Royal Challengers Bangalore had a easy win over Pune Warriors India and crawled up to 3rd position in the points table. Earlier Chris Gayle and Tillakaratne Dilshan partnership lead the RCB score shoot-up to 173, and during PWI innings bowlers showed good performance. Both of them helped RCB to have an easy win of 35runs.

Pune Warriors India was unsuccessful in chasing down the target score of 174. They lost the first two wickets of Mishra and Pandey in the first over itself. After them, soon in the 4th over, they even lost the wicket of Micheal Clarke. Then, Robin Uthappa and Anustup Majumdar had a 50runs partnership. But, even this partnership couldn’t hold long.

After losing the wicket of Uthappa, PWI lost next 5 wickets within no time. It was only the skipper Steven Smith who made a double digit score. The RCB bowlers showed good performance. All the bowlers took wickets. Of them Vinay Kumar took 3 wickets for 32 runs, Zaheer Khan took 2 wickets for 21 runs, and Muralitharan took 2 wickets for 16 runs.

Earlier, during the Royal Challengers Bangalore innings, the openers Chris Gayle, and Dilshan had a very good partnership of 80 runs. At a individual score of 57runs in 31 balls with 3 boundaries, and 6 wonderful sixes, Gayle was caught in Mathews bowling.

After losing the wicket of Gayle, skipper Virat Kohli was also out soon. After him, Dilshan made a 43 runs partnership with Saurabh Tiwary. Dilshan was not out after making 53 runs in 44 balls, with 6 boundaries and a six. Saurabh Tiwary made 36 runs of 30 balls, and AB de Villiers made 9 of 4balls and took the score to 173 in 20 overs.

Squads:

Pune Warriors India: Steven Smith, Alfonso Thomas, Angelo Mathews, Anustup Majumdar, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Krishnakant Upadhyay, Manish Pandey, Michael Clarke, Mohnish Mishra, Rahul Sharma, Robin Uthappa.

Royal Challengers Bangalore: Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers, Chris Gayle, Harshal Patel, KP Appanna, Mayank Agarwal, Muttiah Muralitharan, R Vinay Kumar, Saurabh Tiwary, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Zaheer Khan.

AB de Villiers outstanding batting performance in the 18th and 19th over helped Royal Challengers Bangalore to have an easy win over Deccan Chargers. Yet, another loss for Deccan Chargers. Once again, Deccan Chargers made a huge score of 181, but, couldn’t stop the opponent team in chasing. Once again, they lost another winning match.

Royal Challengers Bangalore openers Tillakaratne Dilshan, and Chris Gayle gave a good start to the match by scoring 91 runs in their partnership. After the loss of Chris Gayle wicket, RCB lost next 4 wickets soon. But, AB de Villiers showed an outstanding batting performance and helped RCB to chase the score of 182. He scored 47 runs out 17 balls with 5 boundaries, and 3 sixers. And scored 23 runs in the 18th over itself.

Earlier during the Deccan Chargers innings, the top order batsmen Daniel Harris, Shikhar Dhawan, and Cameron White showed an excellent batting performance and took the score to 181 by just losing 2 wickets. Shikhar Dhawan was not out and scored 73 runs in 52 balls with 10 boundaries, and a six.

Daniel Harris Scored 47 runs out of 42 balls with 2 boundaries and 4 sixes. Cameron White scored 45 out 24 balls with 2 boundaries, and 3 sixes. Even skipper showed some good batting by making 10runs out of 3 balls with a boundary and a six. Altogether, they made a huge score of 181 runs.

Teams

Deccan Chargers: Kumar Sangakkara, Parthiv Patel, Shikhar Dhawan, Cameron White, Ashish Reddy, Amit Mishra, Daniel Harris, PA Reddy, Dale Steyn, Anand Rajan, Veer Pratap Singh.

Royal Challengers Bangalore: Virat Kohli, Mayank Agarwal, AB de Villiers, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Chris Gayle, Zaheer Khan, Abhimanyu Mithun, Muttiah Muralitharan, Asad Pathan, Jamaluddin Syed Mohammad, P Parameswaran

Rajasthan Royals suffered the loss of Owais Shah and Shreevats Goswami in quick succession against Royal Challengers Bangalore in their IPL 5 match at Sawai Mansingh Stadium, Jaipur.

