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Tottenham Hotspur are back in action Premier League action today, as they welcome Crystal Palace to north London in the hope they can claim just a second victory since early March.

Times have been tough for Spurs of late, with manager upheaval and disappointing results tarnishing what could have easily been a half-decent season. However, it seems that their dip in form has come at the worst possible time, and top-four now seems all but out of their reach.

Regardless, caretaker boss Ryan Mason still has other levels of European football to compete for that could prove imperative in deciding the calibre of manager they attract, the quality of players he can then bring in, and whether Harry Kane sticks around.

However, today marks a tougher challenge than it would suggest on paper, as Roy Hodgson has worked wonders since returning to Selhurst Park.

The Eagles have won four of their last six matches, scoring 13 times in the process. They are a free-scoring outfit already safe from the drop and enjoying their football once again, whilst the Lilywhites are a club in turmoil.

To claim victory would be huge not just for confidence but also their league position as the season draws to a close.

Whilst Eric Dier often acts as a lightning rod for criticism, having earned a meagre 6.3 rating or lower in three of his last five league matches, there is another player that has arguably been just as culpable for their recent shortcomings.

To give themselves the best possible chance, Dejan Kulusevski simply cannot be allowed to start again alongside the English defender.

How has Dejan Kulusevski played this season?

Upon first signing for Spurs in January of 2022, many thought that the Swedish winger had already proven himself an immense bargain. A tally of five goals and eight assists in just 18 league games had fans excited for what a full season might bring.

However, after 26 games this campaign, the 23-year-old has just two goals and six assists. What makes this even more frustrating is that his last strike came in mid-January, emphasising his barren run.

Such miserable underperformance has led the £110k-per-week dud to uphold a similarly torrid run of form as Dier, as his last five ratings have not surpassed a 6.8 rating.

This has not gone unnoticed too, with former Brighton and Hove Albion striker Glenn Murray telling BBC Radio 5 Live (via TEAMtalk):

"Kulusevski has been blowing hot and cold. I would say he hasn’t hit the heights we saw him hit when he came in last season."

Mason has plenty of big decisions to make in his pursuit of a first victory since taking over this squad again, and today marks a fine chance to do so.

But with Richarlison having finally broken his goalscoring duck in the Premier League last week, this personnel switch surely marks a no-brainer for the interim head coach.

Paris Saint-Germain are thought to be interested in signing Newcastle United star Bruno Guimaraes in the summer transfer window, according to a new report.

Just how good is Bruno?

The Brazilian has been a transformative figure since joining the Magpies in January 2022, becoming an instant hero at St James' Park and appearing to raise the level of those around him. His box-to-box quality has been so key since his arrival and he is enjoying a superb 2022/23 season to date.

Bruno has scored three goals and registered four assists across 24 Premier League appearances, with Alan Shearer describing him as "absolutely magnificent" earlier in the campaign. He has been a big reason for Newcastle's strong top-four push and it was no surprise to see their form dip when he was unavailable through suspension in the lead-up to the EFL Cup final defeat to Manchester United.

The Brazilian is contracted to the Magpies until the summer of 2026, but now a worrying exit rumour has emerged, as one of Europe's leading clubs eye up a move for him.

Could Newcastle star depart this summer?

According to iG Esporte [via Sport Witness], PSG are interested in signing Bruno in the summer transfer window, as they look to bolster their midfield options. He has been "evaluated internally" inside the Ligue 1 club, although an offer hasn't been tabled yet.

They are believed to "regret" the decision not to sign the Newcastle ace back when he was at Lyon, considering the impact he has gone on to make at St James' Park. It is noted that the Magpies are "looking to fend off" an interest in Bruno by offering him a new deal, however, so the hope is that he is happy in England and wants to extend his stay.

Losing the 10-cap Brazil international at his point would be a huge blow for Newcastle, at a time when they are on the cusp of returning to the Champions League and potentially embarking on a memorable era at the club. He is so essential to everything they do as a team, whether it is chipping in with end product from midfield or providing great off-the-ball work – he has averaged 2.4 tackles per game in the league this season – so it is essential that they keep hold of him.

The lure of PSG could be great, given their Champions League aspirations and financial power, but even Lionel Messi has struggled to truly excel there at times, so Bruno should see Newcastle as his best option moving forward.

Insider ExWHUEmployee has revealed that West Ham United trio Emerson Palmieri, Nayef Aguerd and Gianluca Scamacca are all in contention to play today despite fitness concerns.

What's the latest West Ham team news?

