The Hindu : Sport / Cricket : Sri Lanka `A' meets North

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Sunday, Nov 12, 2006
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Sri Lanka `A' meets North

S. Sabanayakan

KOLKATA: North Zone has the most enviable task in hand. It has to try and stop Sri Lanka `A' from carrying away the Duleep Trophy, one of the prestigious domestic events in the Board's calendar, to Colombo. The five-day match, beginning on Sunday at the historic Eden Gardens, will be an acid test for the Mithun Manhas-captained North Zone.

North has a deep batting line-up, a good bowling attack, the ability to field well and above all a cool skipper. Sri Lanka `A' is a compact, young side bubbling with enthusiasm and keen to win a trophy on a foreign soil. The team has made great strides in this championship as it beat defending champion West Zone and later South Zone outright.

Yet, Sri Lanka `A' has injury problems with leg-spinner Upul Chandana and the centurion in the last match, Malinda Warnapura, down with injuries. Chandana has a slight hamstring pull and Warnapura has a shoulder injury. Both would undergo a fitness test before the toss.

Similarly, North will not have the services of V.R.V. Singh. He is down with viral fever and did not make it. Both the teams will name the playing XI before the start of match.

The teams (from):

North Zone: Mithun Manhas (capt.), Gautam Gambhir, Akash Chopra, Ravneet Ricky, Yashpal Singh, Mahesh Rawat (wk), Joginder Sharma, Gangandeep Singh, Ashish Nehra, Vishal Bhatia, Rajesh Sharma, Manvinder S. Bisla, Sachin Rana and Virat Kohli.

Sri Lanka `A': Thilan Samaraweera (capt.), Kausal Silva (wk), Jehan Mubarak, Michael Vandort, Mahela Udawatte, Malinda Warnapura, Chamara Silva, Upul Chandana, Rangana Herath, Akalanka Ganegama, Dhamika Prasad, Jeevan Mendis, Tharanga Lakshitha, Ishara Amarsinghe and Kosala Kulasekhara.

Umpires: A.M. Sahiba (Gujarat) and Suresh Shastri (Mumbai). Match referee: Narayanan Kutty.

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