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The IPL received a shot in the arm after Indian home minister P Chidambaram and South Africa’s touring captain Graeme Smith remained positive about the security conditions in India. Their comments came in the wake of protests from a couple of right-wing political parties in the state of Maharashtra, who have opposed the participation of Australian and Pakistan players in the league due to India’s troubled diplomatic relations with the two countries.Leaders of the Shiv Sena and Maharashtra Navnirman Sena [both regional parties] have come out strongly in their criticism of attacks on Indian students in Australia, and said they would protest against the participation of Australian players in the IPL by not allowing them to play in Maharashtra. The opposition to the participation of Pakistani players in the IPL has existed in the aftermath of the Mumbai terror attacks in November 2008, which resulted in a breakdown in relations between the the neighbours.However, Chidambaran assured the players of complete security during the IPL. “Let Australian players come to India. Let Pakistani players come to India. Let them play in Mumbai and I will guarantee them full security.”Smith said he has always enjoyed returning to India since his maiden trip nine years ago, and never felt insecure. “From my personal perspective I have been fortunate to come to India a lot of times and I’m going to be hopefully coming back many more. So it is a great opportunity to come here and play on tour and the IPL.”The South Africans reached Nagpur, the venue for the first Test starting on February 6, on Sunday. Smith acknowledged security was a major issue anywhere around the world. “We want to know we are looked after and so far we have got people who we trust and the Indian security guys have really been great and from that perspective no complaints,” he said.

England will play two Twenty20 matches against Pakistan in Dubai next month ahead of their tour of Bangladesh, the ECB confirmed on Friday. The matches will take place on February 19 and 20 and they leave for Dhaka the next day for a series against Bangladesh that includes three ODIs and two Tests.The England Lions side are also scheduled to tour the UAE next month with T20 matches against England, the UAE and Pakistan A on the itinerary, followed by three 50-over games against Pakistan A.Hugh Morris, ECB’s managing director of cricket, said the two Twenty20 internationals against the current world champions would be an “exciting challenge” for the England team and provide Twenty20 international experience before the ICC World Twenty20 tournament in the Caribbean in April.”The combination of three Twenty20 matches and three 50-over matches for the England Lions team, to be played at Dubai, Sharjah and Abu Dhabi, will also provide those players with an excellent opportunity to push their case for selection for the England one-day side as we continue to build not only for the World Twenty20 in West Indies later this year but also for the ICC World Cup in India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.”Pakistan wind up their tour of Australia on February 5 while England will head to Dubai a month after their tour of South Africa concludes. The World Twenty20 will be held between April 30 and May 16.

