MUMBAI – India will play a One-day tri-series in Zimbabwe during May-June that will involve Sri Lanka as the third team, it was announced by the Indian cricket board here Friday.

The tri-series will start May 28 with India taking on Zimbabwe in Bulawayo and the final is slated for June 9 in Harare. India will stay back for two Twenty20 matches June 12 and 13 in Harare, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced.

India replaced New Zealand, which pulled out citing security issues. India last toured Zimbabwe for two Tests and a One-day tri-series, involving New Zealand in 2005.

India Zimbabwe Srilanka 2010 Cricket Series – Schedule and Fixtures

Murali, who is also the team’s vice-captain, was injured during Friday’s opening match against New Zealand in Guyana, which Sri Lanka lost by two wickets. “Clinical tests revealed a grade one strain of his right adductor muscle,” team physiotherapist Tommy Simsek said in a statement released by Sri Lanka Cricket in Colombo.

Centurion Raina thanks Dhoni for help, Jacques Kallis, Suresh Raina, India v South Africa at Gros Islet, ICC World Twenty20, India cricket, South Africa cricket

Murali is the world’s leading wicket-taker in Tests and one-dayers, and Sri Lanka’s frontline spinner in all formats. He had a successful IPL season, part of the Chennai Super Kings squad that eventually won the tournament.

The defeat on Friday leaves Sri Lanka needing to win against Zimbabwe on Monday to avoid being eliminated from the tournament in the Caribbean.

Raina century seals one-sided win | ICC T20 World Cup 2010 points table

South Africa’s reply, in the face of a four-spinner Indian attack – without using Yuvraj – was even more confounding. Jacques Kallis and Smith struggled to flow, and hesitated to take risks. Their run-rate crossed six an over for the first time in the 11th over, and it was too late by then, despite some late hitting from Kallis.

India had got off to a similar start, albeit against seamers, but unlike South Africa they threw away the caution at a more appropriate time. With two early wickets gone and both Raina and Yuvraj struggling to present the middle of the bat, India were 43 after eight overs. There was no mucking around after that. Although the odd mis-hit remained a feature of the partnership, the sweet shots grew in frequency and India got 143 in the next 12 overs. It worked for them that the mis-hits kept bouncing in front of deep fielders, and the sweet ones cleared them easily.

From the time he came to bat in the first over, Raina was given a fair share of back-of-a-length deliveries. By the time India’s both irregular openers, in absence of Gautam Gambhir (down with diarrhoea), ended their struggle, Raina had survived a catch off a Morne Morkel no-ball. He would go on to survive run-out attempts from Smith and AB de Villiers, when on 37 and 47.

The introduction of spin, when Raina was 19 off 22 and Yuvraj 5 off 9, was what turned it around. In the ninth over, Roelof van der Merwe’s first and only, Raina played two lovely inside-out drives to get six off two deliveries, and Yuvraj slog-swept to get six off one. That was trigger enough to shed away inhibitions. The first ball of the next over, Raina guessed a back-of-a-length delivery, backed away and slogged Kallis for six. His best shot was when he made room against a near yorker from Albie Morkel in the next over and squeezed it wide of point for four.

Yuvraj, meanwhile, had found his timing back, and took the lead in scoring, playing the effortless pick-ups, short-arm pulls, and the inside-out shots. By the time he skied one to hand, Raina, having put in the struggle, the ugly moments, was there in a position to cash in. Steyn, underused in the first half of the innings, came back well, but he was now limiting damage as opposed to causing it.

Rory Kleinveldt, who got M Vijay in the first over and Yuvraj later, was the one who suffered the most. And he was asking for it too, bowling either length or full tosses in the 18th over, and was hit to such varied areas as midwicket, cow corner, extra cover, straight over his head, and over long-off. Twenty-five came off that over, during which Raina moved from 75 to 93. He reached his century with a slogged six in the final over, which went for 19.

Raina will cherish this knock all the more because the pitch interested a variety of bowlers. South Africa had managed to assume a strong position with their hit-the-deck bowlers, India were about to do so with the spinners. Harbhajan Singh bowled the first over, Yusuf Pathan was introduced inside the Powerplay, and Loots Bosman was out of his depth on the slow pitch.

With both Kallis and Smith struggling, by the time the first piece of enterprise came, a slog-swept six from Smith in the 11th over, the required run-rate had reached 13. By the time Kallis reached his fifty, off 45 balls, they were needing 15.5 in each of the six overs to come.

Suddenly Kallis exploded, hitting three sixes in the next two overs. It seemed for the second time in 40 overs a batsman was about to put behind him the struggles and play a decisive knock. Yet, there were just too many risks required, and one of them claimed Kallis, leaving 59 to get off 21. The requirement was comfortable enough for India to be able to experiment: Praveen Kumar bowled just one over, for three runs. With two straight wins, India stormed to the second round as the table leaders.

