Gambhir’s 36-ball 56 laid the foundation for Knight Riders’ score of 150 for 5 and this proved to be seven runs too many for Pune Warriors India.

The Gautam Gambhir-led Kolkata Knight Riders continued on their winning ways as they notched up their fifth consecutive win in IPL-5 today evening at the Eden Gardens as they defeated Sourav Ganguly’s Pune Warriors India by seven runs in a topsy-turvy match. Gambhir led from the front with both ball and in the field in the most anticipated match of IPL-5 even as the Kolkata crowd cheered for Ganguly, but most of them were rooting for the home team.

Ganguly was the icon player of Knight Riders for the first three seasons, but had a turbulent time with the Shah Rukh Khan-owned franchise; and those problems have been well-documented. In a decision then that didn’t go down well with Kolkatans at all, the Knight Riders team management decided against buying Ganguly at the 2011 auction; for that matter neither did any of the either IPL franchises. Ganguly got his IPL lifeline when he was signed up by Pune Warriors in May 2011 as a replacement for the injured Ashish Nehra for the fourth edition of the league. It’s for those reasons that today evening’s clash was touted as a grudge match for Ganguly and his fans; and the weather gods sensing the importance of the occasion decided to co-operate as the expected spells of rain stayed away from Kolkata.

Ganguly and his Knight Riders’ counterpart Gautam Gambhir, however, both downplayed the hype on the eve of the match. While Gambhir stated the Knight Riders belong to Kolkata; Ganguly also took the safe line saying “I’ll just say that it’s always great to play at the Eden, which is my ground…”. It is his ground, but that didn’t keep Ganguly from feeling the nerves when he walked out for the toss, and the former India captain admitted as such.

Gambhir’s 36-ball 56 laid the foundation for Knight Riders’ score of 150 for 5, which at one stage looked to exceed the 180-run mark; but a good bowling effort led by Man of the Match Sunil Narine (4-1-13-1) and Marchant de Lange ensured the hosts would get over the line in a match that tested the loyalty of the Eden Gardens crowd to the hilt.

Pune Warriors had a horrendous start to the run chase as they were reduced to 55 for 5 in the ninth over; but in a surprising decision, Ganguly pushed himself down to No. 7 in the order as he kept the crowd waiting for him to stride out on his home ground. The early collapse put paid to an impressive fightback by the Warriors in the second half of Knight Riders’ innings.

De Lange (3-34), playing only his second match of IPL-5, got one through Michael Clarke’s defence with a beauty, and then had Robin Uthappa (17) caught by Laxmi Ratan Shukla at covers as Warriors were 28 for 2. Iqbal Abdulla (1-26) bowled his four overs on the trot and accounted for the talented Manish Pandey before Jacques Kallis got rid of Mithun Manhas and Narine trapped Steven Smith LBW in his first over, though the batsman was unlucky as he had got an inside edge to it.

Smith’s dismissal, however, was the cue for the moment the 67,000-odd people at Eden Gardens were waiting for – Ganguly coming out to bat. And, the ‘Prince of Kolkata’ didn’t let his fans down as he played some vintage shots in his 35-ball 36, but even he couldn’t read Narine’s off-spinners. Ganguly added 73 runs for the sixth wicket with Angelo Mathews (35 from 27 balls), and looked to have given his team an outside chance of victory, but Rajat Bhatia ensured there wouldn’t be any last-minute heroics from the Warriors’ captain when he had him caught by Abdulla at mid-wicket.

Mathews, who was out in the last over, gave the Knight Riders team some flutters when he hit three consecutive sixes in the 15th over bowled by Yusuf Pathan to keep the Warriors in touch with the required rate. But, this was only proved to be a false dawn for the Warriors, as the impressive Knight Riders’ bowling attack combined yet again to get their team over the line.

Earlier, Gambhir was the more aggressive of the Knight Riders’ opening pair from the outset and had already hit three boundaries and two sixes as he scored 35 off 18 balls with Knight Riders scoring 68 in their Powerplay overs. Brendon McCullum was happy to play the supporting role, but the Knight Riders’ opening batsmen were helped by some poor bowling by the Pune Warriors, especially from Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Wayne Parnell and Ashok Dinda; the last of who was taken to the cleaners by Gambhir and McCullum in the sixth over of the match in which he conceded 19 runs. Knight Riders were also aided and abetted by some sloppy fielding from the Warriors as well as a couple of dropped catches; none more easier than the sitter Dinda dropped off MClarke’s bowling to give McCullum a life when the New Zealand wicket keeper-batsman was on 28. McCullum got on with his job after Dinda’s howler as he and Gambhir, who brought up his half-century from 30 balls, kept the scoreboard ticking over by rotating the strike and hitting the boundaries, as Knight Riders scored 98 in the first 10 overs and looked on course to set Warriors a target in excess of 180.

