Sri Lanka vs Australia: Saturday offers Lankans a chance of redemption

COLOMBO: In India, even the heaviest World Cup defeat is forgotten if the team has managed to beat Pakistan along the way. It's a bit of the same in Sri Lanka. Beat Australia and rest assured, an exit will be accepted. Indeed, if the home team can put it across the four-time World Champions, unbeaten in their last 31 World Cup games, at the R Premadasa on Saturday, Sangakkara and Co. will be immortalized.

Sri Lankan fans and cricketers don't love anything more than beating Australia. They still haven't forgotten Murali's Boxing Day humiliation at the hands of umpire Darrell Hair in 1995. They haven't forgotten how some of their key players were wrongly given out during the Tri-series finals in Australia. They still haven't forgotten the fact that the Australian team chose not to travel to Sri Lanka in the 1996 World Cup, citing security reasons.

Saturday offers the Lankans a chance of redemption. So what if their only World Cup win came on March 17, 1996 on a famous dewy night in Lahore? So what if their World Cup record stands at 1-6? So what if they have been soundly thrashed by Australia in their last four World Cup meetings?

Kumar Sangakkara, the Sri Lankan skipper, who has been part of the team in their last four losses to Australia, stressed how this team is different. "I don't think the belief in those teams was as strong as it is now."

The captain's optimism stems from the fact that the core of the World Cup team is the same compared to the side that won an ODI series in Australia. "When we went to Australia on our last tour, the key changes that we made was to get our attitude and the way we looked at the opportunity of winning and our mental strength right. Those changes are more important than the technical changes."

Another reason why the Sri Lankans can puff their chests out on Saturday when they walk out for the national anthems is the absence of the great names in the Aussie team. Their perennial tormentors, Adam Gilchrist, Matthew Hayden and Glenn McGrath have retired. Captain Ricky Ponting is the only great player in this team which many have suggested will crumble against spin. That's one area in which the Lankans have a problem of plenty.

There is already talk that the hosts will go in for a three-pronged spin attack (Muralitharan, Rangana Herath and Ajantha Mendis) considering the fact that historically, the pitch here becomes slower and batting gets very difficult.

But that was the story when Ponting and Australia contested an ODI here on February 27, 2004. That was the last time Australia played Sri Lanka on this ground. And most people observe that the wicket has changed character after being relaid. "The new stadium looks fantastic and by what I have watched, I don't think the toss will be that much of a factor," reckoned Ponting. Indeed, even his opposite number felt batting second shouldn't be difficult.

But what will be difficult for Ponting and the rest of the guys is decoding Lasith Malinga. The Lankan slinger picked up 6/38 including a hat-trick against Kenya and he is no doubt very much on the Australian minds. "He was one of the main topic of discussion in our team meeting. We were talking about the various ways to play him. His bowling in the middle overs, with the older ball, is particularly good. So we have to make sure when he comes into bowl in the middle overs, we don't let him take wickets."

The Aussies too have pace to challenge Sri Lanka. In Brett Lee, Mitchell Johnson and Shaun Tait, they have an explosive and potent fast-bowling attack. Australians have always loved to challenge notions and theories. There is a theory doing the rounds that an all out pace attack in the sub-continent won't win you big moments of the big games in the World Cup. By 10 pm on Saturday, we'll get to know if the theory is right or wrong.

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Davis Cup: Somdev Devvarman draws India level with Serbia

BELGRADE: Asian and Commonwealth Games champion Somdev Devvarman defeated Janko Tipsarevic to pull India back level at 1-1 with defending titleholders Serbia on the opening day of their Davis Cup World Group first round tie.

Viktor Troicki, who sealed his country's victory against France in December's 2010 final in Belgrade, put Serbia into the lead in Friday's first singles on the clay at Novi Sad.

He raced into a two set lead over Rohan Bopanna, who then clawed his way back into contention to set up a cliffhanger which the Serb eventually won 6-3, 6-3, 5-7, 3-6, 6-3.

"It was a tough match. I came back after 2-0 and I am disappointed I couldn't manage to win," Bopanna told reporters.

Devvarman then levelled the tie with a 3-0 defeat of Tipsarevic, although the Serb player dug deep, leading 4-1 in each of the opening two sets with the Indian winning 7-5, 7-5, 7-6 (7/3).

"I feel for Janko because he probably didn't have enough time to adjust from Delray Beach, where it was a lot warmer and that much easier to serve," Devvarman said.