Swing and a miss
Marcus North appears to be one of the coolest-headed members ofAustralia’s team, which makes it all the more surprising that he reactedso angrily to his dismissal. North played on to a fullish delivery fromMohammad Aamer and immediately swung his bat in disappointment. Lucky forhim it sailed a few centimetres above the bails; had he made contact asummons from the match referee would have been inevitable.Bolly would love a musical number
There’s already so much to like about Doug Bollinger. Now we learn that hesings to himself at the top of his bowling mark to help calm him down.Bollinger made the admission in a television interview before play on thefourth day and it raised the question, what would Dougie sing? Given thathe has also previously said he struggled to hold down a job beforebecoming a full-time cricketer, the answer seems plain. Get a haircut, andget a real job…Boxing clever
Bollinger has proved difficult to face over the past few Tests and itmight be because he likes to aim for the batsman’s box. After Bollingergave that line on Channel Nine, Shane Warne clarified for any viewers whodidn’t understand: “What he’s trying to say is that he aims for the top ofthe batsman’s middle stump.”Nagpur revisited
Mohammad Yousuf took a leaf out of MS Dhoni’s book when the prospect of afirst Australian hundred of the summer began to loom. Dhoni’s defence asattack theory in Nagpur in 2008-09 against Australia had seen him employ8-1 fields through a third day that yielded just 166 runs. Shane Watson has had anervy time of it in the 90s recently and when he entered it this time,Yousuf and Mohammad Asif decided to test him. Soon after morningdrinks, a lone mid-on patrolled the entire leg-side as Asif pitched widerand wider, tempting Watson into indiscretion. What followed was eithervery compelling or very dull, disgraceful or very clever. It almost workedas well.Drop counter
Keep the count going: Pakistan dropped three chances in Australia’s firstinnings and two more were added the second time round. Imran Farhat, who oncedropped six catches at Lord’s, put down Marcus North at midwicket, thoughit didn’t cost too much. Then, with Watson on 99 and all of Australia’snerves on his fingertips, Abdur Rauf grassed a sitter at point, to allow afirst Australian hundred of the summer and general relief across the landat the lifting of a jinx. What Rauf was doing at point is anyone’s guess,though he deserves a stand to be named after him at the MCG. At the veryleast, Watson’s first child should be christened Rauf Watson.Kat call
Why doesn’t Simon Katich bowl more often? He hadn’t bowled a single overall summer until he came on as the day drew to a close today andimmediately things began to happen. Umar Akmal, who rarely needs an inviteto attack a spinner immediately pulled his first ball, but only as far asNathan Hauritz at midwicket, who duly spilled it. Next ball it needed theintervention of the third umpire to adjudge Umar not out off a stumping.Finally Umar managed to pull him through midwicket for four and whenYousuf did the same in the next over, to be subsequently bemused by a fulltoss as high as the sky, the reasons for Katich not bowling so much becamea little clearer.

Match facts

Wednesday, December 9
Start time 17.30 (12:00 GMT)Lasith Malinga will add firepower to Sri Lanka’s bruised bowling attack•Getty Images

Big picture

It would be easy, in the immediate aftermath of India’s comprehensive Test series victory, to bill the hosts as favourites to win the two Twenty20 internationals against Sri Lanka. It would also be presumptuous because there are significant changes in personnel and the format is one in which India have struggled since the delirious high of World Twenty20 glory in 2007.The Indian players are stars in their respective IPL teams but their results have been ordinary when playing together as an international side: in nine Twenty20 internationals since 2008, they have lost six and won three. The first victory was a remarkable come-from-behind effort inspired by the Pathan brothers in Sri Lanka, the other two were against Bangladesh and Ireland during a woeful World Twenty20 campaign in England this year.The two significant problems India had in England, however, will be missing from these two games. Virender Sehwag, who had an injured shoulder during the World Twenty20, is back and in frightening form, and the other batsmen’s weaknesses against the rising delivery are unlikely to be exposed on the flat and true pitches in India.Gary Kirsten, the India coach, had said after they were eliminated from the World Twenty20 that there were holes in the Twenty20 set-up and teams had worked out strategies to effectively negate India’s strengths. The next World Twenty20 is in May 2010 and the opportunities to formulate, fine-tune and effect plans are limited.Sri Lanka, on the other hand, had a terrific World Twenty20 and were unbeaten until the final, which they lost to Pakistan. They were the tournament’s most vibrant team: the evergreen Sanath Jayasuriya and Tillakaratne Dilshan’s daring improvisations gave them fast starts, while the combination of Murali, Mendis and Malinga was simply too much for most opponents to handle. Since then, however, Sri Lanka have lost three matches on the trot – one to Pakistan and two to New Zealand, that too at home.Their Test bowlers were battered by the Indian batsmen and Sri Lanka will welcome the addition of Lasith Malinga’s pace and yorker-bowling skills to their attack. Jayasuriya will join Dilshan to form a destructive, match-winning opening combination. The question, though, is whether Ajantha Mendis will be able to exercise any control over a batting line-up that treated him with disdain over the last month.

