian cricket looks bright given the number of young players who are breaking into the side such as Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina, Ajinkya Rahane and Rohit Sharma. "When the seniors retire, I have full faith in these talented youngsters taking their place. There may be a problem for a year or two, but Indian cricket is in safe hands."

England will start their international dominance in 2012

2011-10-31T06:07:00.000-07:00

England and Yorkshire all-rounder Tim Bresnan is convinced that that national squad will maintain its hold on world cricket in 2012 after finishing 2011 as the world's No 1 in both Tests and T20s. He says that despite a poor World Cup campaign and the 5-0 whitewash in the one-day series in India, England can still look back on the year with deep satisfaction.

"It's been an unbelievable year. To finish as No 1 in two out of three competitions shows we're in a good place - especially in Test cricket, which is the pinnacle.

The way we've played this year has been fantastic but we're still looking to improve and continue to churn out results," The Sun quoted Bresnan, as saying.

He added: "Winning the Ashes last winter was fantastic but to receive that giant mace after beating India at home and becoming the world's No 1 Test team was memorable. To see our hard work come to fruition was very satisfying. It was something we set our sights on a few years ago and we achieved our goal."

However, he said: "Staying at the top might be more difficult than getting there. The way the rankings work means we have to keep winning not just games but also series.

It will be a big challenge to defend our No 1 status against Pakistan in the Emirates early next year.

India's Payback: India ruling again in home soil, upset England

2011-10-31T05:46:00.001-07:00

World champions India brushed aside England by 95 runs in the fifth and final one-day international in Kolkata on Tuesday to sweep the series 5-0.Skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni smashed an unbeaten 75 off 69 balls to power India to 271-8 after the hosts were sent in to bat by England captain Alastair Cook at the Eden Gardens.

Left-arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja then grabbed 4-33 and off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin claimed 3-28 as England were shot out for 176 in 37 overs after a promising start in the day-night match.

The whitewash made partial amends for the disastrous tour of England in July-September, when India were routed 4-0 in the Test series to lose the world number one ranking and were blanked 3-0 in the one-dayers.

India swept the series despite the absence of seven players, including star batsman Sachin Tendulkar, who were part of the team that won the World Cup final against Sri Lanka in Mumbai in April.

India have beaten England in 16 of their last 18 one-day internationals at home, losing one and tying the other during the World Cup earlier this year.

India were reduced to 123-4 before Dhoni hit his way out of trouble, pounding four sixes and three boundaries, to help the hosts put up a challenging total on a sluggish wicket.

The late flourish led by the captain saw India plunder 84 runs in the last eight overs, including 39 off the final 12 balls. Left-arm seamer Samit Patel claimed three for 57, while fast bowler Steven Finn took 2-47.

Cook and Craig Kieswetter provided the best start for the tourists in the series as they put on 129 for the first wicket by the 21st over. Both hit half-centuries before India grabbed five wickets for 12 runs to reduce England to 141-5 in the 26th over.

Fast bowler Varun Aaron triggered the collapse by bowling Cook for 60, while Kieswetter was leg-before to Jadeja for 63. Ian Bell, making his first appearance in the series in place of the injured Kevin Pietersen, had made two when he was caught behind by Dhoni off Ashwin.
Jadeja then removed the two Jonathans, Trott and Bairstow, in eight balls to open up the lower order. Ravi Bopara was bowled by Suresh Raina round his wickets and Tim Bresnan holed out against part-time spinner Manoj Tiwary.

The rivals will return to the Eden Gardens on Saturday for a one-off Twenty20 international before England return home.

Salary announced: new revised salary for Indian Cricket players

2011-10-03T20:01:00.000-07:00

Cricket shares many characteristics with baseball, but degree of compensation is not one of them. While the sport is not nearly as lucrative as America's pastime, salaries for the world's top cricket players blow away what most of us make. Insiders say Indian superstar Sachin Tendulkar is the highest-paid player in all of cricket, although most of his $15 million annual pay comes from endorsements. Several Australians are also very well paid. Ian Harvey makes about $800,000 a year.

Fishing isn't just a way for men to get away from their wives, get out on the water, enjoy sunshine, and drink beer all day. It's also a profitable venture for those are the most proficient at catching big ones.

In 2011, Cricket India had 24 players under contract; their minimum salary was roughly 25 Lakh rupees. Furthermore, they qualify for performance-based bonuses and all share in an $11 million pot allocated to player payments. That averages out to about $440,000 per head. That's a big chunk of change, but Indian fans will tell you that it's well earned. India won its first World Cup, the sport's biggest event, in 2011.

Grade A: Retainership Fees Rs 1 crors
Players in Grade A: Sachin Tendulkar, M S Dhoni, Gautam Gambhir, Virender Sehwag, Rahul Dravid, V V S Laxmam, Suresh Raina, Harbhajan Sing, Zaheer Khan.

Grade B: Retainership Fees Rs 50 Lakh
Players in Grade B: Yuvraj Singh, Ishant Sharma, Ashish Nehra, Praveen Kumar, Virat Kohli, M Vijay, Pragyan Ojha.

Grade C: Retainership Fees Rs 25 Lakh
Players in Grade C: S Sreesanth, Amit Mishra, R Ashwin, Rohit Sharma, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ravindra Jadeja, Abhimanyu Mithun, Vinay Kumar.

In addition to the Retainership fees players playing XI will also be paid the following:

Fees per Test Match – Rs 7 Lakh
Fees per ODI (One Day International) – Rs 4 Lakh
Fees per T20 Match – Rs 2 Lakh

Check out the Previous Indian Cricket Players salary

Latest Revised Salary Graded for 2011-2012, Nehra kicked out

IPL 4: Depression brought me back - Gayle

2011-04-26T10:05:00.000-07:00

WICB chief Ernest Hilaire has said the board worked "exceedingly hard" to reach out to Chris Gayle before leaving him out of the West Indies squad for the first two one-dayers against Pakistan. Hilaire's statements were in response to Gayle, who had earlier said the board hadn't communicated with him before making their decision. Gayle is currently playing in the IPL, where he started off his 2011 campaign with a sparkling ton for Royal Challengers Bangalore, while West Indies are down 0-2 in the five-match series against Pakistan.

"We can dispel all that Chris Gayle said by releasing the letters and emails," Hilaire told the Line & Length Network. "But we should not do that. You communicate with a player, you ask for his opinions, you ask for him to account on certain statements he made, you ask him what's his position on certain things and you expect to be treated with a certain degree of confidence.

"You expect when the coach pulls a player aside and speaks to him there is a certain level of respect for that conversation. And against that background I'm not going to try to prove Chris Gayle wrong. What's more important is to state that we're very disappointed in the way in Chris has decided to respond. I think he is being ill-advised. We've worked exceedingly hard to reach out to Chris - numerous attempts - letters, phone calls, emails. He is being advised and he will act in the way in which he sees best."

Hilaire revealed that the WICB had decided to allow Gayle to play in the IPL, since it did not want to deny him the opportunity. "We've stated - it is not that we do not want the players to earn a living," Hilaire said. "We want them to earn a living but we also want them to honour their commitment to West Indies cricket. So we spoke to [Kieron] Pollard, [Dwayne] Bravo and Chris.

"Last October when the three players did not sign the retainer contracts, we wrote to them and said 'tell us what the issues are so we can address it moving forward'," Hilaire said. "We had some exchanges, a couple of constructive ones, one not very constructive but we decided we were going to continue to engage the players. We did not want a situation where we pick the players to play for West Indies and they miss out on IPL, they are then bitter, disappointed, they wish they were at IPL. We would not benefit, they would not benefit.

"Two of the players [Pollard and Bravo] were very cooperative, very supportive, that they can work out an arrangement with us where they can meet their commitments to West Indies cricket as far as the selectors would want them to but also get a chance to play in the IPL.

"It did not exactly work out with Chris but when the point came and he said he was not available for selection, we did give him the NOC because it is not about revenge, it is not about denying him the opportunity."

Pollard, normally a first-choice pick in West Indies' limited-overs' squads, is currently playing in the IPL for Mumbai Indians. Bravo, who missed all but one game in the World Cup with injury, is playing for West Indies, but is set to miss the Test leg of the Pakistan tour to play in the IPL.

Hilaire said the board was under the impression that Gayle was undergoing rehabilitation, and would be available to play Pakistan once he was fully fit. "We said to Chris repeatedly that as far as we are concerned you're injured, you're doing a rehabilitative programme, and that when you're finished we want you tested and if you're available we'll pick you to play for West Indies," Hilaire said. "If you don't want to play we have no difficulty in giving you the NOC once you say you're not available for selection, and he said he was not available for selection and we gave him the NOC.

Hilaire defended the wholesale changes in the side - apart from Gayle, other seniors like Ramnaresh Sarwan and Shivnarine Chanderpaul have also been left out - saying it was done with the intention of sparking a revival in the team's fortunes. "If you look at West Indies cricket since the mid-90s a lot of the systems we had in place broke down," Hilaire said. "There's no discipline, there's no application. We've been doing that for 15 years and we've been losing.

"We need to put a new system in place. No one man is bigger than the team, no one man is such a superstar he can decide if he is training today, if he's going to have treatment tomorrow, if he's going to attend a team meeting. It cannot work that way.

"So [the WICB] does not tell the selectors who to pick, we've said to the selectors that we want a team, we don't want the whole team to surround one or two superstars so that if the superstars fail then everything collapses. We depend on two or three people to excel for us to win and if they don't excel we lose. We don't want that."

IPL 4: Rajastan spoiled kochi's blotch

2011-04-25T03:10:00.000-07:00

Cosmetic surgery? Moisturiser? Who cares? Shane Warne is still ripping them legbreaks. He is still getting vicious dip and drift. He is still producing key wickets - tonight those of Brad Hodge and the top-scorers Parthiv Patel and Ravindra Jadeja - to keep Rajasthan Royals alive in the tournament. On a pitch where the bounce varied from shoulder to shin-high off similar lengths, Kochi Tuskers Kerala threatened to convert their ordinary start into a decent total, but Warne came back to remove both Parthiv and Jadeja off successive deliveries to end the 48-run fourth-wicket partnership. The resultant target was sub-par even on the slightly two-paced pitch, and Rahul Dravid and Shane Watson ensured there were no hiccups in the chase, with a 71-run opening stand.

Rajasthan were right at home in conditions that their two spinners and predominantly slower-ball bowlers enjoy. They also had the injured Johan Botha back, who removed Mahela Jayawardene with the first ball he bowled. It all started inauspiciously for Kochi, with Brendon McCullum missing out because of a bad shoulder. His replacement, VVS Laxman, ran himself out. Botha came on and turned one across Jayawardene, and with some help from the protruding thigh pad, the ball found a way into the stumps. Warne did Brad Hodge in with one that kept low. As a consequence of those big wickets, once Kochi's run-rate fell below six in the fifth over, it never crossed that mark.

Rajasthan's international bowlers - Warne, Botha and Watson - went for 58 in 12 overs between them. Warne even found time to settle a personal score. He welcomed Ravindra Jadeja, who had tried to move away from his franchise last year and was banned in the process, with a bouncer at 110kph. Jadeja and Parthiv, though, kept their heads and put Kochi on their way to what could have been a defendable target. They picked their battles wisely, taking risks against the domestic bowlers, running hard, not looking for ambitious shots.

At 88 for 3 after 15 overs, though, they decided they needed to push for more runs, especially considering it was the expected dew that had made Rajasthan field first on this pitch. Jadeja came down to Warne, who bowled the straighter one and got a thick edge along the ground. Two balls later Jadeja tried the slog sweep, but this one bounced at him, taking the top edge. Back-pedalling, Warne completed the catch around mid-on. Parthiv lost his head next ball, trying the reverse-sweep, and was stumped off a slider.

After that Kochi lost their way with new batsman struggling to time the ball on the slow track. In all, seven wickets fell for 21 runs. The momentum continued into the second innings as Watson smashed the first ball to the cover boundary. Dravid took over from there, playing proper cricketing shots to counter the tricky pitch. He also hit the first six of the match shortly before running himself out, going for an ambitious second run. At 71 for 1, only formalities remained, but Watson pushed the rate up, ensuring the target was achieved with 5.5 overs to spare, giving Rajasthan's net run-rate a boost.

IPL 2011: The new strong core KKR

2011-04-08T08:30:00.000-07:00

The IPL has not been a happy hunting ground for Kolkata Knight Riders. Despite the glamour of Shah Rukh Khan and the leadership of Sourav Ganguly, the franchise struggled on the field and was dogged by a string of controversies off it (who can forget the Fake IPL Player?). It was clear something had to be done to inject optimism and excitement into an increasingly frustrated fan base.

In the offseason, the owners hired a new chief executive, who proceeded to use the January player auction to remake the team, essentially starting over. Ganguly, Kolkata's icon, is gone. So are the other international stars - Chris Gayle, Brendon McCullum, Shane Bond. Stepping into their shoes are Gautam Gambhir, the new captain, Yusuf Pathan, Jacques Kallis and Brett Lee. Kolkata splashed out 62% of its $9 million budget on the first three of those players (50% on Yusuf and Gambhir alone), showing that they are serious about winning, at least in the auction room. It could well turn out to be money shrewdly spent though, as the foursome gives the franchise a nucleus of players who are unafraid of the big stage and have a habit of performing when it matters the most.

The big four of Gambhir, Yusuf, Kallis and Lee. Gambhir could bring a more laidback approach to captaincy than the passionate and often confrontational Ganguly, while Kallis provides reliability with both bat and ball. Yusuf and Lee supply the firepower, with bat and ball respectively.

Gambhir may be the team's most expensive player and Kallis is an all-time great, but Yusuf Pathan is the game changing addition to the squad. His ability to hijack a match from the opposition, no matter what the situation, is priceless in this format. And if he can add a touch of consistency to his breathtaking hitting, Kolkata could well be challenging for the title come the end of May.

Sourav Ganguly. The Prince of Kolkata found himself an unwanted orphan after the January player auction, ignored not just by his home team, but every other franchise as well.

The IPL could be the perfect stage for allrounder Iqbal Abdulla to display his many talents. Though only 21, Abdulla is no stranger to the pressure of expectations, having learnt his trade playing for Mumbai, the most demanding of India's domestic teams. Being around the likes of Gambhir and Kallis day in and day out for six weeks can only be good for his development.

Abdulla comes into the IPL on the back of a stellar Ranji Trophy season. He made 382 runs at an average of 47.75, notching up his maiden first-class hundred in the process. He was also his team's leading wicket-taker, picking up 27 wickets at an average of 22.11 with his left-arm spin. He was somewhat less successful in the Syed Mustaq Ali Trophy, India's domestic T20 tournament, averaging just 11 with the bat, but did take seven wickets at a strike rate of 16.20 and an economy rate of 4.84.

Last three seasons

Kolkata fans might want to look away as their team's results make for ugly reading. They have finished sixth, last and sixth in their three seasons, winning no more than seven games in a single season. The nadir came in 2009, when they won just three of their 14 games. That performance, coupled with the controversy surrounding the captaincy, led to the sacking of coach John Buchanan. The team was better in 2010 than the sixth-place finish suggests, and will look to move to the head of the class this time.

World Cup 2011: It's not a perfect send-off for Murali

2011-04-03T23:03:00.000-07:00

Muttiah Muralitharan raised his left arm, acknowledged the applause and vanished behind the dressing room door at Wankhede Stadium, quietly ending a fascinating career on Saturday. The wily Sri Lankan off-spinner defied a hamstring injury and a knee problem to walk out for the World Cup final against India, hoping to be a member of two World Cup winning Sri Lankan squads but that was not to be.

The eight overs he sent down, mixing off-spinners with his unique 'doosras' could not make much of a difference against Mahendra Singh Dhoni's men and he retreated into the background.

His skipper Kumar Sangakkara insisted the decision to play Muralitharan despite his fitness concerns were based on performance and not any romanticism.
"He is our best bowler, even half-fit. He was fine. He had a few injuries but he was almost fully fit today," Sangakkara told reporters after his team were beaten by six wickets.

"We are going to miss him terribly. Wish we could give him a great send-off."
What Muralitharan got from the fans at Wankhede Stadium was not bad either.
Former India captain Ravi Shastri, hosting the presentation ceremony, asked the fans to give Muralitharan a rousing cheer and the boisterous fans obliged by raising the decibel level. A wide grin illuminated his face as he went up to collect his runners-up medal but even the smile could barely hide his disappointment.

That same affability masked the guile with which he earned 800 test and 534 one-day scalps. On Saturday he was the only person on the field who already owned a World Cup title as he was a member of the team that triumphed in 1996. With the medal dangling around his neck, Muralitharan looked around and then waved before leaving for the dressing room.

World Cup 2011: Dhoni & Co lifts World Cup title, history created after 28 years

2011-04-02T20:45:00.000-07:00

Twenty-eight years on from the match that transformed the history of world cricket, India recaptured the crown that Kapil Dev and his men first lifted at Lord's in 1983, and this time they did so in their very own back yard. An iron-willed 97 from Gautam Gambhir was matched for intensity by the finest captain's innings since Ricky Ponting in Johannesburg eight years ago, as MS Dhoni trumped a poetic century from Mahela Jayawardene to pull off the highest run-chase ever achieved in a World Cup final.

Against a triumphant backdrop at the Wankhede Stadium, victory was sealed by six wickets with 10 balls to spare, as Dhoni - who had promoted himself to No. 5 to heap extra lashings of responsibility onto his own shoulders - rushed through the gears as the victory target drew nearer. With 15 required from 17 balls, he flicked Sri Lanka's only true threat, Lasith Malinga, through midwicket for consecutive boundaries, before smoking Nuwan Kulasekara over long-on to finish on 91 not out from 79 balls, and spark the most delirious scenes of celebration ever seen on the subcontinent.

However, the final margin did little justice to the tussle that had preceded it. Even the toss ended up being disputed, as Kumar Sangakkara's initial call was drowned out by the crowd, but it was the ebb and flow of Zaheer Khan's day that epitomised the fluctuations of a compelling contest. Zaheer opened his account with three consecutive maidens and the scalp of Upul Tharanga in a peerless spell of 5-3-6-1, only to be clobbered for 17 and 18 runs in his ninth and tenth overs, as Sri Lanka monstered 63 runs in the batting Powerplay to post an imposing 274 for 6.

And India's day got much worse before the team's fortunes began to inch upwards. Virender Sehwag had hit a boundary from the first ball of six of India's previous eight innings in the tournament, but this time Malinga's slingers dealt him a second-ball duck, as he skidded a full delivery into his back pad. And then Sachin Tendulkar, for whom the script had seemingly been written, was drawn into a loose drive by a fast Malinga outswinger, having set the stadium on standby for instant history with 18 sumptuously accumulated runs from his first 12 deliveries.

At 31 for 2 in the seventh over, India were struggling to keep their toehold in the contest, and it was all too much for a faithless few in the crowd who turned their backs and set off for home. But Gambhir and Virat Kohli epitomise a generation that does not easily accept defeat, and their third-wicket stand of 83 laid the foundations for an epic turnaround. The prospect of a seam-friendly surface, allied to the grievous loss of Angelo Mathews to a thigh strain, had tempted Sri Lanka into four key changes to the team that had triumphed over New Zealand in Colombo, and with Muttiah Muralitharan lacking bite in the final wicketless appearance of his 19-year career, Malinga alone could not carry the day.

The hard-hitting of Nuwan Kulasekara and Thisara Perera had been instrumental in hoisting Sri Lanka's total to such heights, but in their primary role as front-line seamers they lacked menace and were all too easy to squeeze as 119 runs came from their combined allocation of 17.2 overs. The newcomer to the squad, Suraj Randiv, caused a moment of alarm with his high-kicking offspin when Gambhir, on 30, was dropped by a diving Kulasekara at long-off, but as the innings progressed, his lack of guile proved costly. The decision to omit both Ajantha Mendis and Rangana Herath, whose combined efforts had been so effective against England and New Zealand, is one that will haunt Sri Lanka for years to come.

But this was a victory that still had to be grasped, and India found the men who were willing to do so. The 22-year-old Kohli, who was greeted with a stern word of encouragement as he replaced the outgoing Tendulkar, showed all the mettle for the big occasion as he eased along to 35 from 49 balls before falling to an outstanding return catch by Tillakaratne Dilshan, who dived full-length across the crease to intercept a leading edge. But it was Gambhir and Dhoni to whom the ultimate duty fell. Their 109-run stand was the highest by an Indian pairing in three World Cup final appearances, and even when Gambhir gave away the chance for an unforgettable century with a tired charge and slash at Perera, the result was no longer in doubt.

Gambhir struck nine fours in a 122-ball statement of indomitability, and both he and Dhoni required treatment for stiff backs as the sapping Mumbai heat took its toll. Dhoni at one stage looked so immobile that a precautionary retirement seemed the only logical response, but after some harsh work from the physio he resumed his stance and responded with another trademark filleting of the extra cover boundary, an area in which he scored six of his eight fours - three of which helped to blunt Murali's attacking instincts.

Both teams contained numerous veterans of World Cup final defeat, with no fewer than five Indians still remaining from the team that lost to Australia back in 2003, and as a consequence this was a match thick with performances that spoke of the wisdom of experience. Though each of the previous five centurions in finals had gone on to lift the trophy, as well as seven of the nine teams that had had the chance to bat first, Jayawardene had the misfortune to become an exception to both rules. His stunning 103 not out from 88 balls was proof that finesse has as much of a place at this level as brutality, but ultimately it was not enough to deny India their destiny.

Four years ago at Sabina Park, Jayawardene produced a supreme century against New Zealand to carry his side to their second World Cup final, but this was an innings of even more exquisite application. He came to the crease with his side under the cosh at 60 for 2 in the 17th over, having been throttled by Zaheer's supreme new-ball spell. But he responded with a tempo that scarcely wavered from a run a ball, until with Kulasekera for company, he opened his shoulders to power through to his hundred from 84 balls.

For an occasion of this magnitude, cool heads were the order of the day, and though his final figures did not show it, no-one was cooler in the opening exchanges than Zaheer. On his watch, Sri Lanka were limited to 31 for 1 in their mandatory Powerplay, their lowest ten-over score of the tournament, and the hapless Tharanga was restricted to two runs from 20 balls before snicking to Sehwag at slip, whose sharp low take epitomised a fielding effort that was rarely less than totally committed. Then, when he returned in the 37th over, Zaheer deceived Chamara Kapugedera with a beautiful slower ball that was driven to short cover, on route to equalling Shahid Afridi as the tournament's leading wicket-taker, with 21.

And yet, the speed with which his figures were vandalised was astounding. Though each of Jayawardene's 13 fours was a classy stroke in its own right, none was better than the last of them, an inside-out cover-drive to one of Zaheer's trademark outswinging yorkers, as he premeditated the late movement and filleted the ring of fielders on the off-side. The outright acceleration came from the other end, however, where Kulasekera made 32 from 30 balls before his sacrificial run-out led to a pat of gratitude from Jayawardene as they parted. And then, by the time Perera, who made 22 from nine balls, had sealed his onslaught with a dismissive thump for six over midwicket, the decibel levels in the Wankhede had plummeted.

But run by run, over by over, minute by minute, India picked themselves up, dusted themselves down, and turned the screw on Sri Lanka with a determination that a lesser group of men could not have begun to muster, amid the sure knowledge that several billion countrymen were investing all their hopes in their actions. And though he himself played just a walk-on part in the wider drama, it was Tendulkar who was chaired from the field as the celebrations began in earnest. "He's carried the burden of our nation for 21 years," said the youngster Kohli. "It was time to carry him on our shoulders today."

World Cup 2011: Terrific performance by India, Sri-lan-ka here we come

2011-03-30T09:58:00.000-07:00

India's dream of a World Cup triumph at home is one step closer after their bowlers suffocated Pakistan's batsmen to set up a 29-run victory in the semi-final in Mohali. Saturday's decider will now be a battle of the hosts, and while Sri Lanka might have been surprised by the strength of India's bowling effort, they would also have taken note of a slightly lacklustre batting performance.

In the end, India's 260 for 9 was enough as their bowlers did a fine job, but had Pakistan helped themselves, the target could have been so much more gettable. Sachin Tendulkar was dropped four times in his 85, MS Dhoni was put down once and while Wahab Riaz was extremely impressive in collecting five wickets, Umar Gul had one of his most forgettable days, wilting under the pressure of a World Cup semi-final.

By contrast, India's display in the field was much more professional, and that was the difference in a match that lived up to the extreme pre-match hype. The decision to leave R Ashwin out to make room for Ashish Nehra was an odd choice on a pitch offering plenty of spin, but Nehra and his bowling colleagues built the pressure and gave Pakistan's batsmen little to attack after they made a promising start and reached 70 for 1.

The Indians didn't give away an extra until the 37th over of the innings, and the way they put together strings of dot balls and tight overs was key to their success. Munaf Patel picked up two victims and Yuvraj Singh made up for his golden duck with a pair of wickets, but the most important breakthrough came when Harbhajan Singh bowled Umar Akmal for 29.

Akmal had struck a pair of sixes off Yuvraj, driving him over the sight screen and pulling him over midwicket, and anything was possible while he was at the crease. But Dhoni called on Harbhajan to replace Yuvraj, and with the first ball of his spell he came around the wicket and pushed one across Akmal, taking the off stump when the batsman played for the spin.

Shahid Afridi also fell to Harbhajan when he skied a catch off a full toss, and the obdurate Misbah-ul-Haq was left to steer the chase. He found it difficult to lift his tempo and was the last man out, caught on the boundary for 56 in the final over, but he ate up 76 deliveries and had he shown some more intent earlier, Pakistan might have had a chance.

It was a disappointing end for Pakistan after their top order gave them hope. Mohammad Hafeez made an encouraging 43 before a string of eight dot balls from Munaf brought a brain-fade as Hafeez tried a premeditated paddle sweep from outside off stump and edged behind to Dhoni.

Soon after, the loss of Asad Shafiq brought the Mohali crowd to life, when he tried to cut a Yuvraj delivery that was much too full and straight, and the middle stump was knocked back. Shafiq had made 30 and had displayed a cool temperament until that point, but the required run-rate started to balloon, and Pakistan never recovered.

But while India have booked a place in the final, they must hope they haven't used all their good fortune too soon. Tendulkar might be the finest batsman of his generation, but today he was the luckiest, dropped on 27, 45, 70 and 81. It seemed as though he was going to bring up his 100th international century with one of his least convincing innings.

Misbah at midwicket was the first to put him down, before Younis Khan spilled a regulation chance at cover, both off the bowling of Afridi. The third opportunity came when Kamran Akmal didn't move his hands quickly enough to a thick edge, again off Afridi, and while that was a tough opportunity, a pull to Umar at mid-on from the offspin of Hafeez should have been taken.

Before he had any of those lives, Tendulkar had survived two very tight calls on 23: an lbw decision that was given out by Ian Gould but on review proved to be spinning down leg, and a near-stumping the next delivery when he just got his back foot down in time after losing his balance reaching outside off. When Tendulkar was finally taken at cover by Afridi off the bowling of Ajmal, Pakistan's relief was evident.

Soon after, a scratchy Dhoni, who was also dropped by Kamran, made the mistake of challenging Simon Taufel on an lbw decision. Dhoni had 25 when he missed a Riaz delivery that pitched just in line and was hitting the stumps. It was the second outstanding call by Taufel, who had given Virender Sehwag lbw in a similar fashion earlier, even though the left-armer's angle meant pitching outside leg was a possibility.

Riaz was the man who Afridi had to thank for keeping Pakistan in the contest after India made a strong start and reached 114 for 1 off their first 18 overs. After Gautam Gambhir was stumped wandering down the pitch against Hafeez, Riaz grabbed two wickets in two balls - Virat Kohli caught at backward point and Yuvraj bowled by a low full toss for a golden duck.

Nobody looked as fluent as the crease as Sehwag, who took 21 off Gul (0 for 69) from the third over of the innings. What looked like a 300-plus total in those early overs became 260 when Suresh Raina helped them recover from their middle-order failures.

It was enough, but India's batsmen will need to improve if they want to lift the trophy on Saturday. For now, they can dream of their first World Cup in 28 years.

World Cup 2011: Sri Lanka made it to reach out final

2011-03-29T22:58:00.000-07:00

Sri Lanka overcame a serious bout of the jitters to book their place in Saturday's World Cup final in Mumbai, as New Zealand bowed out in the last four for the sixth time in ten campaigns, though with their pride fully intact after another fabulous never-say-die performance in Colombo. In a strange amalgam of the one-sided thrashing that Sri Lanka handed out to England in their quarter-final on Saturday, and New Zealand's last-eight fightback against South Africa in Dhaka, the favourites duly progressed, and by a seemingly comfortable five-wicket margin.

