When the hailstorm, coupled with a sudden and sharp spurt of rain, forced the players to dash off the field, West Indies were 80 for 4 in 13.5 overs, 27 runs short as per the Duckworth Lewis system, chasing 161 to win.

Even if the rain had not interrupted, West Indies would have struggled to get past the finish line this time around as they needed another 81 runs in the last six overs. Yes, they scored that many in their last game against Pakistan but that was a pretty extraordinary effort that can’t be replicated every day, especially against Sri Lanka’s quality bowling and fielding.

Besides, Dwayne Bravo, one of the heroes of the West Indies’ last two scintillating wins, was already back in the pavilion and Darren Sammy would have needed to do it largely on his own, with Marlon Samuels looking out of sorts.

Apart from the rain, West Indies were undone by their top order who, despite being aware of the possible rain interruption, failed to force the pace and stay ahead on the D/L scale. While Chris Gayle consumed 13 balls in scoring just three runs, Marlon Samuels ate up 29 balls for his laboured 18.

While conceding they were aware of the rain threat and had planned for it, Sammy groped for words to explain Gayle’s and Samuels’ inexplicable approach. “Probably the Almighty wanted to send off the two Sri Lankan stalwarts (Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara) on a high, so He chose to interrupt the game in a way He did,” Sammy struck a philosophical note, trying to avoid a more valid and rational question. “We are disappointed… hopefully the best team wins the Cup,” he said.

Earlier, Sri Lanka took a brave and unprecedented decision of dropping their captain, Dinesh Chandimal, for the semifinal to create place for Lahiru Thirimanne. It must not have been an easy decision but it paid rich dividends as the batsman top-scored for the Lankans with a 35-ball 42.

“It was a collective decision of the team management, selectors and Chandimal. It was done with a view to fielding the best XI, you just got to do what’s best for the team,” said Angelo Mathews, who struck an aggressive 23-ball 40 to take Lanka to a fighting total.

Maybe if West Indies had shown similar courage in dropping the players who weren’t pulling their weight or weren’t fully fit, the result of the game, despite the rain interruption, could have been different. 

Brief Scores: Sri Lanka: 160-6 (Lahiru Thirimanne 44, Angelo Mathews 40; Tillakaratne Dilshan 39; Krishmar Santokie 2-46) v West Indies: 80-4 in 13.5 overs (Dwayne Bravo 30, Lasith Malinga 2-5). 

There’s a rain forecast for Friday as well. There’s, however, good news too for the Indian team. If it rains and the match is washed out, India will make the final on the basis of being the group toppers.

Mirpur, April 3
It’s difficult enough to be the best in one of the three formats of the game. Imagine how good and versatile — from mental make-up to technical tools — one needs to be to stake a claim to being the best across all three formats.

No wonder there aren't many batsmen around who have the required skill set to dominate all three formats, who can hop from one format to the other without losing much of their effectiveness in transit. Yet, there are at least two batsmen who make this arduous switchover look easy, and they would be up against each other when India take on South Africa in the second semifinal of the T20 World Cup on Friday.

You guessed it right! They are of course Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers, the best batsmen across three formats without a shadow of doubt. They have the technique and the doggedness to handle Test cricket, they have this amazing ability to shift gears as and when required to succeed in the ODIs, and have the sparkling strokes and nerves of steel to nail the T20 format as well. And among other things, how they fare on Friday will play a crucial role in determining which of the two teams makes it to the final. For India, thankfully, Kohli has been in sparkling form. He has already struck two half-centuries, and is the leading run-getter with 170 runs from four games at an astounding average of 85 —Bradmansque in the T20 format.

Against South Africa, India will need him to fire even harder, for South Africa will pose an entirely different challenge as they, unlike other teams India have faced so far, will rely more on pace than spin. And Kohli is undoubtedly the best equipped amongst the Indian batsmen to handle pace and bounce that the South African pace battery is capable of extracting from even the slowest tracks.

While Kohli has settled any doubts about his abilities long time back, he's shown remarkable maturity, too, in the tournament so far. Even though India had relatively small targets to chase down in three of the four games, Kohli resisted the temptation to play to the galleries, and tried to stay there till the end, playing a measured knock every time.

Watching him play a friendly football games gives one a fair idea about how much he cares for victory, and how a defeat hurts him. Invariably, he leads the side against MS Dhoni, a much better footballer, in their warm-up football sessions and most of the time ends up losing. All this while, he's the only one shouting, playing upfront as well as rushing back to help the defenders when they find it tough to stop Dhoni. 