The Hammers face a huge game at the bottom of the Premier League today as they take on fellow relegation rivals Southampton at the London Stadium.

Indeed, both teams come into the fixture inside the bottom three, with David Moyes' men only one place and one point above the last-placed Saints.

Remarkably, with things so tight at the bottom of the division, a win could see West Ham rise as far as 14th in the division thanks to superior goal difference and with Everton not playing until tomorrow.

With that in mind, Moyes will want his best team available for selection and it sounds as though that could be a possibility with a few players potentially in line to play amid recent fitness issues.

Indeed, in a written post on The West Ham Way, Ex revealed that Emerson, Aguerd and Scamacca could all be involved in this important fixture.

He said: "The manager reported in his press conference that Emerson was suffering from a virus, Aguerd a sore hip and Scamacca was still feeling his knees but we believe all of them could be available for selection today."

Will Emerson, Aguerd and Scamacca play against Southampton?

As alluded to by Ex, it had looked as though the Hammers had been dealt a triple fitness blow with the aforementioned players all doubts coming into the game.

Indeed, speaking to the press in the week, Moyes explained that his team have "got a couple of illnesses here and there and a couple of odd injuries" to deal with.

He then went on to specifically say: “Emerson has got a bit of sickness, Aguerd came back with a bit of a grumbly hip and Scamacca’s got a sore knee. We’ll need to see how they are in the next few days.”

But following this update from Ex, it now seems as though that woe could be turned into joy with all three potentially available to pass a late fitness test and be involved.

All three have played over 1300 minutes for the club this season – with the most in the team being Jarrod Bowen on 2900 – so they're important squad players, even if Moyes has had to make do without them on other occasions this term.

With so much on the line today, it would be a major boost to have any of the three back, let alone all of them.

Wolverhampton Wanderers are willing to make an offer to bring Barcelona forward Abde Ezzalzouli to the Premier League, according to reports.

The Lowdown: The story so far

The Morocco international is currently out on a season-long loan at CA Osasuna, where his impressive performances appear to have caught the eye of Julen Lopetegui.

In January, Sport credited the Old Gold with an initial interest in the 21-year-old and it was claimed that they were one of the ‘most interested teams’ when it comes to securing his signature.

Speaking to GiveMeSport, journalist Pete O’Rourke insisted that it would be difficult to sign the winger permanently but thinks that the boss could have a significant role to play. He said:

“I think if any deal was to happen, it would probably only be a loan deal because Barcelona see him as being a long-term part of their plans. So as I said, it’ll be a hard deal to do, but it does show that Lopetegui is using his Spanish connections to look for potential transfer targets.”

The Latest: Wolves eyeing Ezzalzouli

Now, according to La Razon (via Sport Witness), Wolves and Premier League rivals Nottingham Forest are both ‘willing to bid’ for Ezzalzouli later in the summer.

Currently, there is ‘no clarity’ on where he will be playing his football next season with Barcelona having not yet decided whether to include him in the first team or cash in during the upcoming window.

Xavi’s outfit, however, could ‘seek to obtain liquidity’ given the strong admiration from England, with Atletico Madrid and Real Betis also ‘showing interest’.

The Verdict: One for the future

Ezzalzouli has been dubbed a player known for ‘destroying defences’ by talent scout Shay Hicks and he would be an excellent signing for the future of Wolves.

The Blaugrana starlet has chipped in with three goals and two assists in 23 appearances for CA Osasuna, where he currently ranks in the 99th percentile for successful take-ons and the 91st percentile for most progressive carries per game (FBRef).

The Beni-Mellal native would also offer wonderful versatility having operated in four various positions throughout his career, including on both flanks and as a centre-forward.

Lopetegui’s target already has international experience at the highest level having reached the semi-finals of the World Cup with Morocco in 2022 ,so will know what it takes to be successful.

Therefore, Ezzalzouli will be able to bring this winning mentality to the Midlands should he put pen to paper in the months ahead.

