IND vs SL, 3rd T20I: Clinical India trounce Sri Lanka by 9 wickets

 

The win also helped India win the three-match series 2-1 and maintain their numero uno position in the ICC Twenty20 ranking. It also meant that Mahendra Singh Dhoni has lead the team to back-to-back Twenty20 series win following their 3-0 success in Australia.

Hero of the match Ravichandran Ashwin produced a dream spell to taking four wickets in a mind-blowing opening spell after MS Dhoni won the toss and invited Sri Lanka to bat first at Dr. Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium.

The 29-year-old spinner, who won the man of the match award, was also adjudged player of the series for his nine wickets.

Today, Ashwin's efforts were ably supported by other pace and spin bowlers. Part-timer Suresh Raina was impressive, chipping in with two wickets, even as Ashish Nehra, Jasprit Bumrah and Ravindra Jadeja produced good spells.

Ashwin thus recorded the best bowling figures for an Indian bowler in T20I. His figures read 4-1-8-4.

Chasing a tricky looking 82, India lost opener Rohit Sharma early, but Shikhar Dhawan and Ajinkya Rahane kept cool and won the match with 37 balls remaining.

The Delhi batsman, who had played a pivotal role in India's series leveling win at Ranchi with maiden T20I fifty, played a gem of innings of 46 runs off 46 deliveries. After bidding his time, the left-handed batsman hit a six and four of successive debutant Asela Gunaratne in the 14th over to wrap up the match and series.

He and Rahane stitched a undefeated 55-run second wicket partnership to make sure India avoid any slip chasing the target. Rahane made a patient looking 22 off 24 deliveries.

The Delhi batsman was the top scorer with 106 runs at an average of 53. He was the only batsman to cross the 100-run mark.

The lone wicket in India's innings was claimed by Dushmantha Chameera. The 24-year-old paceman had a great series, and was the hero in Sri Lanka's win at Pune. He scalped five wickets in the three series, same as India's old war-horse Ashish Nehra.

Sri Lanka's total of 82 was also their lowest total in this format. Their previous lowest total was 87 against Australia, at Bridgetown in a 2010 World T20 match.

Talking about records, it's India's biggest win in terms of wickets.

After convincing wins over World Champions Sri Lanka and Australia, India will enter the Asia Cup T20 as favourites. The tournament proper starts on February 24 in Bangladesh.

Consistency will give us confidence, says MS Dhoni

 

Off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin weaved his magic with a career-best four-wicket haul as India today trounced Sri Lanka by nine wickets in the deciding third and final Twenty20 International to clinch the three-match series 2-1.

And Dhoni feels his boys need to be expressive going into upcoming important assignments.

"I feel it was a very good game, important we restricted them to a decent total. Ashwin was the pick but he was well supported by the others. In between you will lose one or two games. We want to keep playing the way we re playing. Consistency will give us the confidence," Dhoni said at the post match press conference.

"We need to be expressive, the fans will put the pressure on us but we need to take it one game at a time," the skipper said when asked about their chances in the ICC World Twenty20 to be hosted at home turf.

Dhoni also said the experience of playing in the Indian Premier League has held them in good stead in the shortest format of the game.

"Eight seasons of IPL has given us the experience. Always good to have the conditions suiting you to an extent. Spinners can come into play here, which gives us the liberty to try out a few things," he said.

Man-of-the-match Ashwin said he is presently reaping the benefits of his hardwork.

"I hope this lasts forever. The ball is coming out pretty well. I've been working pretty hard, I want to contribute and attribute to the team rather than being a deficiency," he said.

"I thought I would get a five-for today. The wicket had a bit of dampness in it. I have a couple of variation when using the new ball. I want to keep the batsmen guessing, and wickets makes me a different bowler. I always have the courage to flight the ball."

Sri Lanka skipper Dinesh Chandimal said batsmen let the islanders down in the entire series.

"We didn't perform well throughout the series as batsmen. If we got 140-plus, we would have had a chance, but we didn't do that. Losing wickets happens with an inexperienced team," he said.

"I'm impressed with our bowlers, Shanaka and Chameera. We need to regroup as a team."

'Wickets' makes me a different bowler: R Ashwin

 

In a dream spell, Ashwin toyed with Sri Lankan top-order to take a career best figure of 4 for 8 from his 4-over spell. His spell also helped India register back-to-back Twenty20 International series wins, following the 3-0 win in Australia.

"I hope this lasts forever. The ball is coming out pretty well. I've been working pretty hard, I want to contribute and attribute to the team rather than being a deficiency," Ashwin said after the match.

