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In a demonstration of power-hitting with which he carried Chennai Super Kings in the first IPL, Suresh Raina again showed his ability to dominate and, when the need arose, get out of a jam. Chennai were in early trouble after being put in to bat but the early loss of the openers to Shane Warne's introduction of spin didn't deter Raina, who dispatched the Rajasthan Royals attack to all parts of SuperSport Park. His one-man show was complemented by a disciplined and enthusiastic fielding display - including a wicket and two catches to the man of the moment - and Chennai wrapped up victory by 38 runs.

The spade work for victory had been done with a gem from Raina. His blazing innings started and ended in the face of adversary but it didn't show on his face or in his choice of shots. Chennai had lost their leading run-scorer, Matthew Hayden, and Parthiv Patel to loose shots against Yusuf Pathan, who opened the attack with Dimitri Mascarenhas. But after that edgy start Chennai were put back on track through a 67-run liaison between Raina and S Badrinath. Raina was due a good score and he decided attack was the best way of defence.

He took the initiative early on, taking Mascarenhas for four and six and then clubbing Yusuf over long-off for six more. Badrinath was promoted ahead of MS Dhoni, Jacob Oram and Albie Morkel with Chennai in trouble and he reciprocated with a smart cameo of 29. He relieved the pressure with three off-side boundaries and hit Yusuf out of the attack. Badri's inventiveness - making room, getting the wrists into play, lofting over the infield - allowed Raina to continue blazing and he carved a brilliant front-foot six over point off Munaf Patel's first delivery.

Once he found his tempo, Raina was unstoppable. A deft tickle for four off Siddharth Trivedi was one for the purists, a thick inside-edge next ball for the same result just the bit of luck Raina needed to script an epic. He continued to produce punishing pulls and gorgeous shots down the ground, but the slice over cover-point was the sight of the evening. Shane Warne was pulled and cut for boundaries in his first over as Raina reached fifty from 27 balls.

By now the mood in both camps had reversed. Rajasthan's early momentum faded into repeated misfields that allowed boundaries, and where Chennai had been unsure with the bat at the start, Badrinath was uppercutting for four. There were risks, but they were calculated. The fifty-run partnership needed just 33 deliveries.

Rajasthan took two wickets shortly after the break but with Dhoni giving him strike, Raina broke the shackles with consecutive boundaries in the 17th over. The run rate had now crossed seven and increased with consecutive sixes, both sliced over covers, in a 24-run 18th over during which Kamran Khan had to limp off with a twisted ankle. In the last over Raina raised his bat on 98, when the electronic scoreboard got it wrong after he slapped four past cover. Next ball was slashed up in the air and excellently taken by Graeme Smith at deep backward point. The only batsmen to cross 30, Raina's exemplary 98 off 55 balls lifted Chennai to a competitive total.

That innings not only gave the crowd something to cheer about but also gave Chennai's bowlers a solid platform to work with. A revamped new-ball attack of Morkel and Sudeep Tyagi kept it tidy and waited for errors, which came rather soon. Smith's vigilance had played a big role in the last game but here he was impetuous, reaching out and guiding Morkel to point in the second over. Swapnil Asnodkar was another to fall going for a big shot, except that he swung his bat down onto his own stumps.

As if his innings wasn't torture enough for Rajasthan, Raina starred with the ball. Rob Quiney was given a life when Dhoni fluffed a stumping, but the bowler had his revenge when he beat bat with a slider.

Yusuf came out blazing but failed to convert, lofting L Balaji down to long-off where the man who could do no wrong took the catch. Dhoni held back on using Balaji till the 11th over and the bowler immediately made an impact, not allowing any room. When Ravindra Jadeja skied Balaji miles into the starry night and Hayden settled under a steepler, the candle had gone out. The rest was a formality as Balaji took four, a solid comeback after a poor last match.

It was apt that the last wicket, a massive top edge, should land in Raina's hands. His grip remained firm from start to finish.

The 2011 World Cup is shifting base from Lahore to Mumbai and India expects to get a "big share" of the 14 matches that were initially allotted to Pakistan.

The Indian board (BCCI) is hosting a meeting in Mumbai tomorrow where the tournament's organising committee will be reconstituted without representatives from Pakistan, which was stripped of its co-host status this month due to the prevailing political situation in the country.

A decision is also expected to be taken to move the tournament's central organising secretariat, its operational nerve centre, from Lahore to Mumbai.

Apparently, the re-allotment of Pakistan's 14 matches will also be discussed at the meeting. "Bangladesh and Sri Lanka are the co-hosts and out of those two, Bangladesh has only one venue to host all the matches," BCCI sources said. "So obviously, India will expect to get a big share of those matches."

The sources, however, admitted that one potential hurdle for the event would be if Pakistan refuses to play its matches in Indian venues because of cross-border political tensions. "In that case, Pakistan's matches will have to held in Lanka or Bangladesh but there's two years to go and it's too early to comment on that now," the sources said.

The ICC executive board on April 17 had resolved not to hold any 2011 World Cup matches in Pakistan because the "uncertain political situation" in the country would have made it difficult to "deliver a safe, secure and successful event".

In January, the PCB had named Salman Sarward Butt, a banker, as managing director of the tournament's central organising secretariat but Haroon Lorgat, the ICC's chief executive, is now expected to announce a new set-up in Mumbai after Tuesday's meeting. Sharad Pawar, the ICC vice-president, heads the tournament's organising committee.

India will host the final and one semi-final of the 2011 World Cup while Sri Lanka will stage the other semi-final, the tournament's organising committee decided in Mumbai on Tuesday. India will host 29 of the 49 matches across eight venues, Sri Lanka will host 12 in three venues while Bangladesh will stage eight at two grounds as well as the opening ceremony on February 18, 2011.