KP Appanna rocked Rajasthan chase by claiming the first four wickets including the prize scalp of Rahul Dravid. Shah and Goswami also failed to consolidate Royals innings.

Rahul Dravid slammed a fifty to keep Rajasthan afloat in the mammoth chase of 190. Dravid reached to his fifty in 34 balls, smashing eight fours in his 58-run knock.

Rajasthan Royals started off well as Rahul Dravid and Ajinkya Rahane shared 56-run opening wicket stand against Royal Challengers Bangalore in their IPL 5 match at Sawai Mansingh Stadium, Jaipur.

Rahane was not looking in his touch as he managed to score 13 off 18 balls. KP Appanna struck to give Bangalore much-needed breakthrough.

Earlier, a swashbuckling show by AB de Villiers in slog overs and a gritty unbeaten knock by Tilakaratne Dilshan powered Royal Challengers Bangalore to a daunting 189/3.

Opener Dilshan stayed unbeaten on 76 while de Villiers slammed a fiery 59 off 23 balls to help visitors set a massive target for hosts.

Villiers smashed five dazzling sixes and three boundaries during his knock and shared a solid 122-run stand for the fourth wicket with Dilshan.

Pacer Pankaj Singh gave Rajasthan first success as he got Virat Kohli (16) caught near boundary line after a steady start by RCB, who were invited to bat.

Kohli scored 16 and shared 23-run stand for the first wicket.

Dilshan then consolidated the innings with Mayank Agarwal. However, Brad Hogg didn’t allow Agarwal (15) to move further and got him caught by Hodge in the 10th over.

Before Bangalroe could recover from the blow, Hogg struck again to trap Chris Gayle in front of the wickets to reduce Bangalore to 67/2.

Dilshan was then joined by de Villiers at the crease. The duo denied Rajasthan any breakthrough and took their side to a big total.

Rajasthan Royals brought in Pankaj Singh and Ajit Chandila while Tilakaratne Dilshan is back in Bangalore along with KP Appanna.

Interestingly, Rajasthan’s only away win has been against Bangalore, by a rather comfortable 59-run margin on April 15.

Equations have changed since, with both Chris Gayle and AB de Villiers rocking for the Daniel Vettori-led side. There is a sense of solidity in the team, with Gayle leading the show.

RCB: Mayank Agarwal, Chris Gayle, Virat Kohli, Saurabh Tiwary, AB de Villiers, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Daniel Vettori, Arun Karthik, Vinay Kumar, Kotarangada Appanna, Zaheer Khan

RR: Rahul Dravid, Ajinkya Rahane, Owais Shah, Ashok Menaria, Brad Hodge, Kevon Cooper, Shreevats Goswami, Ajit Chandila, Brad Hogg, Pankaj Singh, Siddharth Trivedi

Source: Times of India

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

Sri Lanka posted their biggest-ever one-day international over Australia in Sydney on Friday with a crushing eight-wicket victory with 101 balls to spare in their tri-series ODI.

Sri Lanka bounced back into finals contention with a bonus-point victory on the Duckworth-Lewis method after skittling out Australia for 158 off 40.5 overs and rattling up a revised winning target of 152 for two in just 24.1 overs.

The Sri Lankans, who were winless before Friday’s game after being held to a tie in their previous match by leaders India, moved to within three points of the Indians after four games in the tournament.

Skipper Mahela Jayawardene steered his side to victory with an unbeaten knock of 61 off 67 balls with opener Tillakaratne Dilshan hitting 45 off 41. Kumar Sangakkara reached 10,000 career ODI runs in his innings of 30 off 29 balls.

Thisara Perera was judged man-of-the-match in a wide open vote having taken two for 29 and also effected two run outs in Australia’s innings.

It was Australia’s fifth-biggest loss in one-day cricket in terms of balls remaining. It was also Australia’s second straight defeat in the tournament and they face India in Brisbane on Sunday, when they are likely to be again led by Ricky Ponting in the absence of injured skipper Michael Clarke.

Only Clint McKay (1-23 off six overs) enjoyed a good night with the ball while Brett Lee, on his return 16 days after fracturing his toe, finished with one for 42 off seven overs.

Sri Lanka set up their emphatic victory by dismissing Australia for 158 off 40.5 overs in the match, which was reduced to 41 overs-a-side by afternoon rain.

