This game wasn’t about result for India; it was more about ironing out the rough edges and testing themselves in different conditions and circumstances before heading into the semifinals. The massive 73-run win was like icing on the cake that will further bolster their confidence as they storm into the knockouts undefeated, not even run close by any of their opponents.

More than the massive victory, it’s perhaps Yuvraj Singh’s return to form that will please the team the most. Coming into the game low on confidence following a string of failures in the last three games, the struggling left-hander finally came to the party on Sunday, hitting a fine 43-ball 60 in an otherwise, relatively speaking, average batting show.

Just like any other batsman struggling to regain his touch, he began cautiously, an approach necessitated further by the fall of a few quick wickets before and around him. But gradually, as he gained in confidence, he began timing the ball better, and soon enough his trademark big hits to and over midwicket surfaced. And when he gets his shots going in that area, it can be said with certainty that he’s back in form.

“Yuvraj getting those runs is a huge boost for the batsman himself as well as the team. This is the best news for India ahead of the semifinals,” said Shane Watson.

The other thing India are happy about is that they got to test their batsmen and bowlers in different conditions and circumstances. While the batsmen got the opportunity to bat first and set a target, the bowlers had to bowl with an additional pressure of defending it. “We wanted to bat first in this game and see how things go for our batsmen and bowlers,” said Dhoni.

In the end, the bowlers passed the test with flying colours by bowling out the mighty Australians for just 86 in 16.2 overs. Batsmen, relatively speaking, came up a little short, save for Yuvraj. First up, the opening pair failed to fire in unison yet again, with Rohit Sharma falling for just five. Ajinkya Rahane, who came in for Shikhar Dhawan, too couldn’t make the opportunity count. Virat Kohli, the Mr Consistent for India, didn’t stay for long, while Suresh Raina and Ravindra Jadeja made guest appearances. MS Dhoni, though, shared a good stand with Yuvraj, and helped India reach a fighting 159.

The bowlers, however, gave the impression as if they had been waiting for the challenge. Just like they did in the last three games, they performed like a well-oiled machine, with every part playing its role to perfection. Defending 159, what could at best be described a par score, wasn’t going to be easy against Australia, packed with power hitters from top to bottom. Yet, they embraced the challenge and simply stifled the life out of the Australian chase. After the pacers gave India a great start, with both Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Mohit Sharma picking up an early wicket, the spinners spun an excruciating web, and the Australians could do nothing but writhe in pain before giving in.

“It’s one of the most disappointing and embarrassing loss for us,” said George Bailey, the Australian skipper, summing up the loss.

Scoreboard

India:
Rohit c Muirhead b Hodge 5
Rahane c Haddin b Bollinger 19
Kohli c White b Muirhead 23
Yuvraj c Maxwell b Watson 60
Raina c Finch b Maxwell 6
Dhoni b Starc 24
Jadeja run out (Watson) 3
Ashwin not out 2
Bhuvneshwar not out 0
Extras (lb 6, w 10, nb 1) 17
Total (7 wkts; 20 ov) 159
Fall of wickets: 1-6 2-46 3-53 4-66 5-150 6-152 7-158
Bowling
Hodge 2-0-13-1
Maxwell 4-0-20-1
Starc 4-0-36-1
Watson 4-0-36-1
Bollinger 4-0-24-1
Muirhead 2-0-24-1

Australia:
Finch c Kohli b Ashwin 6
Warner c Rohit b Ashwin 19
White c Jadeja b Bhuvneshwar 0
Watson b Mohit 1
Maxwell b Ashwin 23
Bailey c Kohli b Jadeja 8
Hodge c Jadeja b Mishra 13
Haddin c Rahane b Mishra 6
Starc run out (Raina/Dhoni) 2
Muirhead c Dhoni b Ashwin 3
Bollinger not out 1
Extras (b 3, w 1) 4
Total (all out; 16.2 ov) 86
Fall of wickets: 1-13 2-19 3-21 4-44 5-55 6-63 7-75 8-79 9-83 10-86
Bowling
Bhuvneshwar 3-0-7-1
Mohit 2-0-11-1
Ashwin 3.2-0-11-4
Raina 1-0-16-0
Jadeja 4-0-25-1
Mishra 3-0-13-2

Mirpur, March 30
MA Satheesh, India's logistics manager, has become the first casualty of the Supreme Court order that says that anyone associated with India Cements, N Srinivasan's company, shouldn't be involved with the board.

