Sri Lanka 85 for 2 (Warnapura 50*, Ishant 1-21) v India
India - Sri Lanka Test series started with a rain spoiled first day.
Highlights of the day wer Malinda Warnapura's brisk unbeaten 50 off 74 balls. Indian pacers were able to trouble Malinda in the initial overs but he survived the attack and managed to stay undefeated after watching Michael Vandort and Kumar Sangakkara depart early.
Heavy overnight rain, sporadic drizzles during the day and the
resultant wet outfield had ruled out any play in the first two sessions.
At last the ICC has decided to form a committee to resolve the issue of so called unauthorized cricket. Committee consists of Giles Clarke, the ECB chairman, Norman Arendse, the Cricket South
Africa president, Shashank Manohar, the BCCI's president-elect, Lalit
Modi, a vice-president of the BCCI [and the IPL's chairman and
commissioner] and David Becker, the ICC's senior counsel - business and
commercial.
With Lalit and Shashank on the committee, there are tough chances that the committee would declare IPL rivals ICL as an authorized cricket body. May be this is an official way of killing ICL. I remain skeptical.
Harbhajan Singh returns to international cricket after completing his
five-match ODI ban. If you recall, Bhajji was banned from Internation Cricket for slapping Sreesanth during IPL fixtures. He will start with Tests against Sri Lanka
For the first time in the Asia Cup series the Karachi pitch seems to be supporting bowlers.
In the finals of Asia Cup between India and Sri Lanka, Sri Lanka was bowled out for "descent" score of 273 in 49.5 overs. And India is struggling at 76/3 in 9.4 overs.
Though 273 is a massive score for ODIs, it's not a huge score on the Karachi pitch. India and Pakistan game and them India and Sri Lanka games of final fours had produces a score of 307 or more for either sides, without providing any support to bowlers.
Where as today, Ishant and RP Singh grabbed 3 wickets each - may be history for the pitch
