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Sri Lankan vice-captain, Marvan Atapattu, has been appointed as the captainof his club, Sinhalese Sports Club (SSC), for the forthcoming domesticseason. The decision to appoint Atapattu was arrived at the SSC’s recentAnnual General Meeting.Atapattu, who started to play for SSC still as a schoolboy in 1988 has doneexceptionally well for his club. He has scored close to 10,000 runs in firstclass cricket with an average of 51.91 and has scored more than 30 hundreds.This is the first time the Sri Lankan opener has been appointed as thecaptain of the star studded SSC side, who were led by middle order batsman,Hemantha Wickramarathne, last season.The secretary of the Sinhalese Sports Club, Ranjith Erigama, speaking toCricInfo said that the appointment was acknowledgement of Atapattu’sseniority in the side.In reality, however, Atapattu will rarely lead the side because ofinternational commitments and someone else will be entrusted with thecaptaincy during most of the domestic season, which starts at the end of theyear.

Virat Kohli walked into the post-match media briefing and, clearly and emphatically, pinned the onus of India’s defeat at the hands of the batsmen. They were, he said, “tentative” and minus the fearlessness he believed that was required to chase down a total of 176 against Sri Lanka.India’s 63-run defeat after lunch on day four of the Galle Test, which they had controlled for the better part of two days and a session, came about after a horror morning session. India lost six wickets for 55 runs in the space of 28 overs and Kohli said that India were not able to “counter what was being thrown at us. We should have been more smart with how we should have gone about playing the spinners in the second innings.”India came in to bat one wicket down with 153 more to win, for only their fifth victory in a Test in Sri Lanka and Kohli said the team had been, “Let down by our batting. There are no excuses there. The need of the hour in the second innings was to take calculated risk when you are chasing a small total in the fourth innings. Our intent was lacking. We let the opposition in today,” Kohli said. He said in the dressing room, “everyone is disappointed” as, “throughout the game we dominated and it is disappointing to be on the losing side.”Kohli cited the example of the Sri Lankan second innings when five down and trailing by more than 100, saying their response was, “a classic case of people going out there and being fearless and our display was a classic case of people going out there and being tentative.” He said that approach was the “major difference is us losing the game because we only had, apart from the way we batted today, an hour and a half which was bad in the game for us yesterday. Throughout the game, we dominated and it feels strange to be on the losing side but that is, sadly or unfortunately, Test cricket. You play one bad session and then you could be lagging behind in the race.”He would accept neither the controversial umpiring decisions, the absence of the DRS nor the state of the wicket to couch his reasons for India’s defeat. “I don’t think the wicket had too many demons in it, cricket is a game of pressure, when the pressure is mounted on you, the wicket looks difficult. If it’s not, it looks easy. The wicket did not really change much in all the four innings, to be honest. The turn and the bounce was pretty consistent throughout.”It was a case of us not playing fearless cricket – we were tentative.” Kohli said. He would not talk about umpiring decisions just before lunch on day three. Nor did he agree that the three decisions, two against Man-of-the-Match Dinesh Chandimal and one against Lahiru Thirimane, that helped Sri Lanka set up a partnership to eat up the Indian lead had proved, “dispiriting.””Well, not at all,” Kohli said. “I don’t want to speak about things that we cannot control, we kept bowling in the right areas and their batsmen took calculated risks and some risks that had some chances came off. Credit to them, they were able to think clearly.”About the DRS he said, “We are not using DRS in this series. It is not an issue I want to debate on.” When the series was over, he said, “we will sit down and figure out how important is it or how much we want to use it. As I said, we only have ourselves to blame. I don’t want to get into the debate of DRS or any other issues in this particular game. We should keep the questions to how badly we played today rather than things that are completely out of debate as of now.”The team management was not about to regret their decision to go with five bowlers and Kohli said he did not, at any stage, think he was a batsman short either, as