The Warriors’ bowlers came back exceedingly well in the second half of the KKR innings as they conceded only 52 runs and took five wickets in the last 10 overs; and such was the accuracy of the bowling that only one four and one six were hit in this period. The fightback started when Murali Kartik had Gambhir (56 from 36 balls) caught by Mithun Manhas at long-off to end the 113-run stand; which incidentally is the highest opening partnership for Knight Riders in IPL history. Mathews then trapped McCullum (42 from 43 balls) LBW, though he wasn’t happy with the decision as the opener felt he had got an inside edge.

The moment of IPL-5 though came in the fourth ball of the 15th over by Kartik when Steven Smith, who sprinted to his right from long-on dived full length on the boundary rope, and in fact caught the ball in mid air, but as he was aware the momentum would carry him over the ropes, he flung the ball back into play and save four runs for his team in a Superman effort; with Pathan being the batsman who was denied those runs. “I was lucky enough to pull it back on the first occasion. I practice that stuff all the time and I was pretty disappointed when I dropped it. I have set some high standards for myself on the field,” Smith said during the innings break.

Mathews then took his second wicket when he deceived Jacques Kallis with a slower ball and clean bowled him before Kumar struck twice in the 19th over. He first ended Yusuf Pathan’s struggle in the middle when he had him well caught by Smith at long-on, and then had Shukla caught by Ganguly at mid-off, and as soon as he took the cath, the Eden crowd rose up as one. Mathews (2-17), Kumar (2-26) and Murali Kartik (1-22) were the pick of the Warriors’ bowlers; but their efforts proved to be in vain in the final outcome.

Source: Yahoo Cricket

Gautam Gambhir slammed fine fifty to guide Kolkata Knight Riders to a comfortable five-wicket win over Chennai Super Kings in the IPL 5 match at MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai on Monday.

Gambhir’s dream run in the ongoing Indian Premium League continued as he slammed a quickfire 43-ball fifty with the help of four boundaries and a six. Gambhir’s fine innings came to an end in the 18th over when he was dismissed by Chennai’s Dwayne Bravo.

CSK’s Dwayne Bravo broke the 70-run second wicket stand between Jacques Kallis and Gautam Gambhir. Bravo removed Kallis to give Chennai much-needed breakthrough when the batsman was caught behind the wickets by skipper MS Dhoni.

Gambhir and Kallis take Kolkata Knight Riders past 50 runs after losing Brendon McCullum early against Chennai. The duo also reached to their 50 runs stand in 38 balls to steady Knight Riders’ chase.

Chennai’s Ravichandran Ashwin struck to dismiss Brendon McCullum and give Kolkata Knight Riders early blow in chase of 140.

Earlier, Kolkata Knight Riders produced a superb bowling display to restrict Chennai Super Kings to 139/5.

Skipper Dhoni 34 off 30 balls and Albie Morkel 13 off 8 balls remained unbeaten at the crease. The duo added 21 runs in 2 overs to take Chennai to a modest total.

Jacques Kallis claimed two wickets while Brett Lee and Sunil Narine took wicket apiece to stutter Chennai.

Jacques Kallis dismissed Dwayne Bravo and Suresh Raina in quick succession to leave Chennai Super Kings tottering at 88/4 in 13 overs.

Raina was in good touch, making 44 off 34 balls with the help of four fours and a six. Chennai Super Kings stuttered in the innings as they lost wickets at regular intervals.

Dwayne Bravo was the third man to go when Iqbal Abdulla took the simple catch at long-on off Jacques Kallis.

Bravo and Suresh Raina added 42-run stand for the third wicket to steady Chennai innings after suffering the dismissals of the openers.

Chennai lost their second wicket in the form of David Hussey when he got run out in a mix up with Suresh Raina. Brett Lee struck in his first over to remove Faf du Plessis cheaply.

Du Plessis failed to continue his good run as he scored three runs before going back to the pavilion.

Earlier, Chennai skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni won the toss and opted to bat against Kolkata in the 41st of the tournament.

Chennai got the big boost as Michael Hussey is back into the team, replacing Wriddhiman Saha. Yo Mahesh also included in place Nuwan Kulasekara.

Kolkata decided to retain the same playing eleven that thrashed Royal Challengers Bangalore by 47 runs.

Teams:

Chennai Super Kings: Faf du Plessis, Subramaniam Badrinath, Michael Hussey, Suresh Raina, Ravindra Jadeja, MS Dhoni, Dwayne Bravo, Albie Morkel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Shadab Jakati, Yo Mahesh

Kolkata Knight Riders: Brendon McCullum, Gautam Gambhir, Jacques Kallis, Yusuf Pathan, Manoj Tiwary, Debabrata Das, Laxmi Shukla, Brett Lee, Rajat Bhatia, Sunil Narine, Iqbal Abdulla

Source: Times of India

Late charge by Chris Gayle (86 off 58 balls) went in vain as Kolkata Knight Riders thrashed Royal Challengers Bangalore by 47 runs in their return leg Indian Premier League fixture at Eden Gardens on Saturday.

