India Cricket

The Indian Premier League enters the home straight this week with Kings XI Punjab and Chennai Super Kings tussling it out to top the table. So with four sides progressing to the knockout stages of this year's extravaganza, let's take a look at the current standings and the form players to watch out for on the subcontinent. 

The Super Kings are the IPL's form side and take on the Jekyll and Hyde-esque Royal Challengers in Ranchi on Sunday. A win is imperative for Bangalore, who are led by Yuvraj Singh, if they are to sneak a place in the final four.

Shane Watson's Rajasthan Royals have already secured their place in the final four and welcome Rohit Sharma's Mumbai Indians to Ahmedabad. It has been a disappointing campaign for Mumbai, who sit second from bottom in the IPL on six points with no chance of progressing to the knockout stages. 

In the most compelling of the remaining fixtures, Shikhar Dhawan's Sunrisers Hyderabad face Gautam Gambhir's Kolkata Knight Riders. Kolkata sit only two points ahead of the Sunrisers, so Sunday's clash will play a big role in deciding which side progresses to the final four.

Dhawan has struggled this term with suggestions that the captaincy of Hyderabad has shackled the formerly swashbuckling batsman. StarSportsIndia tweeted these telling stats about the captain.

Here's a look at the remaining fixtures.

Key to the Sunrisers' hopes will be South African Dale Steyn. The right-arm fast has taken 10 wickets this season at an average of 29.30 but was in excellent form for the South Africans at this year's World Twenty20. 

He will have to subdue compatriot Jacques Kallis if his team is to progress. Kallis is firmly established as the world's pre-eminent all-rounder, but he has not been in form during this season's IPL. Taking four wickets at a average of 46.50 and hitting 151 runs at an average of 25.16, Kallis has had a quiet campaign. Nevertheless, he is a big-game performer, and expect him to cause the Sunrisers problems. 

Kolkata's Robin Uthappa has been a revelation this term, hitting 382 runs at an average of 38.20. Kolkata's official Twitter account tweeted this regarding the team's form man. 

It will be necessary for the right-hander to replicate such form if his side is to fend off Hyderabad and secure the last knockout spot. 

The Mumbai Indians moved fast to replace the injured Zaheer Khan, bringing in another Indian seamer in Praveen Kumar to fill the void left by Khan.

The 35-year-old was ruled out of the rest of the Indian Premier League (IPL) after straining his left latissimus dorsi muscle, having played six games but having struggled a little for consistency.

For the 27-year-old Kumar, this represents a golden chance to make his case for a return to international cricket with India and to re-assert himself as one of his country’s better seam bowlers.

He went unsold in the player auction earlier this year, but he has been successful in previous years of the tournament with Royal Challengers Bangalore and Kings XI Punjab with his right-arm medium pace.

Last year, his 12 wickets came in 15 matches with an economy rate of just 6.62 runs per over, showing he has plenty to offer in this bonanza of Twenty20 cricket.

However, Kumar has not been without his problems since his last game for India in 2012, against South Africa, both in terms of fitness and discipline.

After spending the 2013 IPL season with Kings XI Punjab, injuries ruled Kumar out of India’s Ranji Trophy for the entire 2013-14 season.

Earlier last year, he had also been mired in controversy after swearing at an opposition batsman during a Corporate Trophy game while playing for Oil and Natural Gas Limited.

He was then suspended for the preliminary stages of the Vijay Hazare Trophy after being found to be in breach of the players’ code of conduct, although that was later revoked by the BCCI.

While he may not quite be in the last-chance saloon, this year’s IPL represents a superb chance for Kumar to prove himself and force his way back into the international conversation.

In the past, he has shown himself to be enormously capable of taking wickets even though his pace is relatively low compared to other seamers in the tournament.

This year, too, players like Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Sandeep Sharma and Mohit Sharma have shown that those who can swing the ball can be successful, even without express pace.

It has not been an easy ride for Praveen Kumar over the last couple of years, but this chance given to him by the Mumbai Indians represents a superb opportunity.

If he can take advantage of it and put his previous problems behind him, it may well be a very profitable one all round.