The team management issued a release late Saturday night that Satheesh would be released as soon as his replacement reached Dhaka. The court's order has started taking effect with his removal but it could be said that he was merely a small fish in the larger scheme of things.

Satheesh is a former Kerala player who had been associated with the Indian team for several years now. He would usually be around when the team practised, and often accompanied players to press conferences. He was conspicuous by his absence from the training area yesterday.

The court, however, has allowed cricketers and commentators who are also associated with India Cements to continue in their roles. Without that, even India's skipper MS Dhoni's position in the side would have become untenable for he's a vice-president with the company.

Nevertheless, there are many other India Cements personnel associated with Indian cricket, with IPL chief financial officer Prasanna Kannan and Rajasthan Royal's mentor Rahul Dravid being the big names.

With the removal of the team's logistics manager, it would be interesting if the bigger names take the cue.

On Saturday night, Cricket Association of Bihar (CAB) secretary Aditya Verma — whose petition in the Supreme Court has caused Srinivasan so much trouble — wrote to BCCI's interim president Sunil Gavaskar, voicing his opposition to the continuation of Sundar Raman as the IPL CEO.

“I have to bring to your notice that Mr Sundar Raman's continuation as CEO of IPL is deeply prejudicial to the interest of IPL and the game of cricket,” Verma wrote.

Verma said that according to the transcripts given by Mumbai Police to the Mudgal Committee — which investigated the spot-fixing and betting scandal in IPL-6 —Raman seems to have played a role in passing insider information, “which clearly aided and abetted betting in the last season of the IPL”.

Verma's cousel, Harish Salve, had argued in the Supreme Court that Raman too is an employee of India Cements. However, the BCCI lawyer and Raman himself have denied this. The Supreme Court has left it to Gavaskar to decide whether Raman should continue as in-charge of the IPL.

Mirpur, March 30
How long did the West Indians party after winning that grudge match against Australia on Friday? After watching the wild celebrations kick off on the ground itself, that's the question perhaps everyone who watched the game wanted an answer to.

The response, however, wasn't exactly along the expected lines.

“Not long… we did some stuff in the dressing room. It was an exciting game for us. We were really pumped up for that game. We are pumped up for all the games, but that game was more special,” said Dwayne Bravo.

After taking that with a pinch of salt — after all, West Indies did cancel all their engagements for the day after the victory — one moved on to the second obvious question.

Have any of them come across or spoken to the Australians?

"We see each other in the lobby. Today morning, I was having a chat with Haddin, Finch and Warner about the Big Bash League. Speaking for myself, we are all good friends off the cricket field. I play a lot with them in the Big Bash,” he said, suggesting everyone has moved on.

Maybe they have for now, but what happens when they are in the same dressing room for, say, the Big Bash League or the IPL? Won't it be a little difficult to feel like a team with the Australians after that over-the-top celebration?

“Not at all, we are professional cricketers. At the hotel, we see each other, meet each other and have a quick chat. We may not be the best of friends or go out for dinner. We play together for the Big Bash and the IPL and some of them come and play in the Caribbean Premier League too.”

“With all these leagues in the world, you end up developing a better relationship. Look at the India-West Indies games, the relationship is like one love and it's like one country playing,” said Bravo.

Well, one wonders if the Australians too feel the same way, for their coach, Darren Lehmann, didn't seem to have taken to their celebration in the spirit Bravo wants it to be seen.

