*Official* India in Sri Lanka

Tour Schedule

1st Test, 7th February

Sri Lanka vs India, Asgiriya Stadium, Kandy

2nd Test, 9th February

Sri Lanka vs India,

R.Premadasa Stadium, Colombo

3rd Test, 10th February

Sri Lanka vs India, Sinhalese Sports Club, Colombo



1st One Day International, 12th February

Sri Lanka vs India, R.Premadasa Stadium, Colombo

2nd One Day International, 14th February

Sri Lanka vs India, P.Saravanamuttu Stadium, Colombo (hosting first ODI since September 1994)

3rd One Day International, 16th February

Sri Lanka vs India, Asgiriya Stadium, Kandy

4th One Day International, 18th February

Sri Lanka vs India, Sinhalese Sports Club, Colombo

5th One Day International, 20th February

Sri Lanka vs India, Sinhalese Sports Club, Colombo

6th One Day International, 22nd February

Sri Lanka vs India, Asgiriya Stadium, Kandy

7th One Day International, 23rd February

Sri Lanka vs India, R.Premadasa Stadium, Colombo

India Name Test Squad
Pathan, Sehwag given chance

Indian selectors have named their 14-man squad for the upcoming Test series against Sri Lanka that will get underway on the 7th of February. There were a few suprises, especially the inclusion of Virender Sehwag and Irfan Pathan, both having disappointed in their last chance for the national team. However team morale was high as the Indians landed in Sri Lanka, with captain Rahul Dravid relishing the tough challenge after coming off a 2-1 loss in South Africa.

It was their batting that faltered in that series due to pace and bounce, but with the Sri Lankan attack looking weak aside from the obvious threats of Muralitharan and Vaas the star-studded line-up will be looking to take full advantage of the flat pitches.

India Squad

R Dravid (c), SR Tendulkar, W Jaffer, G Gambhir, V Sehwag, Yuvraj Singh, VVS Laxman, MS Dhoni (wk), A Kumble, Harbhajan Singh, MM Patel, S Sreesanth, Zaheer Khan, IK Pathan

Sri Lankan First Test XII Named

There were no real suprises with the initial 12 Sri Lankan players named for the first test match against their sub continent neighbours, India, being played in Kandy on the 7th.

Mahela Jayawardene will lead an experienced team including superstars Sangakkara, Muralitharan, Vaas and Jayasuriya against the star-studded Indian line up in what critics believe could be one of the greatest test series of the year.

"The Sri Lankan's are arguebly the second best team in the world at the moment, going off their recent form in both test and one day matches!" said Tony Greig in his column in the second worst newspaper in the world, the only paper that would hire him.

"Their batsmen are in fine form, and well, their bowling attack is second to none with the likes of Murali and Chaminda in there. Malinga is one to watch too, i've heard. I wouldn't know, really, but it's what i've heard."

Sri Lankan 1st Test XII

DPMD Jayawardene (captain), WU Tharanga, ST Jayasuriya, KC Sangakkara, CK Kapugedera, TM Dilshan, LPC Silva, HAPW Jayawardene (+), WPUJC Vaas, MF Maharoof, SL Malinga, M Muralitharan.

Given the presence of Pathan, Sri Lanka to take it in the gloom on day 5.

Pretty happy that Tony Greig's writing. Looking forward to reading his work.

Errr....Demeza..Could I have England by any chance..Seeing as India and SL are taken already.

cricketboy29 said:

Errr....Demeza..Could I have England by any chance..Seeing as India and SL are taken already.

Click to expand...

(y)

Indian XI

India Name Team

On the eve of the first Test match Indian team management have named their preferred team to take on Sri Lanka. Opting to go with two spinners and three fast bowlers could turn out to be a risk, but with batting legends like Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar the gamble looks less risky than it would with other teams. Virender Sehwag retains his opening spot but has been put on notice, the Indian team need him to score runs and he can no longer rely on his past acheivements.

Sreesanth was the unlucky seamer to miss out, but with Irfan Pathan giving the lower order some solid batting ability it was a move based on players being able to multi-task. Yuvraj Singh will be the 12th man.

1. Wasim Jaffer
2. Virender Sehwag
3. Rahul Dravid (c)
4. Sachin Tendulkar
5. VVS Laxman
6. Mahendra Singh Dhoni (wk)
7. Irfan Pathan
8. Anil Kumble
9. Harbhajan Singh
10. Zaheer Khan
11. Munaf Patel

12th man: Yuvraj Singh

Perm said:

Sreesanth was the unlucky seamer to miss out, but with Irfan Pathan giving the lower order some solid batting ability it was a move based on players being able to multi-task. Yuvraj Singh will be the 12th man.

Click to expand...

You forgot to mention that Duncan Fletcher took over as the Indian coach.

I'm upset no Utappa

Insane that Sreesanth would miss out, tbh.

Mr Mxyzptlk said:

Insane that Sreesanth would miss out, tbh.

Click to expand...

Yeah, clearly he should have been picked ahead of Munaf.

Also, why is Atapattu not playing?

Prince EWS said:

Yeah, clearly he should have been picked ahead of Munaf.

Also, why is Atapattu not playing?

Click to expand...

Atapattu back can't hold up more then two days...

1st test has been simmed just waiting on Zac to post results and post second test India side. Second test will be simmed straight after.

Sri Lanka vs India, First Test played in Kandy

Jayawardene Slaughters India

Sri Lankan captain Mahela Jayawardene confirmed his claim in being one of the top international batsmen going around by making a solid 143, from just over 300 deliveries, against a lethargic Indian bowling lineup.