Poor Yuvraj Singh. He had a very poor World Twenty20. Barring one stand-out innings, Yuvi's form was dubious, to say the least. And it culminated in a dot-ball-gobbling innings in the final against Sri Lanka. 

It made fans angry—so very, very angry.  So angry, in fact, that some fans even went so far as to allegedly stone his house.

Added to that was the Twitter outrage—and these are some of the more modest Tweets.

Yuvraj's innings in the final against Sri Lanka was shoddy. At a time when India should have been hitting out, he could not even muster singles and give Virat Kohli the strike.

Out of the 21 balls he faced, 11 were dot balls and he managed just 11 runs in total. It was the wrong time have a bad day, but Yuvraj cannot be held solely responsible. For one, MS Dhoni's decision to not promote himself up the order should be questioned. 

Furthermore, Yuvraj didn't exactly sail into the World T20 squad on a free pass. Before the tournament, his last two T20I innings were an unbeaten 77 against Australia and 72 against Pakistan. He had been an integral part of the team when they won the World T20 back in 2007. Yuvraj's contribution in the 50-over World Cup win over Sri Lanka in 2011 was also very important.

Since his exploits to help India get over those lines, he has also beaten cancer.

This is a man who has given a lot to play professional sport for his country. 

Yes, players have a bad days. Yes, they deserve criticism, but the brutal and downright hateful behaviour from Indian fans has been galling.

Players know that their performances will always come under scrutiny, they expect to be questioned when they do not perform, but they do not deserve outright abuse and certainly not violations of their personal property. 

Everyone has a bad day at work. We've all been there. We've all had that terrible howler which has caused us to look foolish. We've all copped criticism for it. That criticism is deserved but people bounce back.

His ability and talent of years gone by should not be forgotten because of one poor tournament. Cricket is a team sport and although it can be argued his contribution to the team was significant enough to lead to the downfall, it is unfair and foolish to make him a scapegoat. 

Humans are fragile and fallible and cricketers are just human. While the debate raged on about Yuvraj's effort, Sachin Tendulkar offered a rational assessment of the situation through his Facebook Page.

The tribe has spoken.

There were a number of contenders for bowler of the month for March, but none could top Ravichandran Ashwin. 

Imran Tahir finished as the top wicket taker of the World Twenty20, taking a wicket once every 10 balls.

Samuel Badree kicked dust in Sunil Narine's eyes, Amit Mishra was a leg-spinning bundle of joy and Rangana Herath had one really rather good spell.

Even Dale Steyn could stake a claim after a very good run in the World T20.  

In the end, though, it was Ashwin who came up trumps. He took 11 wickets in the World T20 at an average of 11.27.

Although his performance in the final of the World T20 against Sri Lanka was somewhat underwhelming, he was superb overall. It's not only his ability to take wickets that made him the top choice, but also his ability to stifle the scoring rate, forcing pressure to build and batsmen to lose their minds.  

Not once in the entire tournament did he concede more than 30 runs and his 4-for-11 against Australia was fantastic to watch. There was also the carrom ball to dismiss Hashim Amla in the semi-final, a fantastic delivery that would fox any batsman in the world. 

Ashwin is the kind of bowler who likes to experiment and who likes to keep on changing and learning. In the lead up to the World T20 during the Asia Cup, Ashwin had a new approach once again. After two average tours against South Africa and New Zealand, Ashwin had to try something, so he tried to model his action after Sunil Narine.

The results weren't immediate, and he finished the tournament with nine wickets in four games at an average of 18.55. The change in action caused much criticism from some quarters. Maninder Singh was one of the most notable critics. He was quoted by The Times of India as saying the change in action could destroy Ashwin's career.

What is he trying to do? He was a wicket-taking bowler for us, but this is going to kill him. I don't know how the coaches are allowing him to do this. Don't forget Narine is a freak and his action has always been like that. If a spinner tries to copy Narine at the age of 25, he will not last in international cricket for too long.

Ashwin, clearly not one for taking note of the naysayers, obviously wasn't bothered. On the eve of the game against Australia, Ashwin revealed why he was flirting with the newly adopted action. He was quoted by the Indian Express as saying:

I want to do something different. I want to keep trying something—unless you try you don’t go and venture and find out what can work or not. I’d never bowled in full-sleeves before. So I wanted to see how it would feel. And I just wanted to see if you can get more revs on the ball if you can do a little bit with your elbow, as much as that is. That’s what it was all about. You can get a lot of advantage with these things—so why should I lag behind if someone else is getting a competitive edge?