“When you win, you've got to win in the right way and act appropriately. If that's the way they do that, that's fine. That's not our choice. That's certainly not what we do. They certainly dance very well though, I'll give them that,” Lehmann had said after the match.

West Indies, however, would be least bothered about how the Australians felt about their celebrations.

“They want to win a game for their country and they will do whatever it takes. Sometimes, we use it for motivation and some other teams retaliate. We are not a side that retaliates. We try and prepare well and be expressive on the field,” said Bravo.

Mirpur, March 30
Initially, it looked like the Bangladesh fans have given up on their team. The match against Pakistan was just a few minutes away from the start but the stadium was still more empty than full. Maybe, one thought, the string of some bad losses had pushed them to the end of their patience and they wouldn't return until the team made some drastic improvements.

However, in the next 20 minutes, the stadium was packed, as it always is with Bangladesh playing. The fans here clearly have a lot of time for their team, and wouldn't desert their team anytime soon. Unfortunately, just like in the last few days, they had to return home disappointed yet again, with Bangladesh losing to Pakistan by 50 runs on Sunday, their fourth consecutive defeat in the tournament, including the humiliating loss against Hong Kong in the qualifiers.

Their fate was pretty much sealed when Pakistan set them a massive 191-run target, thanks to an unbeaten hundred (111) by opener Ahmad Shehzad.

Becoming the first ever batsman for Pakistan to score a hundred in a T20 International, the 22-year-old right-hander took the attack to the hosts right from the word go, hammering boundaries to all corners of the ground. The Bangladesh bowlers just couldn't find a way to stop Shehzad as he raced to his hundred. Even as the hosts removed three of the top four before they could get into double digits, it didn't matter much with the opener going great guns from the other end.

And when it came to chasing down the huge target, Bangladesh cut a sorry figure yet again.

They were four down before reaching 50, and from there it was always a matter of how close Bangladesh could eventually get to the target, never about knocking it over.

While Bangladesh skipper Mushfiqur Rahim sounded as despondent and clueless after the loss as he has been for the last few days, Shehzad, just like on the field, came with all guns blazing. “This hundred is my gift to everyone who's has criticised me. I hope my hundred will be a reminder to the people that they shouldn't judge someone just on the basis of one or two failures,” he said.

Brief Scores: Pakistan: 190/ 5 (Shehzad 111*, Razzak 2-20) bt Bangladesh: 140/7 (Shakib 38, Gul 3-30, Ajmal 2-20) by 50 runs.

Slyhet, March 30
Harmanpreet Kaur smashed a strokeful 77 before her bowling colleagues produced a clinical display as India crushed Bangladesh by 79 runs in their group league match to record their first win in the Women's World Twenty20.

Electing to bat, India posted a challenging 151 for five in their allotted 20 overs, thanks to Harmanpreet's 59-ball knock which she made with the help of 12 boundaries and a six while captain Mithali Raj chipped in with 41 at Sylhet Stadium.

Indian bowlers then restricted Bangladesh to 72 for eight with pacewomen Jhulan Goswami and Shubhlakshmi Sharma grabbing three wickets apiece. Leg-spinner Poonam Yadav took two wickets to help India score a comprehensive win.

Despite the win, India, with two points from three matches, have little chance of progressing to the semi-final.

Bangladesh run chase never got going as they struggled to cope with the Indian bowling attack. Their biggest partnership was the opening stand of 22 between Ayasha Rahman (10) and Fargana Hoque (15). Captain Salma Khatun top-scored with 19.

Veteran Goswami and Yadav rocked the Bangladesh top order before Shubhlakshmi took care of the hosts' lower order.

Earlier, Harmanpreet and Mithali sent the Bangladesh bowlers for a leatherhunt with an opening wicket stand of 107 in 14.3 overs to lay the foundation of a challenging total. All the Bangladeshi bowlers, except for Salma Khatun, were expensive as Harmanpreet and Mithali found the boundaries quite often.