David Hussey rescued Australia from an even lower score with a determined 58 off 64 balls for his third half-century of the tournament after being dropped on eight and 31.

David Warner went for 13 being deceived by a slower ball from Lasith Malinga and hitting straight to Farveez Maharoof at mid-on.

Ponting’s run of single-figure scores in the series continued when he was caught and bowled by Maharoof for two. Michael Hussey (13), brought in for Clarke, clouted a huge six off Angelo Mathews but was caught behind off the next ball and Peter Forrest followed shortly afterwards for 16 to leave Australia 74 for five.

All-rounder Maharoof, brought in for spinner Sachithra Senanayake, claimed two for 18 off eight overs.

Source: Yahoo Cricket

Tillakaratne Dilshan (74) and Virat Kohli (70) guided Royal Challengers Bangalore to clinch a stunning two wickets victory over South Australia Redbacks in the pulsating encounters of Champions League Twenty20.

The hero of the match was Arun Karthik who hit a colossal six on the last ball to seal the victory for the Challengers. Royal Challengers Bangalore will now face New South Wales in the semis at Bangalore.

Pacer Shaun Tait gave South Australia huge breakthrough towards the end as he removed Virat Kohli in their Champions League Twenty20 match against Royal Challengers at M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore.

In the end, Redbacks bowlers have made a come back as they scalped three quick wickets in the span of 25 runs.

Virat Kohli, who made quick-fire 70 off 36 balls, also added valuable second wicket 100 runs stand with Tillakaratne Dilshan to lead Royal Challengers run chase.

Kohli raced to his fifty in 28 balls with the help of five sixes and two fours while Dilshan reached to his half century in 31 balls.

Redbacks’ Daniel Christian dismissed Chris Gayle to give Royal Challengers huge blow. Gayle smacked three huge sixes in his 26 runs innings that came in 15 balls.

Chasing mammoth 215, RCB’s Tillakaratne Dilshan and Chris Gayle started aggressively as Indian outfit raced to fifty in 4.4 overs.

Earlier, electing to bat, the Australian outfit made a mockery of the hapless RCB bowlers to post the highest total in the tournament. The Redbacks have four points and need a victory to take the top slot.

The last six overs produced 92 runs with Sreenath Aravind being hit for 69 runs in his four over spell. The manner in which the left-arm seamer was hit all over the park may seriously dent his chances of making it to the playing XI against England.

For the Australian side, the “Doctor was on call” as Harris (a qualified medical practitioner) was the star of the innings.

The right hander took charge from the word go with his audacious strokes that stunned the RCB bowlers. His magnificent innings was laced with 17 hits to the fence and two sixes one of which was the one which helped him reach his maiden T20 ton.

Ferguson was equally brilliant at the other end, scoring a 43-ball 70, studded with four boundaries and three sixes.

After losing skipper Michael Klinger (7), Harris joined hands with Ferguson as the second wicket pair stitched a belligerent century partnership of 114 runs coming off only 75 balls.

Harris showed no respect to RCB’s left arm seamer Dirk Nannes, hitting him for four consecutive boundaries taking 18 runs in the process. He was particularly severe on Aravind, creaming 28 runs in two overs.

For RCB, Syed Mohammad and Rajoo Bhatkal claimed a wicket apiece.

Teams:

Royal Challengers Bangalore: TM Dilshan, CH Gayle, MA Agarwal, V Kohli, SS Tiwary, KB Arun Karthik, DL Vettori, RR Bhatkal, J Syed Mohammad, DP Nannes, S Aravind

South Australia Redbacks: M Klinger, DJ Harris, TLW Cooper, CJ Ferguson, CJ Borgas, DT Christian, TP Ludeman, AW O’Brien, NM Lyon, KW Richardson, SW Tait

Source: Times of India

Chasing a modest target of 126 runs against Kochi, Bangalore achieved a 9-wicket win with 41 balls to spare with the help of quickfire knocks from Chris Gayle and Tillakaratne Dilshan.

Earlier, Royal Challengers Bangalore restricted Kochi Tusker Kerala to a modest 125 for nine to take command in the Indian Premier League match at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium here today.

Expecting the wicket to assist spin, Kochi skipper Mahela Jayawardene opted to bat upon winning the toss but his batsmen committed hara kiri after Michael Klinger (24) and Brendon McCullum (22) had provided them a reasonably good start of 43 runs.

