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Raina stars as Malinga checks India

Suresh Raina top-scored with 63 as India made 163 for five against Sri Lanka in a World Twenty20 Super Eights match at the Beausejour Stadium.

But whether that would be enough to help take 2007 champions India through to the semi-finals was an open question.

Not only did they have to beat Sri Lanka, they had to do so by 20 runs to have a shot at reaching the last four.

And then they had to hope hosts West Indies lost to Australia in the day’s second and last Group F match, also taking place at Beausejour.

Raina, on the ground where earlier in the tournament he made a century against South Africa, faced 47 balls with a six and seven fours.

He shared stands of 66 with opener Gautam Gambhir and 48 with captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, unbeaten on 23 after winning the toss.

However, unorthodox paceman Lasith Malinga put a break on India’s run-scoring by leading the Sri Lanka attack with two wickets for 25 runs from his maximum four overs, including the key scalp of Gambhir.

Raina fell when he holed out off seamer Thilan Thushara to Mahela Jayawardene in the deep.

Dinesh Karthik set the tone by cutting the first ball of the innings, from Angelo Mathews, for four.

But Karthik, brought in for the dropped Murali Vijay, was out for 13 when, trying to turn Malinga’s second ball legside, he was caught and bowled.

However, left-handers Gambhir and Raina then took charge.

Raina was especially severe on seamer Thushara as 17 runs came off he sixth over, the bowler’s second, leg-glancing the paceman, driving him back over his head and clipping him through midwicket for three fours.

At the 10-over halfway mark, India were well-placed for a big score at 90 for one.

But the return of Malinga ended the second-wicket stand when Gambhir, on 41, got a thin edge and was caught behind by Sri Lanka captain and wicketkeeper Kumar Sangakkara to leave India 96 for two in the 12^th over.

Gambhir faced 32 balls with three boundaries.

Dhoni launched Sanath Jayauriya’s left-arm spin over long-on for the first six of the innings.

Raina followed up by slog-sweeping Randiv high over midwicket.

Sangakkara though then missed a chance to stump Raina, on 49, off Randiv three balls later after the batsman effectively yorked himself as he went down the pitch.

Sri Lanka, currently in second place in the group thanks to a better run-rate than the West Indies, knew that if they beat India and Australia beat the hosts, the Aussies and themselves would go through.

However, even a win over India would not assure last year’s losing finalists of a semi-final spot should the home side defeat Australia, with net run-rate then coming into play.

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India win toss and bat against Sri Lanka

India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni won the toss and elected to bat against Sri Lanka in a must-win World Twenty20 Super Eights match at the Beausejour Stadium.

India made three changes from the side that lost to the West Indies by 14 runs in Barbados on Sunday.

They brought in opening batsman Dinesh Karthik for Vijay Murali, Vinay Kumar for fellow quick Zaheer Khan and leg-spinner Piyush Chawla for left-arm slow bowler Ravindra Jadeja.

Sri Lanka also altered the line-up that suffered a heavy 81-run defeat by Australia in Barbados last weekend.

Spinner Ajantha Mendis, batsman Dinesh Chandimal and pace bowler Chanaka Welegedara were all omitted.

In came left-arm quicks Thissara Perera and Thilan Thushara as well as seamer Chinthaka Jayasinghe.

For India, the inaugural champions back in 2007, to get through to the semi-finals they had to beat Sri Lanka by at least 20 runs and then hope that hosts West Indies lost to Australia in the day’s second and last Group F match, also taking place at Beausejour.

Sri Lanka, currently in second place in the group thanks to a better run-rate than that of the West Indies, knew that if they beat India and Australia beat the hosts, the Aussies and themselves would go through.

Sri Lanka will also be through if they lose to India by fewer than 20 runs and Australia beat the West Indies.

However, even a win over India would not assure last year’s losing finalists of a semi-final spot should the home side defeat Australia.

Sri Lanka have so far conceded 24 more runs than they have scored, while for the West Indies the corresponding number is 43.

If both teams win their final games and West Indies win by a margin that eradicates that difference, they will go through.

Teams

India: Dinesh Karthik, Gautam Gambhir, Suresh Raina, Yuvraj Singh, Mahendra Singh Dhoni (capt/wkt), Rohit Sharma, Yusuf Pathan, Harbhajan Singh, Piyush Chawla, Vinay Kumar, Ashish Nehra

Sri Lanka: Mahela Jayawardene, Sanath Jayasuriya, Kumar Sangakkara (capt/wkt), Tillakaratne Dilshan, Chamara Kapugedara, Chinthaka Jayasinghe, Angelo Mathews, Thissara Perera, Suraj Randiv, Lasith Malinga, Thilan Thushara

Umpires: Aleem Dar (PAK) and Steve Davis (AUS)

TV umpire: Ian Gould (ENG)

Match referee: Alan Hurst (AUS)