That's of course just a warm-up session, but it shows how badly he wants to win. For South Africa, AB de Villiers is the joker in the pack. The South African is arguably the most destructive player in this format, perhaps even more dangerous than Chris Gayle. As Kohli will be India's man to handle South African pacers, South Africa will look up to de Villiers to defang the Indian spinners. With his wide range of strokes and nimble feet, he is the one who could cause trouble to the Indian spin juggernaut, rolling quite effortlessly so far.

“With de Villiers, it's not about which position he comes in to bat; it's about the time and situation. If we have a good opening partnership, he may come in at one down. With him it's all about where are we placed; as we all know, he could take away the game from the opposition from any point,” said Faf du Plessis, the South Africa captain.

Let the game begin.

Mirpur, April 3
Off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin believes he has entered that phase of his career when he can skip practice and does not care if the ball in his hand is old or new.

Ashwin shared the new ball in two of India's four successive victories, claiming man-of-the-match awards against Bangladesh and Australia.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni may once again toss the new ball to the 27-year-old spinner in Friday's semifinal against South Africa and Ashwin said he was ready to play the role he often does for the Chennai team that Dhoni leads in the Indian Premier League. “I've been playing alongside Mahi (Dhoni) for some time, and he probably knows where to use me and where not to use me. I'm always open to bowling in any situation, so for me it doesn't make any difference,” Ashwin said on Thursday. “In the last two or three months, I feel that I'm probably at the top of my bowling game. When I reach that phase, I pretty much don't practise at all.

“That's a phase I'm in right now. The ball is landing exactly where I want it.” Leg-spinner Amit Mishra has also been in superb form but Ashwin reckons South Africa will harness left-arm tweaker Aaron Phangiso with leggie Imran Tahir — the tournament's second highest wicket-taker — in an attempt to cancel out India's spin advantage.

“Imran Tahir has been in top form and I expect Phangiso to play. When that happens, you're pretty much evened out on the number of spinners both teams will play. It comes down to how well your spinners handle it.”

South Africa skipper Faf du Plessis would not reveal whether Phangiso will play in the semi-final. “That decision we will make tomorrow ... we will assess how the wicket is playing and if it helps spin, we will definitely look at that option.” — Reuters

Mirpur, April 3
The passion and intensity was all there but the hostility that one normally associates with the Australia-West Indies game was missing. But then, it was a game between the women's teams, played out in front of an empty stadium.

Apart from that one missing ingredient, the semifinal was fought as passionately as that needle game between the men's team. And the situation was almost the same as in that game for the West Indies, but the West Indian women couldn't conjure up the magic that Darren Sammy and Dwayne Bravo conjured up and lost the game by eight runs.

With that fine win, defending champions Australia stormed into the final for the third time in a row. Australia, batting first, did extremely well to put up a challenging 140 runs on the board. On a slow wicket, it looked a winning total.

West Indies, however, gave them a run for their money, coming close to causing an upset but falling short just by eight runs in the end. A 73-run partnership between Deandra Dottin and Stacy King kept the West Indian women in the game but Dottin's dismissal, who was looking dangerous, put paid to their hopes.

And unlike the men's teams, they had nothing but admiration for each other. “Well, we saw that game between the two teams but that has absolutely no bearing on this game…We are pretty friendly with each other," said Erene Osborne, the Australian bowler. The West Indian skipper, Merissa Aguilleira, complimented the Australians but hoped the West Indian women team will come back stronger.

New Delhi, April 3
It was a tricky match for the London Olympics bronze medallist Saina Nehwal, playing Thailand’s Natcha Saengchote for the first time in her career, at the India Open here today.

Although Saina, the world No. 8, was the obvious crowd favourite to win her pre-quarterfinal against Saengchote, ranked over 90 places below her, it was the Indian who trailed her opponent for the first few points.

The home fans, sitting around the centre court, looked puzzled. They wondered why Saina offered easy points to the Thai girl and was slow to get off the blocks.

But what they didn’t realise was that it was part of Saina’s strategy to first understand the game of her opponent and then unleash an array of delightful winners to march into the quarterfinals of the $250,000 Super Series event.

Once Saina got the measure of her opponent, it was easy sailing for her, as suggested by the 21-15 21-12 scoreline. The Thai youngster was quick on her feet and shots, which made the Indian commit a few unforced errors in the initial stages. Saina then took control of the rallies by keeping the shuttle deep and broke away after 14-14 to close the game.

