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Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out

The troubles don’t seem to abate for the Bangalore Royal Challengers; off-field controversies plagued the bottom-placed side going into the match against Kings XI Punjab, and a nine-wicket mauling in Mohali leaves the second-most expensive franchise in the IPL all but out of the semi-finals.On a hard deck suited for strokeplay, Bangalore’s batsmen once again failed to fire, and after they were restricted to 143, the chase was a mere formality. Shaun Marsh, though, didn’t show any mercy on a hapless opposition, and his unbeaten 74 completed an emphatic nine-wicket win, pushing his team to second place .After Rahul Dravid, an under-pressure Bangalore captain, decided to bat, Misbah-ul-Haq and Virat Kohli gave a glimmer of hope that the side’s top-order woes had come to an end. But unfortunately, both batsmen failed to capitalise on their starts.Sreesanth and Irfan Pathan got the ball to swing early: Pathan’s first over was a maiden, while J Arunkumar was done in by some extra bounce from Sreesanth. That brought in Misbah, who managed to hit two short balls from Sreesanth for four, though not convincingly. At the other end, Kohli dispatched Pathan for successive fours. Misbah then launched Sreesanth just over the long-off boundary, but the four that followed was among the best in the tournament, as Misbah made room to a full delivery on middle, got down on his knee and majestically drove the ball square. But next ball he was out in bizarre fashion, as he somehow trod onto the stumps while pushing a Sreesanth delivery to the off side.Yuvraj took a gamble by bringing Piyush Chawla in the final Powerplay over, and though he started by straying on leg, he bowled Kohli after the batsman had swept him twice to the boundary. Once Misbah and Kohli exited, Bangalore failed to keep up the momentum. VRV Singh slipped in a couple of economical overs, and Chawla got his second wicket when he ran towards midwicket to complete a splendid catch off a top-edge from Cameron White.Dravid once again was unable to improvise as required in the Twenty20 format, and his 27-ball 29 will do little to silence the critics. As in the previous game against Chennai Super Kings, Punjab’s bowlers were largely right on the mark at the end. VRV followed up his miserly first spell, in which he gave just eight, with an exceptional second, conceding one less than in his first. He mostly kept it straight, putting in the occasional short delivery, and towards the end he relied primarily on yorkers.Bangalore needed to strike early to put pressure on Punjab, but the Australian duo of Shaun Marsh and James Hopes got the home side off to a confident start. Hopes gave the innings the early momentum, hitting three sixes, but another attempt at clearing long-off against Vinay Kumar was caught by a diving Dale Steyn.Marsh, the in-form player, was quiet during the Powerplay overs, and he was lucky as substitute fielder Bharat Chipli grassed one at mid-off when he was on 12. He took on Anil Kumble in his first over, sending one over long-off, as Punjab motored to 70 for 1 after ten. Steyn was brought back to stem the flow, but leaked more runs: Marsh smashed the first delivery through extra cover for four, lifted the next over the square boundary, and then swatted one straight over mid-off’s head. A frustrated Steyn then got one in the blockhole, but Marsh deftly sneaked it past the wicketkeeper.Marsh’s fifty came off a single in the same over, and a deflated Bangalore side could do nothing much to stop Punjab from then on. Luke Pomersbach, playing his first game, also took a liking for Kumble, carting him for two sixes and a four. Kumble, who is yet to take a wicket in the IPL, even resorted to seam-up, but Marsh late-cut it delightfully.With victory in sight, Marsh and Pomersbach didn’t relent, each hitting two boundaries as Zaheer Khan’s final over, the penultimate of the game, went for 18. Marsh took a single to seal the deal with 4.2 overs remaining. With his unbeaten 74, Marsh now has a Bradmanesque average of 98.33 in the IPL, and if he continues in the same vein, a semi-final slot shouldn’t be a headache for Punjab, who are already sitting pretty at 12 points from nine games.

