A letter to Indian cricket fan from Sri Lankan cricket fan

Dear Indian fan:

It had hurt us three years back when we saw those videos from Marine Drive and Connaught Place and Park Street from three years back. We, however, did not vow revenge or anything like that (if the team had, they had not let us know). If you had seen our players tonight, they were never arrogant in their celebrations.

The team did not have time to plot revenge: there was a time in 2011 when they did not get paid for eight months(yes, they had come runners-up in the World Cup despite that). They were offered proper contracts only in July 2012. The next year Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) had removed the stipulated players’ share from the International Cricket Council (ICC) events (25%), and it was only after Sanath Jayasuriya had stepped in that the players had agreed. They were not given the profit: they were only promised they would be given the same.

Can you imagine your men playing under such circumstances? No, I guess.

It did not end there. Jayasuriya did keep his word; when the players demanded 20% of the profit, he had put their proposal forward to SLC. When SLC had announced the fresh set of contracts, the ICC events share was not a part of it.

Take a moment to realise this. Put your men in their shoes. The men have been representing their country in the most high-profile event (and have been turning them into successes; they may not have been winning, but they have not exactly failed either), only to be told by SLC that they would not get a part of the profit from that tournament.

This reminded me of international cricket in the pre-Kerry Packer days when players were often told that if they did not want to play for the side there were plenty who would. Your own CK Nayudu, your first Test captain, had done the same to Vinoo Mankad, you may remember.

Anyway, four days before the tournament, SLC raised the topic to the Executive Committee. The players were announced incentives, but there were no ICC events shares announced for them. When the players insisted on the shares, SLC issued a threat that they would send a second-string side to the tournament. This happened on the day the players left for Bangladesh. Our heroes had left for the tournament without contracts.

You see why we don’t stone their houses the way you did Yuvraj Singh’s today? The reason is simple: they have been stabbed by their own board; we are the only ones backing them. With no assured contract, almost no Indian Premier League (IPL) contract against their names, with our own version of the IPL getting cancelled, the pride and fans are all they have while taking on the best of the world in a country away from home.

That is precisely why we never back out when it comes to supporting them: they have lost one final after the other, but we have never lost hope. Can you believe what you would have done to your men if they had lost four world tournament finals in five years? We had not gone after our players’ blood: instead, we had joked that it was our President’s turning up at the venue midway that had tilted the match West Indies’ way in the 2012 World T20 final.

Do you know something? We have grown up in conditions you have seen in newsreels and have read in newspapers, but have never really (I really hope you do not) had real-life brushes. We have grown up in a country where many of us were not sure of our safe return when we left home in the morning.

“Pressure is a Messerschmitt up your arse,” Keith Miller had said once. He had seen death from close quarters. So had we. Which is why defeats do not mean the end of the world for us. In those dark days of internal turmoil,Arjuna Ranatunga and Aravinda de Silva had kept Sri Lankan cricket alive. The 1996 World Cup had a role more significant in our history than you can imagine.

We fell from that zenith, and rose again; and fell again; in Muttiah Muralitharan we found our greatest cricket hero, in Jayasuriya a murderous marauder, in Lasith Malinga a rebellious freak; and then, in the two men who have quit this version of the sport today, the two icons we were left with.

They have given us a lot, and have got hardly anything back in return. The best we could do for them was to turn up in huge numbers and turn the band on, day in and day out. If they won, we were happy; if they did not, we had to accept it. It was like that in the 1980s. It has been like that in the 2010s as well. Three decades ago we used to lose in the league stages; now we lose the finals.

The fact remained that we had not won anything of note barring the 1996 World Cup. Eighteen years have elapsed since that. This win was long due. They have never given up hope in between: they tried, failed, tried, failed, tried, failed, tried, till they succeeded.

It has been our story all along.

It has been the story of the average Sri Lankan.

It has been the story of the Sri Lankan cricketer.

We may not have the best support, but we dream; and we do not give up when our dreams meet a dead end. We have a team where every man is a Robert the Bruce with no spider to show them the way.