Chasing 191-run target, Bangalore lost Saurabh Tiwary (19) after he tried to revive the run chase with Gayle.

Rajat Bhatia struck in the 13th over to reduce Bangalore to 77/4 in 12.5 overs. Tiwary put on 43 runs for the fourth wicket with Gayle and hit a six and a four in his 22-ball innings before the left-hander mistime Bhatia’s delivery.

Bangalore chase started on the wrong foot as they lost three top-order batsmen inside six overs.

Jacque Kallis struck twice in consecutive deliveries to dismiss in-form AB de Villiers (0) and Virat Kohli (18) in the sixth over as Bangalore struggled in their run chase.

Kohli hit three boundaries in his sedate 19-ball innings.

Spinner Yusuf Pathan gave Kolkata an early breakthrough when he dismissed Tillakaratne Dilshan (2) in the very first over to reduce Bangalore to 2/1 in 0.6 overs.

Electing to bat, skipper Gautam Gambhir smashed 93 off 51 balls to help Knight Riders post massive 191-run target for Royal Challengers.

Gambhir hit five huge sixes and nine boundaries in his whirlwind knock to lead the hosts from the front. The skipper added impressive 95 runs with Brendon McCullum (43) – their highest opening stand for the season – to set a brilliant platform for the latter batsmen.

McCullum played a perfect foil for Gambhir as he smashed eight boundaries in his 37-ball knock.

Veteran Jacques Kallis too came to party in the end as the South African batsman smacked three massive sixes and a four in his quick-fire 27-ball 41 innings.

For Bangalore, pacer Vinay Kumar (2-31) took two Kolkata wickets whereas skipper Daniel Vettori (1-29) and Zaheer Khan (1-48) claim a wicket each.

Kolkata skipper completed his fifty off 28 balls soon after McCullum’s wicket. The left-hander hit a six and eight boundaries in his quick-fire knock.

Riding on Gambhir’s exploits Knight Riders raced to hundred in just 11.3 overs.

Bangalore captain Daniel Vettori clean bowled compatriot McCullum in the 11th over to provide his team a crucial breakthrough. McCullum hit two consecutive fours off Vettori before the latter got better of him.

Gambhir and McCullum started the Kolkata innings aggressively. The openers added 46 runs in the first powerplay overs as Kolkata raced to fifty in 6.2 overs.

Earlier, Knight Riders skipper Gambhir won the toss and decided to bat against Royal Challengers.

Kolkata bring in Iqbal Abdulla in place of half-fit Laxmipathy Balaji in the playing XI.

Daniel Vettori is back to lead the Bangalore side, after his injury concerns in the previous game, as he replaces Andrew McDonald in the squad.

Squad:

Kolkata Knight Riders: Gautam Gambhir (Capt), Brendon McCullum, Manvinder Bisla (wk), Jacques Kallis, Yusuf Pathan, Manoj Tiwary, Debabrata Das, Rajat Bhatia, Sunil Narine, Brett Lee, Iqbal Abdulla.

Royal Challengers Bangalore: Daniel Vettori (Capt), Tillakaratne Dilshan, Chris Gayle, Mayank Agarwal, Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers (wk), Saurabh Tiwary, R Vinay Kumar, Zaheer Khan, Harshal Patel, KP Apanna.

Source: Times of India

The Deccan Chargers bowlers strived to earn their side a maiden victory in this season of the IPL but, even on a slow pitch that turned, they did not have enough runs to defend. The upshot was a fifth consecutive defeat for the home side while Kolkata Knight Riders drew level with the other top teams in the tournament with their fourth win. The finish, however, was far more tense and hard fought than was expected after Chargers had been limited to only 126.

For the briefest of periods, Chargers looked like posting a stronger total. And then, though wickets did not fall in a heap, the scoring-rate began to splutter and the innings stuttered. The odd boundary would be followed by periods of low productivity, depriving Chargers of all momentum. The Knight Riders’ chase followed a similar pattern – at no stage did the batsmen consistently dominate the bowling. However, they kept the situation under control by staying abreast with the asking-rate, ensuring the pressure did not get too intense to handle.

While Gautam Gambhir and Jacques Kallis were steering the chase, Knight Riders were in control. Then Gambhir mis-hit Anand Rajan to mid-off, leaving his team on 64 for 3 in 9.5 overs. Yusuf Pathan clouted one six off the spinner Ankit Sharma before trying to slog the next ball and getting bowled. Kallis, however, stayed calm and in the company of Manoj Tiwary took Knight Riders slowly but steadily towards their target.