However, the closing stages were fraught in the extreme as a raucous home crowd was forced to postpone a party that had been in full swing for more than three-quarters of the contest.

Defending a mediocre total of 217 after a spirited batting effort had unravelled in a clatter of late wickets, New Zealand's lust for a scrap kicked in with a vengeance just when it seemed the match was finally out of their reach. At 160 for 1 in the 33rd over, with Tillakaratne Dilshan and Kumar Sangakkara entrenched in a game-breaking partnership of 120, what little attention had been on this, the less glamorous of the two semi-finals, had already begun to drift towards Wednesday's epic match-up in Mohali.

But then Dilshan, cruising on 73 from 93 deliveries and seemingly destined for his second hundred in consecutive matches, slapped loosely at Tim Southee and picked out Jesse Ryder at point, whose second catch of the innings was a far less breathtaking affair than his earlier one-handed pluck off Sri Lanka's pace-setter, Upul Tharanga.

Three balls later, the new man Mahela Jayawardene was beaten in flight by a beautiful dipping delivery from Daniel Vettori and nailed plumb lbw for 1, whereupon Sangakkara's habitually cool head deserted him, as he attempted to steer the lively Andy McKay over the keeper for four, but ended up dollying a simple chance to Scott Styris at third man.

Sri Lanka had lost three wickets for eight runs in 22 deliveries, and just as had been the case in the throttling of South Africa, New Zealand's bowlers ramped up the aggro while maintaining supremely disciplined lines and lengths. On the same worn wicket that had been used for the England quarter-final, runs suddenly became excruciatingly hard to come by as Sri Lanka's untested middle order was fully exposed to the limelight.

Chamara Silva and Thilan Samaraweera scraped together nine runs in six overs as the asking-rate climbed to close to five, and it took a message from the dressing room, delivered with a drink from Dilhara Fernando, to persuade them out of their defensive mindset. Silva responded with two fours in consecutive deliveries as Ryder's seam-up was brought into the attack, but three balls later he tried to get aggressive against the extra pace of Southee and chopped onto his own stumps for 13.

Samaraweera, however, had the experience to see his team home. A short ball from Ryder was fetched over midwicket for four, before a wild throw from Oram gifted him another four as the ball sailed over the keeper's head. Another error lopped five more precious runs off the total as a McKay wide slipped through the keeper's grasp, and though McKay responded with a beauty to Angelo Mathews that was sent to be reviewed for caught-behind, the lack of Hot Spot meant there was no evidence available to reverse the on-field decision.

And with a smoking six off Southee in the next over, the game was finally relieved of its tension - even though it took two winning shots to seal it, after Mathew's initial carve through the covers was called a dead-ball due to a firework exploding right at the moment of delivery. Instead, Samaraweera nudged through third man to wrap up the game with 13 balls to spare.

Such a nerve-jangling finale could not have seemed further from the agenda while Sri Lanka's innings was in full flow. From the moment Tharanga launched his third ball, from Nathan McCullum, straight down the ground for six, Sri Lanka were always ahead of the asking-rate. His departure for 30 from 31 balls did change the tempo of the Sri Lankan innings, but neither Dilshan nor Sangakkara had any reason to rush towards a modest victory target.

Sangakkara had an early let-off when he edged Oram at a catchable height through the vacant slip cordon, while Dilshan - who had been so combative against England - took 28 deliveries to score the second boundary of his innings, and his 50th of the World Cup to date. But he went on to pass 400 runs for the tournament, en route to overtaking Jonathan Trott as the leading run-scorer, and as Sangakkara finally began to nail his trademark cover-drives, New Zealand looked to have run out of ideas.

In hindsight, the Kiwis will look back on the closing stages of their own innings with regret, for a late collapse of 5 for 13, including 4 for 4 in 12 balls, undermined much of the good work they had put into the early part of their innings. The bed-rock was provided by Scott Styris, a centurion against Sri Lanka in the 2007 World Cup, who ground out a responsible 57 from 76 balls. But when he was extracted lbw by the final delivery that Muttiah Muralitharan will ever bowl on home soil, Sri Lanka responded euphorically to scythe through the tail and leave seven precious deliveries unused.

Whether a 240 target would have made any difference will remain a matter for conjecture. Though they fared better than any other team in the tournament so far in taking 41 runs off Sri Lanka's bowlers in the batting Powerplay, they were ultimately undone by the depth and variety of their attack, with Lasith Malinga's yorkers scalping three key wickets at critical moments.

Too many of New Zealand's batsmen made starts without going on. Martin Guptill flicked Malinga's fifth delivery through midwicket in a 65-ball 39, only for Malinga to york him superbly when he returned for his second spell, while Brendon McCullum slog-swept Rangana Herath for six, only to be bowled for 13 playing the exact same stroke. Taylor, whose ferocious hitting could have been so valuable at the death, launched a Mendis long-hop straight to deep midwicket just when he looked ready to build on his 36 from 55 balls.

But as Vettori takes his leave of the New Zealand captaincy, he can reflect on yet another campaign in which his team rose to the challenge of the big event in precisely the manner that too many of their supposed betters - namely England and South Africa - consistently fail to do. Sangakkara and his men, meanwhile, march on to their second final in consecutive World Cups, where Muralitharan - his broken body notwithstanding - will attempt to complete his career on the highest high imaginable.

World Cup 2011: It's Tharanga and Dilshan show at Colombo

2011-03-26T19:55:00.000-07:00

Tillakaratne Dilshan and Upul Tharanga set an emphatic seal on Sri Lanka's place in their home semi-final against New Zealand next Tuesday, as England's chaotic World Cup campaign came to an abrupt and anticlimactic end under the floodlights at the Premadasa Stadium in Colombo.

Set a testing total of 230 at a venue where successful run-chases have been notoriously thin on the ground, Sri Lanka's openers set about proving that history is bunk as they sauntered to victory by 10 wickets and with a massive 63 balls to spare. After five months on the road for England's cricketers, and six consecutive nail-biters in the group stages of the tournament, they found they had nothing left to give as the first round of knock-out matches was concluded with an utter walloping.

Though several higher scores have been made in this tournament to date, England's total of 229 for 6 ought to have competitive in the conditions. Only eight times in 49 internationals at the venue had a team batting second chased 230 or more for victory, and the most recent occasion came back in 2004. However, Dilshan and Tharanga battled through a tricky start with a flurry of aggression, before settling back into an effortlessly accumulative tempo. For the second time in the campaign, following on from their crushing of Zimbabwe in Pallekele, both men brought up centuries in a massive and indomitable stand.

Such was Sri Lanka's dominance that the match was able to finish in comically contrived scenes, as Dilshan - who had already reached his landmark with a savage cut for four off Graeme Swann - set about shepherding his partner to his own hundred. With seven runs still needed and Tharanga on 98, Dilshan accidentally carved Swann clean through the covers, and was grimacing his apologies before the ball had crossed the rope. Dilshan responded with two of the most exaggerated forward defences he has ever played, the first to a rank long-hop that even Swann was able to smile about, and with both men rendered virtually immobile with cramp, Tharanga finished the game three balls into Chris Tremlett's subsequent over, with a flat-footed swipe through the off-side.

The statistics told a sorry tale for England. All told they managed 12 fours in the whole of their 50 overs, two of which were scored by Jonathan Trott, whose 86 from 115 balls was his fifth half-century in seven innings, as he became the first batsman to pass 400 runs in the current tournament. Eoin Morgan provided some impetus with a 55-ball 50, but the batting Powerplay once again scuppered their momentum, as they were restricted to 23 runs and two key wickets in their five overs of fielding restrictions. Sri Lanka by contrast clobbered 22 fours and three sixes in less than 40 overs. The final result was every bit as resounding as it had been when these two teams last met in a World Cup quarter-final, at Faisalabad 15 years ago, a match that was lit up by Sanath Jayasuriya's epoch-defining 82 from 44 balls.

The nature of England's campaign meant that everyone, players and spectators alike, was waiting for the inevitable twist in the narrative, a fightback of the sort that the bowlers had produced against South Africa and West Indies earlier in the tournament - two other occasions in which the openers had proven hard to dislodge. However, it simply never materialised.

England's bowling effort started promisingly enough. Tim Bresnan found good swing in a tidy first over, while Swann spun the ball sharply after being armed with the new ball. However, Tharanga quickly decided valour was the better part of discretion, and latched onto a modicum of width to crash his first four in Bresnan's second over, before using his feet expertly to deposit Swann back over his head for six.

Tremlett, retained in the team ahead of the experienced James Anderson, looked set to justify his place in a brilliant first over in which he beat Dilshan three balls in a row, including a massive nip-backer that shaved the leg bail on its way through to Prior. But his line and length became scrambled thereafter, and whereas England had managed just four boundaries in their first 25 overs, Dilshan cashed in with two in four balls, both crashed through the off side, as Sri Lanka reached 57 for 0 at the end of the first Powerplay.

The chances that England were able to create were too marginal to be capitalised upon. Early in his innings, Dilshan survived a miscued pull off Bresnan that looped over the head of short midwicket, while Ravi Bopara came within a whisker of bowling him in his first over, only for the ball to beat everyone and fizz away for four byes. The same fate awaited a beauty of a delivery from Swann, while James Tredwell, the hero of Chennai, was tidy but unthreatening in his first three overs, before Dilshan planted his front foot to drill him into the stands at long-off. Tremlett returned to create two half-chances as the ball was drilled hard back through his fingertips, but the game was as good as over long before then.

At the innings break, the scenario seemed to be very different. England looked nervous and leaden-footed against a Sri Lankan attack loaded with four front-line spinners, including the Man of the Match Dilshan, who took the new ball and scalped Andrew Strauss after a dreadful innings of 5 from 19 balls. But they endured and briefly, while Trott and Eoin Morgan were in harness, they thrived, adding 91 in 16 overs for the fourth wicket.

However, their ambitions of a formidable 240-plus total were scuppered by the dismissal of Morgan in the first over of the Powerplay. Until he drilled Lasith Malinga at deep cover for a 55-ball 50, he had lived a charmed life, with no fewer than four clear-cut chances going his way - three dropped catches, two of them extraordinarily easy, and an lbw appeal on 29 that would have proved stone-dead on review. His luck, however, ran out at an inopportune moment for England, and when Swann missed a switch hit to fall for a first-ball duck, England proved incapable of reaching the boundary while the field was up, with just 23 runs coming in the five overs of fielding restrictions, and 56 in the last 10 all told.

Trott's performance was that of a man who knew that if he batted through the innings, the runs would materialise somehow. He scored his first boundary from his 65th delivery, and eventually fell in pursuit of his third, as he swept Muttiah Muralitharan to deep backward square with nine balls of the innings remaining. Despite inevitable criticism of the tempo of his innings, his sang froid appeared to be well suited to the situation, as he backed himself to work the ones and twos in a boundary-less start to his innings, and at the same time he drew a gutsy response from Ravi Bopara, who was far less comfortable with the tempo, but knuckled down for 31 from 56 balls.

Murali, whose legendary career has now been extended by one more game at least, finished with 2 for 54 in nine overs before limping off with an apparent recurrence of his hamstring strain. However, that tally could have been higher but for an extraordinary sequence of events in his eighth over, when Morgan was dropped twice in consecutive deliveries. He had already survived one dolly of an opportunity on 16, when Thilan Samaraweera shelled a leading edge off Ajantha Mendis at point, but Murali couldn't contain his fury when, first, Angelo Mathews at extra cover fluffed a lofted drive, before Rangana Herath dived forward at point but failed to cling on.

If those moments were evidence that Sri Lanka were feeling the pressure of the big occasion, they were fleeting at best. The insolent ease of this performance means that New Zealand will arrive in Colombo with trepidation ahead of their sixth semi-final appearance in ten World Cups. They have never yet progressed beyond that stage, and four years ago in Jamaica, they were sent on their way by one of the best hundreds of Mahela Jayawardene's career. Today, however, Jayawardene's solitary contribution was a catch at deep square leg. Whereas England have been on their chinstraps all tournament long, Sri Lanka - it is clear -are a team with plenty still in reserve.

World Cup 2011: Another fabulous QF, South Africa out of world cup

2011-03-25T08:57:00.000-07:00

South Africa were cruising at 108 for 2 in the 25th over when Jacques Kallis fell and they crash-landed spectacularly to be shot out for 172. The self-destructive streak was demonically masochistic in nature and it will perhaps require shrinks to understand this dramatic denouement. Once they realised their opponents were cracking under pressure, New Zealand went in for the kill, with close-in fielders and disciplined bowling, led by Jacob Oram who took four wickets and a great catch.

Even when Kallis fell, to a blinder of a catch from Jacob Oram, rushing to his left at deep midwicket, there wasn't much to suggest that this could turn into another contender for all-time greatest choke in World Cup history. The pitch was slow but there was no sharp turn; the bowlers were disciplined but there was no sensational game-breaking spell; none of the three spinners got much purchase from the wicket; and the total was below par; but for some reason South Africa were feeling extremely claustrophobic.

Their nerves were best represented by the dismissal of JP Duminy, who played an awful shot to open the choke gates. Nathan McCullum slowed up the pace on a delivery that landed on a length, outside off, and Duminy went so hard into an ugly cut that he ended up dragging the ball on to his stumps. With Duminy's fall, South Africa were in a spot of bother at 121 for 4, in the 28th over, and the first signs of something special loomed over Mirpur.

There was more heartbreak for South African fans in the next over. Faf du Plessis hit straight to midwicket and ran like a headless chicken. AB de Villiers should have perhaps refused that call, but he responded, only to find himself well short of the crease. It was at this moment that New Zealand really sensed that this could be their night. And they moved in for the kill.

The moment was so ripe that even Daniel Vettori, not known for sledging, gave some lip to du Plessis. Even Kyle Mills, who had carried drinks on to the field at the fall of de Villiers, got into the act. A visibly agitated du Plessis shoved Mills, the departing de Villiers returned to support his partner, and eventually the umpires had to get involved. New Zealand's players swooped in to the crime scene and it was a classic Youtube moment. You could almost feel the pressure-cooker situation out there.

New Zealand crowded the bat with close-in men, ready to sledge and eager to pile on the pressure, and Johan Botha cracked in the 33rd over. It was a lovely legcutter from Oram and Botha played down the wrong line to lose his off stump. Oram, who was the man who started it all with that Kallis catch, wasn't done yet. In the 35th over, he lured Robin Peterson into edging an attempted cut to the keeper and South Africa were swaying away like drunken men at 132 for 7. South Africa's nerves were frayed further when Dale Steyn square drove Nathan McCullum in the air to backward point, where who else but Oram accepted the offering.

If Oram was the man in the forefront of New Zealand's resurgence, du Plessis was the man seeking redemption for making that wrong call that led to the run out of de Villiers. In his brief international career, he has already shown that he has the tenacity to remain relatively calm under pressure. And he wasn't ready to throw in the towel. He was on 14 when Steyn fell, and he took ownership of the chase. He rushed down the track to slam Tim Southee to the straight boundary in the 40th over, on drove Vettori to collect another four in the 41st, and even lifted Oram for a thrilling six over long-off in the 43rd over.

It was in the same over that the game turned for one last time, and it was also an over that captured the entire madness of the evening. du Plessis had crashed the first delivery of the over back at Oram who couldn't hold on to a very difficult chance, and once the six was hit, one had to ask the question: was the night turning for Oram? Was it swinging towards du Plessis? But du Plessis sliced the fifth ball straight to extra cover and South Africa had well and truly sunk into oblivion.

The end was a far cry from the way South Africa started the day. They attacked with spin and seam, shuffled their bowlers regularly like a pack of cards, and hustled on the field to keep a tight leash on New Zealand. Jesse Ryder and Ross Taylor were at the forefront of a revival from the depths of 16 for 2; carefully, almost mindful of a potential lower-order collapse on this pitch, Ryder and Taylor battled through. The odd boundary signalled growing comfort, but they never broke away decisively. A nervy equilibrium had been reached by the end of the 30th over with New Zealand reaching 112 for 2 and the game was waiting to be seized. However, both Ryder and Taylor departed in quick succession but Kane Williamson made a vital 38 to push New Zealand to 221.

It shouldn't have been enough, it didn't feel like enough, but it proved enough. It was a crazy crazy night in Mirpur. Ironically, Allan Donald, the man who was involved in the other famous South African choke, was in the other camp tonight.

World Cup 2011: Gary's script collapsed aussies code

2011-03-24T18:48:00.000-07:00

An awe-inspiring Ricky Ponting dazzled and Sachin Tendulkar hit a delightful fifty but it was the imperious Yuvraj Singh who stole the show to lead India to an exciting semi-final encounter against Pakistan. On a dry pitch, aiding turn, India couldn't remove a wonderfully solid Ponting, but found a way around him to hold Australia to a competitive 260. Tendulkar set the base and the middle order threatened to choke, but Yuvraj played a blinder to charge India to a famous win.

Sometimes, they say, one four can change things around. That cliché came alive today, in the final ball of the 39th over, with India needing 72 from 67 deliveries, when Yuvraj spanked Shaun Tait for a stunning four over backward point. It oozed of skill, impishness and dare under fire. Until then, in the preceding few overs, India choked and spluttered badly to almost hand the game to Australia. That Yuvraj hit over point sensationally turned the game on its head.

The next over proved to be the game-breaker as Brett Lee was looted for 14 runs: Suresh Raina played the most assured pull of his life to crash the first delivery to the boundary and Yuvraj carved the final delivery over point, but it was a shot in between that really reflected the enthralling contest. It was a screaming yorker from Lee, from around the stumps, and Yuvraj crouched, opened the bat-face and stabbed it through to the third man boundary. Lee looked stunned, and you felt that was the moment when India affected the jail break.

Until Yuvraj took ownership of the chase, the pressure-cooker situation had got to India and they were beginning to choke. In five mad overs between the 32nd and 37th, just after Virat Kohli had swiped a full toss from David Hussey straight to midwicket in the 29th over, it was absolute pandemonium as India looked hell bent on self-destruction. Gautam Gambhir tried to run himself out three times and was successful on the final attempt. In the 33rd over, he ran for a non-existent run after Yuvraj had played the ball towards midwicket but Ponting missed the sticks. In the next over, he got into a yes-and-no situation with Yuvraj and would have been run out had Brad Haddin, who dashed to the short mid-on region, thrown it at the non-striker's end. Gambhir was run out next ball, again running mindlessly after Yuvraj stabbed David Hussey wide of the first slip.

India required 93 runs from 101 balls at that stage, but they slipped further into the abyss as MS Dhoni got out after looking edgy. He nearly got involved in a run out, had a big swing and a miss against Lee and perished next delivery, cutting to point to leave India needing 74 from 75 balls. It was then that Yuvraj decided to play the World Cup innings of his life.

The batting Powerplay was the final hurdle, but Raina, who gave admirable support to Yuvraj after Dhoni's exit, walloped the first ball from Lee over long-on and Australia's fight evaporated with that shot.

Before Yuvraj, India's chase revolved almost entirely around Sachin Tendulkar. It was a slow pitch, but Tendulkar played some shots that defied the nature of the track. Tait v Tendulkar in particular lived up to the billing. Tendulkar punched the first delivery he faced, and the first from Tait, through cover point and, upper cut the next legal delivery to the third man boundary. Tait sledged, Tendulkar stared, and the chase was soaked with intensity from then on. Tait was soon out off the attack but returned to silence the crowd. He gave away six runs in his first over on return, which included two wides and also saw Tendulkar getting to his fifty. He struck with the first delivery of his next over, the 19th of the innings, with a delivery released from a slightly round-armish action that held its line outside off stump. Tendulkar tried to steer it to point but edged it to Brad Haddin.

Spare a thought for the Australian captain, probably playing his last World Cup match and to Australia, who were last eliminated before the finals of a World Cup way back in 1992. Whenever Zaheer Khan threatened to push India in front, Ponting shoved Australia ahead. The knock was a microcosm of Ponting the man. It had skill, grit, bloody-mindedness, and dare; it was Ponting. It will probably be the only knock from him that won't be remembered for many scintillating shots and it will be cherished for how responsibly he curbed his natural strokeplay.

There was tremendous poise in how he dealt with the slow nature of the pitch and a great amount of skill in the way he handled spin. Ponting showed sheer grit in the way he held the Australian innings together, and admirable character to do it when he wasn't in great form, on such a big stage. When he was fresh, he had to face Harbhajan Singh, his nemesis, bowling from around the stumps.

Ponting countered him by shuffling to his right and working the ball with the turn. When he was tired, he had to face the reverse-swing from Zaheer. In the middle, he picked Ashwin's carom ball, and mixed caution and aggression against Yuvraj Singh.

Australia's slide and India's resurgence in the middle overs began with an awful shot from Michael Clarke, who top-edged a slog-sweep against Yuvraj to long-on in the 31st over. Zaheer dismissed Michael Hussey with that knuckled slower one to leave Australia wobbling at 140 for 4 in the 34th over. Ponting and David Hussey took the batting Powerplay in the 44th over and added 44 vital runs without losing a wicket. Ponting must have thought he had done all he could to ensure Australia remained in the competition but he was outdone by Yuvraj.

World Cup 2011: Steady pakistan ramp into semi

2011-03-23T11:58:00.000-07:00

Pakistan are two games away from repeating the heroics of Imran Khan's 1992 team after a crushing 10-wicket victory against West Indies in the first quarter-final in Dhaka. Mohammad Hafeez starred with bat and ball, beginning West Indies' decline with two early wickets then ending it with a brisk 61, while Shahid Afridi is proving an inspirational force and led from the front again with four more scalps as the spinners produced a ruthless display to dismantle West Indies for 112.

Between the three of them, Pakistan's slow bowlers had figures of 27.3-5-64-8 and gave another example of how there is a threat from every part of the attack. At no point did Afridi need to fill overs, especially when the weakest link of the bowlers - Hafeez - managed to take 2 for 16 in his full allocation. Hafeez then dominated an unbroken opening stand with Kamran Akmal which wiped off the target with barely an alarm and 29 overs to spare.

The match represented a contest for as long as Chris Gayle was in the middle - the sum total of 2.5 overs. His departure sucked the life and belief from West Indies line-up with the rest remaining rooted to the crease, managing just seven fours and a solitary Shivnarine Chanderpaul six as he nudged his way to a hollow, unbeaten 44.

Some early aggression had proved the falsest of dawns. Devon Smith cut the first ball of the match to the point boundary and Gayle played two thumping shots, but in attempting his third boundary, he picked out Afridi at mid-off who did well to hold on to a stinging drive. With their talisman gone, West Indies became virtually scoreless.

Hafeez, handed the new ball after Abdur Rehman was left out, caused a host of problems for the left handers, mainly with his straighter deliveries, rather than any turn. The major damage came in his third over as he skidded one past Smith's inside edge, and three balls later, a similar delivery removed Darren Bravo as he thrust his pad down the line.

The next six overs brought just six runs as Ramnaresh Sarwan and Chanderpaul were rendered scoreless by the combination of Hafeez and Gul. The shackles were momentarily broken when Sarwan collected two boundaries off Wahab Riaz - the second a flowing cover drive - but they were the rare exception.

Hafeez was allowed to bowl eight overs for 12 runs though he was barely turning the ball and spinners continued to cause problems when Afridi had two close shouts for lbw in his first over. He used up a review with the first one but should have broken through in his second over when Gul didn't accept a chance at long-off when Sarwan, on 14, tried to go over the top.

Runs came at a painful rate, but at least the fourth-wicket pair were trying to set a platform. However, with the pressure building and Pakistan racing through the overs Sarwan felt he had to try some shots, but couldn't clear cover as he cut a delivery which bounced more than expected. Not for the first time, Afridi stood with arms aloft and it was just the start for the Pakistan captain.

Kieron Pollard did nothing to end the argument that he's a bully of weak bowling attacks when he bottom-edged a cut and Kamran Akmal's recent improvements continued with a sharp take. None of the West Indian batsman - barring Chanderpaul - had a clue which way Afridi was turning the ball and that was summed up by Devon Thomas' dismissal as he played back to a quicker ball.

From legspin to offspin it was then the turn of Saeed Ajmal to make more lower-order batsmen look foolish. Darren Sammy, who will struggle to justify his place in the team after this tournament, was turned square by a perfect doosra and the same delivery also removed Devendra Bishoo although this time the batsman helped with an inside edge.

Kemar Roach showed some of his team-mates that batting wasn't impossible as he accompanied Chanderpaul for 15 overs to add 40 but it was like trying to the plug the leak in the Titanic. Roach eventually chipped to midwicket and the innings ended with more than six overs remaining when Ravi Rampaul was bowled round his legs by Afridi.

Pakistan weren't going to ease their way to the target and after two overs had 25 on the board - it had taken West Indies until the 12th over to reach that point. Hafeez rode on the confidence of his bowling display, but some of the bowling served up was as bad as the earlier batting. A couple of tough half chances were spilled without affecting the result.

The victory means their first journey to India since 2007 to face either the co-hosts or defending champions in Mohali. Pakistan won't care who the opposition are, it will take an exceptional performance to stop them.

World Cup 2011: Clinical performance by India, Yuvraj stars both with bat and bowl

2011-03-20T19:01:00.000-07:00

Oh West Indies, they have done it again. For the second match in a row they had a chase all wrapped up but some desperate inspiration from Zaheer Khan and Harbhajan Singh and some mindless cricket from the batsmen who followed Devon Smith ensured that West Indies remained without a win over a Test side other than Bangladesh since June 2009. With Smith playing as well as he has ever played, West Indies almost mocked India for the first 27 overs, getting up to 146 for 2 without a care in the world. Then came a maiden by Harbhajan and a wicked Zaheer slower ball to remove Smith, and West Indies lost the last eight wickets for 34.

That collapse outdid India's own - 7 for 50 - that had threatened to undo Yuvraj Singh's century on a track whose bounce West Indies and Ravi Rampaul exploited, but not to the fullest. Rampaul, the hero of West Indies' last win against a major side, took his first five-for in ODIs on his World Cup debut to hurt the start, the middle and the end of the Indian innings. However, West Indies' insistence on opening the bowling with Sulieman Benn despite the helpful track, and the obvious plan of trying to bounce India out meant they couldn't capitalise on a first over that claimed Sachin Tendulkar. Then there was Yuvraj, with his maiden World Cup century, fighting dehydration, vomiting on the field, and then coming back to take two wickets.

The game might have ended in a whimper, but it began explosively. As they successfully did in the last two World Twenty20s, West Indies came out with bouncers for India. Inside the first 11 overs, two deliveries bounced over the keeper's head for byes, two batsmen got out to deliveries dug in short, one was dropped off another short delivery, but Benn went for 21 off his three overs to ease the pressure. To make matters worse Darren Sammy dropped Yuvraj twice, chances not easy but not impossible, at 9 and 13.

Working with Yuvraj was Virat Kohli, for whom it was almost a homecoming to bat at No. 3 in the absence of the injured Virender Sehwag. In familiar environs of not having to score at a strike-rate of 150, Kohli did just what was required on a tough pitch after a tough start, scoring 59 off 76, letting Yuvraj take the majority of the strike in a 122-run partnership, after the two had come together at 51 for 2.

Even after Yuvraj was reprieved twice, the bouncers still kept coming, the odd ball still misbehaved - especially for the left-hand batsman. He got dehydrated and threw up but nothing seemed to be able to stop the Yuvraj specials in between, shots that kept the scoring rate up in the middle overs. Kohli was smart too: he had played 21 deliveries when Yuvraj came to join him, but so good was the strike manipulation that Yuvraj had played 12 more deliveries than him by the time their partnership ended.

During the partnership, Yuvraj pulled over midwicket, cover-drove for fours along the ground, swept the legspin of Devendra Bishoo, and on-drove Sammy over long-on for a majestic six. It was one of those days when Yuvraj was feeling it, one of those days when he plays one level above the game around him. His mates, though, managed to engineer another collapse from 218 for 3 in the 42nd over.

Buoyed by that good finish with the ball, West Indies came out positive. As Rampaul stood up in the absence of the unwell Kemar Roach, so Smith did in place of the injured Chris Gayle. He cut furiously - almost every bowler got a taste of his trademark shot - he picked singles straight to infielders, doubles straight to those in the deep. However, R Ashwin, who got his World Cup debut at long last, was difficult to hit with the new ball. He used his carrom ball to remove the potentially explosive Kirk Edwards.

Still Smith and Darren Bravo first, and Smith and Ramnaresh Sarwan thereafter kept knocking off the runs calmly. The running between the wickets, and then the odd boundary to break a string of dots, remained a feature. The panic and rush that characterised their effort against England was conspicuous in its absence. With Smith scoring at will, and West Indies needing just 123 in the last 23 overs, only West Indies stood in the way of West Indies.