Brief change, innovation, foolish—call it what you want—Ashwin is clearly the type of player who always wants to push himself no matter what. His performance in the World T20 was down to some old-school spin bowling and his carrom ball. That ball, which made him so effective in the first place, proved to be his most potent weapon.  

It's not the first time Ashwin has tried something new; he has admitted in the past, as per ESPNCricinfo, that he uses tennis ball cricket to help him learn new tricks and improve his game.

Spinners are the most effective bowlers in T20 cricket. They are transformed in the format because batsmen are forced to attack instead of just being able to see out the overs. The bowlers like Ashwin who combine the ability to take wickets with the ability to stifle the runs deserve the most credit, though, and if that requires a little bit of innovation here and there, who are we to judge?

Data and stats via ESPNCricinfo.

India’s bid to become the first team to win the International Cricket Council World Twenty20 (T20) twice ended at the hands of Sri Lanka in Dhaka on Sunday. When the dust settles on the tournament, accusing fingers are sure to be pointed in the direction of Yuvraj Singh for their six-wicket loss.

The big-hitting batman has appeared out of sorts and a pale shadow of his former self throughout the competition. He made just the one real contribution towards India’s five straight wins that saw them start the final as firm favourites to hold all three limited-overs world titles at the same time.

However, other than 60 from 43 balls in India’s group-stage win over Australia, Singh’s next highest score has been just 18. Since MS Dhoni now prefers to use the likes of Suresh Raina and Ravindra Jadeja as his main fill-in bowlers, the 32-year-old’s influence in the team has begun to wane.

And when you also take into account his, at times, immobility in the field and lack of pace between the wickets—I have seen cruise liners turn quicker than Singh—then the left-hander really needs to be making an impression with bat in hand to justify his place in the team.

So what better situation to silence the growing rumblings and prove the doubters wrong than in the final of the World T2O, with Singh striding to the middle at virtually the halfway point of the India innings after the fall of Rohit Sharma’s wicket?

What’s more, waiting for him at the crease was the player of the tournament, Virat Kohli. All that was now required of Singh was to give his partner as much of the strike as possible, while at the same time playing himself in, with India seemingly well on course at that point to reach a match-winning total of 160.

And for the star of the 2007 World T20, that would have been a simple task indeed. However, much like Premier League champions Manchester United this season, Singh appears to have now lost much of his presence at the crease.

In fact, ever since Singh shone at the 2011 50-over World Cup and his subsequent cancer diagnosis, he and Kohli have virtually swapped auras. Their contrasting fortunes with bat in hand at Mirpur was stark.

In fact, at times it appeared as though the two players were playing a different game entirely, with Kohli’s strike-rate (SR) up at 132, while Singh’s was way down at 52 (compared to a career SR of 147), which for the sixth-best batsman in the world in T20 cricket at present is scandalous.

And with each dot ball, so the pressure ratcheted up on his partner at the other end, culminating in the 15th over from Sachithra Senanayake in which just two singles were scored, before the camera then cut to a clearly agitated India bench.

Meanwhile, all alone in the commentary box, former India captain Sourav Ganguly kept on imploring his one-time team-mate to get his once-feared slog sweep out of the bag against the Sri Lankan spinners.

And no doubt the Singh of three years ago would have done exactly that to help ease the mounting pressure on Kohli at the other end and propel his side up towards the 160-mark they were eyeing up as their innings got underway.

But on this occasion, the usually destructive left-hander was unable to get down on one knee to employ his release shot. Though the 50-run partnership soon came up off 39 balls, it was revealing that Singh’s contribution was just nine from a painful 16 deliveries.

Clearly by now something had to give. The India fans even started to get on their former darling’s back, while next men in Dhoni and Raina could be seen nervously fiddling with their bat handles in the dugout.

And after Lasith Malinga returned to further torment the lacklustre and listless left-hander, Singh proceeded to hit the first ball of the 18th over, a full toss from Nuwan Kulasekara, straight down Thisara Perera’s throat at long-off.

