India dominate Sri Lanka on way to final

India's best fielding performance in ODIs since the Champions Trophy in September last year set up their march to the final by way of a thumping win. It wasn't anything spectacular: half chances were taken and easy ones not missed, marking a big improvement on their recent fielding form. That, coupled with impressive bowling from Zaheer Khan and Amit Mishra, pulled Sri Lanka from an explosive start and restricted them to a paltry 213, which was chased down with 17.2 overs to spare.

Zaheer was the pick of the bowlers, creating one half chance, and two fairly easy ones. At one stage his figures read 6-2-11-2. Sri Lanka had chosen to bat to allow their bowlers experience first-hand the wet conditions before the final, but it took resilient half-centuries from Kumar Sangakkara and Suraj Randiv to take the match far enough for the dew to set in.

If Sangakkara and Randiv had to work hard, India's runs came with predictable ease: Gautam Gambhir scored his 19th half-century, Dinesh Karthik narrowly missed a fourth, and Virat Kohli made it to his fourth 50-plus score in his last five innings.

But it was the first 11 overs of the match that staged the decisive action: two wicket-maidens, a wicket in the first over of new spells on three occasions and, between that, scintillating batting from Tillakaratne Dilshan. Coming back from a groin injury, Dilshan decided to do away with the running. He just drove, cut, pulled and late-cut eight boundaries in 17 deliveries to deflate any confidence India and Sudeep Tyagi would have gained from getting Upul Tharanga out in the first over.

When Zaheer was brought on, in the sixth over, Dilshan had hit seven boundaries in his 29, and Sri Lanka nine in their 38. He was pulled for a four second ball. The next ball took a thick edge, and was dying on Gambhir at fine gully before he snared it. Zaheer was pumped, and proceeded to bowl to a plan that worked just fine for him. Nothing to drive, a short cover in place, playing on the batsmen's patience with the nagging accuracy. Mahela Jayawardene gave in, driving a ball that should not have been driven, and Kohli hung on to a sharp catch at short cover.

Back came Sreesanth, whose first two overs had gone for 16, and Thilan Samaraweera walked across to a straight delivery and missed. Forty-two for 1 in 5.2 overs became 61 for 4 in 10.2. Soon Thilina Kandamby was run out, his fifth such dismissal out of 23. This time, though, he was sold a dummy by his captain, and was done in a by a smart throw from Karthik and quick backing-up by Zaheer.

Thissara Perera, bounced and verbalised by Zaheer, tried to target Mishra, but Yuvraj Singh pulled out a diving catch at wide long-on, not his last contribution to Sri Lanka's woes. Sangakkara, who had reached 32 off 42 by then, responded to Perera's wicket by stepping out and hitting Sreesanth for four. He dominated a seventh-wicket partnership that took Sri Lanka closer to 150, but that's when Yuvraj struck.

Sangakkara had tried to make full use of every loose delivery that came his way, and also took calculated risks to keep the scoreboard from stagnating. But when he pulled a Yuvraj delivery which was too full, he had completed 43 innings without a century. Randiv and Thilan Thushara added 59 for the eighth wicket, a stand that saw Randiv through to his first List A fifty. But when the time came to press on, when they opted for the Powerplay in the 44th over, the tail came up short, and Sri Lanka were bundled out by Zaheer and Mishra, with four overs still to go.

If there was any doubt to which way the match was going, Karthik and Gambhir removed it by taking 86 off the first 10 overs. Sri Lanka's last chance of preventing India from getting the bonus point vanished when Dilshan and Tharanga dropped Gambhir on 41 and 44 respectively.

Karthik did no harm to his chances of pushing for a place in further matches by following up a catch and a smart run-out with a dominating role in the opening partnership. He started off with a streaky boundary past the slip but soon got into the groove, punishing errors in both line and length. Anything straying on the pads was flicked through midwicket, and the ones short were cut through point and covers. Gambhir smartly assumed the second fiddle, capitalising on width when not milking singles.

Once with Kohli, and with fields spread, the two got down to exploiting the gaps, running almost on intuition, scoring 60 off their 72-run partnership on foot. Upon Gambhir's dismissal, Kohli asked for the Powerplay and quickly finished Sri Lanka off, accelerating from 33 off 48 to 71 off 68.

Viera: I am better than before

Patrick Vieira believes he is a better player now than he was when he left the Premier League four-and-a-half years ago.

Vieira will make his Manchester City debut against Blackburn at Eastlands on Monday night providing he recovers from the niggling calf injury he picked up in his final game for Inter Milan last week.

The former Arsenal skipper found it difficult enough to impress Jose Mourinho in Italy, so the perceived wisdom is that he will struggle to adjust to life back in England, where the pace tends to be far higher.

But Vieira has total faith in his ability.

And he actually thinks the immense talent he had when he played under Arsene Wenger has been improved by his exposure to Serie A.

"I am a better player for the experiences I have had," said Vieira.

"You get better with experience and age and I have been really lucky to play at big clubs.