Things came to a head when Kumar Sangakkara brought back Dale Steyn for his final over, with 26 to defend off 24 balls. Kallis drove hard at the first ball, and edged past the keeper for four. The second, he edged to the keeper. Steyn, now pumped, bowled with hostility at Debabrata Das. He then got into a minor confrontation with Tiwary, who came towards the bowler to exchange words after playing to mid-off, and then had to scramble back as Kumar Sangakkara threw at the stumps but missed.

The pressure built up in the 18th over – Knight Riders scored only 3 off four balls – and 17 were needed from 14 deliveries. Then Das lofted Veer Pratap Singh towards long-on, where Rajan ran in but misjudged the catch, costing his side a wicket and two runs. Chargers, whose coach Darren Lehmann had said they fielded like 14-year olds earlier in the week, had fluffed their last chance.

The start in Cuttack had been delayed by a little more than an hour because of rain, but no overs were lost. Before the interruption, however, both captains had got what they wanted at the toss, with Sangakkara saying he would have batted after Gambhir chose to bowl. Sangakkara did not go on to have a good day, losing his middle stump to L Balaji after a scratchy 12 off 15 balls.

Shikhar Dhawan, on the other hand, was spunky at the start. In the third over, he heaved Yusuf, who had opened the bowling with his offspin, over wide long-on for six. Little did Chargers know that it would be the innings’ only six, until Steyn hit one in the 20th over. Dhawan also pulled and drove Brett Lee powerfully for four, gathering five boundaries in his first 22 balls. Little did Dhawan know he would not hit another one in his next 28.

Chargers had made 30 for 0 after four overs when the slowdown began, with Sunil Narine and Balaji operating with discipline. After Sangakkara fell, Dhawan and Parthiv Patel batted without dominating the bowling. Parthiv was eventually run out in the 12th over, but even Cameron White, who replaced Daniel Christian for this game, could not improve Chargers’ situation. He fell slogging Lee to deep square leg; Lee’s last two overs, the 15th and 17th, yielded only four runs.

Dhawan had anchored the innings but he too was going nowhere, and his struggle ended when he mis-hit a full toss from Rajat Bhatia to deep midwicket. He was gone for a run-a-ball 50. He would say later that the pitch was hard to bat on. Knight Riders also found batting tough, but they were tough enough to get over the line.

George Binoy is an assistant editor at ESPNcricinfo

Gautam Gambhir slammed an unbeaten 66 to power Kolkata Knight Riders to an emphatic 8-wicket win over Kings XI Punjab at the PCA stadium.

After restricting Punjab to a modest 124/7, Gambhir displayed a sensible batting to guide his side to an easy win, settling score with Punjab for their last match defeat at Eden Gardens.

For Punjab Piyush Chawla claimed two wickets of Manvinder Bisla and Brendon McCullum.

Kolkata Knight Riders produced a disciplined bowling and fielding display to restrict Kings XI Punjab to 124/7 at the PCA stadium on Wednesday.

Opting to bat, Kings XI batsmen never got going as the home team lost wickets at regular intervals to be restricted to the modest total.

Captain Adam Gilchrist, who retired hurt in the sixth over with a right hamstring problem only to return later to drag his side out of trouble, top-scored with an unbeaten 40, while Shaun Marsh made a 30-ball 33 with the help of four boundaries.

Kings XI batsmen struggled from the onset against a determined KKR bowling line up and it could be gauged from the fact that only three of their batters could manage double figures.

Wily West Indian off-spinner Sunil Narine (2/24) and Brett Lee (2/26) starred with the ball for KKR, sharing four wickets between them. Laxmipathy Balaji (1/20) and Rajat Bhatia (1/23) also picked up a wicket each for the visitors.

Kings XI’s last year’s hero, Paul Valthaty once again disappointed as he fell early, outside edging a Brett Lee delivery to Manvinder Bisla behind the stumps in the third over.

To make matters worse for Kings XI, Gilchrist had to retired hurt in the sixth over.

Kings XI failed to get a substantial partnership as Mandeep Singh (6), Marsh, David Hussey (10), Paras Dogra (6) and Dimitri Mascarenhas (9) all departed in quick intervals.

Marsh’s dismissal in the 14th over, however, turned out to be a little controversial.

The left-hander underedged an attempted cut off a Lee delivery which just seemed to have carried to Bisla behind the wicket. But the batsmen was not satisfied and walked away only after checking with the keeper.

The dismissal also brought Kings XI owner Preity Zinta on to the ground as she was not satisfied with the decision. She, however, left the field only after Gilchrist intervened.

Towards the end, Gilchrist and Piyush Chawla (9) tried their level best to shoot up the run rate but they failed to hit big shots.