Highlights of the day

After losing their first game of the season against Services, Karnataka bounced back by holding on for a one-run win against Mumbai in Cuttack. Karnataka, after being inserted, were boosted by a 38-run blast from Stuart Binny, which lifted the team to 162. Binny then struck with the ball, accounting for the crucial scalps of Shreyas Iyer and the captain Aditya Tare to peg Mumbai’s chase back. However, Abhishek Nayar stayed firm, stroking 49 off 32 balls, to reduce the equation to 19 needed off 10 balls, with two wickets in hand. Nayar got Mumbai to within two runs of victory, but was caught behind off Vinay Kumar in the penultimate ball of the match, leaving the final pair of Pravin Tambe and Dhawal Kulkarni to collect the winning runs. Tambe, though, was run out off the final ball, putting Karnataka on the board.Tamil Nadu posted their second win on the trot, after compiling a total of 151 and then bowling Bengal out for 82 in Nagpur. Rahil Shah was the pick of Tamil Nadu’s bowlers, collecting 5 for 12, while M Ashwin chipped in with 2 for 9.Harbhajan Singh shone with the ball for Punjab, his 3 for 8 setting up a comprehensive eight-wicket victory against Jammu & Kashmir. Harbhajan dismissed Mithun Manhas, Parvez Rasool and Zahoor Sofi in successive overs, restricting J&K to 105. Punjab then gunned down their target in 14.3 overs, thanks to an unbeaten 45-ball 58 from Mandeep Singh.Delhi‘s Nitish Rana was the star of the show in Vadodara, smashing 97 off just 40 balls to fire the team to a 111-run win against Andhra. Rana drilled eight fours and sixes each during his blitz, and shared a 119-run stand with Milind Kumar (58) as Delhi compiled a total of 236 for 9. Andhra failed to gather any momentum in the chase and were shut out for 125, with Suboth Bhati, Pawan Negi and Shivam Sharma snaring two wickets apiece.

Other brief scores

The West Indies Cricket Board has set up a review committee to assist their international players under the scanner for suspect bowling actions.Bowlers suspended by the ICC can continue playing domestic cricket in their country with the permission of their local board and the WICB has established this committee to “review, assess and make the relevant recommendations of all the international players before they are allowed to bowl in domestic competitions.”This move comes in the wake of the ICC suspending several of their spinners for illegal actions. On Sunday, Marlon Samuels was barred from bowling in international cricket for 12 months after copping his second suspension in two years. He was first reported in 2008, after which he had stopped bowling for three years.West Indies’ premier spinner Sunil Narine is also under cloud. His action was reported during an ODI against Sri Lanka in November and a test done at Loughborough indicated his elbow extended beyond the 15 degree limit for all of his variations. Although that was the first time he was pulled up in international cricket, his action had come under repeated scrutiny in the Champions League T20 in 2014 and subsequently led to him skipping the World Cup 2015.Narine can ask for a re-test of his action at any time now, but Samuels will have to wait until his 12-month suspension is complete.Shane Shillingford had faced the same problem after a tour of India in November 2013. He had been West Indies’ first-choice Test spinner at the time, and has since had success at correcting his bowling action.

Scorecard
Points table

Victoria experienced a few nervous moments before capping a fine preparation for Saturday’s Pura Cup final with a six-wicket victory over Queensland, who will finish with the wooden spoon. Ryan Broad’s century made sure the Bushrangers had to bat again and the target of 75 was looking uncomfortable when Scott Brant and Grant Sullivan dropped them to 4 for 34.Cameron White found a willing partner in Andrew McDonald and there were no further stumbles. White added 28 while McDonald got 13 to seal the three-day success.Broad’s 107, which included a six to bring up his century and another next ball before he was bowled by Bryce McGain, went with his 75 in the first innings, but he did not receive much assistance from his team-mates. Queensland started the day 119 behind and the task to stay competitive became even tougher when they lost five wickets before lunch. Clint McKay started the problems when he removed Nick Kruger (11) and Aaron Nye in consecutive deliveries – the hat-trick effort to Shane Watson was a no-ball.Watson skipped to 32 before falling to a diving take from Adam Crosthwaite and McDonald added to the damage when he captured the lbws of Nathan Reardon (1) and the captain Chris Simpson (0). The Bulls were 5 for 71 and struggling to force a second Bushrangers’ innings.Broad achieved that with help from Chris Hartley’s 17 and Daniel Doran’s 23, but when the tail exited quickly Queensland did not have much to defend. McKay grabbed 3 for 69 while McDonald and McGain earned two wickets each in a strong warm-up for the final against New South Wales in Sydney.

