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Asia Cup: India arrives today |
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News |
May 28, 2000
Dhaka, May 27 (UNB)- Four times Asia Cup champions India arrives here tomorrow (Sunday) on the opening day of the 7th Pepsi Asia Cup Cricket to regain their title in the prestigious regional tournament. The former World Cup champions will play their first match against hosts Bangladesh on May 30, face defending champions Sri Lanka on June 1 and meet old foe Pakistan in their last league match on June 3. Left-handed Bengali batsman Sourav Ganguly, popularly known as the Prince of Calcutta, will lead the Indian side while right-arm stylist batsman Rahul Dravid will act as his deputy. This will be a challenging tournament for Ganguly to bring his team in the winning track after India’s lackluster performance in Sarjah under his captaincy. They placed third in the three-team meet. Ganguly, who was crowned as Indian captain following the resignation of his predecessor Sachin Tendulkar, started his journey with a 3-2 win against mighty South Africa in a one-day series at home. But his success was belittled when former South African captain Hanse Cronje was charged with match-fixing in the series. In the 7th Pepsi Asia Cup, India will miss their two most experienced pacers Javagal Srinath and Venkatesh Prasad, but test two new faces Amit Bhandari and Hemang Badhani to prove their ability.
Amit Bhandari, a right-arm first medium bowler and left-handed batsman along with slow left-arm orthodox bowler Hemang Badhani are poised to make their international debut in this tournament. Another man will captivate local cricket fans, the Indian coach and legendary fast bowler Kapil Dev, who is also facing match-fixing allegation by his former teammate Manoj Probhakar. India, who clinched the Asia Cup four times out of the last six tournaments, lost their pride to South Asian islanders Sri Lanka in 1997 in another rain-interrupted tournament.
Team: Sourav Ganguly (captain), Rahul Dravid (vice-captain), Sachin Tendulkar, Mohammed Azharuddin, Ajay Jadeja, Robin Singh, Hemang Badani, Anil Kumble, Saba Karim, Sunil Joshi, Nikhil Chopra, Ajit Agarkar, T Kumaran and Amit Bhandari. Officials: Samiran Chakraborty (manager), Kapil Dev (coach) and Andrew Leipus (physio).
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