Stuart Robertson, the ECB marketing man who devised Twenty20, speaks to Andrew McGlashan

Andrew McGlashan13-Sep-2007

The first ICC World Twenty20 is a satisfying time for Stuart Robertson. Back in 2000, as the head marketing man at the ECB, Robertson was set the daunting task of trying to bring more people through the gates to watch English domestic cricket. Test matches and one-day internationals were routinely sold out, even when England weren’t winning, but county matches really were for one man and his dog.The idea he came up with is what we now know as the Twenty20 game. Seven years and 9000 km later, the Wanderers, Newlands and Kingsmead are guaranteed sell-outs to watch some of the biggest names in cricket at the first world championship in the new format.”The key is, it’s such a simple format,” Robertson, who now works for Hampshire, told Cricinfo. “It’s not rocket science and that’s the beauty of it. I wasn’t surprised how quickly the game took off in England, but the international growth was a bit more unexpected, especially the pace at which other countries introduced it into their fixtures.”Twenty20 made its debut in the 2003 English season, and that winter South Africa introduced Pro20. Two years later Australia, Pakistan and Sri Lanka all made room in their domestic calendars for a competition. Since then, New Zealand have also joined in, while Stanford 20/20 sparked popular interest in the Caribbean and has now been incorporated into the official WICB season. Even India, who have a stubborn love-affair with the 50-over game, yielded to pressure and played a domestic Twenty20 tournament last year, although the reception was lukewarm. Cracking that market remains the game’s major challenge.”The data we had was fairly black and white,” said Robertson. “Across the board, attendances were down 20 per cent over five years when the project began in 2000-01. My job was to put together a report, looking in detail at how to bring people back through the gates, but importantly, doing it from a consumer perspective. There had been plenty of committees set up to look at the issue in the past, but they’d involved former players and county chairmen whose findings were not always in the spectators’ interests.

“We looked at why people weren’t coming to the games and there was a key theme: accessibility. This was a physical reason – the timings of the matches; people at work couldn’t get to the games during the day. But there was a cultural, social aspect as well. A lot of people said: ‘I thought you had to be a member to go a game.'”Robertson and his team identified key groups of people who were barely registering in the county game; women, the 16-35 age group, and young families with children. “We needed a product that would be attractive to them, and asked if there was a game that took less than three hours, would they come to that? The overwhelming response was that they would, so we went back to the counties and in 2001 it went to a vote of the First Class Forum. It was passed 11-7 in favour and that was the start of Twenty20.”It wasn’t a faultless progression from idea to inception. As the voting suggests, the format didn’t gain wholehearted support, although Robertson was confident from the outset that the early misgivings could be overcome. “There was scepticism before and after the start of the tournament, but the great thing was that once it got off the ground, everyone got behind it. Even those who voted against the proposal initially didn’t stand back and say they wouldn’t embrace it.”The advantage was that virtually all the commercial and marketing men
could see the potential that Twenty20 had, but it was the chairmen – brought up in slightly different eras – who offered the early obstacles. Once Twenty20 was voted in, the marketing men could hardly wait to get working on it.”

It wasn’t only off the field that Twenty20 found itself struggling for recognition. During its first season, players didn’t quite know what to make of it, having been brought up on a diet of 50-over and four-day cricket. “From the playing side there was certainly a feeling in the first year that it was a bit of hit-and-giggle, and a few teams didn’t take it seriously,” said Robertson. “I spent a lot of time speaking and giving presentations on it through the PCA [Professional Cricketers’ Association] and slowly the mood changed.”Sometimes the early misgivings actually came from the international players who were used to playing in front of full houses and weren’t sure it could be replicated on the domestic level. But for the young, upcoming players performing in front of six or seven thousand people it was a totally new experience. It’s what being a professional sportsman was all about.”The question now is, how far can Twenty20 go? The ICC has put a limit on the number of international matches in a year and Robertson agrees the current level “is just about right” with a match or two against each touring side, and the World Cup. But he doesn’t support the view that there’s a danger of overload, especially at domestic level. “It’s been such a success. Why shouldn’t there be more of it? In England I certainly think there is scope for a tournament to run throughout the season, maybe on Friday nights, rather than just the two-week period in midsummer.”One enticing prospect is the idea of a Champions League-style Twenty20 league where the top domestic teams from each country play each other. “It certainly would be interesting,” said Robertson. It might sound slightly far-fetched at the moment, but so did the ICC World Twenty20 five years ago.

The hosts pulled off one of the great tournament victories after some early setbacks, but others weren't so lucky

In a tournament overflowing with underdogs stories, it's fitting that Ivory Coast's name has ended up on the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations trophy. On the surface, it may not seem that uplifting that the hosts and 2015 winners came out on top, but that assessment does not take into account just how shambolic their group-stage campaign was, with the Elephants becoming the first team to lose two games and still win a major international tournament – excluding any league formats.

Ivory Coast's unlikely victory only scratches the surfaces of the myriad of captivating storylines the tournament cooked up, too. We had footballing backwaters cutting the giants of the continent down to size, some huge names of African football failing to turn up and even some new stars seemingly emerging on the biggest stage.