The Indians could have scored more than the 44 runs they added in the last 5.3 overs but the total of 151 for five was enough against the home side who have lost heavily in their earlier two matches also. For Bangladesh, Rumana Ahmed grabbed two wickets for 33 runs while Salma Khatun and Khadija Tul Kubra took a wicket each.

Brief Scores: India women: 151 for 5 in 20 overs (Harmanpreet Kaur 77, Mithali Raj 41; Rumana Ahmed 2/33); Bangladesh women: 72 for 8 in 20 overs (Salma 19; Jhulan Goswami 3/11, Shubhlakshmi 3/12). — PTI

Khanty Mansiysk (Russia), March 30
Five-times world champion Viswanathan Anand sealed the Candidates tournament title with an effortless draw with Peter Svidler of Russia in the 14th and final round here today.

Having won one of the strongest tournaments of recent times with one round to spare, Anand just didn't want anything to go wrong and went for the draw, with white pieces, that was for the taking.

The Indian ace thus officially earned the right to a rematch with Magnus Carlsen of Norway along with the winner's purse of 13,5000 Euros.

The bidding for Anand-Carlsen II are now open and FIDE, the apex chess body will decide the awarding of this match after receiving all the bids by April 30 this year. The match will be held from November 5-25.

The last day provided mixed games. Shakhriyar Mamedyarov also played out a quick draw as white against Vladimir Kramnik while Veselin Topalov's bid to come out of the last place was foiled by Russian Dmitry Andreikin.

Sergey Karjakin of Russia was the lone winner in the day at the expense of out-of-form Levon Aronian of Armenia. Till the ninth round, Aronian was considered as the likely challenger but then things turned out really bad for the world No. 2.

Anand ended the tournament on 8.5 points, a full point ahead of Karjakin who finished a creditable second after a bad start.

Kramnik, Andreikin and Mamedyarov finished joint third on seven points apiece while Aronian and Svidler ended joint sixth on 6.5 points in all. Topalov ended last scoring six in all.

Playing the white side of a Marshall Gambit out of a Ruy Lopez opening, Anand simply gave no chances to Svidler. The pieces got exchanged at regular intervals as Svidler also could do little and in almost no time the players found themselves in a drawn minor piece endgame. The game lasted 34 moves. — PTI

New Delhi, March 30
Parupalli Kashyap, who reached the quarterfinals of the London Olympics, has had his progress checked by a series of injuries over the last few months. This, he says, had left him confused and disturbed, though he says he played with a shoulder injury and reached the semifinals of the Swiss Open.

This performance, he says, helped him regain some of his confidence.

Last year in May, Kashyap had reached a ranking of world No. 6. Then, in the inaugural Indian Badminton League, he twisted his ankle. A knee injury kept him out of action for a month.

Then, before the Denmark Open, he had a freak eye injury, and had to pull out of Korea Open after a partial dislocation of his shoulder in December. This injury flared up during the German Open earlier this month.

“After German Open, I was in doubt about what would happen because after a month of training and rehab, when my shoulder was perfect, I suddenly got injured at the same place again,” Kashyap says.

“When an injury happens and then again it happens at the same place, it gets worse. It gave me big doubts about what I would do, how will I qualify for Commonwealth Games and Asian Games.”

“It was really confusing and tough and mentally very disturbing when you come back from an injury, you are fit and then suddenly you get injured again,” he adds.

“I had to strap my shoulder in All England, I was fine and played a close three-game match. I again played with strapping in the Swiss Open and reached the semifinals there. It gave me a lot of confidence. Now it is strapped really hard. There is no pain. But I guess I have got used to playing with the strapping and it will be like this for next four-five months,” he added.

What are his hopes for the Indian Open, which begins on April 1? “I’m just trying to be fresh for the next tournament,” he says. “You can’t really do much about your game in a couple of weeks, you can work on your simple mistakes.”

“But I did well in Swiss and even in All England,” he’s quick to add. “I am hitting a good form. I have to maintain the good rhythm. In the last four-five months, I think I am playing best right now.”

