Taylor to captain New Zealand in Sri Lanka tri-series

Ross Taylor has been appointed New Zealand captain for the tri-series in Sri Lanka in August. The national selectors have rested two key senior players in regular captain Daniel Vettori and Brendon McCullum for the tournament in Dambulla, also involving India. Vettori and McCullum have both been granted paternity leave and will also spend their time away reconditioning themselves for the busy season ahead. Fast bowler Kyle Mills will be Taylor's deputy.

The 15-man squad features the rookie batsman Kane Williamson, who led New Zealand in the 2008 Under-19 World Cup in Malaysia. He was called-up to the Test squad for the home series against Australia earlier this year, but is yet to make his international debut.

Mark Greatbatch, the chairman of selectors, said the tour would be an opportunity for Taylor to sharpen his leadership skills in Vettori's absence.

"With Daniel not touring Sri Lanka, it provides an opportunity for Ross to further develop his captaincy skills," Greatbatch said. "Ross was vice-captain for a portion of last season and did a great job leading the Blackcaps (New Zealand) to victory against Australia in Napier earlier in the year when Daniel was injured.

"Vettori will not be going to Sri Lanka as the tour coincides with the birth of his second child and New Zealand Cricket (NZC) supports his wishes to spend time with his family. He will also use this period to continue with his conditioning programme in preparation for the rigorous international schedule ahead."

McCullum had earlier skipped the short tour of USA after the World Twenty20 to rest ahead of future tours. His participation for the tri-series was anyway in doubt, as the birth of his child was expected in the middle of the year, and Greatbatch said the break should also benefit him in the long run.

"He (McCullum) has played over 200 consecutive games for New Zealand and with a significant schedule ahead that culminates with a World Cup early next year, NZC believes it appropriate that McCullum spends the time reconditioning in New Zealand," Greatbatch said. "He is also expecting the birth of his second child in July."

Returning to the squad after injury lay-offs are allrounder Grant Elliott and batsman Jesse Ryder. "Grant Elliott comes back after a lengthy period out of the game. He was a key member of our ODI team prior to his injury, and it is great to have him back," Greatbatch said. "Jesse Ryder is also returning to the team having sustained an elbow injury during the World T20 in the West Indies.

"Kane Williamson gets his first tour with the Blackcaps based on his excellent domestic first-class one-day form."

Taylor has established himself as one of the premier batsmen in the team in all formats and he said his latest elevation was an honour. "It was a pretty special feeling when the selectors approached me," Taylor said. "While I appreciate it will be a tough tour against quality opposition, it represents a good opportunity for players to experience subcontinent conditions, particularly with the World Cup on the horizon."

The tri-series is scheduled between August 10 to 28. The same three teams contested a tri-series in Sri Lanka last year but New Zealand failed to make the final.

Squad: Ross Taylor (capt), Kyle Mills (vice-capt), Grant Elliott, Martin Guptill, Gareth Hopkins (wk), Nathan McCullum, Andy McKay, Jacob Oram, Jeetan Patel, Jesse Ryder, Tim Southee, Scott Styris, Daryl Tuffey, BJ Watling, Kane Williamson

Yuvraj recalled for Sri Lanka Tests

Yuvraj Singh, who was dropped for the recently concluded Asia Cup, has been recalled to India's squad for the three-Test series in Sri Lanka starting July 18. Suresh Raina, who has been part of Test squads before as injury cover, made it as a first-choice player for the first time. As expected, the selectors went back to Ishant Sharma and Sreesanth to partner Zaheer Khan in the pace department, and three spinners were selected, which meant both Amit Mishra and Pragyan Ojha were in. A 16-man member squad was chosen to include a reserve wicketkeeper, Wriddhiman Saha.

Earlier this month, Yuvraj was dropped from the limited-overs side for the first time since he cemented his place in the early 2000s. Fitness, more than form, was seen as the reason behind the move: he hadn't been in droppable form in international cricket. The drop was seen as a necessary wake-up call for him. Captain MS Dhoni, however, is a big fan of Yuvraj's talent, and could have insisted that he be recalled. The selectors perhaps thought that the necessary message had been delivered.