India went down in a heap in 49.5 overs. The intention of playing five bowlers was to keep each man fresh to bowl four or five overs full tilt at every stage of the match and that he had no complaints from his bowlers.”If I have said I am going to play with five bowlers, I cannot go down after a performance like this and say I wish I had an extra player, you cannot play with 12 players. If I have chosen to play with five bowlers to take 20 wickets then it is our responsibility to bat in a better way which we did not do today. So I am not bringing up any excuses or wishing that we had an extra batsman. We should have done this better with six batsmen.”The difference between the batting in the two innings, he said, had nothing to do with external conditions but just mindset. “Nothing changed in the wicket, the changes that happened [were] in our mindset. Today we were a bit nervous in our approach and that is the only other difference that happened in our approach between the second day and the fourth day.”The specialist batsmen, Kohli said, could have learnt from Amit Mishra, who, other than Rahane, appeared the “most confident batsman out there. He was reading the spinners well and backing himself to get runs while the other batsmen failed.” Mishra batted for over 45 minutes, holding his own against the Sri Lankan spinners, spending more time at the crease with greater reward than all but two of the batsmen before him.Kohli defended Rohit Sharma’s inclusion in the XI: “You have to back your best players”•Associated Press

The decision to send Harbhajan Singh ahead of R Ashwin was, Kohli said, meant to launch a counterattack, help pick 20-30 runs off and put some pressure back on the home team. India had been in trouble far earlier, though, and Kohli countered questions about the selection of Rohit Sharma in the XI by saying that he had been picked because “you have to back your best players. People that you think can be match-winners for you, you have to back them.”He said Rohit had been given more chances again because “Cheteshwar [Pujara] was going through a phase where he wasn’t getting too many runs. So it was a case of giving another batsman a chance. Right now, Rohit has got three-four chances at No. 3. The idea has to been to persist with him.” Rohit’s miserable record in Sri Lanka, where he averages 14.31 in 21 matches across formats, may not instill much confidence in the batsman.Kohli did say, though, that there needed to be a discussion as a “batting unit as a whole about what guys are thinking, what the mindset as a whole is like and are they on the same page as far as executing the plans that we want them to. I think it’s a case of getting to know every particular batsman’s mindset at present and where he stands mentally and how comfortable or how relaxed they are to go out there and play free cricket because that’s what eventually the team needs.”You need people to go out there and play fearless cricket… Today everyone was tentative. You will have a couple of good catches taken, couple of good balls bowled but as long as the intent is there, you are always in the game. But if you are playing in a defensive way as a batting unit throughout the game, then you are always putting yourself under pressure.”

Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsTom Beaton secured victory for the Renegades with his 16-ball 31•Getty Images

A four-wicket haul from Shakib Al Hasan sent the Melbourne Renegades on their way to a five-wicket victory against the Brisbane Heat at the Docklands Stadium. Shakib contributed 4 for 13 with his left-arm spin to wreck the Heat’s middle order, as the visitors were bundled out for 80 inside 18 overs.The Heat, having been inserted, never really got going in their innings, as James Pattinson dismissed Jimmy Peirson and Joe Burns with his first two deliveries. Ben Cutting was the team’s top scorer with 30, and Peter Forrest chipped in with 22, but the team’s next highest source of runs were the nine extras conceded by the Renegades’ bowlers. In all, the Heat could manage only five fours and a six throughout their innings, as Peter Siddle, Shakib, Fawad Ahmed and Nathan Rimmington all went at under six an over.It appeared that the Renegades would be heading towards a straightforward win, but the hosts did not begin their chase convincingly, as their top three batsmen departed to the dugout within five overs. Renegades could have fallen further back had Stephen Parry not spilled an easy catch from Ben Rohrer when the batsman was still on 0.The Heat fought back with two more quick wickets – Callum Ferguson and Shakib – but they were made to rue their missed opportunity to get rid of Rohrer, as he and Tom Beaton halted the slide and guided the team home in 14 overs. Beaton was the more aggressive foil in the pair’s unbroken 42-run stand, muscling two fours and sixes each during his 16-ball 31, while Rohrer’s 25 was mainly composed of singles and twos to keep the score ticking.The defeat was the Heat’s sixth from seven matches, keeping them rooted to the bottom of the table.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out