Form guide

(most recent first)India – LLLWW
Sri Lanka – LLLLW

Watch out for

Lasith Malinga: When he’s bowling well, Malinga can unleash yorkers at will and his low point of release makes it extremely hard for batsmen to get under his deliveries. In the World Twenty20, he developed a slower full-toss and, while the delivery sounds rather harmless, it foxed several batsmen and left stumps flattened.India’s middle-order: The middle-order was shuffled frequently during the World Twenty20 and their performances were disappointing. Suresh Raina, Rohit Sharma and Yusuf Pathan struggled against the short ball.

Team news

India have rested Zaheer Khan and Harbhajan Singh from the Twenty20 internationals which means the bowling line-up is likely to be Ashish Nehra, Sreesanth, Ishant Sharma and Pragyan Ojha. There’s is a doubt over Sreesanth, though, because the bowler has an upset stomach. If he is unfit one of the rookies – Sudeep Tyagi, R Ashwin and Ashok Dinda – could get a look in.India (possible): 1 Gautam Gambhir, 2 Virender Sehwag, 3 Suresh Raina, 4 Yuvraj Singh, 5 MS Dhoni (capt & wk), 6 Rohit Sharma, 7 Yusuf Pathan, 8 Pragyan Ojha, 9 Sreesanth, 10 Ishant Sharma, 11 Ashish Nehra.Murali injured ligaments in a couple of fingers while training during the third Test and is likely to be rested from the Twenty20 matches.Sri Lanka (possible): 1 Tillakaratne Dilshan, 2 Sanath Jayasuriya, 3 Kumar Sangakkara (capt & wk), 4 Mahela Jayawardene, 5 Chamara Kapugedera, 6 Angelo Mathews, 7 Kaushalya Weeraratne, 8 Nuwan Kulasekara, 9 Ajantha Mendis, 10 Lasith Malinga, 11 Chanaka Welegedara.

Pitch and conditions

There’s no rain forecast in Nagpur but the difference between day and night temperatures are significant which means dew could be a factor in the evening. The pitch is the same as the one on which India scored 354 in an ODI against Australia in October so expect more runs.”It’s a late evening start. We may see dew come into effect,” MS Dhoni said. “But by the time dew comes in the game may be over. It won’t be that big a factor. Overall it [pitch] will be good for batting, but in Twenty20 its very tough to predict. All of a sudden you look to go aggressive and lose quite a few wickets at quick intervals and you are not able to get big runs.”

Stats and Trivia

• Both teams will be coming into this game on losing streaks – Sri Lanka have lost their last four (before which they had won six in a row) while India have lost their last three. Overall, Sri Lanka have a slightly better win-loss record, 14-9 in 23 games, compared to India’s 9-7 in 18 matches.
• India have played only once at home and once against Sri Lanka, and have won both games – they beat Australia by seven wickets at the Brabourne Stadium in 2007, and Sri Lanka by three wickets in Colombo earlier this year.
• Sri Lanka have preferred batting first in Twenty20 games, winning nine and losing five. When batting second, they’ve won five and lost four. For India the numbers are almost the same – 5-4 when batting first, and 4-3 when chasing.
• Tillakaratne Dilshan is the leading run-scorer in Twenty20 internationals among batsmen from these two teams, with Sanath Jayasuriya in second place.

Quotes

“We have to try and put the Test series behind us. We have a lot of hard work to do all around to keep improving and we have a good opportunity in these two Twenty20 games. The motivation is always there, but we need to start from scratch.”
“Considering we are playing in India, it would be a bit different for the bowlers, as the batsmen would go after them from the very first ball. It looks to be a small game, just four overs, but the amount of effort that’s needed, that’s what it is all about.”
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Group B