In the end, it was a wholly appropriate way for Singh to bring an end to the torture—in his pomp, the big-hitting left-hander would have deposited the ball out of the ground—but come the final reckoning, his knock of 11 from 21 balls cost his side vital momentum at a key point of their innings as Kohli crucially faced just seven deliveries in the last four overs.

And while Dhoni and coach Duncan Fletcher should also take some of the blame for not being flexible enough to rejig the batting order and send either Raina or the skipper himself in ahead of Singh, in the end, fingers will be pointed at one man, and one man only.

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India took on Sri Lanka in the final of the World Twenty20 at Shere Bangla National Stadium in Dhaka on Sunday.

Two of the best sides in this form of the game proving their worth once again by making it all the way to the final in superb style.

For Sri Lanka, it was their third final, although they were yet to win any, whilst India had been successful in their only final to date against South Africa, per Ian Chappell of ESPNCricInfo.

Following a rain delay directly after the Australian women had comprehensively defeated their English counterparts, Sri Lanka won the toss and decided to put pressure immediately upon India by putting them into bat.

Lasith Malinga

Apart from dropping Virat Kohli early on in the Indian innings, Sri Lanka captain Lasith Malinga did little to be reproached for.

His field placings were a major reason why India never really got the batting going in their innings and had to generally settle for a quick single or a two here and there.

Intelligent use of his bowlers too, meant that India’s danger-man, big-hitting Virat Kohli was restricted to facing just seven balls in the final four overs of the innings.

No India boundary in those final four overs, either.

His own bowling was on-point as usual, and his final over in particular had beautiful line and length. Depth bowling at its finest.

Virat Kohli

Whilst the Sri Lankans were adept at curtailing the run-rate with some solid bowling, India’s total owes much to the slogging of Virat Kohli.

His wonderful innings, which was only ended with a final ball run-out, was peppered with five boundaries and four sixes in his magnificent total of 77.

It took until the seventh over before we saw Kohli start to unleash, but it was well worth the wait, as he went after the Sri Lankans single-handedly.

His confidence at the crease was translating into his batting, with any line and length delivery from the Sri Lankans being repelled with ease.

In the 14th over, Malinga himself tried his best to remove Kohli, but it turned out to be a very expensive one, with Kohli helping the Indians to get 10 from the over.

He followed up with a massive six from the first ball of Nuwan Kulasekara’s over, a boundary on the offside, and another that dropped just short of a six on the onside was followed by a four to the offside and another that dropped just inside the boundary.

It was a brief respite as the Indian’s could only add eight more runs for the next two overs.

Kumar Sangakkara

Kumar Sangakkara had reached four finals before Sunday's game and lost them all, per Sidharth Monga of ESPNCricInfo.

It was fifth time lucky for the batsman in his last T20 international. An unbeaten 52 from 35 balls saw the Sri Lankans home; what a way to finish your T20 career.

Sangakkara remained ice-cool throughout, as India looked to defend their small total. Alongside another player in his last T20 international, Mahela Jayawardene, the two saw the Sri Lankan total rise steadily.

Even when Jayawardene was taken care of, you never felt that the 131 required was unachievable with Sangakkara at the crease.

His shots were measured and exquisite at times, and he was not to be denied his finest hour.

Three weeks of fantastic competition have concluded and only two teams are left standing as they get ready for the 2014 World Twenty20 final at the Shere Bangla National Stadium in Bangladesh on Sunday.

Unbeaten India will face Sri Lanka, who will be playing in their third consecutive WT20 final but are still looking for their first tournament win. As the saying goes, the third time's a charm, but the Sri Lankans will have to be at their very best to defeat an in-form India squad.

All statistics used are courtesy of ESPN Cricinfo.

Date: Sunday, April 6

Start time: 7 p.m. local time/2 p.m. BST

Venue: Shere Bangla National Stadium, Bangladesh

TV Info and Live Stream: The match will be broadcast on Sky Sports 2 HD, with mobile coverage available via the Sky Go app.