The other middle-order selection was due. Raina was part of the squad for India's last Test, against South Africa in February, but only because of a spate of injuries. Since then he has shown he can survive in international cricket despite an obvious weakness against the short ball. It cannot be denied that he has been scoring consistently despite that awkwardness.

A week after he played a winning hand against Pakistan in the Asia Cup, ticking the box of performing in pressure situations, Raina is confident, willing and fit. It is perhaps the best time to put him through the big test, to find out if he can emulate the likes of Steve Waugh and Sourav Ganguly, who were successful in Tests even though Waugh eliminated the hook shot and Ganguly always had to work hard to fight his weakness against the short ball. To think of Waugh and Ganguly is a step too far, but Raina deserved a chance to fail, and he has earned it.

Ishant and Sreesanth, part of India's last Test squad, have gone through pretty ordinary times in limited-overs cricket since then, both in the IPL and while playing for India. They were duly dropped, but are still the best bets for the Test side. More so because none of the alternatives tried in their absence have impressed enough. And Ashish Nehra is not willing to play Tests, while Praveen Kumar is strictly a limited-overs bowler.

More importantly, this selection could point to a practical outlook from the selectors, that of having identified Ishant and Sreesanth as Test specialists, and having realised the need to protect them from the excessive one-day cricket, which could have played a part in their downfall.

Lack of alternatives could have prompted India to go for three spinners, giving Ojha another chance in a Test squad. India, however, are likely to play two seamers and two spinners barring extraordinary circumstances, and the three-day game at Nondescripts Cricket Club should provide a good competition between Ishant and Sreesanth, and Mishra and Ojha.

Squad: MS Dhoni (wk & capt.), Gautam Gambhir, Virender Sehwag (vice-capt.), Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, M Vijay, Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina, Ishant Sharma, Sreesanth, Amit Mishra, Pragyan Ojha, Wriddhiman Saha (wk)

Seamers set up India's thumping title win

India 268 for 6 (Karthik 66) beat Sri Lanka 187 (Kapugedera 55*, Nehra 4-40) by 81 runs

India's under-fire seam attack came good when it mattered, setting up fourth win in seven tournament finals for MS Dhoni's side, a statistic that makes a mockery of India's abysmal record in finals. The conditions did support them as they were bowling under the lights in Dambulla, but it was a huge improvement from two nights ago: all three of Praveen Kumar, Zaheer Khan and Ashish Nehra bowled tight lines, all three got movement both ways, extra bounce, and consequently wickets.

Sri Lanka could have restricted India to about 30 fewer than the 268 had they fielded as well as they usually do and had they attacked a bit more. India could have got about 30 more had Dinesh Karthik, the best of the batsmen on the day, and Dhoni not gifted wickets to Thilina Kandamby's erroneous part-time legbreaks. All that, however, ceased to matter by the time India's three medium-pacers were done with their first spells, the collated figures of which read 19-2-61-5.

Nehra proved to be the deadliest of three, repeatedly making the ball land on the seam, also regaining his special ability of getting swing with back-of-a-length deliveries. Two of his four wickets were Sri Lanka's best batsmen, Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara. The third was one of the smarter ones, Angelo Mathews.

The man who is used to make impact, though, was removed by Praveen in the first over. Tillakaratne Dilshan took one sighter, and went after the next. It was a bouncer wide outside off stump, and the pull went only as far as mid-on. Zaheer and Praveen then worked hard for the next wicket, troubling the two left-hand batsmen, Sangakkara and Upul Tharanga, with consistent movement.

The wicket eventually came through a forgettable choice from Tharanga. Earlier in the same over Zaheer had hit Sangakkara twice in the thigh area with sharp inward movement. Still Tharanga chose to leave one alone without even covering the stumps. The top of off was hit.

Jayawardene and Sangakkara would have been relieved to see Zaheer (5-1-17-1) off, but it was short-lived. With his second ball, Nehra nearly got Jayawardene lbw, the ball swinging in. In his second over, he got extra bounce and away movement, getting that edge. At 49 for 3 in the 14th over, Sri Lanka were under extreme pressure. Which could perhaps explain Mathews' loose shot two balls later, edging a short and wide delivery.