We have not forgotten you, though. You [and Pakistan] had visited us before the 1996 World Cup when Australia and West Indies had refused to. We still owe you that.

Sri Lanka is a beautiful [and of late, rather peaceful] place. Come over for a trip some day. We will discuss all kinds of ICC event finals and have a laugh at how we manage to show up in them every now and then. Till then,

A Sri Lankan fan

Author : Abhishek Mukherjee  on Cricketcountry.com

ICC Ambassadors for 2010 - 2011 announced

The ICC today announced the appointment of five current leaders of cricket as its ambassadors for 2010-2011 which includes ICC's flagship event - the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011.
Sri Lanka captain Kumar Sangakkara, England's ICC World Twenty20 2010-winning captain Paul Collingwood, Australia vice-captain Michael Clarke, India vice-captain Virender Sehwag and Simon Taufel of the Emirates Elite Panel of ICC Umpires have agreed to become ICC Ambassadors for a 12-month period.


As such, these highly respected individuals will be called upon to promote and support a variety of ICC events and initiatives, including the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011, THINKWISE, Spirit of Cricket and the Pepsi ICC Development Programme.

By making appearances at press conferences, social events and coaching clinics, the ICC Ambassadors will also provide valuable support and general awareness of the activities of the ICC and its key stakeholders.

Given the distinguished performances of this elite group of professionals, both on and off the cricket field, and the prestige associated with being appointed an ICC Ambassador, 2010-2011 promises to be an exciting year ahead.

For Sangakkara and Taufel, it is the third successive time that they have been appointed as ICC Ambassadors since the programme was launched in 2008 while Collingwood, Clarke and Sehwag have been appointed for the first time.

Previous ICC Ambassadors include Rahul David (India), JP Duminy (South Africa), Charlotte Edwards (England) and Lisa Sthalekar (Australia).

ICC Chief Executive Haroon Lorgat said: "To have such fantastic personalities who are hugely respected figures within the game give their support to the work we do is reassuring.

"Virender, Michael, Kumar, Paul and Simon have so much to offer and to have access to their valuable time and energy for issues of importance to the ICC is beneficial to the game as a whole," he said.

The key is to win matches consistently - Sanga

After reaching the finals of the tri-series with one of Sri Lanka's biggest wins over India, Kumar Sangakkara has said the team must aim at winning consistently, irrespective of the margin of victory. In front of a raucous Sunday crowd, Sri Lanka rolled MS Dhoni's side over for 103, inflicting the largest defeat in India's history in terms of balls remaining.   


"It's a good preparation for the final, but that is a new game six days away," Sangakkara said. "The key is to win matches consistently, wins like this (or) close matches, it doesn't matter if we win matches consistently."


The likes of Muttiah Muralitharan, Sanath Jayasuriya and Chaminda Vaas aren't a part of the current squad, but all of them played their part in Sri Lanka's 245-run walloping of India in the finals of the Coca Cola Champions Trophy in 2000, a victory which Sangakkara termed as their best against India. "The best win against India I guess was in Sharjah, very early in my career, we got 299 and India were 54 all out I think," he said. "That was a great win and that was a great side, with this particular side, with some of our greats who have retired, it's great for our confidence that we can still do things like this."

One of the minor surprises during Sri Lanka's chase on Sunday was the promotion of Mahela Jayawardene to the top of the order, pushing the specialist opener, Upul Tharanga, down to No. 3. Jayawardene didn't open the innings for a decade after his debut in one-dayers, but has two hundreds in the five times he has opened, and has also recently taken to opening for Sri Lanka in Twenty20s.

"We've got to understand that players evolve, MJ is the best batsman we have without a doubt, to me he's been ideal for us in the middle order," Sangakkara said. "But Mahela over the last year and a half has shown a liking to open, if his mindset is more free to go up top of the order, then guys like me, other players must back that decision, we've got to move down the order and take responsibility."