Source: Times of India

Its been raining since 7:00 PM. Due to which, even the toss is been delayed.

IPL 2012 2nd Match : KKR vs DD
Time of Actual Start : 8:00PM IST 5th Apr 2012

Kolkata Knight Riders Team

Gautam Gambhir (Captain), S Ladda, L Balaji, R Bhatia, MS Bisla, DB Das, M de Lange, BJ Haddin†, Iqbal Abdulla, CS Jani, JH Kallis, B Lee, BB McCullum†, EJG Morgan, SP Narine, YK Pathan, JL Pattinson, SV Samson, PJ Sangwan, I Saxena, Shami Ahmed, Shakib Al Hasan, LR Shukla, RN ten Doeschate, MK Tiwary, JD Unadkat

Delhi DaredevilsTeam

V Sehwag (Captain), MC Juneja, VR Aaron, AB Agarkar, P Bisht, R Bist, GH Bodi, DAJ Bracewell, U Chand, AJ Finch, DPMD Jayawardene, GJ Maxwell, M Morkel, S Nadeem, Y Nagar, PT Naik, P Negi, NV Ojha†, IK Pathan, KP Pietersen, KC Raval, AD Russell, AM Salvi, LRPL Taylor, RE van der Merwe, Y Venugopal Rao, Vikas Mishra, DA Warner, TP Yadav, UT Yadav, Zafir Patel

Watch IPL 2012 Live Streaming between Kolkata Knight Riders vs Delhi Daredevils at IPL T20 2012 Live Streaming

Turnarounds don’t come any better. Fortunes don’t change more dramatically. And emotions don’t bear a starker contrast. At the halfway stage, Sri Lanka would have felt they had one foot in the final, having left the India bowlers deflated after a dominating performance with the bat. And they would have been right to think that way, the Indian batting having shown little promise in the series and the team on the brink of elimination.

But Virat Kohli put on an imperious display of strokemaking, his malleable wrists powering an Indian fightback conspicuous by its absence on what had been, until now, two forgettable overseas trips. Kohli’s innings made a mockery of an imposing score, kept India’s finals hopes alive and left Sri Lanka with the unenviable task of beating the form team in the tournament to knock India out.

Given India’s poor outings with the bat in their recent games, one would have expected them to struggle to chase a target of 321 in 50 overs. They achieved it in 36.4 – needing to chase it in 40 to stay alive in the series – and did so with Kohli finishing things off in a blaze of glory. Kohli was in the zone; he dismissed anything that came his way with clinical precision, found the boundary at will whether the field was in or pushed back, ran swiftly between the wickets to catch the fielders off guard and middled the ball with scarcely believable consistency.

While Kohli was the protagonist in India’s successful chase, the other characters played their due part. Virender Sehwag and Sachin Tendulkar would have wanted to do more but gave India the explosive start they desperately needed to stage a counterattack; Gautam Gambhir continued to be fluent, just four boundaries in a knock of 63 off 64 balls showing the toil behind the runs; and Suresh Raina, under pressure to perform, kept Kohli valuable company in a matchwinning stand.

If India were insipid with their bowling, Sri Lanka were far worse, as wides flowed, gift balls were doled out with regularity and the fielding buckled under the pressure of an unexpected fightback. Both innings were replete with fumbles, misfields, wayward throws – one of them, had it been on target, could have run Kohli out – making batting even more profitable on the easiest track in the series thus far. The brisk start to the chase and the subsequent consolidation by Gambhir and Kohli meant India were in with a fighting chance with two Powerplays still remaining, and both proved highly lucrative.

Kohli made both his own, first targetting Nuwan Kulasekara in the 31st over, which began with India needing 91 in 10 overs for a bonus point. He carted three consecutive fours as attempted yorkers failed to meet their desired lengths and served as tempting length balls. Two were whipped – in trademark Kohli fashion, a momentary turn of the wrists imparting tremendous force to the ball – and the other sliced over point in an act of improvisation.

The Sri Lanka fast bowlers misfired badly but even when they got it right, like an accurate yorker from Malinga, Kohli was able to shuffle across and expertly work it past the short fine fielder. He took 24 from Malinga in the 35th over, flicking him for six and picking four fours past short fine, and finished the game with two thunderous drives through the off side. A pump of the fists was followed by a roar of elation and relief as a perennially inanimate MS Dhoni calmly trudged on to the field to join in the celebrations.

A win this dominating seemed a distant possibility when Kohli joined Gambhir at the fall of Tendulkar’s wicket. Tendulkar had walked across too far to be caught plumb by Malinga, ending an innings in which Tendulkar seemed devoid of pressure and completely uninhibited in his approach. Sehwag and Tendulkar batted with freedom, the former smashing Malinga into the grassbanks behind deep midwicket in a fiery opening stand of 54, and Tendulkar going over the top on the off side, and displaying an adeptness in picking Malinga’s variations. But at 2 for 86 in the 10th over, with India’s two most experienced batsmen back in the pavilion and the required-rate still very high, Kohli and Gambhir faced a daunting task.