The 29-year-old said admitted that he thought, he was getting a five-for.

"I thought I would get a five-for today. The wicket had a bit of dampness in it. I have a couple of variation when using the new ball. I want to keep the batsmen guessing, and wickets makes me a different bowler. I always have the courage to flight the ball," he added.

For his efforts, he was awarded with the Man of the Match, and also the Man of the Series. In the three-match series, he took nine wickets.

IND vs SA: ‘I don’t think wickets are prepared to last five days’

With the debate on cricket pitches refusing to die down after the three-day finish in Mohali, South African off-spinner Simon Harmer echoed India's batting coach Sanjay Bangar's views by saying that Test match wickets are nowadays prepared to get results. 

Nagpur: With the debate on cricket pitches refusing to die down after the three-day finish in Mohali, South African off-spinner Simon Harmer echoed India's batting coach Sanjay Bangar's views by saying that Test match wickets are nowadays prepared to get results.

"I don't think the wickets are prepared to last five full days. The reason behind the preparation of the wickets is to get a result.

"When the Indian team comes to South Africa, we are going to prepare wickets that suit our bowlers. So them playing one seamer, it's clear to see what sort of wicket they are preparing," said Harmer after day one of the third and penultimate Test here on Wednesday.

Harmer picked up 4 for 78 and, in tandem with fast bowler Morne Morkel (3-35), helped South Africa pack off India for a paltry first innings score of 215 in 78.2 overs. In reply the visitors were 11 for two in 9 overs.

Bangar had also defended the wicket prepared for the contest by saying that it was a result-oriented wicket, which was the same for both teams.

Harmer said he took some time before getting the right pace to bowl, which he said was a bit faster than normal.

"I found it difficult to adjust to the right pace. I think I was a bit slow at the beginning of my spell. I wouldn't say I was struggling to adjust to lines or lengths. I think pace on this wicket was vital. At the beginning of my spell, I was just sort of trying to find my feet.

"Obviously you can't bowl one pace the whole time. But I felt that the quicker pace there was a bit more bite off the wicket. You saw a few balls spit. As a spinner that is what you are looking for," said the off spinner who got rid of Cheteshwar Pujara, Rohit Sharma, Wriddhiman Saha and Amit Mishra.

"When you bowl too slowly, a batsman can adjust and go back easily. Ideally you want a batsman to commit to a shot and I felt the best way to do that was to bowl a quicker pace," he explained further.

Harmer said the first Test pitch at Mohali was of similar nature to this one here at the VCA Stadium in Jamtha.

"Mohali was much of the same and at the end of the day, there are three innings left. It is going to be the same for our batters and for both teams throughout the Test match. It is challenging conditions but that's what playing in the sub-continent is all about."

He said he came to know that he would play after being left out of the second rained out Test at Bengaluru on Sunday.

"On Sunday, it was still three days away. You wanted to give it some time. So Russell (Domingo) chatted to me late yesterday afternoon and told me that I was playing."

He explained that the key to bowling here is not to try too hard for success.

"As a spinner, bowling here, the seamers are going to reverse a bit. The spinners will come into the game. I think the biggest thing is not trying too hard and I think there were stages when I did, and that's when I started leaking runs. But its just about finding a rhythm, a line and length that works and the pace.

"It's about keeping the batsmen thinking the whole time with field placements, your speed. I think that's the biggest thing." 

VIDEO| We made decisions in batting that were not right: Hashim Amla

South Africa’s Test skipper Hashim Amla also insisted that they will be looking to learn from their mistakes in the upcoming matches. 

Mohali: Dismissing the notion that the Mohali pitch was a vicious turner, South African skipper Hashim Amla on Saturday said there were more dismissals in the match due to lack of spin than excess of it and his batsmen could have applied themselves better.

South Africa managed 184 and 109 in the first and second innings respectively in the 108-run loss and Amla admitted that lack of application led to the batting failure.

"The chat that we had in our meetings was that the ball wasn’t turning that much, actually. And I think a lot of dismissals actually in both teams, there were quite a few dismissals due to lack of turn more than due to excess of turn," Amla told reporters after conceding a 0-1 lead in the four match series.

"Sometimes those are the more difficult pitches to play on. In saying that, the chat was that the ball wasn't turning as much but there were a few errors in decision-making that kind of cost us a bit. We actually kept it as simple as possible, that it is not turning as much. If you get a good ball that turns, so be it,” he said.

