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Sri Lanka thrash England to enter semis along with West Indies

October 2, 2012

Sri_Linga

Lasith Malinga blew away the England top-order by dismissing three batsmen in a single over as Sri Lanka defeated the defending champions by 19 runs in their last Super Eight match to qualify for the semifinals of the World Twenty20 along with the West Indies, here today.

England needed to chase the 170-run target in less than 13 overs to qualify for the semifinals but paceman Malinga's performance (5/31) made it a lop-sided affair.
England ended 150 for nine through a fighting 67-run knock from Samit Patel and and his 51-run stand for the eighth wicket with Greame Swann (34).

Sri Lanka's win pushed England out of the tournament since they had just one win from three Super Eight matches in Group I while the Caribbean side had two.

The West Indies had edged past New Zealand in a thrilling match early in the day to keep themselves in the hunt.

None of the Sri Lanka batsmen played a big knock but they rode on a collective batting effort to reach a competitive 169 for six.


Mahela Jayawardene (42), Angelo Mathews (28) and Jeevan Mendis (18) got good starts but could not convert those into big innings after the hosts were sent in to bat.

Thisra Perera (25 not out) and Lahiru Thirimanne (13) blasted some big shots towards the end to lift the side to a fighting total.

But Malinga's sensational over -- third of the innings -- in which he scalped Luke Wright (13), Jonny Bairstow (2) and Alex Hales (3), took it away from them.

England were reeling at 18 for three in three overs and never recovered from that shock start.

Malinga added wickets of Jos Butler and Patel later in the innings while spinner Akila Dananjaya contributed in the win of his side by dismissing Eoin Morgan (10) and Broad (1).

Broad (3/32) and Swann (2/26) did well for England in the second half of the Lankan innings as both of them got wickets in successive balls to keep the side in hunt.


Interestingly, Kumar Sangakkara led Sri Lanka today in place of regular skipper Jayawardene.

Earlier, of the two pacemen, who opened England's attack, Steven Finn (1/23) was very effective as he swung the ball impressively and had Tillakaratane Dilshan (16) trapped early.

The strip offered bounce to the pacers and Finn, who has bowled the most dot balls in the tournament, did trouble the Sri Lankan openers.

Dilshan and Jayawardene though adjusted well, hitting a six each off Jade Dernbach in the fourth over. He though, was unlucky as Swann had dropped Dilshan in his very first over.

Jayawardene and Sangakkara carried forward the good start but England were not taking the chances their bowlers created as now Bairstow grassed a Sangakkara catch off Swann.


The hosts reached a comfortable 74 for one at half-way mark with Jayawardene contributing 42 of them.

Swann though turned it around for England by dismissing both Jayawarderne and Sangakkara in successive balls.

Eoin Morgan pulled off a splendid catch to send back Jayawardene, whose low and flat shot was well taken in the in midwicket region and Sangakkara was caught behind next ball.


New-man in Jeevan though was hardly perturbed as he swept and then reverse-swept Swann for two consecutive boundaries in the same over. Mathews too started off well by scoring two boundaries of Broad.

The two batsmen hit a six each off Samit Patel as Sri Lanka reached 121 for three in 15 overs.

Broad removed Mendis and Mathews off successive balls to yet again tilt the issue in the favour of his side. But Perera's 16-ball cameo brought Sri Lanka to a respectable total.



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Agencies
July 28,2020

New Delhi, Jul 28: 'Your character stood out for me than the number of runs you scored," said India skipper Virat Kohli while explaining his decision to give opening Mayank Agarwal a Test debut in the 2018-19 Australia series.

Mayank Agarwal had made his Test debut against Australia in the third Test of the four-match series.

Playing the third Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, Agarwal managed to register a half-century in his very first innings in the longest format.

"I had seen you play for RCB, even then you played international bowlers with conviction and you would take them on. You were performing in first-class matches in a dominating way. That is something always stood out with you, I would say your character stood out for me than the number of runs. I knew you would be fearless without having any baggage," Kohli told Mayank Agarwal in a video posted on the official website of BCCI.

In the longest format of the game, Agarwal has managed to score 974 runs from 11 matches at an average of 57.29 with three centuries as an opening batsman.

The Indian skipper also explained as to what makes him notice in a player and added that it is important that guys in the team look to face new challenges and emerge triumphantly.

"For me, the biggest marker is how a person approaches the game, so for example when you opened and we made Vihari open with you. The first opportunity we presented Vihari to open the batting, he said yes to it and that matters me to the most," Kohli said.

