1st ODI: India beat Sri Lanka by three runs, lead series 1-0

RAJKOT: India
posted their highest-ever One-day total of 414 but a rampaging Sri Lanka very nearly pulled off a sensational victory before losing their way in the fag end to give the hosts a narrow three-run victory in a high-scoring thriller on Tuesday.

After the Indians rattled up 414 of 7 built around Virender Sehwag’s
146, Tillkaratne Dilshan (160) and Kumar Sangakkara (90 off 43 balls) launched a ruthless assault but the Indian bowlers held their nerve to eventually scamper home and give the home team a 1-0 lead in the five-match series.

The Madhav Rao Scindia stadium turned out to be a batting paradise with over 825 runs being scored and India would consider themselves a trifle lucky to escape with a win despite the sloppy fielding and the erratic bowling.

It was only the second time that more than 800 runs were scored in a One-day match. The match between Australia and South Africa in Johannesburg in 2006 had produced 872 runs which is the highest so far.

The islanders needed 22 runs off 19 balls with five wickets intact in the tense dying moments of the game but Angelo Mathews and Thilina Kandamby got a little jittery and were unable to take their team to victory. The Lankans scored 411 for eight.

Apart from Sehwag’s blistering knock, captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni (72) and Sachin Tendulkar (69) were the other notable contributors in India’s record total.

The Indians were guilty of dropping three catches, two of them sitters, and the ground fielding also left much to be desired. They had dropped as many as ten catches in the two Twenty20 matches.

The two teams will now travel to Nagpur for the second game to be played under flooodlights on Friday.
The Lankan run chase began with a flourish as the two openers Tillakaratne Dilshan and Upul Tharanga (67) tore the Indian bowling attack to shreds on a good batting strip.

None of the Indians bowlers could manage to stop the run flow in the early stages as both the batsmen unleashed a barrage of strokes.

Tharanga got a reprieve when he was on ten with Virat Kohli dropping a sitter at the point region much to the dismay of his teammates who have suddenly developed the habit of dropping catches far too often.

Dilshan and Tharanga put on a rollicking 188-run opening partnership to provide the flatform for the mammoth run chase.

Part-timer Suresh Raina provided the breakthrough when Tharanga stepped out but missed the line and Dhoni whipped off the bails behind the stumps.

Captain Kumar Sangakkara joined the action after Tharanga’s dismissal and immediately got into the act by going after the bowlers with a fine exhibition of strokeplay.

Sangakkara notched up his 50th half century in quick time as the two experienced player brought the asking rate down and took the islanders closer to the victory target.

The Lankan captain seemed to be in ominous form and was nearing his century when he mistimed his pull and Ravindra Jadeja held on to a simple catch at the fence off Pravin Kumar. His 90 came off just 43 balls and contained ten fours and five sixes.

The vastly experienced Sanath Jayasuriya, who came in at the number four slot, did not survive long as he fell to Harbhajan Singh.

Harbhajan struck a vital blow in his last over by getting rid of Dilshan, who stepped out but missed the line completely to see his off-stump knocked down.

Mahela Jayawardene was run out a couple of overs later and Sri Lanka were in a spot of bother as they slipped to 345 for five from a comfortable 316 for one.

Earlier, India surpassed their previous best total of 413 for five which they made against Bermuda at Port of Spain during the 2007 World Cup.

Sehwag, who took a heavy toll of the Lanka bowlers in the Tests, was unstoppable after a cautious beginning and made a career-best 146 in just 102 balls with 17 fours and six sixes.

Sehwag and Tendulkar, who played the perfect foil to make a fine 63-ball 69 with 10 fours and a six before being bowled by Dilhara Fernando, laid a solid foundation with a 153-run partnership after Lanka captain Kumar Sangakkara opted to field first on winning the toss.

After Tendulkar’s departure in the 20th over, Sehwag and Dhoni (72 off 53 balls) got involved in a splendid 156-run partnership for the second wicket to take India past the 300-mark in the 35th over.

