Indian and Sri Lankan Team Reach at Rajkot ahead of the Sunday’s ODI Match

Both Sri Lanka and India have reached at Rajkot ahead of the second ODI match of the ongoing ODI series between Indian and Sri Lanka. The second match of the series will be held on Sunday. The first ODI match at Eden Garden was declared abandoned due to rain having played 18 overs. However, following the alleged match fixing controversy of Nagpur, both ICC and local police are aware of having any such incident. Marlon Samuels, a veteran ODI player of West Indies has been accused by the Nagpur police of having contract with a bookie named Kochar during the Indian vs. West Indies ODI series.

Saharasamay reported:

The ICC team, in coordination with local police, would be keeping an eye on every movement of players from hotel to dressing room.

Through six close circuit cameras in the dressing room, every single movement by the two teams will be recorded even as the local police are all set to monitor any betting activity in the region.

Strict vigil would be maintained to ensure that no unauthorised person gets access to the dressing and hotel rooms, both in person and through phones.

Meanwhile, all eyes are set on the second ODI at Rajkot between the two countries to be played on Sunday.

The BCCI secretary Niranjan Shah, calling the coming match a very important one, said the ICC vigilance team as well as the local police would keep the tab of the developments at Rajkot.

Ahead of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2007, it is very much needed to protect any book making activities in order to have nice tournament. I think ICC should come up with some strict laws against the bookmakers also because there are some laws concerned with the players but the bookmakers can easily escape from the scene.

Show-cause Notice Send to Nimbus due to their Rejection Sharing the Telecast of the Indian-Sri Lanka ODI Series with Doordarshan

There is a dispute going on between two televisions channels of India over the telecast right of India’s cricket match. Nimbus and Doordarshan have shared the series with West Indies but for the series against Sri Lanka Nimbus is reluctant to share the series with Doordarshan. In this regard the Government has sent a show-cause notice to Nimbus.

IBN Live reported:

The Government, which had been already irked with the fact that the two organisations could not come to an agreement over the telecast of the India-West Indies ODI series, has now issued a show-cause notice to Nimbus.

The private broadcaster had been mandated to share the feed with Doordarshan as per an ordinance and the Government now wants to take action against Nimbus.

According to a report in the news agency PTI, Nimbus had refused to share the feed with Doordarshan as it was awaiting the Delhi High Court's decision on the issue.

The matter had come up for hearing in the HC on Thursday but had been posted for further hearing on Friday.

According to penalties in the 'Sports Broadcasting Signals (Mandatory Sharing with Prasar Bharati) Ordinance, 2007', the Government can suspend or revoke a broadcaster's licence, permission or registration, for denying content to Prasar Bharati.

For such rejection Nimbus can be penalized with Rs 1 crore. I think the situation will not be solved so soon because the Indian constitution is involved here. The only way to resolve the matter is to arrange a meting involving both the channels and the government and discuss the matter.

The ongoing India-Sri Lanka Series to be a Crucial Series ahead of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2007

The ongoing series between India and Sri Lanka is going to be a crucial series for the selectors of both the countries as they have to have a close eye on each of the matches as they have to make an initial standing of the final squad of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2007 having seen the performance of the players in the tournament.

On the other hand, the series would be a crucial tournament for the players too as they are now going though a hard time. The players will be under a huge pressure during the tournament as it is the last chance to assure their place in the squad. So the series is a hard tournament for both players and selectors.

The ODI Series between India Vs. Sri Lanka: The Last Chance for Virendra Shewag?

Virender Shewag, one of the most common names of Indian cricket in the recent years, is now under the threat of being irregular. This hard hitter dashing batsmen has played some of the crucial and excellent innings in both ODI and Test Cricket. However, now-a-days he is struggling for runs and could not do well in the last two series which has eventually made him out of the team for the last series between South Africa and India. However, the owner of the highest run scorer in an innings for India has again called for the ongoing Sri Lanka-India series In the last 10 matches he has just a half century and his batting average in the last 10 innings is not even 20 whereas his career average is about 39.

So, it is clear that the series against Sri Lanka is very crucial for the opening batsman and the last chance to prove his form before the World Cup Cricket 2007. That is why, it can easily be said that this right handed benevolent batsman is now under a huge pressure. However, I think he has already proven his class and skill as a batsman and now what is needed now is that to repeat some of his previous performance. Good luck Shewag.

