Wicket-keeper Kamaran Akmal, scored a sparkling half-century. He scored 57 off 51, as is partners frequently changed at the other end to propel Pakistan to 159 for five in their stipulated 20 overs after skipper Younis Khan elected to bat. Afridi scored a blistering 24 off 13 balls which included 3 fours. Captain Younis Khan failed to score as hr just managed 10 off 8 balls! But still they managed to put up a challenging total for Ireland.

Ireland, in reply, never really got going. Ireland lost opener Niall O’Brien early in their chase when the wicket-keeper was caught and bowled off a miscued hook by 17-year-old paceman Mohammad Amir.Paul Stirling, himself only 18, came in for his first match of the tournament with Ireland 13 for one but got off the mark first ball with a superb cover-driven four off left-armer Aamir.But the teenager, on 16, became the latest batsman to be bowled playing across the line against leg-spinner Shahid Afridi, who struck with his sixth ball and Ireland were 42 for two off seven overs. Despite a brave 36-ball 40 from their captain Williams Portersfield as the fiery pace of Pakistan bowlers Saeed Ajmal (4-19) and Umer Gul (2-19) proved too hot to handle.

With six overs left Ireland needed 72 more runs to win, John Mooney, trying to keep Ireland up with the rate, also fell to Ajmal after he was caught in the deep by Abdul Razzaq. Then Umar Gul, who took a Twenty20 international record five wickets against New Zealand, got in on the act by bowling Trent Johnston for a duck. At 99 for five in the 17th over the game was up for Ireland, who later saw four tailend wickets tumble for three runs in six balls.

Although pleased Pakistan were in the last four, Younus said their batting required improvement.

“We were still 20 runs short. It’s not possible all the time to score 150 and restrict the opposition,” he added.

“Especially against teams like South Africa, England and the West Indies, we need 170 plus.”

So, with this, Pakistan have kept their title hopes alive…. But they didn’t put up a great show against the Irish. So will Pakistan be able to hold on till the very end?

The result came as no surprise as the Windies’ captain was vindicated in his views of upholding T-20’s as his preferred format of the game. The match though was even shorter as the game was curtailed in the end with heavy showers which persisted throughout the match. England scored 161 for 6 in their allotted 20 overs after winning the toss & electing to bat. They never had any momentum to their innings as wickets fell regularly in their laborious effort at the end of which Ravi Bopara was the top scorer with 55 off 47 balls. England were hit hard as Luke Wright failed yet again at the top of the innings falling to Pollard in the second over scoring 6 runs. Pieterson was in form though as he scored 31 off 23 before Simmons got him out. There onwards wickets fell regularly as the batsmen to follow failed to convert their starts into big score especially since the next five batsman went to double figures without getting past 20 runs. In the end this might have been the thing which helped Windies as they chased a revised total of 80 from 9 overs successfully, M/S Duckworth Lewis favouring them this time.

The enigmatic French striker is said to be the replacement of C.Ronaldo as his record transfer move is nearing completion, if reports are to be believed. Man U are poised to invest some of the €95m from the sale of C.Ronaldo on the Lyon striker.

In the past few years, Benzema has been linked with all European superpowers. Though he might have expressed his desire to stay at Lyon, an offer from the Red Devils is too hot to ignore, as they launch a €35m for the 21 year old.

President of OL, Jean-Michel Aulas, had appeared to have allayed any transfer speculation when he stated to Le Progres yesterday,

“We spoke a lot and it’s true that there are many clubs after [Benzema], but only after the [2010] World Cup. We interrogated his agent and we are not under the impression that he will leave in the short term.”

This somewhat contradicted a statement made to Le Dauphine Libere last week, when Aulas said,

“Kaka will not stay at Milan and will go to Real . Ribery and Cristiano Ronaldo will perhaps leave. We are entering a spiral of craziness and I would not say that Karim is untransferrable.”

Benzema, too is willing to leave the club and has said

“If president Aulas received an offer and pushed me to go, I would be obliged.”

This comment was made after France’s recent 1-0 victory over Turkey. But all of this depends on Tevez’s future at Old Trafford. Inter, Juventus and Milan from Serie A, Real Madrid and Barcelona have also expressed interest in the striker in the past.

Maicon to Madrid?

Maicon and his agent have both told the press this week that they are unhappy about the Brazilian being under-appreciated by Inter. Real Madrid is known admirers of the star, who is arguably the best right-back in the world, and there has been much talk of a €40 million bid for the player….

But with Sergio Ramos as a right-back will Real want another player?

Pirlo coming to the Bridge?

Andre Pirlo is one of the most under-rated players in the world. As per reports it seems he is wanted by his old manager Carlos Ancelotti and there are murmurs that Leonardo, the new Milan manager is not satisfied with his performance. Moreover, the player himself hinted on a move this summer.