Scorecard
The follow-on was inevitable on the second day, but Baroda were outdone for a second time as Karnataka marched to six points at the Moti Bagh Stadium. The Karnataka bowlers, led by Vinay Kumar, were once again instrumental in maintaining their supremacy at the top of the table. Baroda’s last pair held out for the first three overs of the morning, as Karanataka imposed the follow-on with a lead of 335. The hosts lost two early wickets in their second essay, before a third-wicket stand of 54 between opener Connor Williams and Jacob Martin propped them up. Robin Uthappa triggered another collapse, leaving Baroda staring down the barrel at 155 for 7. Another brave half-century from Irfan Pathan was the small glimmer of hope, but the hosts succumbed in the 61st over. Vinay Kumar finished with three wickets, while Uthappa, Abhimanyu Mithun and Sreesanth Aravind chipped in with two apiece, ensuring Karnataka became the first team to book a spot in the quarter-finals.
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Pradeep Sangwan’s all-round show kept Delhi’s hopes of an outright win against Saurashtra alive at the Roshanara Club Ground. He starred in a defiant 141-run stand with wicketkeeper Puneet Bisht, who brought up his hundred, and then took two crucial wickets as Delhi looked for a late charge to the quarter-finals. Delhi resumed on 262 for 7, with their chances of taking a lead on a knife-edge. But Sangwan stroked a watchful half-century and gave good support to Bisht, who hit 18 fours during his 169-ball innings. Sangwan and Bisht collaborated again to send back opener Sagar Jogiyani in the third over as Saurashtra’s reply got off on the wrong foot. Sangwan went on to remove the dangerous Cheteshwar Pujara to deal a body blow. Pawan Suyal and Parvinder Awana each picked up two wickets as well, as the rest of the Saurashtra batsmen failed to convert their starts, and were left sweating with a narrow lead.
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The match between Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh at the Pune Club Ground is heading for a great climax, with the visitors up for a tricky chase on the fourth chase. The target was set up by Sangram Dilp Atitkar, who continued the good work for Maharashtra from the previous day, but finishing agonisingly short of a well-deserved century. From their overnight 102 for 2, Maharashtra declared on a challenging 338 for 9, lifted by a string of small yet crucial contributions from the middle order. Legspinner Piyush Chawla yet gain proved pivotal and finished with a five-for. Needing 423 for the win, the Uttar Pradesh openers saw off the five overs remaining in the day. They will look to give the visitors a good start on the final day, if they are to salvage anything form the match, having surrendered first-innings points.

Group A

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With 94 to get, Punjab’s batsmen wasted no time, wrapping up the victory inside 30 overs on the third day. Left-arm spinner Kuldeep Diwan accounted for two batsmen, but Vishwas Bhalla and Taruwar Kohli held fort to rocket them to second place in the points table, ahead of Mumbai, at least for the time being.
Scorecard
Jay Desai’s watchful half-century might prove pivotal as Gujarat, aiming to keep their quarter-final hopes alive, put on a better second-innings display against Railways in Valsad. Having secured a first-innings lead the previous day, Railways kept Gujarat at bay courtesy Marripuri Suresh’ composed fifty. The legspin duo of Timil Patel and Salil Yadav did well to ensure that only 64 were added to Railways’ overnight score of 327 for 5. The horrors of 91 all out first up were refreshed when Gujarat lost Timil Patel in the third over. But Desai anchored the innings well, combing with Niraj Patel for a second wicket stand of 115. Gujarat captain Parthiv Patel’s approach on the final day will be interesting as Mumbai, who are just above them, are looking dominant in Hyderabad.
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Orissa frittered away a good start to concede a narrow 34-run first-innings lead against Tamil Nadu in Sambalpur. Resuming on a comfortable 173 for 1, still 188 adrift of Tamil Nadu’s first-innings score, Shiv Sunder Das completed his century but his overnight partner Niranjan Behera missed out on three figures by five runs. R Ashwin, who has earned a national call-up for the two Twenty20 internationals against Sri Lanka, broke the 199-run partnership between Das and Behera when he had the latter caught by Chandrasekar Ganapathy. Ganapathy and Aushik Srinivas then bowled incisively, picking up three wickets apiece, to bundle out Orissa in the 71st over of the day. Tamil Nadu proceeded to consolidate their lead as openers Srikkanth Anirudha and Arun Karthik safely negotiated the remaining 17 overs.Click here for Siddarth Ravindran’s report from the Hyderabad-Mumbai match.