Mahela Jayawardene with His Thoughts on Coming ICC Cricket World Cup 2007

Mahela Jayawardene, the captain of Sri Lankan cricket team is now preparing for the coming world cup cricket 2007. As a captain this would be the first world cup for this excellent batsman and good slip fielder. Though he has given captaincy just a year ago, there is no chance to make question about his cricketing talent and experience. After his bad performance in the last world cup in 2003, he was dropped from the team but with his potential and talent he regained his place at the team has showed some of his master performance which followed getting the captaincy. Recently he has talked about his next mission in India just before the ICC Cricket World Cup West Indies 2007. In the interview he also talked about the world cup squad. The Sunday Times Online reported:

Q: What do you expect from this short tour of India?
A: It is always a challenge to play in India which is tough place to play cricket. We have not fared very well lately in India and I think this offers us a good opportunity to put the record straight.

Q: With the World Cup only a few weeks away, will you be using these four ODI’s to try out things?
A: Yes, we will try a few things in India, but not too many things. We have a balanced side going into India so we have are options open.

Q: Any idea of the type of wickets that will be on offer in West Indies for the World Cup?
A: Tom Moody visited the Caribbean earlier this month and he says that most of the wickets have been laid ahead of the world cup and there are also two or three new venues. So they are going to offer some seam movement as they will be fresh. However it will not be those bouncy type of wickets that West Indies had 10-15 years ago, but there will be some pace on it. Domestic matches played on these tracks have indicated that they are not slow and low.

Q: Are we now settled with our openers and the batting?
A: Sanath and Upul have got us off to some great starts. They complement each other very well. Then my presence at No. 3 is mainly to make the best use of the power plays. But we also have the option of having Marvan who is an opening batsman at number three, something we tried in New Zealand and it worked for us, in which case I will drop to number five. Then Sangakkara comes in at number four and we also have a few inform batsmen coming into the side, so the batting is fairly settled.

Q: Are you comfortable with Marvan batting at number five?
A: Marvan will be used in the middle to consolidate an innings. He is experienced and knows what to do when he bats in the middle. He tackles the slow bowlers very well and rotates the strike constantly. In fact he batted at number five before the injury so that is not an issue.

Q: What about our bowling attack, the medium pacers?
A: After a long time we have got a very attacking unit that can bowl out a side inside the 50 overs which I think is really great. Lasith Malinga has brought in something new to the table, Vaas as always is bowling extremely well, then we have Maharoof who has worked very hard and is now taking wickets. In addition we also have Dilhara who is very aggressive, then Zoysa, Kulasekera and Ruchira are also in the squad.

Q: Do you think we will need a fourth medium pacer in addition to Vaas, Malinga and Maharoof?
A: Obviously, it will depend on the surface that we are playing on. For instance in the last game against New Zealand we went in with four medium pacers and they did the job for us. But if the wicket is conducive to spin we will not need a fourth seamer, instead we can rely on a spinner like Malinga Bandara or Dilshan or Arnold if they are playing to support Murali and Jayasuriya.

Q: You opted to rest Murali and Vaas, what about Lasith Malinga?
A: We will definitely not play him in all games, maybe one or two games only. We are aware that we have to manage him and keep him going. He is young, has a lot of energy and he likes to play every game-but that is definitely not the ideal situation for us.

Q: Captaincy is something that has been thrust on you suddenly. How do you feel to be captaining your country in a World Cup?
A: It has been a ride for me since the last two years or so. From a situation of not being fit enough to be a vice captain not so long ago, here I am captaining Sri Lanka and in a World Cup.

Q: Did you expect it?
A: No. It was totally unexpected. I never thought of captaining after being removed from the vice captaincy. I was only doing a job as Captain until Marvan was fit and ready. But after having a chat with Marvan and the Selectors they wanted me to carry on with the captaincy.

Mahela is an experienced player and a good leader as well. He has the capability to lead Sri Lanka to their second world cup success. However, the pragmatic situation is that Sri Lanka’s recent performance is not that good to bet on Sri Lanka in World Cup. Nevertheless, as the team has both experienced and young players; Sri Lanka is, for sure, a balanced team.