"I served well, kept fighting and always believed I could win the match," he added.

Serbia, missing their best player, world number three and Australian Open winner Novak Djokovic, will be represented by their strongest pairing of Ilija Bozoljac and Nenad Zimonjic in Saturday's doubles where they come up against Bopanna and Devvarman.

India suffered a major blow to their chances after Grand Slam-winning doubles pair Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi were forced to withdraw due to injuries.

But Devvarman was confident his team still had a chance to defeat the Serbs.

"We definitely believe now we can win this tie and we will go out there to give it our best shot," he said.

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Tendulkar says no to honorary doctorate

BANGALORE: Citing professional reasons, master blaster Sachin Tendulkar is said to have turned down the honorary doctorate to be conferred on him by the Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences (RGUHS).

Tendulkar is said to have told the RGUHS V-C, registrar and two syndicate members that he wasn't inclined to accept the varsity honour as he was still active in professional cricket. He said that he had declined similar honour from other universities abroad and respected the decision of the university to confer the title on him.

The university is now awaiting an official regret letter from him, which will be forwarded to governor HR Bhardwaj, who is the chancellor of the university.

The health varsity syndicate will meet on March 8 to discuss the issue. With Sachin declining the offer, some members say that the university might not confer honorary doctorate in this year's convocation.

In a strange coincidence, two universities - RGUHS and University of Mysore - chose to honour the cricketer this year. The University of Mysore is yet to communicate to him their decision to honour him.

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Mistaken identity: Bangladesh fans attack Windies team bus

DHAKA: The West Indies team bus came under attack from angry Bangladesh fans while it was leaving the Sher-e-Bangla stadium in Mirpur on Friday evening.

The team was on its way back to the hotel at about 6.30 pm local time soon after a compelling nine-wicket victory over the hosts. There was a power failure and the area was plunged into darkness when the incident happened. The fans mistook the bus carrying the Bangladesh team, informed the local police chief. No player was injured in the incident but the window panes of the bus were cracked.

West Indies batsman Chris Gayle was, however, rather disturbed by the attack and immediately tweeted saying, "This is ridiculous!!! Damn!!! World Cup with so much security and this happens. Big joke. Trust me I'm not keen here. Every player lay flat!!!"

The West Indies team media manager Philip Spooner later informed that all the team members were safe. "We left the ground, on our way back to the hotel, a couple of stones did hit our window. Two windows were cracked, but not shattered. Both the teams are now back to the hotel and are safe.

"Everything is fine, everybody is safe. Nobody is injured, no one is hurt. Our manager will notify the respective boards and the ICC. He has spoken to the team and we will leave on Saturday. There is no panic, everybody is fine," Spooner wrote. "They thought that it was the Bangladesh team bus and hurled stones at it," said Imtiaz Ahmad, Mirpur's deputy police commissioner and chief of security.

Bangladesh Cricket Board president Mustafa Kamal apologized saying, "It is unfortunate. There was sufficient security, yet it happened. We are very sorry."

The BCB chief further said that the bus came under the attack soon after it moved out of the security ring of the police outside the stadium. "The stones were flung from afar and six of them hit the windows of the bus," said Kamal.

Spooner, however, said that only two stones hit the windows. The West Indies team will leave for India where they play Ireland in Chandigarh on March 11.

There were incidents of violence, elsewhere too, as fans were disgusted by the home team's poor display. A bus was torched at the Dhaka University (about 10 kms from the stadium) as students watching the match on a giant television screen lost their cool.

Shakib's house stoned

DHAKA: The angst of the Bangladeshi fans continued till late in the night here in Dhaka with the team captain Shakib Al Hasan's house too being targeted. Irate fans attacked Shakib's residence in Keshabmur area of Magura, around 100km southwest of the capital.

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World Cup: India-Ireland game tickets sold out

BANGALORE: If after the India-England tie and Ireland's shock defeat of England, you had suddenly woken up and thought of queuing for a ticket to Sunday's game between India and Ireland, don't bother. "All tickets for the game are sold out," declared Javagal Srinath, the KSCA secretary, on Thursday. "The tickets went on sale from February 18 to 28 and are all gone," he added.

The former India pacer explained exactly where the tickets, all 39,221 of them, went. "With the chairs in the major portion of the gallery being removed, the capacity has gone up to 39,221 (from 38,000). Of this 31% were sold across our counters as well some other retail outlets. A further 21% were sold online, making it 52% for the public," he said.