Under the glare of floodlights, the gaze of television viewers at home and surrounded by some rather lonely looking concrete terraces, Colts Cricket Club qualified for the final of the Premier Division Limited Overs tournament at Premadasa International Stadium tonight. They defeated Tamil Union by 44 runs in a low scoring but nevertheless keenly fought match.It was a praiseworthy initiative by the Sri Lankan cricket board to host the final stages of this otherwise low-key tournament under lights and to invite the television cameras into the stadium. Unfortunately, they were less successful in pulling in the spectators. Nevertheless, it was surely a step in the right direction. Who knows, with further promotion and similar initiatives, this tournament may well arrest the attention of Sri Lanka cricket fans in years to come.The match itself was no jamboree. A sluggish pitch ensured that stroke play remained purely functional and the bowling attritional. This is not to distract from the game, which remained a tense affair until Dinuka Hettiarachchi bowled Upul Chandana in the 32nd over of the run chase.When Colts CC were bowled out for a meager 174 it looked as though an upset was on the cards. With their bowling attack packed with fast bowlers on a surface that cried out for the twirly men, Roy Dias, the Colts coach, would surely have been apprehensive.However, the Colts seam attack showed that the quick men too can prosper on turgid pitches by displaying the age old virtues of a tight line and unerring length. With the exception of Eric Upashantha, who bowled four wides in his opening burst, the fast bowlers remained disciplined throughout.The Tamil Union batsmen batted cautiously, with hindsight perhaps too much so, in the opening overs. Gradually the pressure shifted away from the fielding side and onto the batsmen as the Tamil Union innings was caught in the doldrums.Wickets began falling, steadily at first but with increasing frequency thereafter. Kumara (5) was the first batsmen to fall when he was trapped LBW by Upashantha in the sixth over of the innings. Ranga Dias (9), normally a free scoring player, was caught in two minds whilst trying to pull DulipLiyanage and popped up an easy catch in the 12th over.Malintha Gajanayake (2) was dismissed during a miserly spell of bowling from the young Kaushalya Weereratne – he bowled an eight over spell that yielded just nine runs – when he drove too early at a full-length delivery and was caught at mid off.The balance of the game had now shifted and Tamil Union were 47 for three in the 17th over. Then, the game swung decisively towards Colts when Rideegammanagedara, who faced 19 balls for his single run, was both dropped and run out of the same delivery, and Chandana (19) was bowled off his pads. After the dismissal of their captain Tamil Union capitulated losing their last five wickets for just 41 runs.The early part of the day had belonged to Tamil Union’s spin quartet. Led by the irrepressible Mutiah Muralitharan, who picked up five wickets for 15 runs, they ran through a powerful Colts batting line-up, taking nine of the ten wickets to fall.The only batsmen to prosper were Chaminda Mendis, with a diligent 35, and Kulatunga, with a sparkling 35, which included five boundaries. When this pair were separated after a stand of 67 the innings subsided and it was left to Eric Upasthantha to ensure respectability with what turned out to be a crucial 34 runs.

