Slip-up in death overs cost India - Dhoni

MS Dhoni blamed India's defeat in their first warm-up game at Lord's on their performance at the death in the New Zealand innings, where 31 runs were conceded in the last two overs.

Ishant Sharma was India's stand-out performer with the ball, taking 4 for 25, and while the experiment of using him in the middle overs paid off, the tactic of holding back the length in the last few overs didn't. The penultimate over of the New Zealand innings, bowled by Irfan Pathan, was taken for 15, and RP Singh was clattered for two fours and a six by James Franklin in the final over as New Zealand put up a match-winning score.

"Instead of yorkers, we wanted to bowl back of the length deliveries in the final three overs," Dhoni was quoted as saying by PTI. "We have seen other teams do it regularly so we wanted to use this opportunity of warm-up game to try it out. Unfortunately, it didn't work today. If we have to go to the basics of bowling yorkers, we would do so.

"It's just not about doing well in the first few overs or in the end. It's critical that teams don't lose too many wickets between 6 and 10 overs. That's why somebody like Ishant can be critical in the middle overs. He could dry up the runs and batsmen could lose wickets in trying to go after him."

Ishant was Kolkata Knight Riders' highest wicket-taker in the IPL, finishing with 11 from as many games but his record in international Twenty20's has been indifferent - he averages 51 with just two wickets in four games. "I think it would give him great deal of confidence," Dhoni said of his four-wicket haul. "He is a bowler who should be bowling at the start and also in the end. In between he came and got us those crucial wickets."

Ravindra Jadeja and Suresh Raina had put India in sight of a comfortable win, taking them to 126 for 3 in the 15th over in pursuit of 170. But Raina's miscue off Jacob Oram triggered a slide as New Zealand's bowlers, particularly captain Daniel Vettori, who finished with 3 for 24, stymied the chase to help their team win by nine runs. It marked New Zealand's fourth win against India in the Twenty20 format, though the warm-up games are not considered official.

"Four defeats in four matches is a bit of concern," Dhoni said. But he was confident of his players' ability to combat Vettori despite the New Zealand captain's success against India. In fact, Vettori was largely responsible for India's only loss in the World Twenty20 in 2007, a tournament they eventually won. "In one of the overs he was also hit for 20 runs by Suresh Raina. So it's not as if he can't be attacked or 40-50 runs can't be taken off his bowling," he said.

Though Dhoni was upset with the slip-up, he said there were alternatives in place to rectify what went wrong. "Quite disappointed with the defeat but we have back-up plans and so I'm not really worried," he said. "Besides, we missed quite a few key players."

Yuvraj Singh was down with food poisoning and Virender Sehwag sat out due to a shoulder injury. However, both are expected to be fit for India's next warm-up tie against Pakistan on June 3. "A couple of guys had food poisoning but I'm sure everyone will be fine before our next warm-up game."

Daniel Vettori, meanwhile, attributed New Zealand's win to a team effort. "I think we managed our innings well," he said. "It was a very good performance. Rohit (Sharma) and (Suresh) Raina were destructive and to come back from there, I must say I'm reasonably happy."

The contest proved a high-scoring one, relative to some of the matches in the IPL in South Africa, and Dhoni felt the size of the ground could cater to similar games. "One side is always shorter and teams try to take advantage of it. If it's managed well, even a score of 80 runs from the final eight overs is possible," he said. "However, once the asking rate goes beyond nine and half, it becomes difficult."

Going by the trend set in the IPL, Dhoni felt spinners would again play a prominent role in this competition. "Most of the sides have quality spinners in their ranks as they understand slow bowlers have a huge role to play. Spinners, I am sure, will have a bigger impact in this tournament."

Taylor and Vettori star in NZ win

New Zealand 170 for 7 (Taylor 41, McCullum 31, Franklin 27*, Ishant 4-25) beat India 161 for 6 (Raina 45, Jadeja 41*, Vettori 3-24) by nine runs

New Zealand's unbeaten record against India in Twenty20s continued today by beating the world champions by nine runs in their warm-up outing at Lord's. Several New Zealand batsmen chipped in with aggressive contributions to post an imposing total which their bowlers, led by the reliable Daniel Vettori, defended tenaciously against a powerful Indian batting line-up.