That both took little time to get going was crucial in maintaining the tempo that had been set. Gambhir steered Kulasekara for four off his third delivery before punching one past midwicket, and Kohli warmed up with one of several whips off Malinga off his second ball. The pair didn’t get bogged down despite a 35-ball boundary drought, running swiftly between the wickets, converting ones into twos by putting the outfielders under pressure and making the fielders inside the circle appear redundant by stealing quick ones.

Kohli broke that drought with a drive off Thisara Perara past extra cover and later clobbered Angelo Mathews over the wide long-off boundary. At the halfway stage in the chase, the pair had notched up half-centuries, laying a solid foundation for the onslaught to follow with ten Powerplay overs still remaining. After Gambhir fell to an accurate throw while trying to steal a second, Raina infused the innings with greater urgency, providing a quicker partner at the other end to Kohli and indulging in some power play of his own to help hasten the finish.

The Kohli show overshadowed an assured and commanding performance by Sri Lanka with the bat, and centuries from Tillakaratne Dilshan and Kumar Sangakkara, who capitalised on a palpably below-par show from India’s bowlers.

Dilshan shrugged off his initial unease against the swinging ball to gradually open up and march towards his 11th ODI century and Sangakkara played an innings as attractive as several of his abruptly terminated cameos this tournament, only longer in duration this time, full of confidence and more pleasing on the eye. The determination and focus of trying to bat India out of the game was unwavering in their innings, and the smiles on their faces and the India players’ drooping shoulders suggested a one-sided game. But body-language is not always a reliable indicator, for it had taken an about turn in three hours’ time.

Edited by Dustin Silgardo

Siddhartha Talya is a sub editor at ESPNcricinfo

The best death-overs bowler in the game went up against the best finisher in the business with four to defend off the last ball. It was only fair that neither Lasith Malinga nor MS Dhoni ended up on the losing side of that contest. Malinga’s wide full-length ball would have hoodwinked most batsmen who would have been setting themselves up for the swing to the leg side. Not the fleet-footed Dhoni, though, who calmly stretched across and carved high over the covers even as he teetered on one foot. The ball didn’t have the strength to beat Sachinthra Senanayake on the boundary, but Dhoni and last-man Umesh Yadav bounded through for three runs to tie a nerve-wracking classic at the Adelaide Oval.

The beauty of the ODI format shone throughout the duration of the chase, with the best minds in the game feeling the pressure of a close finish. India were coasting on the back of another polished effort from Gautam Gambhir, whose faultless 91 showed he has moved on well from his Test-match woes. Dhoni had added 60 runs with Gambhir off 12.4 overs, leaving India needing 59 off 58. At that stage, Dhoni made the first decisive error, when he sold Gambhir dear after calling him for a single. Gambhir was caught short by a direct hit from Nuwan Kulasekara, and his fall gave Sri Lanka an opening; Dhoni would later say it cost India victory.

The wicket was followed by a 28-ball phase that yielded only 13 runs for the loss of Ravindra Jadeja’s wicket. Sri Lanka’s seamers bowled out of their skins, backed by enterprising field placements from Mahela Jayawardene that cut off the singles. With two overs of Malinga left in the last five overs, Dhoni went after Thisara Perera, dumping him for a huge six down the ground, before R Ashwin skimmed him for four over the covers. Malinga came back on after a quiet over from Kulasekara, with India needing 28 off 18. Mistakes began to sprout from every corner now.

Malinga got Ashwin to sky a slower ball, and Kumar Sangakkara called for, and clanged the chance as he ran towards point. Ashwin continued blundering against the slower ball, heaving and missing one, before chipping to cover. With 24 needed off 12, Jayawardene turned to Angelo Mathews who trotted in from round the stumps to cut Dhoni’s swinging angle. Mathews lost the plot against Irfan Pathan, though, delivering a high no-ball that Irfan deposited over square leg for six. Irfan was run out next ball, sacrificing his wicket after failing to get a slower ball away. India needed a boundary, and Mathews obliged with another full toss that Dhoni swiped through midwicket to reach his 50. Nine needed off the last over, from Malinga.

In the previous game, Dhoni chose to take the game to the very end. This time, he was forced to do so by Malinga’s unhittable lengths. A couple off the first ball was followed by three singles before Vinay sacrificed his wicket to give Dhoni strike for the final ball. One could argue that Malinga should have gone full and straight, but the counter-argument would be that even a fractional error in length would have allowed Dhoni a free swing over the short square boundary. As it transpired, Malinga went wide, Dhoni went high and there was poetic justice in the denouement.