GOAL reviews a staggeringly good tournament by breaking down all the winners and losers from the 2023 AFCON…

• Getty
  

  LOSER: Jean-Louis Gasset

  "There are sometimes nightmare matches, matches where everything seems to be against you. A catastrophic scenario," Ivory Coach boss Jean-Louis Gasset mused following his side's awful 4-0 defeat to Equatorial Guinea.

  The tournament was a huge chance for the 70-year-old. Managerial stints at the likes of Montpelier, Bordeaux and Saint-Etienne had previously ended trophyless, and, in the twilight of his career, he was surprisingly gifted the opportunity to lead a football-obsessed nation at a home AFCON.

  However, even with a vociferous crowd backing them, Gasset's charges were well off it from the outset. Prior to that 4-0 humiliation, they squeezed past Guinea-Bissau in their opener and were beaten by Nigeria, leaving them on the brink of elimination.

  But the Ivorian Football Federation were in no mood to wait around to see if they would be gifted a spot in the knockout stages as one of the best losers. Instead, Gasset was sacked on the spot – which proved to be an inspired decision.

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• Getty/GOAL/GTVGhana
  

  WINNER: Ivory Coast

  With their uninspiring leader out of the picture, the Elephants staged a quite remarkable recovery under interim boss Emerse Fae. After sneaking through to the knockout stages as one of the best third-place teams, not many expected them to get past Senegal in the last 16 – but some penalty heroics assured them of a quarter-final tie with Mali.

  That game was even more dramatic. After Odilon Kossounou was sent off on the stroke of half-time, it seemed like the hosts would be heading out; with Mali eventually breaking the deadlock as expected 19 minutes from the end. But, not for the last time in the tournament, Fae's troops refused to accept their fate, with Simon Adingra scoring a last-gasp equaliser to send the game to extra-time.

  Even with 10 men, the Elephants refused to be beaten, and after anxiously holding on in the final throes of the additional period, Seko Fofana's shot from the edge of the box was diverted in by Oumar Diakite, booking Ivory Coast's place in the last four just 10 days after Gasset's departure.

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  WINNER: Sebastien Haller

  In said semi-final, the hosts were pitted against DR Congo. It was a drab affair for the first hour or so, particularly when compared with Ivory Coast's exploits in previous rounds, and they were in need of a hero to turn the tide in their favour. And, after a quiet tournament leading up to the semi-final, Sebastien Haller eventually emerged as that inspirational figure.

  Just after the hour mark, 100-plus-caps veteran Max Gradel stretched to swing in a cross from the byline. It wasn't very good, looping high, wide and not very handsome into what looked like a harmless area. Haller had other ideas, though. Spotting the flight of the cross early, he quickly shimmied a few paces back and just about made contact. His volley sent the ball travelling on a quite bizarre trajectory, as it smashed into the ground before rising high – too high for DR Congo goalkeeper Lionel Mpasi in fact, who could only watch as it slowly drifted past his outstretched hand.

  After booking his side's place in the final, Haller made sure to rise to the occasion once again, and his winner at the the Olympic Stadium of Ebimpe was just as inventive. With the scores level at 1-1 and 10 minutes left on the clock, the electric Adingra burst into some space on the left touchline and fizzed a wicked, low cross to the front post.

  A few seconds later, the ball was in the back of the net. In real time, it was hard to see how Haller had managed it, with Nigeria captain William Troost-Ekong stuck to him like glue. Fortunately the replay provided some clarity. That showed Haller displaying his lethal striker's instinct, with the Borussia Dortmund man sending Adingra's cross into the far corner by simply sticking his toe out.

  It was a fittingly unorthodox goal for unorthodox winners and was exactly what Haller deserved after battling back from his testicular cancer diagnosis in 2022.

  Reflecting on the triumphs, and likely with his star striker's inspiring comeback on his mind, Fae said at full-time: "It is more than a fairy tale. I am struggling to take it all in. When I think about all we have been through, we are miracle survivors. We never gave up and we managed to come back from so many tough blows."

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• Getty Images
  

  LOSER: Nigeria

  While Nigeria will be pleased to have made a significant improvement on their last-16 exit in 2021, they will also head home from the Ivory Coast feeling pretty deflated. Despite going ahead, they were far from at their best in the final, and manager Jose Peseiro might reflect that his side became too passive as they looked to cling onto their early lead.