Cricket results, ICC World Twenty20 2010, cricket match

1st Match, Group B: New Zealand v Sri Lanka at Providence – Apr 30, 2010

New Zealand won by 2 wickets (with 1 ball remaining)

Sri Lanka 135/6 (20/20 ov); New Zealand 139/8 (19.5/20 ov)

2nd Match, Group D: West Indies v Ireland at Providence – Apr 30, 2010

West Indies won by 70 runs

West Indies 138/9 (20/20 ov); Ireland 68 (16.4/20 ov)

3rd Match, Group C: Afghanistan v India at Gros Islet – May 1, 2010

India won by 7 wickets (with 31 balls remaining)

Afghanistan 115/8 (20/20 ov); India 116/3 (14.5/20 ov)

4th Match, Group A: Bangladesh v Pakistan at Gros Islet – May 1, 2010

Pakistan won by 21 runs

Pakistan 172/3 (20/20 ov); Bangladesh 151/7 (20/20 ov)

5th Match, Group C: India v South Africa at Gros Islet – May 2, 2010

India won by 14 runs

India 186/5 (20/20 ov); South Africa 172/5 (20/20 ov)

6th Match, Group A: Australia v Pakistan at Gros Islet – May 2, 2010

Australia won by 34 runs

Australia 191 (20/20 ov); Pakistan 157 (20/20 ov)

7th Match, Group B: Sri Lanka v Zimbabwe at Providence – May 3, 2010

Match scheduled to begin at 09:30 local time (13:30 GMT)

8th Match, Group D: West Indies v England at Providence – May 3, 2010

Match scheduled to begin at 13:30 local time (17:30 GMT)

9th Match, Group B: New Zealand v Zimbabwe at Providence – May 4, 2010

Match scheduled to begin at 09:30 local time (13:30 GMT)

10th Match, Group D: England v Ireland at Providence – May 4, 2010

Match scheduled to begin at 13:30 local time (17:30 GMT)

11th Match, Group A: Australia v Bangladesh at Bridgetown – May 5, 2010

Match scheduled to begin at 13:00 local time (17:00 GMT)

12th Match, Group C: Afghanistan v South Africa at Bridgetown – May 5, 2010

Match scheduled to begin at 17:00 local time (21:00 GMT)

13th Match: TBA v TBA at Bridgetown – May 6, 2010

14th Match: TBA v TBA at Bridgetown – May 6, 2010

15th Match: TBA v TBA at Bridgetown – May 7, 2010

16th Match: TBA v TBA at Bridgetown – May 7, 2010

17th Match: TBA v TBA at Bridgetown – May 8, 2010

18th Match: TBA v TBA at Bridgetown – May 8, 2010

19th Match: TBA v TBA at Bridgetown – May 9, 2010

20th Match: TBA v TBA at Bridgetown – May 9, 2010

21st Match: TBA v TBA at Gros Islet – May 10, 2010

22nd Match: TBA v TBA at Gros Islet – May 10, 2010

23rd Match: TBA v TBA at Gros Islet – May 11, 2010

24th Match: TBA v TBA at Gros Islet – May 11, 2010

1st Semi-Final: TBA v TBA at Gros Islet – May 13, 2010

2nd Semi-Final: TBA v TBA at Gros Islet – May 14, 2010

Final: TBA v TBA at Bridgetown – May 16, 2010

Ponting stressed that the team is heading in the right direction, and said he was thrilled with the wins against West Indies and Pakistan despite having a relatively inexperienced team.

Unbeaten home summer a sensational achievement: Ponting

“Despite losing a number of big-name players in recent years, I believe we played some very good cricket. The problem was we’d either been really good or really ordinary, which cost us the Test series against South Africa in Australia last summer and the Ashes,” Ponting wrote in an article for the Australian.

“Three months after we spoke about the importance of consistency, I could not be happier. We won five of the six Tests against the West Indies and Pakistan, with a draw against the West Indies in Adelaide, and nine of the 10 one-day matches, with a washout against the West Indies in Sydney,” he added.

The 35-year-old further insisted that a lot can be said about the performance of the opposition, but believes that his team did not allow them to take charge in any of the games.

“This is the first time in nine years that we have gone through a home summer without losing a Test or one-day match. That’s a sensational achievement and is something that has probably been a little bit overlooked,” Ponting said.

“We set and maintained high standards, regardless of the opposition teams that we played and we hardly gave them a sniff. We’ve been dominant in almost every day’s play, whether it was batting or bowling,” he added. (ANI)

It’s three months since West Indies played their first match of this tour and they are about to embark on their last chance to beat Australia. A 2-0 Test loss was followed by a 4-0 one-day defeat and a disappointing effort in the first Twenty20. The shortest format might be their best chance to beat Australia but in truth, there has been precious little in their performances over the past couple of weeks to suggest that they will succeed. The story of the top order has been no Gayle, no hope, and their captain’s wild swing to be bowled by Shaun Tait in Hobart continued his lean run in the past month.

For Australia, the lure of an unbeaten season is tantalisingly close. The only matches they have failed to win were the Adelaide Test draw with West Indies and the Sydney one-day wash-out, also against Gayle’s men. The Twenty20 outfit looked sharp on Sunday, especially the attack as Tait and Dirk Nannes sped through West Indies’ batting line-up. The openers David Warner and Shane Watson also fired but finding a cohesive and in-form middle order could be the challenge between now and the ICC World Twenty20.