Having started on a positive note with 41 for no loss in five overs, the Tuskers suddenly plummeted to 73 for four in 10.1 overs to hand the advantage to the Bangalore outfit, who are seeking to score their fifth successive win.

McCullum, who threatened to cut lose, was the first to depart, chipping Daniel Vettori to substitute Arun Karthik, fielding in place of an injured Cheteswar Pujara.

Klinger joined McCullum back in the hut, playing all over a Chris Gayle delivery to have his stumps rattled. Much was expected of Jayawardene, but the captain was snaffled behind the wicket by AB de Villiers off the canny Vettori.

Parthiv Patel made things worse by having himself run out by an acrobatic de Villiers.

Last match hero Brad Hodge and Ravindra Jadeja, however, managed to steady the rocking ship briefly with a 16-run partnership. But RCB, clad in pastel green to support environment issues, had the match under their command by the 15th over, leaving the Tuskers struggling for oxygen at 95 for five.

The Tuskers just could not get off the rack and eventually settled for a modest total in their allotted 20 overs.

Source: NDTV Cricket

It all looks perfect when someone sketches it on the blackboard, below the big bold ‘Game Theory’ title:

You two blokes try and hit a few in the first ten; then everyone take a deep breath, settle down, no risks, doesn’t matter if the runs don’t come, we keep wickets in hand, then we take the power play and in the last ten, our batting depth kicks in and we smash the ball out of the park, add 100-and-plenty…

Guptill and Brendan McCullum seemed to have got the first bit right. A couple of balls from Malinga in the first over, pitched a bit short, failed to come up more than waist high. Righto, said Guptill; taking a nice stride into the ball, he cracked the Lankan quick for a four off the fifth ball, and then with Brendan McCullum, moved the score along to 29/0 at the end of six.

A minor victory was won along the way. Realizing that the wicket (the same one used in the quarters against England, dehydrated and devoid of live) had nothing in it for his premier bowler, Kumar Sangakkara had taken Malinga off after just the one over.

And then McCullum, whose World Cup has been particularly undistinguished, attempted a repeat of the slog sweep he had pulled off against Herath an over earlier; this time, the ball was fuller and quicker, it went through the shot and onto the stumps.

In came Ross Taylor, wielding his bat in gentle pacifist arcs, while at the other end Guptill lost his initial rapture. Anchors were dropped at either end – this would be the ‘consolidation phase’ spelt out on the blackboard – and the Sri Lankan bowlers, never shy to refuse such invitations, went about running out the clock on the Kiwi innings.

The Kiwis progressed, if you can call it that, from 20/0 after 5 to 38/1 in ten; 60/1 in 15 and, in bizarre fashion, added another 14 to go to 74/2 in 20 (Another way to look at it is, 43 dot balls in the first 10 overs; 58 at the end of 15; 77 not scored off after 20). The Lankan bowling, with Kumar rotating his spinners around, was good – but the Premadasa is a large ground, the field mostly stayed back, there was space especially in the V but neither batsman seemed inclined to work the ball around and make the spinners think.

Sub-continental batsmen have this down to a fine art. They play spinners with soft hands, guiding the ball around the park, picking up easy singles, forcing the bowlers to change their lines and then cashing in on mistakes. Unable to do that, Jesse Ryder swung harder and harder. A thumping drive at Muralitharan in the 19th over was stopped at short extra cover; next ball, Ryder swung even harder to a ball that was tossed up a fraction more; it bit, bounced, found the thin edge.

Kumar brought Malinga back in the 21st over looking for some reverse, and the bowler obliged with the kind of over that is scary even through the filter of the television screen – fast, swinging viciously through the air, and homing in always to the base of the stumps, one such being too good for Guptill.

At the 25 over mark, the Kiwis were 93/3. In other words, neither had they put runs on the board, nor conserved wickets. Significantly, with 25 more overs to bowl, Kumar had at his disposal seven from Malinga, and 5 each of Herath, Mendis and Murali – in other words, 22 overs.

Just when the game was beginning to look one-sided, Scott Styris turned the clock back. The 35-year-old had gone through six previous innings to scrape together a grand total of 85 runs, never looking convincing. Here, he played as if he were coming off sequential hundreds: cover driving and then straight driving Malinga in the 26th with such ease, Kumar pulled his quick off the firing line.

