India, Sri Lanka arrive

By Eddie Chikamhi (27/05/10)

THE India and Sri Lanka cricket teams arrived in the country yesterday to set the stage for two weeks of excitement in the tri-nations series scheduled to begin in Bulawayo tomorrow.

India flew into the capital in the afternoon and proceeded to Bulawayo later in the evening while Sri Lanka travelled directly to the City of Kings.

India coach Gary Kirsten defended his board’s decision to rest senior players for the tour and maintained that his young team will be able to set the stage alight despite the absence of such names like Sachin Tendulkar, Zaheer Khan, Ashish Nehra and captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni.

India included five uncapped players in their squad who include seamers Pankaj Singh, Emesh Yadav and Vinay, wicketkeeper batsman Naman Ojha and off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin.

"We have a very young and talented team and I think it is good to give other players a chance to show their talents.

"It shows the depth of talent that we have in India and we are not going to take any team in the tournament lightly.

"There is no room to take any chances because I believe all the teams have prepared well and will be competitive.

"It was very important that the senior players be rested because they have been on the road for the past nine months," said Kirsten.

The former South African batsman said India had made thorough preparations for the tour with most of the players having been involved in the domestic competitions including the Indian Premier League.

"With the kind of players in our team I think we will be able to provide high level of competition and hopefully win the series and the Twenty20 matches," he said.

India and Zimbabwe are expected to set the tone of the tournament when they engage in the first match at Queens Sports Club tomorrow.

It will be a battle of two captains making firsts as Elton Chigumbura assumes his new role as the Zimbabwe skipper while 23-year-old Suresh Raina will be leading the Asians in the absence of regular captain Dhoni.

India like all the Asian teams usually thrive on slow pitches especially when playing on the sub-continent and conditions in Zimbabwe will provide a challenge for them.

Zimbabwe, who retained almost the same team that took part in the World Twenty20 tournament in the West Indies last month, have declared their eagerness to do well.

The third team in the competition, Sri Lanka, also vowed to win the series upon arrival at the Joshua Mqabuko Nkomo Airport in Bulawayo. Captain for the tour Tillakaratne Dilshan — standing in for regular skipper Kumar Sangakkara, who has been rested along with off- spinner Muttiah Muralithara; pace bowler Lasith Malinga and former captains Mahela Jayawardene and Sanath Jayasuriya — declared their intentions to succeed.

He said they brought a youthful side and was confident that his team would do well.

"We are looking forward to a good series and we have brought along a squad dominated by young players.

"We played well during the ICC World Twenty20 in West Indies and I am hopeful that if we manage to bring our form from the World Cup we are going to win the series. Most of our senior players have been rested but believe you me these guys will give their best and it is going to be an interesting competition. We are taking each game as it comes.

"We respect India and Zimbabwe because they are good teams. India played well in the World Cup and so did Zimbabwe. We will not underrate Zimbabwe at all," said Dilshan.

Indian squad for tri-series:

Suresh Raina (captain), Virat Kohli (vice-captain), Murali Vijay, Dinesh Karthik (wicketkeeper), Rohit Sharma, Yusuf Pathan, Ravindra Jadeja, R. Ashwin, Umesh Yadav, Vinay Kumar, Ashok Dinda, Pankaj Singh, Amit Mishra, Pragyan Ojha and Naman Ojha.

Indian Twenty20 Squad:

Suresh Raina (captain), Virat Kohli (vice-captain), Murali Vijay, Dinesh Karthik (wicketkeeper), Rohit Sharma, Yusuf Pathan, Ravindra Jadeja, R. Ashwin, Umesh Yadav, Vinay Kumar, Ashok Dinda, Pankaj Singh, Amit Mishra, Pragyan Ojha, Naman Ojha and Piyush Chawla.