Colombo, September 30
Ravichandran Ashwin and Yuvraj Singh set it up with a superb display of spin bowling before Virat Kohli took centrestage with an unbeaten 78 as an inspired India thrashed arch-rivals Pakistan by eight wickets to keep their title hopes alive in the ICC World Twenty20 on Sunday.

Ashwin (2/16) and Yuvraj (2/16) snapped up four wickets between themselves as Pakistan were shot out for a meagre 128 in 19.4 overs. Lakshmipathy Balaji also complemented the ‘spin twins’ with impressive figures of 3/22 in 3.4 overs.

Kohli, who has been Pakistan’s nemesis in the past, hit a scintillating unbeaten 78 off 61 balls as India won with three overs to spare. The Delhi lad hit nine boundaries and two sixes to take the team home in the high-voltage contest watched by a capacity crowd.

However, Pakistan are still ahead in terms of net run rate of -0.426 which is shade better than India’s -0.452. Had India won with 20 balls to spare, they would have been No 2 in the group.

India will now have to defeat South Africa in their last group-2 match on Tuesday to make it to the semi-finals.

India’s unbeaten record against Pakistan in ICC World Cups has thus been kept intact having beaten them five times in the 50-over version and thrice in the T20 format.

Kohli started with a thickish outside edge off Raza Hasan for a boundary but then played some lovely strokes. A backfoot cover drive off Saeed Ajmal and lovely cover drive off Yaser Arafat were glorious strokes.

He also lofted Shahid Afridi over long-off for a six. Whether driving on the up or playing off his hips, Kohli was a treat to watch.

Virender Sehwag. on the other hand, was happy to play the second fiddle during the 74-run partnership for the second wicket but did play a lovely lofted shot off Umar Gul’s bowling. — PTI

SCOREBOARD
Pakistan
Hafeez b Kohli 15
Nazir lbw b Pathan 8
Afridi c Raina b Balaji 14
Jamshed c Dhoni b Yuvraj 4
K. Akmal c Dhoni b Yuvraj 5
Malik c Sharma b Ashwin 28
U. Akmal c Raina b Ashwin 21
Arafat run out (Yuvraj) 8
Gul c Dhoni b Balaji 12
Ajmal c Dhoni b Balaji 1
Hasan not out 0
Extras: (lb 1, w 10, nb 1): 12
Total: (10 wickets; 19.4 overs) 128
Fall of wickets: 1-17, 2-35, 3-43, 4-49, 5-59, 6-106, 7-115, 8-115, 9-128
Bowling: Zaheer 3-0-22-0, Pathan 3-0-30-1, Balaji 3.4-0-22-3, Ashwin 4-0-16-2, Yuvraj 3-0-16-2, Kohli 3-0-21-1

India
Gambhir c & b Hasan 0
Sehwag c Gul b Afridi 29
Kohli not out 78
Yuvraj not out 19
Extras: (w 2, nb 1) 3
Total: (2 wickets; 17 overs) 129
Fall of wickets: 1-1, 2-75
Bowling: Hasan 4-0-22-1, Gul 3-0-30-0, Ajmal 4-0-25-0, Afridi 4-0-34-1, Arafat 1-0-11-0, Hafeez 1-0-7-0

Colombo, September 30
Shane Watson's unbelievable run in the ICC World Twenty20 continued as he virtually assured Australia a place in the semifinals with a comfortable eight-wicket win over South Africa in the their second Super Eights match.

Chasing a modest target of 147, Watson once again showed his all-round prowess with a smashing 70 off 47 balls after taking two important wickets as Australia reached the target with 14 balls to spare. His innings included eight boundaries and two sixes off left-arm spinner Robin Peterson and that fetched him his fourth consecutive man-of-the-match award.

Watson has so far scored 234 runs in four matches at an astonishing average of 78, not to forget the 10 wickets that he has taken. Watson's 99-run second wicket partnership with the ever-dependable Mike Hussey (45 not out) laid the foundation of the Australian chase. When Watson finally got out at the team score on 109, the victory was just round the corner.