In the second game, Saina was confidence personified as she played like a champion and tired her opponent out. She raced to a 15-4 lead and the writing was on the wall for Saengchote. “I had never ever seen Natcha play before. So, I needed some time to get used to her playing style,” said Saina.

The Indian will take on third seed China’s Yihan Wang in her quarterfinal tomorrow. “This match was tough but the next one will be tougher. I don't have a great record against Yihan. But it is not just her, all Chinese players are difficult to play. To beat her, I will have to be faster and my strokes should also be accurate," she added.

In the men’s pre-quarterfinals, Parupalli Kashyap needed almost an hour to overcome the challenge of RMV Guru Sai Dutt, winning 21-15 16-21 21-11.

Kashyap, who had defeated Zhengming Wang of China on Wednesday, began strongly and raced to a 7-3 lead and his smashes were enough for him to take the first game. Guru slowed the pace down in the second game, which allowed him to exercise more control and take the match into the decider.

However, Guru ran out of steam in the third game as Kashyap stamped his authority with delightful strokes to set up a quarterfinal clash with top seed Lee Chong Wei, who defeated Sourabh Verma 21-9 21-6 in 23 minutes later in the day. “Both Guru and I know each other’s game very well, so it was never going to be an easy match. But I was confident of beating him,” Kashyap said.

Olympic champion Li Xuerui beat Thailand’s Nichaon Jindapon 19-21 21-17 21-16, while Yihan Wang recovered from a second game reversal to win 21-8, 13-21 21-12 against Shizuka Uchida of Japan.

New Delhi, April 3
The Indian Olympic Association, with approval of the Amateur International Boxing Association (AIBA), on Thursday, appointed an ad-hoc committee to manage the affairs of Indian boxing till the time a new federation comes into place. The chairman of the committee is senior IOA official Tarlochan Singh.

The decision follows the suspension of the Indian Amateur Boxing Federation (IABF) by the sport's world governing body, AIBA, and its subsequent de-recognition by the Sports Ministry on Tuesday. IABF was provisionally suspended by the ministry in December 2012.

The ad-hoc committee will function until a new boxing federation comes into place after holding its free and fair elections. The committee will then have to be approved by the AIBA to receive IOA's recognition and Sports Ministry's financial grant.

In case the new federation does not see the light of the day until the Commonwealth and Asian Games, the ad-hoc committee will select the Indian boxing contingent for these two events.

Apart from Tarlochan, the committee will have six members — national coach GS Sandhu, India's representative at AIBA Kishan Narsi, Rakesh Gupta, Kuldip Vats and Mehtab Singh.

"Boxing has been de-recognised by AIBA. Keeping the interest of the boxers in mind, the IOA formed an ad-hoc committee, and this committee has been approved by the international association. The ad-hoc committee will handle all issues relating to selection, coaching and training of the boxers," IOA president N Ramachandran said after the meeting.

Asked who will fund the Indian boxers, Ramachandran replied, "The boxers have to be funded by the government of India. If the government does not fund them, then the IOA will take a call."

The IOA held its first meeting of the newly-elected office-bearers in the capital and deliberated upon a number of other issues, including hosting of the 35th National Games in Kerala by early 2015 as suggested by the Organising Committee.

Mohali, April 3
Virender Sehwag hit 67 off 35 balls to help Delhi to a six-wicket win over Punjab in the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 Trophy match here today.

Sehwag along with Gautam Gambhir (40 off 25) and Sumit Narwal (42 off 23) helped Delhi overhaul the target of 175 with 10 balls to spare. Delhi comfortably reached 178 for four in 18.2 overs.

Earlier, Manan Vohra (41 off 22), Mandeep Singh (36 off 33) and Gurkeerat Singh (29 off 18) took Punjab to 174.

Brief scores: Punjab 174/7 (Vohra 41, Mandeep 36; Ishant 2/37, Awana 2/41); Delhi 178/4 in 18.2 overs (Sehwag 67, Narwal 42, Gambhir 40; Rahul 2/38).

Madrid, April 3
Real Madrid closed in on the Champions League semifinals with an emphatic 3-0 win over Borussia Dortmund on Wednesday as the nine-times winners avenged last season's humiliating loss to the Bundesliga side in style.

Cristiano Ronaldo equalled the record for most goals in the tournament in one season with his 14th and Gareth Bale and Isco also scored in the quarterfinal first leg as Real steamrollered the team who beat them 4-1 in Dortmund in the first leg of last term's semifinal before going through 4-3 on aggregate.

