India, Great Britain and hosts, Sri Lanka come out on top
Day two of the Red Bull Campus Cricket World Finals 2013 began with much promise of electric T20-action. Kicking off the day’s proceedings, India took on Pakistan in a much anticipated match between the two perennial rivals.
Group A – India vs. Pakistan
In a battle of fierce rivals, India won the toss and opted to field on a sunny day at the R. Premadasa Stadium.Pakistan lost four wickets in the first half of their innings but managed to keep the runs flowing. Opener AmmarHasan, who was out in the first match for a duck, played through the innings, making a crucial 85 – inclusive of nine fours and four sixes. India’s Gurinder Singh continued his wicket-taking form, ending the match with figures of 4/27, restricting Pakistan to 138/9.
Jaskaran Singh and Deepak Sharma got India off to a flying start with an opening partnership of 61 before Sharma was dismissed by Shahzaib Khan in the seventh over. This however didn’t affect the Indian chase as Singh kept finding the boundary ropes. Singh brought up a dominant 50 before getting run-out for 75 off 44 balls. But skipper KunalMahajan and Simranpreet Singh guided India to victory in just 16 overs, with eight wickets to spare. Jaskaran Singh was awarded ‘Man of the Match’ for his aggressive half century.
Group B – Great Britain vs. Bangladesh
With a win under each of their belts, Bangladesh took on Great Britain, in the second match of the day. Bangladesh won the toss and elected to bat. Anjum Ahmed and Hassan Uzzaman took guard against Great Britain’s opening attack of Simon Watkins and skipper, Robert Woolley. Both bowlers kept their lines tidy and prevented Bangladesh from flexing its batting muscle, eventually leading to the removal of Bangladesh’s openers. James Lomas bowled a stellar spell, tearing through Bangladesh’s middle order batsmen and restricting them to 105/9.
Great Britain suffered the loss of Chris Wakefield in the first over, but Syed Fuaad and Luke Blackaby compensated with some aggressive batting. The pair put on a 100-run partnership and chased down the total of 106 in just 14.1 overs – Blackaby top-scoring with 55 and Fuuad getting 44. James Lomas was adjudged ‘Man of the Match’ for his brilliant 4/18.
Group A – Australia vs. India
Australia’s game against undefeated India, was easily the highlight of the day. Winning the toss, India sent ‘Man of the Match’ from the earlier game Jaskaran Singh and Deepak Sharma to open the scoring – and that they did. Singh and Sharma both frequently smacked big sixes at every opportunity they got. Sharma was given a second chance on 15 and added 89 runs with Jaskiranfor the first wicket before being bowled by Hugh Campbell. Skipper, KunalMahajan joined in the sixes-scoring party and took the score 129/2 before Thomas Atallah dismissed Singh for 63. India’s middle-order too, emulated Singh’s efforts and helped them score the highest T20 innings score at the R. Premadasa Stadium – 225/8.
Facing a steep uphill battle, Australia’s chase got off to a bad start when opener Hugh Campbell was bowled by VishwasKhatak in the very first over. With the burden of the rapidly climbing strike rate weighing down their thoughts, the Aussies tried to force the runs, but it only resulted in more dismissals. Only four of the Aussie batsmen scored above nine and they finally folded in the 12th over for just 78 runs, with Gurinder Singh taking 4/27. Jaskaran Singh walked away with the ‘Man of the Match’ for the second game in a row, and India became the first team to make it to the last four.
Group B – Great Britain vs. Sri Lanka
The most highly anticipated match of the day for the local fans; Sri Lanka vs. Great Britain, began with Great Britain winning the toss and going in to bat. RumeshMadushanka got the hosts off to a dream start by dismissing Jay O’Nien in the third over. Great Britain skipper, Robert Woolley followed him soon after without scoring. As did Josh Poysden and Henry Edwards. Sri Lankan skipper, SahanPerera bowled a miserly spell that gave away only 12 runs and claimed the wickets of England’s top-scorers in the tournament, Harry Bush and Luke Blackaby. Unable to accelerate and losing regular wickets, Great Britain posted 106/8, with Bush top-scoring with 34 off 27.
Sri Lankan opener Nisitha Wijewantha started positively with a boundary off the first ball but was trapped LBW by Luke Blackaby in the second over. With the score on 23/2, Josh Poysden had Geeth Sankapala stumped for nine. Captain SahanPerera step onto the crease and joined RandikaPerera to build a partnership of 39, guiding Sri Lanka towards a seven-wicket victory. SahanPererawas the more ambitious of the two as the pair added 39 runs for the third wicket. Blackaby came back for his second spell and removed the skipper for 20, in his first over. Sri Lankan skipper, Sahan Perera received the ‘Man of the Match’ for his all-round performance with the bat and ball.
Packed with towering sixes, disciplined bowling and spectacular individual,day three of the Red Bull Campus Cricket World Finals underlined the pedigree of the players on display and the competitiveness of the teams in action.
