Sri Lanka win Colombo thriller

Sri Lanka win Colombo thriller

 

Angelo Mathews was Sri Lanka's hero as they clinched a thriller with a two-wicket win over Pakistan in the final ODI in Colombo to wrap up a 3-1 series success.

After Imran Farhat and Umar Akmal had both registered half-centuries to help Pakistan reach 247 for seven, the hosts were in trouble on 175 for seven in the 41st over.

But all-rounder Mathews kept his side in the hunt and his sensational 80 not out off 76 balls almost single-handedly dragged Sri Lanka over the line with two balls to spare.

It was tough luck on Pakistan, who set a challenging total after winning the toss.

Farhat, who replaced the 'rested' Younus Khan, gave the visitors a steady platform, striking nine fours in his 63-ball 56.

Pakistan were badly let down by their top order, most of whom made steady contributions but none could go on to convert it into a big score, with Azhar Ali making 30, Asad Shafiq 38 and captain Misbah-ul-Haq 32.

The innings was in danger of falling away but Akmal ensured Pakistan reached a competitive total with a well-controlled knock of 55 not out.

Jeevan Mendis returned figures of two for 30 and although Mathews was wicketless in his 10 overs, he did only concede 41 runs.

Sohail Tanvir then bowled openers Upul Tharanga and Tillakaratne Dilshan to leave Sri Lanka wobbling on 19 for two in reply.

Although Kumar Sangakkara and Dinesh Chandimal put on 78 for the third wicket, the latter was stumped off Shahid Afridi, who then took a return catch from Mahela Jayawardene off the very next ball.

Once Chandimal had departed for 54, Sri Lanka appeared to be struggling.

But Mathews kept the score ticking over and despite losing both Thisara Perera and Lahiru Thirimanne to run outs, he kept his nerve.

With 15 runs required from the final over, Pakistan were still favourites but Mathews thumped Mohammad Sami for six over long-on off the second ball and punched a four through point two balls later to spark scenes of jubilation for Sri Lanka.

Sri Lanka: Tillakaratne Dilshan, Upul Tharanga, Kumar Sangakkara (W), Dinesh Chandimal, Mahela Jayawardena (C), Angelo Mathews, Lahiru Thirimanne, Thisara Perera, Jeewan Mendis, Nuwan Kulasekara, Lasith Malinga

Pakistan: Mohammad Hafeez, Azhar Ali, Imran Farhat, Asad Shafiq, Misbah-ul-Haq (C), Umar Akmal, Shahid Afridi, Sarfraz Ahmed (W), Sohail Tanvir, Umar Gul, Mohammad Sami

Sachin sworn in as Rajya Sabha member

Sachin sworn in as Rajya Sabha member

Sachin Tendulkar on Monday took oath as the member of the Rajya Sabha.

 

The Indian batsman made it clear that his focus would be on cricket and hinted that he would concentrate on Parliament work only after he stops playing the game.

However, he hastened to add that he does not want rumours to swirl that he has stopped playing cricket for Parliament.

"I am here because of my cricketing career. I cannot take any focus away from my cricket. That is where it all started for me. I will focus on my cricket and as and when I stop playing cricket, I don't know when, I will start attending to the other things.

"I don't want rumours to start that I have stopped playing cricket. I will let everyone know when I will stop playing cricket," he said when asked how he would assuage people who raise questions whether he would be able to do justice to the job in Parliament when he is still playing cricket.

Earlier, the 39-year-old Tendulkar took oath as member of the Rajya Sabha in the presence of Chairman Hamid Ansari and Union Ministers Rajiv Shukla, Harish Rawat and V Narayanasamy.

Tendulkar, along with film actor Rekha and industrialist Anu Aga, was nominated as members of the Rajya Sabha by President Pratibha Patil on April 26.

"Cricket comes first," Tendulkar told reporters as he and wife Anjali were chaperoned by Shukla to Rajya Sabha Chairman Hamid Ansari's chamber.

There was much excitement in the corridors of Parliament as a large number of officials gathered outside Ansari's chamber where Tendulkar took oath.