Phil Mustard has signed a one-year contract extension with Durham which will keep him at the county until 2012.Mustard has played a central role in the county’s success over the last three years which have included the Friends Provident Trophy followed by back-to-back County Championship titles.”It’s been fantastic to be a part of Durham’s success over the past few seasons and I wanted to demonstrate my commitment to the club for the coming years by signing on the dotted line for an extra year,” he said. “I’ve developed a lot over the last season and I feel that my contribution to the side is only going to improve.”Head coach Geoff Cook added: “Phil has matured a great deal over the season, not only with his keeping but as a batsman. He has taken on the responsibility of opening the batting in the one day competition and Twenty20 Cup and delivered some superb results. He is undoubtedly an excellent asset behind the stumps as well as a great character to have in the dressing room.”

When Andrew Strauss recalled Angelo Mathews during England’s opening ICC Champions Trophy match against Sri Lanka, he admitted the incident involving Ryan Sidebottom and Grant Elliott last year was on his mind. On that occasion, captain Paul Collingwood refused to recall Elliott, much to New Zealand’s anger and their captain, Daniel Vettori, believes Strauss made the right call this time.When Sidebottom and Elliott collided at The Oval, Collingwood had time to ask Elliott to come back and he suffered heavy criticism which ultimately played a role in him resigning the captaincy later in the season. Strauss has had an interesting few days at this tournament, following his Mathews decision by opting not to allow Graeme Smith a runner during his 141 at Supersport Park.”I only saw it briefly but with what’s gone on in the past it seemed like the right thing to do,” Vettori said of the Mathews recall. “It was the easier option to make and quelled the situation quickly. If it worked the other way we would still be talking about it.””It probably was in their minds,” he added in reference to Elliott’s run out. “I think it’s probably in my mind as well. If I come across it what would I do there? Just like the runner issue they are all so individual and it is hard to make a blanket rule across the board. I still think the Sidebottom-Elliott incident was very different to the Mathews one. It’s hard to make a general comment about all.”Vettori said that it was important for captains to maintain the spirit of the game when making on-field decisions in the heat of the battle. “I think people become worried about what will be said afterwards rather than what is right at the time,” he said. “That’s not the place you want to go, you want to make a truthful honest judgment at the time and you hope it’s right. The unfortunate thing from the Elliott issue was that people were making decisions on what they think will be said afterwards as opposed to what actually happened.”England and New Zealand meet at the Wanderers on Tuesday in the final Group B qualifying match. New Zealand have to win to stay in the tournament, while England are assured of progressing but can cement top spot in the table with victory.

