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The Big Picture

When the Ambani group bought the Mumbai franchise for $111.9m, they would have been pleased with the investment, given the sheer size of Mumbai’s cricket-following masses, and the larger-than-life status of their “icon” player Sachin Tendulkar. However, over a period of time, a team’s success must start to match its popularity in order to maintain the fans’ support.After a poor first two seasons, Mumbai reached the finals of IPL 3, and have maintained the core of the squad who got them there. They retained four players – the maximum allowed – and all four are leaders in their respective departments: Tendulkar’s responsibility is to give the team a solid start, Kieron Pollard is in charge of accelerating in the middle and end overs, Lasith Malinga is the pace spearhead, while Harbhajan Singh leads the spinners.Those four will be key, and Mumbai have added to their list of matchwinners: new signings Andrew Symonds and Rohit Sharma are destructive in the Twenty20 format, as is the lesser known Davy Jacobs. With those three joining Tendulkar, Pollard and Ambati Rayudu, the batting line-up looks formidable, and with the presence of several allrounders adding bowling options, Mumbai look like one of the most well-balanced teams in the tournament.The stage could not have been better set for a Mumbai victory. India’s World Cup win has had a particularly galvanising effect on the city which staged the final, and with Tendulkar owning most of the prestigious individual batting records in the game, all that’s left in the nature of sentimental firsts, would be for him to succeed as a captain.

Key Players

Few bowlers have the ability to stop the flow of runs and make key strikes in the late overs that Lasith Malinga has. His mix of yorkers and slower balls has fetched him 33 wickets in two seasons with Mumbai, and with Clint McKay missing the season with an injury, he will have to shoulder the responsibility of carrying an attack that looks short of death bowlers.Kieron Pollard was given a lot of the credit for taking the team to the finals in the last tournament, but it was Saurabh Tiwary and Ambati Rayudu who were the second and third highest scorers for Mumbai respectively. With Tiwary gone, Rayudu will need to be prolific in the middle order. He racked up the runs for Baroda in the Ranji season, and his conventional style of batting will add some solidity to a batting line-up that features the violent Pollard and Symonds.Rohit Sharma will be expected to cover for the loss of Tiwary, if not produce more than he did. The $2mn price tag will be a lot to live up to, but Rohit has the added incentive of trying to get back into the Indian squad, after he was left out of the World Cup XV. He has been impressive in past editions, scoring runs at a quick pace and chipping in with wickets too.

Big name in

Andrew Symonds’ inclusion in the Mumbai squad has caused as much of a stir because of his dynamism as a cricketer, as for the prospect of him playing alongside Harbhajan Singh, the man he accused of racially abusing him during India’s tour of Australia in 2008-09. Symonds can be as destructive as Pollard, but there is no way of ascertaining what sort of form he will enter the IPL in, since he has not played professional cricket in nine months.

Big name out

Zaheer Khan was picked up by Bangalore in the auction, which means Mumbai will have to hope Munaf Patel’s cutters and Dilhara Fernando’s split-finger slower ball will be enough to support Malinga in the fast-bowling department. Dhawal Kulkarni has not quite kicked on from making the Indian Test squad for the tour of New Zealand back in 2009, while Abu Nechim is a fairly unknown quantity.

Below the radar

At $190,000, South African wicketkeeper-batsman Davy Jacobs was a bargain for Mumbai. He brought himself to the notice of IPL franchises with his performance for Warriors in the Champions League T20 in 2010, during which he top scored in his franchise’s run to the final with 286 runs in six matches. With Sanath Jayasuriya and Shikhar Dhawan no longer a part of Mumbai Indians, Jacobs could find himself opening the batting with Tendulkar.