A number of Parliament staffers took out their mobile phones to capture a glimpse of the cricketer.

After taking oath, Tendulkar said it was a great honour for him to be nominated as a Rajya Sabha member by the President.

Tendulkar said the Rajya Sabha nomination has put him in better position to help not only cricket but also other sports in the country.

On apprehensions that he would not be able to devote much time to Parliament, Tendulkar made it clear that he was a nominated member of the Rajya Sabha and had not sought to be a member.

"See, I am a nominee. So, I didn't go to anyone to say that I want to become a Rajya Sabha member. It is an honour which I accept with full respect but I am here because of my cricketing career," he said.

Asked whether Tendulkar's oath was special, Ansari said, "All oaths are the same. All members are same."

Tendulkar said cricket had given him many things in life during the 22 years he has played the game and he had always dreamt of giving something back to cricket in the latter half of his life.

"Whatever I am today is because of cricket and I strongly believe that. Today, with the nomination as Rajya Sabha member, I think I am in a better position not only to help cricket but also other sports in the country which is really important and means a lot to me," he said.

"But I believe there might be a few obstacles and a few challenges along the way. And I need help from my fellow parliamentarians, the administrators, media and our countrymen. I think, together we can make a lot of changes," Tendulkar said.

The cricketer said he would like to be remembered as someone who contributed to all sports in the country and not just by his cricket statistics.

"I would finally like to say that I will be happy if I am remembered as someone who contributed to all sports in India rather than just my cricket statistics. That would be fantastic," Tendulkar said.

Pietersen quits limited-overs cricket

Pietersen quits limited-overs cricket

The England and Wales Cricket Board announced that England batsman Kevin Pietersen has retired from all international limited overs cricket with immediate effect.

By totalsportsindia.in

 

Pietersen's turbulent relationship with the England and Wales Cricket Board has taken one of its most dramatic steps yet, with the batsman's shock retirement from one-day and Twenty20 internationals.

Pietersen, 31, has found himself at the centre of several awkward situations since making his England debut in 2004 but this is arguably the most serious, ending the limited-overs career of the country's most natural ball-striker and bankable star.

Pietersen himself made the decision to withdraw from 50-over cricket but the real intrigue lies in the ECB's decision to effectively retire him from the shorter format against his will.

Pietersen, man of the tournament when England won the World Twenty20 in the West Indies two years ago, wanted to spearhead the defence of the that crown in Sri Lanka later this year but that offer was declined by the board.

They have decided that centrally contracted players must make themselves available for both limited-overs formats or neither and, with no compromise possible, it was announced that Pietersen would continue as a Test specialist only.

It means Pietersen, who has 127 ODIs and 36 T20 caps to his name, departs the scene having hit back-to-back centuries in his last two one-day appearances against Pakistan.

Announcing the news, Pietersen said: "After a great deal of thought and deliberation, I am today announcing my retirement from international one-day cricket.

"With the intensity of the international schedule and the increasing demands on my body, approaching 32, I think it is the right time to step aside and let the next generation of players come through to gain experience for the ICC World Cup in 2015.

"I am immensely proud of my achievements in the one-day game, and still wish to be considered for selection for England in Test cricket.

"For the record, were the selection criteria not in place, I would have readily played for England in the upcoming ICC World Twenty20."

In the absence of any reaction from team director Andy Flower, England cricket's managing director Hugh Morris offered the ECB's take on events.

He put on record the organisations thanks for Pietersen's efforts - which yielded 4184 runs at 41.84 in ODI cricket and 1176 runs at 37.93 in the 20-overs game - but made little attempt to hide a sense of dissatisfaction that the news comes so close to England's World Twenty20 campaign.

"ECB is disappointed by the timing of Kevin's decision less than four months before we defend our ICC World Twenty20 title," said Morris.

"Kevin is a world-class player and I would like to take this opportunity to thank him for his efforts and we look forward to his continued contributions to the Test match side."