"I opened in my first series for India, I said yes to this opportunity and things worked out fine for me. So, a guy who wants to get into tough situations will come out either holding his head high or learning from his mistakes," he added.

Kohli and Mayank would soon be seen in action for Royal Challengers Bangalore and Kings XI Punjab respectively in the Indian Premier League (IPL) starting from September 19 in the UAE.

The comparisons between Kohli and Sachin Tendulkar keep on growing and many have picked the current Indian skipper to break the records set by Tendulkar.

Tendulkar called time on his career after registering 100 international centuries, while Kohli currently has 70 centuries across all formats.

At present, Kohli is ranked at the top spot in the ICC ODI rankings while he is in the second place in Tests rankings. Kohli has so far played 86 Tests, scoring 7,240 runs with 27 centuries at an average of 53.62.

His knock of 254 against South Africa at Pune in 2019 remains his highest Test score to date. When it comes to ODIs, the current Indian skipper has played 248 matches and has 43 centuries.

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News Network
June 6,2020

New Delhi, Jun 6: Former West Indies pacer Michael Holding has come out in support of MS Dhoni, saying that the wicket-keeper batsman indeed wanted to win the match against England in the 2019 World Cup.

India's performance in the World Cup match against England last year has once again become a matter of debate as all-rounder Ben Stokes in his book titled 'On Fire' questioned the intent of the Indian side.

Stokes also said that Dhoni's intent was questionable as he did not go for big shots when India still had a chance to win the match.

However, Holding said that nowadays people tend to write anything in their books.

"Well, people will write anything in books these days, because people are a lot more free with their opinions and when they are writing books, they need to be making headlines at times," Holding said on his official YouTube channel.

"But, to be honest, a lot of people watching that game perhaps wouldn't have arrived to the same conclusion that Ben Stokes arrived at that India were not trying to win," he added.

Holding did say that it seemed like that India did not have the same intensity as they would have had if the match was a do-or-die match.

"It was not the game that India had to win, but I don't think anyone can say that was a team tactic to lose the game. I watched that game and it appeared to me as if India weren't putting up their 100 per cent, but I realised it was not the case when the expression on MS Dhoni's face told me that he desperately wanted to win, so I do not think it was a team decision to not try to win," the former Windies pacer said.

"But I don't think they went with the same intensity of wanting to win the game, say, if it was a do-or-die situation. If it was, we would have seen a different game," he added.

On his official YouTube channel, Holding also said that no team goes in with a set pattern in terms of chasing targets.

In the round-robin stage match against England in Birmingham, India failed to chase down the massive target of 338 and fell short by 31 runs.

That was the only game that India lost in the premier tournament last year before the semifinal loss against the Kiwis.

India's chasing approach, in particular of wicket-keeper batsman Dhoni, was criticised by many, including the fans at home.

As soon as Stokes mentioned Dhoni's lack of intent in his book 'On Fire', Pakistan fans started saying that India deliberately lost the match to knock out their neighbours.

However, Stokes clarified that he never said India lost deliberately and some people were twisting his words.

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News Network
February 4,2020

Feb 4: India captain Virat Kohli on Tuesday said the death of NBA legend Kobe Bryant in a helicopter crash has impacted his outlook towards life, which he feels, is sometimes taken for granted in pursuit of control over the future.

Bryant, a two-time Olympic gold-medallist and one of the most decorated basketball players of all time, died in a helicopter crash last month along with his 13-year-old daughter Gianna, who was also a budding hoopster.

"Firstly, it was a shock to everyone. I grew up watching those NBA games in the morning and watching what he did on court. But when someone that you have looked up to in some ways, passes away like that, it does put things in perspective," Kohli said on the eve of the first ODI against New Zealand here.

"...at the end of the day, life can be so fickle. It's so unpredictable. I think a lot of the times we get too caught up in the pressures of what we have to do tomorrow...we really forget living life and enjoying life and just appreciating and being grateful for the life we have," he added.

Kohli said a tragedy like this makes one realise that nothing can be more important than enjoying every moment of existence.

"...it did put things in perspective for me massively. It just makes you feel like not wanting to have control of things in front of you all the time, and just embracing life and appreciating it.

"You start looking at things from a different point of view suddenly and you want to enjoy every moment you're going through. You realise that what you're doing at the end of the day is not the most important thing. The most important thing is life itself," Kohli signed off.

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