Turned out they needed a bit of help from India to kickstart the collapse. It came through a maiden from Harbhajan, who came back remarkably after an uninspiring spell of four overs for 23 with the new ball. Harbhajan and Munaf Patel put together a spell of 19 balls for just eight runs before Zaheer was called upon to provide the exclamation mark.

And how he did, with his new knuckle slower ball, where the middle finger doesn't hold the ball tightly, thus taking the pace off without giving any indication to those who are watching from the front. With that slower ball, he removed Smith's off stump after a virtually faultless innings. After that, the procession began. Kieron Pollard holed out to long-on at the first sight of pressure, Sammy was sold down the river by Sarwan, Devon Thomas and Andre Russell fell to the wiles of Yuvraj, and it was all over.

The way West Indies and India collapsed, conspiracy theorists will waste no time in suggesting that both teams wanted to avoid Australia in the quarter-final. As it turned out, West Indies finished fourth in Group B, thus getting Group A leaders Pakistan in Dhaka. And India renew hostilities with Australia in Ahmedabad.

World Cup 2011: Pakistan looks unshakable, outplayed giants

2011-03-19T09:59:00.000-07:00

Pakistan were the last team to overcome Australia at a World Cup and it was they who brought Ricky Ponting's 34-match unbeaten run with a four-wicket victory in Colombo to secure top spot in Group A. An impressive display in the field laid the foundations as the reigning champions were bundled out for 176 on a difficult surface, their lowest total in a World Cup since 1992, and despite a mighty effort from Brett Lee Pakistan were guided home by Umar Akmal and Abdul Razzaq.

Despite not having either team's progression at stake, the final group positions determine quarter-final opposition while momentum is also a factor. Both teams were hyped for the contest, and it came to an early head when Umar and Brad Haddin almost came to blows in the field. Australia were desperate not to relinquish a proud record dating back to May 23, 1999.

After their batting subsided with 20 balls unused, Australia's only chance was to bowl Pakistan out, but in the event it required Lee himself to do most of the damage. He removed both openers in a fiery new-ball burst before returning to claim Younis Khan and Misbah-ul-Haq with consecutive deliveries in 23rd over, leaving Pakistan wobbling on 98 for 4.

However, support for Lee was too late in coming which didn't leave enough runs for Australia to play with. Mitchell Johnson had Asad Shafiq taken at slip off the glove for a composed 46 and Shahid Afridi brainlessly carved to long-on against Jason Krejza. Surprisingly, Lee wasn't immediately recalled with 34 runs still needed and by the time he came back the target was down to 10. Umar played one of his most composed innings yet, and Razzaq finished the chase with consecutive boundaries.

Lee could easily have removed Kamran Akmal in the first over of Pakistan's reply, while in his second over he squared up Mohammad Hafeez and made good ground to take the return catch. With attacking fields set by Ricky Ponting, further boundaries were notched up by Kamran and Shafiq, who had to battle some pain after twisting his ankle, but Lee kept his side in the match singlehandedly.

After being carved over the covers he thundered a rapid delivery into Kamran's pads and this time he was given out by Marais Erasmus with the review unable to save him. However, Ponting knew he had to save some of Lee for later and his spell ended after five overs which released the pressure on Pakistan.

Shafiq, who showed his composure against Zimbabwe in his first World Cup outing, played another mature hand knowing that the required rate was always in hand. Both he and Younis had a few nervous moments - with the pair edging through a vacant slip cordon - but together they took the requirement below 100. Eventually, though, Younis flashed once too often outside off and gave a simple catch to Brad Haddin, and from the very next ball, the match was back in the balance when Misbah, the other half of Pakistan's experienced middle order, hung his bat out at a Lee outswinger.

Umar wasn't going to fiddle his way towards the target and drilled his fifth ball through the covers, but to his immense credit he throttled back to play a very mature hand. He picked the right moments to attack, including a six off Krejza, and didn't panic after Lee's rapid inroads. It helped that he had the experience of Razzaq at the end to see them across the line.

Australia have been saying how they wanted a test after easing through most of the group stage but the batting wasn't up to it on a difficult surface that offered spin and a touch of uneven bounce. Two batsmen desperate for a substantial innings, Ponting (19) and Cameron White (8), both struggled leaving the lower order exposed to an attack that had all the bases covered on a surface offering spin and reverse swing.

Pakistan had an early scare when Gul pulled up at the start of his second over with a knee problem and needed attention from the physio. Whatever treatment was provided worked wonders because he produced a lovely nip-backer to beat Shane Watson's ambitious drive. Ponting has been scratchy during the tournament and was again unconvincing with his first boundary came from a fortunate top-edge after he was comprehensively beaten by a Wahab Riaz bouncer.

Not for the first time spin brought his downfall when he tried to cut Hafeez, who produced a superb 10-over spell for 26, and got a thick edge that Kamran did well to take in the webbing of his right glove. However, it was originally given not out and the DRS was needed to overturn the decision in Pakistan's favour. Meanwhile, as the players waited for the TV umpire, there was an altercation between Haddin and the Pakistanis.

Haddin has been consistent during the tournament without reaching the three-figure score the top order needs and he couldn't convert here when he pushed at a delivery from Wahab Riaz. Misbah missed an opportunity to run out Michael Clarke but made no mistake when his next chance came around when his throw to Kamran found White short after a laboured stay.

In Clarke and Michael Hussey, Australia had two of their in-form players together but even they found scoring tough as Afridi mixed up his bowling options. Razzaq was held back until the 35th over and made an immediate impression when Clarke missed an ugly heave against a well-disguised off-cutter which trimmed the off bail.

Hussey couldn't perform a rescue-act, either, when he chipped a simple catch to midwicket and the innings was coming off the rails as Razzaq produced a nippy delivery to find Johnson's outside edge. It left the tail to cope with Gul and Afridi which proved too much, but Australia weren't many short of a matchwinning total. The quarters and semi-final will be fascinating viewing if the pitches are anything like this surface.

World Cup 2011: Contemptible Bangladesh give up cheaply

2011-03-19T09:04:00.000-07:00

Bangladesh were not favourites to win their virtual pre-quarterfinal against the might of South Africa, especially after the visitors breezed away to 284, but it was the meek manner of their abject batting surrender that would have jarred even their most faithful fans. Eight overs in to the tall chase, and the heart of their batting line-up had been ripped out by Lonwabo Tsotsobe, causing the substantial crowd at the Shere Bangla Stadium to quickly start dwindling. They never recovered from those initial blows, and all they managed was to beat their lowest total of 58 achieved against West Indies earlier in the tournament by 20 runs, before being put out of their misery by Robin Peterson's fourth wicket.

This was after South Africa came out blazing in the morning, and the solid base that the openers gave allowed Jacques Kallis and Faf du Plessis to consolidate and accelerate seamlessly, giving their spin-heavy attack a substantial cushion to stifle Bangladesh and bowl them to the top the group. That they did so with 206 runs to spare was a testimony to how the fight completely went out of Bangladesh, and also confirmed England's qualification for the knockouts.

It was not that South Africa's attack, minus Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel, held a lot of alarms. Tsotsobe did get enough bounce off the slow wicket to trouble the batsmen, and also got it to cut in from a very tight line outside off stump. But it was more a case of poor shot selection by the Bangladesh batsmen under the pressure of a big chase in a must-win game in front of a large home crowd. The first four dismissals were demonstrations of the various ways of how not to play on a low and slow wicket.

Smart Stats
The 206-run defeat is the second largest for Bangladesh in ODIs and their largest margin of defeat in World Cups. The previous highest margin of defeat in World Cups was the 198-run loss to Sri Lanka in 2007
This is Bangladesh's second score below 100 in World Cups. They now share the record for most team scores below 100 with Canada, Namibia and Ireland.
Bangladesh's 78 is their sixth-lowest score in ODIs and their lowest against against South Africa. Three of their top six lowest scores have come in Dhaka.
Bangladesh scored just seven runs in the bowling Powerplay which is the lowest score by a team in the bowling Powerplay in the tournament. The previous lowest was nine runs by Kenya against Sri Lanka.
Bangladesh have been much more poorer in ODIs in Mirpur than in the games played in Chittagong. They have been bowled out twice under 100 in Mirpur and average just 16. In Chittagong, they average 32.75 and score at a slightly higher run rate.
The 98-run stand between Hashim Amla and Graeme Smith is the 14th fifty-plus stand between the pair for the opening wicket in ODIs. They are behind the South African record of 21 fifty-plus stands which is jointly held by Herschelle Gibbs and Smith and Gibbs and Gary Kirsten.
Jacques Kallis became the highest run getter for South Africa in World Cups after going past Gibbs' tally of 1067 runs.
The win is South Africa's eighth by a margin of 200 runs or more in ODIs. It is also the third-largest margin of victory for South Africa in World Cups.
Robin Peterson's 4 for 12 is his best bowling performance in ODIs surpassing his 3 for 22 against England in Chennai.
Tamim Iqbal was too early into the pull off a short Tsotsobe delivery that was way outside off stump, and was caught behind off a healthy under-edge, as South Africa referred successfully after umpire Daryl Harper missed the deflection. Imrul Kayes shouldered arms to a full Tsotsobe delivery that cut back in to shatter the stumps. Graeme Smith had started with Johan Botha, and his suffocating lines had Junaid Siddique in absolute uncertainty, not sure whether to go back or forward, and he ended up being trapped in front by one that went straight on. Shahriar Nafees played on, driving in princely fashion from the crease to one that nipped back in slowly.

Bangladesh's chase was only eight overs old, and already their dream had caved in at 21 for 4. Mushfiqur Rahim pottered around for some time before being snapped up one-handed by an alert Smith at slip off Peterson. Before his dismissal, Bangladesh managed seven runs in the bowling Powerplay, the lowest in the tournament, trumping Kenya who had made nine runs against Sri Lanka.

Amid all the anti-climax, Shakib Al Hasan displayed his class, straight-driving and pulling Tsotsobe, and caressing and slashing the spinners for boundaries. There were loud cheers as Bangladesh passed 58 but Shakib departed soon after as Bangladesh's party rapidly came to a rude end. Peterson cleaned up the tail as Bangladesh lasted all of 28 overs to bring the curtain down on what was ultimately a chaotic campaign.

Bangladesh's struggles stood out against the contrasting approaches of Hashim Amla and Graeme Smith, which had worked perfectly for South Africa at the top as the duo batted their way to a 98-run opening stand. It was fascinating to see how the openers went about tackling the spinners in their different styles. While Amla allowed the ball to come to him, and played it as late as possible off the back foot, Smith was very eager to push forward and use his feet frequently in an attempt to meet the ball early.

Amla carried on in the nonchalant fashion that has made him the world's most prolific one-day batsman of late. Anything marginally short was quickly dispatched, even against the turn. Smith was uncertain to start with, but Bangladesh helped him settle the nerves with a couple of freebies on leg stump that he happily put away past short fine leg.

It was only after the drinks break that the openers lost their cool and their wickets. JP Duminy followed and at 141 for 3 with 20 overs to go, Bangladesh were in it. But Kallis and du Plessis started milking the singles calmly. Only four boundaries were hit in the next 12 overs but South Africa still scored at five an over. The duo added 82 risk-free runs inside 15 overs as the Bangladesh attack struggled for penetration.

Peterson did not let South Africa miss the seventh batsman they had left out, clattering 22 in nine deliveries as 83 came off the last eight overs. Even though wickets tumbled late, there was enough spunk in Peterson and Botha to lift South Africa to 284. It turned out to be much more than sufficient for a Bangladesh outfit that finally lost the spark that had made it come back strongly twice in the tournament after crushing losses to West Indies and India, with wins over England, Ireland, and Netherlands.

World Cup 2011: Sri Lanka win by big margin

2011-03-18T09:21:00.000-07:00

Muttiah Muralitharan took three wickets as New Zealand slumped to 106 for 6 at the Wankhede Stadium. Defending 265 after Kumar Sangakkara's first ODI century since June 2008 the pace bowlers kept New Zealand pinned down with two early wickets before the spinners took over to leave Sri Lanka firmly in control by the halfway stage.

Brendon McCullum started positively, cracking a couple of boundaries square of the wicket, but fell for 14 when Angelo Mathews was introduced. Mathews had earlier lifted the Sri Lanka total beyond 250 with a hard-hitting 41 at the end of the innings and carried the form into his bowling. The scalp was not without controversy though, as McCullum edged low to Mahela Jayawardene at slip. Jayawardene had earlier been reprieved after standing his ground when he gave Nathan McCullum a low return catch. Despite clear side-on views suggesting the chance was taken, the third umpire ruled in favour of the batsman and New Zealand were left fuming.

Their mood would not have improved after Brendon McCullum's dismissal, but replays showed the correct decision was made. Martin Guptill has been a useful front-foot foil to McCullum's back-foot approach at the top of New Zealand's order but he was soon out as well when Nuwan Kulasekara slid one back into his pads. Guptill edged down to his partner Jesse Ryder hoping for a call to review, but Ryder only confirmed the obvious.

Ross Taylor then set about rebuilding the chase with Ryder and, without ever looking fluent, the pair began to threaten. Lasith Malinga's fourth over went for 16 runs but should instead have brought the dismissal of both. First Ryder flipped an uppish pick-up pull through a napping Upul Tharanga's hands at midwicket and three balls later Taylor slashed an upper-cut in the direction of Kulasekara at third man. Misjudging, the fielder hared in, found the ball upon him and tipped the chance over his head and over the rope for six.

Ryder was still searching for his best form when Ajantha Mendis was introduced. Though his mystery fades with experience Mendis still has the variations to confuse. Ryder misread a carom-ball to edge behind for 19.

With his captain secure at the other end Kane Williamson only had to hang around for a while but he instead fell foul to carelessness. Muttiah Muralitharan's introduction had been delayed until the 18th over after he injured himself trying to dive into his crease when batting. But Muralitharan was soon smiling as Williamson dragged his back foot out of the crease groping at a doosra. In a flash Sangakkara had the bails off and Williamson was on his way for 5.

Muralitharan then landed the killer blow two overs later. Taylor, in good touch, was New Zealand's last realistic hope of mounting a challenge but he fell to an offspinner that spun back from an around-the-wicket angle to trap him on the pads in front.

Despite the ball dampening up when the dew arrived both spinners had Scott Styris and James Franklin in knots and Muralitharan was soon celebrating again when Scott Styris popped back a return catch.

Kumar Sangakkara treated the Mumbai crowds to his 11th one-day hundred but New Zealand fought back with a flurry of late wickets to leave themselves 266 for victory at the Wankhede Stadium.

It was Sangakkara's first ODI century since June 2008 - a run stretching 64 matches - and alongside 66 from Mahela Jayawardene ensured New Zealand will need to surpass the record chase on this ground if they are to end on top.

The innings pivoted on a controversial moment in the 24th over, when Jayawardene chipped a return catch to Nathan McCullum. It went low to McCullum's right and the bowler dived full-length to scoop the ball centimetres off the turf. The batsman, however, stood his ground and the on-field umpires, Asad Rauf and Richard Kettleborough, opted to go upstairs. The side-on replay seemed to clearly show McCullum's fingers under the ball but a front-on shot, as it so often does, created doubt. Amiesh Saheba decided in favour of Jayawardene and New Zealand were denied a key wicket. Before then Jayawardene had struggled for 50 deliveries for 26 but added a further 40 at a run a ball.

New Zealand were visibly narked with both the decision and the batsman, who had not taken the word of the fielder as Jacques Kallis had done earlier in the tournament when Matt Prior held a low catch in South Africa's narrow defeat to England. The verbal exchanges served to fire Jayawardene up and he was soon exhibiting the fluent form that has deserted him since his century against Canada in Sri Lanka's opening game. His talents are all too familiar to New Zealand after Jayawardene denied them a place in the World Cup final four years ago with a stunning 115 not out at Sabina Park.

With Sangakkara serenely building a platform at the other end the third-wicket pair added 145 to hoist Sri Lanka out of early trouble and played the key hand in protecting the soft middle order for the major part of the innings.

The batting Powerplay brought Jayawardene's dismissal - missing a full ball from Tim Southee to be trapped in front - but also sparked Sangakkara's change of gear. In the following Southee over he creamed thee boundaries in successive balls to take him into the 90s before completing three figures in the next over from Jacob Oram. He fell for 111 soon after, however, missing an attempted slug across the line to McCullum and the questionable Sri Lankan middle order was unable to retain the momentum.

Sri Lanka lost five wickets for 55 after the fall of their captain as New Zealand wrestled back some control. Thilan Samaraweera was smartly held by Brendon McCullum standing up to the stumps off Scott Styris for 5 and Nathan McCullum finally had reason to smile after holding a juggling return catch to remove Chamara Silva for 3. McCullum finished with 2 for 48 but Sri Lanka's spin pairing, Muttiah Muralitharan and Ajantha Mendis, would have watched his progress keenly. Had it not been for Angelo Mathews' late-over 41 from 35 balls, the collapse would have been much worse.

It meant New Zealand ended the innings with the same spring they started with. Southee and Oram had found zip with the new ball and Tillakaratne Dilshan had been pinned down - making 3 from 14 balls - before top-edging a hook shot to third man. His opening partner, Upul Tharanga, was almost as unlucky to fall as Jayawardene was fortunate to survive. Dilshan had scorched back a drive at Southee who deflected it into the stumps to leave Tharanga cruelly short before the experienced third-wicket pairing took over.

Unlike the frenzied excitement of Group B, the qualifiers are already certain from the pedestrian Group A, but the winner of this game will be guaranteed a top-two finish in the group to set a possible knockout date with England. At the half-way stage, both teams will back themselves to do it.

World Cup 2011: Another sparkling chase by Ireland

2011-03-18T05:56:00.000-07:00

Two sparkling centuries lit up Ireland's clash with Netherlands at Eden Gardens in Kolkata, Ryan ten Doeschate propping Netherlands up with his second ton of the tournament and Paul Stirling then launching Ireland's pursuit of 306 with a blazing, 72-ball 101. Ireland's disciplined bowling and far superior fielding proved the difference between the two sides, and they eventually triumphed by six wickets with more than two overs to spare after a far closer finish had appeared possible.

Apart from one lapse in the first over, Ireland had barely fumbled while restricting Netherlands on a benign, batting-friendly surface and closed out the innings in bizarre circumstances with four run-outs in four balls. Netherlands were nowhere near as tight in comparison, putting down three clear chances and failing to keep the pressure on in the field, their lapses repeatedly allowing Ireland's to stay ahead of the game.

Netherlands should have had a breakthrough as early as the third over, but Adeel Raja put down a top edge off William Porterfield's bat at third man and Ireland were soon rocketing along at eight an over. Stirling provided the main impetus in that regard, swinging from the hip from the very start of his knock, as the first ball he faced was answered with a wild hook and a top edge that sailed straight over the wicketkeeper for six. He barely slowed down thereafter, hitting very little straight down the ground but repeatedly puncturing the field on both sides of the wicket.

He plundered 19 from Bernard Loots' second over, including a second six over deep midwicket, and shortly after brought up a 25-ball half century, the second fastest in the tournament. Porterfield was rather more circumspect but had no problems putting the bad ball away, and after 68 out of 81 runs came in boundaries in the first 10 overs Netherlands were forced to postpone their use of the Bowling Powerplay simply to try and slow Ireland down.

With Pieter Seelaar and ten Doeschate, Netherlands two most accomplished bowlers, operating in tandem the tactic temporarily worked but when the Bowling Powerplay was eventually taken in the 19th over, and the batsmen attempted to pick up the tempo once again Netherlands put down two chances in as many overs - one off each batsman - to lose further ground.

Porterfield eased past fifty in the 20th over but by then Stirling already had a hundred in his sights. Their partnership stretched to 177, a new Irish record for the opening stand in ODIs, before, in a three-ball flurry excitement, Porterfield fell to a catch behind and Stirling brought up his century but then thumped the next ball - a long-hop - straight to the fielder on the deep midwicket boundary. Their departures opened a window of opportunity for Netherlands but Ireland's chase barely missed a step, with each successive batsman making a contribution and the brothers O'Brien closing out the game with an unbroken 28-run partnership at close to nine an over.

While lacklustre bowling and fielding let Netherlands down, the ascendancy had swung between the two teams before lunch and Netherlands had gained the ascendancy in an attacking stand between ten Doeschate and captain Peter Borren. The Ireland bowlers had few answers against the pair and were hampered by an injury to young left-arm spinner George Dockrell, who appeared to dislocate his shoulder as he dived to stop the ball and had to immediately leave the field.

In his absence, ten Doeschate and Borren added 121 for the fifth wicket, by far the largest stand of the innings, in quick time on a pitch that looked increasingly good for batting after the early-morning moisture had been scorched from the surface. ten Doeschate had also been involved in two other important partnerships after Netherlands lost two early wickets and then suffered a further casualty when Barresi was forced to leave the field in just the second over after being hit on the back of the head by a return throw from Kevin O'Brien.

ten Doeschate kick-started his innings by adding 41 with Alexei Kervezee, who struggled to deal with the early bounce and movement and eventually gave his wicket away softly, pushing a length delivery from John Mooney straight into the hands of Kevin O'Brien. That dismissal brought Barresi back to the crease, and he immediately set about the Irish bowling. He raced into the 40s before he was pinned in front of his stumps, but Dockrell's injury noticeably dampened Ireland's mood and ten Doeschate and Borren quickly seized the initiative once again.

ten Doeschate raised his fifty in the 27th over and with the field set back in defence, the partnership developed with plenty of running between the wickets before he opened up as he closed in on a century. Borren raced to a 56-ball half-century in the 38th over and ten Doeschate went to his own landmark soon after in the midst of another expensive over from Rankin. He celebrated by heaving Stirling over wide long-on but fell trying to repeat the shot next ball, caught at long-off by Mooney.

Borren and wicketkeeper Atse Buurman didn't allow the pitch to slow Netherlands' momentum and continued to find the boundary - though more than once it was courtesy of outside edges and slashes past third man but the innings ended in farcical circumstances when Netherlands lost four wickets in four balls - all run out - to be bowled out for 306. That still might have been a match-winning total, but ultimately Ireland showed the value of their greater professionalism and the enhanced self-belief that has come from their positive performances in this tournament.

World Cup 2011: England got their life back with a throbbing win

2011-03-17T09:56:00.000-07:00

In a campaign of ludicrously slender margins, England gave themselves a fighting chance of reaching the World Cup quarter-finals after emerging victorious in a monstrous battle of wills against West Indies at Chennai. In a contest that fully lived up to the "arse-nipper" billing that Graeme Swann had given it beforehand, England once again teetered on the brink of oblivion before the spin of Swann and James Tredwell hauled them back into contention in a sensational denouement. Needing 244 for victory, West Indies were coasting on 222 for 6, before losing their last four wickets for three runs in 20 deliveries.

A pair of blistering cameos from Chris Gayle and Darren Sammy put West Indies firmly on course for victory in their Group B showdown with England, but a steady stream of wickets - first for the spinner James Tredwell and then for the medium-pace of Ravi Bopara - left the match firmly in the balance at the halfway mark of yet another fascinating contest in Chennai, with the big hitter Kieron Pollard unbeaten on 15 alongside Ramnaresh Sarwan.

England's total of 243 was better than they might have anticipated at 151 for 6, but it still seemed a good 30 runs below par, especially when Gayle tore onto the offensive in a thrillingly belligerent 43 from 21 balls. With Devon Smith a mere bystander at the top of the order, Gayle smashed the usually reliable Tim Bresnan for four fours in his second over of the match, before welcoming Chris Tremlett to World Cup cricket in no-less-devastating fashion, with three fours and a dismissive six over wide long-on.

After five overs, West Indies already had 50 on the board, but not for the first time at Chennai, the arrival of the spinners signalled a change of tempo. Graeme Swann's first over went for a tidy three runs, before Tredwell struck with his fourth ball of the tournament, one delivery after Gayle had swatted him for his ninth boundary in 20 balls. Leaning onto the front foot, he was rapped on the pad in front of middle, and a full four years after his international debut, Tredwell finally had his first ODI wicket.

One over later, Tredwell had his second. He had to wait until Sammy had slapped him into the stands for six, but when Smith came onto strike, Tredwell fired a yorker into his boot, which dribbled out past the off stump for Matt Prior to pull off a sharp stumping as he scooped the ball in his right glove. And Tredwell made it three wickets in four overs when Darren Bravo was caught in two minds as he pushed outside off, for Strauss at slip to cling onto a sharp low catch.

Sammy by this stage was into his stride. West Indies' captain had promoted himself to No. 3 primarily to combat the offspin of Swann and Tredwell, but he continued to attack the off-colour Bresnan who switched ends to no avail as he was flogged for two further boundaries. Another big six over long-on off Tredwell took Sammy to 36 from 21 balls, but after a relative period of calm, Bopara nailed him via an inside-edge onto the off stump.

The same mode of dismissal then accounted for Devon Thomas, who had been playing the anchor role in his 10 from 20 balls, and at 118 for 5 after 20 overs, England felt as though they had the upper hand for the first time in the innings. Pollard, however, took his time to get involved as he and Sarwan played out three consecutive maidens, and he didn't truly play a shot in anger until Swann returned for his second spell. His second ball was thumped high over midwicket for six, but his fourth was badly dropped by Bopara in the covers, as he ran back to a miscued swipe.

48.4 overs England 243 (Trott 47, Russell 4-49) v West Indies
England's reshuffled bowling attack will need to defend their second below-par total in consecutive matches at Chennai, after yet another schizophrenic performance left their World Cup hopes dangling tantalisingly in their must-win Group B fixture against West Indies. After winning the toss on a decent batting track, England squandered a flying start from Jonathan Trott to lose four key wickets in a calamitous mid-innings collapse, before a ballsy 44 from the recalled Luke Wright hosted them back up towards a passable total of 243.

It was a batting performance that epitomised England's extraordinary campaign. While Trott was at the crease, caressing boundary after boundary in a 38-ball 47, there seemed no reason to doubt that, at the sixth time of asking, his team would finally produce the command performance that has been so glaringly absent from their efforts to date. But then, when he fell in the 22nd over to a feeble clip to short midwicket, the middle order lost all semblance of direction and had collapsed to 151 for 6 before Wright's run-a-ball stand of 41 with James Tredwell prompted a vital revival.

Devendra Bishoo, the Guyanese legspinner, bowled supremely on debut to claim 3 for 34 in his ten overs, including 2 for 23 in a massively composed first spell of eight off the reel, while the bustling Andre Russell was a constant threat as he mixed boundary balls with wicket-taking deliveries to finish with a career-best 4 for 49. But England once again will wonder how they threw away a position of such dominance, having at one stage been cruising on 121 for 2.

Needing victory even to give themselves a chance of qualifying for the quarter-finals, England were handed a solid platform through a 48-run stand for the first wicket between Andrew Strauss and Matt Prior, who produced his most fluent innings of the tournament to date with a run-a-ball 21, before Russell produced a beauty that slid back through the gate to demolish his middle stump.

Nevertheless, before the over was done, Trott had broken into a gallop with three fours from his first five balls - a perfectly timed flick through midwicket to get off the mark, followed by a dismissive pull and a dead-eyed drive through the covers, all along the ground and racing across a lightning-quick outfield. He then added a further three in a row from Darren Sammy and Russell - every one a result of placement over power - to rush along to a heady 26 from nine balls.

At the other end, Strauss had bedded down for a typically determined performance, as he played out a maiden first-up from Kemar Roach before greeting Darren Sammy with a second-ball pull for six over midwicket, but the extra lift of Russell scuppered him on 31, as another attempted pull scuffed off a top-edge, for the fit-again Chris Gayle to complete an excellent catch running back from short midwicket.

It was the introduction of Bishoo that undermined the momentum of the innings. Ian Bell once again proved reluctant to use his feet as he dealt almost exclusively in singles for the first 30 balls of his innings, but Trott was the first man to be unseated by the leggie, as he flicked loosely against the turn, and lobbed a gentle catch straight to Gayle at midwicket. After such a poised start to his innings, it was a rare misjudgement from a batsman who had scarcely played a false shot all tournament.

Bell, whose returns have dropped off in recent weeks, looked to have laid the foundations of a decent innings with 26 from 47 balls before he was undone by the extra pace of Roach, who blasted out his off stump from the first ball of his new spell. And England's campaign was officially on the skids when Eoin Morgan, their undisputed trump card, attempted to get too cute - even by his inventive standards - and dabbed an attempted back-sweep off Bishoo straight into the gloves of Devon Thomas for 7.