Chasing the record-extending 10th continental crown which has eluded them since their last triumph in 2002, Real dominated an injury-hit Dortmund side who were also missing suspended striker Robert Lewandowski.

Bale poked the ball into the net in the third minute to put Real ahead and Isco curled in a second in the 27th.

Ronaldo notched his 14th goal in eight Champions League games, 12 minutes after halftime, matching a record held by Lionel Messi and former AC Milan forward Jose Altafini. It was his 100th Champions League appearance and the goal, when he picked up a Luka Modric pass and clipped the ball into the net from close range, took his overall tally to 64.

Ronaldo was given a rousing ovation when he apparently picked up an injury and was substituted 10 minutes from time. Ronaldo has been having treatment on his left knee but Ancelotti said it was nothing to worry about.

Superb Pastore seals PSG’s 3-1 win over Chelsea

Paris: Javier Pastore's brilliant individual goal in stoppage time put the gloss on Paris St Germain's 3-1 quarterfinal first leg win over Chelsea to leave the French side favourites to reach the last four.

The Argentine cut in from the byline, evading a number of Chelsea defenders before beating keeper Petr Cech at his near post. — Reuters

Busan, April 3
Their second best singles player is missing from the line-up but an upbeat India would fancy their chances against South Korea when the two teams clash here for a Davis Cup World Group play-off berth from Friday.

India are without Yuki Bhambri, who was forced out of the tie due to a foot injury but the team has enough fire power to handle the challenge. India would hope that Somdev Devvarman shrugs off his indifferent form and gives the country its first point when he opens the campaign against Chung Hyeon, ranked 377.

Ranked 88th, Somdev is the highest-ranked singles player in the tie but he is struggling since winning the Delhi Open in February.

India are without Yuki and in his place captain Anand Amritraj has fielded Sanam Singh (371) ahead of higher-ranked Saketh Myneni (256) for the second singles. Sanam is coming into the tie after making the finals of two consecutive ITF Futures tournaments in India. He will clash with Korea’s number one player Lim Yong-Kyu, ranked 300th, in the second singles. — PTI

BRIEFLY

Hafeez steps down from T20 captaincy
Lahore: Pakistan's Mohammad Hafeez stepped down as Twenty20 captain on Thursday after the team's failure to qualify for the semifinals. Hafeez said he accepted responsibility for the early exit. “I accept all the responsibility of team's failure,” Hafeez told reporters after a Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) meeting.

Afridi blames negative approach for exit
Karachi: Shahid Afridi has said that a negative approach from the top-order batsmen resulted in Pakistan's exit from the World T20 on Tuesday. “It wasn't a big total which couldn't be achieved but the game slipped out of our hands in the first six overs of our batting,” Afridi said in Karachi. “It was due to our negative approach in the first six overs, and that's the reason we lost the match. If you look at our bowling, we did well in the first 15 overs. Obviously it is T20 and bowlers do get hammered, but it was not such a total which couldn't be achieved. Your attack is your defense; you have to play an attacking game,” he said. — Agencies

Odisha, SAI complete semis line-up in junior Nationals
Chennai: Odisha and Sports Authority of India (SAI) completed the semifinals line up of the Hockey India junior men’s National Championship (Division A) after registering emphatic victories over Mumbai and Bhopal respectively here today. While Odisha defeated Mumbai 4-0 in a Pool B match, SAI thrashed Bhopal 5-0 in Pool D. In the other matches of the day, Himachal Pradesh got the better of Karnataka 4-3, while Maharashtra ekede out a close 6-5 win over Chattisgarh.

HI announces women’s team for Champions Challenge
New Delhi: Navneet Kaur and Neha Goyal have been included in the 18-member Indian women's hockey squad, led by midfielder Ritu Rani, for the FIH Champions Challenge 1 to be held from April 27 – May 4. Chanchan Devi will be the vice-captain for the eight-nation event to be played in Glasgow, Scotland. Squad: Goalkeepers: Yogita Bali, Savita. Defenders: Deep Grace Ekka, Deepika, Sunita Lakra, Kirandeep Kaur, Namita Toppo, Monika Malik. Midfielders: Sushila Chanu, Ritu Rani, Lily Chanu, Chanchan Devi, Soundarya Yendala. Forwards: Anuradha Devi, Poonam Rani, Vandana Katariya, Navneet Kaur, Neha Goyal.

Barcelona to appeal FIFA transfer ban
Madrid: FC Barcelona are to appeal a one-year ban on signing players imposed by FIFA for a "serious" breach of rules in the signing under-age players, the club announced on Wednesday. — Agencies