Morris also took the chance to offer some rationale for the decision not to consider Pietersen for Twenty20 matches, in spite of his willingness to play.

He added: "As the programming and planning for ODI and T20 format cricket are very closely linked we have a selection policy that means that any player making himself unavailable for either of the one-day formats, rules himself out of consideration for both formats. The selectors will now replace Kevin in both the ODI and the T20 squads."

This ruling has not explicitly acknowledged by the ECB before, with the last senior man to retire from one-dayers being Andrew Strauss, who was already out of the Twenty20 set-up.

Rumours that Pietersen was planning to abandon ODIs can be traced back to the end of the 2011 World Cup but, when asked directly ahead of the first Test last summer he embarked on a long and occasionally tetchy defence of his hunger to perform across the formats.

He went on to play just 13 more ODI matches and six Twenty20s for his adopted country.

Pietersen infamously ended his brief stint as national captain after a rift with then coach Peter Moores became public knowledge in early 2009 and has been involved in other controversies since then.

He was left out of England's one-day squad for the first time due to to poor form in 2010 - a decision he inadvertently announced on Twitter, describing it as a "f*** up". Another Tweet, criticising Sky TV commentator Nick Knight earned him a fine of between £2,000 and £3,000.

He also drew veiled criticism from Flower after leaving last year's World Cup with an injury England medics believed was manageable.

But none of those situations resulted in England losing the services of one of their star performers, and the effects of today's news may only be truly appreciated when the team touch down in Colombo to defend the only ICC global trophy they have ever won.

Euro 2012 Fixture Schedule

Euro 2012 Fixture Schedule

A breakdown of all the matches that will take place at Euro 2012 in Poland and Ulraine next summer.

All match kick-off times are IST.

GROUP STAGES

Group A

Friday, June 8

Warsaw, Group A: Poland v Greece (21:30)

Wroclaw, Group A: Russia v Czech Republic (12:15)

Tuesday, June 12

Wroclaw, Group A: Greece v Czech Republic (21:30)

Warsaw, Group A: Poland v Russia (12:15)

Saturday, June 16

Wroclaw, Group A: Czech Republic v Poland (12:15)

Warsaw, Group A: Greece v Russia (12:15)

Group B

Saturday, June 9

Kharkiv, Group B: Holland v Denmark (21:30)

Lviv, Group B: Germany v Portugal (12:15)

Wednesday, June 13

Lviv, Group B: Denmark v Portugal (21:30)

Kharkiv, Group B: Holland v Germany (12:15)

Sunday, June 17

Kharkiv, Group B: Portugal v Holland (12:15)

Lviv, Group B: Denmark v Germany (12:15)

Group C

Sunday, June 10

Gdansk, Group C: Spain v Italy (21:30)

Poznan, Group C: Republic of Ireland v Croatia (12:15)

Thursday, June 14

Poznan, Group C: Italy v Croatia (21:30)

Gdansk, Group C: Spain v Republic of Ireland (12:15)

Monday, June 18

Gdansk, Group C: Croatia v Spain (12:15)

Poznan, Group C: Italy v Republic of Ireland (12:15)

Group D

Monday, June 11

Donetsk, Group D: France v England (12:15)

Kiev, Group D: Ukraine v Sweden (12:15)

Friday, June 15

Kiev, Group D: Sweden v England (21:30)

Donetsk, Group D: Ukraine v France (12:15)

Tuesday, June 19

Donetsk, Group D: England v Ukraine (12:15)

Kiev, Group D: Sweden v France (12:15)

QUARTER-FINALS

Thursday, June 21

QF1: Warsaw: Winner A v Runner-up B (12:15)

Friday, June 22

QF2: Gdansk: Winner B v Runner-up A (12:15)

Saturday, June 23

QF3: Donetsk: Winner C v Runner-up D (12:15)

Sunday, June 24

QF4: Kiev: Winner D v Runner-up C (12:15)

SEMI-FINALS

Wednesday, June 27

SF1: Donetsk: Winner QF1 v Winner QF3 (12:15)

Thursday, June 28

SF2: Warsaw: Winner QF2 v Winner QF4 (12:15)

FINAL

Sunday, July 1

Kiev: Winner SF1 v Winner SF2 (12:15)

Man City wins BPL title; 1st time in 44 years

Manchester City 3-2 QPR: Aguero and Dzeko strike in injury time to hand Mancini's men Premier League title.