  There is a wider debate to be had around whether the defensively-minded coach is the best man to lead the Super Eagles forward in the long term. No African team possesses as much strength in depth in the forward positions than Nigeria, but they only scored more than once in one of their seven games at the tournament.

  While that does suggest that the team were holding something back going forward, you could argue that some structure and conservatism is exactly what the Super Eagles need to be successful at tournaments. Regardless of what side the federation falls on this particular argument, it's hard to shake the feeling that the final represented a big opportunity missed for this stacked Nigeria squad.

While KL Rahul will miss Karnataka’s quarter-final due to a niggle, the fast bowlers selected for the South Africa tour have all been rested

Arun Venugopal06-Dec-2017KL Rahul and Umesh Yadav will not turn out for Karnataka and Vidarbha respectively in the quarter-finals of the Ranji Trophy beginning on Thursday. While Rahul misses out with a niggle, none of the fast bowlers selected for the South Africa tour next month will be released for the Ranji Trophy knockouts. That means Ishant Sharma, Umesh and Mohammed Shami, whose teams have made the last eight, will not be available for Delhi, Vidarbha and Bengal respectively in the quarter-finals and the semis, if their teams advance. Jasprit Bumrah, the other seamer in India’s 17-member squad, will also miss Gujarat’s knockout games as he is in the squads for the limited-overs series against Sri Lanka.A BCCI official said it was unwise to risk the fast bowlers ahead of a major overseas tour. “We all know these guys have played so much cricket. Everyone is looking jaded and since the [Ranji Trophy] teams have already done well without them, it makes more sense for these guys to be rested,” he told ESPNcricinfo. “The fast bowlers are going to be the most important guys for the South Africa series and you can’t take a risk at this stage.”The official, however, indicated the India think-tank was inclined towards the batsmen getting some red-ball cricket under their belt. Rahul and Ajinkya Rahane, who has been going through a bad patch, could use a hit but their participation looks unlikely. Rahane aggregated 17 runs in five innings during the Sri Lanka series, and scored a 49 and 45, bookended by two ducks, for Mumbai in the group stage of the Ranji Trophy.”KL has a niggle and Rahane is part of the ODI series, so where is the chance for them to play? Had Rahul been well, it would have been nice for him to play” the official said. “At the moment, all these guys have to go to the NCA (National Cricket Academy) [for conditioning and rehab].Rahul has played two games for Karnataka this season and has managed scores of 4, 23, 9 and 92. He has since played the first two Tests against Sri Lanka where he has produced 86 runs from three innings. Umesh, on the other hand, has picked up nine wickets from the two games he turned out for Vidarbha. He played the Kolkata and Nagpur Tests and claimed a total of five wickets. Karnataka will take on Mumbai in Nagpur, while Vidarbha will take on Kerala in Surat in the quarter-finals.

Centuries from Amandeep Khare and Ashutosh Singh helped Chhattisgarh recover from Umesh Yadav’s twin-strikes upfront to end the day at a comfortable 246 for 3 against Vidarbha in Nagpur. The pair added 227 for the third wicket before Umesh dismissed Ashutosh for 113 in the day’s final over. Karn Sharma, the legspinner, who impressed for India A and has 31 wickets in four first-class games so far this season, finished with none for 65 off 24 overs in his first game for Vidarbha.Punjab, searching for points after conceding a lead and losing outright in their first two games, racked up 396 for 3 against Goa in Poorvorim. Jiwanjot Singh, the opener, struck 215 of those and was still going strong when stumps were drawn.Jiwanjot struck an unbroken 236-run fourth-wicket stand with Anmolpreet Singh, 103 not out, when play ended. Anmolpreet, promoted No. 4 in the absence of Yuvraj Singh, struck 11 fours and two sixes. Uday Kaul missed out converting a start into three figures, falling for 66, while Manan Vohra was out for a three-ball duck in the first over.Half-centuries from Nikhil Gangta (89*) and Ankush Bains (68) spared Himachal the blushes against Services in New Delhi. They recovered from a precarious 92 for 4 to finish on 273 for 5 at stumps. Prashant Chopra, the opener who struck a triple century in the tournament opener, failed to convert, falling for 55. Bains and Gangta, chasing his second century of the season, batted for a better part of the day to add 159 and help the side stage a remarkable recovery.

