Yuvi is best: Mortaza

The persistent rain left them with no choice but to pursue the option of practicing at ECB Cricket Academy in Loughborough University, some 40km away from Nottingham.

The temperature had dipped to 3 degree Celsius, the wind was icy but the indoor nets were a safe haven as Bangladesh looked to put itself in shape for tie against Ireland on Monday, a must-win game for them in the ICC World Twenty20.

The Saturday's defeat against India was accepted with good grace and there were words of compliment for the defending champions from all and sundry.

Mashrafee Mortaza was all smiles even though his customary dragon-slaying act against India didn't materialize on Saturday.

Mortaza didn't take a wicket from his four overs and conceded 29 runs and while batting smashed a six from eight balls but 11 runs was all he managed before losing his timbers to Pragyan Ojha.

It was Mortaza who had scuttled Indians in that seismic match of the 2007 World Cup in the Caribbean, claiming four wickets for 38 runs and scaling down the target to just 192 runs for his batters.

Tamim Iqbal (51), Mushfiqur Rahim (56) and Shakibul Hasan (53) had then hit half centuries to guide their team to romp home by five wickets.

None of them made any impact on Saturday - Tamim (15) was out in the 3rd over; Shakibal Hasan's (8) mighty heave could only go as far as short midwicket and Mushfiqur Rahim limped to 11 from 11 balls.

Indians could thus get their even on probably the most humiliating loss of their cricketing history.

Yet Bangladesh was graceful in accepting the verdict.

"Indians played better cricket," started Mortaza "They were better in all departments."

Bangladesh had kept things firmly in check before Yuvraj Singh ran away with a blistering 41 off 18 balls and hauled India to safety.

Instead of cursing Yuvraj under his breath, Mortaza is all praise for the dashing left-hander.

"I have seen batsmen from all over the world but there is none to match Yuvraj Singh.

"Since I first saw him in the 2000 ICC mini World Cup in Kenya, and watched him smash 84 runs against Australia, my admiration for him has only grown."

Mortaza is similarly in awe of Zaheer Khan and rates Ishant Sharma as one of the most promising young men of international cricket.

"Zaheer is in a class of his own. He has everything under his armoury. Ishant is very promising but he has some way to go."

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Mohali go into the last four with a high morale

Posted on May 29, 2008 at 22:02 Updated May 29, 2008 at 23:38

Kings XI Punjab perhaps have the perfect mix of any franchise in the league - a celebrity owner, a poster boy as captain and a team that is well equipped to handle any challenge.

Yuvraj Singh and his boys wrapped up their league campaign by table toppers Rajasthan Royals handily in the final game of the league phase.

If the tournament was about discovering exciting new talent, then Shaun Marsh has definitely lived up to those expectations. The fresh faced son of former Aussie opener Geoff Marsh, Shaun had already made 5 half-centuries. He added a hundred to that impressive tally and also took over the orange cap for the tournament's highest run getter and was man of the match.

"I am really enjoying playing here and getting the opportunities. It is a fantastic experience for me. So, doing well is great and now we have games coming up in Mumbai, and hopefully, we will continue to do well," said Shaun Marsh.

The Kings derive their strength from a top order that should now instill fear in the opposition in the knockout stage. James Hopes has played an ideal foil to Marsh as opener. Kumar Sangakkara has made four half-centuries and their talismanic captain has returned to destructive form with a 16-ball 49. Even their high profile owner knows her batsmen hold the key.

"In the first game at the home ground we scored 207 runs and now in the last league match at home, we scored our highest 222 runs, so this is just going great," said Preity Zinta.

But with the ball too the trio of Irfan Pathan, S Sreesanth and Piyush Chawla have picked up 50 wickets between them to give the Kings the perfect mix. Can that translate into two more match-winning performances?

Source: http://www.cricketnext.com/news/mohali-go-into-last-four-with-a-high-morale/31891-13.html

Why Punjab Started Winning