This was Chokers’ Day. A few hours after the Mumbai Indians collapsed from a winning position, thereby denting their semi-final chances, the Chennai Super Kings outdid them as panic struck at the MA Chidambaram Stadium. The Bangalore Royal Challengers seemed certain to crash to their sixth successive defeat but even they might struggle to fathom how they pulled off this robbery.It was one-way traffic for most of the game. Chasing a modest 127, Chennai appeared to be in cruise control at 60 for no loss, and later at 85 for 2, but Stephen Fleming’s dismissal induced some panic. Anil Kumble’s inspirational 3 for 14, the best figures for Bangalore in the IPL, played a part before Dale Steyn turned the heat on the lower order. The pitch hardly played a part in this low-scoring match – one where both sets of batsmen tried their best to outdo themselves in throwing it away.Chennai are still in with a good chance of making the semi-finals but this shock defeat yet again exposed their batting’s frailty. Fleming and Parthiv Patel got them off to a rollicking start, cutting and pulling with ease, and there appeared to be no demons in the pitch. Fleming was in fine touch, even against spin, but he refused to ride his luck after Vinay Kumar bowled him off a no-ball. He was out two balls later – sweeping a fast one from Kumble straight into the hands of B Akhil at deep square leg.That was enough to open up the weaknesses in the middle order. Chennai have been over-reliant on S Badrinath and Mahendra Singh Dhoni and the two frittered it away, triggering a wave of recklessness. Dhoni, who promoted himself to No.3, struggled with his timing before a frustrated loft landed in Kumble’s hands at long-on. Badrinath tried a perilous sweep against Kumble, one where he moved across the stumps, and he was to regret it soon as the ball hit him plumb in front.Albie Morkel and S Vidyut fell to Steyn’s pull-trap – both top-edges that reeked of complacency against a bowler who was cranking it up to 145kph – and one only needed to look at the Bangalore fielders’ expression to understand how surprised they were. The startling freeze ended amid farcical scenes – Suresh Raina appeared to be in a daze against his Uttar Pradesh state-mate, Praveen Kumar, and even declined a single when they needed an improbable 16 off 5 balls.Bangalore were pleasantly stunned to end up as party-poopers. Their batsmen let them down earlier in the day with an insipid display. One might have expected them to express themselves more freely, now that they’re out of contention for a semi-final slot, but they continued to plumb the depths.Manpreet Gony and Morkel led a purposeful Chennai bowling effort, utilising the nip in the air, and were backed up by some electric fielding and catching. Bangalore, who chose to bat, never managed any sort of momentum – they even endured a 44-ball phase without a boundary – and the fact that they were the slowest side to reach a 100 summed up the inertia.Gony has enhanced his reputation with every game and it was some sight to see the crowd chant his name in unison. He struck with his fourth ball: pitching it short of a length and angling away from the right-hander, he induced an edge from Jacques Kallis. He forced another edge out of Shreevats Goswami – Gony’s timely maiden forced him into an indiscreet drive in the bowler’s next over. Goswami, rooted to the crease, nicked to the wicketkeeper and walked even as the umpire, I Shivram, failed to detect the edge.Virat Kohli and Misbah-ul-Haq were undone by a couple of sensational catches – Morkel back-pedalling and completing a skier inches from the square-leg boundary, hurting his head in the process, and Parthiv Patel, behind the stumps, pulling off a full-length dive to complete a one-handed take.It was again left to Rahul Dravid to survey the debris and he took his time to consolidate. Five fours reeled off his bat towards the end but Mark Boucher’s dismissal – just when it appeared as if they would string together a partnership – hurt them. Dravid couldn’t last the distance – Dhoni pulled off a fine catch at cover – and the tail didn’t have much of a chance with Morkel keeping it straight. Kumar’s 11-ball 21 was a feeble attempt at making a match out of it but little would he have imagined bowling the last over to win his side the game.