The Ryder-Ross Taylor partnership was, finally, the Kiwis getting a foot in the door, and slowly nudging it open. They took singles, they found the boundaries just often enough to force the Lankans back on their heels, and they stitched together a 7-run partnership at a healthy 4.7 (Styris, the more energetic of the two, contributed 47 to Taylor’s 25) that took the Kiwis to 161/3 at the end of 39.

Taylor’s wicket off the first ball of the 40th over seemed one of those blessings in thin disguise – though he had resisted the Lankan bowlers, his 36 in 54 deliveries was weighing down one end of the innings – his dismissal meant that the heavy hitters could come in and – remember the blackboard – start the planned acceleration.

The batting power play was taken in the 42nd over; the plan seemed to be working just a treat when Kane Williamson, who had hinted at class with a lovely pick-up clip off Malinga over midwicket, showed his mates how it is done, even against a bowler of Murali’s class. In the 43rd, he first waltzed out delightfully and played a controlled chip over the head of midwicket. Reading the ace spinner with ease, he waited back in his crease for the next ball, predictably bowled quicker and dragged down, and slapped it square for back to back boundaries.

21 runs came off the first two PP overs and the force seemed to be with the Kiwis even when Williamson, in an excess of exuberance, walked across the stumps and got nailed in front by a Malinga yorker he tried to flick on the on. A wristy flick for six by Nathan McCullum off Murali in the next over saw the offie, bowling his final spell on home soil, go for 12. 45 overs gone, Kiwis 204/5 and seemingly headed for a 245-255 score that could have proved challenging.

And then it all went west. A swipe at Malinga saw McCullum edge behind, and signal the start of a procession – from 204-5 to 217 all out. It was batting of the most atrocious – the plan may have been for the heavy hitters to throw the bat around, but the canny Lankan bowlers knew when to hold the ball back, when to throw it wide, when to arrow it into the stumps. Bowling tight against batsmen looking to attack them is the USP of the Lankan bowlers, and those skills were in full view here as the Kiwis crashed and burned.

The report thus far might give the impression that it was all about what the Kiwis did, or did not do: they batted slow, then batted fast, then collapsed. Not so – the Lankans turned in a signature performance with the ball and in the field. That they were not challenged is hardly their fault – without exception they stuck to their disciplines, and if one of them began to get tap, there was always another bowler, of another type, to come along and read the riot act. The Lankans are easily the best fielding side in the sub-continent; if they didn’t as a unit hit their usual high standards, they didn’t fluff any the way they had in the last game, and Dilshan had an outstanding day out, fielding either square on the off, or straight within the circle and produce some magnificent saves.

Low though the wicket was playing, 218 was never going to test the strong Sri Lankan batting on home turf. The Kiwis’ best hope of making a fight of it was to bowl with discipline at the start, keep the Lankan openers from breaking free, and put the game in holding pattern till the ball got older and softer, the spinners came into their own, and pressure began to build.

Instead, they came out and bowled rubbish – the seamers in particular operating as if they had a sign on their backs reading ‘Keep the pitch clean – deposit trash outside the boundary.’

Tim Southee was the main culprit, bowling both sides of the wicket and hitting the short length too often. On a pitch where such deliveries sat up and begged, Dilshan pulled with intent and power. Southee dropped shorter, Dilshan hit harder. (When Oram in the 24th over dropped short and Dilshan contemptuously pulled him over square leg to get to 45 off 66, four of his five boundaries and his lone six had all come on the on side, off short balls).

Lanka was 59/1 after 12. Southee had bowled 4 of those, and contributed 27; it didn’t help that Nathan McCullum, given the new ball (why, against spin-happy Lankans?), was equally ineffective (4-0-18-0). Such bowling, in defense of a small total, took the pressure right off the Lankans.

The only wicket to fall was Tharanga, who got a rank bad ball from Southee – short, wide of off – and smashed it towards the point boundary, only for Jesse Ryder to defy both his weight and the laws of gravity, fling himself to his left at point and pull off the sort of catch you watch endlessly on replay, and still don’t believe can be attempted.

Dilshan and Sangakkara then set about shepherding the chase. Though the Kiwis sporadically slowed things down with the odd good over (courtesy Vettori and McKay in particular), their normally razor sharp fielding cracked under the pressure, mistakes proliferated, the support bowlers were cannon fodder to a pair of batsmen reveling in the form of their lives. And as the target got huge chunks chipped off it, the short ball epidemic began affecting even the likes of Vettori himself.