Nehra's swing continued and Sangakkara tried to do something with the only delivery that looked too short. It bounced too high and Sangakkara was gone in the 16th over, which made it three wickets for eight runs since Nehra's introduction. Praveen played his part from the other end, bowling nine overs of steady away swing from left-hand batsmen for 29 runs.

Nehra produced perhaps his best deliveries for Chamara Kapugedera, getting vicious swing from back of a length, hitting him repeatedly in the thigh-rib region. In his fifth over, Nehra provided some respite, giving Kandamby both width and the angle down the leg side.

It was too late and too little for Kandamby, two of whose best innings have come in losing causes from desperate positions against India. That job of raising hope was left to Kapugedera and Nuwan Kulasekara, who added 35 in the batting Powerplay taken in the 36th over. It brought the defeat margin down to two figures, but couldn't mask the one-sided nature of the contest.

The first half of the match was more even, and it went this way and that. After Gautam Gambhir wasted a decent start and two lives behind the wicket with a lazy run-out, Karthik wrested the initiative through three punched boundaries in the eight over, bowled by Farveez Maharoof.

Maharoof was to endure an ordinary day, being slow in the outfield, dropping a half chance from Karthik, and failing with the bat too. Along with Maharoof, Kandamby's tardiness in the outfield hurt Sri Lanka bad. His drop of Gambhir may not have hurt them hugely, but his reluctance to dive and slowness in acting did.

Kandamby made up though, with a nice juicy full toss and a long hop wide outside off. The first one somehow seduced Karthik into finding deep square leg's lap, and the second got Dhoni to hit straight to point. That brought India down to 167 for 4 in the 33rd over, and Sri Lanka were one wicket away from the long Indian tail.

Sangakkara, though, surprisingly chose his lucky part-timers over peppering Suresh Raina and Rohit with bouncers. When Lasith Malinga was eventually brought back in the 39th over, India were nearing 200. In his second over, Malinga showed why he should have been bowling as soon as Raina came out. Five awkwardly played short balls were followed by a deadly yorker that caught him on the crease.

Having seen a lower-order collapse lose them the previous match, India were circumspect, Kulasekara was accurate, and only 55 came in the last 10 overs. In the final equation, though, that didn't matter.

Sri Lanka talk tough before Asia Cup final v India

COLOMBO (Reuters) - Sri Lanka captain Kumar Sangakkara warned that his team would "hit the ground running" against India in Thursday's Asia Cup final at Dambulla.
"A final is a final," he told reporters on Wednesday. "Winning an Asia Cup especially at home would be a special thing.
"It's going to really inspire us and we are going to hit the ground running and really try and win it."
India's captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, meawhile, insisted his team was not under any added pressure despite being beaten by the hosts by seven wickets in their final pool match.
"As a cricketer you see it as just another game," he said. "There is no point thinking it as a final. We are playing against Sri Lanka, that's it."
Dhoni demanded more consistency from his bowlers.
"I think they have done decently for us in patches," he said.
"It will be really good to win a few games where you put 240 or 260 on the board and win.
"You can't all the time expect your batsmen to score 280 or more and make you win the game.
"It will be good if we can do that. But then again our strength has been batting. We are a side that relies more on our batting than our bowling."
Sri Lanka, who had never batted under lights in their previous two matches against Pakistan and Bangladesh, invited India to bat first earlier this week.
"It was another step towards challenging ourselves to get a bit better and a bit tougher," said Sangakkara, whose are aiming for a hat-trick of Asia Cup wins after winning in 2006 and 2008.
Teams
India (from): Mahendra Singh Dhoni (captain), Gautam Gambhir, Dinesh Kartik, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Ravindra Jadeja, Zaheer Khan, Praveen Kumar, Suresh Raina, Harbhajan Singh, Ashish Nehra, Ashok Dinda, Pragyan Ojha.
Sri Lanka (from): Kumar Sangakkara (captain), Tillakaratne Dilshan, Upul Tharanga, Mahela Jayawardene, Thilan Samaraweera, Angelo Mathews, Chamara Kapugedera, Nuwan Kulasekara, Lasith Malinga, Muttiah Muralidaran, Farveez Maharoof, Thilina Kandamby, Chanaka Welagedera, Rangana Herath, Suraj Randiv.