New Zealand’s squad has not softened its view on attending the Champions Trophy despite a detailed security briefing by an ICC task force in Christchurch on Thursday. Safety remains a prime concern and Heath Mills, the executive manager of the New Zealand Cricket Players’ Association, will not be recommending the team attends the tournament.”In all honesty, nothing I heard yesterday has allayed our concerns,” Mills said. Twenty-two of New Zealand’s contracted players attended the lengthy and animated meeting along with team management and New Zealand Cricket officials. Worried players threw many questions at the out-numbered ICC representatives, who had arrived from a security assessment in Pakistan in an effort to convince the side to travel, but at this stage the official plea is unlikely to work.”It was an interesting meeting, an active meeting,” Mills said. “It went for a while.” Similar concerns are expected to be heard when the ICC group arrives to discuss the situation in Australia on Friday. The tournament is also expected to be on the agenda at Friday’s New Zealand Cricket board meeting.David Richardson, the ICC general manager of cricket, is heading the task force, which also includes the communication manager Brian Murgatroyd, Tim May, the Federation of International Cricketers’ Associations chief executive, and a representative from the security firm Nicholls Steyn and Associates. Another ICC group, led by the chief executive Haroon Lorgat, will speak to English and South African players and officials in England next week.Mills was impressed with the detail of the safety outline, but was concerned how it would work in practice in a country battling political instability and acts of terrorism. “There is no question about the effort put in by the Pakistan Cricket Board and the Pakistan government, the security plans are outstanding,” he said. “They’re the best we’ve ever seen for cricket.”But the fact is they are unproven and we don’t know if the plans can be delivered. We need to see them demonstrated. The threat in Pakistan is real. There’s a lot of political instability and we’ve seen more reports of activity by the Taliban.”A television station in Pakistan has carried a warning that members of the Taliban have threatened suicide attacks in Lahore and Karachi. The cities are the only two venues being used during the Champions Trophy, which is due to start on September 12, following the cutting of Rawalpindi from the schedule.New Zealand have experienced the dangers of touring Pakistan after a bomb exploded near the team’s Karachi hotel in 2002. They left the country although, unlike Australia, they have been back, playing a one-day series in 2003-04. Australia have not visited Pakistan since Mark Taylor’s outfit went there in 1998.

The XXXX Queensland Bulls will take a top-strength team into their tourmatch against England this weekend at Allan Border Field.The Queensland selectors today made one change to the team that playedthe last Pura Cup match against NSW, adding Australian One Day spinnerNathan Hauritz in place of left-arm spinner Matthew Anderson.Test players Matthew Hayden and Andy Bichel were not available for thematch as both players will be in camp from Sunday with the Australianteam, preparing for the First Orange Test match at the Gabba fromNovember 7-11.The three-day tour match against England will start on Saturday, withEngland scheduled to arrive in Brisbane late on Thursday. The touristswill train on Friday at Allan Border Field.The Bulls are keen to disrupt England’s preparation, having gone withinone wicket of beating their rivals on the previous Ashes tour. The tourmatch in 1998 was played in Cairns, with England winning a thrillingmatch late on the third day.England also beat the Bulls later in the summer in a day/night limitedovers match at the Gabba.Bulls pace bowler Michael Kasprowicz, who played alongside new Englandquick Simon Jones at Glamorgan during the off-season, said the matchpresented a dual opportunity for Queensland.”We get to test ourselves against international opposition and maybegive them a few headaches before the first Test but we also get a chanceto build our form for our Pura Cup clash against Victoria in Melbournenext week,” he said.The match is at Allan Border Field, 1 Bogan St Albion. Play starts 10amdaily. Tickets: $8 adults, Children U-16, pensioners: $2. Entry willalso be via Brothers Rugby Union, Crosby Road.Meanwhile the selectors have also named former Australian pace bowlersAdam Dale and Scott Muller in the Queensland Academy of Sport team toplay South Australia in the ACB Cup 2nd XI match in Adelaide next week.Dale is continuing his steady comeback from major shoulder surgery lastseason, taking 6-61 for Wynnum-Manly on Saturday, while Muller has beenamong the leading wicket-takers for the Gold Coast in the first threerounds of the Brisbane XXXX First Grade premiership.XXXX Queensland Bulls v England, Allan Border Field, Sat-Mon: JimmyMaher (c), Brendan Nash, Martin Love, Stuart Law, Andrew Symonds, LeeCarseldine, Wade Seccombe, Ashley Noffke, Michael Kasprowicz, NathanHauritz, Joe Dawes, Damien MacKenzie (12th man to be named).Queensland Academy of Sport v South Australian 2nd XI, Adelaide,Mon-Thurs: James Hopes (c), Duncan Betts, Jerry Cassell, Daniel Payne,Clinton Perren, Chris Simpson, Chris Hartley, Scott O’Leary, Adam Dale,Scott Muller, Scott Brant, Matthew Anderson. (all 12 to play).