India team:
Sachin Tendulkar, Zaheer Khan, Harbhajan Singh, Ashish Nehra, Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, MS Dhoni, Suresh Raina, Praveen Kumar, Virat Kohli, Ravindra Jadeja

Sri Lanka team:
Sanath Jayasuriya , Mahela Jayawardene , Kumar Sangakkara, Dilhara Fernando, Thilan Samaraweera, Tillakaratne Dilshan , WU Tharanga , Nuwan Kulasekara, Chanaka Welegedara, Thilina Kandamby, Angelo Mathews

India face daunting task against Sri Lanka in 2nd T20

MOHALI: Stung by the flop show in the first game, India have plenty of repair work to do as they go into the second Twenty20 match against SriLanka on Saturday with the acute drop in fielding and bowling standards being a worrying factor.

The Indians put up a pathetic performance in all departments of the game to lose the first match by 29 runs in Nagpur and Mahendra Singh Dhoniand his men have a tough task at hand to level the series 1-1.

Nothing went right for the hosts in Nagpur and seldom does a top international cricket team go into a game worrying about so many factors.

If the fielding was poor, the batting and bowling also left much to be desired and the team management may opt for a couple of changes in the playing eleven for tomorrow’s floodlit contest at the PCA stadium.

Paceman S Sreesanth, who missed the first match because of diarrhea, is expected to return to the team in place of Bengal speedster Ashok Dinda who made his debut in Nagpur.

The Indians may also contemplate leaving out Yusuf Pathan who has not been able to make a significant contribution off late despite his immense talent.

The visitors, on the other hand, will go into the contest in a positive frame of mind after their convincing victory in Nagpur where captain Kumar Sangakkara led from the front with a blistering 37-ball 78.

The Lankans have swashbucklers like Sanath Jayasuriya and Tillakaratne Dilshan at the top of the order and the duo can tear any bowling attack to pieces when on song.

They have the experienced Mahela Jayawardene in the middle order to steady the ship in case there are early jolts while Chamara Kapugedera and Angelo Mathews can be quite destructive down the line-up.

World’s highest wicket-taker Muttiah Muralitharan had to sit out of the first match due to a finger injury and it remains to be seen whether the wily off spinner will be fit to take the field.

Dhoni is a trifle concerned about India’s poor run in the shortest format of the game and his keen to put a halt to the sequence of defeats.

“Unfortunately we are not being able to get into the groove when we play Twenty20 Internationals before One-day series. We made the mistake of taking them (Twenty20 matches) as warm-up games before One-day matches,” Dhoni said.

“We don’t actually think of these Twenty 20 matches as international matches. I am not sure about this but the statistics shows that (we are not doing well),” he added.

The Indian fielding has been a big let down and the new fielding consultant Mike Young has an enormous task at hand to ensure that catches are held and no extra runs are given because of mis-fields.

“We are not one of the best fielding sides in the world but we are also not known to drop too many catches. Of course, the dropped catches hurt us in the first match,” Dhoni pointed out.

The islanders, on the other hand, have done well by not allowing the 2-0 Test drubbing dent their morale and the presence of some fresh players seems to have rejuvenated the team.

“It is a new format and there are fresh faces who are One-day specialists in the team, ready to stand up and be counted. The win in Nagpur has lifted the morale of the team”, Sri Lankan captain Sangakkara said.

“Of course, we will start from the scratch in the One-day series but a win always makes you happy, we would want to carry on the momentum in Mohali,” he said.

The toss can turn out to be crucial as dew is expected to play a part in the match at this time of the year. The team winning the toss may avoid bowling second as the dew will make it difficult to grip the ball.

The Mohali track is known to offer some pace and bounce to the bowlers and it is not going to be any different this time around.

“There is going to be something for the bowlers under the present conditions, but overall it will be a good wicket with pace and carry,” chief curator, Daljit Singh.

Teams (from):

India: MS Dhoni (C), Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina, Rohit Sharma, Dinesh Karthik, Yusuf Pathan, R Ashwin, Ishant Sharma, Ashish Nehra, S Sreesanth, Ashok Dinda, Sudeep Tyagi, Pragyan Ojha.

Sri Lanka: Kumar Sangakkara (C), Tillakaratne Dilshan, Chinthaka Jayasinghe, Sanath Jayasuriya, Mahela Jayawardene, Chamara Kapugedara, Nuwan Kulasekara, Lasith Malinga, Angelo Mathews, Ajantha Mendis, Muthiah Muralitharan, Muthumudalige Pushpakumara, Dilhara Fernando, Kaushalya Weeraratne, Chanaka Welegedara.