Nash and Chanderpaul script Windies fightback

West Indies finally claimed ownership of an entire day's play and it came via a defiant double-century partnership between the two most patient batsmen in the line-up, Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Brendan Nash. The pair hit counter-attacking centuries to negate the aggression of the seamers and blunt out anything the slower bowlers dished out on what continued to be an unresponsive surface. West Indies breezed past the follow-on mark and redressed the balance after two days of toil in the field.

What was impressive from West Indies' point of view was the willingness to stick it out for as long as possible. South Africa had them on a leash on a slow morning, but the hosts didn't allow the pressure of two hours of attritional cricket to get to their heads and try anything silly. In that sense, West Indies were lucky that Nash and Chanderpaul were around to guide them. They may not match each other stance for stance or stroke for stroke, but in terms of temperament, they're on par. Their understanding of each other's game was evident in the way they kept pushing the scoring with singles and twos.

There was greater freedom of expression in the batting once Nash walked in after lunch. The batsmen were prepared to reach out to deliveries wide of the off stump and also exploit the wide gaps on the on side if the bowlers dropped it short. Before lunch, Chanderpaul looked circumspect outside his off stump against Morne Morkel. When Dale Steyn banged one in short, Chanderpaul took his eyes off and copped a blow on the grill.

After initially exercising caution outside his off stump, Chanderpaul started reaching out to the fuller ones shaping away, opening the face of the bat to glide it through the off side. Paul Harris hardly got any turn or bounce and Chanderpaul swept him powerfully behind square leg to bring up his fifty. There was a backward short leg in place for the spinner, but he was unemployed through the day.

Chanderpaul was also lucky to have a like-minded partner in Nash, back in his familiar No.5 position. He began by swatting Jacques Kallis past midwicket and didn't appear to be too bothered about the packed off-side field, which included two slips and two gullys. Morkel was guilty of giving width and Nash obliged by spanking fours past backward point off the front foot. Apart from a couple of edges to slip, some of which went for four, it was a neat innings.

The docile surface had no demons in it to worry the batsmen and Chanderpaul exploited that by regularly shuffling across the stumps to either flick the full-pitched balls or pull the short deliveries. Nash too wasn't afraid to swat away the short deliveries and that seemed to wind up an exasperated Steyn, who had a few words to say to him.

Nash's strength was primarily on the off side. Morkel was ineffective against him as Nash brought out the horizontal bat shots to steer the ball past gully. When he bowled it even shorter, Nash slashed over third man. Harris came round the wicket but Nash rocked back and cut him for fours in front of square.

He raced towards his century with a slash over slip off Steyn and biffed one past midwicket to reach three figures for the second time in his career, watched by his family in the stands. He had added 220 with Chanderpaul before AB de Villiers sent him back with a sharp bit of fielding, effecting a direct hit from gully.

Chanderpaul too progressed towards his century by milking the spinners, even employing the slog sweep. He reached his 22nd century with a square drive to point, and at the fag end of the day, brought up his 150. Dwayne Bravo played a quiet little supporting act after Nash's fall, adding an unbeaten 53 with Chanderpaul.

The pace of cricket was in contrast to the morning session, when only 40 runs were scored. Though South Africa didn't run through the top order as they would have hoped, they succeeded in applying pressure with their probing line outside off stump, backed by intelligent field placements. Boundary balls were few and far between as the seamers kept shaping the ball away with an expectant slip cordon and close catchers like silly mid-off waiting for a mistake.