Customs Academy qualified for the quarterfinal of the 17th Karachi Gymkhana Callmate Festival, beating two-time champions Airport Gymkhana by 97 runs Saturday.Airport Gymkhana won the toss and put the Customs into bat but with Afsar Nawaz (68), Azher Shafiq (53), Kashif Saddiq (42) and Aamir Bashir unbeaten with 32, Customs ran up a total of 223 for five wickets in their 25 allotted overs.Left-arm Asif Mujtaba bagged two for 40 for Airport Gymkhana.Chasing 224 for victory Airport Gymkhana lost four wickets for 56. Although Ahmed Zeeshan (29) and Atif Zaidi (21), tried their level best to stem the tide, Airport Gymkhana never really recovered form their early setback and were dismissed for 126 runs in 24.2 overs.Afsar Nawaz three for nine, Nisar Abbas two for 10 and Imran Ali two for 18, bowled a tidy line and length for the winners.With this victory three teams, Airport Gymkhana, Dewan Mushtaq Sugar Mills and Customs finished their group matches with four points apiece. However, Customs lying third till Friday evening with win and one defeat, topped the ladder with a plus 3.36 run rate. Dewan Mushtaq Sugar Mills finished off as runner-up with plus 1.79 run rate while Airport Gymkhana slipped down the ladder to minus 1.18 and were squeezed out from the quarter-finals.Sunday’s fixture: Sui Gas v KESC 9.00 a.m; Al Noor Gymkhana v Baqai Dolphins at 1-30 p.m.Impressive DolphinsBaqai Dolphins moved into the quarterfinals of the Dalpat R. Sonavaria Ramazan Cricket Trophy, beating Asghar Ali Shah CC by 80 runs Saturday. Batting first, Baqai Dolphins recovered after a bad start and with Hassan Raza (44), Mohammad Imran (42), Anwar Saeed (31) and Atiq uz Zaman (27) scoring freely, reached 167 for eight wickets in 20 overs. Ahmed Iqbal bagged three wickets for 16 runs.In reply Asghar Ali Shah CC were restricted to 87 runs for seven wickets at the end of their 20 overs. Nadeem Babar (27) and Omair-ul Haq (23), were the only two batsmen who batted with confidence. Sohaib Hashmi three for 12 and Atif Maqbool two for 23, were the main wicket takers for the winners.Babar grabs hat trickCantt Sports registered a 59- run victory over Khatri Sports in the Seventh Danish Trophy Ramazan tournament played Saturday.Batting first Cantt Sports reached 139 for six in their 20 overs through Khursheed Malik (35) and Zeeshan Khalil (28). Right-arm medium pacer Baber Rehman had figures of three for 26, which included a hat trick.Khatri Sports in reply could not face the bowling of Taleem Shah two for 18, Mohammad Javeed two for 22 and Tariq Mahmood two for 19 and were skittled out for 80 runs in 19 overs.Sunday’s fixture: KGA Gymkhana v Mohammad Hussain CC 1.00 p.m.Afzal Sports in semisAfzal Sports registering their third win in the four matches played, qualified for the semifinals of the Ford & Lord Trophy Ramazan cricket tournament played Saturday after handing out an eight-wicket defeat to Shaheen Colts.Shaheen Colts batting first, scored 127 all out in 20 overs with Irfan Qureshi (28) and Mohsin Sultan (23) getting amongst the runs.Left-arm Jaffer Qureshi bagged three wickets for 24 runs. In reply Afzal Sports reached the winning score of 128 for two wickets in 17.5 overs. Jaffer Qureshi with a quick knock of 68 runs, steered his team to victory. Talha Shabbir picked up both the wickets that fell for only 23 runs.Sunday’s fixture: Sadiq Sports v Khatri Sports 1-30 p.m.Tooba Sports winTooba Sports beat Afzal Sports by four wickets and Jamshed CC beat Young Pak Flag by 28 runs in the Fourth Sundip Trophy tournament played Friday.Afzal Sports batting first scored 160 for four in their 20 overs through Eshan (63) and Zahidulah (33). Nazir Butt captured two wickets for 26 runs.In reply, Tooba Sports reached the winning total of 161, losing six wickets after 19.1 overs.Raja Mushtaq hammered (50) with Shahid Baig and Nasir Sheerazi notching up 35 runs apiece.In the other encounter, Jamshed CC reached 157 for seven in their 20 overs with Arif Akram (66) and M. Kamran (26) batting well. Usman Khan picked up three wickets for 28.Young Pak Flag in reply could only muster up 129 for eight wickets. Imran Shams hit up 50 runs and Saqib Mehmood 20.Aamir Ahmed three for 22 was the most successful bowler for the winners.