Bhargav Bhatt and Aditya Waghmode continued their good form with ball and bat, respectively, to guide Baroda to a comfortable eight-wicket win over Maharashtra.Bhatt, who was coming off a stellar performance of 2 for 16 against Odisha on Monday, picked up three wickets in the 35th over and one in the 37th, as Maharashtra slid from 135 for 4 to 145 for 9 within five overs. Nikit Dhumal then paired with Domnic Muthuswami to add an unbeaten 31 for the last wicket, taking Maharashtra to 176 for 9 in their fifty overs. Irfan Pathan and Munaf Patel picked up one wicket each, while pacer Rishi Arothe picked up two.Waghmode followed up his maiden List A century against Odisha with an unbeaten 77 to steer Baroda’s 177-run chase. He found an able partner in Deepak Hooda, who scored 58 not out off 78 deliveries, and contributed to the 132-run, third-wicket partnership that sealed Baroda’s win in the 40th over.Odisha suffered their fourth consecutive defeat, losing by 55 runs to an Andhra side that was guided by AG Pradeep’s 102* and D Siva Kumar’s 4 for 37.Opting to bat, Andhra’s innings was anchored by Pradeep’s second List A hundred, after Alok Chandra Sahoo sent back the openers within the first ten overs. Pradeep shared a 79-run stand for the third wicket with captain Prashanth Kumar (46), and then posted a partnership of 138 runs for the fourth wicket with Jyothi Sai Krishna, lifting the team score to 261 for 4 in 50 overs.Odisha were off to a poor start, losing two wickets to Siva Kumar in the first over. Anurag Sarangi (52) then combined with captain Natraj Behera(42) and Biplab Samantray (44) to post partnerships worth 71 and 56 respectively, but Andhra’s bowlers kept chipping away at the wickets. Odisha lost their last six wickets for 60 runs and were eventually bowled out for 206 in 48 overs.Centuries from Ganesh Satish and Jitesh Sharma drove Vidarbha‘s colossal 158-run win over Tripura. Satish’s unbeaten 140 off 134 included 12 fours and four sixes, while Jitesh stroked ten fours and one six in his 108-ball 105. The pair added 172 for the second wicket, after opener Faiz Fazal fell for 12 and the partnership took Vidarbha to a commanding 324 for 5 in their 50 overs, after they were put in. None of Tripura’s bowlers conceded less than 50 runs, with Manisankar Murasingh (79 for 1) the most expensive bowler.In reply, no Tripura batsman scored more than 40 as the side was dismissed for 166 in the 48th over. Offspinner Akshay Wakhare picked up 3 for 29, while Ravikumar Thakur and Akshay Karnewar picked up two each.

Shaheen Shah Afridi, on his BBL debut, was removed from the attack for dangerous bowling in the match between Brisbane Heat and Melbourne Renegades in Geelong.In the 18th over of Renegades’ innings, after Heat elected to field, Afridi bowled two waist-high full tosses – one each to Tim Seifert and Ollie Peake – and he was forced out of the attack.After being told he could no longer bowl, Afridi sported a wry grin as Heat captain Nathan McSweeney had to bowl the final two deliveries to complete the over.It meant Afridi finished with the rough figures of 0-43 off 2.4 overs, including three no-balls and two wides, in a tough BBL initiation. Entering the game amid much fanfare, with Pakistan team-mate Mohammad Rizwan also making his BBL debut for Renegades, he had started well with three dot balls in the second over.But things went downhill after that as he missed his lengths and was not brought back on until the 13th over when Renegades took the power surge. Afridi conceded 19 runs in the over before the horrors of the 18th over, where he ultimately leaked 15 runs, including three no-balls.Renegades finished with a massive 212 for 5 with Seifert smashing 102 off 56 balls and Peake clubbing 57 off 29. Rizwan, batting at No. 3, made just 4 from ten before holing out to left-arm spinner Paddy Dooley.

Brendon McCullum has agreed to be a backup opener in the Test series in England as long as he can hand over his wicketkeeping duties to newcomer Gareth Hopkins. Though the squad includes other part-time openers, Peter Fulton and James Marshall, New Zealand coach John Bracewell said youngster Aaron Redmond will be given a chance and if he gets injured, McCullum will take over.”Brendon would play as a batter only and Hoppy [Hopkins] would come into the side as a keeper-batsman,” Bracewell told the New Zealand daily . “It would be unfair to ask Brendon to do both roles. I’ve spoken to him about that and said only injury will force a change. Brendon’s response was: if that’s the case he would prefer to do the one job.”Bracewell said the team management wanted Redmond to simply play off the back foot and defend, like former opener Mark Richardson did. “Aaron’s accomplished off the back foot and can rotate the strike and that was all Richardson could do. He [Aaron] is a guy who has taken on the opening position to become a Black Cap.”With no third specialist opener in the squad, Redmond is certain to make his Test debut this May. “The bottom line is, if you are looking for security, you can’t offer more to a new player than a year’s full wage [New Zealand contract],” Bracewell said. In preparation for the tour, Bracewell is getting the squad members to play with Duke balls used in England. “We ordered some in and the guys have been bowling with the Duke balls for the last month to make sure we are used to them and we’ve found out a couple of things about them.”