Soon after reaching his fifty, Chris Gayle was out dragging a full ball from Morkel on to his stumps without any foot movement. The patient Narsingh Deonarine steered towards point at the stroke of lunch to bring up a workmanlike fifty. Having spent enough time getting his eye in, Deonarine pressed the pedal after lunch against the slower pace of Kallis. A few whiplashes over the off side gave the innings much-needed impetus but he soon caused his own downfall when, cramped for room trying to cut Steyn from round the wicket, he chopped it onto his stumps. It was similar to Gayle's dismissal, but in this instance it was more a wrong choice of shot.

Deonarine and Gayle would have punished themselves for not converting their fifties. Nash and Chanderpaul ensured they didn't make the same mistake.

Pakistan eliminated in cliffhanger

India 271 for 7 (Gambhir 83, Dhoni 56) beat Pakistan 267 (Butt 74, Kamran 51, Praveen 3-53) by three wickets 

The Asia Cup's marquee clash was a cliffhanger. The contest between India and Pakistan simmered tantalisingly, with one team edging ahead at several junctures only to be pulled back by timely strikes from the other. The ebb and flow went on until the match reached flashpoint during India's chase. Tempers flared, nerves frayed, batsmen resorted to the desperate, bowlers lost their radar and fielders fumbled as margins for error became non-existent. And Pakistan, fighting to stay alive in the Asia Cup, watched Harbhajan Singh, fuelled by adrenalin and his love for a scrap, heave the penultimate ball of the match from Mohammad Aamer over the midwicket boundary to trigger explosive celebrations in the Indian dressing room.

Pakistan, after the emotion subsides, will identify a period during their batting, when they let a critical advantage slip, as a factor that contributed significantly to their exit. Their top three - Salman Butt, Imran Farhat and Shoaib Malik - had built a platform from where a total of 300 was probable, but a collapse eroded their position from 144 for 1 to 159 for 4. A regular fall of wickets thereafter, and especially the loss of Shahid Afridi and Adbul Razzaq before the batting Powerplay was underway, gave rise to the possibility of a total less than 250. It needed a counterattack from Kamran Akmal to lift Pakistan to 267, a score well short of what they were on course for. It was the ninth consecutive ODI in which Pakistan had failed to last 50 overs.

This tensest of finishes - India needing three off two balls with tailenders batting - seemed improbable when Gautam Gambhir and MS Dhoni put on an exhibition of clinical accumulation during their partnership of 98, which left only 89 to get off the last 15 overs with eight wickets in hand. They ran hard, pierced gaps, and muscled pressure-relieving boundaries whenever the asking-rate crept over six an over. India were in control even after Gambhir's dismissal - bowled trying to cut a straighter one from Saeed Ajmal - with Dhoni, who had clouted a Shoaib Akhtar free-hit over midwicket for six to reach a half-century, taking charge.

India's advantage began to shrink between overs 38 and 41. Pakistan had 76 runs to defend at the start of this period and conceded only 15 in four overs. Rohit Sharma was then trapped by a Shahid Afridi flipper, but it was Dhoni's freak dismissal, in the 43rd over bowled by Malik, that made Pakistan the latest favourites. Malik drifted a friendly full toss down leg side, Dhoni reached away from his body and tried to paddle it fine. He was early on the shot and the ball ricocheted on to the stumps off the back of the bat. India now needed 58 off 46 with two brand new batsmen in the middle.

Suresh Raina and Ravindra Jadeja nudged and pushed until 50 were needed off the last six overs and decided it was time to take the batting Powerplay. Afridi brought back Shoaib Akhtar, who was economical in his first spell but expensive in his second, for the fielding restrictions and he bowled an exemplary over, troubling both batsmen with quick short-of-a-length deliveries. Raina and Jadeja managed only one off him.

Jadeja was castled by Ajmal off the first ball off the 46th over and Raina was then joined by Harbhajan. Raina had struggled to make contact with Shoaib's bouncers and so he targeted Ajmal, cutting the ball to the boundary before heaving it over midwicket. That 13-run over narrowed the gap between runs required and balls remaining significantly and Ajmal hobbled off the field shortly after.