Last three seasons

Tendulkar missed half the first season with an injury; Harbhajan Singh led the team, until he was banned for an infamous altercation with Sreesanth, at which point Shaun Pollock took over. The distractions didn’t help Mumbai, but it was their lack of quality foreign players that saw them miss out on the knockout stages. Jayasuriya scored 514 runs in 14 matches, but the sight of Luke Ronchi and Dominic Thornely filling up the overseas players’ slots never inspired confidence.In the second season, the opening pair of Jayasuriya and Tendulkar amassed plenty of runs between them, but the bowling, apart from Malinga, struggled. Zaheer Khan was only fit for six games, Mumbai were weak in terms of domestic players, and ended up finishing second-last in the table.Last year’s run to the finals was built on Tendulkar giving the team starts on a regular basis, and Rayudu, Tiwary and Pollard capitalising on them. Mumbai topped the league, hammered Royal Challengers Bangalore in the semi-finals, but then succumbed to nerves and some odd decision-making in the finals against Chennai Super Kings.

After five defeats in seven games, Virender Sehwag was desperate for a win. And he wasn’t going to let a dodgy pitch come in his way. Sehwag’s genius demands a challenge in the limited-overs format, and particularly in the shortest version of the game. Saturday was one of those occasions when his batting was pitted against much more than the Kochi Tuskers bowling attack. On a pitch where a batsman was dismissed leg before when the ball zooted on to his boot in the second over of the game, Sehwag scripted one of the best IPL innings, making 80 off 47 deliveries. The next highest score in the match was 31.Delhi needed some inspiration to extricate themselves from the bottom of the points table, and there was no one better than Sehwag to provide it; especially after Sreesanth’s first delivery had barely risen above David Warner’s shin to strike off stump. Three deliveries later, a length ball rolled across the surface to strike Naman Ojha in front, on his shoelaces. Sehwag gritted his teeth at the non-striker’s end and decided that it was time for a different approach.”The wicket was not easy to bat on but I took the responsibility to bat at least 15-16 overs. I was hitting the ball very nicely but we were losing wickets as well so it was obvious that I had to bat a little longer,” Sehwag said. “If wickets would not have fallen, I could have gone after the bowling, but I told myself that if I stayed a little longer, then we could get to 120-130 which would be a good total on this wicket.”What he did not reveal was that he was head and shoulders above the others in his possession of the skill and determination required to survive and score on the unpredictable wicket. He had time to guide deliveries from off stump past point, loft inside out against the turn over extra cover, and pull deliveries that barely got up over deep midwicket.Mahela Jayawardene, the Kochi captain, acknowledged as much. “I think Viru batted very well, we knew he was very crucial for their innings and tried to get him but the way we bowled in the last 10 overs, I don’t think we had any control of things.”Sehwag blasted four fours and five sixes off his last 15 deliveries as Delhi took 94 off the last 7.2 overs to reach 157, which was way above par on the low wicket. “130-140 probably would have been a very competitive score for us to chase down, but 160 was a bit tough,” Jayawardene said. “We did not bowl in good areas at all; we were too full, we didn’t hit the deck in the last ten overs but we bowled well in the first ten overs. Viru batted well. I can’t take anything away from him, but 130 would have been a good score for us to chase down.”Jayawardene said that on such a wicket, the key was to play as straight as possible, something that was easier said than done as Parthiv Patel’s dismissal showed. “You are never sure when the low bounce is going to come so I think the best way is to bat without thinking about whether it is going to stay low. If it comes low, you can’t control it but just try and play straight. It’s tough but we have to try and adjust to these conditions all around, batsmen and bowlers, and try to fight it out.”Sehwag, who said that 120 would have been a par total, was delighted with what Delhi managed, and told his bowlers to keep it in good areas and let the wicket do the rest. “Maybe one ball would keep low or another would stop. It is difficult to chase when the ball is keeping low. All my bowlers did a fantastic job. Whenever I brought Morne [Morkel] in, he took a wicket. You can’t expect more from your bowlers when they run in every time and take wickets.”Delhi could not have expected more from their captain as well, who mastered the conditions that felled everyone else, including batsmen like Jayawardene and Brad Hodge.