Sangakkara said the move was a one-off, and the Jayawardene wasn't yet penciled in for the opener's slot for the final. Sri Lanka have five days to plan their strategy for the final, and the team decided to take Monday off, heading to the beaches of Trincomalee, two-and-half hours away from Dambulla.

Siddarth Ravindran is a sub-editor at Cricinfo

 Feeds: Siddarth Ravindran

Source :© ESPN EMEA Ltd.

Kumar Sangakkara is not guilty, says ICC

Dambulla: The ICC on Saturday gave a clean chit to Kumar Sangakkara, who was involved in an unsavoury incident with New Zealand all-rounder Nathan McCullum during a tri-series match, saying the Sri Lanka captain was found not guilty of breaching the ICC Code of Conduct.

Match referee Alan Hurst gave Sangakkara the benefit of doubt after watching video recording of the incident in which he had collided with McCullum, trying to ground his bat while taking a run during the washed out match in Dambulla, on Friday.


“I looked at video footage of the incident from various angles and considered the detailed evidence of the umpires. I found that video evidence that was put forward by the player provided reasonable doubt as to whether the contact was deliberate,” Hurst said.
Sangakkara was charged with a Level 2 offence, contrary to clause 2.2.4 of the ICC Code of Conduct for Players or Team Officials, which relates to “inappropriate and deliberate physical contact between players in the course of play,” the game’s world body said in a release.


Further Sanga  said :  “When I was finising the first run, the bowler has to be behind the wicket or aside, especially a spinner. When I ran for the first run, I knew there was two runs. That’s my duty. On my last two steps, for some reason, McCullum came out of the crease and was obstructing my way,” 
“I don’t know whether it was done purposefully, I didn’t have anything to do. When on crease, there was some contact. When that happened, my head also had turned the other way. He took offence with that and complained to the umpire.

“On that incident, the three Sri Lankan umpires – Tyron Wijewardene, Ranmore Martinez and Gamini Dissanayake – told the Match Referee that I was at wrong. Not McCullum. But the Match Referee saw all visuals and decided that I was not at fault,” Sangakkara told reporters at the pre-match press conference.
“Depends on how the charge sheet was made. In a situation like that, it should be either both players or the video footage should be looked at. The bowler moves in the line of a batsman and the batsman has no way to avoid contact, if he does, he can be run out,” the Sri Lankan skipper.

“Sometime, bowlers may tend to do it to deny the batsmen being comfortable and going for the second. That’s bit of speculation. The Match Refere after viewing the footage, didn’t find anything wrong,” he said.

“The way it happened, I had no way of avoiding collision. I tried my best to make sure that the bat was away. I would have done an injury had I gone straight into him. I managed to avoid that, even at the lat moment, he was moving to my way. Match Referee saw what happened,” he added.


SOURCE : ZEECRIC

Sanga charged with level 2 offence for collision

Dambulla: There seems to be no respite for controversy-ridden Sri Lanka as the hosts were today involved in yet another unsavoury incident with skipper Kumar Sangakkara colliding with New Zealand all-rounder Nathan McCullum in a tri-series match here on Friday.

The incident happened in the 26.5 over, when after flicking a ball to fine-leg region, Sangakkara bumped into McCullum while trying to ground his bat to take his run.

The bowler didn’t like it and complained to the umpires, who reported it to the Match Referee and Sangakkara was charged with a level 2 offence for the incident.

Talking about the incident, former skipper Mahela Jayawardene said it was not done intentionally by Sangakkara as he was “blinded” when he took the run.

“It was not intentional. Sangakkara collided with a bowlers and the bowler complained to the umpire. But Sangakkara didn’t do it intentionally. He was blind when he took the run. Both the players spoke about it in the dressing room,” Jayawardene said.



This incident comes days after Sri Lanka were embroiled in a demoralising no-ball controversy in their second game against India on Monday.

Off-spinner Suraj Randiv was banned for one game by Sri Lanka Cricket for bowling a no-ball to Virender Sehwag at the fag end of the match to deprive the Indian opener his century.

• Rain abandon match as Lanka, NZ share points

Senior batsman Tillakaratne Dilshan docked of his entire match fee after local media reported that he coaxed Randiv to bowl the no-ball.