Pakistan had held the edge since Dhoni's dismissal but their grasp on the contest weakened when Harbhajan lofted Shoaib over long-on with impeccable timing, reducing the equation to 30 off 22. Shoaib, however, mixed slower balls with sharp bouncers to concede only three of the next four balls. In the 48th over, Aamer's direction failed him and he delivered two wides, but the batsmen managed only singles off the first four legal deliveries. Then Raina went deep into his crease to convert a yorker into a full ball and swung it powerfully through midwicket, finding the gap between two boundary riders.

Raina took on a Shoaib in the 49th, pulling a short ball - this one didn't rise as much - for six to slash the equation to 10 off 11 balls. Shoaib, however, once again finished strongly, beating Harbhajan with consecutive bouncers off the final two deliveries. He followed up those fiery deliveries with an equally fiery verbal volley. It riled Harbhajan who responded before Billy Doctrove intervened.

With India needing seven runs off the final over, Raina took a single off the first ball, giving Harbhajan the strike. Raina tried to get it back immediately by stealing a bye but his desperate dive was beaten by Kamran Akmal's throw. Akmal was pumped, after having dropped Sharma earlier, and having a confrontational tête-à-tête with Gambhir over an appeal for a catch.

Praveen Kumar, India's No. 9, scored three off his first two balls and gave Harbhajan the strike for the penultimate delivery. Aamer ran in and pitched on a length, Harbhajan wound up, swung hard, and began to raise his hands in triumph as the ball cleared the ropes. And then he roared, and roared, and looked for Shoaib.

Lanka set sights on final as they take on Bangladesh

Dambulla: Defending champions Sri Lanka will look to crush a beleaguered Bangladesh and enhance their chances of making the Asia Cup final when the two sides clash here on Thursday.
Four-time champions Lanka, who defeated Pakistan by 16 runs in their first outing on Tuesday, need one more victory to virtually qualify for the June 24 summit clash.
For Bangladesh, tomorrow's clash has become a do-or-die contest as they are coming into the match after a six-wicket defeat against India and one more drubbing would be enough to spell their ouster.
Given their potential and the advantage of playing in home conditions, Sri Lanka are not likely to be troubled by Shakib Al Hasan's team.
Their bowlers, especially paceman Lasith Malinga are in superb form and a formidable batting line up makes them an outright favourite against the Asian minnows.
Considering that they are in the process of building the nucleus of their side for the 2011 World Cup, the defending champions would be tempted to play Suraj Randiv instead of the wily Muttiah Muralitharan, who was savaged by Pakistan skipper Shahid Afridi the other day.
Muralitharan bled 71 runs from his 10 overs, conceding as many as five sixes to Afridi, who made a blistering 76-ball 109, his first ODI century in four years.
Lanka could also possibly seek a change for Farveez Maharoof who looked far from impressive on his comeback.
He failed with both ball and bat, apart from struggling to come down on the ball in the outfield.
While Kumar Sangakarra has only these aspects to look into, his Bangladesh counterpart has far too many issues to address.
Not surprisingly Shakib Al Hasan has called on his boys to perform as a unit.
"We played well as individuals but not as a team. That is an area we need to improve on a lot," Shakib had said after Bangladesh's six-wicket defeat against India.
Emphasising on the need to unite and perform as a team, a visibly perturbed Shakib said, "We need to climb one step ahead and put team performances together, only then can we win some games. That is the main area we have to concentrate on."
Shakib was happy with the performance of his openers, but was dissatisfied with the middle order batsmen who struggled against the Indian spinners.

Bangladesh seek to change the pattern

Don't say it aloud. Just whisper. You don't want to scare a Bangladesh fan. What if Tamim Iqbal's form runs out? Or worse what if he is dragged down by the mediocrity that surrounds him? It's the scariest thought for a Bangladesh fan. They are used to unanswerable questions though. Sample these: How long will Mohammad Ashraful continue to waste his opportunities? How long will Bangladesh continue to squander good starts? When will the captain Shakib Al Hasan temper his batting approach? Is Mahmudullah already taking a back step when he should have built on his strengths that he showed when India toured Bangladesh? Has Mushfiqur Rahim joined the rest in flattering to deceive?