Preview

India have played the perfect tournament so far, ending the Super 10 group stage with four wins and zero losses before defeating the South Africans in the semi-final by six wickets, despite chasing a relatively high score of 172-4.

Led by the partnership of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma (a combined 413 runs in five matches) and an excellent group of bowlers (Ravichandran Ashwin, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Amit Mishra and Ravindra Jadeja all average an economy rate below 7.2), India boast one of the most complete squads in all of cricket.

And while the Men in Blue's stars have lived up to expectations in this year's WT20, the same can't be said for their opponents.

Kumar Sangakkara has scored 183 runs from three innings for his T20 career against India, but the veteran batsman has only managed a lowly 19 total runs this tournament, well below expectations.

Thisara Perera has been slightly better, but 47 runs for an average of 23.5 are still poor numbers for the all-rounder.

Sri Lanka have relied on team production to score runs, with the team's top six batsmen all averaging between 33.5 and 23.5 runs. Mahela Jayawardene's 134 total lead the way.

But the team's bowling has been lights out, with Rangana Herath, Sachithra Senanayake, Lasith Malinga, Nuwan Kulasekara and Angelo Mathews all averaging an economy under 7.0. Limiting runs is what the Sri Lankans have done best, and their batsmen have done just enough to squeeze out the wins.

The 27-run semi-final win over West Indies came courtesy of the D/L Method, as the team set a chase of 160 before heavy rain cut the Windies innings short, and the 59-run victory over New Zealand came with a chase of no more than 119.

Can Sri Lanka contain India's powerful group of batsmen? Michael Vaughan seems to think they have the best chance of all teams, but it still might not be enough:

Simon Hughes also sees India's complete package of bowling and batting as too much to overcome:

With Sangakkara and Perera not having shown any signs they're ready to step up for their team when they need to, I don't see India losing this one either.

Final prediction: India win by 5 wickets.

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There's only one match left to play in the 2014 World Twenty20, and it's the one we've all been looking forward to, as India and Sri Lanka will do battle in the final in Bangladesh on Sunday.

The Men in Blue have yet to lose a single match all tournament but faced their most difficult task so far in the semi-finals, ending their chase against South Africa with six wickets (five balls) remaining.

Sri Lanka defeated West Indies by the Duckworth/Lewis Method (D/L Method), with 27 runs to spare, as a massive rainstorm cut their semi-final tie short. The winners of last month's Asia Cup had looked dominant for most of the match, and a frantic finish from the Windies was just too little, too late.

Kusal Perera had opened the innings with 26 runs on 12 balls, and Tillakaratne Dilshan added an even 39. Quick dismissals for Kumar Sangakkara (a single run) and Mahela Jayawardene (out without facing a ball) seemed to cause a bit of a panic, but Angelo Mathews and Lahiru Thirimanne combined for 84 runs to set the bar at a total of 160 runs.

And just like they had done in the win over New Zealand, Sri Lanka's spin bowlers took over when it was the Windies' turn to bat.

Sachitra Senanayake only surrendered six runs in two overs for an economy rate of three, while Lasith Malinga did even better, with five runs and two wickets for 2.5. Every single bowler kept his economy under 7.76 in the rain-shortened second innings, as the Sri Lankans seem to be hitting form at just the right time.

As shared by Broken Cricket, the team's bowlers have been quite dominant in the course of this tournament's history, to say the least:

They'll need to be at their very best if the team is to have any chance against India's vaunted attack, though.

Virat Kohli has scored a ridiculous 242 runs so far this tournament, while his partner Rohit Sharma has added 171 on an average of 42.75. The Indian tactic of limiting runs with solid spin bowling and dominating the chase with this partnership has worked to perfection so far, and the team has their bowlers to thank for that.

Four members of that group of bowlers are averaging an economy under 7.5, with Ravichandran Ashwin (4.91) and Bhuvneshwar Kumar (5.31) leading the way. Supported by the likes of Kohli and Sharma and their excellent production, the Men in Blue have been able to take risks with their bowling, and it has paid off so far.

Ashwin has taken 10 wickets, and Amit Mishra has added nine. Look for both players to aggressively go after Sri Lanka's batsmen, knowing full well they can afford to give up some runs with Kohli and Sharma backing them up.