Indian skipper Dravid won the toss and elected to bat on a flat Kandy track and the Indian top order all got starts with Tendulkar making the most of the conditions with a classy 65. The top order, however, did not have any support from the tail as the Indian team collapsed from 3 for 157 to 175 all out. Muralitharan was the cause of the collapse, bowling unplayable delivery after unplayable delivery and finishing with remarkable figures of 5 for 36 from 14.

Sanath Jayasuriya opened his series account with a blistering 75 from just 54 balls and his outburst spurred the Sri Lankans to a grand 297 run first innings lead. A 52 run last wicket partnership between Malinga and Muralitharan added to the Indian woes.

Batted to save the game, the Indian's defied the Sri Lankans for a period and then crumbled. Captain Dravid and opener Jaffer both posted hard-fought, well made half centuries but it was not enough, as they slowly lost wickets and hope of making the confident Sri Lankan's bat again.

It was not to be and the Sri Lankan's won by an innings.

India 1st Inn
175 All Out
Tendulkar 65, Dravid 36
Muralitharan 5-36, Malinga 2-36

Sri Lanka 1st Inn
472 All Out
Jayawardene DPMD 141, Jayasuriya 75
Pathan 4-117, Khan 2-100

India 2nd Inn
Dravid 56, Jaffer 53
Malinga 4-105, Vaas 3-71

Sri Lanka won by an Innings and 28 runs.

Man of the Match: DPMD Jayawardene [ 141 (304) ]

Both Sri Lanka and India go into the second test with unchanged teams. India giving Sehwag another lifeline as he made two confidently played starts, whilst Sri Lanka stick with the winning formula.

Sri Lanka confidently go into the game as favourites.

Sreesanth?

Scorecard
Commentary

Sri Lanka fall short in Colombo
A strangling performance by India's spinners turned the match and gave India a sniff of a come from behind series win.
Sri Lanka batted first, and apart from two solid partnerships in the middle order, lost wickets at regular intervals with Harbhajan Singh taking 4-52 on what seemed a perfect batting pitch.
Kumar Sangakkara was the stand out performer with a silky 93 runs for 166 deliveries faced. Silva was a distant second with 43 as the Sri Lankans compiled 286 runs from 90 overs.
In reply, the Indians fared nearly identically to their subcontinent counterparts. Sehwag and Pathan both passed fifty on a pitch that was being molested by the bowlers. Chaminda Vaas's accuracy picked him up 5 wickets with the rest being shared.
India ended up 12 runs short of Sri Lanka's first innings total, with extras being the 4th highest scorer.
Any hope Sri Lanka had of making a big total to defend withdrew rapidly as Irfan Pathan, Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh worked well in tandem to take 8 scalps between them. There were no real stand outs for the Lankans, with 4 (arguably 5) batsman making starts but no one going higher than 35 (Tharanga).
India's second innings was almost like their first, which worked to their advantage as they cruised to the target set for them, despite losing four wickets. Rahul Dravid played a real captains knock to ensure they made it by remaining 55 not out off 180 balls to see India home and leveling the series.


Sri Lanka 1st Innings 286 all out
Sangakkara 93, Silva 46
Singh 4-52, Patel 2-29

India 1st Innings 274 all out
Sehwag 74, Pathan 51
Vaas 5-72, Muralitharan 2-32

Sri Lanka 2nd Innings 186 all out
Tharanga 35, Sangakkara 32
Singh 3-31, Pathan 3-36

India 2nd Innings 200 for 4
Dravid 55*, Jaffer 42
Vaas 3-58, Muralitharan 1-49

India won by 6 wkts.

MOTM: Harbhajan Singh

India Name Team
Interim selector Manjunath Reddlapalli has decided to shore up the batting heading into the final and deciding test against Sri Lanka.
Zaheer Khan is dropped in favour of Yuvraj Singh while Laxman is moved up to 3.
After stepping out of his 30ft long, bullet proof, dark purple limosuine complete with deep fryer, spa bath, pinball machine, fake-tiger skin couch and water bed, Reddlapalli said this about his selections.
"Its a great honour to be selecting the team for the all important contest, lots of considerations had to be made as pitch conditions suited most to Indians, so we had to stick with the duo of Kumble and Harbajan" he said while an un-identified lingerie model filed his nails "Unfortunately Sreesanth and Khan missed out, but they would be in contention once again in the future series."

India
1. Virender Sehwag
2. Wasim Jaffer
3. VVS Laxman
4. Rahul Dravid (c)
5. Sachin Tendulkar
6. Yuvraj Singh
7. Mahendra Singh Dhoni (wk)
8. Irfan Pathan
9. Harbhajan Singh
10. Anil Kumble
11. Munaf Patel

12th man: Gautam Gambhir

Sri Lanka Finish Series Unchanged

Tillekeratne Dilshan might count himself unlucky not to get a go in the Sri Lankan middle order after the third test Sri Lankan team was made public.

His replacement for the series, first class veteran Silva, has scored mildly, but solidly to retain his spot. Former Sri Lankan captain Marvin Attapattu is still out of the team with a niggling back injury. Attapattu was hopeful to come back into the side for the last test match, but failed a fitness test. He is now hopeful to return for the best of seven one day series to follow the test series.

Sri Lanka Third Test XI

Jayasuriya
Tharanga
Sangakkara
Jayawardene (c)
Kapugedera
Silva
Jayawardene (+)
Vaas
Maharoof
Malinga
Muralitharan

Dilshan (12th man)