Shakib knows where the problem lies: "We played well as individuals but not as a team... put team performances together, only then can we win some games." Is it a matter of skill? Is it a matter of passion? On their best day, Bangladeshi players seem to posses both in ample measure: they can stun and woo you with their brand of play but their their best days don't come often enough. Or is it a matter of blind expectations? Should we accept their mediocrity as a fact and move on? Surely not. Take that first game against India. 81 for 1 to 167 all out. Surely, Shakib, Rahim, Mahmudulah, Ashraful, and Naeem Islam can do better than that? Of course if it was just one bad day, there wouldn't be any problem but this is the pattern now. You can almost hear the dirge once the openers fall. Will they stop the rot and begin the change against Sri Lanka?

Sri Lanka seems to have just one problem: Chamara Kapugedera. An average of 21.66 from 74 games reeks of underperformance. The beauty is that no one in the Sri Lankan cricketing fraternity doubts his talent. That six against Brett Lee, and that six off the last ball against India in the World Twenty20 will be mentioned but the fact of the matter is that many new players are gunning for his spot. It was Thillina Kandamby for a while but he too couldn't hold his spot. However the young Dinesh Chandimal has already done what Kapugedera couldn't: get an ODI ton. This Asia Cup might be the last great chance for Kapugedera.

Form guide (most recent first)

Bangladesh LLLLL
Sri Lanka WWLWW

Watch out for...

Mushfiqur Rahim is the pluckiest cricketer in Bangladesh. Tamim has the more audacious talent, Shakib the captaincy, Mashrafe the aura but it's young, diminutive and talkative Rahim that is the life and soul of the team. He is not entirely dissimilar to Tatendu Taibu and has the skill to be a pretty handy no. 4 batsman. Will he make that spot his own?

Farveez Maharoof bowled just couple of bad deliveries against Pakistan. Both came in his first over. He very quickly learnt that short of length was the region to bowl and did exactly that. On these pitches he should be a pretty handy bowler. With a short cover and short midwicket prowling, he can force a batsman to drive early. He is the bowler in this current line-up that the opposition are most likely to attack, and he has the ability to make them pay for the arrogance.

Team news

Despite the meek showing against India, Bangladesh are unlikely to change their eleven going into their second game. Sri Lanka ticked in perfect harmony against Pakistan and could look to retain their combination. Kandamby will hope to get a chance at the expense of Thilan Samaraweera or Kapugedera.

Bangladesh (possible) 1 Tamim Iqbal, 2 Imrul Kayes, 3 Mohammad Ashraful, 4 Shakib Al Hasan (capt), 5 Mahmudullah, 6 Mushfiqur Rahim (wk), 7 Naeem Islam, 8 Shafiul Islam, 9 Rubel Hossain, 10 Mashrafe Mortaza, 11 Syed Rasel

Sri Lanka (possible) 1 Upul Tharanga, 2 Tillakaratne Dilshan, 3 Kumar Sangakkara (capt/wk), 4 Mahela Jayawardene, 5 Angelo Mathews, 6 Thilan Samaraweera, 7 Chamara Kapugedera, 8 Nuwan Kulasekara, 9 Farveez Maharoof, 10 Lasith Malinga, 11 Muttiah Muralitharan.

Stats and trivia

• Sri Lanka have won 26 of their 28 games against Bangladesh. The two losses came in Bangladesh. Furthermore, Sri Lanka have won 18 of their 25 games at Dambulla.
• Bangladesh's best batsman Tamim Iqbal averages just 19 .80 from 10 games against Sri Lanka. The strike rate is also poor at 63.50 and he has just hit one fifty.

Spinners set up India's victory

Bangladesh may have moved from the cool climes of England to hot and humid Sri Lanka, but they don't seem to have left at customs the habit of wasting scintillating starts by the openers. They collapsed twice, from 81 for 1 to 100 for 4, and then losing their last six wickets for 12 runs. If the first setback was mostly self-inflicted, Virender Sehwag's canny spin bowling for 4 for 6 ran through the lower order. In reply, Gautam Gambhir didn't look a million dollars, but made a satisfactory return to the side, seeing India through to a bonus point with 82.