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out

It took nine days for the series to finally witness an absorbing battle between bat and ball. While Chennai produced a featherbed and Ahmedabad saw a track with generous sprinklings of green, Kanpur laid out a crackling surface that assisted turn. South Africa made the most of winning the toss, grinding out 265 at the end of a tense first day, but India’s spinners, with some good support from Ishant Sharma, ensured they remained in the hunt.A bone-dry pitch with conspicuous cracks gradually deteriorated through the day. Graeme Smith and Hashim Amla thrived when conditions were best for batting, steering South Africa to 152 for 1, before India clawed their way back through turn and bounce. Seven of the ten wickets fell to spinners, both specialist and part-time, but plucky contributions from the lower order stretched the score past 250. With the ball stopping on the batsmen, and a few starting to stay low, it could well turn into a match-winning total.South Africa ensured they didn’t miss out on scoring opportunities. Smith led the early charge and the plucky duo of AB de Villiers and Mark Boucher made valuable contributions down the order. None of the batsmen were completely assured at the crease – they survived vociferous appeals every once in a while and the ball regularly beat the outside edge – but made sure they scored at a healthy clip.India’s shoddy fielding hurt them, as did their inability to sustain pressure. Barring Harbhajan Singh, who was miserly throughout the day, the rest regularly doled out loose deliveries that allowed the batsmen to break free. Both Piyush Chawla, in his second Test, and Ishant struggled with their accuracy and a number of misfields only hurt them further. How Anil Kumble would have wished to be out in the middle rather than nursing a groin injury back in the dressing room.Kumble’s absence, for the first time since December 2003, meant that Mahendra Singh Dhoni became the first wicketkeeper to captain India. He didn’t have a great start, though, losing the toss and then watching his faster bowlers squander the new ball. Sreesanth had a perilously close lbw appeal turned down in the fourth ball of the match – against Neil McKenzie, who shouldered arms to one that came in – but didn’t go on to make the batsmen play enough. Ishant’s first six overs cost 35 and allowed South Africa’s openers to lay a solid base.

Sreesanth didn’t cause too many flutters through the day but Ishant came back with renewed enthusiasm. Managing reverse-swing at a pace close to 140kph, he broke through Amla’s defences during his mid-afternoon spell. He returned late in the day to nip out Boucher, with one that jagged back and kept low, and polished off Paul Harris with one that uprooted leg stump.The spinners, though, had most of the say. Chawla created the first breakthrough, beating McKenzie in flight and luring him out of the crease, while Yuvraj foxed Smith with one that fizzed off the surface. It was a crucial wicket, especially because of the confidence with which Smith was handling the spinners. He appeared to have sussed up the situation perfectly – clattering the loose balls and showing the temperament to overcome the nervy moments. Along with Amla, who milked the spinners with wristy manoeuvres, he was threatening to take the game away.Yuvraj, though, should have had Smith with his very first ball, when the batsman was on 50. Turning one across Smith, he caught him on the shuffle with a ball that would have gone on to rattle leg stump. Undeterred with the decision, Yuvraj struck a few overs later and triggered a mini-collapse – Amla, who had added 91 with Smith, was undone by Ishant’s reverse-swing, deflecting a pacy ball onto his stumps, and Kallis lasted only seven balls, playing on to the stumps to Harbhajan.The rest of the day was a cat-and-mouse battle – South Africa’s middle order snaffling runs at the slightest chance, the spinners beating the bat, appeals flying and puffs of dust appearing on the pitch. Ashwell Prince was bogged down by 21 dot balls in a row while de Villiers refused to be tied down, doing his best to use his feet against the spinners. Boucher held the lower order together – with Morne Morkel and Harris chipping in – but just when he appeared to shut India out, the bowlers mopped up the tail. Harbhajan ended with 3 for 52 in a marathon 32-over effort but on another day, with more luck, he could have easily doubled the wickets tally.