The course of the chase was best mapped through Kiwi bowling coach Allan Donald’s expressions. Early on, he was on the boundary, talking to the bowler who had just finished an over, gesticulating, exhorting. By the halfway mark, he was reduced to shaking his head in undisguised disgust.

Just when it seemed as if the imperious Dilshan, and the silken Sangakkara, would race to the target with humiliating ease, the game turned. The catalysts always existed – the slow pitch made trickier as the ball gets softer and makes the batsman wait on his shots, to name just one.

From a cruise at 160/1, Dilshan gave Southee his second wicket, and Ryder his second catch, in a dismissal that mirrored that of his opening partner – slapping a short ball outside off straight to point, overhitting the ball in his eagerness. In came Mahela and out he went, playing down the wrong line and being nailed plumb by Vettori. Sangakkara, till then epitomizing calm assurance, played a wild upper cut at a short ball outside off from McKay and found third man – and suddenly, Lanka had slid to 164/4; the Kiwis began buzzing around in the field in a manner reminiscent of the closing stages of their game against South Africa, and Lanka’s untested middle order faced music not to their liking.

Barring the implosion against Pakistan, the Dilshan-Tharanga-Sangakkara combine had managed all along to hide the big secret: a middle order as shaky as badly set souffle. Thilan Samaraweera proved to have a bat made exclusively of edges; Chamara Silva needed 10 deliveries to get off the mark with an edge down to third man, and all things seemed possible as the Kiwi bowlers finally discovered their mojo (and Donald his smile).

Followed a remarkable passage of play, featuring full blown panic by the Lankans, and an energetic, committed display by a Kiwi unit suddenly realizing that the finals berth they had fallen short of so many times before was a possibility after all. Dilshan fell to the 4th ball of the 32nd over; the score then was 161/2. From then, till the 41st over, SL progressed to 176/4 – a total of 15 runs in 50 deliveries.

Chamara Silva broke the spell in the 42nd over, first piercing the seemingly impenetrable field with a cover drive off Ryder, then nudging the next ball down to the third man fence. And off the first ball of the next over, he fell, swinging hard at a Southee delivery to get an inner edge back onto his stumps.

By then it was pure nerves. Samaraweera slog-swept Ryder for four; the Kiwis fielded badly and threw worse to give four, all-run, in the next over. 22 to get, five overs to get them in, and the batting power play was mandatorily taken – not that it made much difference to the Kiwis, who ever since Sangakkara’s departure had been keeping six men inside the ring anyway.

McKay, till then supremely economical, let one fly down the leg side for a wide plus four. Next ball, McKay got his radar back and angled one past Mathews’ outer edge. It seemed to touch something; the umpire turned down the appeal for caught behind and was upheld on the review (There is no snickometer, no hot spot – that leaves the decision to the third umpire’s naked eye, and unless the ball was biting a chunk out of the bat, he wasn’t going to see anything his on field colleague didn’t).

Relieved to be still standing, Mathews – injured, and with Jayawardene running for him – greeted Southee in the 47th over with a heave over long on for six, followed by a lofted straight drive for four. The two counter-punches put the Kiwis on the mat; it was just a matter of finishing it off. At which one umpire forgot how many balls there were in an over, at the other end the other umpire called dead ball thanks to premature fireworks even as Samaraweera hit what he thought were the winning runs…It was all very messy, but in the end, Samaraweera sealed it. Perhaps it was appropriate that the winning run was an outer edge that neatly bisected the keeper and slip.

Sri Lanka is in the final, with the bonus of having gotten a good scare that should wake them right up to the hidden danger, just in time for remedial action. The Kiwis are out of the tournament, yet again at the semi finals stage – and have a long flight back home to rue the seven deliveries they failed to play out in their own innings, and consider what may have been.

PostScript: A wicket (Pragyan Ojha) with the last ball he bowled in Test cricket. A wicket (Scott Styris) with his last ball in ODIs on home soil.

Channeling PG Wodehouse, I’d like to be included in the list of ’100 people who asked, Who writes his scripts?’