"For a majority of the Test match, it was about trying to play the ball as straight as possible and if you manage to get a good one, so be it. I would agree that we could have applied ourselves a bit better. There were certain decisions that we made while batting that were not the right decisions," he said.

If the Indian spinner made a solid impact with Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja and Amit Mishra bagging 19 wickets then opposition spinners in Imran Tahir, Simon Harmer and Dean Elgar also made an impact. India were bundled out for 201 and 200 in the first and second innings respectively and Amla took out positives from the bowling performance.

"Throughout this match, even though it was such a short Test match, I think we managed to hold our own right until the last innings here. They could easily have got away from us; with about 250-plus or 300-plus to get in the last innings, it would have been exceptionally difficult. The way we bowled and the way we kind of applied ourselves in the field and in the first innings with the bat was very good. Just very disappointing that we didn’t manage to apply ourselves better and get closer to 200," he said.

Amla also insisted that they will be looking to learn from their mistakes in the upcoming matches. "As I said earlier, if you look at the game right until the last innings, I think we kind of did pretty well. Kept the game pretty close to us and almost gave us the chance to win. If the wickets are the same, then hopefully we don't make the same mistakes and win the game,” he added.

Amla attributed the poor batting effort to error in judgement. "I am putting it down to we made a few errors in judgement and nothing to look further than that. As a whole, we played exceptionally good cricket. I think other teams might have fell away a bit earlier in the Test match but we managed to hold the game and sadly we didn’t follow through in the last innings."

Crediting the Indian bowlers for their effort, he said, “Credit to India, they bowled well. 200 on that wicket was a challenging target. Probably 150-160 would have been a really good kind of game to set up. Going into the next Test, whatever we are dealt with, I think we have prepared amply enough, just a few mistakes we made unfortunately in this game which cost us the game," he said.

With Morne Morkel and JP Duminy missing out on the opening game due to their respective injuries, Dale Steyn’s groin strain that made him miss the second innings bowling is certainly a worry for the visitors. Amla admitted that Steyn’s absence is always a problem.

"Not having Dale obviously is a difficult one because he is the best fast bowler in the world and certainly in the sub-continent the most successful fast bowler. So it would have been great to have him but listen, whatever you are dealt with, you get dealt with.”

"Credit to Vernon (Philander) and KG (Kagiso Rabada), they did well and the spinners came good to restrict them to 200. So it is a blow not to have had Dale in the last innings and certainly missing Morne as well. Hopefully in the next Test, JP might be fit and a few dynamics might change of our team. And Dale might be fit to bowl again. So we will have to wait and see how it pans out with the injuries," he added. 

Saeed Ajmal faces disciplinary action for blasting ICC

An official of the Pakistan board confirmed that the comments made by Saeed Ajmal on the Geo Super channel in a talk show were being reviewed by the legal experts.

Karachi: Pakistan spinner Saeed Ajmal could face disciplinary action from the cricket authorities for his comments on the ICC policy on bowlers with suspect bowling actions including of Indian spinners.

An official of the Pakistan board confirmed on Wednesday that the comments made by Ajmal on the Geo Super channel in a talk show were being reviewed by the legal experts.

"Everything is being viewed to see whether and what violation of the players code of conduct Saeed had made since he is a centrally contracted player of the board," the official said.

He said any decision on issuing a show cause notice to Ajmal to explain his conduct or face further action would be taken in the next 48 hours.

Ajmal, 38, whose international career was derailed last year when his bowling action was declared illegal by the ICC in the show criticised the sports world governing body for allegedly having double standards while enforcing its new rules on bowling actions in world cricket.

"Why just target the off-spinners. Why not the left-arm spinners, leg-spinners or fast bowlers? I can tell you that I have been through this bowling assessment process so many times and have watched and studied this issue so closely that I can vouch that if tests were carried out there would be many other bowlers whose bowling actions would exceed the 15 degrees extension limit," Ajmal said on Tuesday night.

"I don’t want to take names but they are still bowlers including fast bowlers who are violating the new rules but no one is looking at them," he said.

Ajmal also said he was also amazed that no one had found any fault in the bowling actions of either Indian off-spinners Harbhajan Singh or Ravichandran Ashwin. "If they put Harbhajan through a proper bowling assessment test now I can safely tell you he will exceed the 15 degrees limit," Ajmal had said.

Watch: Saeed Ajmal calls Harbhajan a ‘chucker’, blasts ICC for ‘pro-BCCI’ attitude

IND vs SA, First Test: Virat Kohli-led Team India face stiff test, look ...