SEPANG (Malaysia), March 30
Briton’s Lewis Hamilton won the Malaysian Grand Prix with a pole-to-flag victory ahead of Nico Rosberg on Sunday in a first Mercedes one-two since they returned to Formula One as a works team in 2010.

The 2008 Formula One world champion easily pulled away from his rivals on a dry track with a three-stop strategy to win the race by 17.3 seconds, his 23rd career victory and first in Malaysia at the eighth attempt.

“Really grateful, thank you so much,” the Briton told his team over the radio after taking the chequered flag.

Rosberg, who won the season opener in Australia two weeks ago, started in third place but slipped past quadruple world champion Sebastian Vettel on the first corner and was able to keep the Red Bull at bay and stay top of the driver standings.

Vettel finished third, 7.2 seconds behind Rosberg, for his first points of the season, following an early retirement in Australia, as he struggled to make an impact on the Mercedes pair without the rain that helped his qualifying bid on Saturday.

Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso secured his second fourth finish of the season after coming out ahead in a tight battle with Force India’s Nico Hulkenberg in the closing stages.

McLaren’s Jenson Button was sixth with Felipe Massa of Williams seventh just ahead of team mate Valtteri Bottas after the Brazilian refused to yield to his Finnish team mate despite team orders to do so.

McLaren’s Danish rookie Kevin Magnussen and Toro Rosso’s Russian newcomer Daniil Kvyat rounded out the top 10 of a race that suffered just a couple of light drops of rain despite concerns about possible thunderstorms.

Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo, who was disqualified in Australia pending an appeal, missed out on points for the second race in a row after a disastrous third pit stop when he was in fourth.

The Australian pulled away before his front left wheel was fully attached with engineers sprinting down the pitlane to push him back and fix the issue. — Reuters

MiAmi, March 30
Proving there is no place like home, world No. 1 Serena Williams swept past China’s Li Na 7-5 6-1 in the final of the Sony Open on Saturday, collecting a record seventh win on the Miami hardcourts.

Williams, who lives an hour’s drive from the Tennis Centre at Crandon Park and considers the tournament her home event, treated the second ranked Li like an unwelcome guest, needing just two hours on a steamy centre court to collect her 59th career title, the $787,000 winner’s purse pushing her career earnings over $55 million.

In 14 appearances at the Miami event, Williams has driven back to her Palm Beach Gardens home with the trophy half the time, her seven titles two better than the five each she has won at Australian, US Open and Wimbledon.

After watching Li’s forehand return slam into the net to end the contest, a delighted Williams danced around the court, raising seven fingers in the air signalling each of her Miami titles.

“I was actually super excited at the end, because I remember sitting here last year trying to get to six, obviously I wanted seven but I don’t want to put the pressure on myself to get to seven,” said Williams. — Reuters

Johor Bahru, March 30
Sourabh Verma suffered a heartbreak in the men’s singles final of the Malaysia Grand Prix Gold as he went down fighting in a three-game thriller against Simon Santoso of Indonesia here today.

The 21-year-old from Madhya Pradesh squandered a one-game advantage to lose 21-15 16-21 19-21 to Simon in an energy-sapping match that lasted one hour and nine minutes.

World No. 30 Sourabh, who had recently clinched three titles — TATA Open, Austrian International Challenge and Iran Fajr International Challenge — played his heart out in his fourth final in as many months but it was the 15th seed Simon who had the last laugh. With this win, the world No. 56 Indonesian kept his unbeaten record intact against Sourabh. Simon had beaten the Indian in straight games in their only previous meeting in 2012. — PTI

BRIEFLY

England favourites in an inconsequental match
Chittagong: England start as favourites in tomorrow's dead rubber against the minnows The Netherlands. England have been hit hard by the loss against New Zealand via Duckworth-Lewis method in their tournament opener. But the Stuart Broad-led side came back strongly to beat Sri Lanka in the next match. England's batting has not been a concern in the tournament as they managed to score 170 plus runs in all the three matches.