 

Hope seemed to be lost when the visitors took the lead despite Joey Barton's sending-off but the strikers sent fans into raptures with dramatic added-time goals to make history.

Manchester United's celebrations turned to stunned silence on Sunday as players and fans helplessly saw the Premier League title slip out of their grasp in the final few minutes of the season.

United had seemed set to defend its title in unlikely fashion when the final whistle blew in a 1-0 win at Sunderland in the final round, with Manchester City trailing 2-1 to Queens Park Rangers as that game went into added time. But City provided an even unlikelier comeback, scoring twice in the final minutes to snatch the league trophy away from its crosstown rival with a last-gasp 3-2 victory.

"It's a cruel way (to lose the title)," United manager Alex Ferguson said. "We've experienced many ups and downs in the 25 years I've been here, most of them have been great, we've won the title three times on the last day, today we nearly did it.

"I'd like to say on behalf of Manchester United, congratulations to our neighbours -- a fantastic achievement to win the Premier League."

United's players left the pitch in Sunderland with shell-shocked expressions, while the fans looked at each other in disbelief and stood with hands on heads in a bewildered silence.

The top two were level on points going into the final round, and City used its better goal difference to clinch its first title since 1968.

Sunderland manager Martin O'Neill said the result took him back to his time in charge of Scottish club Celtic when he lost the title to derby rival Rangers by a goal difference of just one in 2002.

"It's incredible really," he said. "It's just about the most harrowing thoughts you can have. You immediately start thinking about goals you could have scored during the course of the year ... it's just really unbelievable."

It was also reminiscent in a way of the 1999 Champions League final, when it was United that scored two late goals to secure a 2-1 win over Bayern Munich.

In a Premier League season full of twists and turns, United had led the standings by eight points with six games remaining at the beginning of April after City slumped to a 1-0 loss at Arsenal.

Looking to extend its record haul of league titles to 20 -- including 12 Premier League trophies under Alex Ferguson -- United seemed to have broken City's challenge.

But an unexpected loss at Wigan, followed by a shock 4-4 draw against Everton after throwing away a two-goal lead let City back into the race.

City then won the much-anticipated Manchester derby 13 days ago to edge ahead on goal difference and set up a nailbiting finale.

As the final-day showdown swung into action, United struck the first blow when defender Phil Jones sent a deep cross to the back post in the 20th minute for Wayne Rooney to score with a stooping header.

Early as it was, the goal put United top of the standings and prompted a period of intense pressure, with Sunderland goalkeeper Simon Mignolet punching away a shot from the recalled Ryan Giggs in the 28th.

Rooney almost extended the lead when he curled a free kick onto the crossbar on the half hour mark and then miskicked in front of goal after Young's shot fell to him in the 34th.

Shortly after, news that City had taken the lead against QPR filtered into the stadium, prompting the Sunderland fans to taunt the visitors with chants of "1-0 to the City boys" and suggestions that United would win nothing this season.

United's fans responded by holding up a banner with the number 19 -- the record number of titles won by the club -- while Ferguson chewed his gum pensively on the bench.

"You never know -- you're going to get certain types of reaction from the crowd," Ferguson said. "You have to put that to one side and play your own game. I thought we did quite well."

Sunderland had offered very little attacking threat in the first half and United had the better chances in the second period as Rooney had a shot saved by Mignolet in the 47th.

As time ticked on, events seemed to be favouring United as the away fans learnt of QPR's equalizer at City.

The news got even better for the travelling supporters as QPR took the lead and United almost made the win over Sunderland safe when Mignolet pushed Giggs' shot over the top in the 76th.

As the final whistle blew at the Stadium of Light, United's fans stood nervously waiting for confirmation of City's failure to beat QPR.

