Six Lankan cricket players injured in firing in Lahore

Six Sri Lankan cricketers and their assistant coach were injured while their security guards were among eight people killed in the first ever terror strike in the history of the sport, forcing Colombo to immediately call off the tour.Wicket-keeper batsman Kumar Sangakkara and spinner Ajantha Mendis along with Samaraweera, Tharanga Paranavitana, Suranga Lakmal and Thilina Thushara were injured in the attack at the busy Liberty Chowk traffic roundabout, located less than a kilometre from Gaddafi Stadium, at 9 am.

Assistant coach Paul Farbrace also sustained minor injuries in the brazen attack, carried out by a dozen masked terrorists armed with rifles, grenades and rocket-launchers.
The gunmen ambushed the luxury bus ferrying Sri Lankan cricket team to Gaddafi Stadium to resume play on the third day of the second and final test match with Pakistan.
Eight people, most of them police guards accompanying the team, were killed during the nearly 30-minute exchange of fire.

The Sri Lankan team was airlifted from Gaddafi Stadium to the Lahore airport by a Pakistan Air Force helicopter on their way back home to Colombo.
Injured players Samaraweera and Paranavitana, who received bullet injuries, were rushed to the military hospital. They are out of danger and stable, said Chamara Ranavira, a Sri Lankan High Commission spokesman said.

TV footage showed gunmen with backpacks firing at the convoy as they fled from the scene, with several vehicles damaged and unexploded grenades lying around. None of the attackers were killed or captured, Lahore police chief Haji Habibur Rehman said.

"Most of us had small injuries while some suffered shrapnel wounds," Sangakkara said, adding, "All are fine now." "At the moment we are not thinking of anything else but going back home."
There were conflicting reports about captain Mahela Jayawardene being injured in the terror ambush.Sri lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa, who has cut short his visit to Nepal, condemned the attack and rushed his Foreign Minister Rohita Bogollagama to Pakistan to assist in the team's safe return to Colombo.

Reports said reserve umpire Ahsan Raza, who was travelling in a separate car, was seriously injured and had been operated on in a local hospital. Hours after the ambush, authorities defused two car bombs before they could explode and recovered a cache of weapons in Lahore.

The Pakistani team was in its hotel at the time of the incident. Officials immediately took steps to prevent it from leaving the hotel.

Sri Lanka had agreed to play in Pakistan after India and Australia deferred their scheduled trips for security reasons. After playing three one-dayers in Pakistan, the Sri Lankan team had proceeded to India for five one-day matches and returned to Lahore for the two test matches.
"What has happened today in cricket can never happen in sports anywhere in the world. Obviously, my sympathies are with the Sri Lankan team," said former Pakistani captain Javed Miandad.

The Sri Lankan team called off its tour after the attack.

Sri Lanka - Pakistan Test : Lanka 120-2 at lunch

Kumar Sangakkara and Malinda Warnapura hit half-centuries to help Sri Lanka reach 120-2 by lunch on the opening day of the first Test against Pakistan here on Saturday.

 

Sangakkara was unbeaten at the break on 51 with skipper Mahela Jayawardene on five not out after Sri Lanka won the toss and opted to bat on a flat pitch.

Warnapura earlier steadied the innings with a brisk 48-ball 59 to help his team recover from the early loss of debutant opener Tharanga Paranavitana, who was dismissed for a first-ball duck.

Pakistan's frontline paceman Umar Gul struck with the fourth ball of the innings when he forced left-hander Paranavitana to edge into the slip where Misbah-ul-Haq took a smart catch.

Warnapura and Sangakkara added 90 for the second wicket before first-change Yasir Arafat provided the breakthrough. Warnapura, who hit nine boundaries, edged Arafat to Haq who held a low catch in the slip.

 

The 32,000-seater National Stadium stadium wore a deserted look as policemen outnumbered the spectators in the first session of the Test -- the first in 14 months that Pakistan has participated in.

Pakistan's last Test was against India at Bangalore in December 2007 and the team has not played a home Test since facing South Africa in October that year with security concerns keeping foreign teams away from Pakistan in 2008.

In March last year, Australia refused to tour the troubled country, citing a high security risk for their players.

India cancelled its team's tour to Pakistan in the wake of terrorist attacks on Mumbai, which New Dehli blamed on militants based in Pakistan.

Pakistan left out rookie paceman Mohammad Talha from the squad of 12, giving Test caps to 22-year-old opener Khurram Manzoor and 24-year-old fast bowler Sohail Khan.

Scoreboard

Sri Lanka

M. Warnapura                            c Haq b Arafat 59

T. Paranavitana                            c Haq b Gul 0

K. Sangakkara                            not out 51

M. Jayawardene                            not out 5

Extras nb4, w1 5

Total     for two wkts 120

Fall of wkts :: 1-3, 2-93

Bowling :: Gul 6-0-33-0 (1w), Sohail 6-1-36-0, Arafat 8-0-24-1 (1nb), Malik 5-0-22-0 (2nb), Kaneria 1-0-5-0 (1nb)

Overs 26

Muttiah Muralitharan

Muralitharan is the highest wicket-taker in Test cricket and in ODI when he took the wicket of Gautham Gambhir on fifth February 2009 at Colombo surpassing Wasim Akram record and having overtaken the previous record-holder Shane Warne on 3 December 2007 in longer version of the game.

