India v Sri Lanka, 2nd Twenty20, Mohali, T20, Live T20 cricket, live cricket, live cricket score

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India 211 for 4 (Sehwag 64, Yuvraj 60*, Dhoni 46)
Beat
Sri Lanka 206 for 7 (Sangakkara 59, Jayasinghe 38, Yuvraj 3-23) by six wickets

	Yuvraj Singh followed up his three-wicket haul with a fiery 60 off 25 balls to help India home in a high-scorer © AFP

Yuvraj Singh gave himself a 28th birthday present with three wickets and a witheringly powerful half-century as India became only the second team to successfully chase more than 200 in a Twenty20 international. Kumar Sangakkara's dazzling 31-ball 59 had been the foundation of Sri Lanka's imposing 206 for 7, but with Virender Sehwag clearing the ropes with ease during his 64 off 36 balls and MS Dhoni contributed a rapid 46, India eased home with five balls to spare. In the process, they recorded the highest chase, surpassing South Africa's 208 against West Indies in the 2007 ICC World Twenty20.

When Yuvraj is on song, modest medium pace really isn't the answer, and Sri Lanka discovered that the hard way. For much of the chase, the game was in the balance, but two overs turned an arduous trek into a stroll. First, Kaushalya Weeraratne was pummelled for sixes over long-off and long-on in an over that cost 21, and then Nuwan Kulasekara was thumped a long way over cover and long-on in a 23-run over. To add to Kulasekara's woes, Tillakaratne Dilshan let one slip through his fingers for four, with Yuvraj then on 40.

India had fielded appallingly once again, dropping five catches, but Sri Lanka were little better, missing direct hits by the bushel and catching poorly as well. The outcome might have been very different had Sanath Jayasuriya managed to take Sehwag on the run at mid-on when he had just 14, and if Chamara Kapugedera hadn't spilled a chance at deep midwicket when Dhoni had just one.

Sehwag certainly exacted a heavy toll. The hapless Weeraratne was twice walloped over cover for sixes, and Angelo Mathews met with the same fate. His entrance into the bowling attack had hardly been auspicious, with Dhoni whipping one down to the sightscreen.

After Gautam Gambhir was run out going for a third run off a misfield, India appeared to have the chase under control but a superb 11th over from Lasith Malinga got Sri Lanka right back into contention. He conceded only four and had Sehwag caught straight down the ground. But then came Yuvraj and his six blitz, and it was perhaps fitting that he clinched it with another nonchalant heave over long-on.

Earlier, Sangakkara had followed up his 37-ball 78 at Nagpur with a blistering innings. Jayasuriya weighed in with 31 from just 21 balls, and there was a punishing 38 from Chintaka Jayasinghe. India were generous hosts, with Sangakkara reprieved by Ravindra Jadeja on the midwicket boundary, and Jayasinghe benefitting twice as Ashish Nehra and Gambhir failed to hold on to mistimed slogs.

Sangakkara had started with a fluid cover-drive after Ishant Sharma had sent Dilshan's leg stump cartwheeling. He then slammed Sudeep Tyagi, the debutant, over point for six before a fortuitous inside edge for four. He continued to drive beautifully through cover as the 50 of the innings took just 4.3 overs.

Jayasuriya struck one incredible six over cover off Nehra and by the end of the Powerplay, Sri Lanka had 73 for 1. Dhoni opted for spin as early as the sixth over, but both Yusuf Pathan and Suresh Raina struggled, with wides aplenty down the leg side. Pathan finally trapped Jayasuriya in front to end an 81-run partnership that took just 6.3 overs, but by the halfway stage, there were 107 on the board.

Sangakkara got to his half-century with a smashing shot over midwicket for six, but Yuvraj finally got his Kings XI Punjab team-mate as the encore found Nehra at wide long-on. Mahela Jayawardene, another IPL "local", came in and cut Jadeja for four, before a big heave off Ishant went for six, but when he tried to repeat the stroke, Tyagi held on to the chance.

Kapugedara holed out in similar fashion off Yuvraj, and Jayasinghe, who had clouted a six over long-on off Jadeja, finally ran out of luck when he swung one to deep square leg. With Weeraratne run out after a poor call from Mathews, Sri Lanka's innings threatened to run out of fizz in the final stages.

But Mathews flicked Ishant for six and Karthik dropped yet another chance on the rope at square-leg as the damage done in the early overs was reinforced. Mathews finished off with another meaty six as India squared up to the depressing reality of a fifth successive Twenty20 loss. Fortunately for them, their big-hitting boys came out to play. And how.

The Ashes 2009, The England & Wales Cricket Board, Flintoff to play Ashes decider

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The England & Wales Cricket Board are confident Andrew Flintoff will be available for the Ashes finale at The Oval following a positive diagnosis from his knee specialist, Andy Williams. With England facing a must-win encounter at The Oval next week following their humiliating defeat in Leeds, a return to match fitness for Flintoff - in what would be his final Test match appearance before retirement - looms as a massive boost to their prospects of regaining the Ashes.

"The advice received was that the swelling in his knee has significantly eased following the decision by the England management team to rest him from the last Test Match and that subject to further rest and intensive treatment, he will be available for selection for the 5th npower Ashes Test at The Brit Oval," the ECB said in a statement

The assessment tallies with Flintoff's own take on events, because he himself believed he could have taken part in the Headingley debacle. In his absence, England lost by an innings and 80 runs inside two-and-a-half days, but Flintoff later claimed that his participation was vetoed by the captain Andrew Strauss and the coach, Andy Flower. "He told them that he was fit enough to get through," his agent, Chubby Chandler, told The Times, "but they didn't want him."

News of Flintoff's return to fitness will buoy Flower, who on Sunday warned that England could not afford another repeat of Headingley. Flintoff was only informed of his omission on the eve of the match, and the official announcement was held back until an hour before the toss, disrupting team selection. "I think we'd like to know before that," he said. "I don't think we'd want to leave it very late.

"He wanted to play, he was desperate to play but he acknowledged that he wasn't fully fit and he was struggling a bit, so we couldn't play him under those circumstances," said Flower. "If the advice is that he will be fit enough to take part as an allrounder at The Oval, then we will listen to that advice and listen to Fred's information about his own body as well."

A fully fit Flintoff would be the perfect tonic for a beleaguered team, but Flower denied that his fitness battle was having a destabilising effect on the team, as they attempt to mount a comeback in the series, and seal the Ashes for only the second time in the past 20 years. "We've gone whole series waiting on his fitness, so this match is no different," he said. "I would think we'll get some good information back from the specialist, and also some information from him on how he feels, because there's a good chunk of time between now and The Oval, so we'll have a better indication."

Either way, Flower and the England think-tank are already braced for life after Flintoff, and the selection dilemmas inherent therein. "The balance of the side when you haven't got an allrounder at 6 or 7 is always the problem, and it's one we're going to have to face up to because Flintoff is retiring from Test cricket," he said. "That is a problem, because [without him] we seem light either on the batting or the bowling side. If he's not fit for The Oval, we'll have to make a decision on where we settle for our strong point."

England received further positive news on Monday, with James Anderson cleared of a serious hamstring injury. Anderson suffered a slight strain while running between the wickets in the first innings at Headingley, but is expected to play at The Oval. Cricketmore ...