Morkel blitz blindsides Bangalore

Chennai Super Kings 208 for 5 (Du Plessis 71, Dhoni 41, Murali 3-21)
beat Royal Challengers Bangalore 205 for 8 (Gayle 68, Kohli 57,
Bollinger 3-24) by five wickets

Albie Morkel ransacked 28 runs off the first six balls hefaced - the
19th over - to pull off an incredible heist forChennai Super Kings,
the second highest successful chase in the IPL. Pursuing 206, Super
Kings needed 43 off 12 balls and Royal Challengers Bangalore would
have thought the match safe,only for Morkel to shatter thenotion by
savaging Virat Kohli's over.Morkel launched three sixes,two fours and
ran a two, to leave Super Kings with 15 to get in the last over.
Althoughhe was caught on the boundary, and Super Kings needed 14 off
four balls, Dwayne Bravo was on hand to finish it off, helped by a
no-ball and a full toss from Vinay Kumar. It was a compelling finish
to an inningsthat had its platform laid by aggression from Faf du
Plessis and innovation from MS Dhoni, who promoted himself to No. 4,
but until thatrocket-fueled thrust from Morkel, Super Kings had been
behind for 38 overs.

De Villiers, Murali overcome Delhi

Royal Challengers Bangalore157 for 8 (de Villiers 64*, Bracewell 3-32)
beat Delhi Daredevils 137 for 7 (Murali 3-25) by 20 runs.

Royal Challengers Bangalorewere without their talisman Chris Gayle,
who had an injured groin, but four otheroverseas players performed
roles expected ofthem to give the campaign a successful start in front
of apacked Chinnaswamy Stadium. AB de Villiers prevented Royal
Challengers from finishing on a below-par score with awell paced
half-century that contained a mix of the orthodox and the
unconventional, while Muttiah Muralitharan, in his first game in these
colours, confounded Delhi Daredevils'batsmen during an incisive,
economical and match-turning spell.

England level series to stay No. 1

England 460 (Pietersen 151, Cook 94, Herath 6-133) and 97 for 2 beat
Sri Lanka 275 (Mahela Jayawardene 105, Swann 4-75) and 278 (Mahela
Jayawardene 64, Swann 6-106) by eight wickets.

In the end it was a breeze. Whatever doubts England might have had
about chasing 94 to win the secondTest at the end of a tormented Asian
winter did not manifest themselves as they gambolled to a victory
that, for the moment at least,preserves their status as the No.
1-ranked side in the world.
Lurking memories of their collapse to 72 all out, in pursuit of 145,
in Abu Dhabi barely two months ago were banished as Alastair Cook
proceeded from the outset ata one-day rate and Kevin Pietersen added a
lighthearted singalong to his majestic first-innings century. England
had it all wrapped up within 20 overs.

How To Play The Sweep Shot?

It is a cross-batted shot played to a delivery on or around leg stump
behind square on the leg side.
There's an element of risk when you play the shot, so read on to make
sure you don't give your wicket away needlessly.

Step 1

Lead towards the line of the ball with head and front shoulder.
Place the front pad into the line of the ball and then bending the
front leg and collapsing the back leg.

Step 2

With your head over the front knee, bring the bat down and across from
a high backswing.
Strike the ball in front of the pad with the arms outstretched and
both shoulders facing directly down the pitch.
Roll the wrists on contact to keep the ball down.

Step 3

Follow through so that the bat finishes in a high positionwith the
hands close to the front shoulder.

Ingram, Kallis and rain sink India

South Africa 219 for 4 (Ingram 78, Kallis 61) beat India 71 for 0
(Gambhir 49*) by 11 runs (D/L method)

In the end, it was probably afitting end to a solitary Twenty20
international sandwiched between South Africa's tour of New
Zealand,the Asia Cup and the Indian Premier League. In the end, itwas
rain that proved decisive in what was shapingup to be a close chase
and what could have been the highest successful one in T20Is. In the
end, MS Dhoni was once again left to rue the profligacy of his
medium-pacers and assorted part-time bowlers.
Gautam Gambhir had launched India's pursuit of 220 in a blaze of
boundariesbut even a total of 71 for 0 after 7.5 overs proved to
becomfortably behind the Duckworth-Lewis par score of 82, such had
been South Africa's dominance earlier with the bat.

Australia draw level in tight finish

Australia 281 for 9 (Warner 69, Watson 66, Forrest 53, Russell 4-61,
Roach 3-53) beat West Indies 251 (Sammy 84, Lee 3-42) by 30 runs
Somehow, a 2-2 draw seemed a fitting result for a series that was so
closely fought. That was the outcome after Australia's best all-round
performance of the tour so far finished ina 30-run win, although the
West Indies captain Darren Sammy did his best to carry the hosts home
on his shoulders with a powerful 84 that gave his team unexpected
hope. But in the end, Australia had more performers: half-centuries to
David Warner, Shane Watson and Peter Forrest set up a big total of 281
for 9 and Brett Lee led a disciplined bowling display towrap up the
victory.

Would be "selfish" to retire - Tendulkar

Tired by the incessant questions about his retirement, Sachin
Tendulkar has insisted that the decision to quit cricket ishis alone
and it would be"selfish" to make an exit when he was "on top" of
hisgame. Tendulkar also lashedout at some of the former India
cricketers who had suggested he should have followed in the footsteps
of his former India team-mate Rahul Dravid, who retired recently.
Tendulkar said former players had no business making decisions for
him.
"When I feel I don't have that, on that day, I will think of
retirement," Tendulkar said at a media conference in Mumbai, convened
by the World Sports Group, his brand managers, to celebrate his
milestone of reaching a hundred international hundreds. "I feel those
who say you should retire at the top are selfish because when you are
at the top you should serve the country instead of retiring,"
Tendulkar, who reached the milestone in Dhaka, against Bangladesh,
said in Hindi."I feel that when I retire is something that I would
decide because when I started it was not decided by someone else.
Those who are advising me about retirement did not bring me in the
team. I get my strength from my coaches and family."
Earlier, in an hour-long meeting with editors from the media, which
preceded the press conference,Tendulkar had said he did not have
anymore dreams now. "I don't have any other dream now. There were two
big dreams: one was playing forIndia and the second was to lift the
World Cup. That was my biggest dream," Tendulkar had said. At the same
time Tendulkar had pointed out that he had not at all thought about
retirement. "May be you guys have not understood properly. I have
always saidthat when I decided to retireI will let you know. Where is
the question of not answering?," Tendulkar said.Tendulkar said that he
was not looking too much into thefuture and about whether hewould
available for the 2015World Cup, which would be his seventh
appearance."When this question was asked in 2007 [about the 2011 World
Cup], it was tough for me to answer. It's the same situation; I don't
know what to say about 2015. If people keep prayingfor me that means a
lot for me. I will keep trying, the rest is in god's hands. I justwant
to enjoy the game. I don't want to set targets."