The West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) will meet on July 24 and 25 to discuss what its president Julian Hunte considers a crisis in their cricket. The board will ask the team management, specifically coach John Dyson, about how they plan to improve the technical skills of the players to make them competitive on the international circuit.Dyson had said that West Indies, “compared to the other side, lack some batting skills, some bowling skills and some fielding skills”, after they conceded an unbeatable 3-0 lead to Australia in the five-ODI series. West Indies also lost the three-Test series to Australia 2-0.”We want our team to be number one both in performance and emoluments,” Hunte, who is currently in Dubai for the ICC’s annual conference, said. “However, if we do not start winning we run the risk of being relegated and we will not be able to earn the money that we require to regain our place at the pinnacle of world cricket.”We need to synchronise all our various efforts and plans to achieve the short-term objective of getting higher up in the rankings,” Hunte said. “We have to widen our pool of talent, have a clearly stated and objective selection philosophy, increase the amount of cricket played at the regional level, and improve the standard of the players and teams in our tournaments, and we must do it all very quickly. If not, we will not be creating history, as we did in the past. We will be history.”At the meeting, the board will also consider the Cricket Committee’s recommendations for a new selection panel, since the contracts of the members of the current panel expired on June 30.

With the Indian women’s team set to tour England, their coach Shantha Rangaswamy has said she wants no sledging during the series. Mithali Raj, India’s captain, had alleged on the previous visit in 2006 that the England team “were foul-mouthed and spoke rot”.”We won’t indulge in sledging. We will neither start it nor return it,” Rangaswamy said in Bangalore. “There is no place for it in women’s cricket, or in any other sport. We are optimistic they will also reciprocate. We will have a meeting with the England team before the series asking them to refrain from sledging.”The 16-day tour of England involves five one-dayers and a Twenty20. Niranjana Nagarajan is the only newcomer in the 15-member squad, which does not feature veteran Anjum Chopra and chinaman bowler Preeti Dimri.Raj said the team was well-prepared and had undergone a one-week training camp in Mysore. She said the England tour and the visit to Australia in October will provide good preparation for next year’s World Cup in Australia. She acknowledged that England, who blanked South Africa in both the ODIs and Twenty20s earlier this month, would be tough opponents but was confident India would put up a good show, particularly after their triumphant Asia Cup campaign.With the women’s Twenty20 World Cup to be held along with the men’s version next year, Raj felt the game’s shortest format was an ideal vehicle to popularise women’s cricket. “People say women’s cricket is slow and boring but Twenty20 would be ideal to showcase our cricket,” she said. “Its faster pace and shorter duration is what we need to draw spectators. We had played a curtain-raiser game during Afro-Asia Cup which was well received.”