Ravi Bopara, who looked leaden-footed and unsure of his role throughout a 16-ball stay, then poked limply at Russell and took out his own stumps via an inside-edge, leaving England's fate in the hands of two men who had barely featured in their plans at any stage of their long tour. Wright last played at Perth during the Australia ODIs, while Tredwell's only outing of the whole winter came at Hobart. But they played sensibly enough in a 41-run stand for the seventh wicket - a tally that was boosted by two lots of five wides - before a disastrous mix-up on a Kieron Pollard misfield led to Tredwell's run-out for 9.

Wright clumped five fours in a 57-ball stay before launching Bishoo down the throat of Russell at cow corner, whereupon the reliable tonker Tim Bresnan took up the cudgels in the closing overs with an unbeaten 20 from 27 balls. The final wicket fell to Roach, who banged in a short ball that extracted Chris Tremlett with eight deliveries left unused. It might be enough, but this is a much firmer surface than the one on which England defended 171. And they have the services of neither the dropped James Anderson, nor the injured Stuart Broad. And nor even the mercurial wiles of Ajmal Shahzad, whose campaign has been ended by a hamstring strain.

World cup 2011: Its time for Dhoni to stop his mad techniques

2011-03-15T23:17:00.000-07:00

There is an advert seen on Indian television these days that has celebrities of varying significance egging on the Indian team in the World Cup. The Hindi tagline at the end says, "Team aise nahin jeet ti, jitaana padtaa hai." Translated that means, "The team doesn't win just like that, you've got to make it win." It is meant for India's fans - as if they needed to be told to put the weight of their will behind MS Dhoni's squad. Should Dhoni turn his attention away from his favourite off-field pastime of video-gaming and watch the advert, it might sound like an instruction directed at him as well.

Dhoni has spent a relatively unharried four years in charge of India, or at least he has been careful to ensure it looks that way. More than his brand-building, cringe-making Captain Cool persona, Dhoni's tenure as skipper has been secure, rival-proof, and therefore wrinkle-free. Now, suddenly, over the course of a few weeks of the World Cup, creases are beginning to show both in the Indian team and its captain. India's World Cup is still alive, but already gloomy calculations are being made as to how their place in the quarter-finals is actually not secure. For the first time since his oxygen-depleting ascent, neither is Dhoni's as captain. On Sunday against West Indies in Chennai, he will be watched closer than he has been in a long time.

As startling as Dhoni's message may have been to his batsmen who played "for the crowd" on Saturday, it has not surprised them. Nor has it sent them, the India faithful will be relieved to hear, into despair or doubt. It is what Dhoni's modus operandi has always been: to speak directly, briefly and non-confrontationally to players; let them know what he believes needs to be done. In media briefings he does most of the same, but can frequently be snippy. Always, though, he will laboriously explain why he changed the batting or bowling order, chose to bat or chase, and then offer philosophical observations about hybrid fuel and life jackets.

At the World Cup, Dhoni's captaincy has been under the cosh for a set of reasons: in larger terms, it has to do with selection, like in the Piyush Chawla case. In smaller measure, decisions in Nagpur about changes in the batting order, and giving Ashish Nehra the final over. Until now Dhoni's has been captaincy by instinct over method, his own school of reasoning, and like with most captains once they gain greater control of their team, a healthy dose of obstinacy. In the last four years of his captaincy in the short game, if Dhoni had to be asked what was India's best ODI performance under his leadership, he would be choosing between the early CB Series win of 2008, an Asia Cup victory, or bilateral series wins in New Zealand and West Indies.

Now Dhoni's decisions, made using both reason and instinct, are backfiring often because their basic premises may be incorrect. Why should the cotton-woolling of Chawla not be interpreted as cricket's version of babysitting? Dhoni said Chawla had been picked to play in Delhi against Netherlands, because "basically you have to see which was the player that needed this game most, rather than the team needing the player". Or how about No. 4 being Virat Kohli's sacrosanct spot, before or after which he should ideally not be sent? Kohli is 22. Should he not be running loose wherever and whenever he is sent? Yuvraj Singh has spent all but 41 matches of his ODI career flitting between Nos. 4, 5 and 6, Rahul Dravid has kept wicket in ODIs, Sourav Ganguly broke one of the most successful ODI partnerships for India to go down to No. 3, Virender Sehwag went from being a middle-order batsman to an opener who has redefined the Test-match art itself.

Like all captains, Dhoni also has his players of choice who are given more licence, and his team recognises instinctively who those players are. Unfortunately for Dhoni his captaincy has not coincided with the discovery of new match-winners, like those found under Sourav Ganguly, for example

To move Yusuf Pathan up the order in a match against one of the best attacks in the World Cup on a wicket that was stopping was again based on a formula that the openers had given the platform and the pace of the innings needed to be amped up. The decision that had to be taken was which among the "explosive power" hitters Dhoni had spoken about would be able to do the job required: Yuvraj, Kohli, Dhoni or Pathan. Against Ireland, Pathan (30 off 24 balls, two fours three sixes) was pitch perfect. Against Dale Steyn in the Powerplay, he should have been the last option. Like all captains Dhoni also has his players of choice who are given more licence, and his team recognises instinctively who those players are. Unfortunately for Dhoni his captaincy has not coincided with the discovery of new match-winners, like those found under Sourav Ganguly, for example.

When a captain's instinct starts to head off in a direction where things do not go the way he wants, they sometimes overwhelm and undermine reason. A random example being not letting Harbhajan Singh immediately at JP Duminy, who has been dismissed by him three times in Tests in single digits. Four overs from the pacemen passed, Duminy put up 19 off 14 before Harbhajan came on. Immediately Duminy's runs dried up and he was out off Harbhajan's sixth ball to him.

The decision between Nehra and Harbhajan Singh became a 50-50 toss-up, with the spinner offering to bowl the 49th so that the team's most nerveless bowler, Zaheer Khan, could send down the 50th. If the 49th goes well - like it did for the Indians against South Africa in Nagpur, where Zaheer conceded four - the man bowling the 50th at least has a buffer. So far it had gone to Dhoni's plan. Nehra was the moment Dhoni gambled, because he has been India's best ODI bowler over the last year, the go-to man at the death. In Rajkot last year Nehra bowled the 50th against a rampaging Angelo Mathews with 11 needed off the last over to go past India's 414. He conceded five off the first three balls and took Mathews' wicket with the fourth.

Nehra has bowled the final over for India four times in his career, the two now forgotten instances being Karachi, the first ODI of the electric 2004 India-Pakistan series and against West Indies in a 2005 tri-series in Colombo, which took India to the final. Nagpur was the first time India lost. Before the World Cup he had taken 73 wickets (62 in ODIs and 13 in Twenty20s) since his comeback into the Indian team in June 2009. Why should Dhoni not have gone to him? Other than the fact that he may not have been warmed up not having bowled for 12 overs. It was a logical gamble that didn't work. Pathan and Chawla are the illogical gambles - they were perhaps doomed to tank.

As much as Dhoni wants his batsmen to "curb their instincts", it is the best time for his leadership to internalise the same message. Since his debut for India in 2004, he has changed his batting to eliminate risk (as if we haven't noticed that the cola-patented "helicopter shot" is not to be seen these days), yet he will not bat higher up the order as Ganguly repeatedly beseeches him to do in both commentary and column. He has a better average and 100-plus strike rate batting at either No. 3 or 4, but has done so in only 32 of 162 innings. His keeping has vastly improved from the 2007 version, and he still remains one of India's better runners between wickets. The match versus West Indies may have to mark the moment that his leadership evolves in a different direction. Or it could take a route he would rather not contemplate.

World Cup 2011: Brainy South African's qualified for quarter-finals

2011-03-15T23:07:00.000-07:00

The World Cup finally reached Eden Gardens, and the sparse crowd that turned up on an overcast day were treated to a JP Duminy special that lifted South Africa from the dumps, and set up a facile win. Ireland's effort began like a dream and ended like a nightmare as they showcased the inconsistency that holds back upwardly-mobile Associate teams. There was disciplined, if somewhat limited, bowling; there were breath-taking fielding efforts to go with grassed sitters; and there was the glaring inability to land the knockout punch, as they let things drift after hustling their opponents into a corner. Duminy was ready when they ran out of steam, and made them pay with a well-paced innings.

If Dale Steyn doesn't get you, Morne Morkel will, and Ireland found this out the hard way, chasing a tall score on a wicket with true bounce. Morkel removed the openers with his menacing lengths and the back-up bowlers, led by Robin Peterson, ensured there was no escape route for the middle order. Under lights, the game petered out into a mismatch, Ireland's first in a spirited World Cup campaign, and confirmed South Africa's entry into the quarters, while the jostling continues for the remaining spots from Group B.

The one-sided finish seemed unlikely when Ireland's trademark enthusiasm had reduced South Africa to 117 for 5 by the 27th over. Ireland's initial brilliance was epitomised by two outstanding efforts on the field - first, George Dockrell moved rapidly to his left from a widish third man, tumbled, yet held on to a fierce upper cut from Hashim Amla. Then, John Mooney caught a struggling Graeme Smith short with a fierce pick up and throw from midwicket. Smith's exit in the tenth over exposed South Africa's middle order and they continued to wobble as Jacques Kallis was run out for the second successive innings, and Faf du Plessis guided tamely into the slips. Ironically, AB de Villiers' replacement helped South Africa stem the rot that might have never set in if he had been playing. de Villiers' absence allowed Morne van Wyk to bat at No. 3 and Colin Ingram at No. 7, and both batsmen played crucial hands to propel South Africa.

By his own admission, van Wyk's batting is not "poetry in motion", and his cameo at No. 3 justified that evaluation. His loose on-the-up drives without much foot movement left him prone to edges and soft dismissals, and he was lucky to escape twice, with Kevin O'Brien and Paul Stirling spilling straightforward chances. The reprieves had no impact on van Wyk, who kept backing himself to clear the infield, until George Dockrell slipped a perceptive arm-ball past him in the 16th over. van Wyk had by then provided the early momentum, that allowed Duminy and Ingram the time to settle in before turning things around.

Duminy initially chose caution against Dockrell's attacking line outside off, one that spinners have used to torment in him the past. He kept deflecting and nudging, lapping and steering for ones and twos, and his inventiveness inevitably led to the Irish dropping their guard. Ingram cashed in when they delivered loose deliveries, targeting the square fields with a series of powerful horizontal-bat shots. Johnston castled him in the 40th over, but by then South Africa had wrested control.

In the meantime, Duminy had seamlessly shifted gears from nurdle to attack mode, and was on the verge of hitting overdrive. After 46 boundary-less balls, his first four came through the most audacious of reverse-sweeps. By the time he brought up his half-century, caressing Johnston into the covers, his strike-rate was nudging the 80s. Ingram's dismissal forced him to reassess the situation, and he chose to delay the Powerplay to the absolute end.

He had chugged along to 68 when the Powerplay came on by default in the 46th over. A couple of quiet overs from Mooney and Boyd Rankin suggested a whimpering finish. Duminy, however, lined up Trent Johnston for special treatment in the 49th over, dumping him for four and six over the leg side, before forcing another boundary to third man. With three balls to go, and 99 against his name, Duminy did not push the single. He instead looked for the straight six and perished in the outfield. In a sense, it was a fitting end to an innings that was all about shot selection and selflessness.

World Cup 2011: Irish looking to surprise South Africa

2011-03-14T10:15:00.000-07:00

As the tournament heads to its business end, it is fair to say that things have gone to plan. This was supposed to be the tougher of the two groups, and has proved to be so. South Africa generally play to potential in the league stages of the World Cup, as they have done this time as well. They have mostly been in control, and the almost-mandatory "wobble", to use a substitute for that word, has been put out of the way against England. Ireland were expected to punch way above their weight as the leading Associate side, and have done exactly that.

Having shocked England, and given a fright to West Indies and India, they would be cursing themselves for the collapse while chasing a gettable target against Bangladesh. But when they walk out on the hallowed Eden Gardens turf tomorrow, Ireland will do so knowing this will be their toughest test of the tournament. The other big sides in the group have the tendency to leave an opening here and there for teams to try and claw back, but when South Africa close the door on their opponents, it shuts tight with cold finality.

South Africa will be pleased that a cog of their wheel that had come apart against England, the lower middle-order, stood up well under pressure against India. They wouldn't want it to be on trial against Ireland though, and would want to seal the quarter-final berth with a clinical win.

The World Cup finally shows up at Eden Gardens 16 days after it was originally supposed to. As the first of its three games in six days kicks off, India's most famous ground will be on trial after the tardiness that led to the shifting of the India-England tie to Bangalore. But a ground that has hosted a World Cup final and a semi-final deserved much better than three games involving Associates.
The pitch had a tinge of green on the eve of the game, and the curator has promised good bounce and carry. William Porterfield expects it to be "pretty quick". There has apparently not been much dew around in the last few days, but a surprise appearance is not discounted. Especially so, since it is the onset of summer, and while the days have started to get warm, nights can still be cool.

Player to watch..

Dale Steyn brought South Africa back against a rampant India in a controlled display of fast bowling, mixing slower ones with reverse-swinging yorkers. Graeme Smith looks to his premier fast bowler whenever he wants a crucial breakthrough, and more often than not, Steyn delivers. On a pitch that is expected to aid the seamers, getting past Steyn without much damage would be the first of Ireland's headaches.

Kevin O' Brien showed what he is capable of against England. He has had a couple of quiet games after that record-breaking innings. He will enjoy batting as well as bowling on this surface. Without his spark in the middle order, Ireland lack the big finish when they bat.

Imran Tahir is still ruled out as part of his rehabilitation from a a fractured thumb, and AB de Villiers is also doubtful, having had a scan on his left thigh which revealed a muscle sprain. Colin Ingram could get a game if de Villiers misses out. Will South Africa go in with a third seamer in Lonwabo Tsotsobe?
South Africa (probable): 1 Graeme Smith (capt), 2 Hashim Amla, 3 Jacques Kallis, 4 AB de Villiers / Colin Ingram, 5 JP Duminy, 6 Faf du Plessis, 7 Morne van Wyk (wk), 8 Johan Botha / Lonwabo Tsotsobe, 9 Robin Peterson, 10 Dale Steyn, 11 Morne Morkel

Trent Johnston missed out against West Indies with a knee injury he sustained during the India game but is mostly expected to play, having trained today. Andre Botha is on the doubtful list, down with a stomach bug.

Ireland (possible): 1 William Porterfield (capt), 2 Paul Stirling, 3 Ed Joyce, 4 Niall O'Brien (wk), 5 Gary Wilson, 6 Kevin O'Brien, 7 Alex Cusack, 8 John Mooney, 9 Trent Johnston, 10 George Dockrell, 11 Boyd Rankin.

World Cup 2011: Comfortable win for Australia, Solid chase by Kenya

2011-03-14T04:29:00.000-07:00

Australia's World Cup campaign resumed with an ultimately comfortable 60-run victory against Kenya, although Collins Obuya's unbeaten 98 meant the Associate nation took pride out of the contest. An upset was never on the cards but Kenya put in their best performance of the tournament with the highlight being the 115-run stand between Obuya and Tanmay Mishra.

The imposing run chase had been set up by a 114-run partnership between Michael Clarke and the returning Michael Hussey in his first innings of the World Cup. It actually gave Australia some important breathing space, but Kenya had long-since given up any hope of chasing down 325 on the ground where Ireland shocked England earlier in the tournament.

The most tension came in the closing overs, when Obuya could have reached his maiden one-day century - and Kenya's first at a World Cup - but he failed to get the three runs he needed off the last two balls. However, Ricky Ponting will be acutely aware that his team were far from impressive especially in the field. The bowlers, except for Brett Lee, certainly looked rusty as Kenya posted their best World Cup total.

After an early strike each for Lee and Shaun Tait it appeared Kenya would fall in a heap. Maurice Ouma edged a good outswinger and Alex Obanda, after driving Tait over long-on with one of the shots of the tournament, missed an ugly heave at a quick full toss. When the Obuya brothers mislaid their sibling understanding, which resulted in David Obuya's run-out, there was an opportunity for a swift finish.

However, Collins refocused after the mix-up, and firstly provided solid support for Mishra in Kenya's sixth World Cup hundred stand before forming another strong partnership with the aggressive Thomas Odoyo, who struck the ball cleanly. Obuya, who became famous for his legspin heroics at the 2003 World Cup, passed his fifty with a wonderful lofted drive over long-off against Shane Watson, then took advantage of the batting Powerplay. He twice pulled Watson's medium pace for six but couldn't quite get the final boundary he needed for three figures.

In 24-year-old Mishra, Kenya also have someone who provides hope for the future. On a day where Tikolo, the grand old father of Kenyan cricket, was left out, Mishra showed he has a huge role to play if the game is to recover in the country. He showed some class with swift footwork against Steven Smith to firstly pull him over midwicket for six, then loft him through the off side and played a similar stroke against Jason Krejza.

His fifty came off 63 balls and he set a new career-best mark when he reached 67. This isn't the Australia attack of previous World Cups but it remains a handy unit. There was a chance for Mishra to convert his fifty into a notable century, but he was caught short by Clarke's dead-eye throw from backward point. He had already, however, ensured his team respectability.

The biggest bonus for Australia was the performance of Hussey, who replaced his brother David in the line-up, on his return from injury, having come into the squad for Doug Bollinger. At 143 for 4, Australia needed a solid partnership, and Hussey, getting off the mark with a first-ball boundary, formed a confident partnership with Clarke.

Hussey didn't drop below a run-a-ball during his stay and although he'll face far tougher tasks than this Kenya attack, it was a more valuable innings than any net session could provide. He was quick on his feet, gave the hamstring a good test with a few dives for the crease and his placement was as calculated as it always has been.

Clarke, meanwhile, ticked over with minimal fuss after feeling his way in against the spinners on a surface that offered turn to maintain his World Cup average of over 100. After Hussey departed Clarke began to open up during the batting Powerplay and collected four boundaries in quick succession including a six over midwicket. He'd equalled his highest score in World Cup matches when he couldn't quite clear long-on to give the deserving Nehemiah Odhiambo his third wicket.

The lack of time in the middle for the batsmen could well have played a part in Ponting's decision to bat and Watson was quickly out of the blocks until he top edged to the keeper. Australia then went through a period where seven overs brought 14 runs and Brad Haddin was having particular trouble forcing the pace as he kept hitting the field. He also had a couple of close calls: he was fortunate when an edge flew past slip on 16, while he could have been run out on 25 when his bat got stuck in the adjacent pitch.

Steadily, though, he increased the scoring rate and brought up his fifty off 63 balls with a deft glide to third man only to pick out long-on attempting his second six. That began a good period for Kenya as Obuya trapped Ponting lbw for a scratchy 36 after correctly opting to review the original not-out decision. Cameron White, who retained his place ahead of David Hussey, continued his lean run when he was beaten by a ripping delivery from Jimmy Kamande and both he and his captain will want a significant innings against Canada on Wednesday.

World Cup 2011: Quarter-final chances increases for Bangladesh

2011-03-14T04:19:00.000-07:00

The ball didn't turn much on a slow pitch in Chittagong but Netherlands' batsmen didn't have the skill to handle the nagging line and length from the battery of Bangladesh's left-arm spinners. They stabbed, plodded and meandered to 160 and Bangladesh wrapped up a six-wicket victory in a virtual must-win match. Shafiul Islam was luckless in a probing opening spell that read 6-3-7-0 but he was instrumental in strangling the Netherlands batsmen before the spinners tightened the screws further. The result escalated the pressure on England, who have to beat West Indies to stay in the World Cup.

For a brief while, 6.5 overs to be precise, there was some fight in the chase but it evaporated as Imrul Kayes took control to push Bangladesh to victory in Chittagong. Bangladesh were on a wobbly 14 for 1, for the loss of Tamim Iqbal, in the seventh over but Junaid Siddique and Kayes broke free to force Netherlands out of the contest.

The total was too meagre to defend and it was due their middling effort with the bat that Netherlands lost this game. Whenever they tried to take initiative, as Tom Cooper and Alexei Kervezee did, it proved just a mirage as they got out immediately. Whenever they tried to steal some quick runs, they got involved in run-outs. Cooper had struck Shakib Al Hasan for two fours in the 25th over but he got out in the next over, run out due to a misunderstanding with Eric Szwarczynski. He rushed across for a single after pushing to point but couldn't get back in time despite a wide throw from Shakib. Mushfiqur Rahim collected and swiveled to flick a direct hit. Kervezee crashed Rubel Hossain for two fours in the 33rd over but fell in the next, stumped off the bowling of Suhrawadi Shuvo. To add to their woes, four batsmen ran themselves out on a day when nothing went right for the Associate team.

Szwarczynski, the opener, dawdled for 68 balls but couldn't convert the start into anything meaningful. Ryan ten Doeschate, dropped on 14 by Kayes, hung around for an unbeaten fifty but he lacked support. The innings lacked momentum from the start, after Shafiul's inspired opening spell, and it went nowhere in the end.

It will remain a mystery how Shafiul didn't pick up a wicket. He darted the ball in, straightened it outside off, slipped in yorkers, tried faster and slower bouncers and didn't bowl a bad ball. He harassed the openers with movement but the ball either thudded high on the pad or missed the edge. It was one of those days. The first run off him was scored only in the 18th delivery, when he tried a slower one. Netherlands promoted Mudassar Bukhari to pinch some quick runs but Shafiul put him in his place in the 11th over. Two yorkers jammed the bottom of the bat, a bouncer pinged the shoulder and a slower one beat the waft.

Shafiul paved way for the spinners, Abdur Razzak, Shakib and Shuvo, who did what they normally do: hit a tight line and length, bowl a slew of dot balls, increase the pressure, and make the batsmen feel claustrophobic. Everything went according to their script.

Netherlands had a brief moment of joy in the chase when Bukhari breached the defences of Tamim with a delivery that straightened in the first over. He continued to bowl with heart, showed some skill and even sledged. He went past Kayes' bat a few times and gave lip to Siddique, but just when the contest looked interesting, Bangladesh broke free.

It was the final ball of the seventh over and Siddique had just been sledged after Bukhari banged in a short delivery. Siddique responded with a flamboyant pull to collect a boundary and that was the moment that turned things around for Bangladesh. In the next over, he dragged the offspinner Adeel Raja, who opened with Bukhari and bowled a few tight overs, to the square-leg boundary. Soon Kayes, who was on 9 off 24 balls, pulled Raja for three runs and Bangladesh took control.

Post that, Kayes took ownership of the chase and started to roll out the big shots: he slapped Raja through covers, slashed a full toss from ten Doeschate over point, and drove Peter Borren through cover for successive boundaries in the 17th over. Though Siddique and Shahriar Nafees, who made a fluent 37 in his first game of the tournament, fell and Shakib combusted on arrival, Kayes stayed to finish the job.

World Cup 2011: Bullet-headed dhoni's mistakes let india down

2011-03-13T05:37:00.000-07:00

In a fascinating chase, with their choking past hovering over them, South Africa held their nerve to clinch a thriller in Nagpur. Jacques Kallis and Hashim Amla set it up, AB de Villiers pushed them close, JP Duminy and Johan Botha pumped in oxygen with big hits, Faf du Plessis held one end up and Robin Peterson shoved them past the line in the final over.

They needed 13 to win and there would have been the temptation to give the ball to Harbhajan Singh, who had one over left and had given away just five in his last, but MS Dhoni plumped for Ashish Nehra. Peterson inside edged the first to the fine-leg boundary, walloped the second over wide long-on for a game-breaking hit, ran madly to get two of the third before sealing it with a scorching cover drive.

India were left ruing their sensational collapse in the batting Powerplay, when they lost four wickets for 30 runs, and crumbled from 267 for 1, in the 40th over, to be bowled out for 296. Later, Dhoni had strong words about that collapse: "You don't play for the crowd, you play for the country."

The chase had several enthralling moments: Kallis sweeping from the rough, de Villiers' skilful inside-out hits with the turn, Harbhajan giving de Villiers some lip, Dhoni's smart run-out of Kallis, Gautam Gambhir's dropped catch, du Plessis' calming influence even as the C-word hung in the air, and Peterson's stunning blows.

The game itself swung crazily on each of those moments. South Africa had just lost Amla to a delivery that reared up alarmingly from Harbhajan when Kallis deployed the sweep and the paddle scoop against the same bowler to settle the nerves. South Africa were 114 for 2 at the end of the 30 overs at the end of those sweeps and the game hung in the balance.

Dhoni got into the act to run out Kallis. The throw from Harbhajan was dying away from the off stump when Dhoni lunged across, collected and swivelled to break the stumps. With Kallis' fall, South Africa needed 124 runs from just over 14 overs and de Villiers immediately took the batting Powerplay.

The game turned again in the 40th over, Zaheer's ninth, when South Africa looted 17 runs. de Villiers ragged a reverse-sweep to the fine-leg boundary, whiplashed another over point before Duminy walloped a slower one for a straight six to leave South Africa leaving 79 runs from 60 balls. It was then Harbhajan shoved the game into a thrilling climax.

Harbhajan had been giving de Villiers lip ever since he was hit for a six in the 32nd over. Eyeballs bulged, the motormouth worked over time and de Villiers would walk away, shaking his head. That contest was consummated when Harbhajan returned in the final Powerplay over, the 41st of the innings. de Villiers struck the first blow, with an audacious reverse whack over backward point but slog swept the next one straight to midwicket to leave South Africa still needing 74 from 57.

Things got tighter in the 43rd over when Harbhajan slipped a quick delivery down the leg side, past the advancing Duminy, and though Dhoni fumbled the take, he recovered to finish the stumping. India tightened the screws further when Munaf Patel trapped Morne van Wyk lbw in the 44th over, just moments after Gambhir dropped van Wyk at deep midwicket.

In the 48th over, Botha swiped Munaf through midwicket and crashed a six over the straight boundary to push South Africa ahead but fell off the next ball, miscuing a slower one over cover where Suresh Raina, the substitute fielder, took a tough catch. Zaheer gave away just four runs in the 49th over but Petersen settled the issue in the final one.

India lost the game in a manic self-destructive display in the batting Powerplay that they took in the 39th over. India were strolling at 253 for 1 but lost four wickets for 30 runs in the Powerplay and their last nine for 29 to collapse to 296.

In a sweet moment of redemption, it was the pair of Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel, who bled runs with the new ball, who did the damage during this manic phase. Sachin Tendulkar fell to an across-the-line hoick, his first ugly shot of the day, in the 40th over to Morne Morkel. Steyn had a double strike in the next over: Gambhir backed outside leg and scooped a slower one to mid-off and Yusuf Pathan blasted to cover. Things got worse when Yuvraj Singh swung a full toss to long-on off the final delivery of the Powerplay, and it turned chaotic when Virat Kohli gave a tame return catch to Peterson. In the space of a few minutes, the game had spiraled out of India's control and returned to balance. Steyn even went on to complete a five-for, something that was scarcely believable when he was leaking runs with the new ball, when he cleaned up the tail.

Until that stunning phase of play, it was all India. Until then, even 375 seemed a possibility. If Virender Sehwag pumped in the adrenalin, Tendulkar oozed class. There was not a single shot that looked risky and yet he played all the shots, even a hooked six, a shot that he doesn't play too often these days. Tendulkar faced just 20 balls in the first ten overs but had raced away to 35, and his fifty came off 33 balls. It was in the eighth over, from Morkel, that he really got going with an awesome thump through the covers, which was followed by a gorgeous straight drive. Like always, he held his pose even as Morkel was down on the mat. It was a moment that perfectly caught the one-sided battle.

When Steyn fired a bouncer in the 10th over, Tendulkar unfurled a stylish hook to deposit it beyond the backward square-leg boundary. When Jacques Kallis bowled a slower one, Tendulkar glided forward and across to whip the off cutter past mid-on. Unlike Sehwag, who kept backing away to the leg to try hit everything to the off, and fell in the process, Tendulkar played the spinners as per the demands of the ball but of course on his own terms. It should have been his night but cruelly it was his shot that triggered a stunning implosion, which proved the difference in the end.

World Cup 2011: India road to quarter-finals

2011-03-09T07:43:00.000-08:00

Yuvraj Singh and MS Dhoni steadied the Indian innings and put them on course for a victory over the Netherlands in a World Cup Group B clash at New Delhi on Wednesday. Earlier, Gautam Gambhir was bowled by Mudassar Bukhari after scoring 28 of 29 balls after Peter Borren knocked over Virat Kohli.

Left arm spinner Pieter Seelaar got the prized wickets of Virender Sehwag, Sachin Tendulkar and Yusuf Pathan to lead a Dutch fightback.Virender Sehwag and Sachin Tendulkar went after the Dutch bowling right from the word go as India chased their modest target of 190.Zaheer Khan grabbed three wickets and Yuvraj Singh picked up his 100th ODI scalp as the Netherlands were bowled out for 189 in 46.4 overs.