Going by the stated figures, the KSCA has sold nearly 20,000 tickets to the public, up from the 7,000-odd they had said were sold for the India-England game. Those were the numbers sold at the counters, with online sales not being made public either by the KSCA or the online agency.

The remaining tickets for the India-Ireland game were accounted for by Srinath as follows: Clubs: 10%, corporate sales: 14%, ICC (free of cost tickets): 4%, ICC (option to buy tickets): 6%, BCCI / KSCA invitees: 13%, other state associations: 1%.

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World Cup: Indian team not taking chances for Ireland match

BANGALORE: Ireland's upset victory over England must have certainly sent some danger signals to the Indian camp. The home team must have nursed thoughts of resting Zaheer Khan against Ireland in the next match on Sunday but this result could change everything. No wonder, the Indian paceman was in action at the nets at the KSCA B ground on Thursday.

Before Kevin O'Brien took the wind out of the England side on Wednesday at the Chinnaswamy Stadium, there was a possibility that Zaheer Khan, India's bowling spearhead, would be wrapped in cotton wool and kept away from the matches against the minnows, who have all on a sudden become the dark horses. With the bowling line-up as fragile as Zaheer's body in recent times, it would have made great sense to keep the left-armer, who single-handedly changed the game around against England on Sunday last, away from action.

Not anymore, after Kevin O'Brien's assault on the English bowling and a total as big as 327 chased down in almost unrealistic fashion. But now India's main task is to beat Ireland in Bangalore on Sunday and the Netherlands in Delhi on Wednesday to qualify for the quarterfinal and then take stock to see if anyone needs to be rested.

Zaheer took his time taking to the ball but when he did, he didn't exactly hold back. He is not used to bowling too much at the nets and invariably will not bowl at all on match eve but as and when he does bowl, he is dead serious. So much so that even at the nets, he is one bowler who uses the measuring tape to mark his run-up.

On the morning, it was not just Zaheer who was serious. The bowlers were all there, perhaps having realized that they have come under flak for the right reasons; they must have also realised that a placid pitch does not mean they are helpless. Even Harbhajan Singh was seen flighting the ball for a change.

The most impressive was Ashish Nehra, whose one shout of anguish for a ball he dropped down the leg side to Virat Kohli said it all. The Indians have been doing a lot of planning in the last three days, mental conditioning coach Paddy Upton even holding a drawing board discussion before the start of the nets on Thursday. And obviously one of the points that must have come up is the futility of bowling on both sides of the wicket and making batting even easier in the batsmen-friendly conditions.

Interestingly, after India's tied game last Sunday, some reports underlined the fact that skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni was clueless when England, led by their own skipper Andrew Strauss, went on the rampage. But what could Dhoni have done if the simple practice of 'bowling to the field' was not followed. And just as he can't tell Sachin Tendulkar or Virender Sehwag how to bat, he cannot be expected to tell Harbhajan and company how and where to bowl.

Which is perhaps why the management, instead of having their boys spending all the time batting and bowling, started the morning practice by asking them to throw some tennis balls into buckets. It was probably an exercise to improve concentration and cohesion, whatever that meant. After that the team was persuaded by Tendulkar to unveil their own version of the sprinkler dance made famous by the English players after their Ashes triumph.

It may all may have been done to keep the spirits going but the bottom line is this: Come Sunday, India are up against another challenge. It may be against Ireland but the fact that the tickets have been sold out means that the fans at least haven't taken anything for granted.

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WI vs B'desh: West Indies beat B'desh by 9 wickets

DHAKA: West Indies produced a thumping performance to beat Bangaldesh by 9 wickets in their World Cup Group B match at the Shere Bangla National Stadium in Dhaka on Friday.

Earlier, Left-arm spinner Sulieman Benn claimed four wickets while Kemar Roach and Darren Sammy bagged three wickets each as West Indies destroyed World Cup co-hosts Bangladesh for 58 in their third match in Dhaka on Friday.

Bangladesh looked out of sorts from the very first over when paceman Roach had Tamim Iqbal caught by Sammy at second slip for a duck in the third ball of the innings.

Sammy, coming as first change bowler, struck with his third ball to take other opener Imrul Kayes for five.

Bangladesh never recovered from the damage and lost wickets at regular interval to be dismissed in 18.5 overs.

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