The match was neatly poised in the chase with 71 needed off last seven overs. Mumbai had just recovered from a mini wobble where they had lost Nitish Rana and Jos Buttler (26) in quick succession. With concerns mounting over Rohit Sharma’s form, this was his chance to guide the team home. Rohit played a sensible innings of an unbeaten 29-ball 40 while Pollard smashed his way to 39 off 23 to create an easy passage to the win.

Lions had been put under pressure throughout the game but did well to absorb it and fight their way through. However, Mumbai Indians bossed the last seven overs to snatch the win.

Nitish Rana has been the find of the IPL 2017 so far. Two half-centuries in the tournament has helped him become the highest run-getter after 16 games this season. After the failure against Royal Challengers Bangalore, Rana gave Mumbai the perfect platform to launch an assault in the end.

Rana walked in in the very first over after Praveen Kumar dismissed Parthiv Patel for a duck. He was dropped by Jason Roy, when on 9, off the bowling of Basil Thampi. The score was 11 for 1 at that stage. By the time Rana was dismissed in the 10th over, the score had swelled to 85, with Rana contributing to 53 off those.

On a dry Wankhede surface, Lions had lost Dwayne Smith early after being asked to bat. Both Brendon McCullum and Suresh Raina found it hard to get going as Mumbai made a good start with the ball. That’s when McCullum’s resilience came to the fore. While Raina continued to chug along, McCullum collected the crucial boundaries to take the score to 46 for 1 at the end of the powerplay. It was then that the former New Zealand captain gave the inning the much-needed impetus even as he lost Raina from the other end.

He took on Harbhajan Singh and Lasith Malinga while Ishan Kishan, who walked in at No. 4, struggled against some quality bowling. McCullum stroked a 44-ball 64 before he was bowled by Lasith Malinga in the 14th over.

The scorecard at that stage read 99 for 3 and there was plenty of work left to be done considering the chasing capabilities of Mumbai. Dinesh Karthik has been exceptional for the franchise so far and carried on with his good form, smashing an unbeaten 26-ball 48. What stood out from Karthik was that he was able to take runs off the bowling of Jasprit Bumrah and Malinga, propelling the team to a very competitive total.

Malinga conceded 51 runs, the most he has given away in any IPL game, from his four overs for his one wicket while Bumrah leaked 45 runs from his four overs. That’s 96 runs from eight overs from bowlers who are accustomed to bowling at the death and have done it considerably well. This also highlights how crucial Karthik’s effort was as he helped the team collect 41 runs in the last three overs.

Lions will return to home comforts after the loss and will take on Royal Challengers Bangalore on April 18 in an evening clash. Mumbai, on the other hand, will travel to Indore to take on Kings XI Punjab on April 20. – TOI

No international side has toured Bangladesh since 20 people were killed in a siege at a cafe in Dhaka in July.

The England and Wales Cricket Board said in August that tour would go ahead following a security review.

Jos Buttler will captain the one-day side, with the squads for the one-day and Test series to be named on Friday.

The tour features three one-day internationals followed by two Test matches.

England director of cricket Andrew Strauss said: “While we understand and respect Eoin and Alex’s decision, we are disappointed that they have made themselves unavailable for selection for the Bangladesh tour.”

He added that no further withdrawals are expected following “open and honest” discussions with all the players. England players Stuart Broad, Moeen Ali, Chris Jordan and Liam Dawson have all publicly said they will tour Bangladesh.

Former England captain Michael Vaughan has described Morgan’s decision as a “huge mistake” while Nasser Hussain, another ex-skipper of the national side, said Morgan “should be with his team”.

But team-mate Ben Stokes tweeted his support for both players. England fly out on 29 September, with the one-day series starting on 7 October and the Test series on 20 October. They follow that with a tour of India, which begins on 9 November and features five Tests, three ODIs and three Twenty20s. Morgan, 29, said this week that he would never go on a tour where security concerns may affect his game.

“In 2010, we played an Indian Premier League game in Bangalore and a bomb went off in the ground,” he said. “We left and went straight to the airport.

“Another one was playing domestic cricket in Bangladesh during political elections and things were incredibly violent. Given that no-one has toured there since the terrorist attack adds a bigger decision to it.”

Bowlers Andrew Caddick and Robert Croft pulled out of England’s 2001 tour of India because of safety concerns following the 9/11 attacks in New York.

“I was adamant I didn’t want to go and stuck to what I thought was right,” Caddick told BBC Radio 5 before Morgan and Hales made their announcement on Sunday.

“It’s slightly different now. The security they implement in world cricket is quite high, whereas back in 2001 it wasn’t.

“Eoin Morgan has experienced risks to security in the past. Nobody else in the England team has. It’s a personal decision and it should stay that way.”

Former spinner Graeme Swann, who was part of the England squad that returned to India after the Mumbai bombings in 2008, said he would not travel to Bangladesh if he was still playing. “We are a target,” he said. “If I was in that situation, I wouldn’t go.”

Ex-England skipper Vaughan told BBC Radio 5 live that Morgan should go on the tour. “I don’t think the captain had any other option but to get on the plane and lead a young side. I do think it is a huge mistake that he has made,” he said.

“This young side will all be nervous because of everything around the side. There will be guards everywhere, they’ll have guns in their faces with security outside their rooms. The young England side won’t like what they see.

“He’ll continue in the side as captain for India – my question would be: ‘Are you safe going there?’ There is a similar Foreign Office warning.

“There will be a bit of banter created and he’ll have to take some stick when he’s back in the side, that’s the nature of being in a sports team. It’s one that I think he will live to regret.”

