Monday 11th January, 2010

Comment selectors – India beat SL a bunch of liars by 8

DHAKA, (AP) - innings. Dilshan was the next to go, and Gautam Gambhir caught by Gambhir off Khan when Chaminda Don Ashantha Vinothan scored half-centuries Sunday to lead was 42. Sri Lanka contin- Mendis Anurasiri de Mel John India to an eight- win over Sri ued to struggle and quickly lost by Rex Clementine scored 161 in a warm up one- Lanka in a one-day international tri- three more wickets. day game in , but series match. Khan claimed Mahela was right was overlooked for the first Kohli was unbeaten on 71 and Jayawardene for 5, caught by Virat ODI that started a few days Gambhir was out for the same score Kohli, and Thilan Samaraweera was when he said that the selectors were ‘a bunch of jokers’. They later. A similar effort by Jehan as India reached 214-2 to eclipse Sri trapped lbw for 0 by seem to have no plan, no vision Mubarak, the blue eyed boy of Lanka's 213 in less than 33 overs at Shanthakumaran Sreesanth. and even lack sense. We have the selectors, would have ele- Mirpur Sher-e-Bangla National Thilina Kandamby was run out seen howlers after howlers in vated him to the vice-’s Stadium. for 1 off a throw by Karthik. the ongoing tri-nation series post of the national team. He’s Gambhir smashed 10 bound- Thissara Perera was caught for 11 that involves India and not the only favourite of the aries, while Kohli hit nine fours. by Yuvraj Singh at deep midwicket Bangladesh and what’s more selectors; they have also equal- Dinesh Karthik scored 48 and also off Mishra. they also lie. ly promoted Dilhara hit nine boundaries. Sangakkara and Randiv stabi- When the selectors called Fernando, both hopeless India swing bowler Zaheer Khan lized the innings, adding 59 runs in a for a media briefing with the match losers. Another and legspinner Amit Mishra each seventh-wicket stand before the national team captain and the favourite of the current selec- took three wickets as Sri Lanka was skipper was caught by Suresh Raina coach in attendance ahead of tors is , who bowled out in 46.1 overs with cap- off Yuvraj in the 30th over. Mishra the tri-nation series in shares the same age as one of tain top-scoring also claimed Randiv. Bangladesh, they promised the the selectors. on 68. Sangakkara hit nine boundaries media a few things. One was The media who report on Khan took 3-38 from 10 overs and in 78 balls, while Randiv hit four that this series was an oppor- cricket will have to think twice Mishra 3-40 in 9.1 overs. fours in 76 deliveries. tunity to try out a few young when the selectors call them Sri Lanka and India will meet Khan then dismissed Thushara players and the other was that for a briefing again for they Wednesday in the final of the tri- before Chanaka Welegedara was they wouldn’t play Thilan hardly do anything that they series that also includes for 1 by Mahendra Singh Samaraweera and Thilina promise. Bangladesh, which takes on India in Dhoni off Mishra. Kandamby in the same game, One is struggling to under- its last game Monday. they broke all promises. stand the logic behind not playing Chandimal, Udawatte Sangakkara won the toss and Scoreboard The blooding in of some elected to bat with both teams mak- young players in recent times or Lahiru Thirimanne for the dead rubber. Why couldn’t the ing three changes. Sri Lanka Innings was not done with any fore- returned sight; it was done as the selec- selectors take a stance and U. Tharanga c Karthik b Tyagi 0 insist that one of the seniors from injury and Chanaka tors had no other options. T. Dilshan c Gambhir b Zaheer 33 had to sit out. Are the selectors Welegedara and The Randivs, Welagedaras K. Sangakkara c Raina b Yuvraj 68 a weak lot who are dancing to were also included for Sri Lanka, and Pereras wouldn’t have got the tunes of one or two senior replacing Malinga Bandara, Nuwan M. Jayawardene c Kohli b Zaheer 5 a look in had not there been T. Samaraweera lbw b Sreesanth 0 injuries. They got a look in players? Kulasekara and Lahiru De Mel has been in the Thiramanne. T. Kandamby run out 1 only due to injuries to leading players. selection panel for the best Mishra, Karthik and Sudeep T. Perera c Singh b Mishra 11 In this series, first the selec- part of the last decade except Tyagi came in for India in place of S. Randiv b Mishra 56 tors blundered