The fast bowler has now moved above R Ashwin and Rangana Herath among Test bowlers, while Dimuth Karunaratne has entered the top 20 in the Test batting rankings for the first time

ESPNcricinfo staff11-Oct-2017

Kagiso Rabada has climbed two spots in the ICC Test rankings for bowlers to reach a career-best third place. The South Africa fast bowler now has 876 ranking points, and sits behind James Anderson (896) and Ravindra Jadeja (884). R Ashwin (852) and Rangana Herath (833) have now dropped to fourth and fifth.Rabada took five wickets in each innings in the second Test against Bangladesh in Bloemfontein, picking up his third ten-wicket match haul in only his 22nd Test. In the process, he picked up his 100th Test wicket and became the fifth-youngest bowler to do so, behind Kapil Dev, Daniel Vettori, Waqar Younis and Harbhajan Singh.Meanwhile, Sri Lanka’s 2-0 series win in the UAE has moved them to sixth in the Test team rankings, above Pakistan. Dimuth Karunaratne, who scored 196 in the first innings in Sri Lanka’s 68-run in Dubai, has moved up to 17th place in the batting rankings, entering the top 20 for the first time in his 44-Test career.Click here for the full rankings.

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Maharoof: Once Virat hit top gear, he never let it go

Three-nil in the Tests, five-nil in the ODIs, a crushing seven-wicket win in the one-off T20I. Virat Kohli followed up successive hundreds in the last two ODIs with another display of ruthless efficiency in a chase, and ensured India left Sri Lanka no crumbs of comfort at the end of a long and chastening month and a half of one-sided contests.Set 171 to win, India romped home with four balls remaining and Manish Pandey making his third important contribution in a row, following up 50* and 36 in the last two ODIs with his maiden T20I fifty.Kohli, the only batsman with 1000 T20I runs and a 50-plus average, ended his tour with 82 off 54 balls, an innings that oozed arrogance. It was present in the shots he played – an umpire-endangering blast down the ground and a bottom-handed whip through midwicket, both off Lasith Malinga, standing out among his seven fours and a six – but especially in the way he admonished himself, bat slapping pad in annoyance, for little moments of imprecision: for putting too much weight on a clip down the ground and ending up with a single rather than two, for placing a front-foot slap a few inches closer to the extra-cover fielder than he would have liked and ending up with a single rather than four. It was as if the opposition did not matter.Virat Kohli went to No. 3 on the list of top scorers in T20Is•NurPhoto/Getty Images

Until he miscued a leg-side whip and holed out with India just 10 away from their target, it was easy to miss the assured hand played by Pandey in a 119-run partnership for the third wicket. He came in with India not entirely secure; they had lost both openers by the end of the sixth over, and Kohli not yet fully settled, having just been beaten twice in a row by Malinga’s seam and Isuru Udana’s left-arm angle. But Pandey promptly calmed any nerves in the dressing room, turning the strike over with dabs and pushes either side of point, and switching gears with a straight six and a fierce, airborne cut in the 12th over, off Angelo Mathews.With Kohli also blazing five fours and a six in that period, India sped from 47 for 2 after seven overs to 118 for 2 after 13. Four of those six overs were either Mathews’ medium-pace in conditions with no swing or seam or Seekkuge Prasanna’s quickish and not particularly ripping legspin, showing the lack of genuine wicket threat from Sri Lanka in the middle overs.The story was rather different when Sri Lanka batted. Sent in after a 40-minute rain delay, their batsmen, Dilshan Munaweera in particular, seemed liberated by the switch to the shortest format as they sped to 60 for 2 in their first six overs. They finished well too, scoring 52 for 1 in the last five, with Ashan Priyanjan turning around a slow start and Udana clubbing the quicks powerfully down the ground.They faltered in between, though, losing four wickets in those nine overs while scoring at under six-and-a-half per over.For India, the middle overs illuminated the value of playing two wristspinners. Kuldeep Yadav only conceded 11 in his three overs in that period, and bowled Munaweera with a quick skidder, the batsman sending his bat flying in the direction of square leg in a sweaty-gloved attempt at a pull.Yuzvendra Chahal gave away 13 in his one Powerplay over, Munaweera greeting him with successive sixes, over extra-cover and down the ground. He continued to go for runs in the middle overs, with Munaweera launching him for two more sixes in his third over and Thisara Perera pummeling him over long-on in his fourth. But he picked up three key middle-overs wickets: Mathews stumped while reaching out to a big legbreak and overbalancing; Perera bowled trying to cut one that cramped him for room; Dasun Shanaka lbw playing outside the line of a wrong’un.And so, despite conceding 43, Chahal probably bowled the crucial spell for India to keep Sri Lanka in check. Kohli and Pandey did the rest.