Milan Vice President Adriano Galliani has declared that Pirlo will stay at Milan 99.9 per cent, but he also said that about Kaka and Andriy Shevchenko.

The day started off brilliantly for Sri Lanka as Angelo Mathews struck in his very first over getting rid of the dangerous David Warner. Australia’s top scorer of last match not was able to replicate his earlier success in the tournament & instead getting out on a duck with Tillakaratne Dilshan taking a simple catch at point. An over which was a precursor of things to come & the radical changes that Sri Lanka put in against Australia which the latter was simply not prepared for. Kumara Sangakkara in his very first match as captain was to excel with his batting being the cornerstone of Sri Lanka’s innings during their successful pursuit of 160 at the end of the day. Sri Lanka knowing the importance of slow bowlers, having witnessed their stranglehold over batsman in the earlier matches, left the likes of Nuwan Kulasekara & Farveez Maharoof in the process as was evident with Sanath Jayasuriya coming on to bowl the second over of the match.

Lasith Malinga, their premier fast bowler, came on to bowl only as a second change after which Ajantha Mendis was introduced in the powerplay. After getting a single run of the very first over Ponting & Watson took the attack to the opposition smashing debutant Udana & Malinga for 15 runs in each of the fourth & the fifth over respectively. Enter Mendis, who got rid of Ponting as he tried to smash him losing his leg stump in the process. This started a period of 10 overs in which Australia lost 5 top order wickets adding just 47 runs. Mendis picked up Watson in his next over as he tried to sweep him but fell leg before wicket on 22. Mendis took care of the top order with Mike Hussey was trapped lbw before Johnson took over his possible role as an allrounder remaining unbeaten in the end.

Some might say that Sangakkara was the man of the match but Mendis was the X-factor in the match which went Sri Lanka’s way.

The English gods were to against their own team with the match starting late due to rain and then it was the toss, Paul Collingwood lost the toss and the English team was sent to bat. England got a dream start to the game with Ravi Bopara and Luke Wright providing a 102 run stand for the first wicket. Once Bopara was out in the 12th over after scoring an impressive 46 of 34 balls the English team fell and could just manage to score 162 runs in the 20 overs. Luke Wright scored an impressive 71 of 49 deliveries. Owais Shah, Eoin Morgan and Paul Collingwood were disappointing and were out in just a single digit.

The misery for the English did not end with there batting, but continued in there bowling too. Missed run outs, dropped catches and some exhibition of lousy fielding made sure that the English were digging their own grave. Netherlands got to off to a disastrous start and lost both their openers in the first four over’s with just a score of 23 runs.  Tom de Grooth kept the Dutch hopes alive with an excellent innings and scored a magnificent 40 of just 30 deliveries. Peter Borren contributed with 30 runs of 25 deliveries and it was left to Ryan ten Doeschate to finish for the Dutch. The match was decided on the last delivery of the match and Stuart Broad gifted the Dutch a victory with an over throws. In the same over he all missed a run out and also dropped a catch.

English batsman’s failed to exploit the final over’s as they could just manage to score 60 runs of the last 52 balls and that is where I think England lost the game. Tom de Grooth was given the Man-of-the-Match for his dazzling display with bat that made sure Netherlands had an unforgettable win against home side.

Pakistan had a bad start and were 45 for four, with some great bowling and fielding performances by the Indians. First to go was Shahzaib Hasan was bowled by Praveen Kumar on the fifth ball of the first over. Kamran Akmal was next to go with an excellent run out by Suresh Raina with a direct under arm hit on the stumps. Ahmed Shehzad tried to hit Sharma over midwicket by was take by the extra bounce and gave an easy catch to Raina at cover when his score was 25. Next to go for a duck was Shahid Afridi as he went for the big slog and tried to hit it over the straight but gave away a thick edge which MSD did not miss and dived on his right to take an amazing catch. Next to go was Shoaib Malik who was caught by MSD of the bowling of Pragyan Ojha. Younis Khan tried to reverse sweep Harbhajan, but the spinner read it well and bowled on the leg side making it easy for MSD to stump him. Misbah-ul-Haq was the highest scorer of the Pakistani innings and remained not out at 37 along with Arafat on 25. Pakistan could only score 158 for 6 in there 20 over’s. In the bowling front the best effort came from Ishant Sharma, who bowled 3-1-11-1(O-M-R-W).

India came back strongly in reply of the Pakistani score with an amazing knock by Rohit Sharma, who scored 80 runs of 53 balls and was well supported by Gautam Gambhir who remained not out till the end. MSD and Gautam won the match in 17 overs with just loss of one wicket. There were just two sixes in the entire match and were hit by Rohit Sharma.

Also an important thing to note is that although Pakistan has a much better record against India but it has never been able to defeat India in a world cup match. This India continued its 100% winning at the World Cup.