Modi lost his majority in parliamentary elections held between April and June and had to depend on fickle allies to form a government
asia5 hours ago
Ben Stokes hit a gutsy unbeaten 42 as England reached the Twenty20 World Cup semifinals on Saturday with a tense four-wicket win over Sri Lanka — and ended Australia's title defence.
England needed to win to make the last four from Group 1 alongside already qualified New Zealand and they achieved the feat in a nail-biting finish with two balls to spare at Sydney Cricket Ground.
If they had lost, hosts Australia would have gone through.
Sri Lanka looked on track for a big total when they reached 80-2 after 10 overs, but the aggressive Pathum Nissanka was out for 67 and the Asian champions crumbled to 141-8, with Mark Wood taking 3-26.
England raced to 75 without loss in reply and looked on track for an easy win. But they collapsed to 111-5 under pressure from the Sri Lankan spin attack and it went to the wire.
"Didn't enjoy that match, how close it was," admitted skipper Jos Buttler. "We just had to find a way to win that game.
"These situations are built for him (Stokes)," he added. "He can play a lot of roles for us in this T20 setup."
Man-of-the-match Adil Rashid, whose spin kept Sri Lanka's batsmen at bay, was also full of praise for Test skipper Stokes.
"It was a tight game, it happens in T20 cricket," he said. "They bowled well and created pressure but Stokesy played magnificent so we got over the line."
The victory was not enough to dethrone New Zealand at the top of the table with England settling for second and a semifinal in Adelaide. The fate of Group 2 will be determined on Sunday.
Sri Lanka's defeat ended Australia's stuttering tournament, with their title defence never recovering after losing heavily to New Zealand on the opening day, then having to share the points with England due to rain.
"I think the wicket played a part in this game, even the English batters struggled in the second half," said Sri Lanka captain Dasun Shanaka.
"I think we played good cricket in patches, but we had a few injuries which cost us the tournament."
Sri Lanka, who have not beaten England in a T20 since 2014, won the toss and asked England to field, conscious that all five previous games at the SCG during the World Cup had been won by the team batting first.
Nissanka pulled Stokes for an authoritative six off the second ball and two more sixes in the third over, off Wood, signalled their intent.
But an aggressive 39-run opening stand came to an end when Kusal Mendis (18) attempted another boundary from Chris Woakes and Liam Livingstone held a catch near the ropes.
Nissanka kept the runs flowing but his new partner Dhananjaya de Silva (9) slogged at a slower Sam Curran ball and was caught by Stokes.
Sri Lanka reached 80-2 at the halfway point, but then Livingstone took a simple catch to remove Charith Asalanka (8).
Nissanka brought up his second 50 of the tournament and ninth overall, but tight bowling from Rashid slowed the run rate and he eventually accounted for Nissanka, who heaved to substitute fielder Chris Jordan at long-on after a 45-ball knock.
Sri Lanka never regained momentum, making just 25 off the last five overs.
In reply, Alex Hales and Buttler plundered 70 off the six-over powerplay, smashing 11 boundaries in the process.
Sri Lanka gave themselves hope when Buttler (28) and Hales (47) were out in the space of three overs, with the spin of Wanindu Hasaranga accounting for both of them.
Harry Brook (4) quickly followed, caught and bowled by De Silva, then Livingstone (4) carelessly threw his wicket away with a slog and Moeen Ali (1) joined them back in the pavilion.
But Stokes kept his cool as the wickets tumbled and steered them into the last four alongside Woakes.
Modi lost his majority in parliamentary elections held between April and June and had to depend on fickle allies to form a government
asia5 hours ago
Sporadic fighting between Sunni and Shiite Muslims in the mountainous Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province has killed around 150 over the past months
asia5 hours ago
Imagine if a nurse or doctor didn't feel safe to report an error seen by colleagues — consider how many patients could be at risk
jobs6 hours ago
Trump has plucked a number of presidential appointments from Fox News programs, both in his first term from 2017-2021 and since being elected again on November 5
world7 hours ago
This place also offers golden karak tea for Dh150 and if you want to buy gold-infused water, get ready to shell out Dh300
food7 hours ago
A unified platform for drone operations will also be launched, streamlining registration and operational procedures
uae7 hours ago
The US prosecutor charges are the biggest setback for India's $143 billion Adani Group, which was last year hit by Hindenburg Research's allegations of improper use of offshore tax havens
asia8 hours ago
Launched in 2008, Chrome dominates the browser market, dwarfing rivals Edge and Safari, developed by Microsoft and Apple, respectively
tech8 hours ago