After Morne Morkel and Dale Steyn had kept the Australians quiet for the first five overs, the counter-attack started in the sixth with Watson hitting Morkel for three boundaries. — PTI

SCOREBOARD
South Africa
Levi b Doherty 0
Amla c Wade b Watson 17
Kallis c Wade b Doherty 6
Duminy st Wade b Doherty 30
de Villiers c Bailey b Watson 21
Behardien not out 31
Peterson not out 32
Extras (b-1 w-8) 9
Total (5 wkts; 20 ovrs) 146
Fall of wickets: 1-0 2-8 3-33 4-64 5-86
Bowling: Doherty 4-0-20-3, Starc 4-0-30-0, Cummins 4-0-33-0, Watson 4-0-29-2, Hogg 3-0-26-0, Maxwell 1-0-7-0

Australia
Warner b Morkel 5
Watson c Parnell b Peterson 70
Hussey not out 45
White not out 21
Extras: (b-1, w-5) 6
Total (2 wkts, 17.4 overs) 147
Fall of wickets: 1-10 2-109
Bowling: Steyn 3-0-15-0, Morkel 3-0-23-1, Kallis 1-0-8-0, Botha 3.4-0-31-0, Peterson 4-0-41-1, Parnell 2-0-24-0, Duminy 1-0-4-0

Pallekele, September 30
Their semifinal chances hanging by the thread, defending champions England are faced with a must-win situation as they take on unbeaten hosts Sri Lanka in a crucial Super Eight match tomorrow.

England, after a win and a loss, have to clinch it against Sri Lanka to have any chance of making the last-four stage. If Stuart Broad's men lose tomorrow, it would be certain elimination as Sri Lanka and West Indies, if they beat New Zealand tomorrow, would go through at their expense.

England beat New Zealand in their previous match with Steven Finn and Luke Wright playing important roles. Finn achieved his as well as England's best figures in the ICC World Twenty20 - three for 16 - before Wright hit a 43-ball 76. But Sri Lanka is no New Zealand and Broad acknowledged that his team have a tough task at hand. "It will be an electric atmosphere for us on Monday and it will be important for us to keep our composure," said Broad after the win yesterday.

“It will be loud, it will be hectic and there will be a lot of fans shouting for Sri Lanka but that will be exciting for us.” Even though the batting clicked against New Zealand, the English still seem to be missing that one aggressor who can rescue them in tight situations. The bowlers have finally got a grip of the conditions even though spinner Graeme Swann hasn't quite delivered for the team.

Probable XI: (West Indies): Johnson Charles, Chris Gayle, Marlon Samuels, Kieron Pollard, Dwayne Bravo, Darren Sammy(c), Andre Russell, Denesh Ramdin(w), Sunil Narine, Ravi Rampaul, Fidel Edwards; (New Zealand): Rob Nicol, Martin Guptill, Brendon McCullum(w), Ross Taylor(c), James Franklin, Kane Williamson, Nathan McCullum, Doug Bracewell, Daniel Vettori, Tim Southee, Kyle Mills. — PTI

Pallekele, September 30
Aware that one more defeat will ensure their exit from the tournament, New Zealand need nothing less than a big win against the West Indies in their make-or-break Super Eight match on Monday.

Two defeats in a row have brought New Zealand to this position, where there is not scope for error.

However, a mere win will not help the cause of the Kiwis and they will have to win with a big margin and hope that England lose their last match on Monday. With that result, Sri Lanka will be through to the semifinals and the other three teams -- New Zealand, West Indies and England -- will be equal on two points each. The Net-Run-Rate then will come into play and the team with better run-rate will advance along with the hosts.

West Indies have a cushion of one win under their belt and one more victory would keep them in the semifinal hunt. A West Indies victory and England defeat on Monday will push the Caribbean side and the hosts to the semifinals.

The Kiwi batsmen have performed consistently but their bowling has been a cause of concern. Despite making some competitive scores they failed to defend those totals.

The defeat via Eliminator against Sri Lanka in the first Super Eight match came after scoring a very challenging 174 for seven.

West Indies too rely heavily on their batting and it has been a roller-coaster ride for the Caribbean side in the tournament so far. They had done exceedingly well before suffering a crushing nine-wicket defeat on Saturday.

Key for the Kiwis here would be to target the West Indies top order. It happened against Sri Lanka when the explosive Chris Gayle failed to get going and all of West Indies struggled. Kiwi spinners will also have to play an important role if they aspire to remain alive in the competition. Brendon McCullum and Gayle are the batsmen to watch out for and their performance will play a crucial role in the fortunes of the two teams. — PTI

Madrid, September 30
Barcelona struck twice in the final minutes to complete a controversial fightback as they beat 10-man Sevilla 3-2 to go eleven points clear of bitter rivals Real Madrid on Saturday.