Sehwag's 17-ball effort was joint second-cheapest four-wicket haul in ODIs, behind Phil Simmons' 4 for 3 against Pakistan in 1992. Before that, though, Bangladesh displayed a few of their usual failings. Not surprisingly it all began with Mohammad Ashraful.

Imrul Kayes and Tamim Iqbal, as they did through the England tour, got Bangladesh off to a flier. They treated Praveen Kumar and Zaheer Khan with contempt at the top of the innings. Cut, drive, the odd edge, and 35 were up in the third over. Tamim then got carried away and hit at one he wasn't close enough to. Suresh Raina came up with a diving catch, but Kayes carried on the good work.

It was impressive that, though he was beaten consistently in the next two Zaheer overs, Kayes kept his head, ending a spell of 11 straight dots from Zaheer with a punched boundary. Runs slowed down, mostly because Ashraful exaggeratedly kept leaving deliveries outside off. There was not much in the pitch or the bowling, and Ashraful's over-cautious approach hurt Bangladesh. There was not one single taken in the first 10 overs.

Kayes kept Bangladesh going with back-to-back boundaries off Nehra in the 12th over, but Ashraful was about to make his inevitable mistake. Soon after he managed one boundary, he went straight from the first gear to the fifth, heaving Nehra straight to the only man on the square-leg boundary. Kayes made his mistake in Nehra's next over, being too slow in pulling a sharp bouncer. Shakib Al Hasan got a wicked straighter one from Harbhajan Singh, which could well have been intended to be an offbreak.

The pitch had started offering turn now, and Harbhajan and Ravindra Jadeja were tough to get away. From 100 for 4, Mushfiqur Rahim and Mahmudullah, both of whom survived close lbw calls, took Bangladesh to 155, when madness struck again. Jadeja finally got his reward with a flat delivery that caught Mahmudullah's edge.

Immediately after, Sehwag was introduced. He bowled with lovely flight, slight drift, and mixed the straighter ones well. Mushfiqur bat-padded a flighted delivery that jumped at him from outside off. MS Dhoni saw that, and brought on Rohit Sharma too, who got a lucky break, with Naeem Islam given out caught-behind when it seemed the noise came from his bat hitting the ground.

In the next over Sehwag destroyed the tail. Suhrawadi Shuvo was fooled by the straighter one, Shafiul Islam swept all over an offbreak, and Syed Rasel was castled by another straighter one. Sehwag still had one ball left in what could have been a three-wicket maiden. Dhoni's choice of ends for bowlers was good: with a wind blowing across the ground, Sehwag and Harbhajan bowled from ends where they could get drift.

India looked good for a bonus point for most parts of their reply, except for a few anxious moments when Shakib removed Virat Kohli and Rohit in two deliveries to reduce India to 80 for 3. It would have amounted to something for Bangladesh had Tamim at third man hung on to a simple offering from Gambhir, a blow that would have made it 93 for 4. It could well have been the inadequate flood lighting that Lasith Malinga spoke about at work.

That drop apart, Gambhir batted well, working hard, running hard, putting behind the occasional play-and-miss, and scoring mainly through nurdles and chips. Along with Virender Sehwag, he provided India a brisk start. India were 37 in the seventh over when Sehwag edged one outside off.

Gambhir then settled down for a hard-working innings in hot and humid conditions, and Mashrafe Mortaza and Syed Rasel did their bit in making him work hard. His most flashy shot of the innings was when he danced down the track and drove Mortaza through the covers to reach 21 off 27, taking India to 46 in the ninth over. Post the supper break, Shafiul Islam and Shakib too kept the batsmen honest.

After Shakib's double blow in the 15th over, Gambhir nearly let Bangladesh back in when he played a weak upper-cut off Shafiul. Tamim got under it, but never looked confident during that drop. Gambhir was 48 then. By the time he finally got out, India needed just 10, with nearly 20 overs to go.