Incredibly, that expectation turned sour in the space of just a few minutes as City clawed its way back against QPR with two stoppage-time goals to win and wrest the title from United's grasp.

"We've had so many injuries this season and we have coped with that really well," said Ferguson, who hinted that United's future was bright despite the bitter disappointment. "We've a lot of young players. They'll be around in five, six, seven, 10 years time at Manchester United. The experience is good for them, even if it's a bad one."

The results meant the top two finished level on points for the first time since 1989 when Arsenal snatched the title from Liverpool with a 2-0 win at Anfield in the final game.

 

 

Match 54: MI v RCB

MI v RCB

Match starts 20:00 IST (14:30 GMT)

RCB too haven’t played to their potential so far; they have five wins from 11 matches and are locked in a mid-table scramble for the remaining two playoff spots. AB de Villiers’ sensational innings helped convert what was a lost cause into a spectacular win in their previous match against the Deccan Chargers. That might just be the fillip RCB needed to get going in the tournament. Daniel Vettori’s team will also be aware that they have just one home fixture left and they need to do a lot of damage in their remaining four away games to be among the top four.

Both teams have struggled to justify the lofty reputations with which they came into the tournament. MI haven’t been playing their best cricket, but they will consider themselves lucky to be in the top half of the points table. Harbhajan Singh’s team will come into this contest on the back of three consecutive victories; expect them to be fully pumped up, given their thrilling last-ball win against the Chennai Super Kings in their previous outing.

MI Squad

1. Harbhajan Singh (c)
2. Abu Nechim
3. Aditya Tare
4. Ambati Rayudu
5. Amitoze Singh
6. Apporv Wankhade
7. Dhawal Kulkarni
8. Dinesh Karthik (w)
9. Jaydev Shah
10. Kuldeep Yadav
11. Munaf Patel
12. Pawan Suyal
13. Pragyan Ojha
14. Rahul Shukla
15. Rohit Sharma
16. Sachin Tendulkar
17. Sujit Nayak
18. Suryakumar Yadav
19. Sushant Marathe
20. Tirumalasetti Suman
21. Yuzvendra Chahal
22. Rudra Pratap Singh
23. Aiden Blizzard
24. Clint McKay
25. Davy Jacobs
26. Dwayne Smith
27. James Franklin
28. Kieron Pollard
29. Lasith Malinga
30. Herschelle Gibbs
31. Richard Levi
32. Robin Peterson
33. Thisara Perera

RCB Squad

1. Daniel Vettori (c)
2. Abhimanyu Mithun
3. Abrar Anjum Kazi
4. Arun Karthik
5. Asad Pathan
6. CM Gautam
7. Cheteshwar Pujara
8. Harshal Patel
9. Karun Nair
10. KP Appanna
11. Mayank Agarwal
12. Mohammad Kaif
13. Raju Bhatkal
14. Ronit More
15. Ryan Ninan
16. S Thiyagrajan
17. Saurabh Tiwary
18. Sreenath Aravind
19. Syed Mohammad
20. Vijay Zol
21. Virat Kohli
22. Zaheer Khan
23. Vinay Kumar
24. AB de Villiers (w)
25. Andrew McDonald
26. Charl Langeveldt
27. Chris Gayle
28. Dirk Nannes
29. Luke Pomersbach
30. Muttiah Muralitharan
31. Rilee Rossouw
32. Tillakaratne Dilshan
33. Prasanth Parameswaran

A question of loyalties

A question of loyalties

 

The Kolkata-Pune clash will see Eden Gardens divided in loyalties. Who do you think they will support – their team or their champion, Sourav Ganguly? Have your say!

When KKR and PWI meet at Eden later on Saturday, Kolkata will see their favourite Dada taking on what should ideally be their favourite team. But it has been seen that Ganguly is bigger than any team, and is welcomed everywhere, irrespective of whether PWI win or lose.

There may also be a little bit of a grudge, with Ganguly meeting Shah Rukh Khan on the team again. Will this add to the masala? Have your say!