Kiwis, Lanka fight for semifinal berth
Chittagong: An all-important game for New Zealand and Sri Lanka as both the teams face each other on Monday, with the winner sealing the second semi-final berth from Group 1. Both teams have had their fair share of ups and downs in the tournament. In their opening encounter, Sri Lanka clinched a thriller against South Africa. Riding on Kusal Perera‘s knock of 61 runs and Sachitra Senanayake‘s two wickets, Sri Lanka won by five runs. Sri Lanka then lost to England. Sri Lanka finally chased Netherlands score of 39 well inside five overs. On the other hand, New Zealand won their game against England and lost to South Africa. — Agencies

Real Madrid, Barcelona keep on Atletico’s tail
Madrid: Atletico Madrid moved a step closer to an unlikely Spanish title triumph when they battled back from a goal down to secure a 2-1 win at fourth-placed Athletic Bilbao in La Liga on Saturday. The hard-fought win maintained Atletico’s one-point lead over champions Barcelona, who won 1-0 at Espanyol in the earlier kickoff thanks to a Lionel Messi penalty. Atletico have 76 points with seven games leftwhile Barca, who host the Madrid club in their Champions League quarter-final first leg on Tuesday, are on 75. Third-placed Real Madrid avoided a third successive defeat when La Liga top scorer Cristiano Ronaldo netted his 28th goal of the campaign and Gareth Bale struck twice in a 5-0 stroll at home to city neighbours Rayo Vallecano.

Liverpool crush Tottenham Hotspur to go top
London: Liverpool crushed Tottenham Hotspur 4-0 at Anfield on Sunday to overtake Chelsea at the top of the Premier League table. They are two points ahead of Chelsea with a much better goal difference and four clear of Manchester City, who have two games in hand. City and Chelsea, who both dropped points on Saturday, still have to visit Anfield. Liverpool, who have not won the English title since 1990, went ahead after two minutes with an own goal by Spurs defender Younes Kaboul and doubled the lead through Luis Suarez's 29th goal of the season in the 25th. Philippe Coutinho scored the third after 55 minutes and Jordan Henderson completed the rout quarter of an hour from the end. Chelsea suffered a shock 1-0 defeat at Crystal Palace while City were held to a 1-1 draw at Arsenal on Saturday.

HP beat Mumbai in junior men’s hockey Nationals
Chennai: Himachal Pradesh defeated Mumbai Hockey Association Ltd. 3-2 on the second day of the Hockey India junior men’s National Championship (Division A) here today. Amandeep Singh, Abhishek Raghuvanshi and Abhishek scored one goal each for Himachal Pradesh. Pawan Rajbhar struck four goals to help Sports Authority of India beat Maharashtra 7-3. Pawan found the target in the 34th, 42nd, 52nd and 65th minutes in the pool D match.

EB pip Sporting Clube de Goa 2-1, remain in title hunt
Kolkata: East Bengal kept their I-League title hope afloat with a 2-1 win over Sporting Clube de Goa in a round 23 fixture here today. Baljit Sahni gave a sloppy looking East Bengal the lead at the stroke of half time, while Lalrindika Ralte gave a two-goal cushion with a lucky 65th-minute goal. — Agencies

Chelsea go down to Palace, CIty draw with Arsenal
London: Chelsea suffered a shock 1-0 defeat at Crystal Palace while Manchester City were held to a 1-1 draw at Arsenal on Saturday. Jose Mourinho’s Chelsea sank to their first defeat by Palace in 24 years after captain John Terry headed a Joel Ward cross into his own goal early in the second half amid suggestions the ball touched home defender Joe Ledley’s hand on the way in. The Stamford Bridge club stayed top on 69 points. City are third on 67 points with two games in hand on Chelsea. David Silva opened the scoring for City in the 18th minute before Mathieu Flamini equalised soon after the break to earn a draw for fourth-placed Arsenal who are on 64 points and retain outside title hopes.