There are different ways of setting a match-winning total and the approaches adopted by India and Pakistan during the Kitply Cup were outstanding examples of contrasting methods which produced the same result – a total in excess of 300. India were 143 for 0 at the end of the 20th over in the first match against Pakistan; at the same stage in the final, Pakistan were 75 for 1 and yet they scored only 15 runs fewer than what India did in the end.In the league match, India’s openers – Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir – carted Pakistan’s wayward attack all over the Shere Bangla National Stadium. Their rapid partnership set up a solid platform for the rest to build on without worrying about the run-rate.Pakistan, on the other hand, chose caution over aggression during the Powerplay overs in the final. It was their capitulation to 26 for 3 that had shut them out while chasing 331, and today, Salman Butt and Kamran Akmal were watchful against Praveen Kumar, the bowler who took the first four wickets in their previous meeting.After Akmal fell, Younis Khan and Butt continued to build a steady foundation. More significantly for Pakistan, they carried on and seized the initiative. “They were 100 for 1 after 25 overs,” Mahendra Singh Dhoni, India’s captain, said. “After that they took on the bowlers and played some good shots. It really put the bowlers under pressure. And under the circumstances, we couldn’t recover from that.”With Praveen having wrecked Pakistan and restricted Bangladesh in India’s earlier games, the rest of the bowlers had the advantage of bowling to under-pressure batsmen trying to rebuild. But today, India’s support bowlers were faced with the task of making inroads. Although he dismissed Akmal, Irfan Pathan failed to create any pressure, conceding six boundaries in his first spell of six overs. Piyush Chawla, who had taken 4 for 40 to clean up Pakistan’s lower order in the earlier encounter, haemorrhaged runs once Younis and Butt consciously began to attack. The four part-timers Dhoni used were also ineffective: Sehwag, Yuvraj Singh, Yusuf Pathan and Suresh Raina conceded 71 for no wicket between them.Faced with an attack lacking incisiveness, Younis and Butt shifted seamlessly from first to fourth gear. Their approach was that of a calculated assault – aggression with minimal risk. They batted with authority, picking out the gaps. Younis and Butt scored 84 runs between deep midwicket and long-on, but surprisingly the gap was never plugged.”He [Younis] was scoring through square leg as well, he was sweeping,” Dhoni said. “You hardly have fielders in that zone, you know the country [the area between deep midwicket and long-on] area. Having a long-on and a country is difficult. He was picking it from outside off and most of the times he cleared the boundary. He took on the bowlers and he was successful.”Between overs 20 and 40, a period heavily criticised for its lack of intensity after the arrival of Twenty20, Younis and Butt plundered 150 runs, even more than what Sehwag and Gambhir had managed during the Powerplays on Tuesday. When Younis finally got out, Pakistan had eight wickets in hand for the last eight overs, a luxury that allowed them to bat with a carefree approach.Dhoni admitted there was not much that could have been in the wake of a superlative batting performance. “It [scoring] was really hard to control, you try many fields, you try many lines. There were errors from the bowlers but you can’t really blame them. They were batting well and scoring off good balls.”Call it cautious or old-fashioned, Pakistan’s methodical approach gave India no footholds from which they could climb back into the game. They came out with a plan, which according to Shoaib Malik, their captain, was to “survive initially and then accelerate”, and executed it with precision.