T20 World Cup....match updates!!!!!

Super Eight contests are taking the fans to the edge of their seats, as minnows are catching the stronger oppositions by the scruff of their neck.
The fourth day of the Super Eight contest saw Sri Lanka escape with a narrow win over spirited Ireland, while defending Champions India were sent packing back by a resurgent England. The biggest upset of the tournament till now.

Sri Lanka vs Ireland :
Sri Lanka had entered the match with a feeling of comfort, wanting to give players good match practice before the knowout stages & chose to bat, when Sangakkara won the toss. But the plot went horribly wrong, as inform batsman Dilshan got out in the very second ball of the match for a nought & Skipper Sangakkara followed suit in the 4th over, with the score reading a poor 14 for 2. Old warhorse Jayasuriya & Jayawardane settled down to resurrect the innings & took the score to 81, when Jayasuriya fell. The rest of the batsmen could not make much of an impact & the Lankans closed the innings at a dodgy total of 144 for 9. One would have expected the mighty Lankans to rampage the Irish attack, but were completely taken off guard & it was only because of Jayawardane's fighting 78 of 53 deliveries that got them to a respectable total.
The Irish run chase was quite enterprising & they were sitting pretty at 87 for one in the 14th over, looking good to overhaul the Lankans for a major upset. However, mystery spinner Mendis & slinging Malinga had other ideas. They bowled brilliantly to cut into the Irish defence, & despite a gallant 18 runs plundered in the 19th over, Ireland fell short of thier target by 9 runs. It was truly well fought, but the senior pros had managed to scrape through. With this win, the Lankans are more or less sure of a berth in the semis. they seem to be peaking well, as the tournament reaches the knockout stage.
Man of the match was a deserving Jayawardane.

India vs England :
In a do or die match, it was surprising to see Dhoni deciding to chase after winning the toss. One would have expected him to put on a decent total & then challenge an English batting that is so very dependent of Peiterson alone. Seems Dhoni had less confidence in his bowling attack.
Opener Wright was consumed in the 2nd over itself, but Bopara & Pieterson came back strongly to take the score to 74 in the 11 over, when Bopara got out. Pieterson made mincemeat of the Indian attack that was quite ordinary, & he ended up with a solid 46 of only 27 deliveries. Other batsmen falied to create an impact as spinners Bhajji & Ravindra Jadega tied the noose towards the end. However, in the last over by Bhajji, Yuvi surprisingly allowed a boundary to sneak through, & Bhajji also bowled wides. In the final context of the game, these runs proved very very costly for India. England managed 153 for 7 in their quota of 20 overs.
The Indian run chase had to be authoritative form the beginning, but openers Gautam Gambhir & Rohit Sharma looked extremely tensed & were seen mistiming their hits. The English think tank had done their homework on the Indian batting. They had watched Indians struggle against the short pitched deliveries of the Windies & lose the game, & they deployed the same tactics. Each bowler was bowling to a plan & almost 50% of the balls were pitched short. Rohit played on to a Sidebottom bouncer & Raina holed out trying a cross bat to another Sidebottom bouncer. The Indians were reeling at 24 for 2 in the 4th over & Dhoni tried one of his famous out of the hat ploys in sending Jadeja at no 4. But the rookie was completely out of sorts & while he comsumed a lot of deliveries, he could not bat out of trouble. Gauti on the other end was also not in his usual flowing rhythm. The asking rate kept piling up & when Jadeja & Gauti finally got out, it was a near impossible task for the later batsmen. Yuvi was one who could have taken India to victory & he raise hopes with a six of the first ball he faced, but got out stumped, with the score reading a dismal 87 for 5 in the 14th over. Dhoni & Yusuf Pathan made a valient attempt, though Dhoni did not seem to have control over the proceedings. Finally, though the duo put on 63 runs in the last 6 overs, they fell 3 runs short of their target. When Sidebottom came to bowl the final over, Indians were still needing 19 runs. Yusuf & Dhoni however could not really go after the bowling & ended up with just 15. Indians had paid the price for being too edgy & tensed in their run chase. Yusuf's valiant attempt of 33 in 17 deliveries was not good enough in the final count.
Sidebottom was the man of the match for his brilliant bowling upfront.
The Champions were made to bite the dust by a team which did not look capable of a surprise, at least on paper. Indians now only have a non consequential match with South Africa. Sad to see a team so rich in talent & capabilities, lose back to back matches.
"Yeh Cup is baar wapas nahi aayega"............I guess the advts now will have to change the slogan to this dismal looking line.
Dhoni must now be feeling the pressures of the Indian Captaincy, as his lady luck seemed to have deserted his this time around. The recent tiff with the media would also have dented his composure.