It says there is “a heightened threat of further terrorist attacks” in Bangladesh, although the threat level applies to many European cities, including London. It adds “foreigners, in particular westerners, may be directly targeted” and that “places where westerners are known to gather may be at higher risk of attack”.

It advises travellers to Bangladesh to “minimise exposure to these areas” and “remain vigilant, monitor local and social media and follow any specific advice of the local security authorities”.

Australia postponed their Test tour of Bangladesh in October 2015 after the Australian government warned of an increasing security risk to the team.

“Morgan has never expressed any positive views on making this tour, so his decision to pull out is not a surprise said former England fast bowler and BBC correspondent Jonathan Agnew.

“In his explanation, he refers to a bomb blast in Bangalore in 2010, an incident that profoundly unsettled him, as did civil unrest in Bangladesh. It won’t be lost on Strauss, though, that Morgan has returned to play in both countries since.

“However, having guaranteed that players’ futures will not be affected by this decision, it’s difficult to see Morgan losing the captaincy, as has been suggested in some quarters.

“Hales has effectively given another opening batsman the chance to take his place in Test cricket, although his future in that form was doubtful anyway. After a record breaking summer he’s sure to return to the one-day team in India.”

“The Gulshan cafe attack raised a lot of questions about the police’s ability to disrupt the terror network or bring the perpetrators to justice. A sense of fear had gripped both the expatriate communities as well as the locals who feared an escalation in the frequency and ferocity of attacks.

“But things have moved in the opposite direction lately. Since August, police have located and raided three hideouts of militants in and around Dhaka, killing 13 suspects.

“A sense of confidence is beginning to be generated among the population, that the police may be finally getting to grips with the situation.

“Despite these police successes, caution remains the mantra among expatriates.” – BBC

Alex Hales struck a record 171 and Jos Buttler made England’s fastest ever 50 from 22 balls as England hit 444-3.

This surpassed the 443-9 posted by Sri Lanka against the Netherlands in 2006.

Pakistan was forced to bat aggressively but their batsmen struggled to build partnerships as they were bowled out for 279.

England have now won 11 of their past 12 ODIs against Pakistan and have a 14-8 ‘Super Series’ lead, with two ODI games and a Twenty20 match remaining (all limited-overs matches are worth two points each).

England, its host for a majority of the tour, has comprehensively outplayed it in both Tests and ODIs so far, and in doing so, has claimed an unassailable lead in the new multi-format points system. So it is that when the two sides clash one final time in a Twenty20 International at the Rose Bowl in Southampton on Tuesday (July 5), Sri Lanka will be fighting to avoid a clean sweep across formats.

After a 0-2 loss in the Tests and a 0-3 reversal in the ODIs, Sri Lanka will find it a struggle to boost morale. After the final ODI – a comprehensive 122-run loss in Cardiff – Angelo Mathews, the captain, found himself fending off questions about his captaincy, saying: “This is a tough time for me as a captain and for the whole unit. But you can’t run away from it.”

The hope was that the ODIs would help Sri Lanka emerge strong from its troubles in Tests, the hope stemming from the possibility of the shorter format narrowing the gap between the teams. However, England – a markedly different side in limited-overs internationals since Sri Lanka defeated it in the ICC World Cup 2015 – proved too strong once again, and apart from the first ODI which ended in a tie, was comprehensive winner in the remaining three completed matches.

The problem for Sri Lanka has been that its departments have struggled to work in tandem. The batsmen posted 305 for 5 in the fourth ODI, but the bowlers struggled to restrict England to below that score. Then, when England set it 325 to win in the fifth, its batsmen were contained to 202.

“I’m pretty sure if we keep improving day by day, we can come out of this hole,” said Mathews after the final ODI. “For the past two months, we’ve been having the same problems, either batting, bowling or fielding has let us down in every single game.”

Ahead of the final clash of what has been a tiresome series, Sri Lanka will hope to depart with its heads held high. A late cameo or a couple of miscues usually prove decisive in T20s, and Sri Lanka knows it has its best chance yet to put one over England. Recent form doesn’t favour Sri Lanka in that respect either – England reached the final of the ICC World T20 2016, while the Sri Lankans failed to get out of their group.

England, meanwhile, is expected to blood a few youngsters in the one-off clash, including Tymal Mills, the paceman. He comes with a reputation for searing pace, something that gained momentum after he roughed up Chris Gayle during the NatWest T20 blast last month. “I’d love to see him play. I won’t be the sole selector, but from my point of view, it would be great to see someone like that charge and give it everything,” said Trevor Bayliss, the England coach.

“It’s good to see some batsmen ducking and weaving.”

Eoin Morgan, the England captain, spoke before the ODIs of how much of a confidence booster it was for the side to reach the ICC World T20 2016 final, and warned of coping with bigger expectations. Those expectations would only have increased after its performances in the series so far.

Teams (from):

England: Eoin Morgan (capt), Sam Billings, Johnny Bairstow, Jos Buttler, Liam Dawson, Chris Jordan, David Malan, Tymal Mills, Liam Plunkett, Adil Rashid, Jason Roy, James Vince, David Willey.

Sri Lanka: Angelo Mathews (capt), Lahiru Thirimanne, Dinesh Chandimal, Kusal Perera, Danushka Gunathilaka, Upul Tharanga, Dhananjaya de Silva, Nuwan Pradeep, Suranga Lakmal, Kusal Mendis, Dasun Shanaka, Farveez Maharoof, Suraj Randiv, Seekkuge Prasanna.