SPORTS

Updated at: 1833 PST,  Sunday, May 02, 2010  GROS ISLET, Saint Lucia: South Africa captain Graeme Smith won the toss and elected to field against India in a Group C World Twenty20 match at the Beausejour Stadium here on Sunday. India made two changes from the side that beat Afghanistan by seven wickets here on Saturday. Opening batsman Gautam Gambhir was ruled out with stomach illness and his place was taken by Dinesh Karthik. And, in a tactical switch, leg-spinner Piyush Chawla replaced fast bowler Zaheer Khan. This was South Africa's first match of the tournament and the Proteas opted to use the big-hitting Loots Bosman as captain Graeme Smith's partner at the top of the order. Teams India: Dinesh Karthik, Murali Vijay, Suresh Raina, Yuvraj Singh, Mahendra Singh Dhoni (captain/wk), Yusuf Pathan, Ravindra Jadeja, Harbhajan Singh, Praveen Kumar, Piyush Chawla, Ashish Nehra South Africa: Graeme Smith (captain), Loots Bosman, Jacques Kallis, AB de Villiers, JP Duminy, Mark Boucher (wk), Albie Morkel, Roelof van der Merwe, Morne Morkel, Rory Kleinveldt, Dale Steyn Umpires: Aleem Dar (PAK) and Simon Taufel (AUS), TV umpire: Rod Tucker (AUS) Match referee Ranjan Madugalle (SL).

Updated at: 1524 PST,  Sunday, May 02, 2010  ISLAMABAD: Pakistan will take on Australia today in the sixth match of Twenty 20 World Cup—the second match of the day, Geo News reported Sunday. Pakistan are fancying their chances against title favourite Australia in their World Twenty20 clash on today considering the fact that the St Lucia wicket is too slow to play attacking game throughout the twenty overs. Pakistan manager Yawar Saeed said from West Indies hours before the start of his side’s opening match against Bangladesh, that the Gros Islet wicket is too slow, more than what one finds in Pakistan. “It is slow and low bounce wicket here where Pakistan are scheduled to play their opening two pool matches. It favours the team that would play according the book as there are remote chances of any run-fest here,” Yawar said. He predicted a score of 165 or above as a winning total in a match against Australia. “I think any team batting first and piling up 165 or above would have good chances of winning in a match between Pakistan and Australia,” he said. Yawar said that Australia mostly depends on their pace bowlers and as such would be looking forward to their attack bowlers to do the trick for them. “The batsmen can easily go after his bowling considering the slowness of the wicket and his pace. Furthermore he has proved a little shaky when it comes to starting the attack. His first over always provides opportunity for the opponents. On the contrary, Mohammad Sami is too quick and has the potential to take wickets at the outset,” Yawar added. India will meet South Africa in the fifth match of the T20 Cricket World Cup here. It would be the first match for South Africa and Australia. At the same time, Team India and Pakistan have won their very first matches. Both teams carry big expectations with them, and both are part of the pre-tournament front-runners pack.

Updated at: 1211 PST,  Sunday, May 02, 2010  KARACHI: After eight long years of struggle and a consistent trend of getting in and out of the team, Mohammad Sami seems to have learned his lesson as he has started producing match-winning efforts with the ball. Cricket fans would still remember heroics of this fast bowler in the Sydney Test earlier in the year, where he broke the strong top order of the Aussies at their backyard. Since then, he has been in the limelight for winning back his position in the team. The hard work, put in by the fast bowler over the years, paid him dividends in the game against Bangladesh Saturday when he produced the magical spell of bowling in the death overs, thus giving Pakistan just the right kind of start in the ICC World Twenty20. Sami grabbed three crucial wickets in the match at a juncture of time when two of Bangladesh’s most prolific batsmen were cruising along and threatening to defeat Pakistan at Saint Lucia. The sparkling performance by the fast bowler, who is gradually making his mark at the international level in a bid to cement his place in the national side, clearly indicates how much the talent Pakistan has in the fast bowling department. Moreover, it also shows the amount of confidence that skipper Shahid Khan Afridi has on Sami as according to sources, Afridi wanted Sami in the initially announced squad by the selection committee of the Pakistan Cricket Board, led by Mohsin Hasan Khan. Sources said Saturday that Shahid Khan Afridi preferred Mohammad Sami on the Mr Reliable fast bowler Mohammad Asif in the first game of the T20 title defence campaign. And how professionally this bullock has responded, it was witnessed by the whole world.

 Updated at: 0151 PST,  Sunday, May 02, 2010
 GROS ISLET, Saint Lucia: Pakistan got the defence of their World Twenty20 title off to a sound start with a 21-run win over Bangladesh at the Beausejour Stadium here on Saturday.