The SLC also reprimanded Sangakkara that no such incident should happen in future.

Sangakkara was not happy with Sehwag speaking in two voices on the controversy and “sensationalising” the issue.

Dambulla: Sri Lankan captain Kumar Sangakkara in a press conference on Wednesday downplayed the recent no-ball controversy as “unfortunate” and also blamed Indian opener Virender Sehwag for blowing the controversy out of proportion.

Sangakkara was not happy with Sehwag speaking in two voices on the controversy and “sensationalising” the issue.

“We can’t expect just one side to keep making advances and holding out the hand while it has been sensationalised by other players. I think everyone has got the responsibility to move on from this incident,” he said when asked if Sri Lankan team has anything to say to Sehwag.

“He said one thing at match presentation and there was a mark contrast in the press conference with regard to that no ball. I have spoken to Mahi (M S Dhoni) and Gary Kirsten. Sehwag has tweeted that there have been other approaches made to him. I think if you all talk of the spirit of the game, once you set right things in motion, it’s the responsibility of all players, to be within that spirit,” he added.

He also seemed to suggest that there was no deliberate act by any of Sri Lankan players in denying a century to Sachin Tendulkar in Cuttack as has been said by Sehwag.
“There’s been this incident in Cuttack been brought up. I have seen the replay of it and that was actually a leg-bye. The umpire signalled a bye and the batsman implied that he might have even hit it.

“So there are various incidents that happen along the way, our job is to rise above that whether it’s been incidents in Pakistan, political interference, racism. The incident like this will happen, but we need to make sure to minimise it or eradicate it and to make sure to play with the spirit of the game and continue the relationships we have.

“There have been abuses of players and there have been incidents in the recent past. India-Australia has been acrimonious, all of those things have been left on the field and the players have got on with the game,” he said.

Asked about local media reports that Tillakaratne Dilshan had suggested Randiv to bowl the no-ball, Sangakkara said, “The Board will inquire into the matter, taking into account all the statements made by the players, the views I have communicated to them, the views of manager. It doesn’t matter; one person or five persons did it.
End of the day, the team, has to face the consequences.”
He said he at first thought Sehwag would get his century after the Randiv no-ball was hit for a six only to realise later that it was not so under MCC Laws of Cricket.

“We were under impression that in normal situations of the game even in a no ball, you get the runs. I was under the impression that Sehwag was on 105. There was no instance we thought he was denied a 100. Tony Greig asked me at the post-match presentation, Sehwag was denied a hundred. That was a surprise to me, I don’t think anyone understood intricacies of the law in first place,” he said.

“We had no inclination to deny Sehwag a hundred. If you need three runs to win and four runs to get a hundred, if you score a boundary, you do get a hundred. I would have thought that if he was stumped off a wide, we would have denied him. Maybe it’s something to remember that if someone balls a wide with one run to win you can charge down the wicket and miss it if it is wide,” said Sangakkara.

Sangakkara conceded that the no-ball controversy has damaged the reputation of Sri Lanka who won ICC Spirit of the Game Award twice in the past.

“There’s been some damage done to the reputation. But, that reputation can’t be taken away from us completely, because over the years we have done well. It’s not the first time an incident like this has happened in the world, there have been incidents similar to this.

“In my 10 years, I have been through that run out in New Zealand, ball changing incident in 2006, which affected our team. We made those things known, and in retrospect, when we do things over again, the responsibility is on us to make sure that we play cricket in the right spirit. If there’s anything that we do, if it’s against it, it disappoints us,” he said.

“It will not affect the relationships at all,” he added when asked if the controversy could impact on India-Sri Lanka relationship.

Sangakkara said his side will have to forget the no-ball incident and focus on the game ahead tomorrow.

“As professionals, whatever happens before games or after games, it’s immaterial when we go onto the field. There the focus is to win the game and try things out. Our job is to make sure even if there’s no consistency, we fight it out.

