The sports wrap: Sri Lanka beat Australia off last ball in first T20I, and other top stories

The big story: Kapugedera’s boundary off last delivery hands Sri lanka thrilling victory

Chamara Kapugedera’s last-ball boundary helped Sri Lanka to a five-wicket win over Australia in the first Twenty20I at the MCG on Friday.

Chasing Australia’s target of 169, Sri Lanka were cruising with only 18 required off the last three overs and seven wickets to spare. Debutant Ashton Turner though helped stretch the game to the last over with two wickets in the 17th. Australia pounced on a nervous Sri Lanka lower-order as some tight bowling from Ashton Tye took the game to the final ball of the match.

With scores level, Tye could not deny the visitors as Kapugedera pulled off an fine cover-drive to complete a fine victory.

Earlier, star pacer Lasith Malinga had made a fine comeback to international cricket that saw scalp two wickets off consecutive balls. While he did not complete a hat-trick, he did manage to rattle the Aussies.

Asela Gunaratne was the top-scorer for Sri Lanka with 52 from 37 balls.

Cricket

India qualified for the ICC Women’s World Cup with a comprehensive nine-wicket win against Bangladesh in the ICC Women’s World Cup Qualifiers in Colombo on Friday.
Former India pacer S Sreesanth on Friday wrote to Vinod Rai, who heads the Supreme Court-appointed Committee of Administrators of the Board of Control for Cricket in India, seeking permission to resume cricketing activities after four years away from the game, IANS reported.
Australia skipper Steve Smith and Shaun Marsh got their tour of India off to a solid start with fine centuries on day one of their warm-up game against India A in Mumbai on Friday. The duo’s effort helped Australia post 327/5 as the Indian bench strength was tested by the visitors.
BCCI’s Committee of Administrators, headed by former CAG Vinod Rai, on Friday held meeting where they discussed Deloitte’s audit report of various state associations and also met Justice RM Lodha panel secretary Gopal Shankarnarayan.
A five-wicket haul by Imran Tahir saw South Africa cruise to a 78-run win over New Zealand in the one-off Twenty20 in Auckland on Friday.

Tennis

Jo-Wilfred Tsonga beat Marin Cilic 7-6(8), 7-6(5) in the quarter-finals of the Rotterdam Open on Friday. Thomas Berdych also advanced to the semi-final stage with a 6-3, 6-3 win over Martin Klizan.

Football

Arsene Wenger on Friday hinted that he might not remain at Arsenal next season and would take a decision on his future in March or April, The Telegraph reported.
Gareth Bale is likely to make a return into the Real Madrid squad for their home against Espanyol on Saturday. The Welshman has been out of action since November last year.
Former DSK Shivajians coach Derrick Pereira was on Friday appointed as head coach of Churchill brothers club, PTI reported.

Table Tennis

India’s Sharath Kamal defeated World number 24 Yuto Muramatsu in the round of 16 at the ITTF India Open.

Badminton

Shuttler PV Sindhu became the second Indian woman to break into the top-five of the badminton singles world rankings. The Olympic silver medalist, who broke into the top-10 in 2013, achieved her career-best ranking of No. 5 on Thursday.

Chess

Grandmaster Dronavalli Harika and International Master Padmini Rout won tiebreaks in the second round and advanced to the last-16 stage of World Women’s Chess Championship.

Golf

Gaurika Bishnoi carded one-under 71 on the final day to clinch her maiden title in the Women’s Professional Golf Tour at the Royal Calcutta Golf Club in Kolkata on Friday.