Saturday, July 30, 2005
Sri lanka hosts Indian Oil Cup Triangular one day series.
The cricket teams for the Indian Oil Cup being played in Sri Lanka are as follows:
Sri Lanka
Marvan Atapattu (captain), Sanath Jayasuriya, Upul Tharanga, Kumar Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardene, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Russel Arnold, Dilhara Lokuhettige, Upul Chandana, Chaminda Vaas, Nuwan Zoysa, Farveez Maharoof, Muttiah Muralitharan, Dilhara Fernando, Lasith Malinga, Pradeep Jayaprakashdaran.
India
Rahul Dravid (captain), Virender Sehwag, VVS Laxman, Yuvraj Singh, Mohammad Kaif, Suresh Raina, Venugopal Rao, Jai P Yadav, Mahendra Dhoni, Anil Kumble, Harbhajan Singh, Irfan Pathan, Zaheer Khan, Lakshmipathy Balaji, Ashish Nehra.
West Indies
Shivnarine Chanderpaul (captain), Ryan Ramdass, Xavier Marshall, Sylvester Joseph, Runako Morton, Narsingh Deonarine, Denesh Ramdin, Omari Banks, Tino Best, Daren Powell, Jermaine Lawson, Ricardo Powell, Kerry Jeremy, Dwayne Smith, Deighton Butler.
The First match
Each team plays the other team twice and the final cricket match will be played between the top two teams. Though all teams are capable of winning the Cup, the odds favors the home team. The first cricket ODI match was a low scoring match between India and Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka won the cricket match by 3 wickets and a couple of overs to spare. Without Ganguly and Sachin the Indian team batting is not as strong. But the bright side of this is a few youngsters get to prove themselves or show their talent. In the first match India failed to capitalize on the absence of Vaas and Zoysa. As usual Murali did the most damage, India scored a mere 205/9 in 50 overs, with Dravid the only player scoring a fifty. Both Kaif and Yuvraj did not contibute, Shewag was also dismissed cheaply. VVS Laxman's absence ( out due to injury) also did not help India's cause. Venugopal Rao and Suresh Raina got a break, and V Rao did well to score 38 ( 74 balls). Though Sri Lanka were in a bit of bother at 112/5, Jayasuriya turned things around for Sri Lanka to win the match, scoring 43 (50 balls). With one win Sri Lanka have now a good start to the tournament. India plays West Indies on the 31st and have to put on a good show to stay competitive.