What holds the greater weight of argument: that New Zealand do well enoughto even have a side that, for the most part, plays consistentlycompetitive cricket despite an entire population that is a third ofDhaka’s alone? Or, that given the quality of players they have produced,they are actually underachieving? Stuck somewhere between those twoquestions, it never seems to have been any other way for them.Here they are in the knock-out stages of yet another World Cup. Five timesthey have made it to the semis but never any further, beaten, on occasions,by a better side and on other occasions by themselves. With this sidethose questions have been most resonant. If they lose to South Africaon Friday in Dhaka, it won’t be a surprise. If they win, it will be anupset, but a real surprise, or a shock? Not really. In any case, theattention will fall on South Africa.There is no question New Zealand have players here who can change games.In their batting order are some of the cleanest, sweetest ball-hitters inworld cricket; Martin Guptill’s straight driving has been one of thepleasures of the group stages. Jesse Ryder, Brendon McCullum, Ross Taylor,Scott Styris and Jacob Oram should always be a threat.Few fast bowlers as initially unsuited to these conditions can haveprogressed so much individually as Tim Southee, the influence of AllanDonald as bowling coach quite apparent. Southee is probably the leastnoticed fast bowling success of the tournament. Others have chipped inaround him.Daniel Vettori will be hoping the likes of Ross Taylor will come good against South Africa•Associated Press

They now have back their captain, one of the best allrounders in the gameand a figure with the authority and stability most captains dream of. Themajority of them field as electrically as eels.And still it has been a campaign befitting them so far, unwilling toresolve those basic questions. They were awesome against Pakistan,obviously with the bat, but also in the field. The minnows weredispatched with greater comfort than some other teams were able to manage.But losses to Australia and Sri Lanka were so complete that there lookednothing of the true contenders about them.In a way they have swung as much as Pakistan do, and more than thisEngland team. Sometimes they remind you of Mark Greatbatch’s witheringassessment late last year that some of the players think they are betterthan they actually are. And there remains aroundthem talk of player power, which never has beneficial consequences.It is the batting on which the heaviest burden rests, for that is whereexpectations should be highest. The numbers of Taylor, McCullum andGuptill stand up well from the group stages – they’ve all got over 220runs and average 81.66, 59.75 and 55.5 respectively – but in only one biggame can it be said to have come together the way they want it to.”We played our best game against Pakistan when the batting fired when wegot a guy get through to a hundred, with a couple of crucial partnershipsthrough it,” Daniel Vettori said. “We’ve been at our worst when thosethings haven’t happened. That will be the key to our success.”If the top five perform it will give us a chance. We’ve got a very good fielding unitand a solid bowling attack so if we can complement that with a goodperformance with the bat we will be in with a chance. “It is the potential of that top order that New Zealand are waiting on,that might take them from where they are stuck, to a different planealtogether. There isn’t frustration at them not having done more so far,Vettori said, but expectation.”It’s not so much the frustration as much as looking forward to the nextgame and realizing these guys can do it,” he said. “They are extremelytalented and if you look at their records, as they stand alone, they arepretty good. What better time to rectify a couple of tough performancesthan now? We’ve seen the game plan that works against Pakistan, able tobuild a total and be able to unleash at the end. If we get a guy likeTaylor, Styris or Oram in those last ten overs with wickets in hand, thenwe know we can be dangerous.”Friday would be a good time for them not simply to know that they can bedangerous, but to actually be so. Else the status quo remains.