The quarter-finals will be shared among the three neighbours, with Bangladesh hosting two. The committee also decided to shift the tournament secretariat from Lahore to Mumbai. BCCI's chief administrative officer Ratnakar Shetty was appointed the event's managing director in place of Pakistani banker Salman Butt. The organising committee, headed by ICC vice-president Sharad Pawar, will include an operations and planning group comprising the Bangladesh Cricket Board senior vice-president Mahbubul Anam, Indian board secretary N Srinivasan, Sri Lanka's Duleep Mendis and Shetty. Haroon Lorgat, the ICC's chief executive, said IS Bindra, the special adviser to the ICC, would be a key person in the management of the World Cup.

He swept aside questions on whether Pakistan would boycott the World Cup in protest at being denied hosting rights, saying "we will cross the bridge when we come to it." The ICC had to decide on the redistribution of Pakistan's 14 matches after it removed the country from the list of hosts because the "uncertain political situation" would have made it difficult to "deliver a safe, secure and successful event" in Pakistan.

Lorgat said the security concerns of the various ICC members and the players would be addressed with the formation of a special committee headed by Shashank Manohar, the BCCI chief, to oversee security details. "The security arrangements are very important and a special committee... would put together security plans for the successful conduct of the World Cup in 2011," he said.

"We are confident of organising a very successful World Cup," Lorgat said.

The subcontinent last hosted a World Cup in 1996, when India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka shared the games. The final was in Lahore, where Sri Lanka beat favourites Australia in a famous win.

Pakistan's propensity to self-destruct cost them the lead in this series in dramatic manner, a batting collapse against spin handing Australia an improbable win. Michael Clarke, the Australian captain, turned in a superb all-round performance with a gritty 66 in the face of some penetrative spin bowling before picking up 3 for 15 amid Pakistan's middle-order chaos. His spin partners, Nathan Hauritz and Andrew Symonds, helped defend a below-par score of 198 as Pakistan fell short by 27 runs.

Spinners have been making headlines in the IPL in South Africa and the story today wasn't any different in the northern hemisphere. Pakistan's own spin trio strangled the runs and picked up three wickets and, by the time their openers Salman Butt and Ahmed Shehzad added 95, the hosts looked set for a series lead. That's when spin worked its magic again.

The cycle-stand collapse - in which shoddy shot selection played no small part - had strong statistical parallels with Australia's in Dubai during the first ODI. Back then, Australia slipped from 95 for 1 to 122 for 9. Today, Pakistan's collapse started at 95 and ended 76 runs later.

The game had drifted from Australia during the first 22 overs of the chase with Pakistan comfortably placed in terms of the required rate and wickets in hand. Only a lapse in concentration from the batsmen could have resulted in a breakthrough and exactly that caused Butt's downfall when he poked Hauritz to Clarke at first slip. The bowler had caused a few flutters in his previous over when he beat the left-hander and the fielders may have sensed that something was about to give. The next ball stopped on Younis Khan, who chipped it to a diving Andrew Symonds at midwicket and Australia had two in two. Misbah-ul-Haq negotiated the hat-trick ball and, in the next over, hit Symonds for a straight six. That prompted the captain to bring himself on and his move paid immediate dividends, Misbah holing out to long-on off the very first ball. The next delivery was an arm ball that Shehzad failed to read and was bowled. Once again, two off two.

That brought together Malik and Afridi, and there was a period of relative calm for Pakistan, though not without the odd scare - including an appeal for a stumping when the third umpire pressed the button for the red light by mistake. One sensed, though, that Afridi wouldn't last too long - and sure enough, determined to break the shackles with a big hit, he advanced down the track and edged to slip. Pakistan had lost half their side in the space of 28 runs and the Australians, having smelt blood, didn't need a second invitation to move in for the kill.

The rest of the wickets were a blur. A miscommunication between Kamran Akmal and Malik, over a single that was there for the taking, summed up the utter confusion. Two balls later, Akmal chipped Bracken to mid-on and he too was history. Yasir Arafat went for a slog and was bowled, Tanvir pulled and top-edged before Umar Gul threw his bat and was bowled Stuart Clark, bringing the match to an end

The drama overshadowed Australia's own struggles with the bat, and Clarke's return to form couldn't have come at a better moment. He was the spinners' bunny in South Africa and in the first ODI but today the fluency returned. He walked in after James Hopes' run-out - off a direct hit by Younis - and eased off the blocks with some crisply timed shots and soft punches down the ground off the seamers. He added 46 for the third wicket with Haddin to help Australia after the loss of two quick wickets.

His effort against the spinners was more impressive given that the ball was gripping and turning and Afridi was varying his pace and slipping in the odd googly. While he attacked the batsmen and looked to pick up wickets, the others - Malik and Saeed Ajmal - teased with flight and cramped the batsmen for room and in general kept it simple.

Clarke wasn't afraid to use his feet but Afridi cleverly dropped the ball short and forced him to defend. He hit the odd wide delivery to the boundary and began to push the singles with a lot more ease in the company of Callum Ferguson, who managed to rotate the strike with Clarke in a 54-run stand, though it included a 10-over spell without a boundary.

Clarke broke the spell with a cover-driven boundary off Ajmal and, in the 38th over, Australia took the batting Powerplay. Clarke pulled Afridi to square leg but the bowler had his revenge when he fired one short, quick and forced the batsman to check his shot. He ended up chipping it tamely to Afridi and was gone - but not before a match-winning 66.