Mudassar Bukhari was bowled by Zaheer for 21 after skipper Peter Borren smashed a quickfire 38 of 36 balls as the Dutch failed to bat out their quota of 50 overs.
Netherlands got off to a promising start as openers Eric Szwarczynski and Wesley Barresi took their side's total to 56 in the 16th over before Szwarczynski was bowled by Piyush Chawla for 28.

Barresi fell soon after for 26 as India's new found all-rounder Yuvraj brought up 100 wickets in his one day international career.There was a procession of wickets after that as the Indian spinners came into their own and the Dutch failed to break the shackles which led to batsmen being dismissed on a regular basis.

The Netherlands were in deep trouble at 127/7 before skipper Borren and Bukhari took the total near the 200 mark but both then fell to Zaheer who ended up with figures of 3/20. Netherlands captain Peter Borren won the toss and elected to bat in a World Cup Group B clash.

India v England, World Cup 2011: Heroic showdown ended in tie, the right result for both

2011-02-27T18:57:00.000-08:00

On an evening that simply beggared belief, England tied with India in an incredible finale in Bangalore. Andrew Strauss was England's inspiration, producing an extraordinary 158 from 145 balls, the highest score by an English batsman in World Cup history, as England threatened the unthinkable, and set off in full pursuit of India's seemingly unobtainable total of 338 - a score that had been made possible by a brilliant 120 from Sachin Tendulkar.

Such was the clarity of Strauss's strokeplay and the passivity of India's attack, at 280 for 2 in the 43rd over, England were cruising towards an extraordinary triumph. However a late intervention, sparked by a reverse-swinging Zaheer Khan, left them clawing for breath as a silenced Chinnaswamy stadium rediscovered its roar, and when the requirement shot up beyond two runs a ball, there seemed no way back into the contest. However, a ballsy volley of sixes from England's lower order hauled them back from the brink, and with two runs needed from the final delivery of the match, Graeme Swann drilled Munaf Patel to cover to salvage a share of the spoils.

The breathless finale was entirely in keeping with a contest that twisted and turned like an insomniac in a mosquito-pit. From the first over of the match, in which Virender Sehwag might have been dismissed three times in five balls, through the sumptuous strokeplay of first Tendulkar and later Strauss, and on through a pair of batting collapses - one apiece for the lower order of both teams - there was scarcely a moment in which normal service was permitted. Tim Bresnan, with 5 for 48 in ten unrelentingly composed overs, was the unsung star of a day that deserves to be remembered as the finest World Cup contest since that semi-final in 1999.

For the first 39 overs of the match, and again for the last seven, the Bangalore crowd was as raucous as a monsoon wedding, as Tendulkar ignited India's first home fixture of the World Cup with his 47th ODI century, before Zaheer Khan hauled them back from the brink of ignominy with 3 for 11 in his final three-over spell. But in between whiles, the game belonged to England, as India shipped their last seven wickets in 25 balls to let their opponents regain a toe-hold in the contest, before turning the stage over to Strauss and his magnum opus.

A positive start was a pre-requisite as England embarked on their second daunting chase in as many matches, and just as Strauss had soothed his team's anxieties with 88 from 83 balls after their flirtation with humiliation against the Dutch, he was once again in the thick of things right from the start of the innings. Zaheer, who was as poor with the new ball as he was devastating with the old, bowled both sides of the wicket to gift two boundaries in six balls, and Strauss was up and running. He barely dipped below a run a ball at any subsequent stage of his innings.

He required some moments of luck, particularly on 17 when TV replays suggested he had nicked a drive against Zaheer that the Indian fielders were unable to hear against the din of the crowd, but for the most part he was rewarded for his intent and aggression, and a common-sense approach to the three key partnerships that propelled England's challenge. By the end of the batting Powerplay, England were 19 runs to the good, on 77 for 1 compared to India's 10-over total of 58 for 1, and with a stream of easy singles to offset the intermittent boundary balls, they never looked like blinking until the summit was within sight.

At the top of the order, Kevin Pietersen's stay was short, sharp and effective. He pounded four fours in eight Zaheer deliveries to rush along to 31 from 22 balls, before dumping Munaf on his backside with a brutally struck drive, only for the ball he had parried from in front of his face to plop into his right hand as he glanced up to regain his bearings. Trott proved an able ally in a 43-run stand for the second wicket before Chawla hurried one through to strike his back pad, whereupon Bell arrived to embark on what should have been the game's decisive stand - a 170-run partnership that spanned 27 overs.

Bell, England's best player of spin, was beaten twice in his first two balls as Chawla ripped first his googly then his legspinner to perfection, but his hairiest moment came on 17, when Yuvraj Singh referred an appeal for lbw that Hawkeye suggested met all the criteria for an overturned decision. However, umpire Billy Bowden, applying the letter of the law even if it meant contravening the evidence on a billion TV screens, reprieved Bell on the grounds that he had advanced more than 2.5 metres down the pitch, and that the technology's prediction could not be deemed conclusive.

The despondency of the crowd was reflected in India's subsequent bowling, as Strauss motored through to his sixth ODI century, from 99 balls, and on towards his third in excess of 150. Liberated by the match situation, he launched Yuvraj for one of the biggest sixes of his career, straight down the ground, to bring up the hundred partnership, and Bell did likewise to Chawla to rush through to his fifty from 45 balls.

It was England's decision to take the batting Powerplay, at 280 for 2 in the 43rd over, that triggered the devastating late reversal of momentum. India's last chance appeared to have gone begging when Bell, on 68, was dropped by Virat Kohli at slip off Chawla, but Kohli made amends 10 balls later, when Bell miscued a tired slog off Zaheer to extra cover. With the crowd alive to the contest once again, Zaheer then put himself on a hat-trick with an unplayable late-swinging yorker that crushed Strauss's toe in front of leg stump.

With the pressure proving smothering and Chawla's variations now illegible to the new batsmen, Paul Collingwood missed a wipe across the line to be bowled for 1 from five balls, before Prior gave up all hope of threading the gaps and took a huge top-edged heave at Harbhajan to be caught for 4 from 8. Michael Yardy chipped and chivvied before dinking an attempted boundary shot straight to Sehwag at short backward square, but it was Swann's flat six off Chawla, with 29 needed from two overs, that reawakened England's challenge. Three balls later, Bresnan also put Chawla into the stands, and though he was bowled having a mow in the same over, Ajmal Shahzad sent his first ball, from Patel, in the same direction, to set up the grandstand finish.

If England felt that they'd let a golden opportunity go, then at least it could be said that they proved themselves equal to one of the best performances of a legendary career. Even by Tendulkar's matchless standards, his was a vintage performance, and a masterful example of how to pace an innings. He was a casual bystander in the day's opening exchanges, while Sehwag ran amok, before picking up his tempo throughout a second-wicket stand of 134 with Gautam Gambhir, without ever needing to take risks to make his mark. The high point of his innings came when he belted consecutive sixes at the start of Swann's second spell, a calculated show of class that undermined England's trump bowler, and left Strauss floundering for alternatives as his tactics were picked apart.

In all Tendulkar stroked 10 fours and five sixes in what was, somewhat curiously, his first one-day hundred against England for nine years. By the time he was dismissed with 11 overs of the innings remaining, caught off a leading edge at cover (to give James Anderson his first one-day wicket in India for 53 overs dating back to 2006, on a day in which he conceded the most expensive analysis in England's World Cup history), India's total stood at an imposing 236 for 3, and it was a measure both of Tendulkar's brilliance and of England's dogged refusal to give in, that Yuvraj and MS Dhoni were unable to cut loose to quite the extent they might have expected.

The omens for England had not been exactly positive going into the start of this match. Eleven defeats in their last 12 away matches against India underlined their status of underdogs, as did the two team's respective performances in their opening fixtures of the tournament - England's laboured victory over the Netherlands compared distinctly unfavourably to India's crunching win against Bangladesh in Dhaka, and when Stuart Broad, their best and most aggressive seamer, was ruled out with a stomach complaint before the start of the match, a vast swathe of England's gameplan went down with him. Nevertheless, they thought on their feet and showed precisely the pluck that was in stasis throughout their one-day campaign in Australia. Two of the best teams in the world were on show in Bangalore, and what a show they produced.

World cup 2011: A revolutionary display by indians

2011-02-16T08:52:00.000-08:00

The Indian batting emphasised why they are such a feared unit by piling up 360 against New Zealand, despite the failures of Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag at the MA Chidambaram Stadium. Gautam Gambhir and Virat Kohli, two batsmen who tormented New Zealand in the one-day series three months ago, crafted a century partnership to set the base, before MS Dhoni and Suresh Raina, two batsmen who are crowd favourites in Chennai for their IPL exploits, delighted the fans with brutal hitting that was frenetic even by Twenty20 standards. The final 16 overs brought a jaw-dropping 193 runs to further demoralise a struggling New Zealand outfit, who were eventually crushed by 117 runs.

It had been run-of-the-mill stuff till the 34th over, with the bowling mostly mediocre and the batsmen mainly concerned with consolidation. The mandatory ball change in the 35th over prompted the batting Powerplay, and began an hour-long period of carnage. Gambhir started it with lap sweeps and carves over extra cover, followed by three successive boundaries off Tim Southee in the 37th to pick up 31 off 12 deliveries before nicking to the keeper.

If New Zealand felt that would provide some respite, there were emphatically proved wrong by Dhoni and Raina, both of whose one-day fortunes have hit a trough in the recent past. Dhoni showed that the bludgeoner of old wasn't gone for good, by thrashing a 61-ball century that had plenty of heaves over midwicket and power-packed drives down the ground. There were some deft placements as well from Dhoni to collect boundaries past short third man and short fine leg. Raina joined in the fun, with his patented swipes towards midwicket fetching him loads of runs in a 25-ball half-century.

Jacob Oram's bowling performance perfectly illustrated how New Zealand wilted after a solid beginning. Oram, fighting for a place in the starting XI, started the day with the massive wicket of Virender Shehwag off his first delivery. It got even better for him when he returned for his second spell; he had Kolhi poking at an extremely wide delivery that ended up as a nick to the keeper, and his figures read 7-1-30-2. The smile was off his face in his final burst, though, as Dhoni picked five successive fours off him before Raina swung him for three sixes over midwicket in four balls. Oram kicked the ground in disgust as he ended with 9-1-70-2.

The Chennai fans wouldn't have expected such a treat when the superstar opening pair of Tendulkar and Sehwag fell within the first ten overs. It was Kohli who led the recovery initially after the loss of the two wickets, continuing to be in the fluent form that has led to a chorus of calls for finding him a place in the World Cup XI. A combination of hard-hit lofted drives and delicate dinks behind square brought him a half-century, which along with Raina's whirlwind innings will leave the Indian team management reaching for the aspirin when they have to decide which of the two to leave out in the opening match in Dhaka.

New Zealand's team management will have headaches of their own, but not as pleasant as India's. The batting can't be blamed for coming up short in the face of a mammoth target, but the bowling, which was taken apart on Wednesday, had shipped loads of runs in the first warm-up against Ireland as well. New bowling coach Allan Donald will have his hands full during the tournament.

New Zealand began their chase spiritedly with Brendon McCullum and Martin Guptill scoring quickly against the quick bowlers. As on Sunday against Australia, it was the spinners that applied the brakes for India. New Zealand had sprinted to 94 for 0 in 15 overs, when offspinner R Ashwin removed Guptill with a delivery that spun sharply and bounced, flying off the bat handle to Dhoni. McCullum was then dismissed attempting a misjudged run, before Harbhajan Singh removed the two other big names in the New Zealand batting, Jesse Ryder and Ross Taylor. At 147 for 5, the game was up, though New Zealand's lower order lingered around for another 18 overs.

Several worries remain for India. Firstly, the ineffectiveness of the fast bowling in the absence of Zaheer Khan. The quicks have been blunted by the opposition openers in both practice games, leaving India pondering who to pick to partner Zaheer on Saturday. The other is the fielding, with two straightforward catches being put down - one by Gambhir at midwicket, and another by Munaf Patel at deep square leg.

Dhoni will be satisfied overall with the two wins in the pratice matches, but he won't be getting carried away by these results, especially after India's disastrous 2007 World Cup campaign which had begun with two massive victories in the practice matches.

Selectors mistake continues: Ineffective Sreesanth replaces injured Praveen Kumar

2011-02-08T05:42:00.000-08:00

India fast bowler Praveen Kumar has been ruled out of the World Cup due to an injured elbow and will be replaced by Sreesanth. The decision comes a day after Praveen underwent a fitness test at the National Cricket Academy in Bangalore to gauge whether he had recovered from the injury sustained before the start of the one-day series in South Africa last month.

Praveen, 24 had been sent back immediately from South Africa as a precautionary measure to recuperate at the NCA. The recovery did not go as planned, however, and he consulted Dr Andrew Wallace, a London-based surgeon who has treated many Indian players including Sachin Tendulkar. Praveen has been a regular with the Indian one-day side for the past couple of years and was set to be a certain starter in the World Cup, but his injury healed too slowly to allow him to participate in the global tournament.

Sreesanth has established himself in the Test side but has been on the fringes of the one-day outfit. He has played only 51 one-dayers in more than five years since his debut in 2005, and has a bloated career economy rate of 6.01. But he proved effective in the two ODIs he's played over the past 12 months, bagging seven wickets for 77 runs.

The other fast bowlers in the Indian squad are Zaheer Khan, Ashish Nehra and Munaf Patel.

India lose ODI series, Yusuf magical innings goes in vain

2011-01-23T18:59:00.000-08:00

Yusuf Pathan launched the sort of assault that has made him a rich man to ensure it wasn't all one-way traffic in Centurion but it wasn't enough to prevent South Africa from snatching the series with a 33-run victory. After a tough tour over the past month-and-a-half, the last day of the series seemed set to be an anti-climactic non-scrap courtesy yet another Hashim Amla century and a slew of reckless strokes from the Indians.

Yusuf, though, blasted a century of utter violence when all looked lost at 119 for 8, and after an hour of Yusuf, the South African bowling was looking clueless and India were 49 short, dreaming of a miraculous win. Yusuf clubbed a 68-ball century but holed out soon after, much to the relief of the Sunday crowd at Supersport Park.

The tour had begun with South Africa's crushing Test victory in Centurion and ends with another defeat for the visitors at the same venue. One reason India's bowlers will be thrilled to be heading back home will be that there will be less sparring with Amla, who has plundered more than 1100 runs in the past 11 months against India in Tests and one-dayers. He collected another 116 on Sunday to push South Africa to a tall total in a rain-hit match.

MS Dhoni had chosen to bowl on winning the toss, perhaps swayed by Supersport Park's reputation of being a ground where it is easy to chase in day games. No matter what the past record, it is unlikely any team can win when its top order combusts so spectacularly and heedlessly as India's did. Barring Virat Kohli, the rest of the top six were dismissed not by unplayable deliveries but by attempts at extravagant strokes.

Rohit Sharma's horror series ended as he was bowled by Lonwabo Tsotsobe going for a loose drive through the line; Dhoni's imperious cut ended as an edge to first slip; Yuvraj Singh edged two boundaries to third man before giving catching practice to JP Duminy at point; Suresh Raina smashed a couple of fours before an upper cut sailed to third man; Parthiv Patel was the only one in the top order to inspire confidence, middling nearly every ball for the second innings in a row before falling to a debatable diving catch by Faf du Plessis at cover. India were 74 for 6 in the 14th over, and their only hope of saving the series seemed to be if the ominous clouds circling the stadium brought a massive downpour which washed away the match before the 20th over.

Enter Yusuf. He fell over reverse-sweeping Robin Peterson for a six early in his innings, but the wickets kept tumbling at the other end. With Zaheer Khan adopting a blithe step-away-and-swing approach, the end seemed minutes away, but he knuckled down after some initial scares and kept turning the strike over to Yusuf.

Indian fans would have nursed little hopes even when intermittent bursts of hitting took Yusuf to 66 off 58, and India climbed to 175 for 8 in the 33rd over. All that changed as Yusuf pounded four sixes and three fours in the next three overs to reach his century - so quickly that few realised he had reached the milestone till he raised his bat. That frenzy, through which Yusuf remained completely calm, ended with a 21-run over from Tsotsobe that brought the required-rate below five. Yusuf skied another attempted blast down the ground soon after, which du Plessis clasped to settle South African nerves.

Yusuf's ton was in absolute contrast to Amla's in the morning, when the South African chose patience over pyrotechnics to coolly compile his runs - he reached his half-century on the back of 30 consecutive singles. After Graeme Smith's troubles against Zaheer Khan continued, Amla let No. 3 Morne van Wyk be the aggressor. van Wyk grew in confidence as his innings progressed, unleashing a series of powerful cuts whenever he was given width, and even pulled off an audacious lap-shot off Munaf Patel for four.

India went in with only two quick bowlers, and their armada of spinners didn't pose too many questions to the South African batsmen. South Africa glided to 113 for 1 before Yuvraj plucked a spectacular caught-and-bowled to send back van Wyk, and had AB de Villiers stumped with a sharply turning delivery.

Amla and Duminy, the home side's two form batsmen this series, both had lives - Duminy surviving a close lbw shout and Amla dropped at square leg - and revived South Africa with a 102-run stand. The standout shot in Amla's innings was the dab to third man, perfectly timing the ball as he opened the face to pick up several boundaries, one of which brought up his century.

In the four overs that remained after an 80-minute stoppage, South Africa lost their heads and plenty of wickets as panicky running, smart bowling and attempted slogging combined to result in a collapse of 6 for 24. Amla played only two deliveries in those last four overs. India went in to lunch on a high, but there was little joy for them after the break barring Yusuf's heroics, and their dreams of a maiden series win in South Africa were shattered.

World cup 2011: No Ojha and Rohit for world cup

2011-01-18T02:15:00.000-08:00

The exclusion of middle-order batsman Rohit Sharma was the surprise in India's 15-man World Cup squad announced in Chennai. The other bone of contention had been the second specialist spinner's slot, and the selectors have picked both offspinner R Ashwin and legspinner Piyush Chawla, ahead of left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha. Most of the other names in the squad were along expected lines.

India's major concern ahead of the team selection was the injuries to four first-choice players - Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir and quick bowler Praveen Kumar - but the selectors picked all four, confident that they will be fit in time for the tournament which starts on February 19.

India's bowling attack for the World Cup will be significantly different from their standard Test attack, with only Zaheer Khan and Harbhajan Singh being named. The fast bowling pair of Sreesanth and Ishant Sharma, and Ojha are all excluded while Munaf Patel, who helped India to a series-levelling victory over South Africa on Saturday, has found a place as the fourth seamer.

The selectors have gone in for a well-stocked slow bowling department, expecting traditional subcontinent tracks for the World Cup. Besides Harbhajan, there are two specialists in Ashwin and Chawla, an allrounder in Yusuf Pathan besides the part-time offerings of Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina and Virender Sehwag.

Chawla was also something of a surprise pick, though he is part of the one-day squad currently touring South Africa. He hasn't played any one-dayers for India since the Asia Cup in July 2008, and none of his 21 ODIs have been at home.

The squad also has only seven specialist batsmen, including MS Dhoni, which might be a worry in case of injuries. India haven't played their full-strength one-day side since the New Zealand tour in early 2009. There is no reserve keeper in the squad either, but that shouldn't be a concern as they can have one travel with them in case he is needed at short notice.

Kris Srikkanth, chairman of the national selection committee, was confident India could end their 28-year wait for a one-day World Cup. "This particular Indian team is doing brilliantly for the past couple of years in both Test and ODI cricket. They are playing consistently not only in India but outside," he told reporters after the team was announced. "We are confident this team will do well and win the World Cup for us in front of the home crowd."

He also defended the large spin contingent in the squad. "Don't forget that you are playing in India. The spinners probably play a very major role on the turning wickets. I am confident that the kind of balance we have, the kind of batting line-up we have, this team led by Dhoni will do the job for us."

Squad: MS Dhoni (capt & wk), Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina, Virat Kohli, Yusuf Pathan, Harbhajan Singh, Praveen Kumar, Zaheer Khan, Ashish Nehra, Munaf Patel, Piyush Chawla, R Ashwin

India bounce back and level series

2010-12-29T05:10:00.000-08:00

India reiterated that they are poor travellers no more by pulling off a series-levelling win in Durban, where they had suffered one of their worst Test defeats in 1996. The victory at Kingsmead, after a humiliating loss in Centurion, joined the other famous successes over the past decade at some of the world's most fast-bowler friendly tracks - Headingley, Jamaica, Nottingham, Johannesburg and Perth.

The match was even at the start of the fourth day, but India's bowlers barely sent down a bad ball in the morning session to seize control of the Test. A Sreesanth snorter to Jacques Kallis started South Africa's slide, before two lbws - one a marginal decision and the other a howler - that are sure to refuel the UDRS debate, hurt them further. Ashwell Prince tried to resist but India plugged away to remove the tail an hour into the second session and set up a decider in Cape Town next week.

If the match has to-and-fro-ed, so has Sreesanth's bowling form. The wayward, antic-loving Sreesanth was missing in the morning, as he sent down an accurate spell of sustained hostility. The highlight was in the seventh over of the day - an unplayable bouncer that reared up sharply and jagged in at Kallis, who had no way to avoid it. He jumped and arched his back in an attempt to get out of the way, but could only glove it to gully. It was the snorter needed to remove the kingpin of South Africa's batting. There was no over-the-top Sreesanth celebration either, just a fist pump before getting back to business.

That wicket put India slightly ahead, and there was no doubt who the front-runners were after AB de Villiers decided to not offer a shot against a Harbhajan Singh delivery from round the wicket. He was struck in front of middle, looked lbw and the umpire agreed, though Hawk-Eye suggested the ball would have bounced well over the stumps.

Over a decade in international cricket, Mark Boucher has built his reputation as a scrapper, and with Prince also around, it wasn't yet lights out for South Africa. Boucher, though, made only 1 before he was given lbw to a delivery that was angling across him and going to miss off stump comfortably.

South Africa had lost three wickets, and there was still no boundary in the morning, a testament to the scarcity of bad deliveries. When the first four did come, from Dale Steyn, it was an edge to third man. Steyn had pinged Zaheer Khan on the helmet with a quick bouncer on Tuesday, and was the target of a string of short balls. After three of those, Zaheer slipped in a fuller delivery, which Steyn duly nicked to slip.

At 155 for 7, with lunch 45 minutes away, the game looked set for a quick finish. Prince and Paul Harris, however, resisted with some dour batting, in addition to a couple of confident boundaries from Prince. They batted out the 10 overs to the break, but a pumped-up Zaheer, chatting to the batsmen after nearly every ball, ended the stand in his first over after the resumption with a peach that clipped Harris' off stump.

Prince and Morne Morkel then stood firm for an hour, reducing the required runs to double digits. India's wait seemed to have ended when Ishant Sharma had Morkel wafting to gully, but that turned out to be his regulation wicket off a no-ball. In his next over, though, Ishant didn't overstep when he found the edge off Morkel to Dhoni. Two balls later, an alert Cheteshwar Pujara threw down the stumps from short leg, catching the No. 11 Lonwabo Tsotsobe short, and sparking celebrations. The Indians were ready to grab the stumps as souvenirs, when they realised the third umpire had been called for. The dismissal was confirmed moments later and there was no stopping the celebrations this time.

India came into this Test with their No. 1 status questioned after the clobbering in Centurion and doubts over whether they had the bowling to take 20 wickets. They provided answers to both in Durban.

Ind vs SA 2010-11: Finally an undiluted squad for SA ODI's, only just two unproductive participants

2010-12-21T00:13:00.000-08:00

India have named a full-strength squad for the ODI and Twenty20 series in South Africa, which is their last international limited-overs assignment before the 2011 World Cup begins in February. Piyush Chawla, the legspinner, is the only new name in the 16-man list, having played an ODI last in 2008. Ravindra Jadeja has been left out of the team while Yusuf Pathan, who impressed during the home series against New Zealand, has been retained.

Squad: MS Dhoni (capt), Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Sachin Tendulkar, Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina, Yuvraj Singh, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Ashish Nehra, Praveen Kumar, Munaf Patel, R Ashwin, Yusuf Pathan, Piyush Chawla, S Sreesanth.

South Africa tasted victory against India by far

2010-12-20T03:13:00.001-08:00

Once the players woke up to clear skies in Centurion, it was only a matter of time before South Africa took the final two wickets that stood between them and a 1-0 lead in the series. The other question was whether they could inflict an innings defeat on India, something they had never done at home. They did, dismissing the tailenders in less than six overs on the fifth day, while Sachin Tendulkar remained unbeaten on 111.

The length of South Africa's wait was going to be determined by Tendulkar's approach, and once he showed no intention of farming the strike, exposing Sreesanth and Jaidev Unadkat by taking singles, the home team knew Morne Morkel and Dale Steyn wouldn't make them field for too long.Sreesanth prodded forward to a short of a length delivery outside off from Morkel, and AB de Villiers caught the thick edge comfortably at second slip. Unadkat faced 10 out of the 14 balls following Sreesanth's dismissal and the Test ended when he fended a short ball from Steyn to gully

Sachin reached another milestone

2010-12-20T03:04:00.000-08:00

He was in a foreign land. At least a land that has stayed the most foreign to India even after their resurgence away from home. They started chanting "Sachin, Sachin" from the time he guided one past short third man to move to 88. There were whites, there were blacks, there were browns at the grass banks of SuperSport Park, and all they wanted was for Sachin Tendulkar's 50th Test hundred to come in front of them.

It was difficult to not let that affect you, but Tendulkar was in a different sphere. He was trying to save a game, trying to kill time, trying to run through the deficit. He took his time to get to 89, and South Africa tried to cut out boundary-scoring areas. A forward short leg came in, Morne Morkel bowled bouncers - around the helmet area, and into the ribs. Tendulkar kept ducking, the lower ones he kept keeping out; if he was nervous, he wasn't showing it. Against Paul Harris, who has somehow managed to be India's nemesis, he hit a straight six to send the crowd into frenzy again.

The chants started again. When at 97, he faced another flurry of bouncers. One of them went for five wides. Ten deliveries he spent on 97. Then came Dale Steyn. He got an inside-edge past midwicket to move to 99. Then he squirted one between cover and extra cover, celebrating as he ran the 100th run. Not extravagantly. The helmet came off, the back arched a bit, and he looked up to the skies.

Tendulkar later spoke of the moment when he reached the milestone. "The first thing obviously I thought of was my father because I wanted to do it for him," he said. "Yesterday was his birthday, and I would like to dedicate this to him."

Tendulkar didn't know what to make of the landmark. Perhaps the match situation - India are on the verge of a defeat despite his and MS Dhoni's effort - had something to do with it. Perhaps it is taking time to sink in. "I don't know. I am okay. It's just another number for me. It's nice. Obviously I can't say I am not happy, I am happy. But I don't know how to express this. It's good that it has come. Hopefully it doesn't stop, it continues."

Tendulkar remembered his first Test that was played against an attack that comprised three greats. He was quick to remind the reporters of Abdul Qadir's presence too, to go with Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis and Imran Khan. "It was challenging," he said. "I thoroughly enjoyed it. I learned a lot on that tour and whenever I have played them. It's been a fantastic contest."

Tendulkar has had a bumper 2010, this being his seventh Test century to go with the only double-century in the history of ODIs. Of his remarkable form, he said: "Just been batting and enjoying. Sometime you are striking the ball really well and that is when you need to cash in as much as possible. I only try to do that. I felt that the last couple of years I have been moving well. Also the frame of mind. It's a habit, and once you build that habit, it's a good habit to carry on tours and back home in India as well."

Tendulkar also reiterated that records have just happened to come his way while he has been doing what he loves the most. "I am playing for the love of it," he said. "If I was chasing records, I wouldn't have missed those one-day matches in between. I have had to pace myself. I thought I was not in top physical condition, and I needed some break and requested the board for the rest so I stay fresh. If I were chasing records, I wouldn't have done that. Its about producing quality cricket, and that's what I want to do."

Selection committee mistake retains: Uthappa, Irfan out & Jadeja, Piyush in

2010-12-18T08:12:00.000-08:00

Mumbai middle-order batsman Ajinkya Rahane is the only uncapped player to be included in India's 30-member preliminary World Cup squad. Cheteshwar Pujara, who made a promising half-century on Test debut against Australia, has also been picked, as have opening batsman Shikhar Dhawan, legspinner Piyush Chawla and allrounder Yusuf Pathan. There was, however, no place for Yusuf's brother Irfan, who has missed the initial stages of the Ranji Trophy with an injury.