Former India spinner Murali Kartik has whole-heartedly backed the West Indies after their controversial win over Zimbabwe at the Under-19 World Cup on Tuesday. West Indies fast bowler Keemo Paul mankaded the last man Richard Ngarava with three runs needed off the final over to help his team through to the quarter-finals. The incident has led to fierce debate but Kartik, who has dismissed three batsmen in such a manner over his playing career, remains steadfast in his belief that a bowler is completely justified in effecting what is just another “mode of dismissal.”Among the arguments given by pundits who were critical of West Indies was that Paul had failed to warn Ngarava. But Kartik argued the rules do not demand that courtesy.”It is one of those things where people are once again going to bring up the spirit of cricket issue,” he told ESPNcricinfo. “It’s very simple; you are not allowed to steal anything in life so stealing anything whether an inch or a yard when it’s a crucial time, it’s not done. People are going to say he wasn’t warned, but the rule is very clear, you are not supposed to leave the popping crease before the bowler delivers the ball. There are different modes of dismissals and this is one of them and I don’t know why people create such a hue and cry about the spirit of cricket.”Most bowlers do warn a batsman before mankading him and Kartik used to do so at least thrice. However, he believes he had the time since he was playing a first-class cricket across four days. Here, West Indies were defending only a handful of runs with six balls left and needed the wicket to progress in a World Cup.”For me the situations were different, I was playing a four-day game,” Kartik said. “I had the time to warn, that was something that was happening for a very long time. I didn’t want to get that person out, I just wanted to warn him and if somebody doesn’t heed to the warnings after three times, then obviously there’s nothing left. Over here, there were just three runs required and the last man was in and they wanted to win the game, so it’s a different situation.”Zimbabwe’s players were visibly distraught after the match, with captain Brandon Mavuta repeatedly saying “No comment” in the post-match presentation ceremony. Their coach Stephen Mangongo was more vocal: “It is my honest and sincere opinion as a coach, who has been coaching this game for nearly two decades, that at youth cricket you want to teach them sportsmanship, you want to teach them to win with honour and valour. And I do not think that they’ve won with honour, by sneaking a run out in such a manner.”Kartik laughed off that view, saying the West Indies players should in fact be complimented for their game awareness in a high-pressure situation.”They are not kids, they are 19-year olds and many people have played for their countries at the age of 14 and 15.” he said. “When you get to that level, there’s no kid, everybody is treated at par, at the end of the day they are playing for their country. If the other team is trying to win by stealing, is that what you are trying to tell everyone that Zimbabwe were trying to win by gaining that extra yard.”I don’t know why people use the word “Mankad”, it should be on the name of the person who is trying to steal that extra advantage. The person who does it is always the one who is vilified but for me, I have always believed whether you steal a rupee or a million rupees, stealing is stealing. They were just trying to win the game. I am glad they know the rules, and somebody was aware enough to see that someone was trying to take unfair advantage in a tight situation.”TV commentator and former Zimbabwe bowler Mpumelelo Mbangwa, in his post-match analysis for the host broadcaster, said he would have wanted the on-field umpires to take charge of the situation and ask if the West Indies captain really wanted to go ahead with the appeal. Other critics have also argued that the intent of the batsman should have been taken into consideration before he was ruled out via a mankad. Was he willfully stepping outside his crease or was it simply the result of a natural urgency that comes with wanting to get the required runs in a tense situation? But Kartik did not entertain those views either and offered a few analogies to back his stance.”When a bowler misses the crease by a micrometer, isn’t it a no ball?” he said. “Or when a run out or a stumping is referred to the third umpire, the line belongs to the umpire, [and] whether you are a millimeter or a micrometer out, you are out.”Let me put another situation [across]. As a spinner, when I am bowling and someone is beaten in the air and he drags the foot by a micrometer, is the keeper going to ask him, ‘Can I stump you or not? Are you out? Are you trying to take a single?’ No, that’s not the case. So, I am really sorry, whether it’s a micrometer or an inch or a mile out, he’s out.”The spirit of cricket is a convenient bunker for people to hide behind. Everybody needs to look into themselves. How many times do people nick and not walk? How many times do people claim catches that aren’t catches and they know it? The situation was such, the kids were trying to win a game and anybody who flouts rules, obviously you have to pay a price.”