Umpires: S K Tarapore and Sanjay Hazare
Third umpire: Sudhir Ansari
Referee: Jeff Crowe
Match Name: 2nd T20I
Teams: India vs Sri Lanka
Venue: PCA Stadium, Mohali
Time: 1730 IST
Channel: Neo Cricket

Pak players missed the bus, auction their only hope: Modi

Indian Premier League Commissioner Lalit Modi on Thursday said the Pakistani cricketers have missed the deadline for the third IPL and the only way they can be part of the Twenty20 tournament is through the January 19 auction.

Mr. Modi said the Pakistani cricketers missed the bus by failing to get visas by the December 7 deadline and the IPL franchises have already replaced them with fresh recruits.

In such a scenario, the Pakistani cricketers could hope to be part of the event only through the next round of players auction scheduled on January 19.

“On Wednesday all the teams were required to do the replacement strategy and the replacement was allowed for those players who are not going to be part of the squad.

“Unfortunately the teams have already signed their replacements. Kolkata Knight Riders have already replaced Umar Gul with Charl Langeveldt, Misbah-ul-Haq (of Royal Challengers Bangalore) has been replaced by Roelof van der Merwe and there have been replacements in the Rajasthan Royals also. These replacement contracts have already been placed and cannot be reversed,” Mr. Modi said.

The only ray of hope for the Pakistani players, Mr. Modi said, was to come through the next auction.

“There is an option coming up on January 19. If there are spots open, they can then apply for the auction now.

Because you have to go through the process, now the process for applying for auction is by January 1,” he said.

Keywords: IPL, Lalit Modi, Misbah-ul-Haq, Sohail Tanveer, Pakistan players in the IPL, Rajasthan Royals

INDIA VS SriLanka 2009 FIXTURES AND SCHEDULE OF MATCHES

Nagpur: Indian bowlers would find it more difficult than the batsmen to make the switch from the longest to the shortest format of the game, according to Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni.

“It’s (switch) difficult. But if you see we had been scoring at five-an-over in the last Test we played (at Mumbai). I don’t think it would be too difficult for some of the batsmen, especially Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir,” Dhoni said ahead of the first Twenty20 international against Sri Lanka.

“They actually bat in the same way. Just that they are a bit over-aggressive in T20 format, you can say,” he said

Though the bowlers need to roll their arm for only four overs, an enormous effort is involved to do so in the T20 format as the batsmen would go after them from ball one, especially on Indian pitches, he said.

“Most of our players are positive players, looking for strokes and runs. I don’t think you need to change your game too much. Of course a few others need to change according to the requirements.”

“Considering we are playing in India, it would be a bit different for the bowlers, as the batsmen would go after them from the very first ball. It looks to be a small game, just four overs, but the amount of effort that’s needed, that’s what it is all about” he explained.

Dhoni said his team will look to win both the T20 matches.

“We will try our best, it’s a very different format. We have to be up to the mark in everything. It’s important to be right on target. We will try and win both the two T20 games (against Lanka),” he said.

The second match is at Mohali on December 12.

Dhoni hoped to keep it a 100 per cent win record for India at this new venue after having won the Test against Australia last year and again the ODI against the same opponents two months ago.

“We hope to have a 100 per cent strike rate at Nagpur. It will be good for Nagpur and India,” he quipped.

Dhoni felt the wicket looked to be good for stroke playing but also cautioned the quick manner in which things fall apart for a batting side when they are on the look-out for quick runs in T20 games.

“Looks like a good track. It’s a late evening start. We may see dew come into effect. But by the time dew comes in the game may be over. It won’t be that big a factor.”

“Overall it will be good for batting, but in T20 its very tough to predict. All of a sudden you look to go aggressive and lose quite a few wickets at quick intervals and you are not able to get big runs”, he pointed out.

Dhoni said that the two newcomers in the Indian team, Ashok Dinda of Bengal and R Ashwin of Tamil Nadu are bound to benefit by having a close look at what an international game is about by sharing the dressing room.
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