The list, which will be trimmed to 15 players by January 19, also included three wicketkeepers in addition to MS Dhoni - Parthiv Patel, Dinesh Karthik and Wriddhiman Saha. Karthik used to be India's first-choice wicketkeeper as a back-up for Dhoni, but he was left out of the recent one-day series against New Zealand, where Saha took over for the first three matches. Parthiv was handed a couple of games as well - when Saha left early as a part of the Test squad for South Africa - and scored two half-centuries, making use of his first chance at the highest level in six years.

Yusuf forced his way back into the reckoning when he won the fourth one-dayer against New Zealand with a brutal 123 off 96 balls after India were reduced to 188 for 5 chasing 316. Ravindra Jadeja, who was the preferred all-round option for the majority of last season was also included in the squad. Irfan's absence from the list, however, highlighted just how far he has fallen in the eyes of India's selectors.

While the one-day side has looked settled in recent times, Dhoni has said a few places are still up for grabs, including one for a fast bowler and another for either an allrounder or a big-hitting lower-order batsman. India have not yet selected their side for the one-day series against South Africa, and with the first game to be played on January 12, the make-up of that squad should be an indication of the composition of the final 15 for the World Cup.

Kris Srikkanth, chairman of the selection committee, said it was a team without surprises and expected a strong performance in home conditions. "This is a probables team and everyone selects himself," Srikkanth said. "There is one more month to go to select the final team and we will sit down and think calmly before finalising the team. They have been doing well in one-day cricket. The World Cup is happening in the subcontinent and I am confident that the team will do well."

Preliminary squad: MS Dhoni, Virender Sehwag, Sachin Tendulkar, Gautam Gambhir, Virat Kohli, Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Ashish Nehra, Sreesanth, Munaf Patel, Ishant Sharma, Vinay Kumar, M Vijay, Rohit Sharma, Ravindra Jadeja, Ajinkya Rahane, Saurabh Tiwary, Yusuf Pathan, Parthiv Patel, R Ashwin, Wriddhiman Saha, Dinesh Karthik, Shikhar Dhawan, Amit Mishra, Piyush Chawla, Cheteshwar Pujara, Pragyan Ojha, Praveen Kumar

Superior team outplayed Pathetic NZ

2010-12-10T04:24:00.000-08:00

New Zealand were at the receiving end of another humiliation as a hapless batting performance led to their lowest score against India and sealed a 0-5 whitewash, their first in a five-match series since 1984-85. On a dry pitch susceptible to the influence of the overcast weather, New Zealand were keen to make the most of initially favourable batting conditions, but their edginess against pace at the start of the innings, and capitulation to spin later on, ensured their misery in ODIs continued.

The pitch offered limited assistance to the bowlers and was not responsible for the domination that India showed; New Zealand's inability to survive perhaps was. The seamers were crafty enough to make use of the hint of swing and movement available early on, the spinners, led by R Ashwin, varied their lengths, pace and worked the angles well to prove more than a handful against the middle and lower orders.

Praveen Kumar's control and Ashish Nehra's quick recovery from a Brendon McCullum onslaught in his first over set up India. Praveen earned his prize straight away, beginning with three straight-ish deliveries before getting one to nip away and prompt a fatal poke from Martin Guptill. Nehra had a contrasting start, struggling for line and length, dragging one short to be dispatched over square leg and providing width to be slammed through the off side for two boundaries. McCullum's aggressive posture, characterized by his advances down the wicket as well as moving well across to look for scoring opportunities, promised an entertaining counterattack. But it caused his downfall instead, as he shuffled across to Nehra and was done in by the inswing to be caught on the pads, leaving New Zealand 14 for 2.

The pitch largely behaved itself for the duration of the innings and the Indian bowlers, for their part, provided reasonable opportunities to ease the pressure. Ross Taylor looked confident, piercing the field with some delicious drives past mid-off, but his stay ended with an instinctive attempt at a pull against Nehra, and the ball scraped the glove on the way to Parthiv Patel. Jamie How appeared on course to lend some respectability to what's been a miserable series with some lovely flicks off his pads and Scott Styris seemed determined to get the innings back on track, but the steadiness that they had painstakingly brought to the innings was obliterated by spin.

The slow bowlers were expected to play a prominent role as the day wore on and it didn't take long for Yuvraj Singh to step into the act. In the 17th over, after having built a stand of 43 with Styris, How tried to play across the line and was bowled as the ball straightened. Styris misread the length and played the sweep, almost as an afterthought, against Ashwin in the next over to be caught plumb. And Grant Elliott, included in the line-up to strengthen the batting, made no impact, failing to read the straighter one from Yuvraj to be lbw.

Three wickets in three overs, and the departure of Daniel Vettori to a catch at slip not long after indicated New Zealand were in a hurry to finish the game even before the weather, overcast and ominous, was given a chance to intervene. Sure enough, Kyle Mills' inability to read Ashwin's carrom ball and Tim Southee's gifting a catch to short leg marked a sorry end to a line-up that bats deep.

The early wickets of the in-form Gautam Gambhir and Virat Kohli were the only consolation as New Zealand succumbed to a 0-5 battering, with their World Cup preparations in disarray following a bitter experience in two recent assignments in the subcontinent. India, for their part, have been boosted by the successful return of Yusuf Pathan and the consistency of Ashwin, while consecutive fifties from Parthiv Patel have further spiced up the selection race for the World Cup.

Yusuf set Bangalore ground on fire

2010-12-08T08:47:00.000-08:00

They said he couldn't perform in international cricket. They said he was good only for IPL and domestic cricket. He proved them wrong tonight. Yusuf Pathan engineered an improbable win for India with a violent hundred, his first in ODIs, and perhaps sealed a World Cup berth for himself. It looked grim for India when they were tottering at 188 for 5 in the 34th over, after the fall of Rohit Sharma, but Pathan pulled off a heist. One game doesn't guarantee a successful future of course, especially considering that this New Zealand attack wasn't potent enough to provide a stern test of his weakness against short balls, but Pathan left his past behind with a potentially career-changing innings on a drizzly Bangalore night. His century overshadowed a superbly-crafted 98 from James Franklin that had allowed New Zealand to reach a daunting total.

Pathan declared his intent with two brutal shots. The first came in the 37th over, when play resumed after a one-hour rain break that didn't reduce any overs and left India needing 113 runs from 14. Yusuf launched a Daniel Vettori delivery into screaming fans beyond long-on and clubbed a length delivery from Kyle Mills over the roof at cow corner. Those two imperious hits gave a feeling, then, that he could pull off a special win.

A couple of quiet overs followed but Pathan roused himself in a violent 43rd over: he smashed Mills for three fours - a lofted hit overs cover and two flicks past short fine-leg - before crashing a length delivery for six over midwicket. And when he brought up his maiden hundred with a pulled six, off Andy McKay in the next over, the game was all but over. He found support in Saurabh Tiwary, who intelligently rotated the strike, and the pair gave India a 4-0 lead in the series.

It was an incredible effort considering India had lagged behind for a major part of the chase. McKay's twin strikes to remove Gautam Gambhir and Virat Kohli in the 10th over and Nathan McCullum's double-strike to dismiss Yuvraj Singh and Parthiv Patel, who hit his maiden fifty, had pushed India on the back foot. And when Tim Southee had Rohit Sharma hitting straight to mid-off, New Zealand would have been thinking about the win, but Yusuf crushed their hopes with a blinder.

As good as their batting was in the end overs, their death bowling nearly lost India the game. Franklin's knock provided the perfect climax to New Zealand's spirited approach; the openers attacked to take them to 91 for 2 in the 14th over and the middle-order adapted to the fall of wickets - rebuilding at a slower pace before Franklin's final flourish.

Franklin looted 22 runs in the final over, bowled by Nehra, with some wickedly entertaining big hits: he smashed the second delivery to the straight boundary, the third over long-off, the fourth to midwicket, and the fifth to the wide long-off boundary. It was not, however, a knock of such fury and adrenalin from the start. He had built his innings with conventional shots, such as the one in 47th over, when he was batting with the tail and was under some pressure. He sashayed down the track to Yusuf Pathan, who had just picked up two wickets, and nonchalantly flicked him wide of the deep midwicket fielder. No manic rush or desperation, he simply carried on with his style, sweeping the spinners and flicking and square-driving the seamers to get to his fifty. Only in the final two overs did he explode. It seemed he had done enough to win the game for his team, especially after India's top-order had collapsed, but Yusuf seized the day.

Gambhir's script helped India to stamp series win against feeble NZ

2010-12-04T08:09:00.000-08:00

New Zealand's one-day woes continued into a ninth straight game as their batting failed to cope with moist early-morning conditions in Vadodara. Zaheer Khan, coming back after injury, and Munaf Patel swung and seamed the ball all right, but New Zealand will look back at how unremarkable their response was. With the pitch easing out in the afternoon, Gautam Gambhir made the chase look ridiculously easy, becoming only the eighth captain to score centuries in back-to-back ODIs.

From the time he won the toss and put New Zealand in, Gambhir hardly put a foot wrong, keeping his perfect captaincy record and India's unbeaten home season intact. New Zealand's openers gifted their wickets, the middle order went into a shell, and even though James Franklin and Nathan McCullum added 94 for the eighth wicket, it was never going to be enough. Not with Gambhir making room and peppering the off side with drives and cuts, bringing up his fifty in 30 balls, out of India's 64 then.

Watching Gambhir bat, the struggle New Zealand went through early in the morning seemed far away. Brendon McCullum, making a comeback himself, laid out a welcome mat for Zaheer, guiding a widish delivery straight to second slip. Martin Guptill ran himself out soon after.

Between those dismissals, Williamson set the template for the day. His front foot went across to the first ball he faced. It swung in enough down the leg side to be called a wide, but Williamson had fallen over trying to correct the movement. Neither Williamson nor Ross Taylor could get rid of that tendency during their short stays. Taylor's wicket, though, came in a tame fashion as he tried drive Zaheer on the up. The shot was played away from his body, and an inside edge ensued.

Taylor's No. 4 position has been a matter of debate, with arguments that he should take more responsibility and bat at No. 3. Williamson's inability to counterattack only seemed to highlight that notion. For the third game running, he got off to a slow start, and did little to hit Munaf off his plan.

Munaf loves to bowl back of a length, just outside off, and wobble the ball slightly either way. He tends to get a bit rattled when somebody uses that predictability to come down and hit him. In this series, though, no one has come close to doing that. And once Williamson allowed Munaf to do what he wanted, that lbw call seemed a matter of time with the batsman regularly falling over.

Modern captains tend to go into the containment mode once the 15th over ends irrespective of how many wickets they might have got. Gambhir, who had put New Zealand in, was refreshingly old-school. When he saw R Ashwin turn the first ball, he set Test-match fields for Scott Styris and James Franklin. Yuvraj, at leg slip, soon came into action taking a sharp low catch to send Styris back. Daniel Vettori did a B McCullum, guiding Yusuf Pathan straight to slip for another sharp catch for Yuvraj, who later returned to leg slip to get rid of Gareth Hopkins too.

Having fallen behind the over-rate, though, Gambhir omitted to use four of Zaheer and Nehra's overs. Facing part-time spinners on a pitch that had eased out a bit, Franklin and N McCullum had little trouble building a partnership. It was almost as if Gambhir was not concerned at all by their stand.

The way he turned out with the bat, Gambhir need not have worried either.

After having been at the wrong end of Gambhir's off-side play in Jaipur, New Zealand tried to cramp him up, and found that Gambhir was equally adept at scoring through the on side. He flicked the second ball he faced fine for a boundary. In Kyle Mills' next over, he picked the gap between mid-on and midwicket. In Mills' next, Gambhir started making room and went into his favourite off side. He capitalised on the correction on the next delivery, moving to 23 off 11.

Andy McKay got the same treatment: wide ball, four; too straight, four; wide again, four. With time, Gambhir's favourite chips over extra cover and midwicket came out too. He might have seemed to slow down after reaching his fifty, but he took only 58 further deliveries to get to the hundred.

M Vijay didn't struggle like he did in Jaipur, but had to stay content with being the lesser partner in the opening stand. And like he did in Japiur, Virat Kohli came out and scored a half-century in the company of his captain as India cantered home.

Is dhoni doing enough for indian cricket?

2010-11-16T06:31:00.000-08:00

Mahendra Singh Dhoni once said, "I want players who, if I ask them to, will stand in front of a truck", and, true to his wish the young Indian team rallied behind him and has been consistently outdoing opponents in one of the greatest cricketing highs of Indian cricket. His leadership skills were being compared to that of Steve Waugh. He came out as a brilliant tactician on the field and inspired the young team to achieve greatness.

But, pressure seems to be telling on the Indian skipper. Even during the great showing by the 'men in blue', Dhoni was feeling the intense pressure of captainship building up. Over a period, he has slowly lost what he was respected for - aggression and fluency. And, amidst all this came the T 20 World Cup, which exposed the chinks in MSD's armour.

Information leaks, Sehwag's injury fiasco, media gag, poor form and pressure of captaincy added to Dhoni's woes. Leading commentators like Ravi Shastri, Harsha Bhogle and Barry Richards among others referred to his brilliant past while highlighting his not-so-glittering present form.

His wicket-keeping skills have always been questioned and now the criticism is growing louder about his much vaunted batting. Dhoni realizes that if batting does not click then his place in the team could come under a cloud. Due to this reason, he is continuously shuffling the batting order to give himself more time to bat. His use of bowlers are also baffling cricket experts. "He is losing control of the team because of his individual form and decisions. Earlier, Zaheer was the de facto leader of the bowling unit. He would encourage the bowlers and help them out. In the last few matches, however, his involvement seems to have petered out. This should be a cause of concern for Dhoni," an expert told Hardnews.

His poor batting form and decision to bat first down is drawing ire from all quarters. His decision to play Suresh Raina late is hurting not only Raina but also the team. In the qualifying matches, Raina had to bat under immense pressure in the last few overs and started swashbuckling straightway. Raina needs time at the crease and can be aggressive and hold the innings at one end. But, continuous shuffling of his batting order is hurting this talented cricketer as it was evident in the match against West Indies.

Dhoni's decision to play cautiously in the middle overs is spoiling the team's prospects to defend the crown. "In India's match against Bangladesh, Dhoni came first down and slowed the aggressive start given by Rohit Sharma. This decision cost India some very valuable runs. One can afford this in matches against minnows, but against teams like South Africa or New Zealand, middle overs can be a decisive factor," said a cricket enthusiast. Dhoni must be fighting his own demons as he would be well aware of how closely his decisions are being watched.

India's loss against West Indies in the Super 8 can spell disaster for Dhoni and his team's prospects. His super slow innings in the middle overs, missed run-out chances, under-utilisation of Irfan Pathan and other part time bowlers are making headlines. Fans blame him for the debacle and started to doubt whether the Captain Cool is cool anymore.

India was in a similar situation in the last World Cup, but then Dhoni was confident, in-form and utilised all his resources wisely. This seems to have gone missing in 2009. If the team falters and fails to qualify, Dhoni will be the target of the ire of cricket fans and the media to an extent never before faced by Captain Cool.

"If India crashes out, Dhoni's fate is uncertain but rest assured that he would never be the same MSD we loved. The MSD who batted at all positions fearlessly only to instil fear amongst the opposition is what we want and this is what he should," rued a fan. Those who have been watching Dhoni closely would also see a change in his batting style. The flourish with which he stroked the ball has gone. Sometime back even a politician, Lalu Prasad Yadav, commented on his loss of form.

Dhoni's commitment to the game remains undisputed. He is at the crossroads of his cricketing career and a few mistakes can trigger the inevitable beginning of an end. But, the onus is on Dhoni to figure out how he can improve his skills as a batter and a leader before the destiny catches up with him.

McCullum's innings draws the match

2010-11-16T05:52:00.000-08:00

McCullum reaped rewards for his hard work on day four, milking a tired bowling unit to get to the third-highest score in second innings in Tests in India. The game was headed for a draw the moment Zaheer Khan left the field again - he had been out of action for a good part of the fourth day due to an abdominal strain - after bowling just three overs in the morning session.

New Zealand, the No. 8 side in the world, have now held India, the No. 1 side, to four consecutive draws; in two of those India have done the surviving. India, who seemed to have given up surprisingly early in the morning, have now conceded 400 or more in at least one innings of their last seven Tests.

There were two outside chances for the game to come to life, but both were duly thwarted. Cheteshwar Pujara dropped McCullum at forward short leg when the batsman was 148, and the lead 185. That was the only chance Harbhajan Singh had created in 26 overs until then.

The next time Harbhajan created an opportunity, some excitement was manufactured, with Kane Williamson given out lbw erroneously to an offbreak certain to miss the leg stump. Williamson was on his way to becoming only the seventh man to begin his Test career with back-to-back centuries. He had survived the tense moments last evening, started the day with three boundaries in the first over, and then settled in for an innings full of his trademark back-foot punches.

When he got out, though, New Zealand were 223 ahead, and there were 57 overs to go. For those who hope or fear too much, a collapse could still direct the game towards a result. McCullum and Daniel Vettori, though, took 20 runs off the next four overs to disappoint the hopeful and the fearful.

It may have seemed like milking because of the ease with which McCullum got his runs, but he did it with some style and nonchalance. India tried to pack the leg side and bowled round the wicket, only to see him casually reverse-sweep them for boundaries. They were not exactly reverse-sweeps, he was so confident he just bent the knees half way and guided them past point. His maiden double-hundred he brought up with the "McScoop", having scored his last 24 runs off 19 balls. That spell of hitting also included a six over long-off off Pragyan Ojha and two reverse-swept fours off Suresh Raina.

As McCullum's good friend and former Kolkata Knight Riders team-mate Chris Gayle moved assuredly towards a triple-century in Galle, a triple was on here in Hyderabad too. There were 32 overs to go to the start of the mandatory overs, and there was no way New Zealand were going to declare without letting him have a go at the highest score by a New Zealander - 299 by Martin Crowe.

Hence McCullum's charge towards the record books. He reversed-swept another boundary, played the chip over midwicket, crashed Sreesanth back past him, and then cut him furiously to get to 225.

It was after this that Sreesanth achieved slight personal redemption, removing McCullum with a slower legbreak. Then he bounced Tim Southee, who had hit him three times with bouncers when he was batting. Some softening-up and eye-balling later, Sreesanth bowled Southee.

Perhaps to keep their tail away from any more bouncers, New Zealand declared during tea, and bowled 17 overs before the last hour. Virender Sehwag, usually bored in such situations, helped himself to a quick fifty, giving the crowd some entertainment.

Harbhajan's maiden century helped India to draw the match

2010-11-08T06:58:00.000-08:00

Harbhajan Singh realised every bowler's dream of making a Test hundred and VVS Laxman burnished his already lustrous second-innings record to steer India to safety on the final day of the first Test. Chris Martin and New Zealand couldn't replicate the venom with which they had bowled on Sunday and their chances of victory vanished with the 163-run association between Harbhajan and Laxman.

The injuries to Hamish Bennett and Jesse Ryder didn't help New Zealand either. A serious push for victory against the world's No. 1 side appeared difficult to sustain once Ross Taylor and Brendon McCullum, with 12 overs of international experience between them, were given the ball in the morning.

In his previous two Tests, Laxman had turned in contrasting match-winning efforts on the final day. In Ahmedabad, he showed his match-saving skills. It was hard to guess from his unperturbed demeanour and batting that India were battling for survival, and he repeatedly worked the spinners towards sweeper cover and deep point to make his runs. His first violent shot was a sweep that nearly carried to the midwicket boundary to bring up his half-century.

Harbhajan was less secure than the cool and collected Laxman. He nearly committed hara-kiri in the third over of the day with an ill-judged call for a single after punching the ball to mid-off. Daniel Vettori's throw missed the stumps with Harbhajan yards out. Harbhajan also offered half-chances to slip and forward short leg but, despite the shakiness, he never put away his natural attacking strokes. He outscored Laxman with his maverick batting: a powerful sweep against the turn in the air of Vettori , a ferocious down-the-line forehand off Martin, and - riskiest of all - a reverse-paddle off Jeetan Patel.

Smart Stats

Harbhajan Singh scored his maiden century in his 88th Test, which is third in the list of most matches taken by a player to reach his first Test century, behind Anil Kumble and Chaminda Vaas who took 118 and 97 Tests respectively.

Harbhajan's fifty and hundred in the first Test made him only the second No.8 batsman in history to score a fifty and hundred in the same match.

The 163 run partnership for the seventh wicket between VVS Laxman and Harbhajan is the best ever seventh wicket stand for India against New Zealand and their seventh best in Tests.

New Zealand last won an away Test not involving Bangladesh or Zimbabwe in 2002 when they beat West Indies at Bridgetown. Overall, they have won one Test and lost 18 of the 31 played since Jan 1 2000.

Laxman's average of 51.17 in the second innings in Tests is the second best among Indians behind Sunil Gavaskar and the eighth best among all batsmen to score over 2000 runs in the second innings.

Tim McIntosh's pair in the first Test was the eighth for a New Zealand opener overall and the first against India.

By lunch, India's lead had ballooned to 192, and much of the interest in the second session centred on whether the two batsmen could make their hundreds. Both carried on as they had in the morning: Laxman made unflustered progress with Harbhajan pulling off some enterprising strokes. New Zealand seemed resigned to a draw, with Vettori at one stage imitating Harbhajan's bird-like flourish during his run-up.

With the match meandering and Laxman in his 90s, two umpiring mistakes brought the UDRS, and its absence in this series, back into focus. Steve Davis missed a huge inside-edge from Laxman to give him lbw. Laxman was horrified, a reaction that was repeated next ball by Zaheer Khan, when Davis missed another nick to leave Vettori on a hat-trick. Davis' concentration had clearly slipped and he called 'over' when only five deliveries had been bowled.

There was still the matter of Harbhajan's hundred. He had reached his half-century with a Laxman-like flick and he brought up three figures with a Sehwag-like six, carving the ball over extra cover to move from 95 to 101. Cue generous applause from the dressing-room, and Harbhajan celebrated with a message to his close friend Sachin Tendulkar - imitating the master's signature crouch.

With MS Dhoni having no intention of declaration, Harbhajan continued to make merry, smashing Patel over long-off for six. He was finally dismissed mis-hitting a high full toss from Taylor, and India ended on 266 when Sreesanth feathered a Taylor delivery to the keeper.

There was little at stake in the match when New Zealand came out to bat, but questions over Tim McIntosh's suitability will return after he missed a Zaheer incutter to complete a pair. After a desultory bunch of overs that included Dhoni bowling, the match was called off with New Zealand having reached 22 for 1.

New Zealand started the day dreaming of a win, but though they couldn't break Motera's jinx of no team chasing down a target, they have proved to India that they are no pushovers. How New Zealand would take 20 wickets against the mighty Indians was the big question before the series; they have shown they can, even when they are one frontline bowler short, and their batting has shown the backbone that was sorely missing during the drubbing in Bangladesh last month. The match may be a draw, but there's no doubt which team will be happier with their performance in the game.

What do playhangmangames.com offer?

2010-11-08T06:45:00.000-08:00

Most of the children loves little game thus they get delighted while playing. The hangman game is one of the most popular and among the most loved game of all aged kids. The children love this game as they moils their brain and step-up remembering level. Hangman is the mere word of thinking game which has been recognized to subsist in different forms since from 1894 where the edition of this game was registered in the book titled "conventional games" by the far-famed Alice Bertha Gomme. They are generally used to assist and instruct kids how to spell some phrases.

Ind vs NZ 2010-11: 15-member squad announced for test series

2010-10-25T06:50:00.000-07:00

Gautam Gambhir, VVS Laxman and Ishant Sharma have recovered from injuries that kept them out of the second Test against Australia, and are included in India's squad for the three-Test series against New Zealand, which begins on November 4 in Ahmedabad. That Cheteshwar Pujara and M Vijay filled in superbly for Laxman and Gambhir in Bangalore made this a straightforward selection, with both of them retaining their places in the 15-member squad. Amit Mishra and Sreesanth will be the reserve spinner and seamer respectively.

All three returning players missed parts of the first Test in Mohali. Gambhir and Ishant struggled with knee injuries, and Laxman back spasms. Taking injections and painkilling tablets, Laxman and Ishant took India to an improbable win with an 81-run ninth-wicket stand on the final day. All three sat out of the second Test in Bangalore. Gambhir and Laxman have had to struggle with injury over the year: Laxman had to fight back spasms during his match-winning century in August at the P Sara Oval, a Test Gambhir missed.

No one will complain if Gambhir and Laxman walk into the side, but during their absence in Bangalore, Vijay and Pujara did enough to show they were ready should they be needed again. Vijay scored a century after India were 38 for 2 in the first innings, and Pujara smashed 72 off 89 balls from No. 3 in the successful chase of 207. Both were good in close-in positions in the field. Sreesanth, who bowled better than his figures of 0 for 79 and 2 for 48 might suggest, will be easier to replace by Ishant.

In what could be another good sign, India chose to go without any back-up wicketkeeper. That could mean MS Dhoni is more confident of his fitness after back trouble and a finger injury meant India had to pick a back-up keeper for the home series against South Africa and the Sri Lanka tour earlier this year.

With the first-choice XI presumably fit, and the reserves looking good for more responsibilities, this is perhaps the strongest Indian Test side, given the conditions, in a long time.

Kris Srikkanth, chairman of the Indian selection committee, was pleased with the exploits of the injury replacements who played against Australia, and looked forward to more success against New Zealand. "The team had performed extremely well against the Australians in both the Tests and one-day series. Particularly, the Bangalore Test was the icing on the cake. The junior players have gelled well with the seniors. I am confident that our players will continue their victory march."

India: MS Dhoni (capt), Virender Sehwag (vice-capt), Gautam Gambhir, Suresh Raina, Cheteshwar Pujara, M Vijay, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Ishant Sharma, Sreesanth, Pragyan Ojha, Amit Mishra

Ind vs Aus 3rd ODI called-off due to wet ground condition

2010-10-24T00:36:00.000-07:00

The start of play in the third and final ODI between India and Australia at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium has been delayed because of wet ground conditions following overnight rains.Prospects of play after the delayed start looked bright with the sun coming out this morning, but the local weather bureau has predicted heavy rainfall for today and tomorrow.

The ground was covered by tarpaulins overnight which protected most parts of it but still there was some seepage in the outfield.Super sopper was used to suck up the water from the covers. The wicket itself looked dry and fit for play.

India are 1-0 up going into the deciding clash after winning the second match at Visakhapatnam on October 20 by five wickets. The series opener in Kochi last Sunday was washed out.

Ian Chappell: Do not simply depend on spin while in India

2010-10-23T20:59:00.000-07:00

When his Australian team was enjoying unprecedented success, Steve Waugh described India as "the last frontier". It's time to scrap that title and adopt a new one: India, the place where Australian spinners go to die. On recent tours there has been a steady parade of Australian spinners who have "died" quicker than a dull comedian.Even the best of them, Shane Warne, while he didn't expire, didn't prosper. The most successful of the recent Australian spinners was Jason Krejza, and even though he took a bundle of wickets in one match, he paid a heavy price for each. And since that tour Krejza's been banished to the back blocks of Tasmania.

Is it the ability of India's batsmen to counter good spinners or are the selected tweakers not up to the task? It's a combination of both.

There's no doubt Indian batsmen are superior to their counterparts in other teams when it comes to playing spinners. I asked Warne how he thought he performed, following the 2000-01 tour. "I didn't think I bowled that badly," was his response. "You didn't," I replied, "it was just that batsmen like VVS Laxman played you so well."

As good as he was, Warne couldn't combat a player who could dance three metres out of his crease and caress the delivery past mid-on and then sashay back to the stumps and pull the next one to the midwicket boundary. I haven't seen a batsman with better footwork than Laxman during that superlative 281 in Kolkata.

However, there's no doubt the Australian spinners offered up in 2008-09 were a bunch of sacrificial lambs. The idea of using Cameron White, himself a part-timer, with a series of batsmen who bowled slow, was a flawed plan right from the outset. It received its just desserts: a 2-0 flogging.

By the time Australia played a frontline spinner, the series was all over bar the shouting, and Krejza's wicket-taking spree was wasted. On that tour Australia planned to rely on their pacemen to take the bulk of the wickets, hoping that batsmen who bowled slow would then pick off a few of the rabbits.

Australia is not the first team to try this ruse. The difference is the quality of the West Indies quicks who achieved success in India during the eighties. For president Bill Clinton, it may have been the economy, but for cricket selectors "it's the quality of the bowlers, stupid".