Having been India's strike bowler in the Test series win in Sri Lanka, Ravichandran Ashwin, who bagged 20 wickets against the Island nation, will be key to the home team's chances with opposition players like Faf du Plessis and Dean Elgar acknowledging the in-form spinner's threat. 

Mohali: Outwitted in both the T20 and the ODI cricket series, India will seek redemption in the Test format by trying to spin a web around the formidable South Africans in the four-match series starting here on Thursday.

India failed to make use of the home advantage in the limited-overs games while the South Africans displayed remarkable adaptability to emerge the better of the two teams so far.

In Thursday’s match, Virat Kohli's men would take the field without pace spearhead Ishant Sharma, who is serving a one-match ban for his aggressive outbursts during the away series against Sri Lanka.

Therefore, India will be relying heavily on their spin brigade to out-manoeuvre the potent opposition batting, which has been sublime to say the least.

With Ravindra Jadeja back in the mix of things, Kohli will be looking to go with three spinners at the PCA track, hoping to pose a threat to the visitors. Premier off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin, who missed the last four ODIs with a side strain he suffered in the opening game in Kanpur, seems to be fit and raring to go.

Having been India's strike bowler in the Test series win in Sri Lanka, Ashwin, who bagged 20 wickets against the Island nation, will be key to the home team's chances with opposition players like Faf du Plessis and Dean Elgar acknowledging the in-form spinner's threat.

Team Director Ravi Shastri though has asserted that even Amit Mishra and Jadeja, who has been in stellar form in the current Ranji season, will be crucial to the home side's fortunes.

Playing for Saurashtra, Jadeja, whose last Test appearance was against England last year, has bagged 38 wickets in four games to win back the selectors' trust. His left-arm slow bowling, combined with Mishra's leg-spin and Ashwin's offies could turn out to be the much-needed winning formula for the hosts on what seems to be a track that will favour the home team's strength.

On the batting front, India will be spoilt for choices on with Shikhar Dhawan, Murali Vijay, Cheteshwar Pujara and Rohit Sharma fighting it out for the top-order slots.

Speaking highly of Dhawan and his 187 against Australia at the same venue in 2013, Shastri said, "Getting runs at a venue in your last Test match, nothing like it. But the biggest mistake people make is that they mix Test and ODI form. Test match form he comes back at the back of two Test hundreds, so he is very much in form, he is hot. That 187 against Australia will certainly be in his mind, competition for places, nothing like it. It goes to show everyone is on his toes, nobody will rest on his heels. If you miss out somebody else will grab the opportunity. It's healthy," he said.

South Africa, on the other hand, will be a tad worried about the form of Hashim Amla, who takes over as captain for the Test format.

In contrast, ODI captain AB de Villiers, termed ‘Superman’ by former Indian captain Sunil Gavaskar, seems to be in the form his life and his wicket will certainly be a prized scalp for the Indian camp.

South Africa rode on three ODI hundreds from their skipper to clinch the five-match series 3-2, while they won the three-game T20 rubber by a 2-0 margin.

Dean Elgar, Stiaan van Zyl and Faf du Plessis also add muscle to their batting while Temba Bavuma is expected to fill in the large shoes of Jean-Paul Duminy, who is still recovering from his hand injury picked during the third ODI.

The Proteas’ attack rests on the broad shoulders of speedster Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel while the spin force is led by the in-form Imran Tahir. Tahir is not unfamiliar with sub-continent tracks and after making an impression for Delhi Daredevils in the IPL, he has become South Africa's trump card on a turning wicket.

When the Proteas last visited India for a Test series in 2009-10, the rubber stood drawn at 1-1, but South Africa did get the better of the hosts way back in 1999-2000. The last series played between the two sides was won by hosts South Africa by a 1-0 margin in 2013-14.

Teams:

India: Virat Kohli (capt), Murali Vijay, Shikhar Dhawan, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Rohit Sharma, Wriddhiman Saha (wkt), Ravindra Jadeja, Amit Mishra, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, R Ashwin, Umesh Yadav, Lokesh Rahul, Stuart Binny, Varun Aaron.

South Africa: Hashim Amla (captain), AB de Villiers (vice-captain), Temba Bavuma, Jean-Paul Duminy, Faf du Plessis, Dean Elgar, Simon Harmer, Imran Tahir, Morne Morkel, Vernon Philander, Dane Piedt, Kagiso Rabada, Dale Steyn, Stiaan van Zyl, Dane Vilas (wkt).

Match Starts: 9.30 am IST