The India team had faced questions regarding fatigue and fitness because of their players' involvement in the lengthy IPL and they took the field without Virender Sehwag and Zaheer Khan. Yuvraj Singh also did not play a part in the match although he was on the team sheet. However, it was because of the batsmen that performed in the IPL - Rohit Sharma, Suresh Raina and Ravindra Jadeja - that India challenged New Zealand's total of 170.

Sharma, who opened with Gautam Gambhir, slotted seamlessly into his new role and attacked from the outset against Iain O'Brien. With an extravagant follow through, Sharma deposited the ball into the stands at midwicket, pierced the in-field at point again, and launched the ball over long-off to take 18 runs off O'Brien's second over. The Indian fans had been gathering from the latter stages of the Ireland-Netherlands match, making themselves heard whenever the players were shown on the giant screen and now were shouting themselves hoarse.

Through all the excitement, though, Gambhir remained almost unnoticed, catching the attention only when he spooned Ian Butler to Martin Guptill at extra cover. India, however, raced to 55 in six overs and New Zealand needed more to curb the momentum. Vettori duly did the needful. He slipped one down the leg side as MS Dhoni advanced and had him stumped, despite a fumble from Brendon McCullum, before bowling Sharma a few balls later as the ball bobbled off the pads.

India suddenly had two new batsmen at the crease and New Zealand had an opening, but for a while it seemed Raina had slammed it shut. He plundered 19 runs off Vettori's second over, slog-sweeping twice over the midwicket boundary and drilling the ball straight down the ground.

He and Jadeja produced an impressive stand, adding 69 off 48 balls for the fourth wicket. It was only Raina's dismissal - caught by a diving Jesse Ryder off Jacob Oram for 45 - that turned the match in New Zealand's favour. Vettori bounced back strongly to dismiss Yusuf Pathan in another miserly over to finish with 3 for 24 and left India with too much to do in the last three overs.

That the New Zealand bowlers had enough to defend was due to a collective performance from their batsmen. While no one went on to make fifty, New Zealand always had a well set batsman at the crease to keep the momentum going. Brendon McCullum provided the impetus at the start, while Ross Taylor continued his good form from the latter stages of the IPL during the middle overs. Scott Styris chipped in with a useful innings and Franklin enhanced his newly-developed status as a batting allrounder with massive strikes towards the ends of the innings.

Most of the New Zealand batsmen favoured the leg-side boundary and some perished while trying to clear it. McCullum eventually skied a catch to midwicket, while Ryder, who failed to get out of his IPL rut, was bowled trying to swing across the line. Ishant Sharma was the bowler who dismissed both, making up for the void created by the shoulder injury to Zaheer.

Taylor carted Pragyan Ojha for two consecutive sixes over deep-square leg and dispatched the left-arm spinner to the deep midwicket boundary as well. Ishant returned to peg New Zealand back by inducing a top-edged pull from Oram, which was held by Harbhajan.

Taylor, too, fell in the 16th over when one slog-sweep against Harbhajan did not clear RP Singh. Styris kept the momentum going with a breezy 29 off 19 balls but it was Franklin who hurt India in the end. He laid into RP in the 20th over and deposited the ball beyond the straight boundary twice before pulling to midwicket for four. New Zealand managed 50 runs off their last four overs and that acceleration proved to be the difference.

World Cup Twenty20/T20 Schedule

2009 T20 World Cup League Matches Schedule:

Friday, 5th June, 2009

1st Match: Group B
England vs Netherland
Lord's, London
Timing: 17:30 local, 16:30 GMT, 10.00 PM IST

Saturday, 6th June, 2009

2nd Match: Group D
New Zealand vs Scotland
Kennington Oval, London
Timing: 10:00 local, 09:00 GMT, 2.30 PM IST

3rd Match: Group C
Australia vs West Indies
Kennington Oval, London
Timing: 13:30 local, 12:30 GMT, 6.00 PM IST

4th Match: Group A
Bangladesh vs India
Trent Bridge, Nottingham
Timing: 17:30 local, 16:30 GMT, 10.00 PM IST

Sunday, 7th June, 2009

5th Match: Group D
Scotland vs South Africa
Kennington Oval, London
Timing: 13:30 local, 12:30 GMT, 6.00 PM IST

6th Match: Group B
England vs Pakistan
Kennington Oval, London
Timing: 17:30 local, 16:30 GMT, 10.00 PM IST