I'm not surprised Indian batsmen play spinners without fear. I thought I knew a thing or two about playing spin before the Australian tour of India in 1969-70. However, I learned lessons about playing spin on that tour that stood me in good stead for the rest of my career. I never feared spinners or pitches that assisted them ever again.

Watch the ball out of the bowler's hand and then follow it even more closely off the pitch was lesson No. 1. Finding a way to survive the first 20 minutes was next on the list. These were important lessons.

I would have hated to enter the contest with the Indian spinners thinking I wasn't going to leave my crease. This is a huge failing in modern coaching and the sooner young batsmen are taught the correct footwork, the better equipped they'll be to tackle all conditions.

On that 1969-70 tour, Australian offspinner Ashley Mallett bowled brilliantly and took 28 wickets at under 20. Certainly the quality of the Indian batting line-up didn't match that of the present team, but they were still good enough to combat John Gleeson. The Indian batsmen forced the Australian selectors to omit the man dubbed "the mystery bowler" from the last two Tests.

Prior to Mallett, Richie Benaud took 52 wickets at less than 20 in eight Tests in India. However, it's worth noting that left-arm fast bowler Alan Davidson, in Benaud's time, and right-arm fast bowler Graham McKenzie, on Mallett's tour, had good success, taking their wickets at below 20.

The moral of the story: if you want to experience success in India, pick a variety of quality bowlers - both fast and spin. There has only been one team - the West Indies of the eighties - that could survive on quality fast bowling alone.

Kohli's match-winning knock helped India to gain ground

2010-10-20T22:36:00.000-07:00

Virat Kohli, who starred in India's five-wicket win today, said he was under pressure to perform and the 118 against Australia would certainly give him a lot of confidence.But the Delhi batsman feels this knock would still not guarantee him a place as the competition for the number three slot is quite tough.

"Honestly, I was struggling to get runs. I had not scored in last six-seven matches. I was under pressure. I was not hitting in the gaps. It was very satisfying and it gives you a lot of confidence when you score chasing under pressure," Kohli said about his third one-day century, which incidentally his best so far."I will not say my place is cemented. I have to keep performing well in few more chases. I have to be consistent," Kohli added.Kohli hit a 121-ball 118 to help India register the win over Australia and take a 1-0 lead before the third and final one-dayer in Margao, Goa.

"It (the win) is a good sign, it shows we have a good bench strength. In fact, the competition to get into the side helps in developing the hunger and you score more runs," he said.Asked whether he had matured as a batsman post his knock against the world number one, the Aussies, Kohli said, "I think, you try to learn a lot at international level.

"You try to learn from the mistakes. You tend to fail sometimes. This is part and parcel of the game... You do the basics right and train hard, it pay back."

"I didn't perform well in last two series. I could not convert my scores into big knocks. There was a struggle for a place," he added.

Kohli also thanked Yuvraj Singh who extended a fine support in building the Indian innings with a 137-run third wicket stand."I think, someone like him at other end helps you. He has so much experience. It takes a lot of pressure off you. I had that advantage. It was a good partnership and it set the pace for us to capitalise in the end," he said.

This was a third straight win for India in the coastal city and Kohli said, "I am really happy if it happened and I could contribute in that.""The mood in the dressing room was very good especially after beating them 2-0 in the Tests. It got us a lot of confidence."

Ind vs Aus 2010: India on top, regained border-gavaskar trophy

2010-10-13T04:52:00.000-07:00

Pujara proved an unlikely hero as India thrashed Australia by seven wickets in the second and final Test on Wednesday to sweep the series 2-0. Pujara hit a fluent 72 as the hosts, set 207 runs to win on a wearing wicket, cruised home soon after tea on the fifth and final day at the Chinnaswamy stadium in Bangalore.Veteran Sachin Tendulkar, who hit a double-century in the first innings, remained unbeaten on 53 as India enhanced their reputation as the world's number one Test side.

Ricky Ponting's Australia, preparing for next month's start of the Ashes series at home against England, slipped to fifth place behind India, South Africa, Sri Lanka and the Englishmen.

India followed their dramatic one-wicket win in the first Test in Mohali last week to retain the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in front of some 20,000 jubilant home fans.

Tendulkar stamped India's superiority by smashing off-spinner Nathan Hauritz for two consecutive sixes just before the tea interval. The world batting record holder was named both the man of the match and the player of the series for notching up 403 runs in four innings at an average of 134.33."I don't count. Let the others count. I just want to continue scoring," Tendulkar, 37, said when asked about his awesome record this year in which he has already hit six centuries.

"This series was a fantastic one for the entire team. Pujara showed tremendous character and his partnership with Murali Vijay was very crucial one." Pujara and Vijay put on 72 for the second wicket to revive India after the accomplished Virender Sehwag was dismissed in the third over for seven. Sehwag edged Ben Hilfenhaus to wicket-keeper Tim Paine, one delivery after hitting a four to the point boundary.Pujara, who was promoted to number three in place of Rahul Dravid, then added 57 for the third wicket with Tendulkar before he was bowled by Hauritz. The 22-year-old, awarded a Test cap only because Venkatsai Laxman was injured, hit seven boundaries during his two-hour stint at the crease.

A disappointed Ponting admitted his team were outplayed by the hosts. "We have played reasonably good Test cricket in the series, but we were outplayed," the Australian captain said."We needed to get a few early wickets today, we got one, but Pujara and Vijay batted well. The crowd here have been fantastic. We would like to thank the crowd for their love and support for Test cricket."

Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni also paid tribute to the large number of fans who turned up for the match on all five days. But Dhoni rued his bad luck with the toss which he has lost nine times in succession in Test matches."As a captain I keep losing tosses which means the bowlers have to come in and bowl on flat tracks," he said. "But they have bowled really well. In both games, the first innings was high scoring and it changed in the second innings. In India you can lose a Test in two sessions. You need to play well on all the five days."

Australia, starting the day with a lead of 185 runs with three wickets in hand, were earlier all out for 223 in their second innings an hour into the morning session. Zaheer Khan and left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha finished with three wickets each, while Shanthakumaran Sreesanth and off-spinner Harbhajan Singh claimed two each. India and Australia will now play a three-match One-day series starting in Kochi on October 17.

Australia in India 2010: Futile Jadeja footed again for Australia ODI's

2010-10-12T20:18:00.000-07:00

Among the glaring omissions in the 14-man squad are world batting record holder Sachin Tendulkar, dashing opener Virender Sehwag, pace spearhead Zaheer Khan and spin duo Harbhajan Singh and Pragyan Ojha.Also missing are opening batsman Gautam Gambhir and seamer Ishant Sharma, who were forced out of the ongoing second Test in Bangalore due to knee injuries.

Tendulkar, Harbhajan, Zaheer and Ojha have been rested, while the others are nursing injuries, a cricket board statement said. Delhi batsman Shikhar Dhawan is the only new face in the squad.

Australia too have rested skipper Ricky Ponting, all-rounder Shane Watson and fast bowler Mitchell Johnson for the series.The first One-dayer will be played in Kochi on October 17, followed by the remaining two in Visakhapatnam on October 20 and Goa on October 24. India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh are due to host the World Cup in February-April next year.

India's One-day squad:

Mahendra Singh Dhoni (capt), Murali Vijay, Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina, Yuvraj Singh, Saurav Tiwary, Ravichandran Ashwin, Praveen Kumar, Ashish Nehra, Munaf Patel, Vinay Kumar, Ravindra Jadeja, Rohit Sharma.

Punjab and Rajasthan out of IPL

2010-10-10T01:36:00.000-07:00

The IPL has terminated its franchise agreements with Kings XI Punjab and Rajasthan Royals and has also issued a notice to the Kochi consortium, asking it to resolve disputes between the owners and form a joint venture company to hold the rights. The decisions were taken at an emergency meeting of the league's governing council in Mumbai on Sunday.The decision to terminate the agreements was taken five days before the deadline given to the franchises to reply to the show cause notices issued on October 1. One of the co-owners of the Rajasthan franchise, Raj Kundra, responded to the development by saying that they would explore legal options.

"We have no idea [why the agreement was terminated]," Kundra told NDTV. "We need to see a copy of the termination notice and study it. I don't see IPL 4 happening if the BCCI treats other teams like this."

The BCCI president Shashank Manohar said after Sunday's meeting that Rajasthan and Punjab needed to be scrapped for "violation of the franchise agreement" and that there was no process to replace the two franchises at the moment. "With regards to Rajasthan, the bid was given by a different bidder and the agreement was entered into with a different company," Manohar said. "The shareholding pattern were different. The shares were transferred into with different people without the permission of the governing council."

When asked about Kochi, Manohar said the franchise hadn't been scrapped because it hadn't violated the agreement, but was only suffering from internal disputes. He said Kochi had ten days to resolve all problems otherwise it also ran the risk of being scrapped.

"It was unanimously decided that the franchise agreements with KPH Dream Cricket Private Limited (Punjab) and Jaipur IPL Cricket Private Limited (Rajasthan) be terminated forthwith based on the legal opinions obtained by BCCI in the matters," the IPL's governing council said in a release after the meeting.

"It was further unanimously decided to issue a notice to the unincorporated joint venture holding the Kochi franchise, calling upon them to resolve all their disputes and form a joint venture company which will hold the IPL franchise rights."

Manohar had criticised the three franchises after the board's annual general meeting and was especially hard on Kochi. It was difficult, he had said, to communicate with Kochi as the franchise owners had split into two factions after winning the bid to become the tenth IPL franchise at the auction in March.

Sunday's meeting was the first for the reconstituted governing council, which had its membership reduced from 14 to eight, and its tenure and powers cut. Chirayu Amin was appointed the chairman of body, replacing ousted chairman Lalit Modi, and the rest of the council comprises five other members - Arun Jaitley, Ranjib Biswal, Anurag Thakur, Ajay Shirke and Rajiv Shukla - and two former cricketers, Ravi Shastri and Mohinder Amarnath, as honorary members.

ICC Awards 2010: Sachin honored with the best Award

2010-10-06T22:37:00.000-07:00

India's cricketing icon Sachin Tendulkar was tonight named Cricketer of the Year at the prestigious LG ICC Awards, held at a glittering ceremony in Bengaluru.Tendulkar was also named as the first recipient of the inaugural LG People's Choice Award and was named in both the Test and ODI Teams of the Year.Tendulkar was joined on the winners' list by team-mate Virender Sehwag, who took the Test Player of the Year award while South Africa batsman AB de Villiers was named ODI Player of the Year.

England's Steven Finn claimed his first ever ICC award when he was named Emerging Player of the Year.Meanwhile, Australia's Shelley Nitschke became the second Australian to win the Women's Cricketer of the Year Award (former captain Karen Rolton took the prize in 2006) and Netherlands' Ryan ten Doeschate was named the Associate and Affiliate Player of the Year gong, an award recognising the contribution of the teams below Full Member status are making in the world of cricket.

In total there were nine individual awards handed out, as well as the Spirit of Cricket Award and the two ICC Teams of the Year - for Tests and ODIs.

Aleem Dar of the Emirates Elite Panel of ICC Umpires won the Umpire of the Year Award for the second year in a row, while New Zealand took the Spirit of Cricket Award as it did in 2004 and in 2009.

The Twenty20 International Performance of the Year was won by New Zealand's Brendon McCullum who became the third-ever recipient of the honour. McCullum took the trophy following his spectacular 116 not out off 56 balls against Australia in Christchurch in February of this year.

The full list of winners is:

Cricketer of the Year (winning the Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy) - Sachin Tendulkar (Ind)

Women's Cricketer of the Year - Shelley Nitschke (Aus)

Test Player of the Year - Virender Sehwag (Ind)

ODI Player of the Year - AB de Villiers (SA)

Emerging Player of the Year - Steven Finn (Eng)

Associate and Affiliate Player of the Year - Ryan ten Doeschate (Ned)

Twenty20 International Performance of the Year - Brendon McCullum (NZ)

Spirit of Cricket - New Zealand

Umpire of the Year (winning the David Shepherd Trophy) - Aleem Dar

ICC Test Team of the Year is as follows (in batting order):

Virender Sehwag (Ind)

Simon Katich (Aus)

Sachin Tendulkar (Ind)

Hashim Amla (SA)

Kumar Sangakkara (SL)

Jacques Kallis (SA)

Mahendra Singh Dhoni (Ind, captain and wicketkeeper)

Graeme Swann (Eng)

James Anderson (Eng)

Dale Steyn (SA)

Doug Bollinger (Aus)

ICC ODI Team of the Year is as follows (in batting order):

Sachin Tendulkar (Ind)

Shane Watson (Aus)

Michael Hussey (Aus)

AB de Villiers (SA)

Paul Collingwood (Eng)

Ricky Ponting (Aus, captain)

MS Dhoni (Ind, wicketkeeper)

Daniel Vettori (NZ)

Stuart Broad (Eng)

Doug Bollinger (Aus)

Ryan Harris (Aus)

Unforgettable scenes at Mohali

2010-10-05T02:41:00.000-07:00

Laxman defied a back injury to make an unbeaten 73 as India snatched a remarkable one-wicket victory from the jaws of defeat in the opening Test against Australia on Tuesday.Needing 216 to win, India were facing defeat at 124-8 before Laxman came to his team's rescue with a brave knock under pressure on the fifth and final day, guiding his side to a 1-0 lead in the two-match series.

Batting with a runner because of a stiff back, Laxman was well supported by tail-ender Ishant Sharma, who made a defiant 31 in an 81-run stand for the ninth wicket before being trapped leg-before by Ben Hilfenhaus (4-57).Australia's last chance of winning the match came when left-arm paceman Mitchell Johnson began his 17th over to last-man Pragyan Ojha, with India requiring six runs to win.Ojha survived a confident appeal for leg-before and then an overthrow for four runs by substitute fielder Steven Smith considerably eased the pressure on India. The match ended with two leg-byes.

Laxman, who averages more than 50 in Tests against Australia, continued to flourish against them and reached his half-century in style off just 48 balls, pulling paceman Hilfenhaus for a four. His 79-ball knock contained eight fours.India were under tremendous pressure after losing their eighth wicket at 124, but Laxman and Sharma held their nerve to sink Australia's hopes.Sharma grew in confidence as the match progressed, hitting five fours in his 92-ball knock.

Fast bowler Doug Bollinger earlier grabbed two wickets in the morning session to keep alive Australia's hopes of winning the match.Bollinger dismissed Sachin Tendulkar (38), the world's leading run-getter in both Tests and one-day internationals, in his second over.

Australia started the day with spin from one end and pace from the other, enjoying success in the seventh over when spinner Nathan Hauritz had nightwatchman Zaheer Khan (10) caught by Michael Clarke at first slip.Hilfenhaus, who rattled India with three big wickets in the final session on Monday, beat the bat on a few occasions in his opening spell on a wearing track but failed to find the edge.

Tendulkar took no risks and waited patiently for loose deliveries to punish, driving and flicking off-spinner Hauritz for two fours. He later steered Hilfenhaus past gully for another boundary. Australia celebrated when Tendulkar cut Bollinger to gully, where Michael Hussey took a good catch. The Indian hit five fours in his 64-ball knock, completing 1,000 Test runs this year in the process.

Pressure became the name of the game when skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni walked in to bat, with his team needing 97 to win with only four wickets in hand. Dhoni did not last long, making only two runs before being caught short of the crease by a direct-hit at the striker's end from Hilfenhaus who ran in from mid-off to throw down the stumps.

Australia continued to maintain the pressure and soon dismissed tail-ender Harbhajan Singh, caught by skipper Ricky Ponting in the slips off Bollinger for two.The second and final Test starts in Bangalore on October 9.

Mitchell Johnson bags five wickets

2010-10-03T04:52:00.000-07:00

Mitchell Johnson arrived just in time as Australia earned a surprising 23-run advantage after India failed to build on a series of promising half-centuries in Mohali. For most of the third day it looked like it would be the hosts who finished with a first-innings lead, but Sachin Tendulkar, Suresh Raina and Rahul Dravid were cut down before the hosts were dismissed for 405. India were ready to dominate when Johnson struck late to remove MS Dhoni (14), who was given out caught low down by Shane Watson at first slip in a confusing decision, and Harbhajan Singh edged behind next ball.

Another key breakthrough came when Raina played back to Johnson and was lbw shortly before the close as part of a collaspe of 5 for 23. It also left Johnson with 5 for 64 from 20 overs and his sixth five-wicket haul in Tests.

It was a timely comeback for the tourists after they experienced difficult periods from their junior and senior opponents. Raina, 23, is 14 years younger than Tendulkar and was happy to take more risks - he out-scored Tendulkar in their stand of 124 - while the older man was typically calculating.

Tendulkar first started giving Australians nightmares in 1990-91 and almost 20 years later spent much of the third day introducing himself to some new wearers of baggy greens. At his best Tendulkar has buried Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath, so in reality facing Johnson, Doug Bollinger, Ben Hilfenhaus and Nathan Hauritz was a pretty comfortable assignment. He still made it a thing of beauty at times, particularly with his effortless pushes through cover and his range of sweeps.

Tendulkar now has 10 hundreds and 12 half-centuries in 30 Tests against Australia while averaging almost 57. Bollinger and Hilfenhaus had not bowled to him before in a Test, and Hauritz had run into him only once, getting him in Mumbai on debut in 2004.

Hilfenhaus watched Tendulkar caress a handful of memorable cover-drives throughout the display and the batsman started the middle session with a clever late cut against the same bowler. Another cover-drive, this time to Bollinger, was special enough for Tendulkar to punch gloves with Dravid, and then it was Hauritz's turn to gape. A sweep from outside off went to square leg for four and Hauritz's next ball was even wider, but it travelled to the rope at midwicket.

Tendulkar was rarely rushed - a couple of thick edges fell short of the slips off Johnson - and after tea he allowed Raina to aim the bigger shots, although he charged Marcus North and hit over mid-off to go into the 90s. He was two short of his 49th century when he pushed across the line at a quicker ball from North and was lbw, walking off in a silent stadium. North could hardly believe his success in his first Test bowl against Tendulkar.

Raina, who entered at No.5 due to VVS Laxman's back problem, continued to impress in his third Test, adding to his previous scores of 120, 62 and 41 not out. Bollinger, finding some fire in the warm conditions, hit Raina on the shoulder early in his innings as the batsman turned his head away. He also survived a missed stumping on 48 and was almost taken at mid-off on 60 when the ball dropped just short of Johnson.

In between he crunched boundaries on the up through the offside, collecting 14 fours from 128 balls, including a glance to bring up his half-century. There was a chance Raina would reach his hundred before stumps but he had to tone down when Johnson removed two team-mates and Hauritz bowled Zaheer Khan. The change in mood was terminal.

The first two rewards of the day went to Bollinger (2 for 49), who bowled the nightwatchman Ishant Sharma (18) and took care of Dravid. Hauritz also hung in after some punishment to finish off the innings with 2 for 116.

Dravid seemed set for a big score until he pushed at one angling across him from Bollinger and was caught behind by Tim Paine. He had batted for almost half the day, nudging singles and punching boundaries in his watchful way, before the unexpected error ended his fourth-wicket stand of 79 with Tendulkar.

The previous series against Sri Lanka was a poor one for Dravid - he got 95 runs in five matches - and this was his first Test half-century since January. However, he joined Virender Sehwag, Tendulkar and Raina in falling before reaching three figures, and keeping Australia in the game.

Ind vs Aus 2010: The fight for number one

2010-09-30T21:25:00.000-07:00

Australia has the chance to move ahead of Sri Lanka in third place in the Reliance Mobile ICC Test Championship when it goes head to head with top-ranked India in the two-Test series which starts in Mohali from Friday.Australia enters the series in fourth position on 113 ratings, just one ahead of England, but will move ahead of Sri Lanka if it wins the series. A 1-0 win will put it on 117 ratings points while a 2-0 win will give it 118 ratings points.

On the other side of the coin, Australia will drop behind England if India wins the series. Ricky Ponting's side will fall to 110 ratings points if it loses both the Tests while in the case of a 1-0 defeat Australia will slip to 111 ratings points. As far as India is concerned, it will retain its number-one position irrespective of how the series pans out. While a 2-0 win will take it to 130 ratings points, defeats in both the Tests will see it slip to 122 ratings points.In the ICC Player Rankings for Test batsman, there is a chance for India's explosive opener Virender Sehwag to regain the top spot which he had lost to Sri Lanka captain Kumar Sangakkara last month.

Sehwag trails Sangakkara by just 15 ratings points and a good first Test with the bat will potentially put him ahead of the left-handed middle-order batsman from Matale.

Besides Sehwag, third-ranked Michael Clarke of Australia and India's Sachin Tendulkar also have good opportunities to move up the ladder. Clarke leads Tendulkar by just five ratings points but trails Sehwag by 45 ratings points.

Simon Katich is the only other batsman from either side inside the top 10 in ninth position while the other batsmen inside the top 20 include VVS Laxman (12th), Gautam Gambhir (13th) and Ricky Ponting (17th).Batsmen sitting outside the top 20 and eyeing an upward movement include Michael Hussey (22nd), Rahul Dravid (23rd), Mahendra Singh Dhoni (32nd), Shane Watson (39th) and Marcus North (47th).

In the ICC Player Rankings for Test bowlers, Australia boasts Mitchell Johnston and Doug Bollinger inside the top 20 in sixth and 14th positions, respectively, while India has Zaheer Khan (seventh) and Harbhajan Singh (10th) inside the top 10.Bowlers aiming to improve their rankings include Ishant Sharma (22nd), Ben Hilfenhaus (23rd), Nathan Hauritz (28th), S.Sreesanth (29th) and Shane Watson (34th).The bowlers' list is headed by Dale Steyn of South Africa with England's Graeme Swann in second place.

In the ICC Player Rankings for Test all-rounders, the highest-ranked player from either side is Sehwag in sixth position while Watson is eighth.South Africa's Jacques Kallis leads the field with New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori in second spot.

Men in yellow lift the cup

2010-09-26T11:44:00.000-07:00

Murali Vijay's scintillating knock has came to an end but not before he along with Hussey have put Chennai at victory doors. Vijay made 58 runs before miscuing a one from Boje.Chasing 129 runs for victory, Murali Vijay and Mike Hussey started the proceedings on a cautious note as Warriors kept tight line and length. Muralitharan took three wickets as Chennai Super Kings restricted Warriors to 128/7 after Jacobs won the toss and elected to bat first.

Spinners are in full swing at The Wanderers as Warriors kept losing wickets and failed to get on with the momentum. Botha was the last casualty as Ashwin got his second wicket.What a over it was from Muralitharan. The experienced campaigner got rid off Mark Boucher and then stunned Warriors by dislodging Justin Kreusch.
Colin Ingram was a soft dismissal as Suresh Raina took a good running catch. But the big news from the centre is- Mark Boucher has come to the crease.
MS Dhoni brought spin legend Muttiah Muralitharan into the attack to slow up the proceedings for Warriors.

R Ashwin got the most valuable man of the tournament by getting rid off Davey Jacobs. Jacobs went for a reverse sweep and missed the line. A plumb lbw. Doug Bollinger gave Chennai its first breakthrough of the evening when he sent back Ashwell Prince for 6 runs.Davey Jacobs made sure that Warriors start on the front foot after they scored 27 runs off the first three overs. Earlier, Warriors captain Davey Jacobs won the toss and elected to bat first against Chennai Super Kings in the title ACL T20 clash.

Cool warriors road to final

2010-09-25T23:55:00.000-07:00

Warriors produced a clinical display and defeated Southern Redbacks comprehensively by 30 runs to storm into the final of the Champions League Twenty20. Riding on captain Davy Jacobs' blistering 61 and his 105-run second-wicket stand with Colin Ingram (46), Warriors posted a challenging 175 for six and then restricted South Australia to 145 for seven to register a comfortable win in the second semi-final at the SuperSport Park.Warriors will take on Chennai Super Kings in the final at the Wanderers on Sunday. The Indian Premier League champions had earlier beaten fellow IPL side Royal Challengers Bangalore by 52 runs via Duckworth Lewis method in the rain-marred first semi-final last night.

Earlier, opting to bat, Jacobs led from the front with the quick-fire half-century and together with Ingram set the tone for the competitive score with the century plus second-wicket partnership that came off just 72 balls. Jacobs' quick-fire 41-ball innings was decorated with 10 boundaries and a six, while Ingram struck three fours and a six during his stay.Nicky Boje came up with a short little seven-ball 22 run unbeaten cameo in the end to take Warriors beyond the 170-run mark. Medium-pacer Daniel Harris pulled South Australia back into the match with figures of three for 18 from his four overs, while Shaun Tait scalped two victims for 37.

South Australia's chase never got going as they lost wickets upfront to find themselves in a precarious position and eventually fell short by 30 runs. Callum Ferguson fought a losing cause for South Australia with a quick-fire 71 that came off just 49 balls but his heroics were not enough to take his side into the summit clash.For Warriors Lonwabo Tsotsobe and Johan Botha picked up two wickets apiece, giving away 16 and 34 runs respectively. Defending the target, Tsotsobe struck twin blows in the fourth over to send South Australia in the back foot.

Tsotsobe got Daniel Harris and dangerman Michael Klinger in a span of four deliveries to give his side the upper hand. Harris was the first to depart as he top-edged one to Mark Boucher behind the stumps and then Klinger picked up Johan Botha at deep midwicket two balls later.If that was not enough, Boje caught Graham Manou off his own bowling and then in the next over Cameron Borgas was caught by Jacobs off Botha.

RCB's amateur display put them out of tournament

2010-09-24T20:31:00.000-07:00

Suresh Raina's unbeaten 48-ball 94, followed by a clinical bowling display helped Chennai Super Kings beat RCB by 52 runs (Duckworth / Lewis method) and qualify for the Champions League Twenty20 final. Opting to bat, Chennai rode on an 81-run second-wicket partnership between Raina and Murali Vijay to post an imposing 174 for four after a long rain-interruption reduced the match to a 17-over-a-side affair.

Vijay also made a 32-ball 41. The Indian Premier League champions then came out with a disciplined bowling performance and restricted Bangalore to 123 in 16.2 overs as Manish Pandey's fighting 52 off 44 balls went in vain.

Paceman Doug Bollinger scalped three wickets for 27 runs, while Sri Lankan spin wizard Muttiah Muralitharan bagged two for 38. Chennai thus became the first Indian Premier League side to enter the summit stage of the show-piece event and now take on the winner of the second semi-final between South Australia and Warriors.

Chasing 176 to win, Bangalore were off to a wobbly start as they lost two quick wickets in the form of experienced Rahul Dravid (0) and Robin Uthappa (4) in the second and third over respectively. Dravid's mistimed drive off left-arm pacer Bollinger went aloft and Albie Morkel tumbled forward to pouch a nice catch.

Morkel then struck in the next over when he got some away movements. Uthappa came forward half-heartedly and finally gave an easy catch to Vijay.

RCB's New Zealander import Ross Taylor then decided to take an attacking strategy and cracked a superb four off Bollinger in the fourth over, but the bowler took revenge in the very next ball. Taylor went for an ambitious pull on backfoot but failed to connect it properly and Vijay took another easy catch.

Virat Kohli (14) then returned to the dugout leaving RCB struggling at 37 for four. Kohli tried to flick from the leg stump but played the Lakshmipathy Balaji slower a bit early and Ravichandran Ashwin took a diving catch at midwicket.

Cameron White (13) and Dillon du Preez (1) also failed to give company for long to Pandey, who was waging a solitary battle on the other end. Pandey cracked four fours and two sixes before Bollinger bowled him out in the 14th over. After his departure, Chennai did not have much trouble to skittle out Bangalore.

RCB facing to tucker out Chennai boys

2010-09-23T19:46:00.000-07:00

In sharp contrast to the disappointing showing by IPL teams in the previous edition of the Champions League, Chennai Super Kings' victory over Warriors in the last group match has guaranteed the presence of an IPL team in the finals. Chennai Super Kings and Royal Challengers will face off in the first semi-final and if past contests are anything to go by, the match promises to be a thrilling contest. There has been very little to separate the two teams in the contests over the last three years and Bangalore are ahead only slightly in the head to head games, winning four and losing three. Chennai, though, have been the most consistent team across the three seasons of the IPL, making two finals and a semi-final. The last time these two sides met in a semi-final was in the IPL 2009 when Bangalore defeated Chennai by six wickets.

On paper, very little separates the two teams. Muttiah Muralitharan's experience and the fine form of R Ashwin and Doug Bollinger meant that Chennai's bowling was among the most consistent in the IPL 2010 season. Chennai's batting has been marginally better than Bangalore's in the head to head contests.