by not sending for a couple of years when the Harbhajan Singh, Ashish Nehra and T. Thushara c Yuvraj b Zaheer 28 in a third opener. Then UNP government was in power . C. Welegedara st Dhoni b Mishra 1 Tillekeratne Dilshan and from 2002-2004. Also remember Sri Lanka's hit 56 S. Lakmal 0 Muthumudalige that Mahinda Rajapakse for his maiden half-century, while became the President in 2005 Extras: (3lb, 6w, 1nb) 10 Pushpakumara got injured. Dilshan made 33 and Thilan India's Virat Kohli raises his bat to celebrate scoring a half-century Obviously they should have December and de Mel became Total: (all out) 213 Thushara 28. against Sri Lanka during the fifth one-day international cricket match of sent an opener and a spinner the Chairman of Selectors six Sri Lanka slumped to 66-5. the tri-series in , Bangladesh, Sunday, Jan. 10, 2010. Bangladesh, Overs: 46.1. as replacements, but you could months later. We would like to Tyagi claimed for think that de Mel is Sri India and Sri Lanka are competing in the one-day international tri-series Fall of wickets: 1-0, 2-42, 3-60, 4-61, get a hint on Ashantha de Mel a after he was caught by 5-66, 6-84, 7-143, 8-202,9-209. and his committee’s cricketing Lanka’s Chairman of Karthik in the fourth ball of the that started Monday. (AP Photo/Aijaz Rahi) Selectors for his cricketing : Tyagi 7-1-46-1, Sreesanth 7- sense when they opted for two skills and knowledge, not 0-38-1 (1w), Zaheer 10-2-38-3, Mishra specialist openers as replace- ments. Then what do they do? because his friendship with 9.1-1-40-3 (1nb, 3w), Jadeja 6-1-21-0 They opt to open with Mahela the President or his alleged (1w), Yuvraj 4-0-18-1 (1w), Raina 3-0- Jayawardene a middle order kinship to the first lady. 9-0. batsman making Mahela Since the 2007 World Cup, Udawatte and Dinesh Sri Lanka have performed poorly in ODI cricket and cur- India Innings Chandimal, the openers sent in as replacements to sit out rently are ranked number D. Karthik c Sangakkara b Thushara 48 the game. seven, only behind G. Gambhir c Welegedara b Perera 71 Sri Lanka were through to Bangladesh, West Indies and V. Kohli not out 71 the final with a game to spare. Zimbabwe. We are sure some Y. Singh not out 8 For the dead rubber against selectors even don’t know that Extras: (4lb, 3w, 9nb) 16 India yesterday, we thought (De Mel could be one of them). The Sri Lankan team Total: (for two wickets) 214 that the selectors would give a game to some of these young looked like getting back to Overs: 32.4. players. Upul Tharanga was in winning ways when they won Fall of wickets: 1-89, 2-161. good nick and so was Thilan three successive games in Did not bat: M. S. Dhoni, S. Raina, R. Samaraweera. Ideally they Bangladesh and even the Jadeja, A. Mishra, Z. Khan, S. should have taken a break. But board and the coaching staff of SLC admitted that the Sreesanth, S. Tyagi. both played and still there was emergence of young players Bowling: Welegedara 5.4-0-51-0 no game for the rookies. Did the selectors say that they and the bench strength has (2nb), Lakmal 10-0-75-0 (3nb, 1w), were going to try out a few new helped Sri Lanka to make the Thushara 6-0-33-1 (1w), Randiv 6-0- faces in this series? turn around. 19-0, Perera 5-1-32-1. Take the case of Udawatte. The selectors denied them- : India won by eight wickets. What more should he do to get selves a golden opportunity to take a look at new faces in the Toss: SL a game. He was the second highest scorer in the domestic dead rubber yesterday.Instead Umpires: Enamul Haque and I. Gould one-day tournament. Last year they went back on promises, Match referee: A. Pycroft when were here, he played the old lot and emerged liars.

International Cricket Council (ICC) Chief Executive Haroon Lorgat, right, and Vice President Sharad Pawar, second right, hand over the ICC World Cup 2011 trophy to cricket board Presidents of the host countries, from left, Bangladesh’s AHM Mustafa Kamal, India’s Sashank Manohar and Sri Lanka’s D.S. De Silva at the launch of ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 at an event in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Saturday, Jan. 9, 2010. The ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 will take place in February and March 2011, and will be held in Bangladesh, India and Sri Lanka. (AP Photo/Aijaz Rahi)

Monday 11th January, 2010