Chamara Kapugedera wants Sri Lanka to win the World Cup as a tribute to Muttiah Muralitharan, who helped secure the trophy back in 1996, and who is set to retire from international cricket at the end of the tournament with a world-record haul of wickets in both Test and ODI formats.”He’s [Muralitharan] a special person, he’s a legend, it will be his last World Cup,” Kapugedera said. “Everyone wants to make him proud and give him a very good send off. Everybody is doing their best to take the World Cup back home for Muraliand Sri Lanka. It will be a great tribute to Murali.”Sri Lanka are one of the favourites for this year’s event, having finished as runners-up in 2007, and they launched their campaign in emphatic style on Sunday, with a 210-run victory over Canada in Hambantota. Saturday’s fixture against Pakistan in Colombo will be a much sterner test, but they go into the match full of confidence.”It’s always important to win the first match of the tournament, whoever the side is. It gives you the confidence to carry on,” said Kapugedera, “We had a very good game. We did what we talked about before the game. Everybody is happy with their performances. We have a good chance to have a shot from now.”Pakistan’s own opening match was scarcely less one-sided. They recovered from a dicey first ten overs to rout Kenya by 205 runs at the same venue, but Kapugedera is unfazed by their form. “They are a very good side,” he said. “Pakistan has good players and have done well in the past few months. We are not concerned about them, the major concern is about ourselves, what we do and how we prepare ourselves for the match. Hopefully we can come on the 26th and deliver the goods.”One thing that could be both a help and a hindrance for Sri Lanka is the fact that they will be playing at home. Familiarity with the conditions at the Premadasa Stadium could be offset by the pressure of expectation from their home supporters. However, Kapugedera does not believe that will be the case.”It’s not a pressure, it’s a big advantage,” he said. “The Sri Lankan crowd is very good. They support us even when we don’t do well. That’s what we need. We are playing a good side, we know that, we are prepared for it. They played a good game, yes. If we play to our true potential we have a very good chance to win the match.”This is one of the biggest opportunities I have got playing in a WorldCup. I want to win and the team wants to win… I am really up to it.”