“If conditions are not suitable, we need to try and make use of whatever the advantages to get out a win, that could be batting for much longer, maybe fighting out defendable totals. If we are chasing, do things in a bit of different ways. All those factors need to be taken into account. Our job is to try and win conditions and the game,” Sangakkara said.

He indicated there could be some changes from the playing XI that lost to India in their last match on Monday.

“We choose the team according to the track and the opposition. There will be some changes with the spin department, on batting as well, we have a few things to think. We will decide later,” he said.

He also said that winning the toss was advantage at the Rangiri Dambulla International Stadium.

“Toss has some advantage in Dambulla, but you gain that advantage only by the way you play the game. Simply because you win the toss, you don’t win a game. We need to get away from that mentality. A good team is one that does well despite being facing tough situations. With the media scrutiny on the no ball, you have an important game ahead (against New Zealand),” said Sangakkara. 


SOURCE : ZEECRIC

The player who did it should be punished as it is against the spirit of cricket - Sanga

Dambulla: Sri Lankan captain Kumar Sangakkara finally took full moral responsibility for Suraj Randiv’s no-ball fiasco that denied Indian legend Virender Sehwag a well-deserved ton during their team’s 6-wicket defeat to India on Monday.

Addressing the media in Dambulla, Sangakkara, who was also in the scanner for instructing Randiv to bowl a no-ball, said: “I take full moral responsibility on behalf of the Sri Lankan team for the entire fiasco and it’s now with the Sri Lankan Cricket Board to take whatever decision they take against the offending player.”

He said that the player, who had instructed Randiv to bowl a no-ball when Sehwag was on 99, should be punished. “The player who did it should be punished as it is against the spirit of cricket,” said the Sri Lankan captain.

He also said that the team has put the incident behind them and want to move on. Though, he assured that in future, Sri Lankan would try to adhere to the spirit of cricket and would never indulge in such activities. 

“We have put the entire incident behind us and want to move on in the series,” said Sangakkara ahead of their crucial do-or-die match against New Zealand tomorrow. 

Earlier, it was reported that it was not captain Kumar Sangakkara but Sri Lankan opening batsman Tillekeratne Dilshan who instructed off-spinner Suraj Randiv to bowl a no-ball so as to prevent Virender Sehwag from completing his century. 

Sri Lankan media reported on Wednesday that Dilshan, Sehwag’s Delhi Daredevils team-mate, who was at cover point when Randiv bowled that infamous no-ball, shouted in Sinhalese (oney nam, no-ball ekak danna puluwan), instructing Randiv that ‘if you want, you can bowl a no-ball’. 

Earlier in the day, Sri Lankan cricket board was examining stump microphone audios to determine whether Sangakkara or any of his teammates had played a role in coaxing Suraj Randiv to bowl a ‘no-ball’ to prevent Sehwag from scoring a century.

Earlier, it was reported that a six-member committee of Sri Lanka Cricket would meet this afternoon to take action on the recommendations of team manager who probed the `no-ball` controversy during the home side’s tri-series match against India on Monday.

"A six-member interim committee has been set up by the SLC to consider the recommendations in the report submitted by team manager last night," a top source said today.

The meeting will be held after 2 pm local time in Colombo.

The source said the meeting will focus on the video footages of the last three balls of India`s run chase in the tri-series match which the visiting side won by six wickets.

Sri Lanka Cricket interim chairman DS de Silva will head the committee while his secretary Nishantha Ranatunga and treasurer Sujeewa Rajapakse and three other SLC officials are the other members.

Sehwag was just one short of his 13th ODI hundred when off-spinner Suraj Randiv, who had not bowled a no ball in the Test or ODI series this season, bowled one which was hit by the opener for a six.

SOURCE : ZEECRIC

Sanga says the team is not distracted by the no-ball controversy.

 Anyone looking to predict how the second half of the tri-series will pan out will have a hard time finding a pattern from the first set of league matches. Consistency has eluded all three teams, each of whom have had one comfortable victory and one big defeat so far. The team losing on Thursday will be left staring at a must-win situation in their final league match.