Source: Prem Panicker, Yahoo Cricket

Sri Lanka openers Upul Tharanga and Tillakaratne Dilshan delivered a one-day batting masterclass to set up a World Cup semi-final with New Zealand.

Tharanga and man of the match Dilshan made light of England’s 229 for six by completing a 10-wicket triumph in 39.3 overs at Colombo’s R Premadasa Stadium, where they will return to for Tuesday’s last-four game.

Dilshan finished on 108 from 115 balls, featuring 10 fours and two sixes, before Tharanga completed victory with his 12th four to go to 102 from 122 deliveries, including one maximum.

The first-wicket pair, who shared a 282-run alliance in the group victory over Zimbabwe, occasionally lived dangerously but prospered from an attacking approach at odds with England’s conservative effort, forced on them by Sri Lanka’s tight bowling.

Only Jonathan Trott came to terms with an attack boasting three spinners and he could afford few risks after England slipped to 31 for two.

Trott continued his outstanding winter form, taking his World Cup run-tally to 422 – the most in the competition, with 86 from 115 deliveries. The number three batsman negotiated searing afternoon heat, sharing a steady half-century stand with Ravi Bopara and a swift one with Eoin Morgan.

Morgan’s alliance with Trott was the only period during which England scored freely. Their first 100 runs occupied 28 overs in contrast to 19 for Sri Lanka. While England’s second came from a little more than 18, Tharanga and Dilshan had little difficulty in bettering that.

England were unfortunate that several outstanding deliveries, notably from Graeme Swann, were not rewarded and the chances Sri Lanka offered were not regulation. The hosts, however, could only blame themselves for the lives they gifted England.

Dublin-born Morgan enjoyed the luck of the Irish, reprieved four times including three drops, en route to 50 from 55 balls. His departure early in the batting powerplay cost England momentum and they fell short of the score they had threatened.

Andrew Strauss earlier won a seemingly important toss and announced an unchanged side – meaning Tim Bresnan had overcome a calf injury – and Kumar Sangakkara revealed one alteration with Rangana Herath playing in place of seamer Nuwan Kulasekara.

Ian Bell, promoted to open in place of Matt Prior, neatly clipped Lasith Malinga off his pads for four in the first over to reach 3,000 ODI runs and did the bulk of the early scoring as Strauss struggled against the lack of pace.

Strauss’ laboured innings ended when he misjudged an attempted pull off part-time spinner Dilshan to be bowled for five from 19 deliveries.

Bell followed in the next over, chipping Angelo Mathews to midwicket on 25, as England only managed 32 from the first 10 overs.

Bopara and Trott negotiated the immediately-taken bowling powerplay despite optimistic stumping appeals against both off Ajantha Mendis.

Herath failed with an lbw review against Bopara, who along with Trott eked out runs without finding the boundary. Their half-century alliance came from 83 balls.

They successfully negotiated Muttiah Muralitharan for four overs until Bopara, on 31, attempted to sweep only to be trapped in front by a full delivery, despite a hapless review.

Morgan struck England’s first boundary for 17 overs, chipping Malinga over cover, and a flurry of fours followed including Trott’s first – from his 65th ball – which made him the competition’s leading scorer.

Morgan was gifted his first life on 16 when Thilan Samaraweera put down a sitter off Mendis, coming in from the cover boundary. The left-hander soon reached 2,000 ODI runs and his fifty-partnership with Trott came from just 48 balls.

Sri Lanka surprisingly opted not to review a leg before appeal when Malinga struck Morgan in front on 29 – replays showed it was out – and he was soon put down twice in three balls off the exasperated Muralitharan by Mathews on the cover boundary and Herath at point.

Morgan’s luck ran out in the 43rd over – the first of the batting powerplay – when Mathews, coming off the cover rope, held on off Malinga. Swann, sent in as a pinch-hitter, lasted just one ball before he was trapped in front by Mendis attempting to reverse-sweep.

With the five overs of fielding restrictions only yielding 23 runs, Trott was held on the square-leg boundary off Muralitharan who struggled with his injured hamstring in the penultimate over. Prior’s unbeaten 22 at better than a run a ball was a welcome late shot in the arm for England.

Tharanga made an early statement of intent, lifting Swann – who opened the bowling alongside Bresnan – down the ground for six, but Dilshan rode his luck against the swinging new ball. Tharanga survived on 32 going for a similar shot off James Tredwell when Chris Tremlett pulled out of a tricky catch at long-off.