The BCCI has given its backing to the Cricket Association of Bengal’s (CAB) request to the ICC to reconsider the decision to move the India-England Group B match from Eden Gardens. Shashank Manohar, the BCCI president, told ESPNcricinfo that the board had sent a letter to the ICC, as the CAB had done on Thursday, asking for the ICC to think again about the decision.On Thursday the ICC ruled out Kolkata as the host venue for the February 27 clash, after the tournament’s inspection committee found the ground far from ready after a visit on January 25. Late on Thursday, Jagmohan Dalmiya, the CAB president, pleaded in a letter addressed to the ICC chief executive Haroon Lorgat to be given a further extension of ten days. The letter was forwarded to the ICC by the BCCI.Manohar said he had personally attached another letter to Lorgat, also asking the ICC to reconsider yesterday’s decision. “Mr Dalmiya sent that letter to me [on Thursday]. I then sent a forwarding letter [to Haroon Lorgat, ICC chief executive] saying that if Mr Dalmiya is willing to hand over the stadium match-ready to the ICC by February 7, the ICC should consider the request favourably,” Manohar saidWhat the ICC’s response is likely to be is unclear but the prospects, according to some, are not bright. Instead it is understood that the ICC has asked the BCCI to finalise an alternate venue by the morning of January 31. Manohar, who said on Thursday that organising the World Cup was the ICC’s responsibility, said, however, that he was in no hurry and would wait for the ICC to revert to him first.”The ball is now in the ICC’s court. They are the ones who need to take a decision. I don’t know what will happen because it is finally ICC’s call,” he said. Lorgat was unavailable for comment and the ICC has made no further statement since the press release was issued on Thursday.The day after the decision saw Dalmiya involved in hectic discussions with Manohar throughout. The Bengal board head said he had been talking to Manohar but was unwilling to go into details of the discussions. Manohar said the talks were mostly focused on getting an idea of how much work at the ground was completed and to get an assurance that it would be ready before he sent the letter to the ICC. “Finally it is my member association [CAB)] and he [Dalmiya] assured me that the stadium would be ready by February 7,” Manohar said.But no further clarity emerged on the reasons why the CAB failed to get the venue up to the mark. “I did not ask him about why the CAB had not met the deadlines,” Manohar said. “This is not the time to ask all these questions because it is not going to take us anywhere.”According to the Host Agreement signed by the three co-hosts India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, all 13 venues should have been completed three months prior to the event, by November 19, 2010. The last day of the year was the deadline by which the grounds should have been ready to host matches. Kolkata was one of five venues, along with Mumbai’s Wankhede Stadium, and Hambantota and Pallekele, two new Sri Lankan venues, that missed out on this deadline. But only Kolkata failed to get the nod from the six-member ICC inspection committee, which was shocked the Eden Gardens was not ready despite getting an extended deadline that expired on January 25.The final decision to take the first fixture away was made by the ICC. On Wednesday, Sharad Pawar, the ICC president, was updated on the situation via a teleconference which included members of the inspection committee and others such as Lorgat and Ratnakar Shetty, head of the central organising committee of the World Cup. It is understood that Pawar then told them to do what needs to be done, after which the decision was taken.The blame for the fiasco is yet to settle definitively on any particular body, with all involved trying to avoid it. Manohar has already said that the BCCI would not take any responsibility.Questions will no doubt be asked of the ICC’s role in not taking a decision earlier, with particular reference to the inspection committee report in December which first pointed out alarming concerns in the progress of the stadium work. In a letter on December 14 addressed to tournament director India Suru Nayak, the ICC expressed serious concerns over the delay in the completion of work at the Wankhede Stadium and Eden Gardens. In its final venue assessment summary, the ICC’s team expressed strong and unacceptable concerns about the latter’s preparation, putting a red mark – to denote serious concern – against the following aspects: overall presentation of venue and construction, media facilities, broadcast (TV specific), broadcast radio, broadcast facilities, tickets, hospitality, even presentation (replay screen, sportainment), venue public facilities, and security planning.It is understood, however, that the inspection team was satisfied by promises of the CAB, then, that the situation would be fixed by the time they returned in January, even though one official who was part of that visit said the state of the stadium was “pathetic.” The inspection committee – which has a number of relevant experts on it – was content that these issues could be resolved in 6 weeks (between the December and January inspections). It was in the first ten days of January, however, that it became apparent there was a huge problem about to emerge.A source familiar with the negotiations revealed how little progress had been made since December. “All the things the ICC team had asked the CAB to attend to in December were never accomplished. The team found the venue to be in the same state as they had seen on their last visit (in December),” he said.

Pakistan will be focused on the cricket and not distracted by the spot-fixing controversy, team manager Intikhab Alam has insisted. The Pakistan squad arrived in New Zealand today for a tour that includes three Twenty20s, two Tests and six ODIs. Alam said the team was geared up for the challenge even as three of its former members – Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir – are under investigation for their alleged involvement in the spot-fixing controversy, and await their fate upon the conclusion of their hearing before the ICC’s anti-corruption tribunal, to be held in Doha between January 6-11. All three have been provisionally suspended pending the result of the investigation.”Everybody’s been briefed, everybody’s very clear in their minds what is expected from management, what is expected from the players as well. I have no doubt in my mind we cannot afford any more such unfortunate incidents,” Alam said. “They understand what we expect from them, what the country expects from them, what the board expects from them.”Pakistan served up an impressive performance against South Africa in their previous assignment in the UAE, drawing the two Tests and leveling the ODI series 2-2 before losing the decider. However, the tour was marred by the abrupt departure of wicketkeeper Zulqarnain Haider, who fled to the United Kingdom – where he has sought asylum – citing threats to his life and to his family.”South Africa’s probably one of the best teams at the moment, so it was a morale booster after all that we went through,” Waqar Younis, the Pakistan coach, said. “We’ve played some decent cricket in the one-dayers as well as in the Test matches. We never got into a position of winning any Test matches but we showed some guts and made sure we managed some draws.”The hosts, meanwhile, have had a torrid run in ODIs, losing 11 consecutive games, including successive series defeats away to Bangladesh and India, to leave their preparation for the 2011 World Cup in shambles. “It’s always been a tough time for them on the subcontinent and this time they didn’t really play the best of their cricket,” Waqar said. “This is an opportunity for us also but we don’t really want to forget that New Zealand in their own country, they are a very fine side. We’ve got to make sure we do the basics right and try to win the maximum we can.”Pakistan begin their tour with a warm-up game in Auckland on Thursday before the three-match Twenty20 series gets underway at Eden Park on Boxing Day.