Missing out on a bonus point has left Sri Lanka at a bit of a disadvantage, but their immediate challenge will be to switch the focus back to cricket after the brouhaha over the Suraj Randiv no-ball incident. There have been accusations of breaching the spirit of cricket, apologies aplenty and an internal probe into the incident by the Sri Lankan board. The controversy overshadowed a comprehensive defeat to India, after which Kumar Sangakkara criticised his team for batting that was "not at all professional and not up to standard at this level of cricket".

New Zealand are coming off a five-day break in their first tournament after a few months off. Their captain Ross Taylor thinks the extra rest could work in their favour since Sri Lanka are playing their third straight match of the tri-series after coming into the tournament on the back of a draining three-Test series against India. One of New Zealand's main worries will be the top-order batting. They have lost three wickets cheaply in both matches, leaving the middle order plenty of rescue-and-recovery work.

Form guide

(most recent first)
Sri Lanka: LWLWW
New Zealand:LWWLL

Watch out for...

Kane Williamson has had a difficult initiation to international cricket, he's yet to score a run after two innings. Talked up by Ross Taylor ahead of the series and rated as New Zealand's best backfoot player by the coach of his domestic side, Northern Districts, 20-year-old Williamson will be keen to justify the hype surrounding his call-up.

Another player who has had a couple of failures in the tournament is Mahela Jayawardene. A couple of months ago in Dambulla, he effortlessly piled on the runs during the Asia Cup to smoothen Sri Lanka's path to the final. He will be looking to recapture that form as the tussle for a final's spot heats up.

Team news

Given how little New Zealand have seen of Ajantha Mendis, the spinner could get a look-in ahead of Dilhara Fernando. It remains to be seen whether Sri Lanka will tinker with their lower middle order of Thilan Samaraweera and Chamara Kapugedera.

Sri Lanka: 1 Tillakaratne Dilshan, 2 Upul Tharanga, 3 Kumar Sangakkara (capt & wk), 4 Mahela Jayawardene, 5 Angelo Mathews, 6 Thilan Samaraweera, 7 Chamara Kapugedera, 8 Nuwan Kulasekara, 9 Suraj Randiv, 10 Ajantha Mendis/Dilhara Fernando, 11 Lasith Malinga

Allrounder Jacob Oram is expected to be back after missing the previous match due to a hamstring problem. New Zealand are likely to have to choose between Andy McKay and Tim Southee, both of whom had poor games against Sri Lanka last Friday, for a fast bowling slot.

New Zealand: 1 Martin Guptill, 2 BJ Watling, 3 Ross Taylor (capt), 4 Kane Williamson, 5 Scott Styris, 6 Jacob Oram, 7 Gareth Hopkins (wk), 8 Nathan McCullum, 9 Kyle Mills, 10 Daryl Tuffey, 11 Tim Southee/Andy McKay

Pitch and conditions

The match will be played on the same pitch used for previous matches. Both captains have talked about how the ball seams more under lights but swings less than it does during the day. Ross Taylor reckons 230-240 will be a par score.

The three captains have had differing views on the importance of the toss: MS Dhoni thinks it crucial, Taylor says it doesn't have big influence on the game while Sangakkara says it gives a slight advantage. Expect the captain calling correctly to choose to bat, though.

Quotes

"The openers are there and it is a tough job when the ball does swing around. I am sure they are used to it and hopefully we can lose less wickets at the top and give ourselves a better chance through the middle."
Ross Taylor backs his struggling top order to come good

"As professionals, whatever happens before games or after games, it's immaterial when we go onto the field. There the focus is to win the game and try things out."
Kumar Sangakkara says the team is not distracted by the no-ball controversy

Source : ESPN

Sangakkara wary of wounded India’s comeback....

Dambulla: India might have been robbed off valuable practice ahead of their second tri-series match, but Sri Lankan skipper Kumar Sangakkara does not feel that the visitors will be under prepared for Sunday’s game and his side is wary of their sub-continental neighbours.