Muralitharan had previously held the record when he surpassed Courtney Walsh's 519 wickets in 2004. But he suffered a shoulder injury later that year and was then overtaken by Warne. He is also first in the list of wicket-takers in One Day Internationals.

Averaging over six wickets per Test, Muralitharan is one of the most successful bowlers in the game and the greatest player for Sri Lanka. He plays domestic cricket for the Tamil Union Cricket and Athletic Club, and county cricket for Lancashire as an overseas player.

Muralitharan's career has been beset with controversy; his bowling action called into question on a number of occasions by umpires and sections of the cricket community. After biomechanical analysis in non-match conditions, Muralitharan's action was cleared by the International Cricket Council, first in 1996 and again in 1999.

The legality of his doosra was first called into question in 2004. This delivery was found to exceed the ICC elbow extension limit of five degrees, assigned for spinners at that time. Based on of official studies into bowling actions, the International Cricket Council revised the elbow flexion limits applying to all bowlers in 2005.

Muralitharan's doosra falls within the revised limits. Muralitharan was left out of the one-day touring squad to West Indies in early 2008, leading to speculation that he may be focusing on Test cricket in the future whilst Sri Lanka built a younger squad for One Day Internationals.

Table : Muralitharan Test Bowling Performance

Gambhir Srike Dhoni Miss

Gautam Gambhir at his best

The score of 150 runs by Gautam Gambhir against Sri Lanka at Colombo is the best of his career. Gambhir posted his 6th century and update his best. The analysis of Gautam Gambhir’s century is as follows:

• 150 v/s Sri Lanka at Colombo in 2009
• 113 v/s Australia at Sydney in 2008
• 107 v/s Bangladesh at Dhaka in 2008
• 103 v/s Sri Lanka at Ahmedabad in 2005
• 102 v/s Sri Lanka at Brisbane in 2008
• 101 v/s Bangladesh at Dhaka in 2007

Mahenra Singh Dhoni (MS-Dhoni) misses the ton

Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni third time during his career misses the ton. The previous are as follows:

• 96 v/s England at Jamshedpur in 2006
• 94 v/s Sri Lanka at Colombo in 2009
• 91* v/s Bangladesh at Dhaka in 2007


Suresh Raina misses 10th Half Century

Middle order batsman Suresh Raina misses 10th half century by just short of a run. Raina has scored 2 hundreds and 9 half centuries in his impressive career.

Indian cricket made history

India won 8 One Day International(ODI) continuously match under the Mahendra Singh Dhoni's captancy . Indian winning race start with England series. India won first ODI at Rajkot with 158 runs against England,in which Yuvraj Singh was declared as a man of the match . Winning race continue with second ODI at Indore with 54 runs. And yuvaraj singh repeat with man of the match. Third ODI at kanpur win by 16 runs and man of the match Harbhajan singh. India continues with forth-winning match at Banglore by 19 runs and Virendra Sehwag was man of the match. Fifth ODI won by 6 wickets at Cuttack and man of the match Virendra Sehwag again.

Currently in India – Srilanka ODI series India won the series by 3-0. India won the first One Day International match with Srilanka by 6 wickets. Man of the match Sanath Jayasuriya. India won the Second One Day International match with Srilanka by 15 Runs. Man of the match Ishant Sharma. India won third ODI match with 147 runs. Man of the match Yuvraj Singh. Now India continues go ahead with its winning race.

India Sri-Lanka 2009 Tour Schedule

28-Jan-2009 First ODI Dambulla 10:00 IST
31-Jan-2009 Second ODI Colombo 14:30 IST (D/N)
03-Feb-2009 Third ODI Colombo 14:30 IST (D/N)
05-Feb-2009 Fourth ODI Colombo 14:30 IST (D/N)
08-Feb-2009 Fifth ODI Colombo 10:00 IST
10-Feb-2009 T-20 Colombo 14:30 IST

SriLanka – Favorite team of India to beat by runs

India win by 147 runs in the third ODI in Colombo on Tuesday and again it is Sri Lanka. India has beaten Sri Lanka 3 times by the margin of more than 150 runs and again the margin is 147. Sri Lanka is the most favorable team to be beaten by this criterion because India has not beaten any team even twice by the margin more than 150.

Overall New Zealand holds the record of largest margin of victory by runs by beating Ireland by 290 runs at Aberdeen, Scotland on 01 July 2008. India is on second place. India beat Bermuda by 257 runs. India beat Bermuda at Port of Spain on 19th March 2007 where India posted 413 runs reaching 400-mark first time.

Apart from that India beat South Africa (by 153 runs), Zimbabwe (by 161 runs), West Indies (by 160 runs), England (by 158 runs), New Zealand (by 174 runs), Bangladesh (by 200 runs), Kenya (by 186 runs), Hong Kong (by 256 runs) and Namibia (by 153 runs) by the margin of more than 150 runs.

India has never beat Pakistan and Australia by such a margin.

Back to Sri Lanka, India beat Sri Lanka by 183 runs at Johannesburg, by 157 runs at Taunton, by 152 runs at Nagpur and it is 147 at Colombo.

Still two matches to go and hope India achieve another feet in this category!!!