Sri Lanka were left ruing a collapse in their batting Powerplay, that left them at least 20 runs short. They stumbled from a heady 168 for 3 in 35 overs, losing 18 for 3 in the Powerplay, including the two set batsmen – Dinesh Chandimal and Mahela Jayawardene, who had added 94 runs without a fuss. The complexion of the game changed so drastically in that period, that Ashwin bowled with two slips in the 40th over.

Until then, Chandimal ran the show with admirable poise, imposing himself with a series of pulls and whips through the leg side, imparted with a flourish that was once the trademark of Marvan Atapattu. Chandimal’s technique was adept for the conditions, as he used soft hands and decisive feet to milk India’s attack. In his company, Jayawardene shrugged away the poor form that has dogged him since the South Africa tour, as Sri Lanka recovered from their sluggish start.

India made three crucial early strikes, which meant they were only one wicket away from the lower order even when Chandimal and Jayawardene were in full flow. Vinay Kumar preyed on Upul Tharanga’s unending troubles outside the off stump, before Irfan celebrated his return to the venue where he made his international debut in 2003 with pleasing swing, and the wicket of Tillakaratne Dilshan. R Ashwin then worked over Sangakkara with spin and variety to peg Sri Lanka back. Chandimal and Jayawardene fought hard to revive the innings, but India would have been the happier side after 50 overs.

Gambhir took charge of the chase with assurance, and it will be interesting if India will continue their rotation policy and bench him for the next game. Sachin Tendulkar’s rustiness, too, suggested the break from Sunday’s game didn’t do him much good. Tendulkar, Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma all perished after scoring 15 runs apiece, as Sri Lanka made timely dents. Suresh Raina’s failure meant India were wobbling at 118 for 4 in the 28th over. But they had just the right man coming in at that stage.

It wasn’t just the players that erred in the pressure cooker. Umpire Nigel Llong’s miscounting meant Malinga only bowled five balls in the 30th over. India will say they would have got the extra run they needed off the ball that was missed. Sri Lanka will claim they would have got the extra wicket they needed off it. The beauty of this game is that we will never know how it may have ended.

Nitin Sundar is a sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo

Gambhir’s 92 sets up India’s chase for 270 in the 4th CB Series ODI against Australia in Adelaide.

India weren’t perfect today. But they beat Australia the hard way. And nothing satisfies a team more than a hard-fought win when it is going through a rut.

A pale-looking MS Dhoni got off to an agonisingly slow start of three runs in 17 balls. But he caught up with the pace at the end, capping off a tight chase for 270 by getting India the 13 needed in the final over from Clint McKay.

It helped India burst past some glass ceilings – they had never beaten Australia in an ODI in Adelaide, and had never chased more than 242 against the hosts in their country. More importantly, the win would take the attention away from the howls of protest after Sachin Tendulkar was rested today.

Gambhir Shines

The chase was set up by Gautam Gambhir’s 92 and a couple of thirties from Rohit Sharma and Suresh Raina. But each time they seemed at ease, Indian batsmen got out to rash shots to complicate matters.

Virender Sehwag (after adding 52 with Gambhir) got out to McKay trying to flick a loose ball on the leg. Virat Kohli was caught at the cover boundary trying to hit a six. And Rohit, having looked in total ease, played a ridiculous chip shot to be caught at long-off.

The win was in sight before India nearly botched it the chase by playing out two quiet overs from left-arm spinner Xavier Doherty in which Raina yorked himself, and Ravindra Jadeja holed out to midwicket, leaving the game precariously balanced.

Monster Six

Dhoni biffed McKay’s second ball of the final over into the banks behind long-on, one of the biggest boundaries in international cricket. The hit may have easily been about 120 metres long. Dhoni swung the next ball, a waist-high full-toss to midwicket, where it was caught by David Warner. The no-ball was called, leaving India three runs to get from three balls.

He swung it to midwicket again, taking three runs, coolly collecting a souvenir stump and walking off the park. At the award ceremony, Dhoni said he had hit a longer six in his pre-India days. It put in the shade a pull shot by Rohit for six – probably the most authoritative shot an Indian batsman had done on this tour of Australia.

India Raise Fielding Standards

India did two things well today. They fielded well, and bowled tightly in the last 10 overs (conceding 57-4), displaying a real urgency to keep Australia’s score down. India scored four run-outs in the second T20 in Melbourne. Today they had three, plus a sharp catch by Virender Sehwag to dismiss Hussey.

Sehwag’s catch was crucial. Australia looked set for a score close to 300. Sehwag’s tumbling effort at square leg cut short Hussey’s stay at 72. But the run-outs of David Warner and Daniel Christian were also crucial in keeping Australia under check.

