Sri Lanka beat Australia by 13 runs in 12th ODI of CB Series

In an interesting day/night match, the 12th and last group ODI Of CB series, Sri Lanka beats Australia by 13 runs at Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG), on Friday, 29th March 2008.

The match was a dead rubber with Australia and India already having qualified for the Commonwealth Bank Series finals.

Australia were in pole position after dismissing Sri Lanka for 221 with only Mahela Jayawardene (50) and Tillakaratne Dilshan (62) offering substantial contributions. But after an opening stand of 107 between Gilchrist and James Hopes, they lost a glut of wickets and never recovered.

The retiring wicketkeeper Adam Gilchrist notched a terrific 83 from 50 balls, was in his prime form.

Match Summary:

Sri Lanka - 221 All Out in 50 overs.

Australia - 208 All Out in 48.1 overs.

Result - Sri Lanka won by 13 runs

Man of the Match - Adam Gilchrist (Australia)

India beat Sri Lanka to reach the finals of CB Series

India defeated Sri Lanka by seven wickets in the 11th one-dayer at Hobart on Tuesday to set up a clash against Australia in the best of three finals of the Commonwealth Bank tri-series.

Set 180 to win after Ishant Sharma and Praveen Kumar claimed four wickets each to dismiss Sri Lanka, who needed to win to keep alive their hopes of facing Australia in the best-of-three final, for 179, Tendulkar (63) and Gambhir (64) guided India home with just over 17 overs to spare.

Praveen Kumar, who was playing only his second ODI of the series, took the key wickets of Kumar Sangakkara (33), Chamara Silva (0) and skipper Mahela Jayawardene (3), to give the Indians the advantage in their push to guarantee a tri-series berth.

Sri Lanka collapsed to 94 for 7 in 26 overs before Chamara Kapugedera rescued the innings with 57.
Irfan Pathan claimed the prized wicket of the dangerous batsman Sanath Jayasuriya with a brilliant swinger.

Match Summary:

Sri Lanka - 179 All Out in 47.1 overs.

India - 180/3 in 32.2 overs.

Result - India won by 7 wickets (with 106 balls remaining)

Man of the Match - Praveen Kumar (India)

11th ODI of CBS- Sri Lanka 179 all out against India at Hobart

Indian captain MS Dhoni won the toss and elected to field first agianst Sri Lanka, in the 11th ODI of Commonwealth Bank Series (CBS), on Tuesday, 26th February 2008, at Hobart. Sri Lanka is all out on 179 runs in 47.1 0vers. due to some fine bowling by Praveen Kumar and Ishant Sharma took 4 wickets each.

Praveen Kumar swung the ball around in overcast conditions to snap up three wickets in as many overs to derail Sri Lanka's innings in what was a virtual knock-out clash in Hobart. Sri Lanka appeared to be in control at 1 for 72 before a manic session saw them reduced to 6 for 93 at the halfway stage, their hopes of reaching the final all but up in smoke.

For India, a very fine bowling by pacers Praveen Kumar and Ishant Sharma took 4 wickets each to help in restricting Sri Lanka on 179 runs. For Sri Lanka, only Chamara Kapugedera shown some resistant with 57 runs off 85 balls.

India made two changes bringing in Praveen Kumar and Munaf Patel in place of Virener Sehwag and Sreeshant. Sri Lanka Replaced Mahroof by Chamara Kapugedera.

Sri Lankas's Playing Eleven:

Mahela Jayawardene (Captain), Kumar Sangakkara(WK), Jayasuriya, Tillakaratne Dilshan , Chamara Silva, Dilruwan Perera, Chaminda Vaas, Lasith Malinga, Chamara Kapugedera, Ishara Amerasinghe, Muttiah Muralitharan.

India's Playing Eleven:

Mahinndar Singh Dhoni (Captain,W/K), Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Robin Uthappa, Yuvraj Singh, Rohit Sharma, Irfan Pathan, Harbhajan Singh, Sreesanth, Ishant Sharma.

CBS-All Impoetant 11 th ODI between India & Sri Lanka to reach the Finals

India will meet Sri Lanka, in the 11th ODI of Commonwealth Bank Series (CBS), on Tuesday, 26th February 2008, at Oval Cricket Ground. As host Australia is already qualified for the best of three finals, the match is very important and Do or Die for both India and Sri Lanka.

If Sri Lanka will not win, they will out of the CB series finals as they have only 6 points from 6 matches. If India will loose today's match their chances of qualifying for the finals will depend on the last league match between Australia and Sri Lanka, on Friday, 29th February 2008, at Melbourne.

Sri Lanka have to win both their remaining matches to reach the finals, as India have 12 points from 7 matches. The today's match is a day match and will start at 5.00 am IST.

Final eleven has yet to be announced, and will reveal before the start of the match. So hope for a good contest between the two sub-continent teams for the battle to reach the best of three finals.

BCCI denies series 3 ODI series agains Pakistan in March 2008

The Board of Control for Cricket in India has turned down the Pakistan Cricket Board's invitation for a three-match one-day series next month.

However, BCCI president Sharad Pawar did promise India's participation in a short ODI series ahead of this year's Champions Trophy.

The PCB wanted to fill a gap left by Australia's decision to delay their upcoming tour to Pakistan until the end of March for security reasons.

But Pawar denied the PCB's request, citing player fatigue and the upcoming home series against South Africa, which is scheduled to begin on March 20.

A PCB spokesman told the Dawn: "The short tour of the Indian cricket team to Pakistan, comprising three ODIs, which was proposed (by the PCB) to be played in mid-March has been rejected.

"Mr Sharad Pawar, president BCCI, in a telephone call to the PCB chairman Nasim Ashraf, stated that despite BCCI's keenness for the tour to have taken place, due to the fatigue of Indian players, who have been playing non-stop international cricket for the last three months with a very short interval between the end of India's tour to Australia and their next commitment against South Africa at home starting on March 20, it is practically impossible to squeeze in a short tour to Pakistan at this time.

"India, however, promised to find time to play a short series any time before the Champions Trophy in September 2008."