Per ESPN Cricinfo, these teams have met five times before in T20 Internationals, with the Indian team leading the series with three wins.

Simon Hughes doesn't see any way Si Lanka would be able to even the series at three each:

India have looked unstoppable at times, but the Proteas were able to do some damage to the team's bowling lineup in the semi-final, with Faf du Plessis scoring 58 runs and Jean-Paul Duminy adding 45 more. Both are top-class batsmen, but Sri Lanka boast their own stars with the bat in Perera and Sangakkara.

If Sri Lanka can win the toss and let the Indian team bat first, their group of spin bowlers could limit some of India's big swingers in their production, putting even more pressure on the Indian bowlers as they face the chase.

But if the Men in Blue can get any sort of rhythm going, there seems to be little that can stop the team from continuing their unbeaten run through this tournament.

Prediction: India win by five wickets

All statistics used are courtesy of ESPN Cricinfo.

Follow @DeKleineBelg

The 2014 ICC World Twenty20 has reached its climax, with India and Sri Lanka facing off in the final at the end of the three-week tournament in Bangladesh.

Venue: Shere Bangla National Stadium, Mirpur

Date: Sunday, April 6 (Reserve day Monday, April 7)

Start time: 7 p.m. local time (2 p.m. BST)

Live on: Sky Sports (UK), Fox Sports (Australia), Super Sport (South Africa), BTV (Bangladesh), PTV Sports (Pakistan), Star India (India), SLBC (Sri Lanka), ESPN3 (USA)

Weather: According to Weather.com, we may well be in for more thunderstorms in the afternoon, with temperatures again high and the air sure to be humid.

Overview

After three weeks of intense competition featuring 16 teams from across the cricketing world, it all comes down to this, the final between India and Sri Lanka.

Both teams experienced slightly differing semifinals to find themselves at this point, facing each other at an ICC final for the first time since the 2011 Cricket World Cup.

India made relatively serene progress through their semi-final against South Africa, although their batsmen were made to work harder than they have been previously in their six-wicket win.

South Africa racked up 172-4 from their 20 overs thanks to runs from Faf du Plessis and J.P. Duminy, with Ravi Ashwin leading India’s bowlers with 3-22.

However, in response India managed to put together some strong partnerships, built around Virat Kohli’s 72 not out from just 44 balls.

It was Kohli who struck the winning runs as India cantered home in the final over for the loss of just four wickets.

In their semi-final, Sri Lanka were helped out by the weather as they defeated the last edition’s champions West Indies by 27 runs on the Duckworth/Lewis method.

Batting first, the Sri Lankans tallied 160-6, with Lahiru Thirimanne top-scoring with 44 and Angelo Mathews providing some late fireworks with 40 from 23 balls.

Rain and then a spectacular hailstorm intervened with the West Indies on 80-4 after 13.5 overs, clearly banking on one of their fast finishes but failing to account for the weather.

Lasith Malinga was the star for Sri Lanka’s bowlers as he took 2-5 from two overs and removed both openers.

The tournament has been an exciting one, and now it all comes down to what promises to be a frenetic and fascinating final.

Team News

India (from): MS Dhoni (capt), Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina, Yuvraj Singh, Ajinkya Rahane, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammed Shami, Stuart Binny, Amit Mishra, Mohit Sharma, Varun Aaron

Sri Lanka (from): Dinesh Chadimal (capt), Lasith Malinga, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Kusal Perera, Kumar Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardena, Lahiru Thirimanne, Angelo Mathews, Thisara Perera, Nuwan Kulasekara, Suranga Lakmal, Rangana Herath/Chaturanga De Silva, Sachithra Senanayake, Ajantha Mendis, Seekuge Prasanna

Key Players

Virat Kohli

Against South Africa in their semi-final, Virat Kohli’s unbeaten 72 made a huge difference as India eased home by six wickets.

He has looked in scintillating form throughout this tournament and will be keen for more of the same in the final.

Lasith Malinga

Still one of the deadliest seam bowlers around, Lasith Malinga has been remarkably consistent in this tournament.

With his combination of searing yorkers and sheer pace, he is quite a proposition for opposing batsmen to face and will want to assert himself here.