Ricky Ponting rates himself “a good chance” to play with his broken little finger on Boxing Day, but won’t be too proud to stand down if he’s not fit. Ponting has learned from last year, when he went into the biggest game of the summer with a serious elbow tendon problem, and expects to wait until the morning of the fourth Test to decide whether he can lead.The injury ensures another bumpy lead-up for Australia and means Michael Clarke will be on standby for his first Test as captain. Greg Chappell, the selector, said yesterday Clarke, the current deputy, was not ready for the top job but changed tack today.Ponting, who will not pick up a bat until later in the week, did not field on the final morning as Australia raced to a 267-run victory that levelled the series at 1-1. “I have to have treatment and look after it for a few days and rest it,” he said. “I think I have a really good chance of playing, it is only a small fracture. It is a bit sore and angry at the moment, but I’ll be right.”He suffered the break when he spilled the edge of Jonathan Trott at second slip on the third afternoon, with the rebound popping up to Brad Haddin. X-rays last night showed a small crack and he spent the morning of his 36th birthday in the dressing room to protect the injury. He walked out after the victory had been secured to congratulate his team-mates while keeping his left hand out of everyone’s way.Ponting was in a similar fitness race this time last year as he battled to be ready for the start of the series against Pakistan. His right elbow had been hit by a Kemar Roach short ball at the WACA, and the problem disrupted his batting for the rest of the summer.He was determined to play on despite the discomfort, but this time he will consider a different approach if the injury hasn’t healed. “I honestly think with it being a little finger on my left hand, I don’t think it’s as significant as being the top elbow last year,” he said”I’m not going to be silly and put myself ahead of the team. If I don’t think I can function well, I won’t play. If I feel like I can function and play somewhere near – I won’t say how I’ve been playing, better than I have been playing – then I will play the game.”Ponting not only has a hurt finger, but he also hasn’t been in form with the bat, scoring 83 runs in six innings in this series, and averaging 38.95 in 24 Tests since the start of last year. The lack of output has resulted in increased pressure on his leadership, although that has eased with the strength of this victory.Clarke, 29, has also struggled for runs and been facing scrutiny as the captain in waiting. Chappell attempted to back-track today after telling Channel 9 yesterday that nobody was in the right frame of mind to step into the captaincy. The comments came before Ponting was hurt.”In that discussion I was being very careful not to make suggestions against Ricky and I didn’t speak clearly to get that message across,” Chappell told the ABC. “Michael is our next captain, whenever that might be. We’re very happy, he’s done the job before, and we have no doubt he’s ready for it.”What I was trying to say was that when the handover comes we’d love him to be in peak form. I’m not trying to suggest there was a problem there.”Yesterday Chappell said: “If we’re going to replace Ricky, we’ve got to make sure we’ve got someone that we’re confident has the right frame of mind who can take over and do a good job,” Chappell said. “And I don’t know that we’ve got somebody that we feel we want to rush Ricky Ponting out the door at this moment. There is nobody absolutely ready for it. I don’t think there are too many other players I’d want to put that pressure on.”Chappell said today that Ponting will be given time to turn around his batting form, just like Michael Hussey was at the start of this series. “In the nets he’s batting well,” Chappell said. “Perhaps the pressure of this series, he built it up as a very important series, perhaps he hasn’t had the mental freedom to bat. Hopefully the win here might give him the freedom in Melbourne.”