India’s Saturday practice session was reduced to a mere fielding drill as the visiting team preferred not to have any batting practice due to poor pitches.

An angry M S Dhoni had walked out of the session after finding the practice pitches damp and full of grass and Dinesh Karthik injured his thumb.

“I don’t think India are going into tomorrow’s match unprepared. Sides don’t practice one day, it doesn’t mean you aren’t prepared. We would like to practice properly every day but preparation is something sides do very differently,” Sangakkara said at the pre-match press conference.



“It will depend on what they are thinking about and the Indian team know that they are a good side.

“In ODI and T20 cricket, it doesn’t matter what you have done even the day before. If you come in and perform well the next day, you can still win. So we know how dangerous India is. We know what we have got to do, so we will try and do our disciplines better than India hopefully tomorrow,” he added.

Sangakkara said despite missing pace spearhead Zaheer Khan, Indian fast bowlers have done well on the tour so far.

“I think the Indian bowlers are all very good bowlers. It doesn’t matter whether (Abhimanyu) Mithun was new. I thought he bowled exceptionally well during the Test series and he didn’t do anything wrong in the first one-dayer either.

“I think the fatigue got to him maybe a bit. Whatever the bowlers do, I think they will enjoy bowling on a track like this,” he said.

Sangakkara emphasised the need to rotate pacers in the wake of increasing workload and put the onus on the selectors to take decisions in this regard.

The Lankan captain also said that the players have to be assured of their places when rotation policy is implemented otherwise it will create mistrust and rift in the side.

“From team point of view, we can recommend rest to certain players, especially fast bowlers because of their load. But the final call has to come from selectors, otherwise there is too much responsibility on individual player.

“And when you have a rotational policy, I think it is important that the player has the confidence that if you are rotated out of the team, you get first choice back. It doesn’t matter if your replacement scores a hundred or a double.”

“I think everyone must understand that and must be convinced about merits of rotational policy. Bowlers will be rotated more often and batsmen less because you want a batsman to be always among runs,” he said.

Source: ZEECRIC

‎"If you can't win batting under lights, you are not a good team". - Sanga

The recent contests between Sri Lanka and India have had an interesting subplot: Kumar Sangakkara v MS Dhoni. The Indian captain made his views clear about the floodlights in Dambulla, the poor practice pitches, the toss factor, and the difficulty of chasing a target. Sangakkara, on the other hand, said, "If you can't win batting under lights, you are not a good team". He wasn't responding to Dhoni at the time, but Sri Lanka chased a target with ease against New Zealand, after India had lost to the same team by 200 runs. Both Sangakkara and Dhoni are also planning for the World Cup, assessing the arsenal at their disposal. Monday's game gives them another opportunity to find answers to certain questions.

India's questions are several: Is Ravindra Jadeja good enough? Is there an in-form allrounder who can replace Jadeja, or should the part-time spinners fill the role of the fifth bowler in the subcontinent? Is medium-pacer Abhimanyu Mithun good enough? Should Virat Kohli play in the middle order, or should Rohit Sharma be persisted with? Will Ishant Sharma's form dip further if he is looted for runs in this format? And how long will Dinesh Karthik continue to squander starts?

For quite some time Sri Lanka, too, have had problems with their combination. Can Chamara Kapugedera grab one of his numerous opportunities, or it time to give Dinesh Chandimal a run? Is Thilan Samaraweera a good fit for ODIs or should he be replaced with either Chamara Silva or Thisara Perera? Should Suraj Randiv be played with Ajantha Mendis or with Rangana Herath? Should Dilhara Fernando be given a game here and there?

In the short term, however, Monday's match is crucial to India's hopes of staying alive in the tri-series but they have been dealt a blow by the absence of Yuvraj Singh, who has been diagnosed with dengue fever. Ashish Nehra, who has some trouble with his gluteus muscles, is also uncertain.

A second defeat, following the bonus-point loss to New Zealand, will make it hard for Dhoni's men to engineer a turnaround. An Indian victory will leave all three teams on a win each and the tri-series wide open.