Sri Lanka meets South Africa tomorrow

Tendulkar's presence is an inspiration - Dravid

By Ranjan Anandappa

Sri Lanka will take on South Africa in the opening day\night encounter tomorrow.

Unitech one of the largest real estate group of companies in India are the sponsors of the tournament.

"We have being playing very good cricket up to now ,but we cannot be tagged as favourites because playing against South Africa and India who are two very good sides, it's all about doing the right thing and playing good cricket, there are lot of things we have to improve and it should be a tough series" said the Sri Lankan captain.

Indian captain Rahul Dravid said that after the not so good West Indies series he is hoping to bounce back. The fully fit Sachin Tendulkar will be back in action after four and a half months and will no doubt add more vigour into the Indian side. Dravid said that his mere presence alone is an inspiration to the side. Dravid too did not want to make any extravagant comments and said that what ever the preperations made the final outcome of a match is confined as to how you had played on that particular day.

For Mark Boucher the stand - in captaincy is nothing new as he has done it before. The encouraging news for the South Africans are that Shuan Pollock and skipper Mark Boucher are fit, but their main strike bowler Makhaya Ntini is still only half fit.

South Africa squad. Mark Boucher (Captain), Boeta Dippenaar, Loots Bosman, Herschelle Gibbs, A.B.de Valliers, Shaun Pollock,Joham van der Wath, Robin Petersen , Andrew Hall, Andre Nel, Makhaya Ntini, Ashwell Prince, Roger Telemachus, Thandi Tshabalala, Dale Steyn.

India squad. Rahul Dravid (Captain), Virender Sehwag, Sachin Tendulkar, Yuvraj Singh, Mohammed Kaif, Suresh Raina, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Irfan Pathan, Sreesanth, Harbhajan Singh, Ramesh Powar, Ajith Agarkar, Munaf Patel, Rudra Pratap Singh, Dinesh Mongia.

Sri Lanka squad. Mahela Jayawardena (Captain), Kumar Sangakkara, Upul Tharanga, Sanath Jayasuriya, Tillekeratne Dilshan, Marvan Atapattu, Chamara Kapugedera, Chaminda Vaas, Farveez Maharoof, Lasith Malinga, Dilhara Fernando, Muthiah Muralitharan, Malinga Bandara , Ruchira Perera, Prasanna Jayawardena.

The Itinerary

August 14. Sri Lanaka v South Africa at Premadasa Stadium D/N .
August. 16. Sri Lanaka v India at RPS Khettarama D/N.
August 19. South Africa v India at SSC.
August 21. Sri Lanka v South Africa at SSC.
August 24. Sri Lanaka v India at RPS D/N.
August 26. India v South Africa at RPS Khettarama D/N.
August 29 final RPS Khettarama D/N/.