5th ODI: India looks to complete 4-1 drubbing over Sri Lanka

August 3, 2012

5thodi

With the series already under their belt, a confident India will look to continue their dominating run and complete a 4-1 drubbing over an inconsistent Sri Lanka in the final one-dayer on Saturday.

India have been consistent and have dominated the five-match series right from the start, barring the second ODI, which they lost by nine wickets, after coming into the tournament following a prolonged break.

The visitors took an unassailable 3-1 lead after winning the fourth one-dayer by six wickets in their last outing and Mahendra Singh Dhoni's men will now aim to end the series on a high.

Sri Lanka, on the other hand, never bargained to be 1-3 down with just one to play in the one-day series and Mahela Jayawardene's men will hope to salvage some pride by making it 2-3 rather than facing the 1-4 ignominy.

Jayawardene was honest in his assessment that the hosts were simply not good enough against the world champions and blamed their inconsistency for the sorry state.

The hosts came to Colombo with series level at 1-1. Given the consistent home favour in the history of games at the Premadasa, the expectations were high from the home team to press ahead the home advantage.

But it was not to be. Rather, it was Dhoni's men who created history at Premadasa by comfortably winning the third and fourth ODI by five wickets and six wickets.

For Sri Lanka, it was not just inconsistency but more of an under-performance which has never been seen in a home series of such high stake.

Apart from Kumar Sangakkara's brilliant 133 in the first game at Hambantota, Sri Lankans have been below par. Take the case of Tillakaratne Dilshan.

The opener has failed to fire at the top with only one 50 in the four outings. His partner Tharanga was slightly better getting two 50s.

Jayawardene himself has been patchy. His decision to drop down the order to allow the young Dinesh Chandimal to take charge has not proved to be a wise option and the Sri Lankan captain would do well to return to his familiar position to see if he could inspire the team on Saturday.

The middle-order of Angelo Mathews and Chandimal have produced only flashes of brilliance while Thisara Perera's all-round efforts were not at par with his performance against Pakistan.

Sri Lanka also have been suffering from a series of injury worries. Losing in-form Sangakkara after the third ODI following his fracture in the little finger of his right hand has affected their cause.

The fast bowling unit also looks bare with as many as six pacers being out through injuries. Lasith Malinga has been leading the attack but he has accounted for only five wickets in four games, while giving away runs at a premium.

Jayawardene now wants a decent performance from his team in the last ODI at Kandy and then his focus will be on the availability of resources ahead of a busy schedule.

"I need to speak to the management and see how best we can do that. I know a couple of guys are really struggling with fatigue. We will see what options are and try and motivate them to go out and take up the challenge," he said.

"Kandy is going to be a different challenge altogether. We need to try and put up a decent performance together."

The Squads (from): India: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (c), Virat Kohli (vc), Gautam Gambhir, Suresh Raina, Virender Sehwag, Rohit Sharma, R Ashwin, Pragyan Ojha, Zaheer Khan, Umesh Yadav, Ashok Dinda, Irfan Pathan, Ajinkya Rahane, Manoj Tiwary, Rahul Sharma.

Sri Lanka: Mahela Jayawardene (c), Angelo Mathews (vc), Tillakaratne Dilshan, Kumar Sangakkara, Upul Tharanga, Dinesh Chandimal, Nuwan Kulasekara, Thisara Perera, Lahiru Thirimanne, Lasith Malinga, Chamara Kapugedara, Rangana Herath, Sachithra Senanayake, Jeevan Mendis, Isuru Udana.

Match starts at 2.30 pm (IST).



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News Network
May 11,2020

Karachi, May 11: Pakistan might play more Test matches during their tour of England if it goes ahead as scheduled in July after the West Indies pulled out of an assignment there in June owing to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Pakistan Cricket Board and the England and Wales Cricket Board officials are due to have a video conference on May 18 to discuss how they should proceed with the tour given the situation because of the pandemic.

"At present we have to play three Tests and three T20 internationals but the number of Tests could be increased and the tour could start a bit early in July," a PCB source said.

The source said that the ECB could offer to organise a four or five Test series against Pakistan if the West Indies tour didn’t go ahead.

Issues that are likely to be discussed in the May 18 meet are a quarantine period for Pakistani players when they arrive in England in July and limiting the venues for the matches and playing before empty stadiums.

PCB CEO Wasim Khan confirmed the video conference but said so far, the ECB has not spoken to them on increasing the number of matches on the tour which is scheduled between July and September.

"Things will be clear after the meeting but whatever decision we take we will consult our captains and head coaches before giving any confirmation," Khan said.

The PCB has so far kept mum on the chances of the series taking place in England because of the COVID-19 situation.

But with the British government due to announce measures to ease the lockdown in the country, it appears Pakistan could be touring on schedule.

Some former players have, however, asked the PCB to tread on the side of caution.

"If the West Indies have decided to postpone their series in June because of safety reasons and because of the situation then the PCB should also be very careful before taking up any offer from the ECB," a former captain said.