Piotr Trochowski put Sevilla ahead after 26 minutes and when Alvaro Negredo doubled the advantage after the break it looked as though the Andalusians would achieve a double over the top two, having beaten Real a fortnight ago. However, Barca fought back with Cesc Fabregas reducing the arrears after 53 minutes and then the talking point was the dismissal of Gary Medel for an apparent headbutt on Fabregas which led to him being red-carded with 18 minutes to go. Barca pressed forward and it was Fabregras who equalised with a minute to go before substitute David Villa got the winner in the fourth minute of injury time. Barca coach Tito Vilanova felt it was right to send off Medel.

“If a player goes towards another and hits them in the head then the referee does the right thing to apply the law. That is a red card here or anywhere. It is difficult to referee and easy to make mistakes but not in this case," he said. — Reuters

Siliguri, September 30
East Bengal came from behind and scored twice in the extra time to beat Dempo 3-2 for their eighth Federation Cup triumph at the floodlit Kanchenjunga Stadium on Sunday.

It was a sweet birthday gift to their Englishman coach Trevor Morgan who turned 56 on Sunday as his wards defied all odds scoring through Arnab Mondal (60th), Manandeep Singh (100th) and Edeh Chidi (109th) for a stunning win in a rain-hit summit clash. Climax Lawrence gave Dempo the early advantage with a 51st minute strike and the Goan heavyweights remained in the hunt in the second-half of the extra time by reducing the margin through Mahesh Gawli. — PTI

Medinah, (Illinois) Sept 30
Though Tiger Woods lost for a third time this week, the United States tightened their grip on the 39th Ryder Cup by taking a commanding 10-6 lead over holders Europe at Medinah Country Club on Saturday.

After red-hot duo Phil Mickelson and Keegan Bradley inspired the Americans to win the morning's foursomes session 3-1, Bubba Watson and Webb Simpson led the way in the afternoon's fourballs which were split 2-2. Europe had trailed in three of the fourballs but Sergio Garcia and Luke Donald held off a fightback by Woods and Steve Stricker to win one up before Rory McIlroy and Ian Poulter came from two down to beat Jason Dufner and Zach Johnson by the same margin. Matchplay specialist Poulter finished with five consecutive birdies, the last of them a 15-foot putt in fading light to give the Europeans a slim hope of retaining the Cup heading into concluding 12 singles encounters.

A strong European team had arrived at Medinah closely matched with the U.S. but with several of their top players not at their best, they face a daunting challenge on the last day. The Americans famously pulled off the largest Ryder Cup comeback at Brookline in 1999 when they trailed 10-6 going into the final day and the Europeans would have to match that to keep the trophy.

“Those last two matches were massive, Jose Maria Olazabal said. — Reuters

New Delhi, September 30
Kenya's Edwin Kipyego survived stiff competition from fellow athletes before claiming the men's title, while Ethiopia's Yimer Wude emerged victorious in the women's elite category as around 32,000 Delhiites braved hot and humid conditions to run at the Airtel Delhi Half Marathon.

It was never an easy task for Kipyego till the half-way mark of 10.9km as his compatriots Leonard Langart and Silas Kipruto, who finished second and third respectively, matched him in pace. Kipyego clocked one hour and 55 seconds to cover the stipulated 21.097 km and pocket USD 25,000 winner's purse. — PTI

Bangalore, September 30
Defending champions Haryana will face Punjab while hosts Karnataka will lock horns with Air India in the semifinals of the second Hockey India Senior Men's National Championship.

In the quarterfinals played today, Air India scored a hard-fought 4-2 win over Jharkhand, Haryana overcame a gritty Manipur 4-2, last year's finalists Karnataka beat Tamil Nadu 2-0 and Punjab thrashed Railway Sports Control Board 5-1 respectively to seal their places in the last-four stage of the tournament. Air India, who led 1-0 at the break, looked far from impressive as they struggled to find their rhythm and should be indebted to goalkeeper Gurpreet Singh who brought off numerous fine saves. — PTI

Srinagar, September 30
Defending champion Sourabh Verma became a second-round casualty, but for the other top shuttlers it was just another day in office as they reached the third round of the 77th National Badminton Championships on Sunday.

Verma, who got a first-round bye, was defeated 21-18, 17-21, 15-21 by Shreyansh Jaiswal of Chattisgarh at the Sher-e-Kashmir Indoor complex. P Kashyap, Ajay Jayaram, Sai Praneeth, Anand Pawar, Arvind Bhat, Chetan Anand and Anup Sridhar reached the third round, among others.

In the women’s section, P V Sindhu beat Juhi Dewangan 21-10, 21-3 in the second round. — PTI