"I have learned a lot around big-name players and I have come back to the Premier League a better player than I used to be."

Vieira accepts he will not silence the doubters with words alone.

Performances are going to be key, although Roberto Mancini has already declared his faith in the Frenchman by stressing he expects his first signing as City chief to be a regular member of his starting line-up.

Ironically, Vieira spent a significant proportion of his introduction to the English media discussing Mancini.

While the former Juventus star is a familiar face, having won three league titles with the Gunners and established himself as one of the fiercest Premier League enforcers, Mancini is largely an unknown quantity.

The City boss has already earned a lot of plaudits for the mature way he handled the furore surrounding Hughes' dismissal.

And, with three wins from three games in charge, and no goals conceded, Mancini could hardly have made a better start.

"Mancini is a winner," declared Vieira.

"He is a really ambitious man. He came here because he knows he can achieve something.

"He will do everything for the team to be successful and win games."

A passionate enough appraisal, without the added, ultimate, compliment.

"There are similarities between Mancini and Arsene Wenger," he added.

"They both like to work on the pitch and like to be next to the players.

"They manage players and believe in communication. That is really good and I regard it as a compliment that I am the first player Mancini has brought to City."

Vieira's experience at the highest level should help City keep a cool head when the pressure gets ratcheted up towards the end of the season.

Draws for Arsenal and Manchester United yesterday will only encourage Vieira's belief that City could yet end the campaign as champions.

But for that to happen, City's forwards need to make a big contribution.

Although, technically, Emmanuel Adebayor could be back on club duty next weekend, the Blues will want to give their £25million forward some breathing space after his horrific experience in Angola, so the responsibility for scoring will fall on Roque Santa Cruz, Craig Bellamy, Robinho and Carlos Tevez, whose eight goals in December was enough for him to be crowned Premier League player of the month.

The Argentina star is already a firm crowd favourite after dumping Sir Alex Ferguson to join the Eastlands outfit last summer.

And, having hit such a rich vein of form, he is not going to let the current freezing temperatures take the edge off his game.

"I am used to the cold," he said.

"I have lived in England for a few years and it does not affect me too much.

"Training in the cold is hard. But it is also very intense, which is just what you need to bring the best out of yourself."

Berbatov may go under the knife

Sir Alex Ferguson's woes have been compounded by the news striker Dimitar Berbatov may need exploratory knee surgery.

Berbatov was unable to play any part in United's 1-1 draw with Birmingham at St Andrew's as they were unable to achieve the victory which would have taken them above Chelsea.

Instead Ferguson gave a debut to summer signing Mame Biram Diouf who came on as a second half substitute.

Ferguson said: "Dimitar wanted to play with it but we felt we should try to get it (the knee) sorted and get him fit again.

"He may have to have an exploratory operation."

Ferguson reiterated his anger at Darren Fletcher's red card by referee Mark Clattenburg with the second yellow awarded for an innocuous trip on Jerome.

The United boss said: "You won't see a softer sending off. For a start, Darren's not that kind of player.

"It's a simple clip on the boy (Jerome) who actually stumbled. I think it was a terrible decision and it gave Birmingham some momentum.

"But I think we've got to be satisfied with a point particularly as we've ended the game with 10 men.

"Birmingham is a difficult place to go and they are playing very well. It is not a bad point."

Ferguson was not unhappy with a share of the spoils against a Blues side who have now gone a club record 12 league matches without defeat particularly after Fletcher's dismissal for two bookable offences.

United needed an own goal from City defender Scott Dann to collect a point after Cameron Jerome had given the home side an undeserved half-time lead against the run of play.

Ferguson said: "We were down to 10 men for the last part of the game but in the first half we played absolutely brilliantly and dominated the match.

"It was a travesty to go in at half-time 1-0 down after they scored with their first attack.

"It was a sickener but it's important not to let your head go down. We kept battling away and deserved a point.

"We spoke about remaining patient at half-time because 45 minutes is a long time.

"We've won so many games late on so we shouldn't worry about being 1-0 down. We've faced that situation many times."

After dominating the opening 45 minutes, United were indebted to some fine second half saves from Tomasz Kuszczak for earning them a point.

But the former West Brom goalkeeper was frustrated at United's failure to get back on the winning trail after their shock FA Cup reversal against Leeds.

He said: "We're disappointed, of course. We came to Birmingham for three points and only drew the game.

"We know what we have to do to keep up our challenge for the title and we want to win every match, no matter who we play.

"If we lose some points we are disappointed. We had most of the possession in the first half and created some chances. They were lucky to get the goal, but this is football.

"We scored in the second half but Birmingham defended very well and made it difficult for us. We had some chances but couldn't score again."

Kuszczak played down his own contribution including a late reflex save to deny Birmingham defender Roger Johnson a winner.

He said: "This is what I have to do. I play for the biggest club in the world and always try to give 100%, help the lads win the game and keep a clean sheet.

"I didn't manage it, and although I made some saves, it's still disappointing we didn't win."