Monday, 8th June, 2009

7th Match: Group A
Bangladesh vs Ireland
Trent Bridge, Nottingham
Timing: 13:30 local, 12:30 GMT, 6.00 PM IST

8th Match: Group C
Australia vs Sri Lanka
Trent Bridge, Nottingham
Timing: 17:30 local, 16:30 GMT, 10.00 PM IST

Tuesday, 9th June, 2009

9th Match: Group B
Netherlands vs Pakistan
Lord's, London
Timing: 13:30 local, 12:30 GMT, 6.00 PM IST

10th Match: Group D
New Zealand vs South Africa
Lord's, London
Timing: 17:30 local, 16:30 GMT, 10.00 PM IST

Wednesday, 10th June, 2009

11th Match: Group C
Sri Lanka vs West Indies
Trent Bridge, Nottingham
Timing: 13:30 local, 12:30 GMT, 6.00 PM IST

12th Match: Group A
India vs Ireland
Trent Bridge, Nottingham
Timing: 17:30 local, 16:30 GMT, 10.00 PM IST

2009 Twenty20 World Cup Super Eight Schedule

Thursday, 11th June, 2009

13th Match: Group F
A2 vs D1
Trent Bridge, Nottingham
Timing: 13:30 local, 12:30 GMT, 6.00 PM IST

14th Match: Group E
B2 vs D2
Trent Bridge, Nottingham
Timing: 17:30 local, 16:30 GMT, 10.00 PM IST

Friday, 12th June, 2009

15th Match: Group F
B1 vs C2
Lord's, London
Timing: 13:30 local, 12:30 GMT, 6.00 PM IST

16th Match: Group E
A1 vs C1
Lord's, London
Timing: 17:30 local, 16:30 GMT, 10.00 PM IST

Saturday, 13th June, 2009

17th Match: Group E
C1 vs D2
Kennington Oval, London
Timing: 13:30 local, 12:30 GMT, 6.00 PM IST

18th Match: Group F
D1 vs B1
Kennington Oval, London
Timing: 17:30 local, 16:30 GMT, 10.00 PM IST

Sunday, 14th June, 2009

19th Match: Group F
A2 vs C2
Lord's, London
Timing: 13:30 local, 12:30 GMT, 6.00 PM IST

20th Match: Group E
A1 vs B2
Lord's, London
Timing: 17:30 local, 16:30 GMT, 10.00 PM IST

Monday, 15th June, 2009

21st Match: Group E
B2 vs C1
Kennington Oval, London
Timing: 13:30 local, 12:30 GMT, 6.00 PM IST

22nd Match: Group F
B1 vs A2
Kennington Oval, London
Timing: 17:30 local, 16:30 GMT, 10.00 PM IST

Tuesday, 16th June, 2009

23rd Match: Group F
D1 vs C2
Trent Bridge, Nottingham
Timing: 13:30 local, 12:30 GMT, 6.00 PM IST

24th Match: Group E
D2 vs A1
Trent Bridge, Nottingham
Timing: 17:30 local, 16:30 GMT, 10.00 PM IST

2009 Twenty20 World Cup Knockout Schedule:

2009 Twenty20 World Cup Semi-Finals:

Thursday, 18th June, 2009

25th Match: 1st Semi-Final
E2 vs F1
Trent Bridge, Nottingham
Timing: 17:30 local, 16:30 GMT, 10.00 PM IST

Thursday, 18th June, 2009

26th Match: 2nd Semi-Final
E1 vs F2
Kennington Oval, London
Timing: 17:30 local, 16:30 GMT, 10.00 PM IST

2009 Twenty20 World Cup Final:

27th Match: Final
Winner of SF1 vs Winner of SF2
Lord's, London
Timing: 15:00 local, 14:00 GMT, 7.30 PM IST

T20 World Cup Update

South African coach Mickey Arthur said Indian team posed as the biggest challenge in the forthcoming ICC T20 world cup tournament.

Arthur said the men in blue had upper hand over other teams due to their explosive batting lineup and players who can turn fate of the game single handedly.

He also mentioned that Indian middle order with M S Dhoni, Suresh Raina, Yousuf Pathan and Virendra Sehwag had more depth in batting than other teams.

Arthur also asserted Indian team had all qualities to emerge T20 world champions.

Apart from Arthur, former Australian players Greg and Ian Chappell have also said India is biggest contender to win the T20 world cup 2009.