Victory was built around a huge opening stand of 142 between Kamran Akmal and man-of-the-match Salman Butt, who both made 73.

It was the third highest opening stand in all Twenty20 internationals and just shy of the tournament record posted by the West Indies duo of Chris Gayle and Devon Smith against South Africa at Johannesburg in 2007.

The win more than atoned for Pakistan's warm-up loss to Zimbabwe and set them up nicely for their Group A match on Sunday against Australia, who also lost to the Africans in the preliminaries.

This match looked all over when Bangladesh were 31 for two in the sixth over of their reply.

But Mohammad Ashraful (65) and captain Shakib Al Hasan (47) kept Bangladesh in the game with a third-wicket stand of 91 in 10 overs.

Ashraful, whose fifty came off 38 balls, struck Pakistan captain and leg-spinner Shahid Afridi for six high over long-off and Shakib struck Hafeez for two big sixes over long-on. With five overs left, Bangladesh needed 53 runs for an improbable win.

But, two balls later, Shakib holed out off Mohammad Sami to long-off.

Sami then turned 122 for three into 123 for four when he had Mahmudullah caught at point.

Ashraful though was undaunted driving Afridi for six and Bangladesh's target was down to 38 off 18 balls.

However, his innings ended when he was caught behind by diving wicketkeeper Kamran Akmal off left-arm quick Mohammad Aamer, having faced 49 balls with three sixes and six fours.

But a target of 32 off 12 balls proved just beyond Bangladesh, who finished on 151 for seven. Sami took three wickets for 29 runs and Aamer two for 16.

Earlier Kamran Akmal was dropped on 13 by Ashraful, running back at mid-on, off Mashrafe Mortaza, whose four overs cost 39 runs.

Fellow paceman Abdur Razzak's four overs were even more expensive, going for 41 runs and Bangladesh's spinners were unable to repair the early damage.

Butt's stylish fifty took just 29 balls, with two sixes and six fours, while Akmal, who looked to be scoring the quicker of the pair, reached the landmark in 43 balls, with six boundaries.

Shakib did though take two wickets for 27 runs with his slow left-armers.

Akmal was the initial aggressor, pulling Shafiul Islam for four and then somehow striking a low leg-stump full toss from the same bowler through the covers for another boundary.

But Butt was soon into his stride, going down on one knee to hoist Abdur Razzak over midwicket for six

Akmal exited by slapping a Shakib full toss to cover while Butt was clean bowled by Shafiul Islam as he tried to reverse sweep a straight ball.

Bangladesh opener Imrul Kayes's exited for nought in the first over as an attempted drive off the lively Aaamer saw him sky to Misbah-ul-Haq at short third man.

And spinner Mohammad Hafeez then struck third ball to have Tamim Iaqbal caught and bowled off a soft return catch.

Bangladesh finish the group phase against Australia in Barbados on May 5.

GROS ISLET, Saint Lucia: World Champions Pakistan have trounced Bangladesh by 21 runs in their opener counter in ICC Twenty20 World Cup, Geosuper reported.

Updated at: 0017 PST,  Sunday, May 02, 2010  GROS ISLET, Saint Lucia: Pakistan set a difficult target of 173 runs for Bangladesh as the defending champions made the highest total so far in the third ICC World Twenty20 at the Beuasejour Stadium here on Saturday. Batting first after captain Shahid Afridi won the toss, Pakistan scored 172 for three in the allotted 20 overs. Pakistan’s both openers Kamran Akmal and Salman Butt laid the foundation of the innings making together 142 runs for the first wicket. Both scored 73 runs each. Salman smashed eight fours and two sixes in his 55-ball innings while Kamran hit eight fours and a six in his 46-ball stay. For Bangladesh, captain Shakib Al Hasan claimed two wickets while Shafiul Islam took one wicket. Pakistan are the defending World Twenty20 champions, having won the title by beating Sri Lanka in last year's final at Lord's. For this match they chose to omit fast bowler Mohammad Asif. Bangladesh have lost ten Twenty20 internationals in a row, their last win coming in September 2007 at the inaugural World Twenty20. Pakistan have beaten their Asian rivals in all their three previous matches in this format. Teams Bangladesh: Tamim Iqbal, Imrul Kayes, Mohammad Ashraful, Shakib Al Hasan (captain), Mahmudullah, Mushfiqur Rahim (wk), Naeem Islam, Suhrawadi Shuvo, Shafiul Islam, Mashrafe Mortaza, Abdur Razzak Pakistan: Salman Butt, Kamran Akmal (wkt), Mohammad Hafeez, Shahid Afridi (captain), Umar Akmal, Fawad Alam, Misbah-ul-Haq, Abdul Razzaq, Mohammad Aamer, Mohammad Sami, Saeed Ajmal.