Sri Lanka determined to do well at Asia Cup

By Ranjan Anandappa

CRICKET: In a rapidly changing world of cricket where there is no guarantee of a match winning score, Sri Lanka will fly to Pakistan today (Sunday) in the quest of defending their Asia Cup title which they won under Marvan Atapattu in 2004 in Colombo - the last time it was held.

The tournament will be held from June 23 to July 6 with Sri Lanka meeting Bangladesh on June 25 at the Gadaffi Stadium, Lahore in a day/night match. All matches will be day/night affairs.

India, Pakistan and Hong Kong have been drawn into group ‘B’ while Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and United Arab Emirates are in group ‘A’.

India has emerged champs on four occasions, Sri Lanka thrice and Pakistan has won only once.

“For the sub-continent the Asia Cup is a big occasion, and we too rate it pretty high and it is important we go there as defending champions and do well as we got a point to prove,” said Sri Lankan captain Mahela Jayawardena.

“The guys have been working really hard and we have a very good squad too, and we are looking forward to the tourney,” added the Sri Lankan captain.

Referring to the participating teams, Jayawardena rated India and Pakistan very high as they have been playing good cricket which gives the Lankans the opportunity to take up the challenge and assess as to where the side stands.

He believed that Bangladesh, too, is a side that cannot be written off easily and stressed that one got to respect each other and every country and make sure that we play some good cricket.

“Jayasuriya’s return is most welcome, the selectors have made the decision and when they left him out it was purely due to his form in the one day format. He has come back to form in the IPL and hopefully he should continue that form. It is important that we get some good starts up in the order,” quipped Mahela.

The tournament is a good challenge for the youngsters, and that’s what’s cricket is all about Ajantha Mendis in particular who made a big impact in the West Indies with his spin bowling now will have to confront the world best players of spin bowling in the tournament.

Referring to the younger set of players, Jayawardena said: “We can’t pre-anticipate and say what’s going to happen, you just need to put them into a comfort zone and see how they perform, these are talented cricketers and you just need to give them the opportunity.”

Pakistan will make a welcome return to the 50-overs version of the game after Australia pulled out from a scheduled Test and ODI series which was to be staged in March 2008 due to security reasons.

The contest will be India’s second limited-over tournament after an impressive 2-0 win in the Commonwealth Bank ODI series held in Australia in February-March 2008, where Sri Lanka too participated in the Tri-Nation series.

Sachin Tendulkar, the most successful ODI batsman is not available due to a groin injury. He is hoping to be fit in time for the Indian tour of Sri Lanka in July.

While Sanath Jayasuriya, Sri Lanka’s most successful ODI player has been brought back into the side on virtue of his exploits in the recently concluded IPL T20 series.

The match schedules: 24th June: Bangladesh vs United Arab Emirates at Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore. Pakistan vs Hong Kong at Karachi, 25 June: Bangladesh vs Sri Lanka at Lahore. Hong Kong vs India at National Stadium, Karachi. 26 June: Sri Lanka vs UAE at Lahore, India vs Pakistan at Karachi.

28 June: A2 vs B2 at Karachi. 29 June: A1 vs B1 at Karachi. 30 June: A1 vs B2 at Karachi, 2 July: B1 vs B2 at Karachi, 3 July: A1 vs B2 at Karachi, 4 July: A2 vs B1 at Karachi, 6 July: final at Karachi.

Sri Lanka team: Mahela Jayawardena (Captain), Kumar Sangakkara (V. Captain), Sanath Jayasuriya, Mahela Udawatte, Chamara Silva, T.M. Dilshan, Chamara Kapugedera, Kaushalya Weeraratne, Ferveez Maharoof, Jehan Mubarak, Chaminda Vaas, Muttiah Muralitharan, Ajantha Mendis, Dilhara Fernando, Nuwan Kulasekera.