Forrest Shines On Debut

The merits of the rotation system is another topic. The fact is that Australia have come out of their worst slump in years on the basis of really good selections. Today, the right-handed Peter Forrest came in for Mike Hussey, who has been given a week’s rest.

Forrest in only 26 and has played just 37 First Class games. This is in sharp contrast with Hussey, who was 30 and nearly 15,000 First Class runs down before he wore the Baggy Green. But like Hussey when he appeared on the scene, Forrest looked ready for the big league.

On his international debut, Forrest looked at ease – off the front-foot, off the back-foot, against pace or spin. You’d expect an Australian batsman coming out of Brisbane to be really good against pace bowling. But Forrest impressed with his footwork against Indian spinners too.

Twice he walked down to Jadeja and Rohit – that walk is rarely seen in the stand-and-deliver era – and lofted them over the straight field for six. If you could find one blemish in the innings, it was that Dhoni didn’t consider exposing Forrest to Zaheer Khan, and gave a long run to his spinners, none of whom were particularly impressive today.

Source: Yahoo Cricket

India finally broke through for their first win of the tour thanks to a dazzling display in the field. Ravindra Jadeja provided the spark – and did no harm to his chances in Saturday’s IPL auction – with a pair of run-outs as Australia’s batsmen were constricted by intense pressure from the fielders, and were dismissed in the 20th over for 131.

That was always going to be hard to defend and so it proved, India reaching the target with two balls to spare and eight wickets in hand to draw the series 1-1. They began the chase needing only a fraction above six an over and as a result spent much of their innings in cruise control, Gautam Gambhir able to amble along at less than a run a ball without ever letting the pressure build.

The only time a hint of worry might have entered the Indian camp was when five dot balls came towards the end of the chase, and George Bailey had all his fielders in the ring in the final over with one run required. But Gambhir found a gap at midwicket to strike a boundary off Clint McKay and finished on 56 from 60 balls, with MS Dhoni also unbeaten on 21.

Virender Sehwag provided some excitement with one enormous six back over the head of the bowler Xavier Doherty but it was the only one in India’s innings. They didn’t need any more. Sehwag was caught at cover off a Brad Hogg full toss for 23 and Virat Kohli, who made a quick 31, was brilliantly caught when Matthew Wade dived to his right off the bowling of Mitchell Marsh, but they were Australia’s only two moments to celebrate in the field.

Australia needed to build more pressure and while their work with the ball and in the field was not bad, it lacked the zip shown by their India counterparts. Four Australia batsmen were run out and another was stumped, the younger men brought in for the limited-overs games providing the energy that India lacked in the Tests.

It all started with Jadeja, who got rid of two of David Hussey’s partners with run-outs and then picked up the wicket of Hussey off his own bowling. The big wicket was that of Aaron Finch, who was sent in alongside David Warner at the top of the order and showed his power with six fours, five of which were through the off side.

Finch launched drives and cuts at anything wide of off and at one stage he had aggregated more than 100 Twenty20 international runs without being dismissed, but that changed quickly. Finch was caught short when Hussey pushed into the off side and tried for a single that wasn’t there, Jadeja’s throw getting rid of Finch for 36 from 23 balls.

The captain George Bailey departed soon afterwards when he overcommitted as Hussey steered the ball to backward point, where Jadeja collected and threw to the bowler’s end with Bailey (3) a long way short. Jadeja then induced a leading edge off Hussey, who made 24 from 29 balls, and that wicket left Australia in trouble at 5 for 93.

The fine work kept coming from India. Mitchell Marsh was stumped off Rahul Sharma, Dhoni collecting the ball close to the stumps and with no give in his gloves, he hardly had to move to whip the bails off and find Marsh just out of his ground. That was followed by what was effectively a knockout blow for Australia, when Matthew Wade was run out for 32 off 29 balls.

Wade had slog-swept a six and after his outstanding innings on Wednesday, he seemed like the man who might carry Australia to a competitive score. But he pushed to cover and took off only to be turned back by Brett Lee, and Rohit Sharma’s direct hit had Wade short despite his full-length dive.

Australia were dismissed with two balls to spare, when Doherty was run out thanks to sharp work from Suresh Raina. They had lost 4 for 10 since the start of the 19th over.

Australia’s innings had got off to a poor start with the early loss of David Warner, who was caught at deep midwicket for 8 when he skied a ball off Praveen Kumar. Shaun Marsh’s miserable summer continued with a second-ball duck, his limp prod outside off resulting in an edge to first slip, where Sehwag parried the ball up to Dhoni to give Praveen his second wicket.

It was an excellent way for India to begin, and they didn’t let the advantage slip. Now the question is whether they can carry some of this spark into the one-day series.

Brydon Coverdale is an assistant editor at ESPNcricinfo.