Sri Lanka made it to the finals of the World T20 on a night that saw Pakistan imploding while chasing 140 on a tricky surface. Pakistan leaked 16 runs off their last over, which in the hindsight proved fatal as they went down by 15 runs at Colombo. While Sri Lanka battled for everything persistently, Pakistan had only themselves to blame for a horrendous shot selection at the worst of times.

Pakistan started the innings in a flamboyant fashion with Imran Nazir dropped first ball off an expansive cut shot at point by Dilshan, followed by a cracking drive towards cover from him off Mathews. In the next over, Kulusekara perplexed Nazir by briniging the ball into him. Pakistan rode onto Malinga's erratic start of 5 wides to move to 22 off 2.2 overs.

With Pakistan galloping, Kulusekara and Malinga hit back with an array of dot deliveries. Hafeez found it difficult to work away either of them and the run rate slumped from around 9 an over to just 6 by the end of the 4th over. Nazir then swept Mendis fine for a boundary to release the pressure in the 6th over, though Mendis got the better of him next ball with the one that rolled onto the stumps after hitting the bat.

Jayawardene played around with his bowlers, never letting Nasir Jamshed settle. Perera, Mendis, Herath and Mathews bowled from 7th to the 10th over. Hafeez tried to have a go at them and collected two boundaries off Perera and Mendis as Pakistan moved to 55/1 at the end of 9th over, the game still very much in their hands.

Mathews' over though turned the tide on Pakistan, as Nasir was given a dubious lbw decision and Kamran Akmal perished trying to chip a slower ball over the infield. Suddenly, Pakistan's task had gone stiffer with 58/3 at the halfway stage.

Things only got worse for Pakistan, as Shoaib Malik was squared up by a delivery from Herath that turned from off and middle. Hafeez, running out of partners went over Mathews only to be dropped at long on, as Malinga missed a sitter. Hafeez made them pay with 10 runs of Herath's next over which included the match's only six. Though, Herath got Hafeez stumped in the next over as the ball kept low.

The Pakistani Spinner Abdur Rehman has been banned for 12 weeks by the ECB after testing positive for cannabis while playing county cricket for Somerset. The ban has been given in relevance to ECB’s anti-doping rules which applies to all the countries bound to the World Anti-Doping code.

Abdur Rehman provided the sample that was tested positive during Somerset’s match against Nottinghamshire on August 8. The ban will be lifted on December 22, which means he will not be available to play for Sialkot Stallions in the upcoming Champions’ League which starts next Tuesday in South Africa.

Somerset’s Chief Executive Guy Lavender supported ECB’s decision saying “The club does not condone the use of illegal drugs in any circumstances and all Somerset players are made fully aware of this policy on a regular basis."

On the deciding day for all the teams in the second group of the super-8s, the stuttering Pakistan were up against the unbeaten Aussies needing a win to stay in this tournament.

Hafeez won the toss yet again and chose to bat bringing in Abdul Razzaq for Yasir Arafat. It looked like Pakistan were heading for another collapse as both the openers were dismissed within the power-play. But Nasir Jamshed and Kamran Akmal made sure that that wasn’t the case with a valuable 79-run partnership. Pakistan lost the plot again in the last 5 overs but managed to reach 149-6 by the end of the innings. Nasir Jamshed top-scored with 55 off 46 balls and Mitchell Starc was the pick of the bowlers with figures of 3-20.

The defending champions England came in to this game having won only one of their two games in this phase, they needed to win this match to qualify for the semi-finals. Sri Lanka, on the other hand, already had 4 points so they would qualify either way.

Stuart Broad won the toss and chose to bowl with Bopara, Patel and Dernbach replacing Kieswetter, Bresnan and Briggs. Meanwhile Sangakarra replaced Jayawardena as the Sri Lankan captain in this match to avoid slow over-rate ban, and Dananjaya was brought in for Herath.

A superb all-round show from Virat Kohli and Yuvraj Singh saw India steamroll to a comfortable 8 wicket win over arch rivals Pakistan. Kohli followed up his wicket of Pakistani skipper Mohammad Hafeez with a splendid knock of 78 not out from a mere 61 balls.

Yuvraj Singh was not too far behind as he sealed India's win with a calm 19 to go along with his 2 wickets for a mere 16 runs. Pakistan, in the field looked devoid of ideas as they looked for wickets but the calmness of the Indian batters was always shining through despite Raza Hasan getting Gambhir out in the first over of the chase.

Earlier in the day, Pakistan won the toss and batted first which in hindsight gave the game advantage to India with their brutal batting order. Pakistan got off to a flier but that was short lived as Irfan Pathan trapped Imran Nazir LBW in the second over. It was all downhill after that and constant wickets falling never let Pakistan get back into the game. Pakistan were bowled out for 128 in the last over, a target that was never going to test the might of Kohli and co.

Another world class all-round performance from Shane Watson helped Australia beat South Africa by 8 wickets to all but seal their position in the semi-finals - barring a India win later today and a miraculous run-rate diversion. He followed up his 2-29 with the ball with a brilliant 70 from 47.

Along with Michael Hussey, Watson took to the South African bowling after a cautious start which saw David Warner fall to Morne Morkel. The Australian's, thus far, have looked to attack the opposition in every game and this was no exception. The pair put South Africa on the back foot and never gave them a sniff to comeback into the tie.

Earlier in the day, to much surprise, George Bailey won the toss and decided to field first. Despite having a unbeaten record they opted to include Xavier Doherty and he instantly paid dividends by picking up Richard Levi, Kallis and Duminy. South Africa kept losing wickets and the momentum in the innings never came until the last 4 overs where they had left themselves too much to do. The cameo from Robin Peterson (32* from 19) saw South Africa reach 146-5 but that was never a score that could test the Australian team firing on all cylinders.

Sri Lanka now sit on top of their group table with 4 points in the bag. However the fate of all the teams will remain undecided until Monday when Sri Lanka meet England and West Indies meet New Zealand.

It was a must-win game for England and New Zealand as both the teams had lost their first match in the Super-8s, England due to their poor batting and the kiwis due to some poor captaincy by Ross Taylor. The loser would have to win their last match in this phase by a huge margin and hope that things go their way.

A inspired performance from Umar Akmal and Umar Gul saw Pakistan clinch a memorable two wicket win over South Africa. Coming in to join the younger Akmal (43 off 41) with Pakistan on 76-7 after 14.3 overs, Gul played a innings of a lifetime to see Pakistan home with two balls to spare. Gul smashed 32 off 17 which included three sixes and two fours.

West Indies came in to the match without having either of their group-stage encounters. Both matches were hit by rain as Australia won the first one by D/L method and the second one against Ireland was abandoned. Nevertheless, the Windies looked a balanced and dangerous side. On the other hand, after having early success against Afghanistan, England’s woes against spin bowling were exposed again as the slipped to a huge 90-run defeat against India. This encounter promised to be a thrilling one.

Despite performing well himself, Stuart Broad’s poor captaincy cost England the match and they will be under huge pressure as they must win their next two games against Sri Lanka and New Zealand. England need to address their batting problems against spin as Sri Lanka won’t give them any chances. On the other hand West Indies too have a lot of work to do if they are to qualify for the Semi Finals as they too have to face Sri Lanka and New Zealand. In the end, as Nasser Hussain put it, anyone can beat anyone win these Super-8s.