Shahid Afridi, Pakistan’s ODI captain, has said Pakistan does not have high expectations for the World Cup since their preparations have been hampered by the spot-fixing allegations against a number of their players.”I am not 100 % satisfied with the team’s preparations for the World Cup,” Afridi told . “We’ve had problems on every tour, and although there aren’t high expectations [of winning the World Cup], as captain I’m positive and will keep on motivating the team.”His comments came one day after manager Intikhab Alam said Pakistan was capable of winning the World Cup, which will be jointly hosted by Bangladesh, India and Sri Lanka from February 19 to April 2, 2011.The trio of Salman Butt, Mohammad Aamer and Mohammad Asif have been suspended by the ICC over charges of spot-fixing that arose on Pakistan’s tour of England in August. On their subsequent tour of the United Arab Emirates to play South Africa, Pakistan seemed to have regained some form levelling the ODI series 2-2. But on the eve of the deciding game, wicketkeeper Zulqarnain Haider fled to England, due to alleged threats to his life from bookmakers, and has since retired from international cricket. Pakistan ended up losing the game.For Pakistan’s upcoming tour of New Zealand, wicketkeeper Kamran Akmal and Shoaib Malik have been left out of the Twenty20 and Test series after the PCB did not clear them, and Afridi said he did not know why they were not included.”You should ask the PCB and selection committee about why Kamran and Malik were not picked,” he said. “Both are good players and have been doing well in domestic matches.” Kamran and Malik have both expressed disappointment at not being picked for the New Zealand tour.Pakistan has until December 19 to select a provisional 30-man World Cup squad, which should be trimmed down to 15 by January 19. Pakistan is placed in Group A of the 14-team competition along with defending champions Australia, Sri Lanka, Kenya, Canada, New Zealand and Zimbabwe.

Abbottabad held the advantage against Lahore Shalimar at the Abbottabad Cricket Stadium after a career-best 7 for 70 by fast bowler Ahmed Jamal gave his team a 62-run lead. The Abbottabad batsmen then finished at 90 for 4 at stumps to extend the lead with enough resources still available to build it towards something substantial. Lahore had started the day on the back foot, at 9 for 2, and things quickly worsened with Jamal tearing through the line-up to reduce them to 42 for 7. But there was a resistance; Saad Nasim and Aamer Hayat struck half-centuries under pressure and put together a 122-run stand to rescue their team, which was eventually bowled out for 184. In the second innings, it was Fawad Khan, unbeaten on 43, who guided the innings amid the loss of four wickets and pushed the lead to 156 with six wickets still in hand.Khan Research Laboratories took control of their contest against Hyderabad, who are playing at the Niaz Stadium, their home ground. KRL began the day on 261 for 7 and folded for 291, with left-arm spinner Kashif Bhatti finishing with a career-best 6 for 73. But his batsmen failed to put up a competitive response, as none managed to score a half-century while seamers Yasir Arafat and Mohammad Irfan, both of whom have played for Pakistan, shared five wickets between them. Lal Kumar top-scored with 46 but was short of support from the rest and Hyderabad were bowled out for 167, conceding a lead of 124. In their second innings, KRL have begun well, with the openers adding 43 and still unbeaten.Karachi Whites dominated Quetta for the second successive day at the National Stadium in Karachi. Their batsmen, led by wicketkeeper Mohammad Hasan who reached his maiden first-class century, piled up 520 for 6. Karachi lost the other centurion, Wajihuddin, who had reached three-figures on the first day, and overnight batsman Asim Kamal in quick succession. But Hasan, with Mohammad Waqas, who hit a half-century, added 132 runs for the sixth wicket to ensure their team, barring a miracle, would not lose the game.Lahore Ravi surged ahead of Pakistan Television on the second day at the Lahore City Cricket Association Ground. Solid top-order contributions and an unbeaten 87 by Asif Raza at No.7, who led his team’s recovery from 172 for 5, took Lahore to 329 for 7 at stumps, a lead of 174. The start to the day was encouraging for Lahore with opener Mohammad Saad and Fahad-ul-Haq adding 139 for the second wicket, promising to take their team towards a strong lead. But the seam duo of Saad Altaf and Zahoor Khan bagged the next four wickets for just 32. The scare, though, was cast aside by Raza and captain Sheraz Butt, who struck one of 50-plus scores in the innings, to add 97 for the sixth wicket in a potentially decisive stand.State Bank of Pakistan and Peshawar finished things even at the end of the second day at the Sports Complex in Mardan. Starting the day on 283 for 4, SBP would have been disappointed at being bowled out for 376. Adnan Raees, on 94 at the end of the opening day, reached his century, his ninth in first-class cricket, but was eventually dismissed for 122. But there was not much support for the innings from the lower order, as the last five wickets fell for 28. Medium-pacer Riaz Afridi, who has played one Test for Pakistan, bagged his 14th haul of five or four wickets. Peshawar, in their reply, lost two early wickets but were steadied by Naved Khan, who, unbeaten on 63, steered his team for 141 for 4 at stumps. He was supported by Ashfaq Ahmed in an unfinished 34-run stand.

