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| Sunday, 27 November 2005 |
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Lankans encounter bad weather, no play on first day Sa'adi Thawfeeq reporting from India BANGALORE, November 26 The fickle Bangalore weather washed out the opening day's play of Sri Lanka's 3-day practice match against an Indian Board President's XI without a ball bowled due to the pitch and surrounding areas being wet at the Chinnaswamy Stadium here today. The two umpires Shahvir Tarapore and T. K. Handu made two inspections and ruled out any play for the day due to the wet conditions underfoot. Being under covers for four days due to the prevailing bad weather, the pitch had become soggy and need a strong sun to dry it out. But the sun came out only briefly to be replaced by passing showers. The hope is that if the weather holds out a start can be made to the match tomorrow. Knowing what the state of the ground was the previous day the Sri Lankan cricketers preferred to stay in the vicinity of their hotel. Only the two coaches Tom Moody and Trevor Penny arrived at the venue today to be told about the decision to call off play for the day. The match is important for both sides as Sri Lanka have to fill in a couple of places left vacant by the exclusion of opener Sanath Jayasuriya and left-arm spinner Rangana Herath. Vying for the opener's berth are left-handers Avishka Gunawardene and Upul Tharanga while the spinner's spot will be fought out between Malinga Bandara and Sajeewa Weerakoon. Indian national selector V. B. Chandrasekhar who is also the manager of the Indian Board President's XI said the boys selected to face Sri Lanka are those on the fringe of selection to the Indian team. "They have talent and have been around for the past two years. At every selection meeting their names have come up. I am hoping that there would be about 150-160 overs of cricket at least. If that happens I am sure there would be a reasonable chance for them to show what they are capable of doing. It is an important game for them," said Chandrasekhar. "These boys are all less than 25 years of age. They are regulars in the zonal, India 'A' and Ranji trophy tournaments. All of them have played a lot of cricket and are definitely very close to knocking big time within a year or two. We have picked the best set of players, but it makes no difference if there is no cricket here," he said. With their domestic competition at full swing, the Indian selectors picked only 12 players for the match. It was eventually reduced to a playing eleven today when Munaf Patel, rated one of the quickest bowlers in India was called up to represent his state Maharashtra. Sri Lanka is due to play India in a series of three Tests starting at Chennai on December 2. The teams: SRI LANKA (from): Marvan Atapattu (captain), Avishka Gunawardene, Upul Tharanga, Kumar Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardene, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Tilan Samaraweera, Chaminda Vaas, Farveez Maharoof, Dilhara Fernando, Lasith Malinga, Muttiah Muralitharan, Malinga Bandara, Sajeewa Weerakoon, Chamara Kapugedera. INDIAN BOARD PRESIDENT's XI: Venugopal Rao (captain), Dheeraj Jadhav, Shikhar Dhawan, Robin Uthappa, Niraj Patel, S. Sriram, Parthiv Patel, Kulmani Parida, Amit Mishra, Ranadeb Bose, Gangandeep Singh. |
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