The West Indies Cricket Board said its players have to be convinced of their safety for it to commit to the assignment, which "is not possible in June."

"...we will continue our discussions with the ECB and other Internationals Boards on trying to find new dates," it said in a recent press release.

"We will only travel to England to play the series if our players can be assured that it is safe to do so," it added.

Pakistan is also scheduled to play an ODI series against Ireland while in UK but that series could be rescheduled and also be held in England.

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News Network
January 13,2020

Mumbai, Jan 13: India spearhead Jasprit Bumrah on Sunday headlined the BCCI Annual Awards function, grabbing the prestigious Polly Umrigar award apart from annexing the Dilip Sardesai honour for his exploits in international cricket in the 2018-19 season.

Polly Umrigar award is presented to the best male International cricketer and it carries a citation, trophy and cheque for Rs. 15 lakh.

Dilip Sardesai award is conferred on both the highest wicket-taker and highest run-getter in Test cricket. Bumrah took 34 wickets in six matches with three five-wicket hauls.

Prolific Saurashtra batsman Chetshwar Pujara was picked for the honour for scoring 677 runs in 8 matches at an average of 52.07 with three centuries and two half centuries.

Bumrah, the world's number ODI bowler made his Test debut during India's tour of South Africa in January 2018 and hasn't looked back since.

He picked up a five-wicket haul in South Africa, England, Australia and the West Indies, becoming the first and only Asian bowler to achieve the feat.

He played a stellar role in the historic 2-1 Test series win in Australia, India's first Down Under and which helped them retain the Border Gavaskar Trophy.

While Bumrah netted the biggest prize in the men's category, Poonam Yadav claimed the top prize in women's section and was awarded the best international cricketer.

The award will be another feather in the leg-spinner's cap who recently received the Arjuna Award.

Former India captains Krishnamachari Srikkanth and Anjum Chopra were presented the Col CK Nayudu Lifetime Achievement Award and the BCCI Lifetime Achievement Award for women respectively.

A member of the 1983 World Cup-winning team, Srikkanth took on the fearsome West Indies fast bowlers and scored an attacking 38, the top individual score in the low-scoring final at the Lord's.

He also captained India and post-retirement served as the chief selector and it was during his tenure that the 2011 World Cup squad was picked.

Anjum is one of the finest batswomen and the first Indian to play 100 ODIs. In a career spanning 17 years, Anjum represented India in four 50-over World Cups and two T20 World Cup (played in one).

Mayank Agarwal, who emerged as an impact batsman starting with his debut series in Australia in 2018-19, received the best international debut in men's category while talented 15-year-old Shafali Verma grabbed the same in the women's category.

Mumbai all-rounder Shivam Dube, who impressed in the recently concluded T20 series against Sri Lanka, was presented the Lala Amarnath Award for the best all-rounder in the Ranji Trophy while Delhi's Nitish Rana received the same for doing well in the limited overs competition.

India's middle-order batsmwoman Deepti Sharma received the Jagmohan Dalmiya Trophy for best woman cricketer in senior domestic circuit while Shafali was picked for honour in the junior category.

Virender Sharma was adjudged the best umpire in domestic cricket while Vidarbha Cricket Association were presented the best performance award in domestic cricket for wining the Ranji Trophy.

BCCI president Sourav Ganguly said, “The BCCI Awards is our way of recognising the finest on-field performances right from the age group to senior level and also honour our legends.”

Board secretary Jay Shah said, “We wanted to make Naman bigger and better and have introduced four new categories highest run-getter and wicket-takers in WODIs and best international debut men and women from this year.”

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News Network
March 23,2020

Colombo, Mar 23: Sri Lankan batting great Kumar Sangakkara has said he is currently in self-quarantine, following his government's guidelines for those recently returning from Europe, which has now become the epicentre of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The authorities are concerned over people returning from the most-affected COVID-19 countries in Europe not registering with the police and practising isolation.

"I have no symptoms or anything like that, but I'm following government guidelines," Sangakkara told News First.

"I arrived from London over a week ago and the first thing was there was a news bulletin saying that anyone who had travelled from within March 1 to 15 should register themselves with the police and undergo self-quarantine. I registered myself with the police."

The former captain said this even as the government confirmed there have been at least three cases of recent returnees attempting to hide the novel coronavirus symptoms from authorities.

Both Sangakkara and his former teammate Mahela Jayawardene have been active on social media, urging Sri Lankans to avoid panic and to exercise proper social distancing, as the country went into curfew on Friday evening.

Sri Lanka has so far reported more than 80 active COVID-19 positive cases in the country.

Across the world, the number of infected has crossed three lakh besides a death toll of more than 14,000 people.

Meanwhile, former Australia pacer Jason Gillespie has also gone into a two-week isolation after returning from the United Kingdom.

Gillespie, who is the head coach at Sussex, had been in Cape Town with the team for a pre-season tour, which was cut short as a result of the coronavirus outbreak.

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