You get a sense of what to expect on Friday. Royal Challengers Bangalore will most likely hit Chennai Super Kings with bouncers. Even the Central Districts bowlers did it to Chennai on the same Durban pitch a few days back. And it had nearly worked. Even without any fiercely fast bowlers. Bangalore have Dale Steyn and it will be interesting to see how the Indian batsmen in the Chennai line-up handle him.S Badrinath has the upper-cut over the slips as his main option against bouncers, Suresh Raina is yet to develop a proper defensive or attacking option against the same delivery and S Anirudha is an unknown quantity. M Vijay has shown a tendency to land in trouble, trying to pull deliveries from well outside off when it’s banged in short. It’s still not clear whether it’s due to an eagerness to show he can pull, or a sign of nerves that clouds his decision-making ability. You sense that the middle order can quickly disintegrate under pressure. And so, Steyn’s little spell in the middle overs will be crucial. If he can get his radar right, it can get really interesting. He has, at times, got it wrong as well. In this short format, the plans can boomerang and go awry awfully quickly.Anil Kumble knows it. When asked whether he would be deploying the bouncer-strategy, he preferred to play his cards close to his chest. “We have our plans. You will see tomorrow. But it all depends how we execute the plans. We have been successful in the past at times and we have not been successful also on a couple of occasions. It will depend on the pitch and conditions. Your plans have to be very fluid in this format.” Bangalore will miss Jacques Kallis the bowler. In this year’s IPL, Steyn and Kallis had waylaid visiting batsmen with bouncers on their home track in Bangalore.Bangalore lost both the games they played in Durban in this tournament but Kumble chose to remember the contest from last year when they beat Chennai at the same venue in the IPL semi-final. “We need to take confidence that we really did well against Mumbai and it was a narrow loss. Last time we played Chennai here in Durban we won; that’s what we would take rather than think we haven’t won a game here this time.”Chennai didn’t practice on Friday. They just came in from Port Elizabeth. At the end of last league game against the Warriors, Dhoni was asked about the clash with Bangalore and he shared his concerns about his fast bowlers. “I think our fast bowlers will have to pull up their socks. They will have to do definitely well in the coming game. There have been weak links where we need to improve. The spinners have done the job for us so far. Hopefully, on the Durban pitch, the fast bowlers will do well for the team.”Dhoni also said he might use Justin Kemp slightly higher up the order on the Durban pitch. “In the last couple of games, the tracks have been quite slow and low which means [they act] more like a sub-continental pitch. So, players like Anirudha could really contribute.”Dhoni added he wasn’t too concerned about the fact that Bangalore have played couple of games in Durban. “I believe that a Twenty20 game is about that particular day. What the situation is like and what the condition is like. I think they have played a couple of games. And including the warm-up games we too have played the same amount of games in Durban. I don’t think that it will make much of a difference.”