Having delayed taking the bowling powerplay, Tredwell and Luke Wright briefly stemmed the runs until Dilshan smashed the former for a maximum over long-off, reopening the floodgates.

Dilshan and Tharanga reached 50 in quick succession before the latter survived tough caught and bowled chances against Tremlett on 58 and 60.

Strauss finally took the bowling powerplay in the 29th over and Sri Lanka’s openers responded by upping the ante further with 40 coming from it.

Dilshan was relentless, sweeping Swann for six to the longest boundary on the ground and cutting the spinner for four to register his hundred. Dilshan, batting with a runner due to cramp, then reigned himself in to allow Tharanga to follow him to a century with a cover-driven four off Tremlett.

Source: ECB

Tillakaratne Dilshan smashed 144 before taking 4-4 to help Sri Lanka beat Zimbabwe by 139 runs and reach the World Cup quarter-finals on Thursday.

Together with fellow opener Upul Tharanga, who hit a career-best 133, Dilshan put on a new World Cup opening stand of 282 to guide Sri Lanka to an imposing 327-6 before a packed 30,000 crowd at Pallekele stadium.

Zimbabwe made a fighting reply with Brendon Taylor (80) and Regis Chakabva (35) through a solid 116-run start before the innings fell apart, as they lost their last their last nine wickets for just 63 runs.

Dilshan, who bettered his previous best of 4-29 against India at Dambulla in 2005, also became the 11th all-rounder, and the second Sri Lankan behind Sanath Jayasuriya, to score a hundred and take four wickets in an ODI.

The result meant Sri Lanka, with seven points from five matches in Group A, become the first side to enter the last eight.

New Zealand, with six points from four matches, Pakistan (six from four) and defending champions Australia (five from three) are virtually certain of filling the three other qualifying places from the group.

“Dilshan has that magic touch with bat, ball and on the field,” said Sri Lanka skipper Kumar Sangakkara, who also praised Muttiah Muralitharan who took 3-34 on his last appearance in his home town of Kandy.

“Murali is a champion, and that’s why he is rated the best in the world. When the tough times come, he stands up.”

Man of the match Dilshan said: “This is the best match of my career. I think everyone’s performing well, we are in a good position.”

Sri Lanka owed their total to Dilshan and Tharanga who set the ball rolling after they were put into bat on a batting-friendly pitch, just failing to beat the world record first wicket stand of 286 runs.

Tharanga, who also featured in a that stand, with Jayasuriya against England at Leeds in 2006, hit his 10th one-day hundred, while Dilshan notched his ninth, and second in the World Cup.

Their stand was also the fourth highest partnership for any wicket in ODI history.

Dilshan, 34, smashed one six and 16 boundaries during his attractive 131-ball knock, cutting loose as early as in the second over, hitting paceman Tinashe Panyangara for three boundaries and a six.

The 26-year-old left-hander Tharanga, whose previous best of 120 came against England at Lord’s in 2006, hit 17 boundaries during his 141-ball innings, as both the openers batted without trouble.

Dilshan reached his hundred with a quick single towards cover off Elton Chigumbura, taking 95 balls to reach the three-figure as a capacity 30,000 gave him a standing ovation.

In the 33rd over, Tharanga hit Tinashe Panyangara for another boundary to create a new World Cup record for the first wicket, beating the 194 set by Pakistan’s Saeed Anwar and Wajahatullah Wasti, against New Zealand at Manchester in 1999.

Tharanga soon joined Dilshan as century maker when he drove Raymond Price towards extra-cover to reach his first World Cup hundred.

Tharanga was the first to go, miscuing a drive off paceman Christopher Mpofu in the 45th over, while Dilshan fell to a lofted shot off spinner Prosper Utseya in the next.

Mpofu then chipped in with wickets of Mahela Jayawardene (nine), Angelo Mathews (nought) and Chamara Silva (four) to finish with 4-64 in an otherwise hapless Zimbabwean bowling show.

Sri Lanka now face New Zealand in their last match in Mumbai on March 18 which will decide where they finish in the group.

Zimbabwe, with two points from four matches, can still make it to the quarters (on better net run-rate) if they win their last two matches, the first of which is against Pakistan on Monday and the next against Kenya on March 20.

Source: Yahoo Cricket