After a poor IPL 2010 season, Matthew Hayden has struggled in the Champions League as well, but his performance in Chennai-Bangalore matches has been quite superb and might influence the team selection for the semi-final. Suresh Raina was the key player in the IPL 2010 final and will hope for a repeat performance in the crucial match. Virat Kohli's stunning assault in the end overs enabled Bangalore to overcome a tricky target in their final match against Lions and he along with Rahul Dravid, will have to contribute in the absence of Jacques Kallis.

Albie Morkel has been the highest wicket taker in matches against Bangalore across the three IPL seasons. He has missed the last two matches in the Champions League and Chennai will hope he is back in time for the crucial match. Muralitharan and Anil Kumble have been extremely economical in head to head matches and their excellent form ahead of the semi-final augurs well for their respective teams.

Chennai played their first game of the tournament at Durban against Central Districts and won comfortably. Bangalore faced a far tougher opponent in South Australia and lost heavily by eight wickets. Bangalore though, got the better of Chennai in a close contest at Durban in IPL 2009. The stats at the venue are summarised in the table below. Only the Wanderers has a better batting average and run rate than Durban. The toss has not proved to be very crucial, with the team batting first winning three and losing two of the five matches played here in this tournament.

Chennai blip Warriors, both progress to semis

2010-09-22T19:56:00.000-07:00

It's not often that both contestants of a sporting encounter celebrate at the end of a match. That strange sight was on offer in Port Elizabeth after Chennai Super Kings prevailed over Warriors in a tense league match, paving the way for both teams to reach the semi-finals of the Champions League Twenty20 at the expense of Victoria. Chennai's chances seemed to have evaporated when they stumbled to 136 after choosing to bat in a must-win match, but on a spin-friendly track their strategy of packing the team with slow bowlers paid off as they tenaciously defended that total to set up an all-IPL semi-final against Royal Challengers Bangalore in Durban.

Briefly, midway through the chase, it looked as though an IPL team would break the hearts of the home crowd for the second day in a row but it was the Chennai fans who faced some panicky moments when Justin Kreusch and Mark Boucher revived the Warriors with a 44-run fourth-wicket stand.

Two Boucher sixes off Shadab Jakati left Warriors needing a gettable 32 off three overs with seven wickets remaining and two set batsmen at the crease. Chennai's edginess was shown by Muttiah Muralitharan's tirade at S Badrinath after a run-out chance was muffled following some kamikaze running between the wickets in the 16th over.

R Ashwin, battered in the Super Over against Victoria, then returned to virtually ensure David Hussey's side will be returning home early. His carrom ball worked to perfection in the 18th over, foxing both Kreusch and Boucher, to swing the game Chennai's way, though a four in between raised the biggest cheer of the day as it confirmed Warriors' qualification - they needed 109 to seal a place in the final four. Chennai's key bowlers, Doug Bollinger and Murali, then held their nerve against Warriors' non-specialist batsmen to preserve their team's 100% record of progressing from the league phase of every tournament they have played in so far.

Victoria would never have felt more confident of making the semi-finals than when Warriors captain Davy Jacobs was batting in his usual thrill-a-minute style to power the chase of a seemingly inadequate target early on. Jacobs survived in the second over when the ball rolled off his bat onto the stumps and Warriors confidently progressed to 38 for 1 in the Powerplays, but Chennai clawed back after that.

Shadab Jakati and Murali choked the runs, before Jacobs fell to a well-judged overhead catch from Michael Hussey at deep midwicket. Three overs later, Suresh Raina's magic arm earned a wicket with his third delivery to further slow down the home team. In seven overs after the Powerplays, Warriors made only 28 and lost two major wickets, pushing the asking rate to double digits. The game then tilted the Warriors' way before Ashwin's intervention proved decisive.

Chennai's bowlers saved the blushes of a highly rated batting unit, which struggled against a disciplined home side. Warriors have five bowlers with international experience in their line-up but it was the sixth, medium-pacer Kreusch, who made the biggest impact. His no-frills wicket-to-wicket bowling fetched him three wickets and ruined the platform Chennai's openers, Hussey and M Vijay, had constructed.

The other impressive Warriors bowler was Johan Botha, one of the tournament's most economical, who again handcuffed the opposition and dismissed Hussey in the 14th over, one ball after he reached his half-century, to change the course of the innings. From what was a potentially threatening 94 for 2, Chennai could only scrape 20 runs in the next five overs, when they should have been launching an all-out attack.

Chennai's openers had made a rock-solid start, setting up their side for what should have been a far more challenging target. Vijay was the dominant partner in a 63-run stand. Hussey was more circumspect early on, knocking the singles around - his first stroke of aggression as in the fifth over, charging down and lofting Lonwabo Tsotsobe towards long-on. A powerful reverse-sweep for four followed off Nicky Boje, before he started peppering his favourite midwicket region. There were only two dot balls in his final 21 deliveries.

His dismissal, however, sandwiching those of Raina and S Badrinath to Kreusch, derailed Chennai. They got going again only in the 19th over, when MS Dhoni clubbed 17 runs off Tsotsobe, including a giant six over midwicket. In a low-scoring encounter, 136 proved enough.

RCB stormed into semi's

2010-09-22T00:06:00.000-07:00

It was nearly another heartbreak for Virat Kohli. Chasing a below-par total, thanks to Anil Kumble's four overs for 13 runs and Alviro Petersen's wicket, Royal Challengers Bangalore nearly messed it up, staying behind the required rate for 16 overs. Nerves began to show when Kohli ran Robin Uthappa out in the 15th over, and followed it up with plays-and-misses in the 16th. However, with 43 required off four overs, Kohli pulled Bangalore out of the hole he seemed to have dug them, hitting Ethan O'Reilly for six, six, and four. It was a cruise after that, making Bangalore the first IPL team to have made it to a Champions League T20 semi-final. Uthappa wasn't angry anymore.

Two nights ago, Kohli was down on his haunches, inconsolable after he fell just short of pulling off an improbable chase against Mumbai Indians. Then at least he had Rahul Dravid to pat his back. Tonight, after he called Uthappa for a non-existent second and then changed his mind, he was all alone, down on his haunches, until Cameron White came out to bat.

In the next over, Kohli top-edged one, refused a single to White, and was beaten twice. It was a gradual turn, but what had looked an easy chase, especially after a 53-run opening stand between Rahul Dravid and Manish Pandey, was now almost out of hand because there hadn't been the urgency earlier to score quickly.

Kohli, just 23 off 20 then, would have seen himself as part of the problem. He was about to become the solution. It all started with his favourite shot. O'Reilly missed a yorker by inches and Kohli flicked it off the pads for a flat six. A low full toss followed; dispatched over long-on. A length ball then, which went past extra cover for four. In three balls, the required rate was down to the original eight an over, and that Uthappa run-out was a distant memory.

The Lions were not so lucky with run-outs. Alviro Petersen and Vaughan van Jaarsveld were punishing Bangalore in a third-wicket stand when van Jaarsveld backed up for a second run that didn't exist. He had taken those two steps that ensure a second should there be a fumble. As it turned out, there was no fumble. But van Jaarsveld slipped while turning back and was run out. Lions were 74 for 3 at the end of that over, the eighth, but could manage only 59 in the next nine as Kumble's smart bowling and tactics choked their innings.

The run-out not only ended a partnership worth 54 off 26, it gave Kumble a look-in. Like Kohli, Kumble was looking for redemption of his own. It was when he dropped Dwayne Bravo in their previous game that they turned towards defeat. Tonight he was at the heart of Bangalore's comeback.

Kumble followed that run-out with an over that went for just four, and then introduced Kohli in an inspired move. Even though one over in between, bowled by Dillon du Preez, went for 10, Lions were finding it difficult to score off Kumble and Kohli. While Kumble gave Petersen and Neil McKenzie zero room, Kohli, a Chris Harris clone when bowling, mixed his cutters and wide yorkers well.

McKenzie's couldn't match the earlier run-rate, or one that was required for a challenging total. In the four overs following that run-out, Petersen, who was scoring at two runs a ball without taking risks, got to face just nine balls, and McKenzie scored just 15 off the other 15. The edginess pushed Petersen into a slog-sweep against Kumble. The predictable result was an uprooted off stump.

Kumble and Kohli refused to release the choke hold as Lions dragged towards 121 by the end of 16 overs. McKenzie continued to struggle, kept moving all around in the crease, and Dale Steyn's yorkers proved too good in the end. A frustrated McKenzie finally got run out for 39 off 35 before Frylinck added respectability to the total with two sixes in the last over.

Ind vs Aus 2010: Yuvraj out, Pujara in

2010-09-20T05:43:00.000-07:00

Out-of-form Yuvraj Singh was today dropped while young Saurashtra batsman Cheteshwar Pujara was selected in the 15-member Indian squad for the two-Test series against Australia, starting October 1 in Mohali.Pujara was the lone new face in the team announced by the Cricket Board selection committee here.Selection committee chairman Krish Srikkanth said the criteria for selecting the team was performance and fitness. "We don't have to give any particular reason (for dropping Yuvraj). I think, performance and fitness... everything is taken into account. That itself answers the question," Srikkanth said when asked the reason behind Yuvraj's axing.

Ironically, Yuvraj has been named captain of the 'Rest of India' team which will take on Ranji champions Mumbai for the Irani Cup from October 1.Srikkanth said by virtue of his fine performance in the domestic circuit, Pujara has powered his way into the national squad.

"Pujara has done very well in the domestic circuit in the last couple of seasons. He is a good player and also did well in the 'A' series. With the sheer weightage of his performance he has muscled his way into the team. You will have to give credit to his domestic performance," he said.

"We have given weightage to performance in domestic A series and this it how overall performance of every player has been taken into account. We have consulted (coach) Gary Kirsten and Dhoni and ultimately, this was the consensus," the chairman of selectors added.

As expected paceman Zaheer Khan, who was not picked for the Sri Lanka tour in July due to a shoulder injury, off-spinner Harbhajan Singh, who missed the third Test in Sri Lanka due to fitness issues, and S Sreesanth have returned to the squad.

While Zaheer replaced Munaf Patel, Sreesanth made his way into the squad at the expense of young Karnataka pacer Abhimanyu Mithun. Among batsmen, opener Gautam Gambhir, who suffered a knee injury after the first Test in Sri Lanka, also returned to the Indian squad, which will be led by Mahendra Singh Dhoni.

Suresh Raina's impressive display with the bat in Sri Lanka paid rich dividends for him as he retained his place in the 15-member side along with other opener Virender Sehwag, and seniors such as Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar and VVS Laxman. Tamil Nadu opener Murali Vijay also found a place in the squad as a back-up batsman.
Pragyan Ojha and Amit Mishra have retained their place in the spin department which will be spearheaded by Harbhajan.

Pujara has been a prolific run-scorer in the domestic circuit and for quite some time the right-hander was in the reckoning for a place in the national team.
The 22-year-old's dominance with the bat in domestic circuit can be gauged from the fact that he has so far made 14 centuries and 13 half centuries during his five-year-old first class career.

Srikkanth said he and his colleagues have selected a balanced team for the Test series against Australia."We have a strong batting line-up backed by some good bowling. We are confident of doing well against Australia," he said.

Teams:

Indian team for Test series: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (capt), Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, V V S Laxman, Suresh Raina, Harbhajan Singh, Amit Mishra, Zaheer Khan, Ishant Sharma, S Sreesanth, Pragyan Ojha, M Vijay, Cheteshwar Pujara.

Rest of India team: Yuvraj Singh (capt), Abhinav Mukund, Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli, S Badrinath, Saurabh Tiwary, Parthiv Patel, Piyush Chawla, R Ashwin, Jaydev Unadkat, Umesh Yadav, R Vinay Kumar, Manish Pandey, Abhimanyu Mithun, Ravindra Jadeja.

Mumbai Indians clinch a thriller

2010-09-19T21:46:00.000-07:00

Royal Challengers Bangalore seemed to have out-thought, out-planned and out-executed Mumbai Indians until Anil Kumble dropped Dwayne Bravo off his own bowling in the 15th over, a catch that would have reduced Mumbai to 86 for 6. Bravo, Saurabh Tiwary and Harbhajan Singh added 79 more to the rest of the innings. Mumbai's bowlers then just about hung in to prevail in a last-ball finish, but their team was knocked out of the tournament.

Rahul Dravid's anchorman 71 off 58, and Virat Kohli's 24-ball 47 that almost deserved to be on the winning side, had brought 40 off 18 down to 13 required off the last over. Zaheer Khan - a former IPL team-mate - began with two superb slower short balls, but he also missed two yorkers by a few inches. Kohli smashed those low full tosses for leg-side boundaries. Three required off the last ball. Another yorker went wrong. Low full toss. Kohli had done it twice, he just needed to repeat it, but the wrists turned a fraction of a second earlier. So hard had he swung, the leading edge kissed the sky and came down.

Ambati Rayudu held his nerve when a drop there would have produced a tie. Zaheer and Rayudu exulted, Kohli went down on his haunches. The man his technique is often compared to, Dravid, stood there, patted his back, consoled him, but it didn't seem to work.

Bangalore, though, will get another chance. Mumbai won't. In fact, the result doesn't change the course of the tournament much. The Bangalore-Lions game still remains a knockout affair. Bangalore need to win to force a three-way tie between themselves, Lions and Mumbai for the second semi-final slot from Group B. Kohli's late hitting, however, has made sure their net run-rate stays the best of the three, while Mumbai's ends worst.

When it comes to the Twenty20 environment, Trinidad & Tobago can improvise on a famous saying, and claim, "If Pollard doesn't get you, Bravo will." Especially when Bravo is dropped when on 1. That big Mumbai finish was exactly what Bangalore were trying to avoid when they held back Dale Steyn through the first 10 overs. As far as Steyn was concerned, he executed the plan perfectly. Charged up, he responded by inflicting a three-ball duck on Kieron Pollard, bowling two overs for five runs and two wickets.

The plan did involve some risk, but the Kumars at Nos. 1 and 2 started its perfect execution. Praveen took Sachin Tendulkar's wicket, Vinay took Rayudu's. Shikhar Dhawan and JP Duminy then got stuck, going from nowhere to nowhere. They soon fell, setting up the much-awaited contest between Pollard and Steyn.

In came slip and a short leg. Bouncer. Ducked under. Slower ball. Missed. Length ball, extra bounce, leading edge, gone. Soon Kumble had a chance to finish Mumbai off, but he missed a return catch. Bravo thanked Kumble by hitting him for two fours in the same over, and then launching him for two sixes and a four in his next. It was clean hitting with the typical Bravo flourish.

There is a risk of understating the performance from Tiwary, who didn't look intimidated at all, slapped a Steyn bouncer for a flat six, and followed it up with back-to-back fours. A high full toss in the 19th over ended Bravo's 17-ball 29, but that didn't slow Mumbai down as Harbhajan hit three boundaries to finish strongly.

Abu Nechim, the Assam seamer who was playing his first match of the tournament, started the turnaround in the chase, trapping Jacques Kallis lbw with his second ball. He managed to get movement and extra bounce from the lively Kingsmead pitch.

On a night when Lasith Malinga and Zaheer were stable at best, Bravo utilised the conditions best, following Kallis' wicket with those of Robin Uthappa and Ross Taylor. When Harbhajan removed Cameron White with a yorker in the 14th over, leaving Dravid and Kohli needing 66 off 37, it seemed the game was over.

Neither batsman is renowned for big hitting, and with Malinga and Zaheer to bowl three overs, big hitting was what was required. Kohli was then to endure a heartbreak. Ironically, though, those three extra runs wouldn't have mattered in the larger picture. Mumbai are still out, Bangalore still need a win.

Bushrangers beat CSK by a throbbing super over

2010-09-18T22:09:00.000-07:00

The Victorian Bushrangers pulled off an amazing victory in a match that went into the Super Over after both teams, Chennai Super Kings and Bushrangers were tied on 162 runs.Victory ensured that Bushrangers are still in the race to secure a semi-final berth. This was the first ever tied match in this edition of the tournament. The T20 match was at its best with some brilliant shots all around the park by both the teams.

MS Dhoni is better known for his cool and calm behaviour on and off the pitch, this Indian Skipper spends his time studying the pitch before tossing on the match. He tucks away the rivals behind the wicket and off the game. He has the ability to rout the World's best team and most importantly he has luck on his side. But did MS Dhoni missed the trick on Saturday?

The Biggest question that would be asked in Chennai's defeat to Bushrangers would be, did Chennai's skipper bundle it away in the super over? It was a real surprise when the skipper handed the ball to the off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin despite having Doug Bollinger and Suresh Raina who picked four wickets in his four overs in the match.

Ashwin started the proceedings well with just a single of the first ball but after that it was a nightmare for the offie.Bushrangers skipper David Hussey got his front leg out of the way, and dispatched the the ball over long-on for a huge six that cleared the field comfortably.

The next two deliveries of the over went for 2 runs each, the third ball was a simple full toss which David Hussey failed to connect properly and the fourth ball was mistimed and was fielded at deep mid wicket.The fifth and sixth ball went for the maximum again. David Hussey showed brilliant fire works. Hussey came down the track on both the deliveries and clobbered the ball to clear the park with ease.

Giving the ball to Ashwin will raise a few eyebrows and Bollinger would have been a better option in the super over as his yorkers and short pitch bowling could have held the Bushrangers back.Chennai's batsmen never looked at ease in the super over and managed only 13 runs in six balls.

Pak-Eng 3rd ODI under scanner

2010-09-18T04:30:00.000-07:00

The match-fixing scandal continues to get bigger in proportion and Pakistan remains at the center of it with reports now emerging that the ICC is investigating the team's third one-dayer against England as it might have been rigged by "illegal betting syndicates in India and Dubai." British tabloid 'The Sun' claimed that the ICC "acted after its probe exposed evidence apparently showing that bookies knew details of Pakistan's innings before the match even began."

The latest revelations comes close on the heels of the spot-fixing scandal that led to the suspension of Pakistan Test captain Salman Butt and the pace duo of Mohammad Amir and Mohammad Asif. "The new investigation will centre on suspicious scoring patterns in Pakistan's innings and on two suspect overs during yesterday's match at The Oval," the report stated.

"Illegal bookies in India and Dubai apparently knew in advance what would happen so they could launch a betting coup. But The Sun's undercover team was able to pass details to ICC inspectors before the match began." According to the newspaper, the scoring pattern of the game matched with the "target that bookies had been told in advance by a fixer."

"It is not thought that the overall result was fixed, only scoring rates in parts of Pakistan's innings.

Pakistan won the match by 23 runs to keep their hopes alive in the five-match series after losing the first two games. The tabloid claimed it "received details of calls between a notorious Dubai-based match fixer and a Delhi bookie."

"We alerted ICC corruption busters led by ex-police chief Sir Ronnie Flanagan. After a frantic round of calls the ICC decided to issue a general warning to Pakistan's players, but by then the game had started," it said.

"The Sun is withholding details of the alleged fix while the investigation continues - but we can reveal that horrified ICC chiefs launched their investigation before the Pakistan innings had even finished. The probe centers on an individual within the team camp who is believed to be the ringleader, taking money from bookies and ensuring their orders are carried out."

The tabloid claimed that ICC chief executive Haroon Lorgat "thanked it for its investigation and pledged tough action on any players found guilty."

It said the ICC is also "investigating whether the same cartel rigged a Test between Pakistan and Australia in July after allegedly paying players 700,000 pounds."

Clumsy display by Mumbai Indians

2010-09-14T20:07:00.000-07:00

Openers Michael Klinger and Daniel Harris scripted a dramatic runchase as Southern Redbacks inflicted a humiliating 5-wicket defeat on Mumbai Indians in a thrilling Champions League Twenty20 match. Skipper Klinger (50) and Harris (56) shared an 81-ball 112-run opening partnership to set the foundation for the successful runchase as Southern Redbacks reached the target with three balls to spare and inched closer to the semi-final berth. Mumbai Indians recovered from a shaky start to post a challenging 180 for seven, courtesy a solid batting display by Saurabh Tiwary (44), Ambati Rayudu (38) and Kieron Pollard (36).

Mumbai paid the price for their sloppy fielding and pathetic bowling to succumb to their second defeat in as many matches and now stands on the brink of elimination. Chasing 181 to win, Southern Redbacks made a watchful start and reached 27 for no loss in the first five overs, with Michael Klinger and Daniel Harris hitting two and one boundary respectively. Opener Harris (56), who was dropped twice - at seven by Sachin Tendulkar and at 18 by Tiwary - sent Ali Murtaza for a six over long-on in the sixth over before top edging one for a four at third man.

Klinger also got into the act and sweeped one hard over square leg for a flat six as

Southern Redbacks slowly and steadly cantered to 69 in first 10 overs.Kalinger brought up two more sixes in the next over off Dwayne Bravo and Harris top-edged one for a boundary to frustrate the Mumbai Indians. Harris hammered two more fours and a couple of sixes to take Southern Redbacks across the 100-mark.But Murtaza brought MI back into the game, getting rid off Harris, who finally held out to Duminy at extra cover.

An over later, Lasith Malinga dismissed the other opener Klinger, who had just reached his fifty.Looking for a six, Klinger ended up giving a straight catch to Pollard at long-on boundary as Mumbai fought back, reducing Southern Redbacks to 116 for two in 14.3 overs. Murtaza struck again in the next over, dismissing Graham Manou (12), who found Tiwary at deep backward square leg.

Daniel Christian then hammered a four at extra cover but Malinga struck in the last ball, when he had Callum Ferguson caught by Murtaza in the 17th over.Needing 41 runs from 18 balls, Christian picked up a boundary between long-on and deep midwicket, while newman Cameron Borgas clubbed two more fours as Bravo bled 16 runs to swung the match in Southern Redbacks's favour.

Zaheer Khan then removed Christian in the next over but Borgas blasted a four and a six to amass 14 runs to keep them in the hunt.Needing 11 off the last over, Tom Cooper smashed a huge six over and a four of Harbhajan Singh to complete a much-deserving win at Kingsmead.

Earlier, Tiwary smashed 44 with the help of one four and four sixes to resurrect the Mumbai innings after they were tottering at 47/3 in 7.3 overs.Electing to bat first, Mumbai Indians had a disastrous start as they lost opener Shikar Dhawan (2) in the second over with the scoreboard reading just 3.

Sachin Tendulkar (20) tried to breakfree and clobbered a six and a couple of fours to accumulate 14 runs off Daniel Christian's first over to take MI to 31 for one in 5 overs. But left-arm spinner Aaron O'Brien dismissed Tendulkar in the last ball of the next over to leave Mumbai tottering at 35 for two.

Trying to accelerate, Tendulkar stepped out of his crease and swung hard, only to see his stumps all over the surface.Silent all this while, Ambati Rayudu (38) then smashed O'Brien straight over his head for a six but the spinner bounced back to caught and bowl JP Duminy (3) in the third ball of the eighth over.

With the Southern Redbacksn bowlers bowling a tight line, Rayudu and Saurabh Tiwary kept dealing in singles as boundaries dried up.After three silent overs, Rayudu smashed a four bisecting the deep square leg and deep midwicket and followed it up with a six over deep extra cover to pick up 12 runs off O'Brien's over.

But the wicketkeeper-batsman couldn't stay long as Cullen Bailey sent him packing with Daniel Harris pulling off a brilliant catch to reduce MI to 73 for four in 12.1 overs.However, unperturbed by the dismissal Tiwary blasted Bailey over long-off for a flat six, while newman Kieron Pollard also followed suit with another maximum.

Pollard fired another six over wide long-on off Daniel Christian to bring up the 100 for Mumbai Indians in 14 overs.Tiwary went completely berserk in the 16th over, blasting a four and three consecutive sixes off O'Brien to amass 25 runs as MI reached 137 for four. With Tiwary looking unstoppable, Shaun Tait was brought back into the attack and the pacer struck in his first ball, removing Tiwary, who holed out to Callum Ferguson at mid-off. Pollard and Dwayne Bravo then carried the innings forward adding 33 runs off 18 balls to take MI across the 150-mark, before being dismissed in the 20th over.

CSK's sensible frames helped them to beat CS

2010-09-11T22:14:00.000-07:00

Badrinath struck an unbeaten 52 to save the batting blushes before a disciplined effort by the bowlers as Chennai Super Kings spank Central Districts by 57 runs in a Champions League Twenty20 match. Badrinath's counterattacking 52 from 42 balls was mainly responsible for CSK reaching 151 for four after they were down five for two in the second over and 48 for three at halfway mark after electing to bat.

He got ample support from Srikkanth Anirudha (42) and the duo shared 73 runs from 49 balls for the fourth wicket to take CSK score past 150 on a spongy Kingsmead pitch which saw odd balls kicking up to trouble the batsmen. Later CSK bowlers complemented the good work done by their batsmen by skittling out Central Districts for 94 in 18.1 overs to start their campaign on a winning note.

Chasing 152 for a win, the New Zealand champion side initially looked like they would stand up for a challenge but after they lost their first wicket in the fourth over they were never in the chase. Pacer Laxmipathy Balaji was the most successful CSK bowler with three for 20 from his four overs while Muttiah Muralitharan, Ravichandran Ashwin and Doug Bollinger claiming a wicket apiece.

Opener Peter Ingram was the first Central Districts batsman to go in the fourth over for six as he top-edged an Albie Morkel delivery to Suresh Raina at cover at team score of 12 for one. He was earlier dropped while on one in the second ball of their innings by Ravichandran Ashwin.

Next over, George Worker fell to Balaji for four and at team score of 22 for two with Muralitharan taking an easy catch at mid-on. CSK captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni introduced off-spinner Ashwin in the sixth over and got the result immediately in the form of Jamie How's wicket.

The captain of the New Zealand champion side, who was dropped by Raina when on five, misread a delivery which straightened up before cleaning up his off-stump. Central Districts were reeling at 35 for three at that stage.

Sri Lankan spin wizard Muralitharan then claimed two wickets in the space of three balls to leave Central Districts run chase in tatters as they were reduced to 37 for five in the eighth over. Mathew Sinclair (10), who hit Ashwin for a six in his first delivery, followed suit his captain soon as he fell to a superb catch by Matthew Hayden at slip while attempting a reverse sweep off a Muralitharan delivery. Muralitharan, who recently retired from Test cricket, scalped his second wicket two balls later with Noema-Barnettas (0) edging a sharp turning delivery for Dhoni to take a fine catch behind the stumps.

Mumbai Indians outplayed by Highveld Lions

2010-09-10T20:18:00.000-07:00

Sachin Tendulkar's blistering 42-ball 69 went in vain as Highveld Lions stunned Mumbai Indians by nine runs in the opening Group B match of the second edition of Champions League Twenty20 tournament. Tendulkar starred in a 83-run opening stand with Shikhar Dhawan (32) to raise hopes of a successful runchase but Shane Burger's two-wicket burst stole the show.

Put into bat, the Lions rode on opener Jonathan Vandiar (71) and middle-order batsman Neil McKenzie (56) to post a challenging 186 for five. The local team then returned to restrict the IPL III runners up team to 177 for six to complete a stunning win at the New Wanderers Stadium.

Chasing 187 to win, Mumbai Indians made a rollicking start and reached the fifty in the seventh over as boundaries came thick and fast. Tendulkar was at his fluent best early on as the Mumbaikar picked up boundaries at will and with Dhawan by his side, the two sent the bowlers for a leather hunt.

Tendulkar hit Frylinck for couple of fours in his first two overs and then sent Aaron Phangiso for back-to-back fours in the eighth over. Dhawan (32) also matched with Tendulkar and hit Ethan O'Reilly for a couple of boundaries before sending Shane Burger out of the park in the fifth over.

He picked up his second six in the 10th over, when he smashed Phangiso over wide long-on but an attempted reverse-sweep cost him his wicket. A few balls later a brilliant piece of fielding by skipper Petersen ended newman Ambati Rayudu's innings in the 11th over.

Tendulkar and JP Duminy then tried to stem the rot and forged a 42-run partnership but the former was soon clean bowled by Shane Burger to deal a huge blow to the visitors. Trying to make room for himself, Tendulkar saw his woods disturbed by a Shane Burger delivery as MI slipped to 131 for three in 14.3 overs. Burger struck again 15 balls later to remove Kieron Pollard as Mumbai Indians innings faltered and they lost the plot completely in the end.

CLT20 live online for free

2010-09-09T01:09:00.000-07:00

If you do not have access to a TV you can watch all the CL T20 2010 Matches live online using high quality stream links. You can watch all cricket matches live online at Crictime.com or also catch up on live cricket matches streaming at Cricfire.com. User channels for the live cricket matches are also available at sites like Ustream.tv and Justin.tv, you can search either of these sites to find live cricket streams uploaded by users. In case, if any of the above channel doesn’t work, then you try Extracover.net. Webcric.com is also very useful channel to watch Champions League T20 2010 online for free.