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A Sri Lanka A side fielding eight players with international experience outclassed the New Zealanders in a low-scoring practice game on a lazy Sunday in front of a handful of spectators at the SSC. The New Zealanders went in without Daniel Vettori, Ross Taylor and Shane Bond and though it was the bowling that should have been weakened by the absentees, it was up to the mark. A limp batting performance, however, led to a 61-run defeat.The day began well as Daryl Tuffey made his presence felt in his first and last opportunity on tour, taking five wickets to limit the target to 235. However, a poor start to the chase and a shaky middle order put too much pressure on the battling Brendon McCullum, who was unlucky to be given out lbw to Sri Lanka’s star performer, the allrounder Muthumudalige Pushpakumara.Thilina Kandamby decided to bat in good conditions, but Sanath Jayasuriya followed two poor Twenty20s with 2, caught behind off a short delivery. Tuffey bowled a rhythmic opening spell and, aided by some loose shots and athletic fielding, helped reduce Sri Lanka to 14 for 3. Mahela Udawatte’s poor form continued against the tourists, after Friday’s first-ball duck at the Premadasa, when McCullum pouched a good catch at extra cover.Tuffey provided the initial problems in a smart spell of 2 for 14 from five overs, after which Kandamby and Lahiru Thirimanne picked easy runs from Brendon Diamanti, Jeetan Patel and Neil Broom. Through a mixture of swings and inside edges, crisp flicks across the line and drives down the ground, the pair added 56 to settle the nerves. Kandamby danced down to Patel and effortlessly lofted six over mid-off, but trying to repeat the shot he chipped straight to short extra cover for 26.Tuffey continued his good game when he returned in the 34th over, immediately getting Thirimanne to give a catch to midwicket for 51. In the 36th over he drew another loose shot, getting the ball to angle sharply, and had Gihan Rupasinghe out for a brisk 34. An impromptu jig followed.Dinesh Chandimal and Pushpakumara bailed Sri Lanka out and ensured Kandamby had at least a competitive total to play with. Chandimal, regarded as a future international, used his feet well and was also quick between the wickets, keeping the New Zealand fielders on their toes.Pushpakumara’s cameo, both chancy and delightful, enabled Sri Lanka to reach 234 after walking in at a nervy 137 for 6, with 14 overs to go. A crafty late dab off Patel, exposing all the stumps and then steering past short third man, was followed by another delicate deflection off Diamanti’s medium-pace. When Tuffey returned and pitched too wide, Pushpakumara flayed four over gully and sliced wide of the wicketkeeper.They put on 64, at 7.80 an over, before both fell in the 45th over: Chandimal for a 30-ball 29 and Pushpakumara for 42 from 30 balls. After taking 4 for 28 from eight, Tuffey’s figures were spoiled by Nuwan Zoysa, who clubbed 26 from just 11 balls, but he finished the innings in 47.5 overs. Jesse Ryder took 2 for 18.The New Zealanders had a bad start; Dilhara Fernando and Zoyza, picked up a wicket each as the tourists slipped to 49 for 3 in 9.3 overs. McCullum was left to try and hold the innings together after Broom and Gareth Hopkins departed in successive overs from Pushpakumara, who didn’t get much turn but bowled a very tidy line. McCullum was playing solidly, intent on getting himself in until he was adjudged lbw to Pushpakumara. It was a harsh call as the ball was missing leg stump by a week. McCullum fumed as he walked off, and with that went the New Zealanders’ chances.Diamanti took 35 balls to score 18 and the asking rate had neared seven-and-a-half by the time he was yorked by Fernando. Jacob Oram went on to score 39 from 56 balls after the competitive element had long since gone. Fernando took him out to finish with 3 for 40.

Steven Davies, the 23-year-old wicketkeeper, has signed with Surrey on a three-year contract, having decided to leave Worcestershire at the end of the season.Davies joins Surrey having decided not to renew his contract at New Road, where he accumulated a first-class average of 36.46, taking 207 catches in 73 games.”Surrey are the biggest club in the country and I was very flattered when they made a move to sign me,” said Davies. “With a developing squad that is already very strong, I am hugely excited about playing my part in the next era of Surrey cricket.”Guy Mackay, managing director at Surrey, said: “He is an exciting, young, international player and will play a massive role in bringing long term success to Surrey.”Davies made his international Twenty20 debut in March this year against West Indies at Port of Spain, and scored a fifty on his England Lions first-class debut earlier this season.

Stand-in Bangladesh captain Shakib Al Hasan will travel to Australia next week for medical treatment on his groin.”He has been in acute groin pain during the past one month and had to play with painkillers,” Bangladesh Cricket Board spokesman Rabeed Imam said. “He will fly to Australia next week where doctors will see his injury and decide whether to operate on him.”Shakib stood in for injured Bangladesh captain Mashrafe Mortaza and led the side to historic Test and ODI victories against the West Indies away from home, and followed it up with a 4-1 ODI series win in Zimbabwe.Shakib is the fifth Bangladesh bowler to get injured in recent months, after Mortaza, fast bowler Rubel Hossain, Nazmul Hossain and spinner Abdur Razzak.